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+Project Gutenberg's The History of Cuba, vol. 2, by Willis Fletcher Johnson
+
+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: The History of Cuba, vol. 2
+
+Author: Willis Fletcher Johnson
+
+Release Date: October 9, 2011 [EBook #37676]
+
+Language: English
+
+Character set encoding: ISO-8859-1
+
+*** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK THE HISTORY OF CUBA, VOL. 2 ***
+
+
+
+
+Produced by Chuck Greif, Broward County Library and the
+Online Distributed Proofreading Team at http://www.pgdp.net
+
+
+
+Etext transcriber's note:
+
+Obvious typographical errors have been corrected; the original
+orthography, including variation in the spelling of names, has been
+retained.
+
+The Index included at the end of this etext (which includes volumes 1
+thru 4) appears at the end of volume four of The History of Cuba. It is
+provided here for the convenience of the reader.
+
+
+
+
+
+[Illustration: FRANCISCO DE ARANGO
+
+One of the noblest names in Cuban history of a century and more ago is
+that of Francisco de Arango y Parreño, advocate, economist and
+statesman. He came of a family of noble lineage, and was born in Havana
+on May 22, 1765. Among the great men of his day in Cuba, who were many,
+he was one of the foremost, as the detailed story of his labors and
+achievements in the chapters of this History abundantly attests. He
+worked for the reform of the economic system of the island, for the
+development of agriculture on an enlightened basis, for the extension of
+popular education, and for the promotion of commerce. He urged upon King
+Charles III plans for averting the evil influences of the French
+Revolution, while securing the good results; and he set an example in
+educational matters by himself founding an important school. Recognized
+and honored the world over for his character, talents and achievements,
+he died on March 21, 1837.]
+
+
+
+
+THE
+HISTORY OF CUBA
+
+BY
+WILLIS FLETCHER JOHNSON
+A.M., L.H.D.
+
+Author of "A Century of Expansion," "Four Centuries of
+the Panama Canal," "America's Foreign Relations"
+
+Honorary Professor of the History of American Foreign
+Relations in New York University
+
+_WITH ILLUSTRATIONS_
+
+VOLUME TWO
+
+[Illustration]
+
+NEW YORK
+B. F. BUCK & COMPANY, INC.
+156 FIFTH AVENUE
+1920
+
+Copyright, 1920,
+BY CENTURY HISTORY CO.
+
+_All rights reserved_
+
+ENTERED AT STATIONERS HALL
+LONDON, ENGLAND.
+
+PRINTED IN U. S. A.
+
+
+
+
+CONTENTS
+
+
+                                               PAGE
+
+CHAPTER I                                                              1
+
+Entering a New Era--The Freedom of the Seas--Progress of the
+Slave Trade--Clandestine Commercial Operations and Political
+Intrigues--The Genius of Governor Guazo--Attacking the
+British and French--Close of a Notable Administration--Shipyards
+at Havana--Havana Threatened by the British--Rivalries
+in Cuban Politics--Foundation of the University of Cuba--Change
+in Land Tenure--Copper Mining--Insurrections of the
+Slaves--Glimpses of Social Life in Cuba.
+
+CHAPTER II                                                            18
+
+The Administration of Guemez--Introduction of Reforms--Sanitation--Economic
+and Fiscal Reforms--Monopolies in Trade--Further
+Fortifications--Controversies Over the Slave Trade--Disputes
+with Great Britain--Declaration of War--Conflicts in
+Florida--Two British Expeditions--Admiral Vernon in the West
+Indies--Attack upon Santiago--The War in Florida--Governorship
+of Cagigal--Peace of Aix-la-Chapelle--Accession of Charles III--British
+Plans for the Conquest of Spanish America--Some
+Interesting Literature.
+
+CHAPTER III                                                           41
+
+Some European Alliances--A Period of Peace for Spain--Reasons
+for the British Attacks upon Cuba--The Family Pact Between
+France and Spain--Spain's Break with Great Britain--Declaration
+of War by George III--Havana Chosen as the Point
+of Attack--The Albemarle-Pococke Expedition--Preparations at
+Martinique--The Advance upon Havana.
+
+CHAPTER IV                                                            53
+
+First Appearance of Yellow Fever in Cuba--Preparations to Resist
+the British Attack--Divided Counsels--Arrival of the British
+Fleet--Consternation of the Inhabitants--Velasco Chosen
+as Commander of the Defense of Havana--Beginning of the Attack--Heroism
+of the Spanish Commander--British Accounts of
+the Fighting--Raids and Counter-Raids--British Reinforcements
+from the American Colonies--British Tributes to Spanish Valor--Surrender
+of the City--The Articles of Capitulation.
+
+CHAPTER V                                                             80
+
+British Occupation of Havana--Attitude of the Cubans Toward
+the British Conquerors--Departure of the Spanish Forces--British
+Views of the Conquest of Cuba--A Controversy Over
+Church Bells--Difficulties with the Spanish Clergy--Character of
+Lord Albemarle's Administration--Troubles Over Taxation--Plots
+Against British Rule--Corruption in Colonial Government--Political
+Disturbances in England--The Making of Peace--Restoration
+of Cuba to Spain.
+
+CHAPTER VI                                                            96
+
+Far-Reaching Effects of British Rule in Cuba--A French Picture
+of Life in Havana--A British Tribute to the City--Character
+of the People--Economic Changes in the Island--The Commerce
+of Havana--Defenses of the City--Not an Impregnable
+Fortress.
+
+CHAPTER VII                                                          104
+
+Departure of the British and Re-entry of the Spanish--The
+New Spanish Governor--Antagonisms Between British and Spanish--A
+Period of Reconstruction--Reclassification of Revenues--Military
+Reorganization of Havana--New Provincial Administration--Establishment
+of a Mail Service--End of a Noteworthy
+Administration--Reform in Police Regulations--Expulsion of
+Religious Orders--Suppressing Contraband Trading--Destruction
+by Earthquakes--A Disastrous Hurricane--An Administration
+Void of Complaints.
+
+CHAPTER VIII                                                         119
+
+An Era of Peace in Cuba--Tribulations in Spanish Louisiana--Spain
+Still Lagging Behind Other Colonial Powers--Fear of a
+Republic--O'Reilly's Expedition from Cuba to Louisiana--His
+Success--Effects of His Severity--The Tragic Prelude to Spanish
+Rule--Louisiana an Appanage of Cuba.
+
+CHAPTER IX                                                           129
+
+Administration of the Marquis de la Torre--One of Cuba's Best
+Governors--Cleansing and Paving the Streets of Havana--New
+Public Buildings--Harbor Improvements--The First Theatre--Trinidad,
+Santiago and Puerto Principe also Renovated--Founding
+of Pinar del Rio and Other Towns--Reforms in Government--Havana
+a Beautiful and Prosperous City--Turgot's Warning
+to Spain Unheeded--Interest in the North American Revolution--Tariff
+Reform--The Currency--Jurisprudence.
+
+CHAPTER X                                                            145
+
+Rise of the United States--Spanish Interests Involved--Negotiations
+Over Florida--Alliance Between France and Spain--Cuba's
+Intense Interest in the War Against Great Britain--Disaster
+to an Expedition from Havana--Operations at Mobile--Cuban
+Reconquest of Pensacola and Florida--An Early Prohibition
+Decree.
+
+CHAPTER XI                                                           153
+
+An Ill-Managed Armada--Neutrality Violated in Warfare upon
+Commerce--An Orgy of Privateering--Rodney's Exploits--Cagigal's
+Expedition to the Bahamas--Rodney's Menace to Havana--The
+First Newspaper in Havana--Negotiating for General
+Peace--Spanish Chagrin at American Independence--More
+Liberal Trade Laws for Cuba--Insurrection in Peru--Peace and
+Prosperity in Cuba--Wasteful Forestry--Visit of an English
+Prince--Improvements and Reforms in Havana--Foundation of
+the Sociedad de Amigos--Reign of Charles IV--Godoy, "Prince
+of the Peace"--Ecclesiastical Changes in Cuba--Economic
+Ills--Administration of Las Casas--A New Census--Disastrous
+Hurricane--The Society of Progress--Advance in Commerce,
+Agriculture, Literature and Education--Work of Francisco de
+Arango--The Tomb of Columbus.
+
+CHAPTER XII                                                          186
+
+Influence of the French Revolution in Spain--Toussaint Louverture--Cession
+of Santo Domingo to France--The Peace of
+Basle--Panic and Chaos in Spain--Advantages Gained by Cuba--A
+Civic Awakening in the Island--Dr. Romay's Introduction
+of Vaccination--Defense Against the Slave Revolt of Santo
+Domingo--The Work of Santa Clara--British Capture of Trinidad--Fears
+for the Safety of Cuba--Administration of Someruelos--Founding
+of the Intendencia--Expansion of Commerce--The
+Slave Trade--Extent and Conditions of Slavery--Rise of
+the Emancipation Movement--Importance of Negro Labor to
+Cuba.
+
+CHAPTER XIII                                                         215
+
+The Land Problem in Cuba--Lands Withheld from the Real
+Workers--Indolence Induced by Lack of Opportunity--Manners
+and Customs of the Cuban People at the End of the
+Eighteenth Century--Lawyers and Land Titles--Prices of Land--Live
+Stock, Sugar and Tobacco--Primitive Sugar Factories--Progress
+of Agriculture--Obstacles to Economic Progress--Restrictions
+upon Commerce and Travel.
+
+CHAPTER XIV                                                          231
+
+Conditions Accompanying the Rise of Wealth--Strange Mixture
+of Immorality and Religion--Seclusion of Cuban Women--Amusements
+and Entertainments--The Bull Ring--The Cock
+Pit--The Beginning of Literary Activity and Intellectual Life--The
+Drama in Cuba--Musical Culture--Dancing--Architecture--Home
+Life--Backward State of Education--Printing and
+Publishing--Suggestive Articles in the Press--The Beginning of
+Cuban Literature.
+
+CHAPTER XV                                                           256
+
+Rise of Relations Between Cuba and the United States--Early
+Interest of the United States in Cuba--Action of Congress
+in 1811--"The Ever Faithful Isle"--First Overtures for Annexation--George
+Canning and British Policy Toward Cuba--Policy
+of John Quincy Adams--Utterances of Jefferson and Clay--American
+Attitude Toward British and French Designs--Mexico
+and Colombia Restrained from Conquest.
+
+CHAPTER XVI                                                          267
+
+Spain in Her Decline--The Napoleonic Wars--The Constitution
+of 1812--Revolt of Spain's South and Central American
+Colonies--Cuba the "Ever Faithful Isle"--Reasons for Her Loyalty
+to Spain--Origin of the Cuban Spirit of Independence--An
+Age of Intellectual Activity--The Rise of Cuban Literature and
+Scholarship--Refugees in Cuba.
+
+CHAPTER XVII                                                         278
+
+The First Cuban Census--The Second Census and Humboldt's
+Comments Thereon--Distribution of the Population by Races--Effects
+of the Slave Trade on Population--The Census of 1817--Subsequent
+Enumerations--Discrepancies in Statistics--Character
+of the Negroes of Cuba--The Birth Rate.
+
+CHAPTER XVIII                                                        290
+
+Early Records of the Slave Trade--Participation by the Portuguese,
+French and British--Statistics of Slave Importations--Illegality
+No Bar--Relations Between Masters and Slaves--Efforts
+to Ameliorate the Conditions of Slaves--Introduction of
+Chinese Labor--Free Negroes--Religious Training of Slaves--Punishments
+of Slaves--Fear of Servile Insurrections.
+
+CHAPTER XIX                                                          302
+
+The Administration of Santa Clara--Someruelos--Great Fire
+in Havana--Architectural Progress--Fear of Invasion--A French
+Fiasco--Hostility to Napoleon--Loyalty to an Unworthy King--Napoleon's
+Designs upon Cuba--The Aleman Episode--Arango
+and the Chamber of Commerce--Conflict with Godoy--Arango in
+the Cortes--Arbitrary Administration of Cienfuegos--Opposition
+to Street Lighting--Political Changes--Cagigal's Diplomatic
+Administration--Mahy the Reactionary.
+
+CHAPTER XX                                                           319
+
+Good and Bad Deeds of Vives--A Royal Decree that Proved
+a Boomerang--Dangers of the Slave Trade Perceived--Apprehension
+of Intervention by Other Powers--A Subtle Appeal for
+Patriotic Organization--Progress of the Spirit of Independence.
+
+CHAPTER XXI                                                          328
+
+British Designs upon Cuba--Cuban Negotiations with the
+United States--The Mission of Morales--Annexation Sentiment--Attitude
+of the United States Government--Issuance of the Monroe
+Doctrine--Its Effect in Europe and America--United States
+Consuls to Cuba Rejected--Cuba Offered to England in Pawn--American
+Objections to the Scheme--Increase of American Interest
+in Cuba.
+
+CHAPTER XXII                                                         335
+
+An Era of Revolution--Career of Simon Bolivar--His Observation
+of the French Revolution--Liberation of Venezuela--Miranda
+and His Work--Bolivar in Exile--Final Success of the Liberator--Influence
+of His Career upon Cuba.
+
+CHAPTER XXIII                                                        343
+
+The "Soles de Bolivar" in Cuba--Administration of Villanueva--Oppression
+of the People--Vain Attempts to Suppress Patriotic
+Societies--Conspiracies for Freedom--Early Martyrs to
+Patriotism--The Black Eagle--Trouble with Mexico--The
+Tyranny of Tacon--His Conflict with Lorenzo--Victims of Spanish
+Despotism--Cuban Deputies Excluded from the Cortes--Manipulation
+of the Police--Propaganda of Freedom by Cubans
+in Exile--Tacon's Public Works--Dealing with Pirates and
+Smugglers--Origin of the Havana Fish Market--Tacon as the
+Champion of Virtue in Distress--End of a Bad Reign.
+
+CHAPTER XXIV                                                         366
+
+Beginning of Slave Insurrections--David Turnbull's Pernicious
+Activities--O'Donnell the Despot--Roncali the Ridiculous--Causes
+of Slave Unrest--Story of One Uprising--Vacillating
+Course of the Government--Systematic Propaganda Among the
+Slaves--Some Serious Outbreaks--Savage Methods of Repression--A
+Reign of Torture and Slaughter--White Victims as Well as
+Black--An Appalling Record--Saco's Advocacy of Independence--Some
+Advocates of Annexation to the United States--Spain's
+Determination to Hold Cuba Fast.
+
+Chapter XXV                                                          385
+
+Review of an Era in Cuban History--Progress in Inverse Order
+from International to National Interests--Alienation from Spain--Contrasts
+Between Cuba and Other Colonies, Spanish and English--Unconscious
+Preparation for Independent Statehood--Cuban
+Interest in the World and the World's Interest in Cuba--On the
+Verge of a New Era--The Promise of Cuban Nationality.
+
+
+
+
+ILLUSTRATIONS
+
+
+FULL PAGE PLATES:
+
+Francisco de Arango                                        _Frontispiece_
+
+                                                                  FACING
+                                                                    PAGE
+
+Laurel Ditch, Cabanas Fortress                                        58
+
+Havana, from Cabanas                                                  96
+
+In Old Havana                                                        130
+
+Tomas Romay                                                          192
+
+Juan José Diaz Espada                                                272
+
+José Antonio Saco                                                    378
+
+
+TEXT EMBELLISHMENTS:
+                                                                    PAGE
+
+Old Espada Cemetery, Havana                                           52
+
+Atares Fortress, 1763                                                103
+
+Don Luis de las Casas                                                175
+
+A Volante, Old-Time Pleasure Carriage                                238
+
+Monserrate Gate, Havana                                              244
+
+George Canning                                                       258
+
+John Quincy Adams                                                    259
+
+Alejandro Ramirez                                                    311
+
+James Monroe                                                         329
+
+Simon Bolivar                                                        334
+
+Gaspar Betancourt Cisneros                                           380
+
+
+
+
+THE HISTORY OF CUBA
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER I
+
+
+When the Treaty of Utrecht was signed on the eleventh of April, 1713,
+the Spanish colonies in America felt as if they were entering upon a new
+era, an era of peace and unhindered growth and prosperity. They did not
+realize until the first elation over the establishment of peace had
+spent itself, that this treaty contained the seeds of future wars which
+were bound to be quickened by the powerful spirit of commercial rivalry,
+which had been awakened in the European nations and was alarmingly
+dimming the justice and righteousness of their policies. By losing the
+European possessions, the population of Spain had been so seriously
+diminished that it was entirely out of proportion to the area of her
+over-seas dominion. While the Bourbon king had nothing more to fear from
+France, even her pirates having palpably decreased their operations
+against the Spanish colonies in America, he had in England a rival and
+enemy whose power he had reason to dread. For all the maritime and
+commercial agreements of the treaty favored England.
+
+George Bancroft justly characterizes the spirit of the period in the
+second volume of his "History of the United States" when he says
+(Chapter XXXV, p. 388):
+
+     "The world had entered on the period of mercantile privilege.
+     Instead of establishing equal justice, England sought commercial
+     advantages; and, as the mercantile system was identified with the
+     colonial system of the great maritime powers of Europe, the
+     political interest, which could alone kindle universal war, was to
+     be sought in the colonies. Hitherto, the colonies were subordinate
+     to European politics; henceforth, the question of trade on our
+     borders, of territory on our frontier, involved an interest which
+     could excite the world to arms. For about two centuries, the wars
+     of religion had prevailed; the wars for commercial advantages were
+     now prepared. The interests of commerce, under the narrow point of
+     view of privilege and of profit, regulated diplomacy, swayed
+     legislation, and marshalled revolutions."
+
+Concerning the mooted problem of the freedom of the seas, discussed as
+ardently and widely then as at the present time, Bancroft had this to
+say in the same chapter (p. 389):
+
+     "To the Tory ministry of Queen Anne belongs the honor of having
+     inserted in the treaties of peace a principle which, but for
+     England, would in that generation have wanted a vindicator. But
+     truth, once elicited, never dies. As it descends through time, it
+     may be transmitted from state to state, from monarch to
+     commonwealth; but its light is never extinguished, and never
+     permitted to fall to the ground. A great truth, if no existing
+     nation would assume its guardianship, has power--such is God's
+     providence--to call a nation into being, and live by the life it
+     imparts."
+
+The great principle first formulated by the illustrious Dutch historian
+and statesman Hugo Grotius was touched upon in the treaty of Utrecht in
+the passage saying,--"Free ships shall also give a freedom to goods."
+The meaning of contraband was strictly defined; the right of a nation to
+blockade another's ports was rigorously restricted. As to the rights of
+sailors, they were protected by the flag under which they sailed.
+
+But whatever credit belongs to England for her upholding of this
+principle was obscured by her exploitation of a monopoly, created by a
+special agreement of the same treaty. The "assiento," which established
+that most ignominious traffic in negro slaves, was to have disastrous
+effects, political, economic and racial, upon the American colonies,
+whether British, French or Spanish. The agreement had been specially
+demanded by the British representatives and had been approved by Louis
+XIV, who saw in its acceptance not only an advantage for England, but
+justly hoped his own colonies on the Gulf of Mexico to profit by it. It
+was worded simply as follows:
+
+     "Her Britannic Majesty did offer and undertake by persons whom she
+     shall appoint, to bring into the West Indies of America belonging
+     to his Catholic Majesty, in the space of thirty years, one hundred
+     and forty-four thousand negroes, at the rate of four thousand eight
+     hundred in each of the said thirty years."
+
+The duty on four thousand of these negroes was to be thirty-three and a
+third pesos. But the assientists were entitled to introduce besides that
+number as many more as they needed at the minor rate of sixteen and two
+third pesos a head. However, no Frenchman or Spaniard or any individual
+of another nation could import a negro slave into Spanish America.
+
+This trade in human flesh was duly organized and carried on by a stock
+company which promised enormous profits. King Philip V., sorely in need
+of money with which to execute all his plans for the reconstruction of
+his kingdom, anticipated great gains from such an investment and bought
+one quarter of the stock. Queen Anne was the owner of another quarter
+and the remainder was sold among her loyal subjects. Thus the sovereigns
+of these two kingdoms became the leading slave-merchants in the world
+and by the provisions of the agreement "her Britannic Majesty" enjoyed
+the somewhat dubious distinction of being for the Spanish colonies in
+the Gulf of Mexico, on the Atlantic and along the Pacific coasts, the
+exclusive slave-trader.
+
+No trade required as little outlay in capital as the slave-trade.
+Trifles, trinkets and refuse stock of every possible kind of merchandise
+including discarded weapons, were exchanged for the human cargoes on
+the African coast; who, crowded into vessels, crossed the seas, and upon
+their arrival in the New World were sold to the colonists who wanted
+cheap labor and a cheaper service. A fever of speculation which had in
+it no little touch of adventure, seemed to sweep over England and to
+delude the people with visions of wealth to be acquired by a conquest of
+the Spanish possessions from Florida south, including Mexico and Peru.
+Wild schemes of colonization promised to open Golcondas on the fields of
+sugar-cane and tobacco, and in the mines holding inestimable treasures
+of gold and silver. For the realization of those plans negro labor was
+needed. Even in the West Indies it was welcomed especially by those
+settlements engaged in the raising of sugar cane.
+
+That the Assiento opened the door to all sorts of clandestine commercial
+operations, as also to insidious political intrigue was soon to become
+evident. Agents of the Assiento had the right to enter any Spanish port
+in America and from there send other agents to inland settlements; they
+had the right to establish warehouses for their supplies, safe against
+search unless proof of fraudulent operations, that is importations, was
+incontestable. They could send every year a ship of five hundred tons
+with a cargo of merchandise to the West Indies and without paying any
+duty sell these goods at the annual fair. On the return trip this ship
+was allowed to carry products of the country, including gold and silver,
+directly to Europe. The assientists urged the American colonies to
+furnish them supplies in small vessels. Now it was known that such
+vessels were particularly favored by the smuggling trade. Hence British
+trade in negro slaves was indirectly used to encourage smuggling and
+thus undermine Spanish commerce.
+
+To estimate the extent of the smuggling trade directly traceable to the
+loop-holes which the Assiento offered, was impossible. Jamaica, the
+stronghold of British power in the West Indies, and ever a hotbed of
+political and commercial intrigue against the Spanish neighbors, became
+a beehive of smuggling activities. In places formerly used as bases of
+buccaneer operations a lively business was carried on with contraband
+goods. The danger to legitimate commerce in and with the West Indies
+became so great that the Cuban authorities were forced towards the end
+of Governor Guazo's administration to adopt strenuous methods in dealing
+with such offenders. D. Benito Manzano, Andrez Gonzales and other
+mariners and soldiers of experience and known valor were sent out
+against them and made important seizures in this service. The governor
+was authorized to organize cuadrillos (patrols) of custom officers and
+equip custom house cutters that watched for and descended upon all
+vessels found without proper clearance papers or that had failed to
+register their cargoes in conformity to the laws of the island. The
+smugglers were tried and condemned to suffer various penalties, ranging
+from loss of property, hard labor and imprisonment, to death.
+
+Governor Guazo's reorganization of the military forces gave proof of his
+extraordinary foresight and his executive power. He formed a battalion
+of infantry composed of seven companies of one hundred men and besides
+two other companies, one of artillery, the other of light cavalry, which
+was later changed to mounted dragoons. Two more companies of seventy men
+each were added some years later by order of the king. For the lodgment
+of these troops Governor Guazo ordered built the rastrille (gateway of a
+palisade), which became later part of the fortress and the quarters that
+run along the southern part.
+
+Governor Guazo was a man of action and enterprise, besides being endowed
+with no little military genius. Never once during his administration did
+he lapse into that passive attitude which was in a large degree
+responsible for the slow pace at which the Spanish colonies progressed.
+One of his first aims was to inflict an exemplary punishment upon the
+outlaws of the seas that rendered insecure the coasts of the Spanish
+island colonies, and interfered seriously with commerce in the Gulf of
+Mexico. The militia of Havana had on previous occasions, when called
+into service on the sea, proved its mettle and displayed so much bravery
+and perseverance in the pursuit of its tasks that he had unlimited
+confidence in its ability to do the work he planned. He conferred with
+the governor of Florida, and they agreed upon concerted action against
+the English colony of St. George in the Carolinas. He made it known that
+he intended to dislodge the pirates on the island of the Bahamas called
+New Providence and for some time settled by the British. For that
+purpose he fitted out fourteen light vessels, ten bilanders (small
+one-mast ships, one of them of fourteen pieces), two brigantines
+(two-masted vessels with square sails) and other smaller ships with
+munitions and sufficient stores. Then he gathered a force of one
+thousand volunteers, one hundred veteran soldiers and a few of the
+prominent residents of the city to whom he entrusted the command of some
+of the ships. As head of the expedition he named D. Alfonso Carrascesa,
+a dependable official, and as his assistant D. Esteban Severino de
+Berrea, a native of Havana and the oldest captain of the white militia.
+
+The story of this enterprise as related by Guiteras gives a somewhat
+different version of the struggles between the French and the Spaniards
+for the possession of Pensacola as that contained in the preceding
+chapter. According to Guiteras the armada organized in Havana and placed
+under command of Carrascesa sailed on the fourth of July, 1719. But it
+had barely left the harbor, when it sighted two French warships. They
+were coming from Pensacola, which the French had just captured, and had
+on board as prisoners the governor and the whole garrison. Carrascesa
+did not for a moment lose his calm assurance at this unexpected
+intermezzo. He stopped the French when they turned to flee, and they
+were in turn captured. With the rescued Spaniards from Pensacola he
+returned to Havana, considering this easy victory of happy augury for
+the expedition upon which he had set out. But Governor Guazo persuaded
+him that the reconquest of Pensacola was of paramount importance.
+Carrascesa yielded to Guazo's arguments and the entreaties of the
+governor of Florida's stronghold and started upon his new task. He
+succeeded in recovering Pensacola and reinstalling the Spanish governor
+with his garrison. Of the ultimate defeat of the expedition Guiteras has
+nothing to say.
+
+Carrascesa, too, was a man of untiring activity and did not rest upon
+the laurels of his victory over the French. He made several expeditions
+to the ports of Masacra, Mobile and other places, laying waste rice
+fields and sugar plantations. He captured a number of transports
+carrying army provisions, and also took many negroes that had been
+brought over by the company carrying on slave trade, prisoners. So
+encouraged was he by his successes, that he planned another attack upon
+Masacra, which was defended by four batteries mounted on the coast and
+had a garrison of about two thousand Frenchmen and Canadians. But he
+realized that his forces were numerically far inferior and he desisted
+from carrying out this enterprise. He contented himself with turning
+his attention to the improvement of the fortifications of Pensacola and
+built a fort at the point of Siguenza for the defense of the canal.
+While engaged upon this work he was surprised by the arrival of a French
+squadron under the command of the Count de Champmeslin. There were six
+vessels in all well equipped with artillery far superior in quality to
+that of the Spaniards. A fierce and stubborn combat ensued, in which the
+volunteers from Havana distinguished themselves by their valor, but the
+French admiral succeeded in forcing the passage of Siguenza and
+compelled Carrascesa to surrender. Pensacola fell for the second time
+into the hands of the French, who, however, gave credit to the Cubans
+for unusual bravery and declared that, had it not been for their
+inferior numbers, and the inferior equipment of their ships and their
+troops, they never would have been defeated. This is the story of the
+fights for Pensacola as related by the Spanish historian Guiteras.
+
+Governor Guazo's administration covered one of the most important
+periods in the history of Cuba. One of his last acts was the
+proclamation in Havana in March, 1724, of the ascension of King Luis I.
+to the throne of Spain, his father, King Philip V., having abdicated.
+But King Luis died on the thirty-first of August and King Philip V.
+resumed the scepter. In the following month Governor Guazo retired from
+office and on the twenty-ninth of September was succeeded by the
+Brigadier D. Dionisio Martinez de la Vega. One of the first acts of
+Governor Martinez was to raise the garrison to the number of two hundred
+and fifty men. By decree of the court he also superintended the
+construction of the arsenal which was to contribute much to the
+improvement of the rather poorly equipped fleet. In order effectively to
+pursue his predecessor's policy of prosecuting the smuggler bands, the
+number of which was alarmingly multiplying on and about the island,
+Governor Martinez suggested to the Minister of the Treasury the erection
+of a shipbuilding plant to turn out vessels especially designed for that
+purpose. He obtained the consent of the Minister and within a short time
+the plan was realized.
+
+This dockyard for the construction of ships primarily intended for
+revenue service, was at first erected between the fort of la Fuerza and
+la Contaduria (office of the accountant or auditor of the exchequer),
+because that location offered great facilities to lower the vessels
+directly from the rocks to the sea. But as soon as the superiority of
+the ships built in Havana over those produced in Spain became manifest,
+owing to the excellent quality of the timber used, it was at once
+decided to extend the dockyard and it was moved to the extreme southern
+part of the city where it occupied a space of one-fourth of a league,
+near the walls with the batements and buttresses, which added much to
+its solidity and beauty. There within a few years were built all kinds
+of ships, from revenue cutters to warships intended to strengthen the
+Armada. In time the plant turned out large numbers of vessels. According
+to Valdes there were built between the years 1724 and 1796 forty-nine
+ships, twenty-two frigates, seven paquebots, nine brigantines, fourteen
+schooners, four ganguiles (barges used in the coasting-trade, lighters)
+and four pontones (pontoons or mud-scows, flat bottomed boats, furnished
+with pulleys and implements to clean harbors); in all one hundred and
+nine vessels.
+
+This shipyard and the fortifications which were being steadily improved
+were found of invaluable service in the year 1726, when a break between
+Spain and England occurred and a British fleet appeared in the Antilles.
+So alarmed was King Philip V. by the news of the danger of British
+invasion which threatened Cuba, that he immediately ordered D. Gregorio
+Guazo, who had in the meantime been entrusted with the superior military
+government of the Antilles and Central America, to adopt measures of
+safety. Guazo accordingly sent the squadron of D. Antonio Gastaneta with
+a force of one thousand men to assist in the defense of Cuba. The
+historians Alcazar and Blanchet report that D. Guazo himself accompanied
+the squadron, fell sick upon his arrival in Havana and died the same
+month. But Valdes records that he died on the thirteenth of August of
+that year in his native town of Ossuna. However, D. Juan de Andrea
+Marshall of Villahemosa seems to have been appointed his successor.
+
+The precautions taken were to be well rewarded. On the twenty-seventh of
+April, 1727, the English squadron under the command of Admiral Hossier
+came in sight and approached the entrance to the harbor of Havana. But
+the population had so effectively prepared the defense of the city, that
+the attack of the British failed. Besides seeing himself defeated by the
+enemy, the Admiral saw with dismay that his crews were decimated by
+fever. Gastaneta was at that time in Vera Cruz and Martinez alone
+carried off the victory over the British forces which after a blockade
+of a month had to retire. Admiral Hossier was so overcome with his
+failure and the loss of his men that he himself died of grief shortly
+after.
+
+The following two years of the governorship of D. Martinez were
+turbulent with the discord of rivals and their factions. The immediate
+cause of these regrettable disturbances was Hoyo Solorzana, the governor
+of Santiago de Cuba. He had some time before taken a prominent part in
+the removal of the treasures lost in el Palmer de Aiz. The charge was
+raised against him that he had appropriated a certain portion of these
+treasures and he was suspended and proceedings were begun against him.
+The case was pending when the accused, who enjoyed great popularity with
+the people, suddenly without the knowledge of the Captain-General or the
+Dominican Audiencia, took possession of the government office in which
+he had formerly exercised his official functions. The authorities were
+indignant and sent a complaint to his Majesty in Madrid. When the reply
+arrived a few months later, it ordered his immediate removal from
+office, annulled his earlier appointment and demanded that he be sent to
+Madrid. The commander-in-chief took steps for his removal, but the
+municipal government claimed that the cause could not be pursued as long
+as an appeal was pending. Governor Martinez, too, waited with the
+execution of the royal decree in order to learn what decision the
+Ayuntamento of Havana would take. But the latter was kindly disposed to
+Hoyo Solorzano, remembering the undeniable services he had rendered the
+city.
+
+Both sides held stubbornly to their opinions and the lawyers also could
+not be swayed by any arguments. Suddenly there appeared in the harbor of
+Santiago de Cuba a few galleons under command of the chief of the
+squadron, Barlavente, and acting under orders of Fra D. Antonio de
+Escudero. They were to apprehend the governor and his supporters, and
+take them as prisoners to Vera Cruz on the Admiral's ship. True to his
+character and antecedents, Solorzano bravely defended himself and with
+the help of his adherents managed to elude his pursuers and to escape to
+the country. After visiting places where many of his friends lived, he
+ventured into Puerto Principe, whose inhabitants were such loyal
+partisans of his that they decided upon protecting him arms in hand. A
+detachment of troops had been sent from Havana and surrounded the house
+in which Solorzano was staying. They succeeded in crushing the riotous
+demonstrations in his favor and seized him. Manacled and chained he was
+taken to el Morro and imprisoned. Although he was evidently the victim
+of misaimed ambition, the court that tried his case condemned him to
+death.
+
+While these unpleasant events were agitating the official circles of the
+island, the people saw in the year 1728 one of the most ardent desires
+of the ambitious youth of Cuba attain fulfillment. This was the
+foundation of the University. Hitherto, it was necessary for young men
+desiring a superior and especially a scientific education to attend the
+universities of Mexico, Santo Domingo or Seville. With the opening of
+this institution of learning in the metropolis of the island, Havana,
+the intellectual life received a strong impulse. The credit for having
+secured the permission to open this university is due to the Dominican
+order which was mainly instrumental in promoting the cause of education
+in Latin America and especially the West Indies. The University was
+opened in the convent of Havana by virtue of a bull issued by Pope
+Innocent XIII. and in accord with the royal order of March fourteenth,
+1732. The event was celebrated by brilliant decoration and illumination
+of the principal thoroughfares and buildings of the city and by festive
+gatherings and banquets, as also by dignified and solemn ceremonies in
+the building itself.
+
+The first rector of the University was Fra Tomas de Linares. According
+to the custom of the period and the country the rector, vice-rector and
+assistants were all selected from the clergy. The curriculum comprised
+courses in grammar, rhetoric, mathematics, philosophy, theology, canons
+of economic laws, jurisprudence and medicine. But it seems strange that
+for a number of years no professor could be found to occupy the chair of
+mathematics. The peripatetic system prevailed. After two years of
+existence the university won such hearty approbation from the king that
+it was granted by royal decree of the twenty-seventh of June, 1734, the
+same concessions and prerogatives as were accorded to the University of
+Alcala. In the year 1733 Cuba lost her most revered and beloved
+spiritual leader, Bishop Valdes, who expired on the twenty-ninth of
+March. He lived in the memory of many generations that followed not only
+by the many parishes which he had founded in the smaller towns and rural
+districts, and by the seminary of San Baulie el Magne, which he had
+called into being, but also by his many personal virtues that had
+endeared him to his people.
+
+An important innovation was made at this period concerning land tenure.
+The Ayuntamentos or municipal corporations started to rent lands, that
+is to give them in usufructu for the pasturing of cattle, to swine
+herds, for labor or as ground plots. The person receiving such a grant
+paid to the propios (estates or lands belonging to the city or civic
+corporation) six ducats annually for the first, four for the second, and
+two for the others. The land-surveyor, D. Luis de la Pena, resolved to
+give a plot of land in the radius of two leagues to the haciendas that
+raised black cattle, called hatos, and to the raisers of hogs, cordos or
+corroles (enclosures within which cattle is held). But there was such a
+lack of precision in determining the boundaries of the lands covered by
+these concessions, that one overlapped the others and caused innumerable
+heated lawsuits. The abuses committed by the corporation concerned in
+these land deals, finally caused the king to strip these bodies of the
+power of renting the lands. This important royal decree was according
+to the historian Pezuela dated 1727, according to La Torre 1729.
+
+The copper-mines of Cuba which had during the second half of the
+seventeenth century been totally abandoned, but had been reopened in the
+year 1705 under the direction of D. Sabastian de Arancibia and D.
+Francisco Delgado, once more disappointed those interested in that
+investment and yielding little profit were closed. The result was very
+disastrous for the men that had been employed in the mines. For when
+they found themselves without work, they began to lead a sort of
+unrestrained life, which caused unrest and disturbances. In the year
+1731, the governor of Santiago de Cuba, D. Pedro Jiminez, decided to put
+an end to this idleness and without warning imposed upon them hard
+labor. This the men resented and rebelled. After considerable
+difficulty, the gentle exhortations of the Canonicus Morrell of Santa
+Cruz prevailed and succeeded in appeasing the men, who took up other
+work.
+
+In other parts of the island there occurred about this time uprisings of
+the slaves, which required the use of force and led to no little
+bloodshed before they could be suppressed. One of these revolts on the
+plantation Quiebra Hache and some on other neighboring haciendas led to
+the foundation of Santa Maria del Rosario. It was D. Jose Bayona Chacon,
+Conde de Casa-Bayona, who conceived the idea that the existence of a
+white population in the heart of the mutinous district might help to
+keep the negroes submissive. He asked the king's permission to establish
+a town on the land of said plantation and of the Jiaraco corral, which
+were all his property, and asked for manorial grants, civil and criminal
+jurisdiction, that is the right to appoint alcaldes (ordinary judges),
+eight aldermen and as many other officials of the court as were needed.
+King Philip, remembering the services D. Bayona Chacon had rendered the
+island, granted this request in the year 1732, and D. Bayona or Conde
+(count) Casa-Bayona settled thirty families on the place, which was
+henceforth called Santa Maria del Rosario.
+
+The last years of the governorship of D. Martinez were undisturbed by
+strife either from within or without, and Cuba prospered during that
+brief spell of peace and quiet. But he did not delude himself by
+imagining Cuba safe from further disturbances, either of her internal
+conditions or her relations to her enemies. Like his predecessors he
+continued to add to the fortifications, as is proved by an inscription
+on the gate of la Punta, which reads:
+
+     Reinando en Espana Don Felipe V. El Animoso y Siendo Gobernador y
+     Captan General de Esta Plaza E Isla de Cuba El Brigadier Don
+     Dionisio Martinez de la Vega, se Hiciron Estas Bovedas, Almacenes,
+     Terraplenes, Y Muralla Hasta San Telmo; Se Acabo La Murella Y
+     Baluartes Desde El Angel Hasta El Colateral De La Puerta de Tierra
+     Y Desde El Anguilo De la Tonaza Hasta El Otro Colatoral; Se Puso En
+     Estado y con Respeto La Artilleria; Se Hizo La Caldaza, Y En El
+     Real Artillero Navios De Guerra Y Tres Paquebotos, Con Otras Obras
+     Menores; Y Lo Gueda Continua do Por Marzo de 1731 Con 220 Esclavos
+     De S. M. Que Con Su Arbotrio Ha Puesto En Las Reales Fabrica.
+
+     (While King Philip V. the Brave reigned in Spain and the Brigadier
+     Don Dioniosio Martinez de la Vega was Governor of this place and
+     the island of Cuba, there were built three vaults, stores, terraces
+     and a wall as far as Telma, were finished the wall and bastions
+     from El Angel unto the Colateral of the Gate of Tierra, and from
+     the corner of the tenaillo unto the other collateral; was set up in
+     good condition the artillery; was constructed the high road and
+     were built in the royal dockyard war vessels and three packet-boats
+     and minor ships; and this was continued in March, 1730, with 200
+     slaves of his Majesty, who deigned to have them placed in the royal
+     shops.)
+
+Accounts of foreigners that traveled in the West Indies and visited Cuba
+during this period give glimpses of the cities and the life therein
+which are interesting reading. John Campbell, the author of "The
+Spanish Empire in America" and "A Concise History of Spanish America,"
+published in London in the year 1747, says in the latter book, in the
+description of Havana:
+
+     "The Buildings are fair, but not high, built of Stone and make a
+     very good appearance, though it is said they are but meanly
+     furnished. There are eleven Churches and Monasteries and two
+     handsome hospitals. The Churches are rich and magnificent; that
+     dedicated to St. Clara having seven Altars, all adorned with Plate
+     to a great Value; And the Monastery adjoining contains a hundred
+     Nuns with their Servants, all habited in Blue. It is not, as some
+     have reported, a Bishop's see, though the Bishop generally resides
+     there. But the Cathedral is at St. Jago, and the Revenue of this
+     Prelate not less than fifty thousand Pieces of Eight per Annum.
+     Authors differ exceedingly as to the Number of Inhabitants in this
+     City. A Spanish Writer, who was there in 1700 and who had Reason to
+     be well acquainted with the Place, computed them at twenty-six
+     thousand, and we may well suppose that they are increased since.
+     They are a more polite and sociable People than the Inhabitants of
+     any of the Ports on the Continent, and of late imitate the French
+     both in their Dress and their Manner."
+
+The Spanish historian, Emilio Blanchet, also limns a picture of life in
+Havana about this time. Always inclined to express their feelings of joy
+or of sorrow in a rather demonstrative manner, every national event of
+some importance gave occasion for festivities that lasted sometimes
+several days, and in one instance almost a whole month. This
+extraordinary example of Cuban delight in great public celebrations
+occurred in the year 1735 in Villaclara. The recent victories of Spain
+in Italy and the ascension of Carlos to the Neapolitan crown were
+celebrated in that town from the first to the twenty-second of February.
+Of course, the national sport of bull-fights figured largely in the
+program of this month of festivities; but there were also equestrian
+contests, military games, processions and cavalcades, and for the first
+time in Cuban history, dramatic performances. Besides such unusual
+occasions as the celebration of a victory, the numerous church festivals
+also encouraged the people's love of more or less ceremonial display and
+solemn public functions. The eyes of the people loved to feast upon the
+processions on foot or on horseback which took place on various saints'
+days, especially on the days of St. John, St. Peter, St. James and St.
+Anna.
+
+The British writer quoted above was right in saying that the Cubans
+emulated the example and followed the models of the French in the dress
+of the period. For Blanchet gives a description of the dress of the
+Cuban women of that time, which evokes before the reader visions of the
+elaborate costumes inseparable from the period of Louis XIV. The Spanish
+historian dwells at some detail upon the gorgeous dresses of the wealthy
+women of Cuba. There were gowns with long, sweeping trains, the material
+of which was mostly a heavy brocade silk, interwoven with threads of
+gold or silver, trimmed with taffeta in sky blue or crimson. Other
+material was trimmed with gold or silver braids. The belt generally of
+rose taffeta joined the waist to the skirt. The hair was adorned with a
+large silver or gold pin which held the folds of a richly trimmed
+mantilla, also either of brocade or some lighter tissue, gracefully
+falling back over the shoulders. The undergarments were of silk taffeta,
+all of these materials being flowered or checkered and interwoven with
+threads of gold. Velvet was also used in the fashioning of vestees and
+jackets. Cloaks, capes and redingotes were either of camelot or barocan,
+or of some other fine cloth. Pink was the favorite color. Laces and
+embroideries were used on the dress of both men and women. No cavalier
+was without a frill. The use of powder for the face and hair was quite
+common, and the powdered queue was as indispensable to the costume of a
+cavalier as the buckled shoe.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER II
+
+
+When Governor Martinez de la Vega was promoted to the post of President
+and Captain-General of Panama, there was appointed in his place, as the
+thirty-sixth governor of Cuba, Fieldmarshal D. Juan Francisco Guemez y
+Horcasitas, a native of Oviedo and son of Baron de Guemez. Valdes
+remarks that during his administration was born his son D. Juan, who
+seems to have been also actively engaged in public life. Guemez was
+governor of Cuba long enough to occupy a prominent place in the
+chronicles of the island. He was inaugurated on the eighteenth of March,
+1734, and continued in office until the twenty-eighth of April, 1746.
+Guemez entered upon the political and military administration
+simultaneously with the Franciscan padre D. Juan Lasso de la Vega, who
+assumed the spiritual leadership of the people as successor to Bishop
+Valdez. During his governorship, the Municipio of Havana was organized,
+and Santiago de Cuba being for the first time subordinated to his
+authority, Havana became virtually the capital of the island, and one of
+the most important of Spanish America. In that civic corporation, a very
+prominent member was the Habanero D. Jose Martin Felix de Arrate, who
+wrote a valuable history of Havana under the title "Llave del Nuevo
+Mundo, Antemural de las Indias Occidentales, la Habana descriptiva:
+Noticias de su fundacion, aumentos y Estado."
+
+Governor Guemez introduced some measures of reform which tended to
+appease the discontent occasioned by previous abuses of municipal power.
+One of these was the rigid enforcement of the royal decree which forbade
+the ayuntamentos to trade in land. He also improved the functioning of
+the primary courts called Justicias ordinarias; for a great deal of
+disorder was caused by the fact that their decisions were rarely
+promptly obeyed. He associated with them the tenentes a guerra, military
+lieutenants, whose authority was more likely to be respected. One of
+these, the Captain of militia D. Jose Antonio Gomez, was sent to the
+salt works of Punta Hicacos and Cayo Sal, where much confusion had
+reigned, to regulate the salt production, and insure an efficient
+functioning of the organization concerned in it. He became later known
+as a famous guerillero, a civilian serving in guerilla warfare, and was
+familiarly called by the people Pepe Antonio.
+
+During this administration some very important work was done towards
+sanitation. Guemez succeeded in having the harbor thoroughly dredged; by
+urgent appeals to the residents he secured the removal from the streets
+of all encumbrances of traffic and insisted upon having them regularly
+cleaned. It can be justly said that, if the standard of public health in
+Cuba was raised at this period, it was undoubtedly due to his efforts.
+Nor was he indifferent to the extortion practiced upon the poorer
+inhabitants by unscrupulous landlords and shopkeepers, one of his
+ordinances to that effect regulating the prices at which provisions were
+to be sold by the grocers and thus insuring a proper and sufficient
+supply of these necessities to the population which otherwise would have
+been underfed. He was also the first governor of Cuba who paid attention
+to the island's forests and curbed the operations of the thieves that
+ravaged them. Of course such measures were bound to be resented by those
+elements who had previously profited from the freedom with which they
+could carry on their trade regardless of human equity and public
+welfare; and although the administration of Guemez was one of great
+material prosperity for the people, he did not escape the fate that
+befell so many of his predecessors, that of being made the target of
+slanderous accusations. But the government had profited from previous
+experiences of this character, that of the Marquis de Casa-Torres being
+still remembered; it was no longer inclined to lend so ready an ear to
+charges raised against the governors, and paid no attention to the
+attempts made by his enemies to discredit Guemez in Madrid.
+
+The colonial government was then in charge of D. Jose del Campillo, an
+official of great knowledge and sagacity and of wide experience in
+economic and financial affairs. Many of the improvements that had been
+introduced in Spain by Minister Ori were through D. Campillo's efforts
+now applied to the colonies in America. Among these valuable innovations
+were the regulation of the revenues, the reduction of import and export
+duties, and the distribution of the realenzes or royal patrimonies. But
+equally important was the creation of royal commissions to inquire into
+the state, the resources and needs of the provinces, and to organize
+industry and commerce upon a sound and equitable basis.
+
+On the other hand it cannot be denied that powerful influences were at
+work to secure privileges for private corporations, which in a measure
+threatened to undo what those commissions attained. The organization
+which came into being in Havana in the year 1740 under the name Real
+Compania de Comercio under the patronage of the Virgin del Rosario, was
+such a corporation and it seems doubtful whether the privileges it
+enjoyed and the profits that accrued from them did not outweigh the
+advantages which were promised to the colony. The company was given a
+general monopoly, including the exclusive right of exportation of
+tobacco and sugar; it had the right of importation of articles of
+consumption in the island without paying custom on goods imported into
+the interior. Of course, it pledged itself on its part to render the
+community certain services which should not be underestimated. It was to
+build in its dockyards vessels of war and of trade; to supply the
+warships anchored in the harbor with provisions for their crews; to
+furnish ten armed vessels for the persecution of contraband; and for the
+transportation of the country's products to the port of Cadiz; to bring
+from Spain the ammunition needed in Cuba; to provision the garrison of
+Florida; and to furnish articles of equipment to the weather-side fleet.
+
+The Captain-General himself was given the office of Juez conservador
+(judge conservator). The first president of the company was D. Martin de
+Aroztegui. The organizers had at first counted upon a capital of one
+million pesos, but it barely exceeded nine hundred thousand. Each share
+was valued at five hundred duros (dollars) and eight shares were
+required to entitle the holder to a vote in the general conventions.
+There were at first five directors in all, but they were gradually
+reduced to two only. Some historians had warm praise for the work of the
+company, among them Arrate, who with many others was preoccupied by the
+economic interests and the commercial progress of the community. But
+there is no doubt that at the end it did not bring about the results
+that had been expected. During twenty years of its existence Cuba
+derived no tangible benefit. The importation of goods from Spain did not
+amount to more than three vessels annually. The exports amounted to less
+than twenty-one thousand arrobas of sugar (a weight of twenty-five
+pounds of sixteen ounces each).
+
+Governor Guemez was not oblivious to the dangers forever menacing the
+security and the peace of the island. He made great improvements on the
+batteries of el Morro; he had parts of the city walls, which ran from la
+Tenaze to Paula, demolished, and rebuilt of better material; he had the
+walls on the inland side re-enforced so as to offer greater resistance
+in case of attack by enemies. To all these improvements the citizens of
+Havana contributed generously; they furnished ten thousand peons
+(day-laborers) and as many beasts of burden to do the work. Guemez also
+built factories in the parish of El Jaguey on the other side of the bay
+and established the first powder magazine on the coast. During the
+latter part of his administration, in the year 1743, the town of
+Guanabacoa received its charter. The following year, 1744, is memorable
+in the history of Cuba as the year when the first postal service was
+organized. Thus the governorship of D. Guemez proved for the island a
+period of great civic and material progress and prosperity. The peace it
+enjoyed during the earlier years was, however, to be seriously disturbed
+later on.
+
+For even towards the end of the administration of D. Martinez de la Vega
+clouds had arisen upon the political horizon of Europe which had begun
+to cast their shadows over the colonies. The slave-trade sanctioned by
+the famous Assiento agreement gave rise to more and more serious tension
+between the governments of England and of Spain. In order to execute
+that part of the Treaty of Utrecht which related to the importation of
+negro slaves into Spanish America, the British government had encouraged
+the formation of a company, the Compania de la Mar del Sud, or South Sea
+Company, which was to act as agent of the assientists. It consisted of
+men holding the large national debt of Great Britain and had received a
+grant for the exclusive trade of the South Seas. But since Spain was in
+possession of a great proportion of the coast in that part of the world
+and had so far enjoyed a monopoly of its trade, the South Sea Company
+derived no benefit from that grant, unless the commercial activity of
+Spanish America could be paralyzed. The slave-trade with its clandestine
+opportunities for contraband, offered the South Sea Company
+possibilities to undermine Spanish trade. The slavers, as the
+slave-carrying vessels were called, being protected by passports issued
+by their contractors, were not slow in getting into communication with
+those elements in the Spanish colonies that placed their personal profit
+above their duty to the country under the protection of which they
+lived, and had no difficulty in delivering cargoes of divers merchandise
+while they unloaded their human freight. Moreover they never returned to
+Europe in ballast, but carried a correspondingly large cargo of West
+Indian goods of which they disposed in European ports.
+
+Spain had repeatedly entered complaints against these scandalously
+dishonest operations upon the coasts of Spanish America, but Great
+Britain was then not in the mood to concern herself with problems of
+international ethics. The enormous profits that the trade in negro
+slaves had brought to investors in that enterprise had dimmed their
+sense of honor. Queen Anne herself had in a speech to the parliament
+boasted of having secured to the British a new market for slaves in
+Spanish America. A considerable part of the population of Jamaica lived
+exclusively on the profits of this traffic between the Spanish-American
+harbors. The vessel which the British according to the Assiento were
+allowed to send annually to Portobello was soon followed at a certain
+distance by a fleet of smaller ships that approached the harbor at night
+and replaced the cargo that had been unloaded by day. Frequently the
+slavers would appeal to the human feelings of the officials in
+Spanish-American ports and with stories of shipwreck and damages
+sustained in hurricanes induce them to desist from the customary
+inspection of every foreign vessel. The effect of these manoeuvers was
+the complete extinction of Spanish commerce. While the tonnage of the
+fleet of Cadiz had formerly reached sixteen thousand, it was reduced at
+the beginning of the eighteenth century to two thousand.
+
+But the reclamations of Spain were not heeded. Great Britain, then in a
+mad fever for the acquisition of wealth, was intoxicated with the rich
+profits it was deriving from the operations in the West Indies and other
+parts of Spanish America. It not only wished to continue these, but it
+also tried to bring about war between the two countries. As Guiteras
+says, and Bancroft expresses the same ideas in his second volume of his
+"History of the United States," the war which was on the point of
+breaking out was not about the right to cut the timber of Campeche in
+the Bay of Honduras, nor because of the difference between the King of
+Spain and the South Sea Company, nor about the disputed frontiers of
+Florida. All these questions could have been easily settled. The sole
+aim and end was to compel Spain to renounce her right of inspecting or
+examining suspected merchant vessels that cruised in the Antilles, in
+order that Great Britain might extend her insidious operations.
+
+After much deliberation on both sides, an instrument was drawn up and
+signed, in which the mutual claims for damages sustained in the overseas
+commerce were balanced and settled. The king of Spain demanded from the
+South Sea Company sixty-eight thousand pounds as his share of their
+profits, in the slave-trade; on the other hand he paid to the British
+merchants as indemnity for losses caused by unwarranted seizures the
+sum of ninety-five pounds. The question with regard to the boundaries of
+Florida was also disposed of; it was agreed that both nations were to
+retain the land then in their possession, until a duly appointed
+commission should determine the exact boundaries, which meant that Great
+Britain would hold jurisdiction over the country to the mouth of St.
+Mary's River.
+
+The discussion about this agreement in the British parliament did not
+add to the glory of the United Kingdom. Walpole spoke in favor of its
+acceptance, saying "It requires no great abilities in a minister to
+pursue such measures as make a war unavoidable. But how many ministers
+have known the art of avoiding war by making a safe and honorable
+peace?" The Duke of Newcastle, not credited with too much intelligence,
+opposed the measure. William Pitt, Pulteny and others sided with him.
+The opposition finally triumphed. Bancroft says of this disgraceful
+termination of a conference intended to seek equitable solution of a
+most harassing international problem:
+
+     "In an ill hour for herself, in a happy one for America, England,
+     on the twenty-third of October, 1639, declared war against Spain.
+     If the rightfulness of the European colonial system be conceded,
+     the declaration was a wanton invasion of it for immediate selfish
+     purposes; but, in endeavoring to open the ports of Spanish America
+     to the mercantile enterprise of her own people, she was beginning a
+     war on colonial monopoly, which could not end till American
+     colonies of her own, as well as of Spain, should obtain
+     independence."
+
+Even before this official break between the two countries, the British
+had become guilty of movements that violated Spanish territory.
+
+There is not much said by Spanish historians about the difficulties
+between Florida and the newly planned British colony of Georgia. But
+the dispute about the boundary of Florida ripened into an armed
+conflict, in which Cuban forces assisted those of St. Augustine.
+Oglethorpe, the founder of Georgia, had in the year 1736 endeavored to
+vindicate British rights to territory previously claimed by the
+Spaniards and the opposition of the latter when the British approached
+more and more closely was easily understood. Oglethorpe dispatched
+messengers to St. Augustine and, claiming the St. John's River as the
+southern boundary of the British colony, built Ft. George for defense of
+the British frontier. The messengers were for a time held in St.
+Augustine as prisoners, but eventually released. The dispute was
+temporarily settled by negotiation. But though the British abandoned Ft.
+George, they kept St. Andrew's at the mouth of St. Mary's, which was
+bound to be a perpetual source of irritation to the Spaniards. Two years
+later, according to Blanchet, hostile movements of British ships were
+observed in Cuban waters. He speaks of the _Commodore Brown_ as having,
+by the effective defense which Guemez had prepared, been prevented from
+landing in Bacuranao, Bahia-Honda and other places. With the beginning
+of the war, Guemez was called upon to secure the aprovionamento, the
+provisioning of the island and to insure its security. He received
+efficient assistance from some of his privateers, among them D. Jose
+Cordero and D. Pedro Garaicochea, who valorously fought some British
+vessels and obtained advantages over the British fleets commanded by the
+admirals Bermon and Oglethorpe. D. Jose Hurriaza, too, won some
+victories over the British with his three ships, of the kind called at
+that time guipuzcoanos. He sank one British vessel, captured another and
+anchored safely with his booty in the harbor of San Juan of Puerto
+Rico.
+
+The British war party made capital out of the news of these encounters.
+Exaggerated reports about the cruelty practiced upon British prisoners
+were sent to London. The authorities did not hesitate to call as
+witnesses of victims of such outrages, characters whose words would not
+have received credence at other times. Bancroft quotes the case of a
+notorious smuggler by the name of Jenkins, who accused the enemy of
+having cut off one of his ears, and Pulteny, in order to precipitate the
+issue, exclaimed in parliament: "We have no need of allies to enable us
+to command justice; the story of Jenkins will raise volunteers."
+
+Not only politicians and the ever ready pamphleteers lent their voice to
+the "cause," but even the poets joined the ignoble chorus. Alexander
+Pope wrote in his customary mordant manner:
+
+    "And own the Spaniard did the waggish thing
+    Who cropped our ears, and sent them to the king";
+
+and even Samuel Johnson burst out into the cry:
+
+    "Has Heaven reserved, in pity to the poor,
+    No pathless waste or undiscovered shore,
+    No secret island in the boundless main,
+    No peaceful desert yet unclaimed by Spain?"
+
+Thus was the mood of the moment prepared in the multitude and mass
+psychology did the rest, as it always does in such crises.
+
+About this time occurred an incident, in which Guemez showed his mettle
+as a man, regardless of his official capacity. It is the historian
+Blanchet who has recorded this remarkable example of noble generosity.
+It seems that the British frigate _Elizabeth_, under the command of a
+Captain Edwards, had been caught in a terrible tempest off the coast of
+Cuba and threatened with inevitable shipwreck, sought the protection of
+the harbor. According to the laws of warfare, the Captain surrendered as
+prisoner of war. But Guemez, as acting Captain General, refused to take
+advantage of his misfortune, and not only permitted the vessel to careen
+and take on much-needed supplies, but gave Captain Edwards letters of
+safe-conduct allowing him to continue on his way as far as Bermuda. The
+rivals and enemies of Guemez, who had previously attempted to lodge
+complaints against him with the Consejo de Indias, renewed their
+intrigues and cabals, aimed at robbing him of the good name he enjoyed
+in Cuba as in Madrid, and accused him of all sorts of misdemeanors and
+abuses. But they failed in ruining his career. He was made
+lieutenant-general and on his retirement from the governorship was given
+the rank and title of Conde (count) de Revillagigedo and appointed
+Viceroy of New Spain. He died in Madrid as commander-in-chief of the
+army at the ripe old age of eighty-six years.
+
+However great were the services rendered by D. Guemez y Horcasitas to
+Cuba, the conflicting rumors attacking his character must have had some
+foundation. Perhaps the impression the governor made upon a French
+traveler, who visited Havana at this time and was on board the vessel
+which took him to Mexico, may add some traits to his portrait. M.
+Villiet d'Arignon is quoted in Pierre Jean Baptiste Nougaret's "Voyages
+interessans" as saying:
+
+     "D. Juan Orcazita had been appointed to this important post on
+     account of the sums he had lavishly spent at the court of Madrid.
+     One could say that he bought it. The immense fortune he made during
+     his governorship soon enabled him to turn his eyes to a higher
+     goal. Everything depended upon contributions. So he in a short time
+     amassed considerable sums, which from a simple civilian raised him
+     to the highest rank ambition could aspire to. We shall see that he
+     continued the same tactics in Mexico and profited even more, the
+     country being wealthier. Orcazita was a man of some height, rather
+     handsome, but of a mediocre intelligence, and had no ambition
+     except for spoils. This was the viceroy given to Mexico, whither
+     his reputation had preceded him. For the inhabitants soon made fun
+     of his, and circulated this uncomplimentary nickname which sounds
+     better in Spanish than in French: 'Non es Conde, ni Marquis, Juan
+     es,' which means that he was neither count, nor Marquis, but simply
+     'Juan.' In fact he was not a man of birth, and he owed all he had
+     to his money."
+
+In the meantime Great Britain's preparations for the war resulted in the
+sending over to Spanish America of two fleets. The one under Edward
+Vernon was commanded to make an attack upon Chagres, east of the Isthmus
+of Darien; the other one, considerably smaller, under the command of
+Commodore Anson, was to begin operations in the Pacific. But a series of
+unfortunate accidents made it impossible for him to cooperate with
+Vernon, as he was expected to do. He encountered terrible gales, which
+disabled and scattered his ships, one by one, and after many romantic
+adventures which were set forth by a member of the expedition in a very
+readable book, he returned to England with a single vessel, but one
+richly laden with spoils acquired in pirate fashion. Edward Vernon,
+whose experiences have also been recorded in a volume, giving
+interesting details of his expedition, arrived at Portobello in
+November, 1739. He had under his command six war ships and a
+well-equipped force of trained men, and on the twenty-second of the
+month launched an attack. The garrison was so small and poorly prepared
+that he forced it to capitulate on the very next day. The British lost
+only seven men in the engagement and found themselves in the possession
+of the place. Vernon dismantled the fortifications and returned to
+Jamaica with a booty of ten thousand pesos. Expecting to be joined by
+Anson, he went to Chagres early in January, succeeded in forcing that
+port, too, to surrender, and after having demolished it, returned to
+Jamaica, and rested from his easily won victory, which the party
+opposing Walpole celebrated in London as a most heroic exploit.
+
+The greatest armed force that had yet been seen in West Indian waters
+had in the mean time sailed from England to join the expedition of
+Vernon. It consisted not only of British troops, but had been reenforced
+by recruits from the colonies north of Carolina. Its commander was Lord
+Cathcart, who, when they stopped to take on fresh water in Dominica, was
+taken violently ill with a malignant fever and succumbed. His death was
+a disastrous blow to the British, for it destroyed the unity of command
+which is indispensable for the success of military operations.
+Cathcart's successor was Wentworth, who not only lacked experience and
+firmness, but was a political opponent of the impulsive, irritable
+Vernon. Thus the enterprise seemed to be at the outset doomed to failure
+owing to the rivalry and the discord of the leaders. The fleet under
+their command consisted of twenty-nine line ships, eighty smaller
+vessels with a crew of fifteen thousand sailors and a land force of
+twelve thousand men.
+
+The expedition set sail from Jamaica without having agreed upon any
+definite plan of attack. Havana was the nearest point at which
+operations should be directed and besides her conquest would have given
+Great Britain supremacy over the Gulf. But Admiral Vernon saw everything
+only in the light of his own advantages and decided to go in search of
+the French and Spanish squadrons, without taking trouble to inform
+himself whether they had not already left. Finally a war council was
+held and it was decided to make an assault upon the tower of Cartagena.
+The squadron appeared before the city on the fourth of March and after
+a siege of twenty-two days succeeded in capturing the fort of Bocachica
+at the entrance of the harbor. Admiral Wentworth then made preparations
+to take the fort of San Lazare, which dominated the city. He planned to
+attack it with a force of two thousand men, but half of them,
+misunderstanding his directions, remained in camp. The squadron, too,
+failed to come to his assistance in time, and after a complete defeat he
+was forced to retire. Before the British had a chance to recover from
+the effects of this disaster, caused mainly by the lack of harmonious
+cooperation between their commanders, the rainy season set in. With it
+came the usual epidemic of tropical fever and alarmingly decimated the
+forces of the British. The blockade was for the time being abandoned and
+the survivors of the expedition returned to Jamaica.
+
+Admiral Vernon resumed the plan in July, 1741, and arrived in the bay of
+Guantanamo on the coast of Cuba with a force of three thousand men and
+about one thousand negroes. He landed and then moved to Santiago with
+the purpose of taking that city. There the governor Colonel Francisco
+Cagigal prepared for him an unexpectedly hot reception. He divided his
+people into small detachment of trained troops, militia and armed
+inhabitants, and placed himself at their head. His example and the care
+with which he had calculated the defense inspired the people with the
+will to win and they plunged with zest into the fight with the invaders.
+Never for a moment stopping in their furious assaults upon the British,
+the forces of Admiral Vernon were decimated in the endless series of
+attacks and counter attacks. The climate, too, was against the British,
+and they were forced to retire. Vernon left the island with the
+remainder of his men and abandoned large stores of provisions and
+ammunition, which Governor Cagigal appropriated amid the enthusiastic
+acclamation of the brave citizens.
+
+Thus ended according to the reports of Guiteras and other Spanish
+historians the British expedition which had started out with the
+intention of conquering not only the Spanish West Indies, but Mexico and
+Peru as well. British arrogance and greed had for the moment received a
+well-earned lesson. The fleet retired to Jamaica towards the end of
+November. When a survey of the state of both the naval and military
+forces was made, it was found that the British had lost some twenty
+thousand men. During all the time that these fights took place, commerce
+with the Spanish colonies had of necessity been suspended. The
+importation of negroes had ceased. Smuggling had considerably decreased.
+Spanish privateers lay in wait and intercepted the British merchant
+vessels, whose cargoes were triumphantly brought to Spanish ports. Great
+Britain, on the contrary, had not conquered a single Spanish possession
+and the damage caused to her commerce was far greater than that which
+Spanish America had suffered.
+
+In the meantime, the undaunted Oglethorpe had once more decided to
+challenge the Spanish neighbor in Florida, and encouraged by the British
+authorities marched upon St. Augustine. He had six hundred regular
+troops, four hundred militia from Carolina and two hundred Indians, and
+set out on his expedition in January, 1740. But the garrison of the old
+town, under the command of the able Monteaco, was prepared and had also
+secured reenforcements. Five weeks lasted the siege; the troops of
+Oglethorpe lost patience and courage, failure staring them in the face.
+When they threatened to abandon him, he retired without even being
+pursued by the enemy. After this provocation the Spanish authorities
+felt forced to retaliate and decided upon an invasion of Georgia. A
+large fleet with troops from Cuba joined the forces of the Florida
+settlement. They arrived at the mouth of St. Mary's, where Oglethorpe
+had built Ft. William, in the first days of July. But Oglethorpe
+succeeded in retaining his hold upon that place, though his forces had
+to retire. The Spanish took possession of their abandoned camps, but on
+the seventh of July, when they were attempting to advance towards the
+town on a road which skirted a swamp on one side and a dense wood of
+brush-oak on the other, they were surprised by Oglethorpe and the fight
+which ensued was so fierce, and caused such a great loss of life, that
+the spot has ever since been known as Bloody Marsh. Another attack was
+made upon Fort William, but being again repulsed, the Spanish forces
+retired, abandoning a quantity of ammunition.
+
+When Guemez of Cuba was promoted to the vice-regency of New Spain, he
+had been succeeded by Field Marshal D. Juan Antonio Tines y Fuertes, who
+was inaugurated on the twenty-second of April, 1746, but died on the
+twenty-first of July of the same year. In spite of his very brief term
+of service, he is remembered according to Valdes for having been the
+first governor to whom it occurred to do something for the confinement
+and possible reform of dissolute women. He is said to have founded for
+that purpose the Casa de Resorgimento, which seems to have been both a
+home and a reform school. He was temporarily replaced by Colonel D.
+Diego de Penalosa. About the name and exact date of his interim
+administration there seems to exist some confusion, some historians
+placing him immediately after Martinez de la Vega. Valdes says he was
+Tenente-Rey in 1738, assumed the functions of provisional governorship
+at the death of Fuentes, and upon the arrival of the newly appointed
+governor, was sent to Vera Cruz as Brigadier General. Blanchet, too,
+calls him Penalosa; but Alcazar gives his name as Penalver. However,
+Penalosa or Penalver enjoyed during his brief administration the
+privilege of proclaiming the ascension of Fernando VI. to the throne of
+Spain.
+
+King Philip V., who had so reluctantly been dragged into the war with
+England, did not live long after the victory of Santiago had temporarily
+checked the designs of Great Britain. He had died on the ninth of July,
+1746, and his crown descended to his son Fernando, an amiable and
+virtuous prince. King Fernando VI. was also inclined to follow a
+peaceful policy. He promptly settled the foreign questions that called
+for attention at this time, and tried his best to enter into and
+maintain friendly relations with all foreign powers. He aimed at the
+preservation of Spanish neutrality in the European wars of the period,
+being most deeply concerned with developing the national wealth. The
+brilliant festivities with which Cuba celebrated Fernando's coronation
+gave proof of the love his subjects even in Spanish America had
+conceived for him before he ascended the throne.
+
+After the brief administrations of Fuentes and Penalosa, a new governor
+was appointed in Madrid and the choice fell upon D. Francisco Cagigal de
+la Vega, Knight of the order of Santiago. The brave defender of his town
+against the attack of Admiral Vernon had since that experience
+ingratiated himself with his people by other equally commendable
+exploits. With the cooperation of his valiant seamen Regio Espinela and
+D. Vicenzo Lopez, he had repulsed many an aggressive manoeuver of the
+British fleet in Cuban waters, until the signing of the peace of
+Aix-la-Chapelle. Cagigal was a personality of quite different calibre
+from Guemez. While the latter had been singularly open and sincere for a
+man in an official position, Cagigal was endowed with a suavity of
+manner which concealed his keen shrewdness. He had after the defeat of
+Admiral Vernon been created Field Marshal and was certainly the right
+man for his place.
+
+His inauguration occurred on the ninth of June, 1747, and from that day
+Cagigal entered upon his duties with the energy and perseverance that
+had characterized his previous career. Seriously concerned with the
+defenses of Havana, he had the battery of la Pastora finished, which had
+been begun long before him, and upon his urgent request the king ordered
+a citadel to be built on the mountain-side of la Cabana. He also had the
+Barlovento (weather-side) fleet removed from the port of Vera Cruz to
+that of Havana. The activity of the ship-building plant of Havana was
+remarkable during his administration. In the thirteen years of his
+governorship it turned out seven line ships, one frigate, one brig and
+one packet-boat and kept in steady work a great number of laborers.
+Cagigal improved the fort of la Fuerza by having a reception hall built
+on the seaward side, which was surrounded by a row of balconies. The
+interior was sumptuously decorated with medallions and escutcheons in
+bas-relief. He was much interested in the work of the Commercial Company
+which had been organized during the administration of Guemez; its
+capital at this time was nine hundred thousand pesos, with shares of one
+hundred pesos each, and there was declared in 1760 a dividend of thirty
+per cent. on each share.
+
+Before the signing of the peace of Aix-la-Chapelle became known in
+America there was a serious engagement between the British fleet and the
+Spanish on the twelfth of October, 1747, a league off Havana. There
+were six vessels on each side, the Spanish under the command of General
+Andreas Reggio, the British under that of Admiral Knowles. The Spanish
+opened fire at three o'clock in the afternoon and a furious battle took
+place which lasted for full six hours. The forces of both sustained
+heavy losses, computed approximately at one thousand men on each side,
+and when the firing ceased, neither could claim a decisive victory. The
+British fleet retired and the Spanish returned to Havana.
+
+The efficient management of the island's affairs during the
+administrations of Guemez and Cagigal greatly stimulated the initiative
+and enterprise of the Cubans. The first coffee-trees were set out on a
+plantation in the province of Waja by D. Jose Gelabert. Brandy and other
+spirits were distilled. The armory of Vera Cruz having been removed to
+Havana, there was great activity in military circles, and D. Rodrigo de
+Torres was appointed as the first commander of the navy of Cuba.
+
+King Fernando VI. succeeded during the thirteen years of his reign in
+keeping out of the general European war of 1756, in which England and
+Prussia had ranged themselves against Austria, France, Russia, Sweden
+and Poland. He was intent upon building up the resources of the kingdom
+which had been drained by the wars waged by his predecessors and devoted
+his attention to promoting the agriculture, industry and commerce of
+Spain. He was fortunate in the choice of an intelligent wife and of two
+ministers whose wise counsel he could ever depend upon. The Marquis de
+Ensenada, who had risen from a peasant to a banker, financier and
+finally minister of marine, war and finance, enjoyed at first the
+unlimited confidence of the sovereign and the people, but later fell
+into disgrace, because it was discovered that he had sent out secret
+orders to the West Indies to attack the British logwood colony on the
+Mosquito Coast. The other adviser of Fernando VI., D. Jose de Carvajal,
+was a man of quite different stamp, endowed with common sense, sound
+judgment, pure of morals and as just as he was incorruptible. But
+Fernando died without direct heir to the throne in the year 1759, and
+his brother, D. Carlos III., succeeded him.
+
+The solemn proclamation of King Carlos III. in the cities of Cuba was
+one of the last acts of the administration of Governor Cagigal. In the
+year 1760, he was promoted to the post of viceroy of Mexico and left the
+affairs of the government in charge of the Tenente-Rey, the King's
+Lieutenant, D. Pedro Alonso. During this provisional government there
+was erected a new sentry-house at the gate of Tierra, as is commemorated
+in the following inscription:
+
+     Reynando La Magesdad de Carlos III Y Siendo Gobernador Y Capitan
+     General de Esta Ciudad E Isla El Coronel D. Pedro Alonso Se
+     Construyo Esta Garita. Ano de 1760.
+
+     In the reign of his Majesty Charles III. and when Colonel D. Pedro
+     Alonzo was Governor and Commander-in-Chief of this town and island
+     was built this sentry-box. In the year 1760.
+
+During this administration died the venerable Cuban prelate D. Juan de
+Conyedo, who as spiritual adviser to individuals and as counselor to
+prominent officials had won the love and esteem of the population as did
+the Bishop Compostela and later the popular Bishop Valdes. Conyedo's
+services to Cuba in the interest of religion, charity and education were
+invaluable. He was especially identified with the growth of Villa Clara,
+where in the year 1712 he had founded a free school for children of both
+sexes and had himself taken charge of the classes. Before he opened this
+school, the people knew absolutely nothing besides the Christian
+doctrine, and the rudiments of reading and writing.
+
+The propaganda of the British war party favoring the conquest of Spanish
+America was in the meantime going on without interruption. When the
+greed of acquisition of territory is once roused in a nation, it is
+difficult to appease it. It enlists in the cause all ranks and
+professions, it employs all means, whether they answer the test of
+international justice and human equity, or not. Art, literature, science
+are harnessed in its service. It is needless to remind of a recent
+example of national mentality and morality gone astray through
+misapplied ambition. The utterances of Pope and Johnson were tame in
+comparison to the hymns of hate following the declaration of the World's
+war, still fresh in our memory.
+
+But, there was another side to this literary activity. It did not always
+appeal to the emotions and stir up feelings. It was also of an
+instructive kind. Just as the Dutch at the time when their attention was
+fixed upon the Spanish possessions of America wrote book upon book
+describing the coveted islands and the coasts of the continent supposed
+to hold inexhaustible riches, so did the British during the eighteenth
+century suddenly conceive an interest in Spanish America which led to
+magazine articles, pamphlets and books dealing with those lands. That
+this literature with its endless descriptions of ports and products was
+intended for the use of mariners venturing forth on legitimate or
+illegitimate business, was evident. All these writers did not fail to
+remark that Havana was the richest town in America, that it had
+magnificent churches and public buildings and that the streets were
+narrow, but clean. But their main concern was to describe the exact
+location of every bay and every harbor: Matanzas, Nipe, Puerto del
+Principe, Santiago, Baracoa, Guantanamo, etc., and their next concern
+was to dwell upon the several products of the country, as tobacco,
+sugar, and others.
+
+One of the most curious books of this kind was "A Voyage to Guinea,
+Brazil and the West Indies," published in London in the year 1735. Its
+author was John Atkins, surgeon of the Royal Navy, and though it
+contained an account of a trip made by him, it very plainly revealed an
+interest in the commerce of the countries visited and in the
+possibilities they offered, which, while natural in a business man, was
+quite surprising in a member of the medical fraternity. After devoting
+considerable space to the products of these southern lands, hurricanes,
+etc., he also discourses at length upon the slave-trade and gives
+interesting glimpses of the manner in which it was conducted. "To give
+dispatch," says he, "cajole the traders with Brandy," and continues:
+"Giving way to the ridiculous Humours and Gestures of the trading
+Negroes is no small artifice for success. If you look strange and are
+niggardly of your Drams, you frighten him. Sambo is gone, he never cares
+to treat with dry lips, and as the Expenses is in English Spirits of two
+Shillings a Gallon, brought partly for this purpose, the good Humour it
+brings them into, is found discounted in the sale of goods." Speaking of
+Cuba, he calls it a very pleasant and flourishing island, the Spanish
+building and improving for posterity without dreaming, as the English
+planters do, of any other homes. But he does not fail to add, "They make
+the best Sugars in the world."
+
+Another publication aiming more directly at the mariners and merchants
+of Great Britain is by one Caleb Smith, called on the title page, the
+inventor of the "New Sea Quadrant." It was printed in 1740 and was a
+translation of Domingo Gonzales Carranza's description of the coasts,
+harbors and sea-ports of the Spanish West Indies. In the curious preface
+he says:
+
+     "The original was brought to England by a Sympathetic prisoner who
+     had been in Havana where he procured it in manuscript and presented
+     it to the Editor as a Testimony of his friendship and respect,"
+
+and the dedication is addressed "to the Merchants of Great Britain, the
+Commanders of Ships, and others who were pleased to subscribe for this
+Treatise."
+
+Thus was the mind of the people perpetually stimulated to look beyond
+the Atlantic for lands and seas which waited to be conquered by British
+prowess; and the defeat of Vernon in Santiago was hardly heeded. In the
+meantime negotiations had been going on between the European powers and
+a convention of their representatives had met at Aix-la-Chapelle to
+settle certain disputes and sign a treaty of peace. England and Spain on
+the one and England and France on the other hand had gained nothing by
+eight years of mutual fighting, but an immense national debt. As at
+other conferences for the establishment of the world's peace much was
+said and after all little was done. For when the document known since as
+the Treaty of Aix-la-Chapelle was signed in 1748, it left some of the
+most harassing problems unsolved. Among them was the frontier of Florida
+and the right of Spanish ships to search British vessels suspected of
+smuggling. The assiente agreement, which had been found so profitable,
+was continued for four more years. In the light of later events the
+treaty was found to be only a makeshift for the moment, and did not
+prevent the outbreak of new hostilities between Great Britain and Spain
+when the ink with which the treaty was signed had barely dried on that
+document.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER III
+
+
+The alliances among the powers of Europe in the middle of the
+seventeenth century and the unsatisfactory settlements of some of the
+most harassing questions in dispute produced a state of unrest and
+tension throughout the world which the clever pourparlers and the
+fascinating fencing bouts of European diplomacy failed to relieve, and
+of which Cuba was destined to feel the effects. In spite of her insular
+isolation Great Britain was closely concerned with the intrigues that
+were being spun at the courts of the continent and were bound sooner or
+later to involve Europe in a new bloody conflict. She had on the one
+hand allied herself with Austria, bribing even some of the South German
+principalities to insure the election of Joseph II. to the throne of the
+Holy Roman Empire, and on the other hand with Russia, which was then a
+newcomer not yet vitally interested in the issues at stake. Both allies
+failed to keep their pledge; Austria turned away to enter into a
+confederacy with France, while Russia passed from one camp to the other.
+The growing ascendancy of Prussia under Frederick II. had long been
+watched with distrust by the immediate neighbors, but by this time even
+those whose territories seemed safe from his acquisitive aggressiveness
+were roused to the realization of the danger it foreboded.
+
+When Saxony and some other German states, Austria, Hungary, Sweden,
+Russia and France combined to check the Prussian's ambitious designs,
+Great Britain, Hanover, Hesse-Cassel and Brunswick became the allies of
+Frederick. Spain with remarkable firmness decided to keep out of the
+general war which broke out in 1756 and, lasting until 1763, was to be
+known in history as The Seven Years' War. Even when Pitt, who was the
+ally of Frederick of Prussia, offered the conditional return of
+Gibraltar and the abandonment of the British settlements on the Mosquito
+Coast and in the Bay of Honduras, Fernando VI. resolutely refused to
+participate.
+
+By this wise policy of non-interference this king secured for Spain a
+period of peace which brought with it a prosperity it had long lacked.
+The country recovered from the losses occasioned by previous wars, and
+when Carlos III. succeeded his father, he found fifteen millions of
+dollars in the treasury. He, too, was determined to keep peace, but the
+stubborn resistance of Great Britain to any equitable settlement of the
+question in dispute between the two countries, and the continual
+violation of international justice by her mariners were hard to bear and
+sorely tried the patience of the people. Bancroft says in his history of
+the United States (Vol. III, p. 264):
+
+"The restitution of the merchant ships, which the English had seized
+before the war, was justly demanded. They were afloat on the ocean,
+under every guarantee of safety; they were the property of private
+citizens, who knew nothing, and could know nothing, of the diplomatic
+disputes of the two countries. The capture was unjustifiable by every
+reason of equity and public law. 'The cannon,' said Pitt, 'has settled
+the question in our favor; and, in the absence of a tribunal, this
+decision is a sentence.'"
+
+It is meet in this place to call attention to the literature called
+forth by Britain's colonial ambitions. Albert Savine, a French writer,
+during the Spanish-American war, wrote an interesting article in the
+_Revue Brittanique_ of Paris (1898, Vol. III, pp. 167 etc.), entitled:
+"Les Anglais dans l'ile de Cuba au dix-huitieme siecle," in which he
+refers to a History of Jamaica by Hans Sloane, published in 1740 and
+translated into French in 1751. This writer brought out the importance
+of Cuba very clearly, saying that no vessel could go to the continent
+without passing that island, that Havana was the general rendezvous of
+the fleet and that for the British to be really lords of the seas
+surrounding them, nothing was needed but Havana. Savine in discussing
+Britain's designs upon Havana, continued:
+
+"The reason for their attack upon Cuba was, as is seen, the commercial
+and military importance of the island, which was at that epoch
+considered a necessary stopping place, a rallying point for the vessels
+going from Spain to America and from America to Spain. To be master of
+Cuba, thought they, was to be master of the road which the Spanish
+galleons followed. This rôle of port of supply and repairs for the
+damages sustained on the sea had made of Havana since the middle of the
+sixteenth century an important arsenal and dockyard, where there were
+continually in process of construction enormous ships destined for
+travel to Spain or South America. From 1747 to 1760 they fitted out
+seven ships of line, a frigate, a brigantine, and a packet-boat. The
+vessels which at the side of our fleet at Trafalgar fought those of
+Nelson had almost all come from the yards of Havana, which used the
+excellent timber of the island, commerce in which has somewhat
+diminished in our century."
+
+The notes and dispatches exchanged between France and Spain on the one,
+and Britain on the other side, prove how the two were slowly forced into
+an alliance against the latter. On the fifteenth of May, France
+presented a memorial asking that England give no help to the king of
+Prussia and simultaneously a paper was presented from Spain, demanding
+indemnity for seizure of ships, the right to fish at Newfoundland and
+the abandonment of the settlements in the Bay of Honduras. On the
+twenty-ninth, England demanded Canada, the fisheries, granting to the
+French a limited concession, unlikely to be of any use, the reduction of
+Dunkirk, half of the neutral islands; Senegal and Goree, which was
+equivalent to a monopoly of the slave trade; Minorca; freedom to give
+help to the king of Prussia; and British supremacy in East India. On the
+fifteenth of August, the French minister Choiseul concluded with Spain
+what was called a family compact, rallying all the Bourbons to check the
+arrogance of Britain. On the same day a special agreement was reached
+between France and Spain, empowering the latter, unless peace were
+concluded between France and England before the first of May, 1762, to
+declare war against England.
+
+Guiteras in his "Historia de la Isla de Cuba" has set forth the position
+of Spain at this time and her relation to France, which led to the
+famous alliance known as the Family Pact. He says justly, that the
+general interests of the nation demanded from Carlos III. the
+continuation of the strict neutrality which his brother had pursued in
+this war; for by that neutrality the commerce and general welfare of
+Spain had derived great benefits. But personal motives of resentment
+against England and of esteem and gratitude for Louis XV. predominated
+in his mind against the serious reasons of state and the advantages to
+his subjects, and the voluminous correspondence carried on between him
+and the king of France made him deeply share the humiliation of the
+principal branch of his family under the triumph of British arms. These
+sentiments and other motives finally gave birth to the treaty which was
+concluded between the two sovereigns on the fifteenth of August, 1761,
+and which was a defensive and offensive alliance of the two countries
+with the object of creating between them firm and lasting bonds for the
+mutual protection of their interests, and thus to secure on a solid
+basis the internal prosperity of the two kingdoms and the predominance
+of the house of Bourbon among the princes of Europe.
+
+It was agreed to consider henceforth as a common enemy any government
+that would declare war against either of the two kingdoms and
+reciprocally to guarantee the dominions they possessed at the conclusion
+of the war, in which France saw herself involved; to lend each other aid
+at sea and on land, and not to listen to or enter into any settlement
+with the enemies of both crowns unless so done with common accord. For
+as much in peace as in war they had to consider the identified interests
+of the two nations, compensate their losses and divide their respective
+acquisitions and operate as though the two peoples were one, by granting
+to the subjects of both kingdoms in their European dominions the
+enjoyment of the same privileges as those of their native subjects; and,
+finally, to admit to participation in this treaty only such countries as
+were ruled by sovereigns of the House of Bourbon.
+
+As Spain was by this treaty compelled to break with Great Britain, they
+awaited only the arrival of the galleons from South America in order to
+provide for the security of their commerce and territory, and that of
+their distant possessions. Then would be the moment to make known the
+consummation of this alliance and to begin hostilities against the
+common enemy. But somehow Britain anticipated the designs of Spain, for
+the French with their characteristic impatience had divulged the secret
+in their communications to foreign courts, and a lively correspondence
+ensued between the countries, soon to be arrayed against each other in
+the war Carlos III. had so zealously wished to avoid. But there was no
+doubt in the minds of the Spanish king and his cabinet, that the British
+policy was one solely of conquest, that Britain recognized no other law
+than the aggrandizement of her power on land and her universal despotism
+on the ocean. Nor could it be doubted by any impartial onlooker that
+Britain had long cast covetous eyes upon the Spanish possessions in
+America, and had for a long time given Spain sufficient cause for
+grievance. The audacity of her privateers and pirates in their attacks
+upon the West Indies had not been forgotten; the colonies especially had
+reason to remember the numerous and criminal outrages to which they had
+been subjected at the hands of men openly or covertly breaking treaties
+that had been made and accepted by the two nations for the mutual
+protection of their merchantmen at sea. The leniency of Britain in
+dealing with the most notorious pirate of all, the scoundrel Morgan,
+whom she allowed to settle under the protection of her flag in Jamaica,
+to rise to social prominence, to be appointed to public offices of
+importance, and whom her king had finally distinguished by conferring
+upon him knighthood, had always been felt as acts of defiance.
+
+In the rapid exchange of notes during the period when the rupture
+between the two powers was daily coming nearer the suavity of diplomatic
+language was sometimes discarded for rather plain speech. When Britain
+proposed some regulations of the privileges of the British to cut
+logwood in Campeche, the king of Spain, through his minister, Wall,
+replied in a dispatch:
+
+"The evacuation of the logwood establishment is offered, if his Catholic
+majesty will assure to the English the logwood! He who avows that he has
+entered another man's house to seize his jewels says, 'I will go out of
+your house, if you will first give me what I am come to seize!'"
+
+This drastic comparison enraged Pitt and he decided upon even more
+stringent measures to humiliate Spain and crush her power in America.
+But in the meantime the party in parliament that had steadily opposed
+him succeeded in its propaganda against him, and he was forced to
+retire. However, the feelings had run too high, the hostility on both
+sides had assumed such proportions that war was inevitable. The British
+were more than ever bent upon pursuing their acquisitions in America,
+regardless of France and Spain; and the Spanish were unanimous in their
+hatred of the aggressor.
+
+The year 1762 opened for the powers concerned in this conflict with the
+declaration of war upon Spain by King George III. on the fourth of
+January. This was promptly followed on the sixteenth of the same month
+by a declaration of war upon Britain by King Carlos III. Thus was the
+die cast, and both governments at once set about to make extensive
+preparations for military and naval action. Fortune seemed to favor the
+British; for George Rodney, the gifted naval officer, who was to
+distinguish himself during the war between Britain and her colonies by
+his daring and successful operations against the French and Spanish
+fleets in the West Indian waters, was at that time in the neighborhood
+of what was to be the scene of action. He had with a fleet of sixteen
+ships of line and thirteen frigates, carrying an army of twelve thousand
+men under Monckton, arrived at Martinique and laid siege to the colony
+which France cherished most among her island possessions in America.
+After five weeks, it was forced to surrender. A number of other islands
+followed, until all the outer Caribbeans from St. Domingo towards the
+continent of South America were in the possession of the British.
+
+Naturally the attention of the British government was immediately fixed
+upon Havana. This being the most important military post of New Spain,
+its conquest promised to close the passage of the ocean to the Spanish
+ships carrying away from America its inexhaustible treasures for the
+sole enrichment of the crown of Spain. It meant also opening that and
+other ports of the Spanish West Indies to British navigation, and lastly
+it was to be only the beginning of operations which ultimately were to
+include the conquest of other possessions of Spain in that part of the
+world. The honor of conceiving the project has been conceded to Admiral
+Knowles, who had submitted his plan to the Duke of Cumberland; but
+although the latter recommended it to the ministry, the plan of the
+invasion, which had been simultaneously submitted by Lord Anson, chief
+of the board of Admiralty, and which was almost identical with that of
+Knowles, was the one finally adopted. In order to divert the attention
+of the enemy from the true object of the expedition, a rumor was
+circulated that the forces were destined for Santo Domingo, which seemed
+quite plausible, this island being nearer to Martinique than to Cuba,
+and one half of it belonging to France, the other to Spain. _The London
+Gazette_ of January ninth corroborated this statement by the
+announcement that the English army was bound for the Antilles.
+
+George III. entrusted the Duke of Cumberland with the task of selecting
+the chiefs who were to be placed at the head of the enterprise, and his
+choice fell upon the following: Lieutenant-General Keppel, Earl of
+Albemarle, for general-in-chief of the land forces, and Admiral Sir
+George Pococke for the command of the squadron. The latter and a
+division of four thousand men gathered in Portsmouth and orders were
+given to General Monckton to hold the forces which had gone to the
+conquest of Martinique and Guadeloupe ready for the arrival of Admiral
+Pococke. The authorities in Jamaica and the British colonies of North
+America were ordered to prepare two divisions, the first of two thousand
+men, the latter of four thousand. The British command staked everything
+upon a surprise attack. Fear that information of the rupture between the
+two countries might have reached Cuba, caused no little anxiety to Lord
+Albemarle and Admiral Pococke. The expedition narrowly escaped an
+encounter with the squadron of M. de Blenac, who had left Brest in aid
+of Martinique with seven vessels and four frigates and a sufficient
+force to have saved that colony, had he come in time. Unfortunately he
+arrived in sight of Martinique only after the surrender of Fort Royal,
+and on hearing that the island was in possession of the British, he
+altered his course and turned towards Cape France, leaving the passage
+free for Admiral Pococke and his fleet.
+
+Upon his arrival in Martinique, Lord Albemarle took command of all the
+forces assembled on the island and found that his army consisted of
+twelve thousand men. He divided them into five brigades and formed
+besides them two bodies, one of four companies of light infantry brought
+from England, and one battalion of grenadiers under the command of
+Colonel Guy Carleton, and placed two other battalions of grenadiers
+under the command of William Howe. He also ordered the purchase of four
+thousand negroes in Martinique and other islands, who were incorporated
+into a company with six thousand negroes of Jamaica. When all these
+preparations had been made, the forces that were to take part in the
+siege of Havana were under orders of the following commanders:
+
+Lord Albemarle, Commander-in-chief.
+
+Lieutenant-General George August Eliot, second chief.
+
+Field Marshals: John Lafanfille and the Hon. William Keppel.
+
+Brigadiers: William Haviland, Francis Grant, John Reid, Andrew Lord
+Rollo and Hunt Walsh.
+
+Adjutant-General: Hon. Col. William Howe; second;--Lieutenant-Colonel
+Dudley Ackland.
+
+Quartermaster General: Col. Guy Carleton; sub-delegate:--Major Nevinson
+Poole.
+
+Secretary of the general-in-chief: Lieutenant-Colonel John Hale.
+
+Engineer-chief: Lieutenant-Colonel Patrick MacKellar.
+
+Chief of the Military Health Board and of the medical corps: Sir Clifton
+Wintringham; sub-delegate: Richard Hunck and a staff of three
+physicians, four surgeons, four druggists and forty-four attendants.
+
+A month passed in concluding the details of this well-elaborated plan.
+Finally on the sixth of May Admiral Pococke started from Martinique in
+the direction of the Paso de la Mano, where he was joined on the eighth
+by the division of Captain Hervey, who was blocking the squadron of
+Admiral de Blenac at Cape France; on the seventeenth they arrived at
+Cape Nicolas and on the twenty-third they met the Jamaica fleet under
+command of Sir James Douglas. The British naval forces, including these
+two divisions and the one that later arrived from North America,
+consisted of fifty-three warships of various kinds with a crew of ten
+thousand eight hundred men, and a great number of transports, among them
+two hundred vessels carrying provisions, hospital supplies, ammunition,
+etc. When the manner of conducting the expedition was at last decided
+upon, the fleet ordered to take part in the siege of Havana was
+composed of the following vessels:
+
+The Admiral ship _Namur_ of fifty cannons; _Cambridge_ of eighty;
+_Valiant_; _Culloden_; _Temerare_; _Dragon_; _Centaur_; and _Dublin_ of
+seventy-four; _Marlborough_ and _Temple_ of seventy; _Oxford_ and
+_Devonshire_ of sixty-six; _Belleisle_; _Edgar_; _Alcide_; _Hampton
+Court_; and _Sterling Castle_ of sixty-four; _Pembroke_; _Rippon_;
+_Nottingham_; _Defense_; and _Intrepid_ of sixty; _Centurion_;
+_Depford_; _Sutherland_; and _Hampshire_ of fifty; the frigates
+_Penzance_, _Dover_ and _Enterprise_ of forty; _Richmond_ and _Alarm_ of
+thirty-two; _Echo_, _Lizard_, _Trent_, _Cerberus_ and _Boreas_ of
+twenty-eight; _Mercury_ of twenty-four; _Rose_, _Portmahon_, _Forvey_
+and _Glasgow_ of twenty; _Bonetta_, _Cygnet_ and _Merle_ of sixteen; the
+schooner _Porcupine_ of sixteen, _Barbadoes_, _Viper_, _Port Royal_,
+_Lurcher_ and _Ferret_ of fourteen, and the bomb-vessels _Thunder_,
+_Grenade_ and _Basilisk_, each of eight cannons.
+
+Of such formidable dimensions were, according to Guiteras, the
+preparations made by Britain for the attack upon Havana. Little is heard
+of corresponding steps taken by her opponents. France was too exhausted
+to indulge in great expenditures of money or men. Spain was curiously
+unconcerned. The possibility of an attack upon Havana was discussed in
+Madrid, but the Spanish minister Grimaldi could not be made to believe
+that it might be successful. Cuba, too, little suspected what was in
+store for her. The new governor appointed to take the place of Cagigal,
+when the latter was promoted to the vice-regency of Mexico, was the
+Field Marshal D. Juan Prado y Portocasso. Before the consummation of the
+Family Pact, in March, 1670, King Carlos III. had told Prado of the
+menacing attitude of Britain and had warned him of the possibility of a
+rupture. He counted upon him to reorganize the island from a military
+point of view. Nevertheless Prado did not immediately after his
+appointment sail for Cuba, but lingered six more months in Spain, and,
+when he arrived on the island, wasted another month in a visit to his
+friend Madriaga, the governor of Santiago. He did not arrive in Havana
+until January, 1761. Valdes gives July as the month of his inauguration
+which seems improbable.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER IV
+
+
+When Prado took charge of the governorship, he immediately proceeded to
+build quarters for the reenforcement of dragoons which were to be sent
+over from Spain, and for that purpose engaged sixty galley-slaves from
+Vera Cruz. He also began work on the fortifications of Cabanas under the
+direction of the excellent engineer Francois Ribaut de Tirgale. But a
+second consignment of galley-slaves in June brought to Havana the
+"vomito negro," the yellow fever, of which Siam had made a gift to
+Mexico in 1713 and which so far had been unknown in Cuba. Physicians
+being unfamiliar with the terrible scourge, all remedies proved of no
+avail. Within three months eighteen hundred men of the garrison and the
+fleet succumbed to the disease. The hospitals were filled with the sick,
+and work on the important public constructions was suspended. Engineer
+Tirgale was one of the first stricken. He was succeeded by his brother
+Balthazar, but he himself was sick and had such insufficient and
+inadequate help that he was much handicapped in his work. New
+difficulties having arisen with the vigueros, or tobacco-planters, Prado
+convoked the Junta which agreed to fix the process, the quantity and the
+brands of tobacco which the General Factory was to receive from the
+planters.
+
+[Illustration: THE OLD ESPADA CEMETERY, HAVANA, 1750]
+
+Thus was the whole year 1761 wasted, while the signs of the impending
+outbreak multiplied and the danger of the dreaded invasion came nearer
+and nearer. On the sixteenth of January, war was declared and only on
+the twenty-sixth of February did the news reach Prado, for the vessel
+carrying the dispatches of the Spanish government had been captured by
+the tender of the _Dublin_. He called at once a meeting of the council
+and asked for one thousand veterans to replace the losses which the
+troops had sustained through the epidemic. He also demanded that he be
+furnished four thousand rounds of powder. The army that he could muster
+in the eventuality of an invasion did not number at that time more than
+four thousand six hundred men. Yet Prado could not be roused from a
+curious apathy that possessed him and that made him again lapse into the
+indolence of Creole life. It seemed impossible for him to realize that
+anybody would dare to attempt what neither Hossier, nor Vernon, nor
+Knowles had dared. M. de Blenac, who commanded a French fleet charged
+with the protection of Santo Domingo, and Prado's friend Madriaga were
+equally unsuspecting. Had the former come to an understanding with the
+commander of the Royal Spanish transports, they might have surprised
+the British in the straits of Bahama and averted the disaster.
+
+On the twenty first of May, a business man from Santiago, Martin de
+Arana, who had been on an errand to Kingston and in his patriotic
+anxiety perceived the armaments and supplies that were being collected
+there, came to Havana to inform the government. Reluctantly Governor
+Prado consented to an interview with this man who had braved the sea
+voyage and suffered privations to save his country from the menacing
+attack. The attitude of the people as soon as the news spread was
+commendable. The sugar-planters promised their negroes freedom if they
+joined the troops of defense and the clergy went about rousing the
+spirit of the people to action. Bishop Pedro Agustino Morell of Santa
+Cruz did admirable work. He had during the expedition of Edward Vernon
+traversed the country on horseback, and stirred the people to resist the
+invaders. Beloved by his parishioners, whom he inspired with his zeal,
+he had for twenty years preached the holy war against the enemies of his
+native soil. His generosity and his self-denial knew no bounds. The word
+of such a man at such a moment had weight and the people were ready to
+go to any length of sacrifice; but the man at the head of the government
+seemed oblivious to the gravity of the situation and did nothing
+efficiently to prepare the defense of the city. Prado presided at the
+meetings of the War Junta which failed to suit the action of the word
+and wasted time in heated discussions. This War Council consisted of the
+"Marquès" of the Royal Transports, the honorary marine quartermaster, D.
+Juan Montalvo, Col. del Rio D. Alejandro Arroyo, the engineer D.
+Balthasar Ricaut, and the captains of the vessels anchored in the bay.
+Later it was joined by the Lieutenant-General D. Jose Manso de Velasco,
+the former viceroy of Peru, the Field Marshal D. Diego Tabares,
+ex-governor of Cartagena, and the Lieutenant-General Conde de Superanda,
+then visiting Havana. The council did not heed the warning of D. Martin
+de Arana, the Santiago trader, any more than did Governor Prado.
+
+In the meantime the British fleet was approaching through the straits of
+Bahama, clear of purpose, strong of will, and bent upon conquest. An
+interesting document of that event is "An Authentic Journal of the Siege
+of the Havana By an Officer. Printed in London MDCCLXII. Reprinted in
+Dublin, by Boulton Grierson, Printer to the King's Most Excellent
+Majesty." That record of the expedition had evidently for its author a
+man of sound judgment and is imbued throughout with a rare sense of
+justice towards British and Spanish alike. Spanish authorities, among
+them Blanchet, give the number of line ships in the fleet as twenty-six,
+fifteen frigates and an infinite number of smaller vessels, and about
+twenty thousand combatants. The author of the journal reports nineteen
+ships of the line, about eighteen frigates, sloops, and other vessels
+and one hundred and fifty transports with ten thousand troops. The
+commander of the fleet was Sir George Pococke, Knight of the Bath,
+Admiral of the Blue, etc., and the commander of the troops,
+Lieutenant-General Earl of Albemarle. The witness writes that they left
+Cape Nicolas, northwest of Hispaniola, on the twenty-seventh of May and
+sailed in seven divisions through the old straits of Bahama--"an
+undertaking far superior to anything we know in our times, or read of in
+the past, as few ships care to go through this passage at any time, much
+less such a fleet, destitute of pilots that professed any knowledge of
+it and almost of any information of the passage that could be relied
+on." He goes on to say that "frigates, smaller vessels and even the
+great ships' boats were sent ahead and so distributed on both shores,
+with such proper and well adapted signals for day and night, that not
+only reconciled every one to the dangers and risk of so hazardous an
+undertaking, but almost ensured our success. We were often in sight of
+the keys or shoals on each side."
+
+In the first days of June some of the British ships engaged in a fight
+with and took a Spanish frigate of twenty-four guns and a smaller vessel
+of eighteen guns, a brig and a schooner, all of which had sailed ten
+days before from Havana for timber. Through the crews of these vessels,
+the British learned that at the time of their sailing the people of
+Havana had not yet been informed of the declaration of war. On the fifth
+of June the fleet cleared the straits and the next day was off Puerto de
+Terrara, about thirty-six miles windward of Havana. Colonel Carleton and
+Colonel Howe went to reconnoitre the coast for landing. The siege of
+Morro Castle was left to Commodore Keppel. "The Admiral went himself
+with the rest of the fleet off the harbor, to block up the enemy's ships
+and in order to more effectually draw the attention of the enemy that
+way, took with him all the victualling ships, store ships and
+transports, whose troops had over night been put in those men-of-war
+appointed for securing the landing." By daylight the troops were in the
+flat and other boats, and Captain Hervey gave the signal for descent on
+the sandy beach between Boconao and Cojimar. The enemy had thrown up
+small breastworks near the old tower commanding the mouth of Boconao and
+attempted a defense, but was soon dispersed by fire from two ships
+anchored close to shore. At three o'clock in the afternoon the army was
+on shore and began to advance toward the Morro, five miles away, along a
+road which had a thick wood to the left and the sea to the right. The
+ten guns of the old stone fort of Cojimar were soon silenced by the
+_Dragon_, anchored close by. Two and a half miles from the Morro the
+British lay down for the night upon their arms in a heavy rain.
+
+While the British were continuing their advance upon Havana, the
+authorities of the Cuban metropolis were deliberating in the sessions of
+the War Junta, and the Governor was still unconvinced of the serious
+intention of the British, this time determined not to rest until Havana
+was in their possession. Valdes reports that this state of affairs
+lasted until on the sixth of June there appeared on the weather-side
+about two hundred and fifty vessels. Everybody but Governor Prado was
+convinced that they had come ready to fight. He supposed them to be a
+flotilla come from Jamaica to discharge their cargo. Nevertheless he
+went that morning to the Morro to observe the movements of the armada.
+He found the garrison under arms by order of the royal lieutenant D.
+Dionisio Soler. Much vexed by what he considered exaggerated fear and
+suspicion, he rescinded the order and commanded the soldiers to return
+to their quarters. That afternoon, however, the report came from the
+Morro, that the fleet had arrived and was preparing to land troops.
+
+[Illustration: LAUREL DITCH, CABANAS FORTRESS
+
+The Cabanas fortress stands near the Morro Castle, at the eastern side
+of the entrance to the harbor of Havana, and ranks with the Morro and La
+Punta, on the western headland, as one of the historic fortifications of
+the capital. Like the Morro Castle, it was used by the Spaniards as a
+prison, and the Laurel Ditch, under its landward walls, was the scene of
+many a martyrdom of Cuban patriots. Here men and boys innumerable,
+during the years of Cuba's struggles to be free, were lined up to be
+shot, until the massive wall was thickly pitted with the marks of
+bullets fired not at the foes but at the friends of Cuba.]
+
+The consternation of the inhabitants can be imagined when suddenly the
+bells began to ring and the cannons to thunder. The people rushed out of
+their houses. Some were armed; but the greater part had no weapons and
+hurried to the Sala Real, where fifteen hundred guns were stored away
+with some old carabines, swords, bayonets, and other weapons, mostly out
+of order and too old to be of any use. They were quickly distributed
+among the people. The war council assembled. The governor, the Royal
+Lieutenant, the General of the Navy, the Marques of the Royal
+Transports, the Commissary D. Lorenzo Montalvo and the distinguished
+visitors, the Commander-in-Chief Conde de Superanda and Field Marshal D.
+Diego Tabares were present. It was decided to charge Colonel D. Carlos
+Caro with the task of opposing and preventing the enemy's debarkation at
+Cojimar and Boconao, and to collect the cavalry of that place, a few
+companies of infantry, militia and lancers, in all about three thousand
+men, at this point. La Cabanas was rapidly supplied with artillery. But
+in the meantime the enemy, according to the testimony of a British
+officer's journal, had already landed troops and overcome the resistance
+of the very places to the support of which these forces were sent!
+
+The military defense of Havana, as described by Blanchet, presented a
+sorry spectacle. It consisted of eight hundred and ten cavalry, three
+thousand five hundred infantry, three hundred artillery, nine thousand
+marines and fourteen thousand militia. The armament of these troops was
+insufficient in quantity and inferior in quality. Twelve vessels were
+anchored in the port. The entrance was protected by the Morro with
+fourteen cannons, the battery of the Doce Apostoles with twelve guns,
+that of the Divina Pastora with fourteen guns and the fort of la Punta.
+In the city there were the twenty two guns of la Fuerza, the residence
+of the Captain-General, and the depository of the royal estates. The
+condition of the walls was unsatisfactory. The town was dominated by
+fortified heights, which, however, were very accessible. It is not
+difficult to imagine the state of the people when the news reached the
+town that Cojimar and Boconao had fallen. When on the following day
+General Eliot defeated D. Luis Rasave and took Guanabacoa, Colonel Caro,
+who had been little more than a spectator, retired to Havana. The
+population was in a panic.
+
+The war council then entrusted the defense of the Morro to D. Luis
+Vicente Velasco, a native of Villa de Noja in Santander and commander of
+the vessel _La Reina_. Defenses were hurriedly put up at Chorrera and
+Cabanas. All residents unable to bear arms were advised to leave the
+city. Soon a procession of women and children and members of the
+religious orders of both sexes, with here and there the calash of some
+wealthy family, were seen to proceed along the roads radiating from the
+city towards the suburbs and the more remote haciendas, under the
+protection of a detachment of troops. It was a heartrending picture to
+see these crowds, trudging along on foot in the cruel heat of the
+tropical sun, on roads almost impassable from recent rains. Many
+succumbed to the hardships of this exodus. Others were dumb with terror
+as they realized that they might never again see their fathers, brothers
+and husbands. Again others gave vent to their high-strung emotions by
+loud wails. About the time this evacuation took place, fire was set to
+the suburbs outside of the city walls and unspeakable was the distress
+of innumerable unfortunate families, who in the face of foreign invasion
+saw their homes reduced to ashes.
+
+A part of the British fleet was seen sailing at this time towards the
+leeward part of the island with the manifest intention of making another
+landing. The population was dazed. Some men rushed out to defend their
+homes and their women, but the greater number was so overcome by the
+calamity confronting them, that their wills seemed paralyzed and they
+dumbly awaited the blow that was coming. The next day the work of
+fortifying la Cabanas began in such an exposed place on the border of
+the city that rifle bullets could reach the Plaza de los Armas. The
+construction of a trench was also begun. It was intended to hold one
+hundred cannon, but after nine or ten had been mounted, the war council
+changed its plan, ordered the destruction of the trench and had the
+artillery brought down. This was done in the night of the ninth of June
+and fire was set to some houses on the hill. The people were startled by
+this surprising procedure and began not only to grumble, but to talk of
+treason.
+
+As the British fleet was then menacing the port, the three vessels,
+_Neptune_, _Europa_ and _Asia_, were concentrated in the canal of the
+entrance. With the huge iron beams that closed it and the artillery of
+the harbor, they acted like forts securing its safety. It seemed as if
+these land batteries could prevent the landing of any enemy vessel. But
+the war council wanted to improve upon this measure and decided to sink
+_Neptune_ and _Europa_, during the hurried execution of which order two
+sailors were drowned. Still bent upon what seemed an improvement, two
+days later the _Asia_, too, was sunk. The British, supposing the port to
+be closed, anchored along the coast, landed five thousand men and after
+defeating the land forces, the fleet entered the canal without
+encountering serious obstacles. But the Spanish authorities continued to
+commit more blunders. Appointing as commanders of the land-forces
+officers of the fleet, the army of course resented this as an insult.
+The task of mobilizing the troops was entrusted to D. Juan Ignacio de
+Madriaga; the defense of el Morro had been given to D. Luis Vicente de
+Velasco, whose second was D. Bartolome Montes, and that of la Punta to
+D. Manuel Briseno, who was soon relieved by D. Fernando de Lortia.
+Almost all the army posts were occupied by officers of the fleet. The
+reasons for these measures which seemed absolutely senseless in view of
+the critical situation, were hotly discussed and some malicious tongues
+asserted that the object of this curious disposition was to prevent the
+fleet from making its escape.
+
+On the tenth of June a British division moved from the leeward part of
+the fort of Chorrera, a short distance from the port, with the object of
+landing troops. They met with greater resistance than they had reason to
+expect; for the defense was here aided by the loyal executor D. Luis de
+Aguiar, who had been appointed Colonel of the militia. All day his men
+fought bravely; they consisted of whites and negroes. They expected a
+supply of powder and ammunition from an official of Guadeloupe, but he
+by mistake had delivered them at la Caleta. Finally their stock gave
+out, and, obeying the order of a superior officer, Aguiar withdrew his
+troops with little loss. The British then advanced about three thousand
+men strong, until they reached the hill of San Lazaro, where they dug
+trenches and prepared a new encampment. They also occupied and fortified
+the height of the caves, called Taganana, where they mounted three
+cannon and two large mortars. With two vessels, armed with bombs, in the
+small bay, the fire they kept up helped the camp on the weather-side, at
+which the chief force was concentrated. They then proceeded to erect
+batteries on the height of la Cabanas and were at first much molested
+during their work by Aguiar, Chacon and the guerilla Pepe Antonio, who
+had collected a force at that point. A detachment of militia under the
+command of Captain D. Pedro de Morales was sent to reenforce them, but
+on the next day he was surprised by the British, who thus came into
+possession of this important place.
+
+In the meantime, the British expedition was beginning to suffer much
+from incessant rains, alternating with excessive heat. Their work was
+retarded as much by the weather as by the physical condition of their
+forces, which began to suffer from the climate and fatigue. The
+resistance of the Cubans was increasing in proportion as the enemy drew
+near. During the last days of June, Colonel D. Alejandro de Arroyo
+landed a body of six hundred men at Pastora battery. Simultaneously the
+naval lieutenant D. Francisco de Corral placed three hundred men at
+Norno de Barba. The plan was to spike up the enemy's artillery. But
+laudable as was the ambition of the commanders, their ability of
+achievement was not in proportion. Their forces, too, were sadly
+inferior in number to those of the British. The Captain of the infantry
+of the fleet, D. Manuel de Frias, was made prisoner, three hundred of
+his troops were killed and forty men wounded. The force of Col. Arroyo
+also sustained heavy losses, especially the grenadiers of Arrajon.
+
+A council held at el Morro resulted in the election by the commanders of
+D. Luis Vicente de Velasco as their head and chief. No man was more able
+or worthy to fill this responsible position. Untiring in his efforts to
+defend the fortress, Velasco resolutely and capably endeavored to foil
+the enemy's designs. But he was out-numbered and the danger grew daily
+nearer. Though at a great loss to their forces, the British forged ahead
+and surrounded Velasco with a continuous fire. With the port closed to
+the Cuban squadron they were free to place their cannon as they went
+along. The rain of bullets, bombs and grenades was incessant and the
+breakdown of the bastions inevitable. The garrison seemed to be doomed.
+The commander declared that it would not be possible to maintain his
+position without some aid from the camp, but while the walls were being
+gradually destroyed by the enemy, he did not venture a well organized
+sortie. On the first of July el Morro was attacked by the batteries
+which the British had planted on el Cabanas and the fire from three
+vessels, among them the _Cambridge_ and the _Dragon_. The valor of
+Velasco inspired his troops, pathetically small in comparison with those
+of the British. After seven hours of the hottest fire, the _Cambridge_
+and the _Dragon_ were so badly battered that they were forced to the
+rear. The British lost three hundred men, among them Captain Goostree of
+the _Cambridge_. So fierce had been the resistance offered by Velasco
+and the few cannon at his disposal, that the British camp, which had
+been pouring a rain of bombs on el Morro, finally ceased firing. So the
+honor of this day belonged to the Spanish commander.
+
+It is interesting at this point to revert to the journal of the British
+officer, who took part in this memorable siege of Havana. After
+reporting under date of July third that their great battery had caught
+fire, he continues on the following day:
+
+"The Morro was now found to be tougher work and the Spaniards more
+resolute than was at first imagined. Our people grew fatigued by the
+heat and hard labour and the want of water near them was a sensible
+distress, and the disappointment of the Morro's not being reduced so
+speedily as at first they were made to hope, helped to depress the
+spirits of the weak and low minds; but we found every want relieved and
+amply made up for by the Admiral's attention, not only to supply every
+article that could be asked, but by his own sagacity, foreseeing and his
+precaution providing everything we could want."
+
+During the following days the British seem to have suffered much from
+the climate. The writer of the journal records that the men in general
+"fall down with fevers and fluxes, but few are carried off by them."
+Admiral Keppel was much weakened by illness and fatigue, but this
+discouraging entry is followed immediately by a cheerier note, dated
+July 8th and 9th:
+
+"Every one was exerting himself in his different station and with such
+zeal as gave fresh hopes to our undertaking, notwithstanding the
+melancholy scene of the infinite number of sick and the apprehension of
+the approaching hurricane season."
+
+The British had begun to realize the failure of the naval attempt to
+reduce el Morro. They tried to fortify themselves in the harbor and
+established the lee-shore camp on the slope of Aroztegui, the same on
+which El Principe was situated. From this point they undertook many
+movements, but were always driven back. In spite of these temporary and
+local successes the Cuban authorities now fully realized that their
+situation was almost hopeless and devised various measures to stay the
+progress of the enemy. The magistrates D. Luis de Aguiar and D. Laureane
+Chacon were made colonels of the militia. They decided to stop the
+forays and attacks from that encampment, and D. Aguiar established
+himself in the Horon and tried to dislodge the enemy from various points
+to which they had penetrated. His undertaking was successful, as was
+proved by the number of prisoners taken. The hostile forces at Taganana,
+however, did much mischief and he resolved to attack them on the night
+of the eighteenth of July. His troops consisted of peasants and negro
+slaves and fought so effectively, that he was able to send to the
+fortress eighteen prisoners, including an officer and many trophies. The
+governor was so elated by this success that he gave one hundred and four
+negro slaves, that had taken part, their liberty.
+
+The British officer in his journal alludes in the entries of these days
+to the heavy losses sustained by the British, but dwells more upon the
+ravages caused by disease. The sick list increasing, the guards had to
+be reduced. The necessity of having a supply of fresh meat for the
+invalids and convalescents worried them much. They had counted upon
+getting it from Santiago and Bejucal, where the rich plantations and
+pastures were, and a monastery that promised rich loot. But D. Laureane
+Chacon anticipated their movements in that direction. He concentrated
+some troops four leagues leeward from Wajay, and thus not only checked
+their progress, but by his persistent opposition weakened their forces.
+
+Many of the smaller actions that were undertaken against the British by
+the Cubans were by volunteer forces recruited by veteran fighters, who
+had not been associated with the army proper, and their manner of waging
+war was of the kind called guerrilla warfare. Nevertheless they did
+active and efficient work and had they not been hindered and restrained
+by orders from the regulars, they might have accomplished much more. The
+Lieutenant Diego Ruiz lost his life in such an enterprise. Another
+famous guerrilla, the valiant fighter known as Pepe Antonio, had won the
+esteem of the whole army by his courage. He had collected a force of
+three hundred men and was planning an ambitious assault upon the enemy,
+when he was called to report to Colonel Caro, who commanded the
+encampment at Jesus del Monte and San Juan. Colonel Caro, who had not
+during the siege distinguished himself by any extraordinary
+achievements, not only censured Pepe Antonio severely, but discharged
+him. The valiant patriot hero of many daring exploits was so grieved by
+this injustice that he died within five days.
+
+Among these side plays of the great siege an expedition led by Colonel
+Gutierrez had some successful encounters with the British. D. Luis de
+Aguiar and D. Laureane Chacon, too, who had gathered under their command
+the brave youths of the country side, were untiring in their efforts to
+weaken the British. They prevented them from establishing a cordon and
+cutting communication with the fort and were themselves enabled
+uninterruptedly to secure provisions and supplies with which to carry on
+their operations. Less fortunate was the attack upon Cabanas by D. Juan
+Benito Lujan with a thousand militia men from the interior of the
+island. At daybreak, on the twenty-second of July, according to the
+British officer, the Spanish at el Morro, having been enforced by twelve
+hundred men from the town, furiously attacked the British. But Brigadier
+Carleton directed so fierce a fire against them that their forces were
+driven into the water. He describes them as having consisted mainly of
+militia, some seamen, mulattoes and negroes. They lost four hundred
+dead, many wounded and seventy prisoners. A violent cannonade followed,
+during which Carleton was wounded.
+
+While the British troops were encamped from La Cabanas to Cojimar they
+made many looting raids in the neighborhood, extending their incursions
+as far as San Miguel and Santa Maria del Rosario. They not only
+ransacked the churches for their treasures, but also private estates,
+and took away whatever they could carry. They had approached el Morro by
+the bulwark of Pina and a body of forty to fifty men in the shelter of
+some rocks maintained an incessant gunfire. The garrison of the fort,
+which was being steadily reduced by the rain of bombs and grenades,
+wanted to make a sortie into the open country, hoping there to be
+reenforced. Remaining in el Morro was becoming more and more perilous,
+because the enemy had undermined the fortress. D. Luis de Velasco,
+broken down by the strain and overwork received a blow on the shoulder,
+which temporarily disabled him. His aide, Mentes, was likewise wounded,
+and the two were replaced by D. Francisco Medina and D. Manuel de
+Cordova. During their absence nothing was done, for the peasantry, fond
+as they were of Velasco, were reluctant to fight and perhaps die under
+the command of another. Mentes returned on the third day, appointed
+Lieutenant-Colonel, and, joined by D. Juan Benito Lujan, who commanded
+one thousand men of Tierradentro and some colored troops from the fort,
+attempted a sally. But the British on the heights threw themselves upon
+the Cubans and overpowered them. The loss on both sides was so great,
+however, that the enemy had to ask for a truce to bury their dead. As
+the British said, the Spanish were valiant, but they had no head. If
+there had been at their head a man of foresight, and if unity of command
+had been insured at the beginning, the disaster might have been avoided.
+
+The British forces were at this time beginning to suffer painfully for
+want of water and lack of fresh provisions. Five thousand men, and a
+great proportion of officers among them, were unfit for duty. But the
+arrival of North American troops under convoy of the _Intrepid_ of
+sixty-four guns, revived the spirit of the expedition. The North
+Americans had lost a ship of forty guns and six transports in the old
+straits of Bahama, but the people were saved and encamped upon the
+shores, and the British Admiral sent frigates for them. One thousand and
+four hundred men under Brigadier Burton reenforced Col. Howe on the west
+side. The Cuban defense was also encouraged in these days, for Velasco,
+who had been wounded on the sixteenth of July, with second, Mentes,
+forced to seek medical care in the city, returned to his post at el
+Morro on the twenty-fourth. During the siege the Spanish vessels, with
+the exception of the frigate _Perla_, which was sunk by the foe, were
+singularly inactive. The critical and decisive moment of the siege came
+on the thirteenth of July, when at two o'clock in the afternoon the
+British sprung their mines. Through the breach they rapidly entered and
+captured the battery of San Nicolas. Although the garrison was so
+terrified that not a few soldiers had fled, the remaining offered a
+brave opposition to the invaders. D. Fernando Parrayo and thirteen men,
+supported by two cannon, fought heroically, while the British forces
+poured into the port. The British officer gives due credit to the Cuban
+commanders who desperately tried to save the honor of their country. He
+writes:
+
+"The Marquis de Gonzales, commander of a man of war, etc., second in
+command of the fort, fell bravely endeavoring to animate and rally his
+people. Don Luis de Velasco, also Captain of the _Reina_ man-of-war,
+soon after shared the same fate endeavoring to defend the colours of the
+fort, round which he had made a breastwork and had collected about 100
+men, who soon fled and left him to that stroke he seemed to invite and
+wait for; for being shot through the breast he fell, offering his sword
+to the conquerors. Confusion and fright ensued, and as much slaughter;
+for near 400 of the enemy fell by the sword; as many more taken
+prisoners to whom the soldiers had generously given quarters, though no
+ways obliged by the rules of war. English colours were soon flying on
+the fort, that were welcomed by the loud huzzas of all the rejoiced army
+and navy. A parley ensued, and D. Luis de Velasco (not yet dead) was at
+his own request sent to breathe out his last at the Havana, where he
+expired a day after, leaving a name behind and a character that justly
+merited admiration and esteem from his opposites as respect and love
+from his confederates."
+
+The historian Blanchet also reports that the British showed due
+reverence to the dead leader and that hostilities were for that reason
+suspended during the following day. They received a reenforcement of
+troops from New York on the second of August; but they had fallen in
+with three French men-of-war and some frigates on their passage, who
+took five or six transports with about five hundred men. Their forces
+were being decimated by the climate and the hardships. The British
+witness writes that finishing the batteries on Cabanas cost the lives of
+many poor seamen who were obliged to be day and night filling vessels
+with water for the men at work. Some men-of-war were sent down with
+transports to Mariel, for want of men made it unsafe for them to remain
+any longer on this most open and frightful coast, where the Spaniards as
+well as West Indians expressed their surprise and dread at seeing such a
+fleet ride so long in such a season.
+
+When the British entered el Morro, they found only one hundred and two
+bronze cannon of various calibres, two hundred iron cannon, nine bronze
+mortars, two iron mortars, four thousand one hundred and fifty-seven
+rifles, five hundred hand grenades, four hundred and seventy empty
+grenades of various quality, seventeen thousand four hundred and four
+cannon balls, thirty quintals of rifle balls, one hundred and
+twenty-five thousand cartridges and five hundred quintals of powder. The
+sorrow at being forced to give up el Morro was great. Supported by the
+vessel _Aquilon_ the quick fire from la Punta and the bulwarks of the
+place promptly demolished the fort. The Cuban vessels retired to the
+interior of the bay, fearing the bombs from la Cabanas. The commanders
+for the same reason sought shelter in the hospiteum of St. Isidore,
+which was situated at the point farthest away from the fire. Yet the
+determination to continue to resist the invaders prevailed and a battery
+was formed on the elevation of Soto, where the fort of Attares was
+located, and fortifications were continued to be strengthened wherever
+it was possible.
+
+The batteries of the British were completed on August tenth, and Lord
+Albemarle summoned the city to surrender. But Governor Prado relied upon
+reenforcements promised him by the governor of Santiago de Cuba and
+hoped also for the possible arrival of a French squadron, so he refused.
+The people, too, were opposed to surrender, for they had within the last
+six days received reenforcements from several sides; two hundred and
+twelve rifles and ammunition from the town of Cuba, five hundred more
+from Jagua and fifteen hundred on the very last day. However, the fierce
+fire which the British opened against Havana at daybreak on the eleventh
+of August, induced the commander of the Cuban forces to give up the last
+hope. About noon the Spanish ceased firing and at three o'clock in the
+afternoon flags of truce appeared everywhere. The governor sent word
+that Havana was ready to capitulate.
+
+According to the British officer's journal the victors took possession
+of the town and port of Havana on the next day; they also became the
+owners of nine ships of the line, of seventy four and sixty four guns,
+two very large ones on the stocks, nearly completed, about twenty-five
+loaded merchant ships; nearly three million dollars belonging to the
+King and the Royal Company; about six hundred pieces of cannon, and
+great magazines of stores and merchandise of all kinds. He continues:
+
+"But the most grateful at the time was, that it furnished us with fresh
+provisions, rest and shelter for the many thousands poor sick wretches
+we had in our camp and hospital ships, all mouldering away for want of
+nourishment when their disorders had left them. Our battalion is so weak
+that we have not above one hundred and fifty men fit for duty. I am told
+the navy is badly off. Our loss of killed and wounded is very trifling
+in comparison to that of the enemy. Theirs amounts to upwards of six
+thousand killed and dead of their wounds since, and of sickness."
+
+The following day the governor ordered all weapons to be surrendered by
+military bodies as private individuals and Mayor D. Antonio Ramirez de
+Estenez was authorized to accord the articles of capitulation.
+
+
+ARTICLES OF CAPITULATION
+
+ARTICLE I
+
+The garrison will leave by the puerta de Tierra on the twenty-eighth of
+the present month, if there should not arrive before sufficient help to
+raise the siege, with all military honors, the soldiers with arms,
+hoisted flags, six field cannon, and the regiments will also remove the
+military cases with their contents, and besides six carriages of the
+Governor.
+
+
+ARTICLE II
+
+Said garrison will be permitted to remove from the town all luggage and
+money, and transport them to another place of the island.
+
+
+ARTICLE III
+
+That the ship crews of the port that had served on land shall in their
+departure enjoy the same honors as the garrison and be brought back to
+their vessels. They may sail to any other place of Spanish domination,
+on the condition that on their voyage until their arrival at their
+destination they shall not attack any vessel of H. British Majesty, of
+his allies, or any vessel of his subjects.
+
+
+ARTICLE IV
+
+That of all the artillery, arms, ammunition and provisions belonging to
+his Catholic Majesty, excepting those that particularly correspond with
+said fleet, an exact inventory shall be taken, with the assistance of
+four subjects of the king of Spain, who will be appointed by the
+governor, and four subjects of H. British Majesty, chosen by H. Ex Count
+Albemarle, who will take possession of all until both sovereigns agree
+otherwise.
+
+
+ARTICLE V
+
+That in this capitulation shall be comprised H. Ex Conde de Superanda,
+Lieutenant-General of the armies of H. Catholic Majesty, and former
+Viceroy of Peru, as well as Don Diego Tabares, Fieldmarshal of the same
+royal arms, and former Governor of Cartagena, who happens to be in that
+town on their way to Spain, together with their families. They shall be
+left in the possession of their baggage and their sailing to Spain shall
+be facilitated.
+
+
+ARTICLE VI
+
+That the Catholic Apostolic Roman religion shall be maintained, and
+conserved, as before exercised under H. Catholic Majesty, and that not
+the least impediment shall be placed in the public acts in regard to the
+rites exercised and with the churches, and the observation of religious
+feasts, and all priests, convents, monasteries, hospitals, societies,
+universities, colleges shall remain in the free enjoyment of their
+privileges and rights, as to their property and income, and furnitures,
+as they had enjoyed before.
+
+
+ARTICLE VII
+
+That the Bishop of Cuba shall likewise conserve his rights, privileges
+and prerogatives, which are required for the direction and spiritual
+nourishment of the faithful of the Catholic religion, or nomination of
+priests and ecclesiastical ministers necessary, and exercise his
+accustomed jurisdiction. (Note: Conceded with the reserve that the
+nomination of priests and other employes be subject to the approval of
+the Governor of H. British Majesty sent to the place.)
+
+
+ARTICLE VIII
+
+That in the cloisters and nunneries the internal government hitherto
+prevailing shall be followed with subordination to their legitimate
+superiors, according to the statutes of the particular institutions.
+("Conceded.")
+
+
+ARTICLE IX
+
+That the funds in the town belonging to H. Catholic Majesty shall be
+embarked on the vessels of the fleet that happen to be in port to be
+shipped to Spain, likewise all the tobacco belonging to H. Catholic
+Majesty; that even in war time the same Sovereign shall be permitted to
+buy tobacco from the island, in the district subject to the King of
+Great Britain at current prices, and to transport it to Spain in their
+own foreign vessels. ("Refused.")
+
+
+ARTICLE X
+
+That in consideration of the fact that this port is so conveniently
+situated for those navigating in these parts of America, be they Spanish
+or English, it shall be available to the subjects of H. Catholic Majesty
+as a neutral port and they shall be permitted to enter and leave freely,
+taken the food they require and repair their vessels, paying for
+everything at current prices, and that they cannot be insulted or
+disturbed in their navigation by the ships of H. British Majesty, nor
+the ships of his subjects and allies, from the promontory of Celoche on
+the coast of Campêche and St. Antonio in the West, and from the sound of
+la Tortuga to this port, and thence to the latitude 33° North, until
+their two Majesties agree otherwise. ("Refused.")
+
+
+ARTICLE XI
+
+That all permanent inhabitants of the city and neighborhood remain in
+the free use and possession of their political offices and employments,
+and in that of their funds and other property, i.e. household stuff of
+whatever origin, quality, or in whatever condition they be, without
+being obliged to contribute in other terms than those made by H.
+Catholic Majesty. (Conceded, and they will be permitted to continue in
+the enjoyment of their property so long as their conduct does not give
+cause for denying them.)
+
+
+ARTICLE XII
+
+That these same should retain and have guaranteed the rights and
+privileges which they hitherto enjoyed, and that they will be governed
+in the name of H. British Majesty under the same conditions as they have
+been under Spanish domination, naming their judges and agents of justice
+according to usages and customs. (Answered in the preceding.)
+
+
+ARTICLE XIII
+
+That whoever of said inhabitants is unwilling to stay in this city, be
+permitted freely to remove his property and wealth in the manner most
+convenient to him, to sell them or leave them to be administrated, and
+to go away with them to the dominions of H. Catholic Majesty, he may
+choose, granting them a space of four years and giving them bought or
+chartered vessels for conveyance, with the passports and necessary
+protection of safety, and the power to arm them in the cruise against
+the Moors and Turks, with the express condition not to use them against
+subjects of H. British Majesty or his allies, nor to be ill-treated or
+molested by them. (Reply: The inhabitants will be permitted to sell and
+remove their effects to any place of Spanish dominions, in vessels at
+its coast, for which purpose they will be given passports; and it is to
+be understood that officials who have property in the island will enjoy
+the same benefits as conceded to the other inhabitants.)
+
+
+ARTICLE XIV
+
+That these will not be in the least molested for having in their loyalty
+taken up arms, and enlisted their militia for the war; nor shall the
+English troops be permitted to plunder or any other abuse, and that, to
+the contrary, they shall completely enjoy the other rights, exemptions
+and prerogatives as the other subjects of H. British Majesty, the
+families that had left the town on account of the present invasion to
+return without any obstacle or difficulty from the country to the city
+with all their provisions and funds, and it is to be understood that
+neither the one nor the others will be inconvenienced by the stationing
+of troops in their houses, unless it be in quarters as were used during
+Spanish dominion. (Reply: Conceded, excepting that in case it becomes
+necessary to quarter the troops, it must be left to the direction of the
+Governor. All the slaves of the King will be delivered to the persons
+that will be named to receive them.)
+
+
+ARTICLE XV
+
+That holders of stocks found in this town and belonging to merchants of
+Cadiz and in which all nations of Europe are interested, be facilitated
+to depart freely with them, to remit them with the protocols without
+being insulted in their voyage.
+
+
+ARTICLE XVI
+
+That the ministers in charge of the administration and distribution of
+the Exchequer or any other business of H. Catholic Majesty be left in
+the free use of all those documents that are in their guard, with the
+power to remit or bring them to Spain for safety, and the same to hold
+also good with regard to the Royal Company established in this town, and
+its clerks. All public papers will be delivered for revision to the
+secretaries of the Admiral, and will be restored to the ministers of H.
+Catholic Majesty, unless they be found necessary for the Government of
+the island.
+
+
+ARTICLE XVII
+
+That the public archives remain in the power of the Ministers in whose
+charge they are, without being permitted the least irregularity in
+regard to these papers and the instruments they contain, because of the
+grave mischief that would result from it to the rights of the community
+and to private individuals. (Replied in the preceding articles.)
+
+
+ARTICLE XVIII
+
+That the officials and soldiers who are in the hospitals be treated in
+the same way as the garrison, and after having recovered, they should be
+helped in obtaining beasts of burden or vessels for their transportation
+to where the rest of the garrison happens to be, as well as everything
+necessary for their safety and subsistence during the voyage, and among
+others they should be given the provisions and medicines asked for by
+the directors and surgeons of said hospitals. (Conceded: The governor
+having competent commissaries to assist them with provisions, surgeons
+and the necessary medicines at the cost of H. Catholic Majesty.)
+
+
+ARTICLE XIX
+
+That the prisoners of either party taken by the other since the sixth of
+June when the English fleet appeared before this port, be reciprocally
+restituted without any ransom whatever in the course of two months.
+(This article cannot be concluded before the British prisoners are
+returned.)
+
+
+ARTICLE XX
+
+Upon the granting of the articles of this capitulation, and the giving
+of hostages by either party, the gate of Tierra will be delivered to the
+troops of H. British Majesty, for placing there a guard, together with
+another provided by the garrison of the place until the evacuation is
+carried out, and His Ex Conde de Albemarle will send a few soldiers for
+the protection of the churches, convents, the houses of the generals and
+other officials. (Conceded.)
+
+
+ARTICLE XXI
+
+That the governor and commander of the fleet be permitted to dispatch to
+H. Catholic Majesty and to other parties information by the vessels, to
+which passports for their voyage shall be given. (Since the troops are
+to be sent to Spain, the information is useless.)
+
+
+ARTICLE XXII
+
+That in consideration of the vigorous defense made by the Fort of la
+Punta, it shall be included in this capitulation and its garrison shall
+enjoy the same honors as that of the fortress, and it shall leave
+through one of the most suitable breaches made in the ramparts.
+(Conceded.)
+
+
+ARTICLE XXIII
+
+This capitulation to be observed punctually and literally. (Conceded.)
+
+Headquarters in Habana, August 12, 1762.
+
+    (Signed) G. Pococke,
+                Albemarle,
+                Marques of the Royal Fleet,
+                Juan de Prado.
+
+What is contained in these articles in regard to the squadron, its
+officials, crew and garrisons, has been done with my intervention, and I
+propose them as their Comendante General, and in consequence of what has
+been accorded in the Junta of yesterday.
+
+Habana, August 12, 1762--El Marques of the Royal Transports.
+
+We agree with these articles, which are a true copy of the originals,
+according to the translation made from the English into Spanish by D.
+Miguel Brito, public interpreter of this town for H. Catholic Majesty.
+
+Habana, August 12, 1762--El Marques of the Royal Transports--Juan de
+Prado.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER V
+
+
+With the solemn signing of the foregoing articles of capitulation on the
+twelfth of August, 1762, began the occupation of Havana by the British,
+who thus seemed to have attained the goal of their covetous aspirations.
+It was a great day for them; it was a day of mourning for the Cubans.
+
+While these articles of capitulation were in themselves not unjust,
+differing in no essentials from those usually exacted by the victors
+from the vanquished, the people of Havana found it difficult to obey all
+these injunctions coming to them from a foreign authority. History
+furnishes abundant proofs that it is comparatively easy to conquer a
+country by numerical superiority or clever strategy, but that it is
+infinitely more difficult to conquer the hearts of its people. The
+Spanish historian Alcazar records an incident belonging to the history
+of the capture of Havana which illustrates this point.
+
+As soon as the British were masters of the city Lord Albemarle called an
+extraordinary meeting in which he declared to the Municipio that, being
+masters of the city by force of arms of King George III. of England,
+they had to insist upon obedience and allegiance to him as sovereign.
+The Alcalde D. Pedro Santa Cruz at once rose to say that subjects of Don
+Carlos III. of Spain could not without committing perjury swear
+allegiance to any other monarch. He added: "The capitulation compels us
+to passive obedience. Count on this, but never on our dishonor." It
+seems that these noble words found an echo in the heart of the British
+commander who henceforth let the people choose whether to take the oath
+or not.
+
+This story is symptomatic of the attitude of the population of Cuba
+towards the conquerors. When the morning of the thirteenth of August,
+1762, dawned, the British were in possession of the town and port of
+Havana with one hundred and eighty miles to the east and all that tract
+of land to the west which terminates the island on that side. They took
+without resistance Managuas, Bejucal, Santiago, Mariel and Matanzas. The
+commander of the fort of San Severine in Matanzas, D. Felipe Garcia
+Solis, had stored up a large amount of provisions and supplies of all
+kinds in view of an eventual attack. But when he heard of the
+capitulation of Havana, he blew up the fort and retired with part of the
+garrison to Santiago. The governor of that city, D. Lorenzo Madriaga,
+was recognized as the authority to be obeyed by the people in that part
+of the island not taken by the British. Perhaps the British had gauged
+the sentiment of the population; perhaps they felt that their forces
+were too much weakened by the hardships of the siege. They made no
+attempts at further extending their conquest.
+
+According to the agreement between Admiral George Pococke and Lord
+Albemarle on the one side and the Marques of the Royal Transports and D.
+Juan de Prado on the other side, the Spanish garrison was to retire with
+military honors; artillery arms and munitions were to be delivered to
+the British; the Spanish troops were to be sent back on British
+transports; but the British were to respect the Catholic religion, its
+ministers, and churches, hospitals, and colleges; and the population was
+not to be disturbed in the exercise of wonted occupations and
+employments; and the laws of Spain were to remain in force. On the
+thirteenth of August, the gates of Tierra were opened to the British
+and on the following day they entered with two pieces of artillery and
+planted their flags on the forts. The following day the Spanish vessels
+were delivered to them: _Tigre_, _Reina_, _Soberano_, _Infante_,
+_Aquilon_, _America_, _Conquistader_, _San Antonio_ and _San Genero_.
+Many merchant vessels in the bay were also taken. The value of their
+booty was estimated at fourteen million pesos. But according to Valdes
+their losses during the first twenty four days of the siege had been
+seven thousand men, some killed in combat, some deserters, but the
+greater part victims of the Cuban climate. Hence in spite of
+reenforcements from Jamaica and North America, they had only three
+thousand men of infantry when Havana was taken.
+
+The departure of the Spanish troops was scheduled for the twenty-fourth
+of August. The British held ready for them three transports which on the
+thirtieth sailed through the gate of la Punta. One of them carried the
+Governor and his family. On his arrival in Madrid he was tried by a war
+council, which for his lack of foresight and energy in preparing the
+defense of Havana, condemned him to exile. But the king commuted the
+sentence to imprisonment for life. The British commanders, no longer
+needed in Havana, worn out with fatigue and weakened by the climate,
+also hurried to leave. Brigadier Burton returned to North America,
+Admiral Keppel to Jamaica, Pococke to England. He met with terrible
+tempests, lost one ship of line, and twelve transports. But the greeting
+he received on his arrival in England was most enthusiastic. Though the
+parliament was divided on the question of extending British conquests in
+Spanish America, there was still the party representing commercial
+interests to be reckoned with.
+
+With a promptness quite unusual at that time a book was published
+shortly after the capture of Havana, which outlined the course to be
+pursued in order to reap the benefits of the South Sea trade, which so
+far had been in the hands of the French and Spanish. It was entitled
+"The Great Importance of the Havana" set forth in an "Essay on the
+Nature and Methods of Carrying on a Trade to the South Sea and the West
+Indies, by Robert Allen, Esq., who resided some years in the Kingdom of
+Peru, London, printed for J. Hinxman in Paternoster Row and D. Wilson in
+the Strand, in 1762. Dedicated to the most Hon. Thomas Harley, Esq., M.
+P. and Merchant of London." The author begins with reference to an old
+tradition that a Prince of Wales had made an expedition to the coast of
+Mexico in 1190 and died there. Upon this tradition and the assertion
+that the Mexican language abounds in Welsh words, he seems to base the
+right of British priority to Spanish America.
+
+Mr. Allen was evidently much concerned with the activity of the French
+in West Indian waters. He says: "As to the slave-trade, it is too well
+known that the French are now under contract with the Spanish Assiento
+to supply them with four or five thousand negroes yearly and the greater
+profits and advantages which they reap from this trade has encouraged
+them to send many strong ships yearly to the coast of Africa which have
+not only taken many of our own ships on that coast, but also destroyed
+several of our many forts and settlements and likewise made several new
+settlements of their own, all which has been frequently represented both
+in the governing and legislative bodies of Britain, and no effectual
+reconciling remedy taken yet." He continues, that the channel of Spanish
+trade is quite altered from Jamaica "and the French, a nation whom we
+least suspected in trade, have of late years engrossed much of the
+greatest part thereof to themselves." He tries to rouse the British to
+the need of regaining the Spanish market in America, which was slowly
+slipping away from them, by a strenuous appeal to his Majesty to
+encourage such commerce by underselling the French. After giving a list
+of commodities and manufactures proper for this trade, he adds the
+postscript:
+
+"If Queen Anne, at the treaty of Utrecht, obtained so valuable a branch
+of trade as the Assiento contract by the success of the Duke of Marlboro
+alone, which according to stipulation was for two millions in shares
+annually, but doubly augmented under that contract in other goods (tho'
+given up by the treaty of Aix-la-Chapelle with our right of logwood) how
+much more ought we to insist on valuable terms since the reduction of
+Cuba, the key to the South Sea trade?"
+
+While the British people, like all people under a mass suggestion, were
+giving themselves up to jubilating and celebrating, the politicians in
+Parliament and elsewhere to controversies on technical questions, the
+business world of London and the great industrial and manufacturing
+centers of the country were considering investments in West Indian trade
+and calculating the profits to be made thereby. After all human nature
+is very much alike the world over. That the British as victors were also
+not different from other conquerors by force of arms and exacted
+requisitions and even without any formalities and ceremonies
+appropriated the treasures that seemed worth taking possession of, is
+evident from many data in the chronicles of those days. Not only were
+the royal chests taken, but also the property of private corporations,
+and individuals. Some documents relating to the "right of bells" have
+been presented and are interesting reading. Lieutenant Colonel Samuel
+Cleaveland, Artillery Commander of the island, addressed the following
+communication to Bishop Senor D. Pedro Agustino Morell of Santa Cruz,
+and to other priests:
+
+"According to the rules and customs of war observed by all official
+commanders of artillery in all European countries when a besieged town
+surrenders by capitulation:
+
+"I command that the city of Havana and the neighboring towns, where the
+army was situated, give account of all the bells found in all the
+churches, convents and monasteries, as well as in the sugar-plantations,
+and of other metals similar to bells, in order that said point shall be
+put into effect.
+
+    "Havana, 19 August, 1762.
+
+         "SAMUEL CLEAVELAND,
+
+             "Lieutenant-Colonel of Artillery."
+
+The bishop addressed a letter of inquiry concerning this "Derecho de
+companes" to Lord Albemarle and received the reply, that the war custom
+was well known, that the chiefs of artillery receive a gratification
+from any besieged and captured town or city, and that the
+Lieutenant-Colonel insisted upon compliance with his demand, adding,
+however, that it would not be disproportionate. Cleaveland was offered
+one thousand pesos in place of the coveted bells, but the British
+considered this amount too small, and the bishop received another letter
+from Lord Albemarle, which reads:
+
+"Illustrious Sir:
+
+"The compensation offered to the Commandant of Artillery of His British
+Majesty for the bells of the city is so low as to compel me to express
+my indignation. In order to have the matter settled, I say, that your
+Reverence can give the said official for all the churches ten thousand
+pesos and I am in the hope that this letter will deserve your immediate
+attention.
+
+    "Your obedient servant,
+
+             "ALBEMARLE.
+
+    "Havana, 27 August, 1762."
+
+The Bishop tried to obtain the sum demanded by alms and collections
+among his parishioners. But at a meeting on the thirty-first of August
+it was seen that the collection amounted only to one hundred pesos and
+four reales, which together with the previous one thousand pesos did not
+nearly approach the sum required. This was communicated to the British
+General with the remark that it would be impossible to raise more. This
+communication received no reply and the Commander of Artillery came to
+ask for the delivery of the bells, although this was not to take place
+until September fourth. He did not receive the bells, for the ten
+thousand pesos were got together by a loan, and the money was paid to
+Cleaveland on the sixth of that month.
+
+Difficulties between the British authorities and the Spanish clergy
+increased as time went on. On the twentieth of August the Junta of
+priests and prelates had a meeting at which was discussed the demand of
+the British Lieutenant-General, the local governor of the place, for a
+church in which the Anglican worship was to be instituted. The Bishop
+decided at once to send the communication to said governor, explaining
+to him that this demand was not contained in the articles of
+capitulation and if his Excellency had some other basis to justify his
+claim, he should communicate it. In reply the Bishop received on the
+thirtieth of August the following letter:
+
+    "Havana, Aug. 30, 1762.
+
+"Rev. Sir:
+
+"I wish and ask that your Reverence provide for the British troops a
+church for their divine worship, or that an alternative be arranged with
+the Catholics for such hours in the morning or evening, in which they
+don't use their church.
+
+"I request at the same time that an account be given me of all churches,
+convents, monasteries of every denomination, that are comprised in the
+jurisdiction of the Bishop of Cuba, as well as of Superiors and public
+officers associated with them.
+
+    "Very respectfully, etc.,
+
+        "ALBEMARLE."
+
+In a long letter dated September second, 1762, the Bishop replied, that
+he had to consult with the government of his Spanish Majesty and briefly
+avoided complying with the demand. Thereupon he received a caustic
+communication from Albemarle saying:
+
+"Sir:
+
+"I received your very large letter, but which is no answer to mine. I do
+not know having read a particular Capitulation made with the Church, but
+I am sure that there is none that can exclude the Subjects of H. British
+Majesty of their public worship in churches; and for that reason, if you
+do not assign me a church I shall take one that suits me best, and
+please remember that all Ecclesiastical employes or dignitaries have to
+receive my approbation, and also that you better comply with my demand,
+and cease writing such long Epistles.
+
+    "ALBEMARLE.
+
+"Havana, September 4, 1762."
+
+After a consultation with the other prelates the bishop informed
+Albemarle that since he was so decided, he should choose any church that
+he liked best. Albemarle selected the Church of San Francisco. But he
+insisted upon his other claims, as can be seen from the following letter
+dated September 25:
+
+"Some time ago I asked for a list of all Ecclesiastical Benefices (to
+which is associated a curacy) of the Donation of Your Honor; and once
+more I repeat my wish to be complied with without loss of time.
+
+"I learn that the Jesuit college received in their order an English
+official dismissed from the Royal Service on account of his bad
+proceedings; I can hardly believe that such a thing has been done
+without my license. That order has even in Spain a bad reputation, and
+in Portugal and France they have been expelled. If they are not entirely
+under your jurisdiction, send to me their Rector, etc.
+
+    "ALBEMARLE."
+
+The Bishop replied that the story about the admission of the discredited
+Englishman into the Jesuit seminary was altogether untrue, since the
+authorities of that college could not admit anybody, this being a
+special privilege of the Provincial residing in Mexico. A somewhat
+amusing incident of these disputes between the British authorities and
+the Spanish clergy of Havana is recorded in the following letter of the
+Bishop dated October twenty-second. It reads:
+
+"Your Excellency:
+
+"Yesterday between 4 and 5 o'clock in the afternoon, there called on me
+on your part a person whose name and nationality I do not know. All I
+know is that he speaks Spanish, though with a foreign accent and wears
+golden earrings as is customary with women. He addressed me with
+'Usted.' I informed him in the conversation that in speaking to me he
+had to use a more dignified title. He replied that he would always use
+'Usted.' It then occurred to me that this obstinacy might be justified
+by his higher rank. I asked him and he said that he had no other rank
+but that of a bomb-thrower in his Majesty's name. He continued in his
+way of speaking to me with a loud voice, and since in all his conduct he
+was wanting of the respect due to my dignity, I deem it fair that it
+should be corrected and that your excellency give me satisfaction."
+
+Lord Albemarle seems to have paid no attention to this letter. But on
+the same day the Bishop received another urgent order in which Lord
+Albemarle, as Governor and Captain-General of the island, insisted in
+his demand to receive a list of all ecclesiastical orders and benefices,
+in order to know and be the "competent judge" of the persons appointed
+by the Bishop and be able to consent to their appointment. The Bishop in
+his reply referred to his previous letter, stating that the Governor
+could neither before nor after the appointment be a competent judge of
+the appointees, since ecclesiastics, according to all rights, were
+exempt of protests by the laity, and their privileges were inviolate.
+
+According to the historian Blanchet, Bishop Morrell was at the end
+exiled to Florida for having refused to obey certain orders given by the
+British authorities.
+
+Although Albemarle cannot be said to have governed with the tyranny that
+characterized the German governors of occupied territories in the recent
+war, he failed to win the people. Those residents of Havana who were
+able to leave the place, moved into the country or to towns like
+Villa-Clara. The peasants of the neighborhood, who had carried on a
+profitable trade with the city in garden and dairy products, fowl,
+venison, etc., preferred to renounce these profits rather than go to the
+market and have the British buy what their soil had raised and their
+hands had tended. The spirit of the people was unanimous in the hatred
+of the enemy conquerors. Their intemperance, their customs, and even
+their language irritated them. Altercations that terminated in bloodshed
+became more and more numerous as time went on. Any act of violence
+against the British was severely punished, and not a few Cuban "rebels"
+were executed; the atmosphere of Havana was soon charged with invisible
+mines that a spark could set off.
+
+Complying with the orders of the British government, Albemarle had to
+exact the payment of certain sums from the population, including the
+clergy and the religious organizations, and found great difficulty in
+enforcing these orders. On the other hand, it cannot be denied that the
+feelings of the population were being deliberately hurt, especially by
+the disregard of the British authorities for the institutions maintained
+by the clergy. Thus a wave of indignation swept over the city, when the
+beggars and the sick were ejected from the convent of San Juan de Dios,
+which was turned into a hospital for the British. Without remuneration
+they occupied almost one-third of the buildings subject to an
+ecclesiastical tax, they transformed private residences into jails; they
+seized merchandise and funds that were owned by the Real Compania de
+Comercio and when these were claimed as private property, they were
+returned only after payment of one hundred and seventy-five pesos. As
+the tension grew crimes committed from vindictiveness increased among
+the population. M. Savine, the French writer referred to previously,
+reports that the Guajiros of the mountains poisoned the milk furnished
+to the garrison. A Cuban "rebel" who had escaped from the jail went
+about in the part of the island not occupied by the British and preached
+a "holy war" against the invaders of the island. Conditions were such
+that Havana might have become at any moment the scene of a new Sicilian
+Vespers.
+
+It was at this time that the Commissary D. Lorenzo de Montalvo wrote to
+the Minister of War at Madrid under date of October eighteenth, 1762:
+
+"The extraordinary mortality of the British troops has reduced them to
+the state which Your Excellency will see from the included papers. If at
+this moment eight or ten vessels arrived with two or three thousand men
+to debark, it would not be forty eight hours before they would
+capitulate."
+
+There was indeed a movement on foot in the unoccupied part of Cuba to
+collect a force, march against Havana and deliver it from the British
+conquerors. A force of guerilleros was ready for action under command of
+the intrepid Aguiar. He was only waiting for enforcement promised him by
+Governor Madriaga of Santiago, who had three hundred and fifty men with
+two thousand and five hundred guns, collected at Yaguas and Villa-Clara.
+But he lingered at Yaguas and it was supposed that he was afraid of
+losing his position if the British should decide upon moving against
+Santiago. Madriaga was however associated with Aguiar, D. Lorenzo
+Montalvo, D. Nicolas Rapua, D. Pedro Calvo de la Puerta, D. Augustin de
+Cardenas and other prominent citizens and patriots of Cuba in a pact to
+reconquer Havana at an opportune moment, and action may have been
+delayed only because rumors were afloat that peace was about to be
+signed.
+
+In Spain itself feeling ran high. The provinces of Murcia, Granada,
+Aragon, Valencia and Catalonia sent an address to King Charles III.
+asking to defend the colonies. It said among other things:
+
+"Sir:
+
+"Now is the moment to hold high the glory of the nation; let us
+humiliate under your auspices ambitious England which in her folly
+proposes nothing less than the ruin of all Europe. As her only aim is
+commerce, that is sordid gain, she wages a regrettable war upon a
+warlike nation that does not know meanness and has no other sentiments
+than the love of her king and her country. Money may be needed in
+London, as once in Carthage; but virtue, constancy and heroism we shall
+never lack, as they never failed the ancient Romans."
+
+But there is no record that this address elicited anything more than an
+appreciative reply from the government at Madrid. For the diplomatic and
+political world of Spain as of Great Britain was indeed occupied in
+considering a settlement of the Spanish-British problem.
+
+Nevertheless there were Spaniards, who even at that trying time must
+have viewed the state of things dispassionately, for the historian
+Pezuela gives the British much credit for the moderation and
+conciliatory tendency of their policy during the occupation. He records
+that they did not materially alter the general regime of the city, nor
+even make any radical changes in the municipal government. On taking
+possession of the town, Albemarle named for civil lieutenant-governor
+the Alderman D. Sebastian Penalver, a prominent lawyer; for the latter's
+Suplente or alternate, the alferez real or chief ensign D. Gonzale
+Oquendo, and for common civil judge D. Pedro Calvo de la Puerta, a
+high-constable and property holder highly esteemed by his fellow
+citizens. These three officials by their wisdom, unselfishness and
+impartiality lightened the burden of the foreign yoke.
+
+Both Albemarle and Keppel had soon recognized some of the greatest evils
+of the colonial administration, among them the corruption of the lower
+courts and the amazing amount of bribery going on even in the higher
+departments of the government. They tried to check the malpractice of
+lawyers, and in a decree dated the fourth of November, 1762, prohibited
+the making of gifts or presents of any kind to the principal governor
+and to the inferior authorities, considering such practice as means to
+promote dishonesty. However, the attitude of the great majority was and
+remained hostile to the British and it needed all the prudence and tact
+of men like Oquendo, Penalver and Puerta to avoid conflicts between the
+citizens and the foreign authorities. Nor should the Intendant Montalvo
+be forgotten, whose services were highly appreciated by Albemarle.
+
+In the British parliament there existed at that time a state of turmoil.
+The Earl of Bute, friend and adviser of George III., did not care for
+further extension of Britain's colonial possessions in America, saying
+that it was much greater importance "to bring the old colonies in order
+than to plant new ones." Others favored the return of Havana to Spain in
+exchange for Porto Rico and Florida. On the twenty-sixth of October,
+1762, the British King expressed his approval of the latter proposal and
+urged the diplomats engaged in deliberating upon the subject speedily to
+draft a treaty. He wrote to Bedford, as quoted by Bancroft in his
+"History of the United States," Vol. III., p. 298:
+
+"The best despatch I can receive from you will be those preliminaries
+signed. May Providence, in compassion to human misery, give you the
+means of executing this great and noble work."
+
+The terms proposed to the French according to the same authority were
+severe and even humiliating, and Choiseul is reported as having said:
+
+"But what can we do? The English are furiously imperious; they are drunk
+with success; and, unfortunately, we are not in a condition to abase
+their pride."
+
+The preliminaries of a peace which was to bring a certain stability to
+the colonies in America and permanently settle the claims of the three
+nations that had for three centuries been striving for supremacy in the
+New World, were signed on the third of November, 1762. They contained
+the following stipulations: England was to receive the Floridas and some
+islands in the West Indies, but abandon Havana; it was to have Louisiana
+to the Mississippi, but without the island of New Orleans; it was
+likewise to have all Canada, Acadia, Cape Breton and its independent
+islands, Newfoundland, except a share of France in the fisheries, with
+the two islands of St. Pierre and Miquelon as shelter for their
+fishermen. In Africa England was to have Senegal, which insured for it
+the monopoly of the slave-trade. In the East Indies, too, France
+recovered only what she possessed on the first of January, 1749, the
+rest going to England and assuring its sway over that territory. France,
+on the other hand, to indemnify Spain for the loss of Florida, ceded to
+Spain New Orleans and all Louisiana west of the Mississippi. There is no
+doubt that France came off worst in this settlement; but, as her
+minister Choiseul said, it was at the time helpless. In England, which
+by this settlement laid the foundations of her great power, there was a
+great display of flamboyant oratory. The king was reported to have
+said:
+
+"England never signed such a peace before, nor, I believe, any other
+power in Europe."
+
+Granville, then, on his deathbed, exclaimed:
+
+"The country never saw so glorious a war or so honorable a peace," and
+Bute, roused to defend it against some opponents in Parliament, uttered
+these words significant of the high esteem in which he held himself and
+whatever services he rendered England as favorite of the king:
+
+"I wish no better inscription on my tomb than that I was its author."
+
+It is needless to say that the effect of this document upon Spain was of
+quite a different nature. For it practically checked for all time her
+ambitions for maintaining supremacy in the world her discoverers and
+explorers had once claimed under her colors. Cuba, of course, rejoiced
+at the prospect of the restitution of Havana. Lord Albemarle, suffering
+from the strain of the siege and the climate, as no less from the
+realization that he would never be able to reconcile the Cubans to a
+recognition of his authority, had left early in the year 1762 and Sir
+William Keppel occupied his post. The peace was ratified at Paris on the
+tenth of February, 1763, and the people began to look forward with
+impatience to the arrival of a new governor from Madrid and to the
+debarkation of the British. In spite of the harassing situation which
+they had endured during the rule of the enemy they had not been idle,
+but planned many improvements and reforms which they promised themselves
+to execute as soon as the British domination would end. They had
+learned, too, to appreciate the advantages of free trade; for during the
+British occupation no less than nine hundred merchant vessels entered
+the harbor and not a few cargoes of negroes were landed.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER VI
+
+
+The changes which the island underwent during this time were
+far-reaching. The British occupation had established a direct contact
+with the world outside of Spain, which was bound to broaden the narrowly
+provincial viewpoint of the residents of the colony. For the nobles to
+whom large tracts of land had been granted in the earlier days of the
+colony had never permanently resided there but only came over for a
+short time to occupy their winter residence in Havana and for another
+brief season to show themselves in all their old-world aristocratic
+splendor on their haciendas. The great majority of the people,
+descendants of the adventurers and the poor immigrants of the pioneer
+period, had acquired the habits of country people so engrossed in their
+fields, their live stock and the daily labors required to make these
+possessions profitable, that they had lost any desire to seek the
+stimulating influence of city life. The cities themselves, Havana not
+excepted, had a provincial aspect and offered little attraction to the
+foreign traveler who did not come there exclusively on business.
+Nevertheless they left a pleasant memory with many a casual visitor. A
+Frenchman, who spent some time in Havana about the year 1745, set down
+his impressions, which with other letters and memoirs of travel were
+edited by Pierre Jean Baptiste Nougaret and published in Paris in 1783
+under the title: "Voyages interessans dans differentes Colonies
+francaises, espagnoles, anglaises, etc." In these reminiscences of
+Havana some twenty years before the British occupation, he draws a
+picture of the city, which it is interesting to compare with what other
+writers have to say of the Havana of 1762. He writes:
+
+[Illustration: HAVANA, FROM CABANAS
+
+"Beautiful for situation" indeed is the Cuban capital, whether it be
+used as a point from which to view the sea and land, or be itself looked
+upon from some neighboring or distant height. This view, from the
+grounds of the great Cabanas fortress, shows the central portion of the
+city, with the notable public buildings clearly discernible, and nearer
+at hand the waters of the inner harbor, where occurred in 1898 the
+memorable and mysterious tragedy of the _Maine_.]
+
+"It is a very spacious city, well enough built and among the best
+fortified in America. In size it compares about with la Rochelle, but it
+is far more populated. It is graced with a large number of public
+buildings, churches, convents and you see there usually more negro
+slaves than in any other city of Spanish domination. Its harbor
+especially is one of the largest and most beautiful in America, and they
+build there warships for the construction of which the king of Spain
+employs a prodigious number of laborers, an arsenal and an immense
+workshop. It is the Catholic king's custom to pay one thousand piastres
+a cannon; so a vessel of eight cannon costs him eight thousand piastres.
+There are always on the docks five or six vessels at once; it is a
+company called the Company of Biscay which attends to the business.
+Havana is rather regular in plan; the streets are surveyed by the line,
+although some of them are not absolutely straight; all houses are of two
+or three floors, built of masonry and have balconies mostly of wood; the
+lower part of most houses is terrace-like as in European Spain and
+altogether they make a respectable impression.
+
+"The city is protected by a numerous garrison of about four thousand
+regular troops, extremely well kept, who make Havana impregnable in a
+country where one cannot attack, except with considerable forces. The
+city which is one of the best located seems an oval; the entrance to her
+port is advantageously protected by different forts, of which one, the
+first, is called Morro or port of entrance; the second is opposite; a
+third has been erected toward the side of the city; it is so large that
+it seems rather a citadel than a fort. There is besides before the
+principal section of the city before the palace of the governor which is
+magnificent, a battery of big guns and of considerable calibre; so one
+can say that Havana is the best defended of all places in America, the
+vessels that want to enter being obliged to pass so close to the forts
+that it would be easy to sink them.
+
+"The customs of the Spanish are here about the same as in Spain,
+differing from other colonies of the nation, where frankness,
+righteousness and probity seem to have been exiled. The Havanese are
+quite frank, extremely gay, more so than suits the ordinary Spanish
+gravity which is probably due to the great number of strangers which
+come there from all parts. The climate is rather good; the sex very
+handsome and enjoying much more liberty than in the rest of Spanish
+America.
+
+"Armed cruisers are entertained to keep away strangers from the coast,
+which does not prevent all the fraudulent operations in which the
+commandant often shares. Nevertheless life is agreeable for the rich,
+everything being abundant in Havana; and the residents are far more
+neatly habited than elsewhere. One does not drink but cistern water,
+much superior to that of the only fountain which is in the center of a
+large square; and which serves only as watering trough for animals. You
+see in Havana many rolling chairs, most of which are rented, which gives
+the city an air resembling European towns."
+
+Appreciative as this description sounds, which had for its author a M.
+Sr. Villiet d'Arignon, the Havana of the time of the British calls forth
+even more appreciative language from the Spanish historians of Cuba.
+They dwell much on the beauty of its location and of the city itself
+say:
+
+The streets were not large or well leveled, especially those running
+from north to south, which caused the town to be so great in length;
+over three thousand houses occupied an expanse of nine hundred fathoms
+in length and five hundred in width; they were of hewn stone, of
+graceful form and as a whole afforded a very beautiful appearance. To
+the beauty of the city contributed eleven churches and convents and two
+large hospitals; the churches were rich and magnificent, especially
+those of Recoletos, Santa Clara, San Agustino and San Juan de Dios.
+Their interior was adorned with altars, lamps and candelabra of gold and
+silver of an exquisite taste. There were three principal squares: The
+Plaza des Armas, which still retains its name, encompassed by houses of
+uniform frontage with the metropolitan church. A magnificent aspect was
+added to this square by the castille de la Fuerza, where resided the
+Captain-Generals, and the pyramid encompassed by three luxuriant
+five-leaved silk cotton trees planted there in memory of the tradition,
+that the first mass and town meeting were held in the shadow of a robust
+tree of that kind; that of San Francisco adorned with two fountains was
+considered the best place in the city and on it were the houses of the
+Ayuntamento and the public jail, whose two-story façade with arched
+entrance contrasted with the severe architecture of the convent after
+which the square is named; and there was still another, the new square,
+because it had been opened after the former, with a fountain in the
+center and all encompassed with porticos for the convenience of the
+public, serving also as market-place, where the inhabitants, according
+to Arrate, provided themselves "copiously" with all they wanted.
+
+Native writers also dwell upon the good manners of the Havanese, calling
+them the most polite and social people of Spanish America, much given
+to imitating the French customs and manners, which were then in vogue at
+the Spanish court of Madrid, both in their dress and their conversation,
+as also in the furnishings of their houses and the good table they set
+their guests. These descriptions of Cuba and Cuban life tally well with
+those of the foreigners quoted by the author, and indicate the progress
+made by the island, and especially by Havana, in the sixth and seventh
+decades of the century.
+
+The economic conditions of the island underwent a great change during
+the sixth decade of the century. Up to this time, the majority of the
+people had been engaged in agriculture and led a more or less simple,
+rustic life. The products of her soil were consumed on the spot. Her
+mines were neglected because the gold and silver which had been
+discovered in the earlier part of Cuba's history and which had roused
+the jealousy of other countries were not sufficient in quantity to
+justify the labor needed for working them. With the increasing number of
+negro slaves, the possibilities of exploiting all the rich natural
+resources of the island were multiplied. Among the products that came
+into prominence was sugar. Not ordinarily consumed, it brought forty
+three cents a pound. John Atkins, the British surgeon and author of that
+interesting book of travel in Spanish America referred to in a previous
+chapter, had declared the sugar of Cuba the best in the world; and it
+was indeed so considered in the market. It became soon one of the most
+important articles of Cuba's commerce. The cheapened labor encouraged
+enterprises which the Spanish would have been physically unable to carry
+through.
+
+The commerce of Havana had in this epoch increased considerably and the
+greatest part of it came from the ports of the island itself. Besides
+supplying with goods the towns of the interior and the littoral, Havana
+exported great amounts of hides, much esteemed for their excellent
+quality, and also sugar, tobacco and other articles. The trade was
+carried on by vessels registered from Cadiz and the Canaries besides
+those of Spanish merchants who were allowed to trade with the
+Spanish-American continent. Especially favored were those that returned
+to Spain from Cartagena, Porto Bello and Vera Cruz and entered Havana to
+renew their supply of provisions and water, and enjoy the advantage of
+going out with the convoy which in the month of September returned to
+the Peninsula with galleons loaded with the riches of Peru and Chile,
+and the fleet freighted with the treasures of New Spain. This periodical
+assembly of a great number of merchant and war vessels in Havana had
+introduced the custom of holding fairs, during which great animation
+prevailed in the city. For while they facilitated commercial
+transactions, they also furnished diversion and entertainment to the
+sailors and others who were waiting for the sailing of the convoy. At
+that time an order was published prohibiting on penalty of death any
+person belonging to the squadron to remain on land over night, and all
+had to retire on board at the report of a gun. Provisions were then, as
+also M. d'Arignon reported at his time, very dear. The monopoly which
+was exercised by the company had unreasonably raised the cost of living.
+The flour brought from foreign smugglers at five or six piasters a
+barrel, was sold at his time at thirty-five and more! Besides the
+ordinary wages of men hired by the day every male slave day-laborer was
+paid in excess four pesos a day and every female two pesos.
+
+The description of the defenses of the city during the British invasion
+suggest that the surrender to the enemy may after all not have been
+entirely the fault of the procrastination and unconcern of the Cuban
+governor, as some zealous patriots alleged at the time. The entrance of
+the port was in the eastern part, defended by the strong fort of el
+Morro, situated upon an elevated rock of irregular, somewhat triangular
+form, in the walls and bulwarks of which were forty mounted cannon. It
+was protected also by the battery of Doce Apostoles, so called for
+having a dozen mounted cannon, situated toward the interior of the port
+in the lower parts of the Morro bulwark, which looked to the southeast
+and were almost at sea-level. There was also the Divina Pastora with
+fourteen cannon, on a level with the sea at a point a little higher than
+the former facing the gate of la Punta. Toward the west in the same
+entrance of the port and about two hundred yards from it with four
+bulwarks well-mounted with artillery, was la Fuerza with twenty-two
+cannon. Although not of as solid construction as the others, it served
+as storehouse for the treasures of the King and was also the residence
+of the governor. Between these fortresses there were erected along the
+bay a number of other bulwarks well supplied with artillery. The walls
+from la Punta to the arsenal were protected by bulwarks with parapets
+and a ditch. From the first to the second gate there was considerable
+territory converted at that time into gardens, and pasture land, and
+covered with palmettos. In front of the Punta de Tierra was a ravelin.
+
+Nevertheless those fortifications had serious defects of position,
+because the city as well as the forts were dominated by many hills easy
+of access. East of the port was Cabanas, where there was a citadel built
+later, dominating a great part of el Morro and the northeastern part of
+the city. West of the town was a suburb, called Guadeloupe, the church
+of which was situated on an eminence half a mile from the gate of
+Tierra, and on the same level with it, the highest of all fortifications
+in that direction. From the northern side of this elevation the gate of
+Punta could be flanked and from the southeast the shipyard was
+dominated. The zanja real, or royal trench, in the northern part,
+descended not far from the Punta de Tierra and then ran into the
+shipyard where its water was employed in running a mill. Half a mile
+from said church was the Chavez bridge, built over a rivulet flowing
+into the bay, which served to unite the central road of the island with
+that of Baracoa; and from the bridge to the Lazareto was a stretch of
+two miles with an intermediate hill. A trench between these two points
+could easily cut the communication of Havana with the rest of the
+island. From this close description it can be seen that in spite of the
+imposing impression its fortifications made upon foreigners, Havana was
+by no means an impregnable fortress at the time of the British invasion,
+which was brought out at the trial of Governor Prado. But whatever may
+have been the cause of its capitulation to the British, the period of
+their occupation at the end benefited Cuba, for it opened the eyes of
+the government to the needs of the island, and prepared a new era,
+political, social and economic.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER VII
+
+
+By the terms of the treaty signed at Versailles on the tenth of
+February, 1763, Britain was to give back to Spain the city and territory
+of Havana in the condition in which the British had found it and Spain
+was to grant the British a term of eighteen months, so that those who
+had established themselves upon the island could insure their interests
+by transferring their property. To administrate the political and
+military affairs of Cuba and carry out these stipulations, a new
+governor was appointed in the person of the Lieutenant-General Conde de
+Ricla, a relative of the famous Minister Aranda. Ricla arrived in Havana
+on the thirteenth of June and prepared to enter upon his duties, while
+the British authorities made preparations to wind up their affairs and
+to embark. Spanish love of festive demonstrations of joy must have
+culminated in a frenzy of exultation on the day when Admiral Keppel
+solemnly and formally gave up Havana to the Tenente Rey, the King's
+Lieutenant, who took possession of all military posts. It was the sixth
+of July, 1763, ever since remembered as the glorious day when Cuba was
+delivered from the British yoke. The new governor entered through one of
+the iron gates of the city, driven in an open coach, and acclaimed by
+the enthusiastic vivas of the population. On the same day the British
+authorities set sail, and the city entered upon a celebration of the
+event which lasted nine days. The Spanish colors fluttered from every
+roof, the houses were draped in them, the doors were garlanded in green,
+and when the evening came, lights shone in every window and sky rockets
+were set off on every street corner, turning the tropical night into
+day.
+
+[Illustration: ATARES FORTRESS--(ERECTED 1763)]
+
+The new governor was a man of rare character and was endowed by the
+royal government with more power than any of his predecessors had
+enjoyed. He received a salary of eighteen thousand pesos annually. The
+task before him was one of reorganization and reconstruction. He was
+charged and expected to inaugurate a new era in the administration of
+the colony, to employ the most judicious means to prevent errors
+committed by his predecessors and to insure a prompt and efficient
+enforcement of the principles of colonial policy which the time
+demanded. He was also to repair all the fortifications and defenses of
+the island, rebuild whatever had been destroyed and add to them whatever
+was needed as rapidly as possible, so they would be proof against any
+possible coup-de-main on the part of any enemy. The reconstruction of
+the Morro and of the arsenal destroyed by the British, and the erection
+of the forts of Cabanas and Atares was entrusted to the able engineers
+D. Silvestro Abarca and D. Agostino Crame, who later drew the plan for
+that of Puerto Principe, intended to protect that place and prevent any
+landing by la Chorrera. The records of the period show that six million
+pesos were spent on those fortifications. New hospitals and other public
+buildings were also erected. The work was greatly facilitated by the
+number of negroes that had been added to the population since the
+British domination of the city. The great activity of the building
+trades stimulated the circulation of gold and gave a new impetus to all
+business life.
+
+That the antagonism between the Spanish and British was not confined to
+Havana, which had suffered British occupation, is proved by the influx
+of immigrants from Florida, when this province was ceded to England.
+Unwilling to live under British dominion, many French and Spanish
+families of that colony left their old homes for new ones in Cuba. A
+great number of them settled in Matanzas and its environs, on land which
+belonged to the famous Marquis Justiz de Santa Anna. The generosity of
+this man in gratuitously ceding that land endeared him to these
+immigrants. Their love for the place they came from induced them to give
+to the towns into which their settlements were formed, names that
+suggested the old home, as San Augustin de la Nueva Florida proves. As
+soon as the enemy had left, the residents of Havana who had retired to
+the interior of the island returned to the city and resumed their
+occupations. Bishop Morell, who had been exiled to Florida by the
+British, also returned. He brought with him the white-wax bee, which in
+time became a new source of wealth for the island.
+
+It was a period of reconstruction and readjustment during which not only
+were old business relations renewed and reaffirmed, but many new steps
+taken to insure the welfare of the community. Those elements of the
+population which were particularly concerned with the honest and
+efficient management of its affairs, had during the British occupation
+become aware of some malpractices that had escaped their attention or to
+which they had become so accustomed that they did not make any effort to
+check them. There were always on the island rumors of corruption in this
+or that department. Occasionally a fraudulent functionary was tried and
+convicted, but the great majority of these dishonest officials escaped
+without ever being brought to trial. The frequent change of governors
+with the inevitable periods of interim administration gave unscrupulous
+men ample opportunity to fill their pockets at the expense of the
+government. Nor can it be doubted, that the governors sent over by the
+Spanish court were invested with a farther reaching authority than was
+advantageous for the colony. For they enjoyed not only a political power
+almost absolute, but directed the economic affairs of the colony.
+
+The governors of Cuba had in former times authority to handle the
+revenues and in accord with the municipal councils were wont to elect
+delegates to discharge these duties. In 1551 they had begun to exercise
+these functions as ministers de capa y espada, which means literally of
+cloak and sword. There were two of them for the island; they enjoyed
+seat and vote in the town corporations and were considered royal
+officials. They supervised the work of the Auditor and Treasurer and
+together with the Governor were judges in cases of contraband. Later
+there were appointed tenientes (lieutenants), one for each of the
+following communities, Bayamo, Puerto Principe, Trinidad, Matanzas, San
+Juan de los Remedios, Sancti Spiritus, and Guanabacoa, and two for
+Santiago de Cuba. The new ministers of the Tribunal de Cuentes
+(Exchequer) were provisionally endowed and the whole department hitherto
+in charge of the royal officers was reorganized and managed under a new
+system by the newly appointed Intendant. To him was probably due the new
+classification of the revenue rates, which was as follows:
+
+      (1) Duties on imports and exports,
+      (2) of the fleet,
+      (3) of the armadilla,
+      (4) of the royal Fifths (i.e. a duty of 20% on prizes,
+    etc., paid to the Spanish government),
+      (5) the duty on anchoring,
+      (6) the duty on frucanga, i.e. beverages made of water
+    and molasses, which at a later time, when the use of wine,
+    beer, etc., became more general, went into oblivion.
+
+These duties were from twenty-one to two and one half per cent.
+according to the articles, the time and the place they came from. There
+were also two per cent. duties on importations, on fruits of the country
+brought to Havana in smaller vessels; on the gold and copper of the
+mines of Jaguas, Holguin, etc., and there was also what was called the
+extraordinario del Morro, which consisted in collecting four pesos for
+each vessel sent to Spain and the American continent. The enforcement of
+these custom regulations was entrusted to the Intendant referred to
+above, who in October of the year 1764 was given the right to use a
+special building for the offices of this department.
+
+For the military reorganization of Havana had been appointed Marshal
+Senor Conde D. Alexandre O'Reilly, who as Inspector-General devoted
+himself to the organization of line troops and militia and was
+materially assisted in his work by Aguiar. O'Reilly succeeded in getting
+the veteran troops and militia of the island into good condition. By
+studying the city, dividing it into districts, naming the
+streets--simple requirements which according to Valdes had at that late
+date not yet been established in Havana--O'Reilly learned that the city
+alone could raise a battalion of disciplined militia of white men. After
+organizing two such battalions in Havana and Guanabacoa, he realized
+that this force was insufficient for the protection of the capital and
+he raised two more battalions, composed of colored men. When on
+examining the polls or registers of tax-payers he found that owing to
+the poverty and also the ignorance of the majority of the people he
+could not proceed with the draft system without including the married
+and other classes, he decided to resort to conscription.
+
+In 1764 there was created by royal decree a military and provincial
+administration for Cuba in the manner of the peninsulas. D. Miguel de
+Altavilla took charge of it in February, 1765. He established in Havana
+an accountant's (auditor's) office, a treasury and custom-houses at
+various points, subject to the department. This organization required
+many employees, and increased the expenses of the administration. The
+salaries of the officials amounted to one million two hundred thousand
+pesos, while until the year 1761 they had been only four hundred and
+fifty thousand pesos annually. As the Mexican assistant of the director
+never arrived in time to help with the accounts, the Royal Hacienda, as
+it was called, was not a sinecure. The revenues rose within a short time
+to one million two hundred and fifty thousand pesos, but whether this
+was due to the high duties or to the wise administration of the
+Intendencia does not appear.
+
+The tentative effort at establishing a mail service during a previous
+administration was taken up in 1765, when the tax administrator D. José
+de Armona established the internal and external mail service of the
+island. It was found that every fortnight there was sent from Havana to
+Santiago de Cuba the mail, touching at Villa-Clara, Sancti Spiritus,
+Puerto Principe and Bayamo. According to royal decree of 1718 there
+should have been sent annually to Spain eight avisos or ships of one
+hundred tons, carrying letters from the Philippines and America, four of
+them stopping for provisions and supplies at Havana. These avisos
+(advice-boats, light vessels for carrying dispatches) sailed at the
+beginning of January, the end of March, the middle of June, and the
+first days of November. Most of the letters at that time were carried by
+smugglers. Armona succeeded in establishing a weekly postal
+communication between the towns mentioned above and also engaged
+postillions to carry mail sacks of San Juan de los Remedies, Trinidad
+and other towns not included in the other line. Every month except
+September, _la Coruna_, a vessel with the mail of Cuba and Spanish
+America, sailed from Havana for Spain. The work of Armona was
+extraordinary in face of the great difficulties which he had to
+overcome, both in regard to the lack of sufficient funds and to the lack
+of efficient and reliable officials. When he retired from the department
+the mail service of Cuba was neglected and even the line established
+between Havana and other towns of the island reduced its operation to
+one mail a month.
+
+In the meantime the tragedy of the siege of Havana was being discussed
+in Spain before the tribunal charged with the investigation of the
+conduct of the men then at the head of the government in Havana and
+supposed to be responsible for its defeat by the British. After many
+months of tedious conferences, the Military Council, according to
+Alcazar, condemned Ex-Governor Prado to degradation of rank and
+banishment, Conde de Superanda and Tavares likewise, and the colonel of
+engineers Ricaut to ten years' suspension from office. The Teniente-Rey
+Soler, the colonels Caro and Arroyo and the artillery-commander Crel de
+la Hoz escaped with severe admonitions. Thus was the curtain rung down
+upon the epilogue to the tragedy of that siege.
+
+After two years, during which he administered the affairs of the
+government with great sagacity and introduced many valuable reforms,
+Conde de Ricla asked permission to retire from his office and return to
+Spain. The Court accepted his resignation and appointed as his successor
+the Field Marshal D. Diego Manrique, who took charge of the government
+on the thirtieth of June, 1765. But he was almost immediately taken sick
+of yellow fever and died on the thirteenth of July, a few days after his
+inauguration. The Municipio of Havana urgently requested Ricla to resume
+the duties of governor, but he firmly refused and embarked for Spain.
+There may have been reasons for his determination not to continue in
+office, that are not mentioned by Valdes and Alcazar. For Blanchet
+remarks that the Conde de Ricla, though a man of action and efficiency,
+seems in the awarding of privileges and assignment of punishments not to
+have conducted himself quite properly. Ricla is described as having been
+a man of small stature, and grave but not unpleasant manner. He died in
+1780 as minister of war in Spain.
+
+There is a memorial to his services in carrying through the extensive
+work on the fortifications of Havana in the chapel of Cabana, where on a
+block is found this inscription:
+
+"During the reign in Spain of His Catholic Majesty Senor D. Carlos III.
+and the government in this island of the Count de Ricla, Grandee of
+Spain and Lieutenant-General of the Royal Armies, was begun, in the year
+1763, this fort of San Carlos, that of Atares in the Loma de Sota and
+the rebuilding and enlargement of el Morro. The works of this fort were
+continued and those of el Morro and Atares were finished during the
+government of the Lieutenant-General of the Royal Army Senor Baylio D.
+Antonio Maria Buccarelli, etc."
+
+The provisional governorship of the Teniente de Rey, the King's
+Lieutenant, D. Pascal Jiminez de Cisneros, lasted from the thirteenth of
+July, 1765, to the nineteenth of March, 1766. He conscientiously
+endeavored to continue to rule in the spirit of his predecessor and to
+carry out the instructions given him by Ricla before he left for Spain.
+Some disturbances took place during that time, caused by the
+tobacco-planters and by the soldiers. The former began to object to
+selling their entire harvest to the factory. The latter had become
+dissatisfied on account of the irregularity with which they were paid.
+
+The new governor appointed by the court of Madrid for Cuba was the Field
+Marshal Senor Baylio D. Antonio Maria Buccarelli, a native of Sevilla.
+He entered upon his office on the nineteenth of March, 1766, and was
+evidently determined to continue and if possible improve upon the many
+reforms and improvements that had been introduced by Ricla. Among them
+were certain police regulations which tended to insure the safety of the
+residents, as well as order and cleanliness on the streets. He also
+resolved to abolish the abuses of the bar, by putting a stop to the
+extortions practised by unscrupulous lawyers on ignorant clients. This
+decidedly new departure from any precedent was outlined in a
+proclamation of good government, which he published according to Valdes
+on the seventh, according to Alcazar on the twelfth of April, 1766. In
+this memorable address to the people, he announced that he would devote
+two hours daily to giving hearing to complainants; at this hearing were
+to be present attorneys and clerks to take down the depositions and
+render advice, and the judgments there delivered were to be signed
+without delay, except on holidays. By these verbal audiences he
+succeeded in clearing up many cases before they went to the regular
+courts, thus protecting the people against exploitation by the numerous
+officials attached to the lower courts and avoiding expensive lawsuits.
+This new reform in the judicial department of the island especially
+benefited the slaves, whose rights he endeavored to protect and insure.
+The extraordinary discretion with which he performed this function of
+his office, preserving his dignity and affability in the most trying
+situations, endeared him to the people.
+
+The most difficult task before him, and one calling for unusual prudence
+and tact, was the execution of the royal decree concerning the expulsion
+of certain religious orders against whom drastic measures had been taken
+in Europe. The movement began in Portugal in 1759, when the Jesuits were
+expelled from that country. Two years later the society was dissolved
+and its members banished from France. Then the opposition to them made
+itself felt in Spain. King Carlos III. had always been their zealous
+protector, but he suddenly turned against them after the curious
+Sombrero-and-Manta revolution in Madrid in 1766. His favorite, the
+Marquis Squilaci, a Neapolitan, had tried to inaugurate various reforms
+in the city, among them the cleaning of the streets, which were in an
+unspeakable state of filth, the regulation of the prices of food and the
+installment of a lighting system. Simple and reasonable as were these
+innovations, they met with furious opposition on the part of certain
+classes of the people. This opposition was fanned into open revolt by
+another ordinance which he issued. It was directed against the enormous
+sombreros and voluminous mantas (cape cloaks) worn with preference by
+individuals who could thus easily disguise themselves, hide their
+identity and carry dangerous weapons which played a dismal part in the
+numerous assassinations that had shocked the authorities. An organized
+revolt against these measures took place in Madrid and led to
+considerable bloodshed. The king was made to believe that the Jesuits
+were the prime agents in that insurrection, and at midnight of the
+seventeenth of February, 1767, Carlos III. signed a decree ordering
+their immediate expulsion from Spain. In this decree, the execution of
+which was entrusted to Count Aranda, the king gave as reason for this
+step, the necessity to maintain among his subjects order, obedience,
+quiet and justice. At the same time he ordered the temporal property of
+the society of Jesuits in the dominions of Spain to be adjudged to the
+treasury. The order was executed with a promptness and a quiet deserving
+especial comment. On the same day were sent to all judges, governors,
+regents and viceroys a secret message, accompanied by a circular letter
+saying that the message containing royal instructions to be obeyed by
+every one should not be opened before April 1. Those officials were
+moreover warned not to communicate the contents of the message to any
+one, and should the public by some chance obtain such knowledge, those
+responsible were to be treated as though they had violated the secret
+and were guilty of opposition to the Sovereign's orders. This measure
+was so effectively executed that the padres of the order were taken by
+surprise, and were speedily sent on their way out of the country without
+the slightest disorder. On the day of this expulsion the king had
+affixed a "pragmatica" on the doors of the palace and public buildings
+in the principal streets, in which it was said among other things, that
+the individual priests would be given seventy-two pesos annually for
+their means of subsistence, and the lay brothers sixty-five, that their
+pensions would be paid out of the property of the Society, and that it
+was prohibited in the whole monarchy to receive any individual of the
+Society in particular, or to admit them into any community, or any court
+or tribunal, or to appeal in their behalf. It was also prohibited to
+write or influence the minds of the people for or against this
+pragmatica or to enter into any correspondence with the members of the
+expelled order. This royal decree was carried into effect in all the
+colonies of Spanish America, and in Cuba it was Buccarelli to whom
+credit was due for the tact displayed in performing this extremely
+difficult duty. The proceeds of the property of the Society, which
+reverted to the state, were devoted by Buccarelli to the endowment of
+three professorships at the university, two for law and one for
+mathematics. The decision of the King met with no open opposition among
+the residents, although the Jesuit College, since then called the
+Seminario de San Carlos, and their church, actually the Cathedral, had
+been a center of interest to the society of Havana, and the much
+esteemed and beloved Senor D. Pedro Agostine Morell was reported to have
+been responsible for the coming of the order to Havana. Senor Morell
+died on the twenty-ninth of December, 1769, and was succeeded in his
+diocese by D. José Echeverria.
+
+Governor Buccarelli made strenuous efforts to abolish contraband trading
+in the island. He tried also to promote coffee culture in Cuba, which
+had so far yielded so little as to be not even sufficient for home
+consumption. His Majesty granted an extension of customs for five years
+at that time. A new step for the improvement of the maritime department
+was taken in the year 1766, when the Apostadero was created a military
+and naval station. To the administration of this office was appointed D.
+Juan Antonio de la Colina, who during the siege of Havana in 1762 had
+ordered the sinking of the three vessels for the purpose of closing to
+the British the entry of the port. Colina was invested with the same
+powers possessed in Spain by the Captain-General of the naval
+department. In the shipyard of Havana there were built at this time
+vessels of various sizes and purposes, among them the _Santissima
+Trinidad_, a vessel of one hundred and twelve guns, and three smaller
+but excellent ships. The _Santissima Trinidad_ was destined some years
+later to be destroyed in the battle of Trafalgar.
+
+Two great calamities caused much distress and loss of lives and property
+during Buccarelli's administration. In July and August, 1766,
+earthquakes destroyed a great portion of Santiago de Cuba. It was
+estimated that more than one hundred persons perished. Among them was
+the governor, Marquis de Casa-Cagigal, who was removed from the ruins of
+his residence. The disaster called for such great funds for the
+alleviation of the suffering and the hardships occasioned by this
+catastrophe, that the Royal Treasury had to retard the payment of the
+salaries to the officials of the island. The civilian population
+contributed generously to the relief funds collected in the principal
+towns of the island. Governor Buccarelli himself sent contributions to
+two hundred presidarios and to two engineers that had been stricken in
+the performance of their duties.
+
+The losses and the sorrow caused by this calamity had barely been
+repaired and mitigated, when another disaster called for sympathy and
+active assistance on the part of those that were spared. This was the
+tremendous hurricane which swept over Havana on the fifteenth of
+October, 1768, and left the city a scene of desolation. The vessels in
+the harbor were torn from their anchorage, and drifted into the sea
+lashed into fury by the tempest; the trees in the orchards were
+uprooted, the fields appeared as if they had been churned. Buildings
+were carried away from their foundations and deposited in remote places.
+It was difficult to estimate the damage done in the city and its
+neighborhood. Again a call for relief was sounded and responded to
+readily. To assist the sufferers a great sum came from the proceeds of
+the Jesuit properties recently seized, which according to the valuation
+of experts amounted to several million pesos.
+
+Buccarelli was appointed Viceroy of Mexico, and retired on the fourth of
+August, 1771. He had proved a worthy successor of the much esteemed
+Count Ricla and left behind him an excellent reputation. It was said of
+him that he had never once lacked that political prudence which should
+ever guide the actions of an official in such a responsible position as
+was the governorship of Cuba. He was praised for his cautious inquiries
+into legal abuses and his judicious settlement of cases, some of which
+had for forty years occupied the time of the courts and filled the
+pockets of greedy attorneys. He was reported under the most exasperating
+circumstances to have always conserved his affable disposition and to
+have never lost his temper, however great may have been the provocation.
+Upon the whole, he was looked upon as a man of rare nobility of
+character and Cuba was loath to part with him. He was one of the few
+governors that had never given cause for any complaint. This was
+attested by the Minister of the Indies, then Baylio Knight Julian de
+Arriaga, who wrote to him by order of His Majesty that not the slightest
+complaint of his government had come to the court.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER VIII
+
+
+While Cuba was enjoying the peace and prosperity which had followed its
+return to Spain, Louisiana, which by the Treaty of Paris had been ceded
+to Spain by Louis XV. of France, to indemnify her for the Floridas and
+the government of which was annexed to that of Cuba, was going through a
+most harassing period of anxiety. For this agreement, which transferred
+the French inhabitants of Louisiana to Spain, was a violation of that
+human right which at this very time was beginning to dawn in the
+awakening political consciousness of mankind, and was to be a source of
+serious conflicts between the French of Louisiana and the authorities
+that came to establish upon her soil the rule of the king of Spain.
+
+Bancroft gives an interesting account of the events that occurred. He
+writes in his "History of the United States" (Vol. IV, p. 122):
+
+"The Treaty of Paris left two European powers sole sovereigns of the
+continent of North America. Spain, accepting Louisiana without
+hesitation, lost France as her bulwark, and assumed new expenses and
+dangers, to keep the territory from England. Its inhabitants loved the
+land of their ancestry; by every law of nature and human freedom, they
+had the right to protest against the transfer of their allegiance."
+
+The spirit which found ultimate expression in the formula: "no
+government without the consent of the governed" had been awakened in the
+people of the North American continent. As soon as the news reached
+Louisiana, that the territory was to be transferred under the rule of
+the Spanish king, the call for an assembly was issued and every parish
+in the colony sent representatives to voice their protest and deliberate
+upon measures preventing the execution of that transfer. Under the
+leadership of Lafreniere the people unanimously decided to address a
+petition to the king of France, entreating him not to abandon them to
+foreign rule. The loyalty with which the colony had so far adhered to
+the kings of the mother country seemed to call for redress of the wrong
+which was about to be inflicted upon them.
+
+The wealthiest merchant of New Orleans, Jean Milhet, went to Paris as
+the spokesman of the colony. He met Bienville, the pioneer founder of
+the city which enjoyed at that time the reputation of being an American
+Paris, and the octogenarian lent his aid in an attempt to appeal to the
+French minister, Choiseul. But Choiseul gave them no encouragement. His
+answer was, briefly: "It cannot be; France cannot bear the charge of
+supporting the colony's precarious existence." On the tenth of July,
+1765, the Brigadier D. Antonio de Ulloa, who was appointed by Governor
+Buccarelli of Cuba to take possession of the territory ceded to Spain,
+sent a letter from Havana to the superior council of the colony at New
+Orleans announcing that he had orders to take possession of that city
+for the Catholic king. But the French authorities did not remove the
+flag of France and Acadian exiles continued to pour into the colony from
+the north. Ulloa finally sailed from Havana and on the fifth of March,
+1766, he arrived in the bay.
+
+The very elements of nature seem to have conspired to lend gloom to his
+arrival. A terrible thunderstorm and violent downpour of rain was a
+feature of the landing. He was accompanied by some civil officers, three
+Capuchin monks and eighty soldiers. The people, resentful of being
+forced to submit to foreign rule, received him coldly and sullenly. He
+had brought with him orders to redeem the seven million livres of French
+paper money which had been a heavy burden upon a population of not more
+than six thousand souls. He saw at once that the population was
+unwilling to give up its nationality and to change its allegiance from
+France to Spain. He learned that the French garrison peremptorily
+refused to serve under Spanish commanders. So he was forced to leave the
+government, which he was supposed to administer with the aid of the
+Spanish officials that he had brought with him, in the hands of the
+former French functionaries.
+
+When in September of that year an ordinance was introduced by Ulloa
+forcing French vessels having special permits to accept the paper
+currency in payment for their cargoes at an unreasonable tariff, the
+merchants of the colony protested vigorously. They declared stoutly:
+
+"The extension and freedom of trade, far from injuring states and
+colonies, are their strength and support."
+
+Reports circulating about the disorders caused by this conflict between
+the French population and the Spanish authorities frightened the owners
+of merchant vessels that had been in the habit of trading at the colony
+and its commerce with them was for the time being almost suspended. The
+ordinance was rescinded, and Ulloa retired from New Orleans to the
+Balise. He had to be contented to establish Spanish rule at that spot
+and opposite Natchez at the river Iberville. Perhaps a man of different
+disposition would have been able to reconcile the colonists to the
+foreign régime. But Ulloa did not possess the amiable qualities that
+characterized the Governor of Cuba, Buccarelli. He had to learn, as did
+Lord Albemarle during his brief administration of Havana, that it was
+not an easy task to conquer the hearts of a people and win them over to
+the rule of foreign authorities.
+
+According to Bancroft this irritating state of things continued for more
+than two years. He writes (p. 123):
+
+"But the arbitrary and passionate conduct of Ulloa, the depreciation of
+the currency with the prospect of its becoming an almost total loss, the
+disputes respecting the expenses incurred since the cession of 1762, the
+interruption of commerce, a captious ordinance which made a private
+monopoly of the traffic with the Indians, uncertainty of jurisdiction
+and allegiance, agitated the colony from one end to the other. It was
+proposed to make of New Orleans a republic, like Amsterdam or Venice,
+with a legislative body of forty men, and a single executive. The people
+of the country parishes crowded in a mass into the city; joined those of
+New Orleans; and formed a numerous assembly, in which Lafreniere, John
+Milhet, Joseph Milhet, and the lawyer Doucet were conspicuous. 'Why,'
+said they, 'should the two sovereigns form agreements which can have no
+result but our misery, without advantage to either?' On the twenty-fifth
+of October, they adopted an address to the superior council, written by
+Lafreniere and Caresse, rehearsing their griefs; and in their petition
+of rights, they claimed freedom of commerce with the ports of France and
+America, and the expulsion of Ulloa from the colony."
+
+This address was signed by upwards of five hundred persons and at the
+meeting of the council on the very next day it was, contrary to the
+warnings of Aubry, accepted. The excitement of the people, when they
+heard this good news, was indescribable. The French colors appeared in
+the public square and veteran pioneers of the colony, women and children
+crowded around to kiss the cherished flag of the much beloved mother
+country. Nine hundred men pressed around the flag pole when it was
+about to be raised, eager to lend a hand in what was to them a sacred
+function, and men, women and children began to cry: "Vive le roi de
+France! Nul autre que lui pour nous!" This clamorous demonstration
+manifested to Ulloa the will of the people; and when they proceeded to
+elect their town officials, he abandoned the attempt of establishing
+Spanish rule in Louisiana. He set sail for Havana, and through his
+representatives sent the news of these events to Spain. That incident
+was so significant of the spirit of the times that Du Chatelet wrote to
+Choiseul:
+
+"The success of the people of New Orleans in driving away the Spaniards
+is a good example for the English colonies; may they set about following
+it."
+
+For at this very time the British colonies of America were entering upon
+their struggle for deliverance from restrictions upon trade as
+symbolized in the stamp act and the atmosphere upon the continent was
+rife with revolution. While the statesmen of France and even some of
+England were inclined to grant greater freedom of commerce, Spain still
+lagged behind. She had been the champion of the protective system for
+centuries, and though it had not added to her wealth, on the contrary,
+had helped to impoverish her, she was unwilling to depart from the
+time-honored policy. Grimaldi, the Spanish minister, thus set forth the
+stand which Spain was to take in this question:
+
+"Besides, the position and strength of the countries occupied by the
+Americans excite a just alarm for the rich Spanish possessions on their
+borders. Their interlopers have already introduced their grain and rice
+into our colonies. If this should be legalized and extended to other
+objects, it would increase the prosperity of a neighbor already too
+formidable. Moreover, this neighbor, if it should separate from the
+metropolis, would assume the republican form of government; and a
+republic is a government dangerous from the wisdom, the consistency, and
+the solidity of the measures which it would adopt for executing such
+projects of conquests as it would naturally form."
+
+This fear of a republic in Louisiana haunted the king of Spain and his
+cabinet and after discussing the question of returning it to France, it
+was almost unanimously agreed that Louisiana was needed "as a granary
+for Havana and Puerto Rico, a precaution against French contraband trade
+and a barrier to keep off the English encroachments." The Duke of Alva
+said, in a spirit true to his namesake of two centuries before:
+
+"The world, and especially America, must see that the king can and will
+crush even an intention of disrespect."
+
+Masones de Lima expressed himself briefly:
+
+"If France should recover Louisiana, she would annex it to the English
+colonies or would establish its independence."
+
+Minister de Aranda began cautiously:
+
+"A republic in Louisiana would be independent of the European powers,
+who would all cultivate her friendship and support her existence. She
+would increase her population, enlarge her limits, and grow into a rich,
+flourishing and free state, contrasting with our exhausted provinces."
+
+He continued in this vein, dwelling at length upon the consequences such
+an example might bring in its wake, and advised to keep New Orleans in
+such insignificance as to tempt no attack.
+
+The deliberations in the French cabinet were of quite a different
+nature. Du Chatelet, as quoted by Bancroft (p. 151), declared:
+
+"Spain can never derive benefit from Louisiana. She neither will nor
+can take effective measures for its colonization and culture. She has
+not inhabitants enough to furnish emigrants; and the religious and
+political principles of her government will always keep away foreigners,
+and even Frenchmen. Under Spanish dominion, the vast extent of territory
+ceded by France to Spain on the banks of the Mississippi will soon
+become a desert.
+
+"The expense of colonies is required only by commerce; and the commerce
+of Louisiana, under the rigor of the Spanish prohibitive laws, will
+every day become more and more a nullity. Spain then will make an
+excellent bargain, if she accords liberty to the inhabitants of
+Louisiana, and permits them to form themselves into a republic. Nothing
+can so surely keep them from falling under English rule as making them
+cherish the protection of Spain and the sweetness of independence."
+
+But the king of Spain had no thought save that of upholding the Spanish
+traditions, and, accepting the advice of the Duke de Alva, decided to
+crush the rebellion of Louisiana. He chose as his instrument the Conde
+Alexandre O'Reilly, who had gone to Cuba with de Ricla and had
+reorganized the army and militia of the island. Buccarelli was informed
+of the royal decision and assisted O'Reilly in fitting out an expedition
+which was to enable him to enforce Spanish rule and eradicate all traces
+of republican leanings in the French colony. The people of New Orleans
+had in the meantime once more sent a petition to France in the attempt
+to enlist the sympathy and aid of the mother country in their endeavor
+to remain French citizens. They also sent an appeal to the British at
+Pensacola but the governor was not inclined to offend any powers with
+which his king was at peace. So great was the dread of the Louisianans
+of being forced to bow to Spanish rule, that they spoke seriously of
+burning New Orleans rather than giving it up to the hated foreign
+authorities.
+
+O'Reilly set sail from Havana with a squadron of twenty-four vessels,
+with three thousand well-trained troops on board. He arrived at the
+Balise at the end of July. For a time panic reigned in the city. Aubry
+tried to quiet the people, and advised them to submit and trust in the
+clemency of the king of Spain. A committee of three, Lafreniere, as
+representative of the council, Marquis of the colonists, and Milhet of
+the merchants, presented themselves at the Balise to pay their respects
+to the Spanish general and to appeal to his mercy. O'Reilly entertained
+them at dinner and they left assured of perfect amnesty. On the eighth
+of August the Spanish squadron anchored before the city itself, and the
+authorities took possession in the name of his Majesty, Carlos III. of
+Spain. The Spanish colors replaced those of France and it seemed as if
+with this ceremony and the installment of Spanish officials in the
+different departments of the colony's government the mission of O'Reilly
+was ended. But there was still the punishment to be meted out to the
+rebels who had dared to defy the authority of the Spanish king and had
+sworn unchanging allegiance to the sovereign of France. After having
+received from Aubry, who seemed to play traitor to his compatriots, a
+list of those who had taken part in the recent insurrection and had
+prepared the foundation of a republic with a protector and an elective
+council of forty, O'Reilly on the twenty-first of August invited to his
+home the most prominent citizens and asked the representatives of the
+people's council to pass, one by one, into his private apartment. In
+their unsuspecting innocence, they accepted this invitation as a mark of
+distinction, but they were sadly disillusioned, when O'Reilly entered
+with Aubry and three Spanish officers, and arrested them in the name of
+his Majesty the King of Spain.
+
+According to Bancroft two months were spent in collecting evidence
+against the men. The defense asserted that they could not be tried and
+condemned by Spanish officials for acts done before the proper
+establishment of Spanish rule in the colony. The citizens begged for
+time to send a petition to the Spanish sovereign. But all attempts to
+divert O'Reilly from his purpose summarily to punish the men who had
+dared to defy Ulloa, as the representative of Spain, were futile. Twelve
+of the richest men of the colony had to see their estates confiscated;
+from the proceeds were paid the officers employed in the trial. Six
+others were sentenced to various terms of imprisonment, from six years
+to life. The five who had been most conspicuous in the revolt,
+Lafreniere, Marquis, Milhet, Caresse and Noyau, were sentenced to death.
+According to Bancroft they were shot in presence of the troops and the
+people on the twenty-fifth of October, 1769. According to Spanish
+historians they were hanged.
+
+Whatever the fate of these French champions of the newly awakened desire
+for liberty may have been, the effects of O'Reilly's cruelty were felt
+far beyond the still ill defined boundaries of the colony. Though the
+king of Spain was reported to have expressed his approval of O'Reilly's
+summary procedure, even in Spain voices rose to condemn it. A pall
+spread over Louisiana. Business life was for a time paralyzed. Commerce
+came to an absolute standstill. In the country parishes of the colony,
+the Spanish authority was accepted with sullen silence. Many of the
+wealthy families, long identified with the history of the colony,
+abandoned their homes and emigrated to other parts of the continent. The
+government of the colony was reorganized on the pattern of all Spanish
+colonies. The restrictions which were placed upon commerce robbed the
+people of whatever initiative and enterprise they had possessed. A
+period of stagnation set in, contrasting sharply with the activity and
+the animation that had previously reigned in the city which claimed and
+was reported by travelers of that time to have been fairly well started
+on the road of becoming the Paris of America. It was an inauspicious
+beginning for the Spanish régime in Louisiana. But the successor of
+O'Reilly, D. Luis de Uznaga, made up for his predecessor's mistake by
+showing so much discretion and exercising his authority with such
+mildness, that he gradually succeeded in reconciling a part of the
+population to the Spanish rule. Only the families of the victims that
+had paid for their loyalty to France with their lives remained the
+implacable enemies of Spain, as long as the colony remained under her
+rule. Aubry, who immediately after the tragedy of the twenty-fifth of
+October had set sail for France, suffered shipwreck on his voyage and
+perished. The six men who had been committed to the dungeons of Havana
+were, according to Bancroft, later set free by the aid of France.
+
+This tragic prelude to the Spanish rule in Louisiana, little as it has
+to do with Cuba, with which colony it was but loosely connected in an
+administrative way, was the herald of a new epoch dawning upon the
+horizon of the New World. The establishment of the little republic at
+the mouth of the Mississippi had been frustrated. But the establishment
+of the greater republic on the continent, under the protection of which
+Cuba was to come some centuries later, was even at this time approaching
+consummation.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER IX
+
+
+While the new Spanish possession annexed to Cuba by virtue of the Treaty
+of Paris, Louisiana, was passing through that painful state of
+transition which always follows the transfer of a nation belonging to a
+certain race speaking a certain language and cherishing customs deeply
+rooted in the national consciousness, to the rule of another nation, of
+a different race, speaking a different language and practising widely
+different customs, Cuba was enjoying a period of peace, prosperity and
+progress. When Buccarelli was appointed Viceroy of Mexico, D. Pascal
+Jiminez de Cisneros once more exercised superior authority as
+provisional governor of the island. But in November, 1771, the newly
+appointed governor arrived from Spain, the Captain-General D. Felipe
+Fons de Viela, Marquis de la Torre. He was a valiant soldier who in the
+wars of Spain with Italy and Portugal had distinguished himself by his
+conduct and his ability, and had risen to his high rank at the cost of
+his blood. He was a native of Zaragoza, a Knight of the military order
+of Santiago and Alderman in perpetuity, or prefect-governor of his
+native city. He came to Cuba with the reputation of an exceptionally
+worthy official and in the five years of his administration not only
+justified but far surpassed the hopes that his arrival awakened in the
+population of the colony. He entered upon his duties on the eighteenth
+of November, 1771.
+
+Marquis de la Torre was without doubt one of the most efficient and
+successful governors that Cuba ever had. Havana was at that time
+growing in population and extent, and entering upon a new era in her
+economic development, due largely to the foresight of King Carlos III.,
+who had granted her an exemption from certain taxes. The city had,
+however, suffered so much in previous times, first from the perpetual
+unrest arising from the fear of invasion by pirates, then from the
+siege, and lastly from the hurricane of 1768, that it needed a man,
+clear of purpose and strong of will, to inaugurate the many innovations
+which he introduced, in order to make the place worthy of being the
+metropolis of Spain's richest island-possession in America. While Ricla
+and Buccarelli, entering upon their governorships immediately after the
+occupation of Havana by the British, had of necessity devoted most of
+their energy towards insuring the safety of the place from a repetition
+of the events of 1762, and had therefore been primarily concerned with
+the fortifications and the military reorganization of the place, la
+Torre was able to direct his attention to improvements, which made for a
+higher standard of public health, and paved the way for a culture, which
+in spite of the wealth of the population, was still only in its
+beginnings. Coming as he did from the Spain of Carlos III., who during
+his long peaceful reign did so much for the cultural progress of his
+country by introducing measures of sanitation and other improvements
+unknown to his predecessors, it was the ambition of la Torre to make
+Havana worthy of comparison with the large cities of the mother country.
+
+[Illustration: IN OLD HAVANA
+
+Havana is at once one of the oldest and of the newest of the great
+cities of the western world, and the architecture of its streets
+exhibits samples of the work of five centuries. This scene, showing the
+side wall of the great Cathedral, is typical of the older portions of
+the city, with comparatively narrow streets and characteristic Spanish
+houses.]
+
+It seems almost unbelievable that Havana had up to this time lacked
+proper pavements; that it had no public promenade, such as every
+European city far inferior in size and population possessed, that the
+streets were disfigured by unsightly and unsanitary out-houses and that
+even the government buildings had been put up with little regard
+for appearance, not to mention beauty. Moreover it is almost incredible
+that a city, the population of which belonged to the race that had
+produced some of the greatest dramatists of the world, Calderon and Lope
+de la Vega, had after an existence of some centuries not yet erected a
+playhouse, providing wholesome entertainment for her residents there to
+enjoy the works of their master poets and be for the time of the
+performance lifted above the purely material pursuits of their daily
+life. This was the state in which la Torre found Havana and he
+immediately set to work to study the city's most urgent needs and to
+raise it as rapidly as possible to the high standard he intended to
+apply.
+
+The first task that claimed his attention was the improvement of the
+streets. When the plan to have them paved was about to be realized it
+was found that there was not a sufficient quantity of cobblestones
+available for that purpose. So the contractors had to employ timber
+soaked in tar, which had proved to be extremely durable, little affected
+by atmospheric conditions, and offered only the one disadvantage of
+making a very slippery surface in the rainy season. The next step
+towards raising Havana out of its village state to urban cleanliness and
+dignity was the abolition of the ugly and unsanitary out-houses, a
+measure which seemed so radical and revolutionary to the conservative
+elements of the population that it met with no little opposition. Then
+la Torre deliberated upon plans for public promenades, and those of
+Paula and Almadea Nueva were laid out, followed by the Mall in the
+interior of the city and the Nueva Prado outside of the city walls.
+Great was the delight of the residents, who slowly began to wake up to
+the benefits and the pleasures to be derived by these attempts at
+improvement and embellishment of their town. Among the ordinances
+insuring the health, the beauty and the safety of the city, was one
+prohibiting the roofing of houses with guano, which had long been the
+source of dangerous conflagrations, aside from its unsanitary features
+and its being an eyesore. Modest as these demands may seem to twentieth
+century readers, la Torre had no little difficulty in carrying them
+through. But thanks to his energy, perseverance and executive power the
+streets of Havana with their neat pavements, and the public promenades
+with their gravel walks not only improved the appearance of the city,
+but stimulated the dormant esthetic sense of the inhabitants to an
+appreciation of civic beauty.
+
+The next step undertaken by la Torre for the improvement of Havana was
+the erection of more suitable public buildings, especially one for the
+governor himself and for the Ayuntamento, which, strange enough, was to
+be under the same roof as the public jail. Under his order were rebuilt
+seven of the old barracks for the soldiers and a new one was erected for
+the veterans. A great number of bridges was built, that of the Santa Fe
+passage over the Cojimar river, that of las Vegas on the road of Santa
+Maria del Rosario; the bridge of Arroyo Hondo, under the leeside of that
+town; the Enriquez and the Carrillo, and others. All these bridges had
+shields of arms and inscriptions on their pillars and with their many
+arches presented a beautiful sight. The harbor was thoroughly dredged
+with the aid of twelve pontoons and barges manned by a crew of
+presidarios (criminals condemned to hard labor) and slaves. The wharves
+of Carpineti, Cabana and Marimilena were constructed. Finally there was
+erected the first theatre, which was in its way as important an addition
+to the cultural life of the city as had been the foundation of the
+university some time before. For the wealthy and intellectually
+ambitious part of the population had keenly felt the lack of dignified
+entertainment and not a few individuals had made an annual pilgrimage to
+Madrid to enjoy a season in drama and music and keep in touch with the
+progress of the arts. The value of all the public edifices and
+reconstruction was appraised by D. Simon de Ayala as amounting to two
+hundred and fourteen thousand eight hundred seventy-three and one half
+reals; in the light of more recent days a very small amount in
+proportion to the number and the importance of the buildings
+constructed.
+
+Nor were the efforts of la Torre by any means limited to the improvement
+of the capital. Trinidad, Santiago and Puerto Principe benefited largely
+from the earnest desire for improvement that actuated Governor la Torre
+to undertake these many works. He was instrumental in the founding of
+the towns of Jaruco and of Nueva Filipina, which was later called Pinar
+del Rio. He inspired new life into all the towns that he visited during
+his administration and turned the colony into one of the richest and
+most beautiful, by applying to its improvement the most advanced ideas
+in civic management that were known in his time. From the census which
+la Torre ordered to be taken it appears that there were on the island
+three hundred and thirty-nine corrales or well defined farms, seven
+thousand eight hundred and fourteen farms for horse-breeding, estancias
+for cattle pasture and vegas for tobacco culture and four hundred and
+seventy-eight sugar plantations. There were twenty-nine thousand five
+hundred and eighty casas (buildings, private or public), ninety churches
+and fifty-two parochial chapels. The population of the island numbered
+one hundred and seventy-two thousand inhabitants; of which ninety-six
+thousand four hundred and thirty were whites, forty-five thousand six
+hundred and thirty-three slaves; that of Havana seventy-five thousand;
+Santiago nineteen thousand; Bayamo twelve thousand; Santa Clara eight
+thousand two hundred; Sancti Spiritus eight thousand, Guanabacoa seven
+thousand nine hundred; Trinidad five thousand six hundred, Matanzas
+three thousand two hundred and San Juan de los Remedios three thousand.
+
+The reforms which la Torre inaugurated in the government itself were
+also remarkable. In the proclamation published on the fourth of April,
+1772, he repeated the ordinances issued by his predecessors to insure
+order and quiet in the communities; but he added some important
+innovations. He delivered the people from the exploitation they had
+suffered at the hands of annually appointed visitadores de partido
+(party judges), whose legal malpractices had been a source of great
+grievance to the citizens, and he compelled the members of the inferior
+courts of justice to reside in their respective districts. Commerce had
+after its transient extension during the British dominion once more
+begun to suffer from the restrictions imposed by the government of
+Spain. But about the year 1771, it was revived, for the export duties on
+sugar, honey, cane brandy, hides and wax were lowered and cotton could
+be exported free of duty. In order to stimulate the wax industry, the
+growth of which was remarkably rapid and added largely to the wealth of
+the island, la Torre published in form of a decree measures for its
+protection and promotion. Among them he prohibited the cutting of trees
+on which there were hives. In the year 1770 there were exported to Vera
+Cruz more than five arrobas of wax. At the end of the same year Cuba
+exported to Spain and various points in America twelve thousand five
+hundred and forty-six and in the following year twenty-one thousand one
+hundred and eighty-seven arrobas. The Captain-General was authorized in
+certain cases to import provisions from abroad. But contraband
+prevailed and flourished as ever. Governor Torre engaged in an active
+campaign against the smugglers and was the cause of their suffering
+heavy losses; but he was unable to exterminate the evil. This was mainly
+due to the arrogance and arbitrary attitude of Governor D. Antonio Ayanz
+de Ureta, who favored the smugglers that carried on a lively trade in
+the eastern part of the island with Jamaica and the foreign Antilles.
+
+Much as General la Torre ingratiated himself with the citizens by his
+gentle disposition as well as his sound judgment and impeccable honesty,
+he was not to be spared disagreeable experiences with other officials.
+One of these was with the commandant of the Apostadero or naval station,
+D. Juan Bautista Bonel, to whom credit is due for having enriched the
+shipyard by some magnificent structures. The dispute between them
+concerned some civilians who were implicated in a case against
+individuals belonging to the navy, and whom la Torre asked to be given
+over to his jurisdiction. Another unpleasantness was caused by
+conflicting orders given by la Torre and the commandant-general of the
+army. The latter had opened the new gateway that ran as far as the
+suburb of Jesus Maria in the neighborhood of the arsenal, and it was
+said the governor ordered that of la Tenaza to be closed, because the
+commandant opposed its running to that suburb and thus running through
+the arsenal. But upon the complaints that were entered at Madrid by
+Ureta as well as the other gentlemen, that caused these dissensions, his
+Majesty always upheld the side of la Torre and dismissed the
+accusations. Governor la Torre retired on the twelfth of June, 1776, and
+died in Madrid as Lieutenant-General on the sixth of July, 1784. His
+term of administration was the first during which the revenues exceeded
+a million of pesos, which augured an era of prosperity for Cuba.
+
+That Governor Torre left Havana a healthier and more beautiful city to
+live in, than it had been before, is an achievement which gives his
+administration a place of its own among those that were especially
+concerned with the welfare of the population. Visitors to Cuba that had
+marked the difference between the Havana of 1745 and that of 1762, would
+have been even more impressed with the appearance of the city after
+Torre had left upon it the seal of his improvements. The residents began
+to take a pride in the capital of the island; a civic spirit arose and
+began to weld the inhabitants more closely by the bond of interests,
+which at last began to surpass those associated with their purely
+material welfare. Visitors coming from the old centers of European
+culture had formerly commented upon the absence in the colonies of
+places where men and women could gather for social intercourse and
+intelligent entertainment. The French visitor quoted in a previous
+chapter, after his visit to Cuba and Santo Domingo, wrote rather
+dejectedly:
+
+"Life offers no attraction here for anybody who is not in commerce.
+Dependent on one's self, there is no relaxation for anyone who has lived
+in France and there played a certain rôle. One must not expect theaters,
+nor cafés, nor public promenades, and still less societies. One does not
+know how to spend the time and this is a real annoyance to a man of
+leisure. The carnival, especially where there are French, offers the
+only opportunity to banish in a degree the dryness of the entertainments
+in these countries--and what entertainments! One would never dream of
+seeking them, if one were not so far from Europe. The residents in
+comfortable circumstances come to town, you play a game of cards in some
+house, in others you drink abundantly, and in most you are bored. The
+country has hardly more attraction for any one having no residence; but
+besides the restraint which is banished there, you can at least enjoy a
+morning and an evening walk; and if you are so lucky as to come across
+some wealthy resident of the better class, you may in rare instances
+find yourself in agreeable company. But there are parts of the country
+where neighbors hardly visit one another once a year."
+
+This is a true glimpse of life in the colonies before the British
+occupation. Had the distinguished foreigner who made these observations
+come to Cuba after the administration of la Torre, he would have found
+the theatre and the promenades, and perhaps even the cafés he had
+previously missed. For the prosperity which set in for the island after
+King Carlos III. began to relax the unreasonable restrictions upon her
+trade and navigation, brought with it to the wealthier classes that
+leisure which calls for higher forms of social life and leads to the
+appreciation of such entertainment as the arts of music and drama offer.
+The theatre of Havana became the meeting place of Cuba's intellectuals
+and the center from which began to radiate the modest beginnings of a
+Cuban culture, which a century later was to produce poets that took
+their place beside those of the mother country. With closer commercial
+relations and increasing facilities of travel even the inhabitants of
+the country living on their haciendas a beautiful domestic life, but one
+making for a certain clannishness, gradually came out of their
+isolation, and benefiting by the progress of their urban neighbors, were
+stimulated to participate in enterprises which a few decades before they
+would have spurned. The constantly growing intercourse with the Old
+World, bringing them into touch with contemporary thought, was another
+leaven that began to work in the minds of the Cubans, and to encourage
+activities and interests held as being entirely without the range of a
+people whose chief pursuits for some centuries had been agriculture.
+Thus Cuba entered upon her first period of progress.
+
+This was due in no little measure to the peace and prosperity of Spain
+during the long reign of King Carlos III. For the overseas colonies of
+the European powers were so closely associated with and dependent upon
+the mother countries, that their healthy progress as a rule indicated
+healthy political and economic conditions of the latter. If there was at
+this time any unrest and anxiety at the courts and in the diplomatic
+circles of Europe this was due to events that were happening in North
+America and were beginning to shake the foundations of the old order. On
+the nineteenth of April, 1775, there had been fired the first shot in
+the struggle upon which the thirteen British colonies had entered in
+order to secure their freedom from the unbearable restrictions which
+Britain had imposed upon them. That shot sounded an alarm which was
+heard all over the world and sent a thrill through millions of hearts.
+The spirit that had dictated the works of the French encyclopedists and
+had worked like a leaven of liberty in millions of minds, had become
+incarnate in the British colonists and was clamoring for consummation of
+its ultimate aims. Monarchs and ministers convened in solemn conferences
+and deliberated seriously upon the possible effects of the action taken
+by the rebels against British overrule.
+
+Spain and France, sharing with Britain colonial possessions in America,
+were profoundly disturbed. They had been allies in the recent war
+against Britain, and they still depended upon each other for mutual
+counsel and consolation. The king of France, Louis XVI., an autocrat if
+ever there was, had an excellent minister of finance in Turgot, a man of
+extraordinary foresight, of liberal judgment and of rare administrative
+ability. After Vergennes, the minister of foreign affairs, who favored
+the emancipation of America, had forwarded to the king a cautiously
+worded report upon the situation, Turgot was asked to give his opinion,
+and did so in a memorial which very succinctly stated the position of
+both France and Spain, and contained the following significant passages:
+
+"The yearly cost of colonies in peace, the enormous expenditures for
+their defence in war, lead to the conclusion that it is more
+advantageous for us to grant them entire independence, without waiting
+for the moment when events will compel us to give them up. This view
+would, not long since, have been scorned as a paradox, and rejected with
+indignation. At present we may be the less revolted at it, and perhaps
+it may not be without utility to prepare consolation for inevitable
+events. Wise and happy will be that nation which shall first know how to
+bend to the new circumstances, and consent to see in its colonies,
+allies and not subjects. When the total separation of America shall have
+healed the European nations of jealousy of commerce, there will exist
+among men one great cause of war the less, and it is very difficult not
+to desire an event which is to accomplish this good for the human race.
+In our colonies we shall save many millions, and, if we acquire the
+liberty of commerce and navigation with all the northern continent, we
+shall be amply compensated.
+
+"The position of Spain with regard to its American possessions will be
+more embarassing. Unhappily she has less facility than any other power
+to quit the route she has followed for two centuries, and conform to a
+new order of things. Thus far she has directed her policy to
+maintaining the multiplied prohibitions with which she has embarrassed
+her commerce. She has made no preparations to substitute for empire over
+her American provinces a fraternal connection founded on identity of
+origin, language, and manners, without the opposition of interests; to
+offer them liberty as a gift, instead of yielding it to force. Nothing
+is more worthy of the wisdom of the king of Spain and his council, than
+from this present time to fix their attention on the possibility of this
+forced separation, and on the measures to be taken to prepare for it."
+
+Alas! the warning of Turgot was not heeded by the government of Spain
+and a whole century had to elapse and many lives had to be sacrificed
+before the Spanish colonies in America were to gain their independence!
+Both the French and the Spanish king were opposed to taking sides in the
+war which Britain was waging with her colonies; but they were quite
+ready secretly to help those colonies, knowing that their success meant
+the weakening of British power! Bancroft reports in his "History of the
+United States" (Vol. V., p. 321):
+
+"After a year's hesitation and resistance, the king of France, early in
+May, informed the king of Spain that he had resolved, under the name of
+a commercial house, to advance a million of French livres, about two
+hundred thousand dollars, towards the supply of the wants of the
+Americans."
+
+His example was followed by the king of Spain, who, a few weeks later,
+without the knowledge of any of his advisers except Grimaldi, sent a
+draft for a million livres more, as his contribution!
+
+Such had been the effect of the first shot fired in the struggle for
+American independence. When the news of the official declaration of this
+independence on July fourth, 1776, reached Paris and Madrid, the worst
+fears of the upholders of the old régime and the most exalted dreams of
+the champions of the new political ideal were realized. But neither
+France nor Spain dared openly to take sides against Britain, both having
+ample reason to avoid being involved in new wars. As Turgot intimated in
+his message, Spain was far more directly interested in the step taken by
+the British colonies and the possible effects it might have upon her own
+possessions. Hence France decided to do nothing without the agreement of
+Spain. Again it is Bancroft who gives the clearest statement of the
+economic position of Spain and her reasons for avoiding a break with
+Britain. He writes in his "History of the United States" (Vol. V., p.
+535):
+
+"Equal to Great Britain in the number of her inhabitants, greatly
+surpassing that island in the extent of her home territory and her
+colonies, she did not love to confess or to perceive her inferiority in
+wealth and power. Her colonies brought her no opulence, for their
+commerce, which was soon to be extended to seven ports, then to twelve,
+and then to nearly all, was still confined to Cadiz; the annual exports
+to Spanish America had thus far fallen short of four millions of dollars
+in value, and the imports were less than the exports. Campomanes was
+urging through the press the abolition of restriction on trade; but for
+the time the delusion of mercantile monopoly held the ministers fast
+bound. The serious strife with Portugal had for its purpose the
+occupation of both banks of the river La Plata, that so the mighty
+stream might be sealed up against all the world but Cadiz. As a
+necessary consequence, Spanish shipping received no development; and,
+though the king constructed ships of the line and frigates, he could
+have no efficient navy, for want of proper nurseries of seamen. The war
+department was in the hands of an indolent chief, so that its business
+devolved on O'Reilly, whose character is known to us from his career in
+Louisiana, and whose arrogance and harshness were revolting to the
+Spanish nation. The revenue of the kingdom fell short of twenty-one
+millions of dollars, and there was a notorious want of probity in the
+management of the finances. In such a state of its navy, army, and
+treasury, how could it make war on England?"
+
+Nobody realized these facts better than King Carlos III. His new
+ministers, D. Jose Monino, Count de Florida Blanca, who had succeeded
+Grimaldi, and Galvez, the minister for the Indies, agreed with the
+sovereign; and when Arthur Lee, emissary of the new republic, appeared
+in Europe and sought an audience with the authorities in Madrid, he was
+detained at Burgos to confer with Grimaldi, who was then on his way to
+his native Italy. Lee found little encouragement and satisfaction in
+this interview; he was told that the Americans would find at New Orleans
+three thousand barrels of powder and some store of clothing, and that
+Spain would perhaps send them a cargo of goods from Bilbao, but he was
+urged to hurry back to Paris. Florida Blanca, too, very decidedly
+expressed his aversion to the new republic and was reported to have said
+"that the independence of America would be the worst example to other
+colonies, and would make the Americans in every respect the worst
+neighbors that the Spanish colonies could have." Thus the constant fear
+that the close proximity of an independent state might rouse the spirit
+of independence in her own colonies, determined the policy of Spain
+toward the War of American Independence.
+
+Yet her colonies in America gave Spain little trouble at that time,
+being contented with their lot and working out the problem of their
+existence as well as their loyalty to Spanish institutions would
+permit. Cuba, especially, was at that time absorbed in living up to the
+high standards set her by the three excellent governors that had
+followed the British domination: Ricla, Buccarelli and la Torre. Their
+successor was the Field Marshal D. Diego José Navarro, a native of
+Badajoz. He entered upon the duties of his administration on the twelfth
+of July, 1777, at a time when the war being waged between Britain and
+her American colonies had created an atmosphere of apprehension and once
+more brought near the possibility of a conflict with the old enemy. The
+repeated protests of her economic experts against her trade restrictions
+had induced the government of Spain to issue the royal "Ordenanza para
+el libre comercio con las colonias," a decree due to the constant
+efforts of the Minister of the Indies, D. José de Galvez, whose
+experience in the colonies had given his voice sufficient weight to
+convince his Majesty of the urgent necessity of this reform. During two
+and a half centuries Spain had traded with America only, through the
+ports of Cadiz and Sevilla; this ordinance opened all the ports of the
+peninsula to traffic with all those of Spanish America.
+
+At the same time was ordered a reduction in the duties and the
+permission of importing foreign goods, though they always had to be
+carried in Spanish boats. These duties were henceforth three per cent.
+on Spanish products, and seven per cent. on foreign products. When the
+value of the goods was greater than their bulk, a duty was levied,
+called estranjeria (foreign custom). As a result of this reform, the
+revenues of Cuba which in 1764 had amounted to not more than three
+hundred and sixteen thousand pesos, rose in the year 1777 to one million
+twenty seven thousand two hundred and thirteen pesos. Contraband which
+had been one of the worst evils that the Cuban authorities had to
+contend with for two centuries, visibly declined and was soon limited to
+articles of luxury. At the same time there was also ordered by royal
+decree the unification of the coinage, and the macuquino, a coin with
+the milled edges cut off, was replaced by one of silver with a corded
+edge. All these reforms were received by the people with unbounded
+enthusiasm. In all parts of the island the inhabitants spontaneously
+gave vent to their joy in brilliant festivals and in a display of
+oratory, which acclaimed the beginning of the new era for Cuba.
+
+Like Buccarelli, Governor Navarro was much concerned with the legal
+malpractice that had long existed in the courts. The bar was composed of
+many men who with insidious cunning stirred up and prolonged innumerable
+lawsuits. Their machinations not only violated the sense of justice, but
+directly disgraced their profession and the judicial administration of
+the island. So many families had been ruined by such legal procedures,
+that Governor Navarro was determined to check the operations of these
+sharks. He ordered that no one but a duly appointed notary should be
+permitted to draft legal documents and perform judicial acts and he
+reduced the number of these men to thirty-four for the whole island. He
+also appointed an appraiser to adjust the costs of legal proceedings and
+ordered that lawyers who had been convicted of malpractice should be
+deprived of the right to plead. The Audiencia of Santo Domingo protested
+against some of these decisions of Navarro, but he succeeded in
+convincing the court of the justice of his acts.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER X
+
+
+In the mean time events in North America continued to agitate the
+diplomatic world of Europe and to stir up trouble. As Great Britain had
+begun to interfere with the commerce and navigation of France, the
+relations between the two countries grew daily more strained. France had
+come to an understanding with Spain, that by the beginning of the year
+1778, the two powers would have to combine to make war on Britain, but
+Carlos III., getting old and more and more conservative, did not want to
+depart from his policy of neutrality and wanted to end his days in
+peace. When on the thirteenth of March, the British secretary of state
+received from the French ambassador a note, saying that France and the
+United States of North America had signed a treaty of friendship and
+commerce without any definite advantage to France, but that the king was
+determined to protect the lawful commerce of his subjects, a state of
+war was established between the two kingdoms. Efforts to change the
+decision of Spain were repeated; the return of Florida to Spain was
+offered with the consent of the United States. But Florida had by this
+time lost all charm for the conservative court of Spain, so awed by the
+fact that a republic was to be the neighbor of her American possessions
+that it was bound not to do anything that might help the insurgents, and
+sooner or later kindle the desire for independence in their own
+colonies. Only the prospect of recovering Gibraltar might at that moment
+have swayed the decision of Spain. But that seemed beyond reasonable
+possibility.
+
+The king was in an embarrassing position. The compact entered into by
+the two countries when the Bourbons ascended the Spanish throne, a
+certain respect for the senior branch of the family and the grudge which
+he bore Britain, tempted him many a time to revise his decision. His
+ministers, too, were by no means unanimous in approving Spain's
+neutrality. While some held that to assist rebels in their fight upon
+their mother country was morally wrong and politically imprudent,
+others, impatient of the passive inactivity to which they were reduced,
+modestly expressed their disapproval. One of them, Florida Blanca, more
+ambitious for himself than for his country, eager at any moment to
+embrace an opportunity of making a name for himself, continued to
+negotiate with the statesmen of France and secretly hoped that somehow
+he would have a hand in the return of Gibraltar to Spain. In this vague
+hope he quietly worked to enlarge and improve both the army and the
+fleet of his country; he collected a large number of battering cannon at
+Seville, and the port of Cadiz soon held a greater number of well-built
+vessels than it had seen since the golden age of Spanish maritime power.
+Cunningly holding out the prospect of a final alliance against the
+common enemy to France, while at the same time offering Britain to
+become a mediator in the bloody conflict, he succeeded in delaying any
+decisive action on the part of France. The French became irritable.
+Finally the diplomats of the two powers came to an agreement and on the
+twelfth of April, 1779, a treaty of alliance was signed.
+
+The terms of this treaty were as follows: France was to invade Great
+Britain or Ireland; if she succeeded in wresting from the British
+Newfoundland, she pledged herself to share the fisheries exclusively
+with Spain; she also pledged herself to secure for Spain the return of
+Minorca, Pensacola and Mobile, the Bay of Honduras and the coast of
+Campeche. Moreover, the two powers pledged themselves to continue the
+war on Britain, until that country agreed to return Gibraltar to Spain.
+From the United States Spain expected as reward of her services the
+basin of the St. Lawrence and the lakes, the unrestricted navigation of
+the Mississippi and all the territory lying between that river and the
+Alleghany mountains. The United States were by this treaty to be free to
+make peace with Britain, as soon as their independence was recognized,
+but were not in any way expected to continue war until Gibraltar was
+returned to Spain.
+
+The Spanish colonies in America proved at this time that the distance
+which separated them from the mother country, and the greater sense of
+space and elbowroom which they enjoyed and in which several generations
+of their people had been born, was beginning to differentiate the
+Spanish Americans from their kinsmen in old Spain. Unable in the varying
+aspects of rough pioneer life to preserve the old traditions and
+conventions, the character of the people themselves had changed. They
+were not to be bound by the numerous considerations that entered into
+every step European nations took. They were not slow in taking action,
+when there was cause and opportunity for such. The news of the alliance
+between France and Spain against Britain was received in Cuba and
+Louisiana with intense interest. Within a few days both colonies were
+swayed by the desire to avenge wrongs formerly suffered at the hands of
+the British, and with a remarkable promptness framed measures to this
+effect. Governor Navarro immediately issued privateering patents to
+Spanish ships and they as promptly set out on their quest and captured a
+number of British vessels. The coasts of Cuba were closely watched for
+the possible arrival of a hostile fleet, and the garrison of el Morro
+was keenly on the alert.
+
+In Louisiana the feeling against the British ripened into the plan of
+reconquering Pensacola. D. Bernardo de Galvez, who had settled in that
+colony in 1776, had in 1779 been elected Governor and invested with full
+rights, proprietary and otherwise. The official council of the colony
+was of the opinion that Louisiana should assume a passive defensive,
+until advices and perhaps reenforcements were received from Havana. But
+Galvez, enterprising and energetic in all his undertakings, and a
+fighter whose valor had been tried before, was determined to attack the
+British without delay. He collected a force of only seven hundred men,
+according to Valdes, fourteen hundred according to Blanchet, among them
+many veterans and militia men, and marched towards Fort Manchac. It was
+a perilous and trying expedition through a country then little more than
+a wilderness. But he arrived at his goal and surprised the garrison,
+taking the British prisoners. Encouraged by this success, he left the
+captured fort under guard of a part of his force and turned towards
+Baton Rouge. There he found the enemy much stronger; the British under
+command of Lieutenant-Colonel Dickson opposed his attacks so
+strenuously, that his forces had to entrench themselves in anticipation
+of a prolonged siege. But after nine days, on the twenty first of
+September, Dickson surrendered and his garrison, too, were made
+prisoners. Point Thompson and Point Smith, British establishments on the
+eastern bank of the Mississippi, followed, and leaving General de Camp
+in charge of the conquered territory, Galvez hurried to Cuba to secure
+reenforcements for his attack on Mobile and Pensacola.
+
+In Havana he found everything in readiness to engage in or furnish an
+expedition against the British possessions. He had in the meantime been
+raised to the rank of Field Marshal and everything seemed to favor his
+plan. During the preparations there arrived in the port the squadron of
+D. José Solano, consisting of eight thousand men under the command of
+the Lieutenant-General D. Victorio Navia. Receiving a valuable addition
+to his troops from Solano, Galvez prepared to embark with five
+regiments, a small squadron of dragoons, two companies of artillery and
+forty pieces of ordnance. The expedition was abundantly supplied with
+ammunition and provisions. On the sixteenth of October, 1780, they set
+sail with fifty transports, escorted by Solano, seven ships, five
+frigates and three brigantines. But on the following day a terrible
+hurricane surprised them out at sea, seriously damaging some of the
+ships and dispersing the others. Galvez was obliged to return to the
+sailing port without even knowing the fate of some of his vessels. A
+number of them on escaping from the storm drifted towards Campeche,
+others to the mouth of the Mississippi, still others to unknown ports
+and one was known to have been wrecked.
+
+News coming to Havana, that the forces at Mobile, which had in the
+meantime been taken by General de Campo, were in need of food and
+threatened with an attack by the British, a council of generals was held
+and ordered two ships, capable of transporting five hundred men and
+carry a sufficient amount of provisions, to be immediately prepared and
+sent on their way. The convoy sailed on the sixth of December under the
+command of the Captain of the frigate, D. José de Rada. On arriving at
+the mouth of the Mobile, he did not dare to enter, having found some
+variation in the channel, and sailed directly for the Balize of the
+Mississippi. He left his cargo at the entrance and returned to Havana.
+Two days later two British frigates penetrated the very Bay of Mobile
+and the detachment of the village was reported to be attacked. D.
+Bernardo de Galvez urged that, although the state of things did not
+permit a repetition of the expedition that had sailed from Havana in
+October, some troops be given him with which to reenforce the garrisons
+of Louisiana and Mobile. There, as soon as a favorable opportunity
+presented itself, he would pledge the inhabitants to a further effort
+and attack Pensacola. The plan was approved by the council, thirteen
+hundred and fifteen men were organized, including five companies of
+grenadiers, five vessels were equipped as transports and the war-ship
+_San Ramon_, under command of D. José Calvo, the frigate _Santa Clara_,
+commanded by Captain D. Miguel Alderato, the _Santa Cecilia_, commanded
+by Captain D. Miguel de Goicochoa, the tender _Caiman_, commanded by
+Captain D. José Serrato, and the packet _San Gil_ under Captain D. José
+Maria Chacon, were designated as escorts. The whole fleet was placed
+under the command of D. Bernardo de Galvez, who now bore the title of
+General.
+
+A communication sent by the General of the Marine to D. José Calvo shows
+in what esteem Galvez was held and how eager were the Spanish
+authorities to help him with his attack on Pensacola:
+
+"To the question contained in your paper of yesterday, that I manifest
+to you the terms under which you must subordinate to and obey the orders
+of the Field Marshal of the Royal armies, D. Bernardo de Galvez, I beg
+to advise that your honor shall put in practice with all your well-known
+and notorious diligence those that the expressed Don Bernardo shall give
+your Honor relative to the conquest of Pensacola, without separating
+yourself in other things from what the Royal Ordinances of the Armada
+provide, endeavoring that the strictest discipline be observed in all
+the ships under your orders as provided therein. May our Lord keep you
+many years.
+
+    "JUAN BAUTISTA BONET,
+
+            "Sr. D. José Calvo.
+
+"Havana, 6th of February, 1781."
+
+Galvez embarked on the thirteenth of February, the troops followed on
+the fourteenth and the convoy sailed on the twenty-eighth. The General
+had previously sent Captain D. Emiliano Maxent in a schooner to New
+Orleans with orders to the Commandant of Arms, so that the troops which
+D. José Rada had left and those that had arrived there on account of the
+October hurricane should set out to meet the convoy. He had ordered them
+to be ready to sail at the first signal. On the first of March the
+General sent D. Miguel de Herrera of the Regiment of Spain to Mobile by
+schooner with letters for D. José Espeleta, directing him to proceed to
+the east of Santa Rose island, fronting the port of Pensacola. He
+advised him to march by land to form a union with the troops of his
+command. Such were the extensive and well calculated preparations made
+by the Spaniards for the recapture of Pensacola. After Galvez had
+effected the junction of his troops with those of Mobile and New
+Orleans, he proceeded towards the place which was well fortified and
+garrisoned.
+
+The progress of the blockade was at first very slow. Colonel Campbell,
+who commanded the British, offered a stubborn resistance to the attacks
+of the Spanish troops. But Galvez was equally persistent and undaunted
+continued in his operations. Very much smaller in number than the
+Spanish forces, the British seemed from the first to be doomed to
+defeat. But the decisions of the siege hung a long time in the balance.
+After a brave struggle against odds, the British began to relax in their
+firing, while the Spaniards seemed ever to bring into the firing line
+new batteries. Finally the powder magazine was blown up and demolished
+some of the advance works, and on the ninth of May, 1781, the British
+garrison surrendered with honors. The conquest of Pensacola decided the
+fate of Florida, which returned to Spanish dominion. As a reward for his
+valor the king promoted D. Galvez to the rank of Lieutenant-General and
+gave him the title Conde de Galvez. The British garrison had to pledge
+themselves not to serve during the war against Spain or her allies, but
+were left free to do so against the United States.
+
+During the administration of Governor Navarro, which was soon to come to
+an end, there was one measure enacted, which anticipated our modern
+prohibition. It was promulgated by means of a proclamation of the year
+1780, which prohibited, except for medicinal uses, the sale of liquor.
+So disastrous and wide-spread were the ravages caused by an immoderate
+consumption of distilled spirits, brandy, wine, etc., in the population
+of the island, and especially among the soldiers, that heavy fines were
+imposed upon the offenders; the first offence was punished by a fine of
+fifty pesos, the second by one of one hundred pesos and the third by
+banishment and a fine. The fear that the British would invade Havana or
+Puerto Rico caused a revival of all military activities and the building
+of additions and improvements of the fortifications. In the year 1781
+Governor Navarro, being old and sickly, resigned his office and retired
+to Spain, where the king rewarded his services with the
+Captain-Generalship of Estramadura.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XI
+
+
+Washington's warning of entangling alliances comes to one's mind on
+reading the curious results of the concerted action against Britain
+decided upon by France and Spain in Europe, while the United States were
+fighting the British in North America, and the Spanish colonies of Cuba
+and Louisiana were attempting to wrest from them the Gulf coast. The
+lure of Gibraltar had led to a state of blockade; but this was far from
+satisfying to the insatiable ambition of the Spanish prime minister,
+Florida Blanca, still bent upon making the world ring with the sonority
+of his name. Ignoring all arguments to the contrary presented by the
+French statesman Vergennes, and even by some of the Spanish authorities
+familiar with the situation, he began to insist upon an immediate attack
+on Britain and gradually persuaded the French allies. An expedition was
+fitted out and in June, 1779, the fleet consisting of thirty-one French
+ships of line and twenty Spanish warships sailed for the Channel.
+
+It was the largest and best equipped force that had been seen on the
+Atlantic in many years; for the Spanish shipbuilders had been busy
+during the past years of unrest and threatening war clouds and had
+turned out vessels far superior in construction to those of Britain. The
+French were not over hopeful; even light-hearted Marie Antoinette was
+conscious of the importance of the enterprise and the great risk it
+involved; for she wrote in a private letter: "Everything depends on the
+present moment. Our fleets being united, we have a great superiority.
+They are in the Channel; and I cannot think without a shudder that,
+from one moment to the next, our destiny will be decided." The French
+staked their hope upon the reputation of the Spanish as fighters on sea.
+Montmorin said: "I hope the Spanish marine will fight well; but I should
+like it better if the British, frightened at their number, would retreat
+to their own harbors without fighting." King Carlos alone was
+optimistic; he imagined a rapid invasion, a prompt victory and the
+humiliation of Britain, which he had so long wished for.
+
+The unexpected was to happen for both French and Spaniards. The fleet
+appeared at Plymouth on the sixteenth of August, but, without even an
+attempt at attacking the town, for some unexplained reason was idle for
+two whole days. Then a storm came up and drove it westward. When the
+weather became more favorable, the vessels returned and the British
+retired before them. There was no action to speak of; there was nothing
+lost and nothing gained, and realizing the futility of the undertaking,
+the chiefs decided to abandon it. The French returned to Brest, and the
+Spanish to Cadiz. To the onlooking world the actions of the expedition
+appeared nothing less than quixotic. The reasons for this
+incomprehensible performance gradually became known; the expedition had
+sailed under many chiefs, but it lacked the one chief, whose will and
+word was to prevail and insure unity of purpose. Unable to agree upon
+any one plan of action, they decided upon no action whatever. The
+Spanish admiral, who had been fired with the spirit of Florida Blanca
+and been eager to display the famous military prowess of his nation in a
+big fight with the enemy, was so furious, that he vowed on his honor
+after this experience rather to serve against France than Britain. Marie
+Antoinette wrote to her mother: "The doing of nothing at all will have
+cost us a great deal of money."
+
+But while a legitimate engagement between the French and Spanish vessels
+on the one and the British on the other side was for the time being
+avoided, the three countries did not disdain to stoop to smaller means
+to inflict damage upon the commerce and the navigation of one another.
+Nor did they hesitate to attack the vessels of neutral countries, if
+they suspected them of lending aid to the belligerent they were
+opposing; and as this spirit began to spread, it led to a state of
+anarchy upon the seas, which recalled the golden age of piracy. British
+privateers and other vessels cruised about the ocean in quest of booty
+and attacked and robbed indiscriminately whatever ships they suspected;
+and very frequently this suspicion was only a pretext. Dutch commerce
+and navigation especially suffered from these depredations, and as
+French and Spanish vessels began to vie with the British in these
+violations of neutrality, the council chambers of the European powers,
+from Lisbon to Petrograd and from Naples to Christiania began to ring
+with vociferous protests against these disgraceful conditions. When
+Spain issued an order that all ships found by her vessels to be carrying
+provisions and to be bound for Mediterranean ports, should be brought
+into the harbor of Cadiz and their cargoes sold to the highest bidder,
+even Britain was alarmed and indignant.
+
+That was the moment which brought into prominence Sir George Rodney, the
+British commander, whose naval exploits soon were to worry the Spanish
+colonies, as did once those of British freebooters. Rodney sailed with
+his squadron on the twenty-ninth of December, 1779, and by the eighth of
+January had captured seven warships and fifteen merchantmen. At Cape St.
+Vincent, where he arrived on the sixteenth, he destroyed a part of the
+Spanish squadron under command of D. Languara. In the spring of the same
+year he had several encounters with the French fleet, under command of
+Admiral Guichen, with results so favorable for him that Britain soon
+resounded with his praise. His progress had so far been almost
+unobstructed, but in the summer it was temporarily checked, when the
+Spanish squadron, commanded by D. Solano, joined that of the French.
+However, the curious disparity of French and Spanish temperament once
+more manifested itself in a manner which disastrously affected their
+work. Unable to agree on important questions of action, their
+cooperation threatened to come to naught. In the mean time an epidemic
+of fever broke out in both fleets and D. Solano returned with his ships
+to Havana, while Admiral Guichen sailed for France.
+
+The new governor, who had succeeded Navarro in the administration of
+Cuba, was Lieutenant-General D. Juan Manuel de Cagigal. Alcazar calls
+his governorship a provisional one; Blanchet asserts that he received
+his appointment in reward for the valuable services he had rendered
+during the recent conquest of Pensacola, he having been the first to
+enter through the breach which the Spanish had made in the
+fortifications. Cagigal was a native of Cuba; he entered upon his office
+on the twenty-ninth of May, 1781, and remained until December of the
+same year. He contributed largely to the efficiency of the expedition
+which was fitted out under the command of D. Solano, the General of the
+Spanish fleet, consisting of twelve vessels with one thousand men on
+board, and was to join the French fleet at Guarico. The object of the
+expedition was to capture the island of Providence and eventually take
+other island possessions of the British in the contiguous seas.
+According to Alcazar, Providence was taken, but the defeat of the French
+squadron by Rodney made the position of Cagigal critical and attention
+had to be concentrated upon the defense of Havana.
+
+According to Blanchet this joint expedition of the French and Spanish
+forces, which had for its ultimate object the capture of Jamaica, had
+elected for its chief D. José de Galvez, giving him for the duration of
+the campaign authority over the Captain-General of Cuba and the
+president of Santo Domingo. By order of Galvez, Cagigal had set out from
+Havana in April, 1782, with forty-eight transports and two thousand men
+to possess himself of the British island of Bahama, and in particular of
+Providence. During his absence D. José Dahan exercised the authority of
+the governor. Cagigal was not aware that a week before his sailing
+Admiral Rodney had defeated the French squadron of Count de Grasse,
+which he was to join in the attack on Jamaica. However, Providence was
+taken and a sufficient garrison left there to make the conquest secure.
+Blanchet indulges in some criticism of Cagigal that he had left Havana,
+and taken all the troops with him at such a critical time. For when he
+reached Matanzas after a heavy gale which had dispersed his ships, he
+found the authorities no little alarmed since a British fleet had been
+sighted.
+
+Cagigal immediately hurried to the capital, fortified the approaches,
+employing one thousand negroes in the work, and formed an intrenched
+camp. He armed the militia, which was reenforced by many civilians,
+eager to fight the enemy, and when on the fifth of August el Morro gave
+notice of the presence of the British, everybody was prepared for the
+defence. Sir George Rodney, now Admiral, had calculated upon taking
+Havana by surprise. He brought with him a squadron composed of
+twenty-six ships of the line, and carrying a large number of troops.
+When he arrived and began to reconnoiter, he perceived the formidable
+preparations that had been made for the defence of the place, and
+deciding that it was imprudent to attack Havana by land, planned to
+approach it from Jarico. In the meantime Cagigal had received
+reenforcements which seemed to assure the safety of the capital. Daring
+as was the gallant Britisher, he was not inclined to waste his material
+in an enterprise so doubtful of success, and to the great relief of the
+Cubans he sailed away.
+
+In his administration Cagigal did not prove as efficient as in his
+military operations. He was a born soldier. He had followed the military
+profession in Portugal, Oran and at Gibraltar; he had participated in
+the unfortunate expedition against Argel, had fought in Florida and had
+been with D. Pedro Caballero at Buenos Aires. He disliked the atmosphere
+of official bureaus and the complicated machinery of government. This
+lack of interest in the indispensable functions of his office brought
+him into serious trouble. He had counselors or asesores attend to
+matters which did not immediately require his intervention, and as such
+had employed the Venezuelan D. Francisco Miranda, who eventually became
+prominent in the history of his own country. When Miranda returned from
+a commission in Jamaica, he disembarked some contraband in Batabano. The
+Intendente Urriza, who was informed of the matter, at once sent a
+complaint to Cagigal, who, either from indifference or indolence, never
+even stopped to examine the case, but simply resolved to suppress it. He
+had, however, not taken into account the presence of the functionaries
+of the royal Hacienda or Treasury, who communicated the incident to the
+proper authorities in Spain. An urgent order for Cagigal's removal from
+office was the result; and the Captain-General of Caracas, D. Luis de
+Unzaga, was sent to take his place as governor of Cuba. Miranda fled.
+Cagigal was sent to Guarico and later dispatched by D. José de Galvez to
+Cadiz, where he was for four years a prisoner in Fort Santa Catalina.
+During the proceedings against him it was found that he was in no way
+implicated in the smuggling operation of Miranda. He was rehabilitated
+during the reign of King Carlos IV. and in the war with the French
+Republic had once more an opportunity to prove his military abilities.
+He died as Captain General of Valencia.
+
+The strong impulse towards progress which had been given to Cuba in that
+period of peace when the administrations of Buccarelli and la Torre
+devoted their main energies to internal improvements and to modest
+attempts at laying the foundations of Cuban culture, had of course
+subsided during the recent unrest and the predominance of military
+interests. Nevertheless, there is evidence that the spark kindled a few
+years before was not quite dead. A long-felt want had been the absence
+of any periodical publication that would give the people of Cuba
+information upon the current political events and also be a medium for
+advertising purposes. According to some historians the first periodical
+of this kind, the _Gazeta_, published under the direction of D. Diego de
+la Barrera, made its appearance in the year 1780; others give as the
+date of its foundation the year 1782.
+
+Whatever the date of its publication may have been, the _Gazeta de la
+Habana_ became a medium through which the people were kept informed of
+the doings of the various administrative departments. The issue dated
+April eleventh, 1783, contains some statistics concerning the silver
+coins with milled edges cut away, which had been recently withdrawn from
+circulation, which is of interest as it suggests the relative financial
+rank of the different localities mentioned.
+
+    In the Treasury of the General   Silver Reales
+        Administration:             with milled edges   Weight
+                                        cut away       in ounces
+    Havana                               311,625        23,340  10
+    Guanabacoa                             2,808           151
+    Santa Maria del Rosario               21,870         1,117  12
+    Arroyo Arenas                          7,049           380  14
+    Santa Clara                          237,665        12,558
+    San Juan de Los Remedios              68,153         3,848
+    Trinidad                              40,137         2,145
+    Sancti Spiritus                      197,905        11,670  14
+    Puerto Principe                       73,792         3,207
+    Bayamo                                94,499         4,615   7
+    Holguin                               31,013         1,701
+    Baracoa                                6,396         1,465
+                                        --------        ------
+                                       1,092,940        66,231   5
+
+The _Gazeta_ added to this report: "There have been collected from the
+public over two million pesos (cut away), and in their exchange they
+yielded a little over eighty thousand pesos fuertes (efficacious), and
+although the loss is excessive as a whole it must be stated, that in
+particular it was not very grave, the money being distributed in small
+amounts among the public."
+
+This was a critical period in the conflict which had gradually involved
+the principal countries and was watched with apprehension by all the
+sovereigns of Europe. Up to this date Florida Blanca, who, from a simple
+lawyer in the provinces had risen to be prime minister of Spain, had not
+attained the goal of his ambition and secured for Spain victories, the
+glory of which should cast a halo about his name. On the contrary,
+circumstances began so to complicate the task which he had imagined to
+be comparatively easy, that he was puzzled and began to lose some of his
+extraordinary self-assurance. Bancroft gives in his "History of the
+United States" (Vol. VI. p. 441) a very interesting review of the
+situation and of the relation of Spain to the Revolutionary War, which
+was drawing towards its close. He says:
+
+"The hatred of America as a self-existent state became every day more
+intense in Spain from the desperate weakness of her authority in her
+trans-atlantic possessions. Her rule was dreaded in them all; and, as
+even her allies confessed, with good reason. The seeds of rebellion were
+already sown in the vice-royalties of Buenes Ayres and Peru; and a union
+of Creoles and Indians might prove at any moment fatal to metropolitan
+dominion. French statesmen were of the opinion that England, by
+emancipating South America, might indemnify itself for all loss from the
+independence of a part of its own colonial empire; and they foresaw in
+such a revolution the greatest benefit to the commerce of their own
+country. Immense naval preparations had been made by the Bourbons for
+the conquest of Jamaica; but now, from the fear of spreading the love of
+change Florida Blanca suppressed every wish to acquire that nest of
+hated contraband trade. When the French ambassador reported to him the
+proposal of Vergennes to constitute its inhabitants an independent
+republic, he seemed to hear the tocsin of insurrection sounding from the
+La Plata to San Francisco, and from that time had nothing to propose for
+the employment of the allied fleets in the West Indies. He was perplexed
+beyond the power of extrication. One hope only remained. Minorca having
+been wrested from the English, he concentrated all the force of Spain in
+Europe on the one great object of recovering Gibraltar, and held France
+to her promise not to make peace until that fortress should be given
+up."
+
+From that time began a series of secret manoeuvres in favor of a general
+peace, and rumors of the signing of treaties that had then not even been
+drafted, began to float across the ocean and agitate the colonies of
+Spanish America. But naval operations in the waters of the West Indies
+continued almost without cessation. The French fleet under de Grasse had
+before its return to France restored to the Dutch St. Eustatius. It had
+captured St. Christopher, Nevis and Montserrat. When in February, 1782,
+Admiral Rodney appeared at Barbados with twelve new ships of line in
+addition to his fleet, and was towards the end of the month joined by
+the squadron under command of Hood at Antigua, it became necessary for
+the French to look for a junction with the Spanish fleet. For this
+purpose de Grasse left Port Royal to Martinique on the eighth of April
+and hurriedly sailed for Hispaniola. After a small engagement at
+Dominica, Admiral Rodney by a skillful ruse brought on a battle with the
+French between Guadeloupe, Saintes and Marie Galante. The British had on
+their side superiority in number and quality, having thirty six vessels,
+all in good repair and manned by well-trained and disciplined sailors.
+The French ships were better constructed, but inferior in number, and
+their mariners were known to be less efficient and experienced. The
+combat raged for eleven hours. Four of de Grasse's ships were captured,
+one sunk. The British lost about one thousand men in killed and wounded,
+the French about three times as many. This defeat of their ally tended
+to depress the spirits of the Spanish people, both in the mother country
+and the colonies, for they saw Britain once more exercising almost
+undisputed authority over the seas.
+
+By this time the belligerents were all becoming tired of the war and
+were seriously hoping for peace. The situation in France had after this
+new defeat become specially precarious. Her coffers had been depleted by
+participating in a war in which she had nothing to gain. Hence her
+statesmen were particularly anxious to end a conflict the ideal aim of
+which had been attained by the recognition of the independence of the
+United States from Britain. But she was bound by the alliance with
+Spain; and Spain was inflexible in refusing to acknowledge that
+independence and in insisting upon her demands, among them above all
+others, in Europe, the return of Gibraltar, in America the territory
+east of the Mississippi, including the right of navigation on that
+river. Conferences between John Jay and Benjamin Franklin, the special
+American emissaries, and the French minister Vergennes and his able
+assistant Rayneval were constantly taking place. Couriers were speeding
+back and forth between Paris and London. Rayneval attempted to bring the
+subject of Gibraltar to the attention of the Earl of Shelburne, saying:
+"Gibraltar is as dear to the king of Spain as his life," but he was told
+that it was out of the question even to propose to the government to
+cede it to Spain. He pleaded for Spain's claim of the Mississippi and
+its eastern valley, and received an ambiguous reply, implying that
+Britain might be induced to cede Jamaica. But the indirect offer was
+ignored, just as had been that of Porto Rico some time before. The more
+the negotiations progressed, the more did Spain, persisting in her
+traditional conservatism, prove a stumbling block to peace. For as late
+as September, 1782, in a meeting between Lafayette, Jay and Aranda, did
+the latter, as representative of King Carlos III., refuse to
+acknowledge the independence of the new republic.
+
+In the mean time Spain was clamoring for action against Gibraltar, and
+the French and Spanish fleets united in an attempt to reduce the fort
+under the command of the Duke of Crillon. But three years of blockade,
+with intervals of famine and privation, had not broken the spirit of the
+British garrison. While the first question of the king of Spain on
+awakening every morning was: "Is Gibraltar taken?" the British continued
+to defend it with a stubbornness which threatened to prolong the
+struggle interminably. Receiving constant supplies from the British
+fleet under Lord Howe, General Eliot was able to hold his own and the
+futility of this expedition soon became apparent. When the Spanish
+batteries were blown up and General Eliot made his audacious sortie, the
+hope of this victory had to be abandoned.
+
+Spain at last realized the necessity of yielding to the inevitable. Her
+debt had been increased by twenty millions sterling, her navy had been
+almost annihilated and she had gained nothing but an island or two. King
+Carlos III., who had so long withheld his recognition of the United
+States and blocked the negotiations for peace, because the American
+envoys justly demanded that recognition before they could deal with the
+representatives of Spain, finally yielded to the pressure of the moment
+and the preliminaries of peace were signed on the thirtieth of November,
+1782. By the separate articles of this treaty, the claim of the United
+States to all the country from the St. Croix to the southwestern
+Mississippi, from the Lake of the Woods to the St. Mary's, was verified.
+By a separate article the line of north boundary between West Florida
+and the United States was defined, in case Great Britain at the
+conclusion of the war should recover that province.
+
+Thus was the republic, the consummation of which King Carlos III. had in
+his loyalty to the old tradition of sovereignty so zealously tried to
+prevent, established upon the very continent, which Columbus had
+discovered, and to the greater part of which Spain had laid claim. If
+the Spanish king and his cabinet were at all conscious of the analogy
+presented by comparison of the commercial and other restrictions placed
+upon both colonies by the kingdoms from which they had sprung, they had
+reason to be filled with vague apprehensions at the rise of this new and
+free power among the countries of the world. They could not help seeing
+in the republic which by a long and tenacious fight had won her
+independence from the mother country, a neighbor whose example offered a
+dangerous precedent.
+
+Perhaps it was with the intention of forestalling the development of
+such events in Cuba, as had led to the Declaration of Independence by
+the colonies to the north, that the Spanish King had some years before
+begun to remove the restrictions which had for two centuries and more
+hampered the growth of Cuban commerce and retarded her general
+development. It was a proof of his own growth towards a more liberal
+conception of the relations between a country and her colonies, that the
+removal of these restrictions was effected within so short a time. He
+opened the trade of Cuba and the other islands of his possessions in
+America in 1765, and that of Louisiana in 1768 to eight Spanish ports
+besides Cadiz; he gradually permitted direct trade from the Spanish
+ports to his dependencies in South and Central America; and in 1782 even
+allowed New Orleans and Pensacola to trade with French ports that had
+Spanish consuls.
+
+The breath of freedom which seemed to sweep across the world during
+these last decades of the eighteenth century, might well have filled the
+sovereigns of Europe with fear for their possessions and prerogatives.
+Although Carlos III. was the most liberal monarch that Spain had had in
+a long time, he still clung to a rigorous paternal regime in the
+relations of the court to the colonies, the population of which began to
+resent the rule of officials sent to them from Madrid, and rarely
+concerned with their welfare. He had had more cause than other European
+sovereigns to dread the consequences which the American Revolution might
+bring in its wake. For an insurrection, headed by Tupac-Amaru, who
+called himself an Inca, had broken out in Peru, and was directed against
+the exactions of the corregidores; and though it was suppressed by the
+year 1782, incipient revolt seemed everywhere to be ready to break out.
+As Garcia Calderon says of that period in his book on Latin America:
+
+"The revolution was not merely an economic pretext; it nourished
+concrete social ambitions. An equalizing movement, it aimed at
+destruction of privileges, of the arbitrary Spanish hierarchy, and
+finally, when its levelling instinct was aroused and irritated, the
+destruction of authority to the profit of anarchy. The Creoles, deprived
+of all political function, revolted; in matters of economics they
+condemned excessive taxation and monopoly; in matters of politics they
+attacked slavery, the Inquisition, and moral tutelage. Charles III. had
+recognized, in 1783, in spite of the counsels of his minister Aranda,
+the independence of the United States, which were to serve his own
+colonies as precedent, and he expelled the Jesuits from America, the
+defense of the Indians against the oppression of Spanish governors. The
+corruption of the courts, the sale of offices, and the tyranny of the
+viceroys, all added to the causes of discontent, disturbance and
+poverty."
+
+The insurrection in Peru was but the tocsin sounding the alarm. It was
+to be followed by a number of revolts that shook the very foundations of
+Spain's colonial empire in America.
+
+Cuba for some time to come remained untouched by the high tide of
+insurrection. It enjoyed a period of peace, which promoted the welfare
+of the people and insured their content. D. Luis de Unzaga, who entered
+upon his office as governor of the island in December, 1783,
+distinguished himself by his strenuous prosecution of officials, whose
+honesty he had reason to doubt. One of these was the administrator of
+the Factoria or tobacco factory, D. Manuel Garcia Barrieres, whose
+disposal and trial he ordered. This factory, which monopolized the
+tobacco crop of the island for the benefit of the royal government,
+received a subvention from Spain which at this time was increased to
+fifty thousand pesos annually. Unzaga also took steps to limit the
+number of inexperienced and unscrupulous lawyers, against whom some of
+his predecessors had already inaugurated a campaign, by refusing to
+issue new diplomas to barristers, there being at that time two hundred
+practicing in the island. A royal decree of the year 1784 was directed
+towards the same evil, but lawyers still remained too numerous in
+proportion to the population for in 1792 the island had one hundred and
+six, and Havana seventy two. Governor Unzaga had also some trouble with
+the governor of Santiago de Cuba, D. Nicolas Arredondo. D. Arredondo,
+who is remembered in history of the island as the founder of the first
+"Sociedad Patriotica," in which he had such fellow-members as D.
+Francisco Lozo de la Torre, D. Pedro Valiente, and D. Francisco Grinan,
+was accused of participating in contraband trade and was temporarily
+deposed. Ultimately it was discovered that the real offenders were two
+aldermen, the brothers Creaght. After a protracted trial the innocence
+of Arredondo was established and he was reinstated in office.
+
+The greater the natural wealth of a country, the more are its
+inhabitants inclined to indulge in thoughtless or deliberate waste of
+resources which would be carefully husbanded in country less favored by
+nature. Cuba was wasteful of her forest wealth. The governors of the
+island had so far paid little or no heed to the wanton destruction of
+the forests by people who exploited them for their timber. In a
+proclamation issued soon after he was inaugurated, Governor Unzaga made
+a serious attempt at checking this criminal waste of the island's
+wealth. He prohibited the use of cedar for building purposes; he
+designated the land where the people could procure their supply of that
+valuable wood, and ordered that for each log cut the arsenal should
+receive two "knees." The state had for years looked with indifference
+upon the devastation of the forests, and, conceding to private
+individuals the absolute dominion over those that shaded favored
+territory, wanted to monopolize them for the use of the Navy. Not only
+the sugar refineries were using unreasonable quantities of that wood,
+but especially the shipyard. This enterprise, which received an annual
+subvention from the Spanish government of seven hundred thousand pesos,
+and was more active than those of the mother country, because negro
+labor was cheaper than white, used enormous quantities of cedar.
+
+Thus the order of Governor Unzaga, while ultimately benefiting the
+island, caused for the moment no little heated discussion and unpleasant
+tension.
+
+Among the foreigners of high rank that visited Cuba immediately after
+peace had been signed was the son of George III., William of Lancaster,
+who had served as midshipman in Rodney's squadron. According to Alcazar,
+he was most graciously received, being sumptuously lodged by Governor
+Unzaga, who in honor of his presence arranged many brilliant
+festivities, in which the aristocracy of the island had opportunity to
+show itself resplendent in all its wealth. So pleased seemed the prince
+with his stay that he might have prolonged it, had not the admiral
+reprimanded him, and insisting upon his immediate return on board,
+threatened to leave without him. Knowing Rodney's severity, the prince
+obeyed, although it must have been difficult for him to tear away from
+that gay life. The visit cost the Cubans great sums of money, officials
+and civilians having vied with one another in offering entertainment.
+The mess at which the General of the Marine, D. Solano, had treated him,
+is reported by Valdes to have cost four thousand pesos. A gold peso
+being about the value of three dollars, it was a handsome sum to spend
+on the son of the king who had been Spain's enemy in the war just
+concluded.
+
+One of the most serious mistakes which Spain had always made in the
+administration of her American colonies was the appointment of men who
+were mostly natives of the mother country and not as familiar with the
+conditions and the needs of the territory they governed as those who had
+been born in the colonies. The short period of some administrations also
+greatly hindered a well-ordered systematic management of the different
+departments of the government. Earlier periods of the history of Cuba
+had such frequent changes of governorship; and the latter part of the
+eighteenth century was to undergo the same experience. When Unzaga
+retired on the eighth of February, 1785, he was succeeded by a man whose
+previous career had given him a reputation which recommended him to the
+Cubans; D. Bernardo Galvez, who had distinguished himself in the last
+expedition against Pensacola, and as former governor of Louisiana was
+thoroughly in touch with colonial life in Spanish America. Galvez was a
+native of Malaga, Knight Commander of the order of Calatrava and endowed
+with the title of Conde de Galvez. But the hopes of the island were much
+disappointed when only two months later he was transferred to the
+vice-regency of Mexico and was on the fifth of April temporarily
+replaced by the King's Lieutenant-teniente de Rey, and Field Marshal D.
+Bernardo Troncoso. He had been governor of Guatemala, and when he had
+barely become acquainted with Cuban conditions, was appointed governor
+of Vera Cruz. But during his brief administration he showed no little
+initiative and firmness of purpose and among other things succeeded in
+repressing the bakers' guild which had become very troublesome.
+
+At this time the Spanish colonies of the continent, Louisiana and
+Florida, became aware of the hostility with which they were regarded by
+certain elements of the United States, that tried to foment disturbances
+along their northern boundaries. In June of that year Troncoso received
+news from Louisiana that a corps of two thousand three hundred Americans
+were organizing in the state of Georgia for the purpose of taking the
+fortifications of Natchez, which they alleged were on ground of their
+demarcation. Troncoso accordingly dispatched from Havana a few pickets
+of infantry and a company of dragoons, with the aid of which the
+governor of Louisiana could mobilize a column of twelve hundred regular
+troops to check the project.
+
+With the inauguration of Brigadier D. José de Espoleto on the first of
+December, 1785, a little more stability came into the government of the
+island. One of the first official acts was the formation of the Regiment
+of Cuba, in which he was ably assisted by the Inspector D. Domingo
+Cabello. Espoleto entered upon the functions of his office in the spirit
+of the Marques de la Torre, to whose wise administration Havana was
+indebted for all the improvements and reforms that made her worthy of
+being the metropolis of the Spanish West Indies. Espoleto continued the
+work on the piers, hastened the completion of the buildings for the
+government and the Intendencia, inaugurated a system of water supply and
+street cleaning and established a public market for the convenience of
+the producers in the outlying districts and the city dwellers relying
+upon them for their supplies in dairy and garden products. He also
+introduced some reforms in the police department of Havana. But what was
+most important for that commonwealth was his settling upon it of a sum
+which was to be devoted to the permanent lighting of the city.
+
+In his administration Santiago de Cuba took a significant step towards
+the more effective concentration of the literary activities of the
+island. This was the foundation of the first Sociedad de Amigos, which
+was approved of by the king and on the thirteenth of September, 1787,
+received a royal grant. In his colonial administration Espoleto tried to
+follow the example of Ricla and Buccarelli, ordering the publication of
+the decrees which they had enacted and which in the course of time had
+been forgotten, and did his best to enforce them. In this by no means
+easy task he was backed by D. José Pablo Valiente, an oidor of the
+Audiencia or judge of the Supreme Court, who had come to Havana in 1787
+to start an inquiry into the disbursement of certain funds. By order of
+the king he had to investigate how the enormous sums, which the
+expeditions of the gallant Galvez had cost, had been invested; had to
+examine the state of the royal revenues and suggest needed reforms,
+watch the administration of justice and propose measures to raise the
+standard of the bar. One of the high officials who had given a previous
+administration trouble and was probably guilty of irregularities,
+Urriza, was so resentful of this investigation of his office, which D.
+Valiente was ordered to undertake, that he speedily resigned. He was
+succeeded by D. Domingo Hernani.
+
+Death reaped a rich harvest between 1786 and 1788, in removing men so
+closely identified with the fate of the colonies and the mother country
+that they were not soon to be adequately replaced. On the thirtieth of
+November, 1786, D. Bernardo de Galvez died in Mexico, where he had
+reigned as viceroy since he left Havana eleven months before. By his
+rare executive talent and his extensive knowledge he had become one of
+the most efficient colonial governors that Spanish America had known,
+and to him was in a great measure due their progress and prosperity. A
+few days later died in Madrid his uncle D. José de Galvez, the noted
+minister of the Indies, whose name is also identified with colonial
+reforms. But the greatest loss to the colonies and to Spain was the
+death on the twenty-eighth of December, 1788, of King Carlos III. The
+kind and prudent sovereign had in a reign of almost thirty years,
+handicapped as he was by the Spanish tradition of absolutism, tried his
+best to further the growth and the welfare of his country and its
+dependencies, and inaugurated policies more liberal than any his
+predecessors had followed. He had endeared himself to his people and was
+sincerely mourned.
+
+The accession of Carlos IV. to the throne of Spain was not calculated to
+advance Spain and her colonies beyond the degree of development they had
+attained during the long reign of his father. He was forty years of age
+and by stature and physiognomy was singularly fitted to represent so
+important a kingdom as Spain. But he was as unintelligent as ignorant,
+and allowed himself to be guided by his wife, Maria Louise, princess of
+Parma, who was as clever and scheming as he was dull and indolent. She
+was an autocrat, who suffered nobody to share the reins with her, and
+imperceptibly they slipped into her hands, until she was absolute
+sovereign of the kingdom. Two years after the death of Carlos III.
+Florida Blanca was forced to resign. Count Cabarrus, an ardent champion
+of reform, and a man of considerable executive power, was arrested. D.
+Gaspar Melchior de Jovellanos, one of the most profound thinkers and
+noblest patriots that Spain could claim in the eighteenth century, was
+removed from the important position he held in Madrid and exiled.
+Campomanes, too, fell into "disgrace" in 1791. All these men,
+distinguished for their character and their ability, were replaced by
+some feeble creatures with no idea or will of their own, puppets in the
+hands of the queen, who transformed the court of Madrid into a den of
+corruption.
+
+The policies pursued by Spain during this time culminated in so much
+confusion that Florida Blanca was recalled in 1792 and set about to make
+an attempt at restoring order in a thoroughly disorganized government.
+But he was deposed the same year, having been unable to obtain the favor
+of the queen. Aranda, who during the previous reign had been the
+representative of progress, peace and the liberal ideas that came to
+Spain from France, followed him with no better luck. For he too was
+dismissed within a year and his place was taken by the queen's favorite,
+Manuel Godoy, who some years later was to turn up in Cuba. Godoy was a
+handsome young officer; she made him a grandee of the first class with
+the title of Duke of Alcudia, and entrusted him with the ministry of
+foreign affairs. The proud old aristocracy of Spain grumbled at the rise
+of the upstart; but it succumbed to the spirit of servility which
+pervaded the atmosphere of the court, and sought the favorite's favor.
+
+Such was the condition of the country which was exercising a paternal
+authority over Spanish America. It was not calculated to tighten the
+bonds existing between the mother country and the colonies. As
+transportation increased and news began to spread more rapidly and to
+circulate more freely, the eyes of the colonists were opened to the
+iniquities they suffered, and they began to question institutions and
+laws which they had formerly unconditionally accepted. The glamor of the
+period of conquistadores had long faded; the excitement of the age of
+piracy was slowly being forgotten. Cuba, like all Latin America, had
+entered upon that period, which President Poincaré in his preface to
+Garcia Calderon's book on "Latin America" calls "the colonial phase with
+its disappointments, its illusions, its abuses and errors; the
+domination of an oppressive theocracy, of crushing monopolies; the
+insolence of privileged castes, and the indignities of Peninsular
+agents." It needed strong and noble men to guide her through the period
+of unrest which even at that moment was culminating in the French
+Revolution.
+
+The immediate echoes of this Revolution were heard in 1791 in
+Hispaniola, where at the very first risings of the people in France, the
+slaves had revolted, killing their masters and burning their property.
+It was only the prelude to the greater insurrection, which broke out
+later and in which Cuba became involved. In the mean time, this island
+had come under another interim governorship, and was drifting along on
+the tide of progress in some directions, while in others it had come to
+a standstill, if it had not retrograded. The provisional government of
+D. Domingo Caballo which began on the twentieth of April, 1789, and
+ended on the eighth of July, 1790, was not noteworthy for any important
+measures, unless it be another attempt at restricting the number and the
+activities of lawyers. The royal decree of the nineteenth of November,
+1789, which prohibited the admission of any more professors of
+jurisprudence, native or foreign, to the bar of the island, was modified
+to read thus: "To the profession of lawyer, only those shall be admitted
+who studied in the greater universities of their countries and had
+practiced in some of their capitals, where there existed a superior
+tribunal certifying that they had practiced six years at the superior
+courts of Spain."
+
+During Caballo's interim rule there occurred the ecclesiastical division
+of the island. The archbishopric of Santo Domingo was divided into two
+suffragan dioceses, both the bishopric of Santiago de Cuba which had
+existed since 1518 and the new bishopric of Havana being subject to the
+metropolitan mitre of Santo Domingo. To the bishopric of Santiago was
+appointed D. Antonio Feliu, a man of great piety and gentle
+disposition, who rapidly won the esteem of the community and the love of
+his flock. That of Havana, which also comprised Louisiana and Florida,
+was entrusted to D. Felipe José de Tres Palacios.
+
+In spite of the apparent prosperity, the island was still suffering from
+centuries of restriction which had paralyzed the initiative of its
+population. Maria de las Mercedes (Jaruco), Countess de Merlin, says of
+that period in her work, "La Havana" (Paris, 1844):
+
+"Owing to the long tyranny which had weighed upon the island, Cuba
+needed hands to cultivate her fields. The products were devoured by a
+monopoly; territorial property did not exist; for the proprietor could
+not even cut a tree in his woods without the permission of the royal
+marine; the population was reduced to 170,370 souls; the sugar
+production had become so inferior in quality, that no more than 50,000
+barrels of sugar annually left the port of Havana; finally, the island
+was involved in debts and Mexico was obliged to aid it in the necessary
+expenses of the administration and agriculture."
+
+The author, a niece of the Conde de Casa Montalvo, who was identified
+with the great revival of civic spirit during the administration of
+Governor Las Casas, also limns a rather discouraging picture of the
+state of education in the island, saying that in the year 1792, Havana
+had only one grammar school, of which the mulatto Melendez was the
+teacher, and that up to the year 1793 girls were forbidden to learn to
+read. So thoroughly familiar was the author with the political and
+economic conditions of Cuba, and closely associated with the men, whose
+energy, integrity and patriotic ambition ushered in that wonderful era
+of progress, that the three volumes of her work, consisting of letters
+to Chateaubriand, George Sand, Baron Rothschild, and others are full of
+valuable information presented in a most fascinating manner.
+
+[Illustration: DON LUIS DE LAS CASAS]
+
+The historian Valdes is not far from right, when he calls the history of
+Cuba, as compared with that of other countries, _nuestra pequena
+historia_--our little history. But that little history contains more
+than one great epoch and its biography more than one figure that stands
+out with something like sovereign impressiveness from the many names
+which it records. The administration of D. Luis de Las Casas is such an
+epoch, and he is such a man. Born in the village of Sapuerta in Viscaya,
+his was a picturesque career. He had embraced the military profession
+and been on the battlefields of Villaflor and Almeida; in Portugal he
+attracted the attention of Count O'Reilly, who took him on the
+expedition to Louisiana, where he was sergeant-mayor of New Orleans. On
+his return to Spain, he solicited permission to go to Russia and served
+under the flag of Marshal Romanzow, distinguishing himself in the
+campaign waged by the empress. Then he studied the science of government
+in Paris; but as soon as Spain was once more engaged in war, he joined
+the expedition of O'Reilly against Argel. His conduct at the capture of
+Minorca earned for him the title of Field Marshal and Commandant-General
+of Oran. He also took a gallant part in the unfortunate attempt to
+recover Gibraltar. On being appointed to the governorship of Cuba, he
+arrived in Havana the eighth of July, 1796, and on the following day
+took charge of his office.
+
+One of his first official measures was to have a new census taken, for
+when the results of the one taken by la Torre were published, many
+questioned the correctness of the figures. It was said, not without some
+justice, that, if the population of the island in the year of the
+British invasion, 1762, was one hundred and forty thousand, it should
+have been more in 1775 than one hundred and seventy-one thousand six
+hundred and twenty, since the number of negroes that had been added to
+the population was in itself enormous, and there were also the
+immigrants from Florida that had settled on the island. Profiting by the
+criticism of his predecessor's work, Las Casas took great pains so to
+systematize the work of the census takers, that their investigations
+would be unexceptionally thorough and conclusive. When the result became
+known two years later, the population of the island was found to be two
+hundred and seventy-two thousand five hundred and one inhabitants.
+
+In the second year of his administration, Governor Las Casas had an
+opportunity to show his generosity and his executive ability when Cuba
+was visited by another typical West Indian hurricane. It broke upon the
+island on the twenty-first of June and lasted fully twenty-four hours.
+The terrible windstorm was accompanied by a deluge of rain, which caused
+the overflow of the Almendares and its tributaries, uprooted the trees
+in orchards and nurseries, inundated plantations and damaged houses to
+such an extent, that great numbers of residents in the districts of
+Wajay, San Antonio, Managua and others were rendered homeless and
+reduced to poverty. The governor not only effectively organized the work
+of relief, but spent freely of his private funds to alleviate the
+suffering of the people. He showed the same spirit a year later, when
+Trinidad was visited by a conflagration which consumed property valued
+at six hundred thousand pesos. The establishment of the Real Casa de
+Beneficiencia was another work that proved his sincere concern for the
+welfare of the people, and especially those unfortunates who were
+dependent upon public charity. The founding of this asylum for destitute
+orphans of both sexes, including a school, in which they were to be
+taught a trade to make them self-supporting on reaching maturity, was
+first proposed by him in a meeting of citizens on the twenty-second of
+March, 1792. So warm and rousing was his appeal, that large
+subscriptions to defray its expenses were immediately signed. A royal
+patent of the fifteenth of December conferred upon the plan official
+approval. There was connected with the asylum a hospital, and both were
+temporarily organized and began their work in a provisional building,
+until on the eighth of December they were transferred to the structure
+erected for them.
+
+Cuba's commerce, though still laboring under difficulties due to
+unreasonable trade laws of Spain, was gradually becoming so extensive
+that it needed some central organization to protect and promote its
+interests. The citizens had so far let things take their course as they
+might; lack of initiative was perhaps natural with a people under the
+strict paternal supervision which Spain exercised over colonies.
+Governor Las Casas roused their latent energies and induced them to
+organize for mutual profit and for the general progress of the island's
+commerce. For this purpose was established the Tribunal of Commerce or
+Consulado, which was also to act as a court of justice for mercantile
+litigants and bankrupts. The Consulado was founded on the sixth of
+June, 1795, and within a short time settled more than three hundred and
+twenty such cases.
+
+But the most important step towards the internal reform and improvement
+of the island was taken by Las Casas when on the second of January,
+1793, he presided at the foundation of the "Real Sociedad Patriotica o
+Economica," which later changed its name to Junta de Fomento, or Society
+of Progress. Among his associates in this most significant enterprise
+were the marquises de Casa Calvo, Casa Penalver and San Felipe, the
+counts de Casa Bayona, Lagunillas, Buenavista, O'Farrel and Jaurequi,
+distinguished citizens like Romany, Sequeira and Caballero, and that
+greatest patriot among them all, Sr. D. Francisco Arango y Pareno, to
+whom credit is due for the inception of this organization. The different
+sections, into which this society was divided, devoted themselves to the
+development of agriculture, stockbreeding, industry, commerce, science
+and art, and were of inestimable service to the people. Reports of the
+meeting held on the twenty-first of December, 1796, showed a clearness
+and seriousness of purpose which commanded respect and augured well for
+the future of the undertaking.
+
+In those first four years of its existence it was the medium through
+which were established some much needed improvements for the
+facilitation of traffic. Within a few months after its foundation it
+invested some of its funds in the highway of Horcon which cost about
+thirty thousand seven hundred pesos. Then it built the Guadalupe road
+and finished the principal pier of that place. To introduce indigo
+culture on the island, it lent to the administration three thousand five
+hundred pesos without interest. When the royal professor of botany, D.
+Martin Sese, suggested to take with him a young native of Havana to
+study that science in its application to agriculture, the society again
+defrayed the expenses. There was hardly a work of public utility that
+was not materially assisted by this corporation.
+
+Its efforts at promoting the cultural progress of the population were no
+less remarkable. A number of its members united in editing the _Papel
+Periodico_, which was published every Thursday and Sunday at a cost of
+fourteen reales per month and was of the size of a half sheet of Spanish
+paper. As the work of the society expanded, it gave to the press its
+"Memorias," a collection of original writing and translations by the
+members, covering a variety of subjects, among them contributions to
+Cuban history which contain valuable data. Some forty years after its
+foundation, it published at its expense the history of D. José Martin
+Felix de Arrate, which is one of the earliest works on the history of
+Cuba. But even more important were the constant and vigorous efforts of
+the Society to reform and improve public education. It founded many
+establishments of free instruction and offered special inducements to
+teachers, who could show a certain number of children with a more solid
+knowledge of grammar and the four fundamental principles of arithmetic
+than the schools had so far produced. The university, too, was
+encouraged in its work; the textbooks were improved and the curriculum
+was enlarged so as to include courses in geography, physics, history and
+Spanish literature.
+
+The first director of the Society was Sr. D. Luis Penalver, bishop of
+New Orleans, and later archbishop of Guatemala, a man who was closely
+identified with the work of the Casa de la Benficiencia and other
+institutions. But, although all members were men distinguished for their
+gifts and their achievements, the soul and moving spirit was D.
+Francisco Arango, of whom we shall hear much more in our later
+narrative.
+
+A worthy fellow-worker of Arango was D. José Pablo Valiente, who as
+Intendente organized the Royal Exchequer, and with no little risk to
+himself, permitted and encouraged commerce with neutral and friendly
+nations, regardless of still existing restrictions. He assisted in the
+establishment of the Consulado and the Sociedad Economica, made a gift
+of seven thousand pesos to the Casa de Beneficencia, encouraged the
+progress of public instruction and in many lawsuits brought before the
+Consulado played the role of a noble conciliator. With such men as these
+to assist him, the administration of Las Casas was soon regarded as the
+most glorious in the history of the island. For though Havana was the
+principal scene of the activities of these men, Las Casas did not fail
+to extend the blessing of his reforms and improvements to other
+communities. The towns of Santa Maria del Rosario, Santiago de las Vegas
+and others soon showed considerable growth; in the districts of
+Guanajey, Alquiza, Quivican, Managua and others, the territory under
+cultivation was steadily expanding; the village of Casa Blanca and the
+town of Manzanillo were founded, and the port of Nuevitas essentially
+improved. An excellent cooperator of Governor Las Casas was D. Juan
+Bautista Valiente, governor of Santiago de Cuba, who protected
+agriculture, founded primary and Latin schools, introduced a system of
+lighting in his city, started to pave its streets, and invested his
+savings in an edifice, which served to house the Ayuntamiento, the
+governor's and other offices and also contained the jail.
+
+The first revolution in Santo Domingo in 1791 had warned Las Casas and
+brought home to the administration of Cuba the necessity of looking once
+more after the defences of the island. He was aided in this task by the
+chief of the navy yard, D. Juan Araoz, who hastened the work of naval
+constructions, and in a short time turned out six war vessels, four
+frigates and a number of boats of lesser tonnage. They proved of great
+usefulness in the operations against Santo Domingo and Guarico during
+the second uprising when in order to protect Spanish interests and
+inhabitants there were sent from Havana the regiment bearing the name of
+the city and from Cuba a piquet of artillery. That revolt is so closely
+associated with the problem of slavery, which had become the cause of
+grave apprehension to the government that it will be referred to in the
+following chapter. The massacre of French and other colonists in that
+unfortunate island brought a multitude of refugees to Cuba and
+materially increased its population.
+
+An event in the last year of the administration of Las Casas gave rise
+to festivities of a memorable character. When the war between Spain and
+the French Republic broke out, General D. Gabriel Aristizabal, who
+operated in Hayti, did not want the ashes of Columbus to be lost during
+the ensuing disturbances. It seemed more appropriate, too, that they
+should not remain in the place where he had been slandered and
+persecuted and where the villain Bobadilla had put him in fetters, but
+in the island that had always smiled upon him. On the fifteenth of
+January, 1796, there entered into the port of Havana the warship _San
+Lorenzo_, carrying the casket. It was received by Governor Las Casas and
+General Araoz, the bishops Penalver and Tres Palacios, and between two
+lines of soldiers was carried to the cathedral, where it was deposited
+in a humble niche. Though the first city of the island did not then
+raise a monument to Columbus it was done by a much smaller town,
+Cardenas, which for this act alone deserves to be mentioned.
+
+The inscription upon the stone, under which the remains of Columbus
+found rest, reads:
+
+                    D. O. M.
+        Clares      Heros.      Ligustin.
+      CHRISTOPHORUS COLUMBUS
+        A Se, Rei Nautic. Scient. Insign.
+                Niv.  Orb.  Detect.
+        Araque Castell. Et Legin. Regib. Subject.
+                      Vallice. Occub.
+              XIII Kal.    Jun.  A.M.  DVI
+      Cartusianor.  Hispal.  Cadav.  Custod.  Tradit.
+              Transfer. Nam.   Ipse Praescrips.
+        IN HISPANIOLAE METROP. ECC.
+        Hinc Pace Sancit. Galliae Reipub. Cess
+    In Hanc V. Mar. Concept. Imm. Cath. Ossa Trans.
+        Maxim. Om. Frequent. Sepult. Mand.
+        XIV. Kal. Feb. A. Md. C. C. X. C. V. I.
+              HAVAN.   CIVIT
+        Tant. Vir. Meritor. In Se Non Immen.
+          Pretros. Exux. In Optat Diem Tuitur.
+                  Hocce Monum. Erex.
+        Praesul. Ill. D. D. Philippo Iph Trespalacios
+          Civic AC Militar. Rei. Gen. Praef. Exme
+              D.D. LUDOVICO DE LAS CASAS
+
+When the administration of Las Casas came to an end, the municipality of
+Havana called a testimonial meeting for the sixteenth of December, 1796,
+which gave proof of the high esteem in which the extraordinary man was
+held by the people. Four years after his retirement, on the nineteenth
+of November, 1800, he died of poison. He had not escaped criticism by
+those who saw in his enforcement of forgotten laws and in many of his
+new ordinances the manifestation of an arbitrary spirit; but it was
+universally conceded that during his government Cuba reached a
+high-water mark in her development. Though the corruption and
+degradation of the court at Madrid had a baneful influence upon the
+Spanish colonies, the island which had enjoyed the blessings of his rule
+and caught a breath of the spirit of such men as Arango and Montalvo
+could never again be contented unquestioningly to accept the dictates of
+that court. The flood of new liberal ideas which, coming from France,
+swept over the whole world, could not be turned back at el Morro. They
+found their way into the hearts and the minds of the people and slowly
+but surely taught them to see where their ultimate salvation lay.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XII
+
+
+The French Revolution set the pace for the world's movements in the last
+decade of the eighteenth century and spread the seeds of many more in
+the century to come. Pamphlets, books and proclamations coming to Spain
+from France opened the eyes of the people to evils, which in their
+loyalty to the throne and to the traditions of the country they had
+never dared to perceive. The corruption of her court, the ruin of her
+finances, the incompetency of her statesmen and her generals were
+revealed to the population and stirred sullen resentment. Demoralization
+seemed to have set in and threatened to dismember the once all-powerful
+kingdom. To the profligate Godoy was in a great measure attributed the
+degradation of the country and an atmosphere of conspiracy pervaded even
+the royal palace, from which patriotic plotters, resentful of Spain's
+humiliation, hoped soon to chase the favorite of the queen, who with
+supreme unconcern continued to fill his pockets from the royal treasury
+and to live in his wonted extravagance and dissipation. The forces of
+the French Republic had occupied the frontier forts and seemed to find
+little or no resistance. The fate of the royal Bourbons of France struck
+terror in the souls of the royal Bourbons of Spain, and the flight of
+the king and his family from Madrid was daily expected.
+
+Even to the overseas possessions of France and Spain had the influence
+of the liberating movement extended and awakened the indolent and
+indifferent creoles to the realization of wrongs they had suffered at
+the hands of their mother countries. Moreover, the gospel of Liberty,
+Equality and Fraternity had reached the ears of those who had for
+centuries silently borne oppression and had been made to believe that
+serfdom was to be their fate forever. Already in 1791 the news of the
+outbreak of the Revolution had been acclaimed by the slaves in Santo
+Domingo and followed by revolt and violence against the life and the
+property of their masters. When in 1794 the Convention declared the
+abolition of slavery in the colonies of the Republic, the floodgates of
+insurrection were opened. For Old Hispaniola, divided between two
+foreign powers, populated by races antagonistic to one another, was a
+fertile soil for any revolutionary propaganda. As early as 1762 there
+were three negroes to one Frenchman in the northern part of the island;
+and these negroes whom a Jesuit priest of the time declared to be fit
+only for slavery, hated all other races and castes: the whites, the free
+negroes and the mulattoes.
+
+But even among this ignorant and superstitious race there were
+individuals that rose far above the average in intelligence and had by
+association with the more advanced and privileged castes and races
+acquired certain achievements. They were men who had done some thinking
+of their own and perhaps by their relation of servant to master learned
+to know the faults and weaknesses of the latter far better than they
+knew their own. When these men caught the ring of the magic three words,
+a world of possibilities opened before them, and they embraced the
+message they conveyed with the eagerness of people desperate from and
+resentful of iniquities, real and imaginary. Their brains were afire
+with hatred and revenge and it needed only a great leader to organize
+this powerful army of malcontents into a horde of fiends. That leader
+came to them in the person of the ex-coachman, Toussaint L'Ouverture, a
+man of exceptional gifts and abilities, who with the one-track mind of
+the idealist-fanatic had but one aim and pursued but one goal: the
+liberation of his race.
+
+The war between the French republic and Spain had naturally called forth
+hostilities between the two parts of the island inhabited on one side by
+French, on the other by Spaniards. The negro insurgents saw their
+opportunity and did not let it go by without exploiting it for their
+purposes. The unfortunate jealousies between the President and
+Captain-General of Santo Domingo and the General of the Navy,
+Aristizabel, who had captured Bayaja, had weakened the Spanish forces,
+and when they attempted to take Guarico, they had to retire at Yazique
+before a force of five hundred undisciplined negroes. This encouraged
+the negro commanders and in quick succession they captured San Rafael
+and Las Caobas, and had the satisfaction to see San Miguel, Bonica and
+Incha evacuated before they even reached these places. Bayaja was
+strongly fortified and garrisoned; but the climate of that place being
+very unhealthy, the Spanish troops were decimated by sickness, until
+they numbered only about four hundred men. The negro general Juan
+Francisco on the other hand could increase his troops at will. In order
+to enforce the Spanish it was proposed to send them a regiment of white
+Frenchmen. Seven legions of these men arrived at Bayaja on the morning
+of the seventh of July, 1794. But Juan Francisco surprised the place
+half an hour before, and placing artillery in the principal streets and
+squares, informed the commandant that all white Frenchmen were to leave
+Bayaja before three o'clock that afternoon. When the commandant
+remonstrated saying that the time was too short to provide barges for
+their transportation, the negro leader left the government house and
+gave the signal for the massacre of all Frenchmen in the place. The
+terrible slaughter lasted until far into the afternoon, when the
+governor and the venerable priest of the place so urgently implored the
+negro troops to have mercy, that they moderated their savage rage.
+
+While this wholesale murder, which cost the lives of seven hundred and
+forty-two Frenchmen, not counting those who were drowned in flight, was
+going on in the streets, military conferences were held at which, after
+some irresolute wrangling, it was decided to withdraw to Fuerte Dolfin,
+about five hundred varas (rods) distant from Bayaja, in order to save
+the garrison from being at the mercy of a negro mob, intoxicated with
+the victory won over their adversaries. They succeeded in holding Fuerte
+Dolfin, until Bayaja itself was evacuated by Juan Francisco on the
+thirteenth of July. The loss of the Spanish troops, including deserters
+and those that died from privations, was about three thousand men. The
+national treasury suffered during the revolt a defalcation of some fifty
+thousand pesos. The negroes were at first charged with the embezzlement
+of that sum, but there were rumors to the contrary, which in view of the
+only too well-known turpitude of many colonial officials, were quite
+plausible.
+
+The peace concluded between Spain and the French republic at Basilea
+(Basle) on the twenty-second of July, 1795, and published in Madrid on
+the sixth of November, terminated Spanish rule on the island, Spain
+ceding her part of Santo Domingo to the French Republic. The people of
+Spain welcomed this peace, as they would have hailed any other. To the
+part played in the negotiations by Manuel Godoy was due his title
+"Prince of Peace." In the elation of the moment the court even
+remembered Aranda, Florida Blanca, Cabarrus and Jovellanos, the able
+statesmen and faithful patriots who had been imprisoned or exiled, and
+granted them full amnesty. Yet this treaty of Basilea was the official
+admission of the decline of Spain's power. It heralded the gradual
+disintegration of her colonial possessions, where, as some authorities
+assert, British intrigue sowed the seeds of discord and discontent. When
+two years later, in February, 1797, the Spanish fleet, although superior
+in vessels and artillery, was defeated by the British in the battle of
+Cape St. Vincent off the south point of Portugal, the ruin of the
+kingdom was complete. The total income between 1793 and 1796 was
+twenty-four hundred and forty-five millions of reals; the total
+expenses, thirty-seven hundred and fourteen millions; the debt amounted
+to more than twelve hundred millions. The annual deficit was eight
+hundred millions. The paper money in circulation amounted to nineteen
+hundred and eighty millions. Such was the financial status of the royal
+bankrupt.
+
+If the peace of Basilea had temporarily brought satisfaction and
+lightened the burden of anxiety, the defeat at Cape St. Vincent sufficed
+once more to cloud the horizon. The capture of Rome by the French in
+1798 and the proclamation of a republic in place of the papal
+sovereignty, plunged Spain into a state of panic. Cabinet ministers
+succeeded one another with bewildering rapidity. Even Jovellanos, who
+had been recalled to restore order in the disorganized department of
+justice, was unable to cope with the chaotic situation. Enormous sums
+were being continually wasted. Of eighteen hundred and thirty-three
+millions spent in 1799, the royal court alone had used one hundred and
+five, the department of war nine hundred and thirty-five, finance four
+hundred and twenty-eight, foreign affairs forty-six, and the department
+of justice only seven! Every branch of the administration was filled
+with the minions of Godoy, who was now related to the royal house,
+having espoused the daughter of the Infante Don Luis. His annual
+revenues amounted to one million reals. The elements themselves seemed
+to be in conspiracy against what had once been the greatest power in
+Europe. The failure of crops, famine, epidemics and earthquakes filled
+the minds of the superstitious with vague terrors.
+
+Cuba was at that time too much engrossed in the attempt to continue on
+the path of progress to be seriously affected by the fate of Spain. The
+insurrection of Santo Domingo had brought the eventuality of internal
+trouble so close to her door, that she did not dare to look across the
+ocean for more sources of apprehension. Yet the revolt of the
+neighboring island had also its advantages for Cuba. At the first
+outbreak of hostilities against the French, many French refugees had
+fled to Cuba. They were followed by others and after the massacre of
+Bayaja even by Spaniards and by colored women. This French element which
+settled in Santiago and Havana became a valuable factor in the
+population of the island. A French traveler and writer, Vicomte Gustave
+d'Hespel d'Harponville, says about it in his book "La Reine des
+Antilles":
+
+"They brought to Cuba the remnants of their wealth, some slaves, but
+especially their knowledge, their experience and their activity. From
+that moment the two great Antilles changed rôles: San Domingo lapsed
+into barbarism, Cuba placed her foot in the chariot of fortune."
+
+The French settlers were industrious laborers and skilled artisans and
+as such were highly valued by economists who had been anxious to
+increase Cuba's insufficient labor supply by the introduction of white
+labor. Even the women among them were workers, in strange contrast to
+the Cuban women, who were given to tropical indolence. Many of these
+French "Dominicans" established themselves as nurses, laundresses and
+seamstresses. In education, too, these newcomers were far above the
+average Havanese; a difference which foreign travelers were quick to
+detect and to comment upon. The French settlements southeast of Havana,
+in the environs of Matanzas, Santiago and Baracoa, became such centers
+of activity, industrial and otherwise, that the Spanish, who had
+persisted in their habitual indolence and indifference, became jealous,
+which in time resulted in some friction and unpleasant disturbances.
+
+The definite loss of Santo Domingo to Spain caused also a great change
+in ecclesiastical affairs. The archbishopric was removed to Santiago de
+Cuba. Havana and Puerto Rico remained "suffragans," i.e. subject to the
+other. About that time there was established a territorial tribunal in
+Puerto Principe.
+
+[Illustration: TOMAS ROMAY
+
+One of the foremost figures in the great Cuban awakening at the close of
+the eighteenth century was Dr. Tomas Romay, physician and scientist, who
+was born in Havana on December 21, 1764, and died on March 30, 1849. He
+greatly aided the two good Governors, Las Casas and Someruelos, in their
+labors for the betterment of Cuba; with the help of Bishop Espada he
+introduced vaccination into the island; he was prominent in the Society
+of Friends of Peace, and did much for education, agriculture, and other
+interests of the Cuban people. Among his writings was a monograph on
+yellow fever which attracted world-wide attention. His earnest
+patriotism involved him in violent controversies in the troublous times
+of 1820-1823, from which he emerged in triumph and in universal honor.]
+
+Everything seemed to combine at that period to promote the growth and
+assure the future welfare of Cuba. The government of Las Casas, with its
+wonderful awakening among the citizens of a sense of civic
+responsibility and opportunity, was one of those epochs which seem to
+form a pivot around which past and future revolve. It was impossible to
+consider it in its full value and significance without comparing it with
+the past out of which it had developed, and taking note of the progress
+it signalized. Nor was it possible to forecast the future, without
+projecting into it the lines of evolution along which the work of Las
+Casas and his associates seemed to have prepared the progress of the
+island. Compared with the passive inertia which had all through the
+history of the Spanish West Indies retarded individual and communal
+advancement, it was like a sudden birth of aspirations and endeavors all
+directed towards a lofty goal, perhaps still vague to the multitude, but
+clearly and strongly defined in the minds of the men who with a singular
+unity of purpose, forgetting for once all the petty jealousies that had
+clouded so many big issues in previous periods, combined for concerted
+action for the common good.
+
+They were men who had at heart the interests of the island, who had
+inquired into the causes for its backwardness and who had thought deeply
+about the measures that might provide a means to rouse the whole
+population to the realization of the gigantic task before them. They
+were men of extraordinary intelligence, of thorough knowledge, of
+unblemished character and of wide experience. Never before had Cuba been
+able at any one period to point to such a galaxy of names as Las Casas,
+Arango, Romay, Montalvo, Pedro Espinola, Caballero, and others. Never
+before had it at any one time a like number of men combining all the
+qualifications that seemed to destine them to be the leaders in a great
+movement of revival and reconstruction. For the task they accomplished
+was not only that of rousing the inhabitants, who had lingered for
+several generations in apathy and indolence, but to reconstruct the
+whole decadent edifice of provincial management, in order to start anew
+on a solid foundation.
+
+Individually considered almost every one of those men stood for some
+achievement, some work the benefits of which the future was to reap.
+Towering above them all, Arango seemed to combine all these efforts,
+seemed to be the center from which radiated all the plans that had for
+their ultimate aim the happiness of all. As one looks back upon that
+brilliant epoch, this man of noble birth, of rare gifts and of
+considerable means, seemed to dominate them all. Surely no other could
+have accomplished what he did; for his youth, his affability, his
+distinguished manners, these invaluable social qualities impressed and
+attracted those in the highest positions at the Spanish court and won
+for him a hearing, which would have been refused to many others. Once
+this was gained, his general learning, and his special knowledge of the
+economic and financial problems of his native island, backed by an array
+of conclusive statistics and conveyed to his listeners with forcible
+logic and convincing oratory, compelled the attention even of the most
+recalcitrant conservatives that had steadily opposed reforms in the
+colonies. By this rare combination of qualities Arango had succeeded in
+obtaining from the royal government greater concessions for Cuba than it
+had ever made to any of her colonial possessions. The effect of Arango's
+work, though at intervals clouded by periodical relapses of the
+government into the old evil ways, was felt during more than a
+generation, and his name remained identified in the memory of the people
+with the great strides that the island was henceforth to make in
+agriculture, industry and commerce, as no less in matters of education.
+
+Among his associates, the name of Dr. D. Thomas Romay was to be
+remembered by future generations for the great blessing which his
+medical skill and foresight secured for the island. He had been
+identified with many measures promoting public health, when Dr. Maria
+Bustamente of la Aguadilla, Puerto Rico, brought to Havana the first
+consignment of vaccine. Following the example of Dr. Bustamente, who had
+vaccinated his little son and two mulatto servants, Dr. Romay at once
+introduced vaccination in Havana and gradually checked the ravages
+which small-pox epidemics had caused. The Count de Montalvo was forever
+to be remembered for his wise and humane adjustment of judicial
+conflicts in connection with the tribunal of commerce. Pedro Espinola's
+memory was to be cherished by all those concerned with the cause of
+education. Nicolas Calvo's efforts at introducing timely innovations in
+the sugar industry could never be forgotten in the island. Lastly there
+was Governor Las Casas himself, who, had he been a man of smaller
+calibre, could have clogged the wheels of progress by administrative red
+tape and obfuscated the larger issues of his time by petty official
+considerations. But, unlike some of his predecessors, who did not suffer
+any citizens in the community to rise to such eminence as to rival them,
+he had appreciated the spirit of those men and to further their aims had
+brought to bear all the weight of his official position.
+
+Rarely in the history of any country did so many fortuitous
+circumstances combine at one and the same period to call out what was
+best in the latent forces of the population, as in Cuba during the
+administration of Governor Las Casas. The future never seemed to smile
+so brightly upon that island, so richly endowed by nature and so long
+indifferently treated by men. Setbacks and even relapses into previous
+errors might occur, but it seemed unthinkable that the work accomplished
+by Las Casas and his associates, individually and collectively, could
+ever be undone.
+
+Such periods of extraordinary growth are infallibly followed by a
+standstill during which individuals as communities seem to gather
+strength for new efforts. Nor is it likely that a country will
+successively produce men of such marked individuality and forceful
+character. The governor that followed Las Casas could not reasonably be
+expected to come up to the high standard of his predecessor. The
+Lieutenant-Governor Conde de Santa Clara, who was inaugurated on the
+sixteenth of December, 1796, was a man of generous character and
+agreeable manners towards all classes of society, but he was not a man
+of that broad culture which distinguished Las Casas and his associates
+in the famous Sociedad. D. Juan Procopio Barsicourt de Santa Clara was a
+native of Barcelona, and had come to Havana at a critical moment. The
+colonies of the West Indies and the Gulf coast were deeply worried about
+the slave revolt of Santo Domingo. The Cuban forces that had taken part
+in the attempt to quell the uprising, and the French and Spanish
+immigrants that had fled to Cuba from the terrors of the insurrection
+had brought with them tales of the doings of the insurgents which filled
+with vague apprehensions all territories that contained a numerous slave
+population. Moreover, the favorite of the queen of Spain, Manuel Godoy,
+had by his blunders involved Spain in a new war with Great Britain, and
+Spanish America was once more threatened by her old enemy.
+
+This menace forced the new Governor to turn his attention first towards
+the defenses of the island. He constructed between San Lazaro and la
+Chorrera the battery known as Santa Clara, and took other measures for
+the protection of Havana as well as Santiago. Among the municipal
+improvements which he effected the most important for Havana was his
+removal of the principal matadero (slaughterhouse), from the city to a
+place outside of its walls. The existence of this establishment had long
+been considered a public nuisance; for the foul smells which it spread
+in the neighborhood and which the wind sometimes carried over the whole
+town were a menace to the health of the inhabitants, and the frequent
+commotion caused by bulls that escaped from the enclosures was also a
+feature that made a most unfavorable impression. Both the suburb of
+Jesus Maria and el Horcon being without any direct water supply, Santa
+Clara had a fountain constructed in each place.
+
+Santa Clara was a man of generous instincts. The Casa del Beneficencia,
+the fortunes of which had been declining, owed him many a rich supply of
+provisions and some large donations. Both he and his wife, who was said
+to be a perfect model of womanly virtues, were interested in the
+hospital of San Paula. They also gave material aid to the hospital of
+San Francisco, which had progressed very slowly since its foundation.
+Within one year after Santa Clara's arrival, the number of beds was
+raised from thirty-two to seventy-eight. The governor's lady also
+succeeded in enlisting the cooperation of the clergy and many other
+wealthy and influential people in the San Antonio Hospital, which was
+increased to a capacity of one hundred and nine beds. Though the more
+ambitious cultural work which had been begun under the previous
+administration was not promoted by him, Santa Clara proved himself
+possessed of no little executive power and tact.
+
+This last quality was especially needed at the time when Havana was
+honored by the visit of three French notables, the Dukes of Orleans and
+Montpensier, and Count de Beaujolais. Santa Clara received them most
+courteously and an opulent lady of Havana, Doña Leonor Herrera de
+Contreras, gave up to them her home, placed at their disposal her
+servants and defrayed all their expenses. Refugees from their country,
+which was suffering from the terrors of the Revolution, they remained in
+Havana and enjoyed this sumptuous hospitality for almost four months,
+when even the famous "Prince of Peace," Godoy, in order to avoid
+further disagreements with the French Republic, indicated to them the
+propriety of removing to other dominions.
+
+In the meantime the British had declared war and made an auspicious
+beginning by the capture of Trinidad. They had demanded the surrender of
+the vessels commanded by D. Sebastian Ruiz de Apodoca, a high-spirited
+mariner, but he preferred reducing them to ashes before giving them up
+to the enemy. This first loss was, however, amply retrieved at San Juan
+of Porto Rico. The city had been attacked by over ten thousand trained
+soldiers under the command of Gen. Abercrombie, but the attack was
+repulsed and the British lost over one thousand men and two thousand
+prisoners, besides a stock of provisions and equipment. At Santa Cruz de
+Teneriffe the Spaniards defeated even the celebrated Nelson and seized a
+number of vessels that tried to take other points. But there was more
+trouble in sight for the Spanish colonies. For the South American
+revolutionist Miranda who had emigrated to London by clever intrigues
+induced the British government to stir up insurrections in the
+Spanish-American possessions. These intrigues resulted in revolts that
+broke out in Puerto Cabello, Caracas, Panama and Maracaibo. Their prompt
+suppression was due to the firmness and energy of the Captain-General of
+Caracas, D. Manuel de Guevara y Basconcelos.
+
+These disquieting occurrences made the Spanish government fear for the
+safety of Cuba and decided the court to give the island a governor more
+capable of coping with the eventuality of invasion. The Field Marshal D.
+Salvador de Muro y Salazar, Marques de Someruelos was appointed on the
+second of March, 1799, and ordered secretly and immediately to repair to
+the place of his destination. Accordingly there appeared in Havana on
+the thirteenth of May a distinguished stranger who delivered to the
+governor important messages from the court and proved to be no less than
+the new governor. Santa Clara immediately retired in favor of his
+successor and Someruelos entered upon the functions of his office. The
+Intendente Valiente was promoted to the position of Counselor of the
+Indies and his place was taken by D. Luis Viyuri. Colonel D. Sebastian
+de Kindelan was appointed to the governorship of Santiago.
+
+The administration of Someruelos beginning on the threshold of a new
+century, it seems meet to cast a backward look upon the condition of the
+island and the great changes which had taken place during the hundred
+years just closing. The great need for reform was urged upon the
+government immediately after the British occupation of Havana, which had
+opened the eyes of the authorities to mistakes made not only in the
+political and military, but especially in the economic management of the
+colony. Revenues had to be created in order to meet the increased
+expenses of the administration and defray the cost of much needed
+improvements. Hence upon the proposal of Count Ricla the king had
+ordered a thorough reorganization of the administration and especially
+of the treasury department. In the attempt of solving the problem of
+taxation, Spain had followed a suggestion of M. Choiseul, minister of
+foreign affairs in France, which was conceived with little knowledge of
+colonial conditions and legislation and hastily accepted by the supreme
+government. This change in the tax system then in force in the Indies
+produced great commotion in the island of Cuba and other Spanish
+possessions in America.
+
+Guiteras reports that many real estate owners of Puerto Principe and the
+southern territory designated in the island by the name of la Vuelta de
+Abajo were especially bitter in complaining against the innovation, but
+neither the intendant nor the Brigadier Cisneros could modify
+dispositions decreed by the supreme government. Discontent increased and
+some men were so exasperated that they preferred to destroy their own
+products rather than pay the tax which was to go to the public treasury.
+By the influence of D. Pedro Calvo de la Puerta, D. Penalver and other
+land-owners, some of the people were pacified, before disorder ensued.
+But others rose in open revolt and had to be dispersed by the militia
+hastily mobilized for their repression. Although hardly any blood was
+shed, the opposition which the authorities had met gave them cause for
+anxiety, and upon their urgent appeal the supreme government renounced
+the enforcement of the new taxes.
+
+After the establishment of the Intendencia and the creation of a weekly
+Junta, D. Juan de Alda drew up a budget of expenditure for the year
+1768, which amounted to 1,681,452 pesos. Of this sum the army consumed
+only 665,655 pesos. Approved by the supreme government and taken as a
+basis for figuring the annual expenditure, 1,200,000 pesos were
+consigned to the treasury of Mexico with the assumption that the public
+revenues would cover the eventual difference. According to Ramon de la
+Sagra, the general revenues of the island from 1764 to 1794 amounted to
+20,286,173 pesos, and the sums which besides came to the treasury under
+the name of situados (duties assigned upon certain goods or effects) and
+other classifications amounted from 1766 to 1788 to 101,735,350 pesos.
+The revenues of the island for the same period were, according to
+Alcazar, 50,000,000 pesos, but he adds that the decree of the
+seventeenth of August, 1790, by which farmers and merchants were allowed
+to pay with promissory notes, resulted in some loss to the import
+duties. On the other hand, the system of tax collection was open to
+dishonest practices, which were checked during the administration of
+Someruelos.
+
+The objections which had been raised against the new taxation having
+chiefly come from people engaged in agriculture, the government found on
+investigation that the existing commercial laws were at fault. Inclined
+as was the court of Spain during the rule of Carlos III. to yield in
+favor of the people, the new measures only mitigated but did not remove
+the evils complained of, which were founded on institutions and
+ordinances so thoroughly antiquated as no longer to be of any benefit to
+the population. The commerce of Cuba had since the year 1740 been
+carried on by the Real Compania of Havana. Although its institution was
+based upon the old and faulty principle of monopoly and privilege, and
+discriminated against foreign goods that came to Cuba via Spanish ports,
+the exportations of the island which at the beginning of the eighteenth
+century were confined to timber, hides and a small amount of cattle,
+soon began to include other products, such as sugar, honey, brandy and
+wax.
+
+After the founding of the Intendencia there was opened by way of
+experiment a small commerce with the principal ports of Spain; but the
+regulations required the collection in the Peninsula of two custom
+duties on manufactures embarked at Cuba and destined for Spain, one
+being called entry, the other exit duty, to which was later added a
+consumer's duty. These extraordinary charges destroyed the profits hoped
+for by the extension of commerce, and were the source of more
+discontent, until in the year 1767 the king authorized the abolition of
+the Compania of Havana "in case of urgent necessity for Cuba" and at the
+same time inaugurated some franchises which tended to relieve the much
+restricted commerce of the island. As has been recorded at the time, it
+was not until the twelfth of October, 1778, that the king issued an
+order calling for free commerce and abolishing the monopolies of the
+larger ports.
+
+The effects of this measure made themselves felt in a sudden revival of
+commercial activities which led to such an expansion of Cuba's commerce,
+that the island was forced to ask concessions and obtained from the
+court more favors than any other of Spain's American possessions. When
+the War of Independence paralyzed the commerce of the British colonies
+with the island, the king granted still greater franchises and a new
+decree opened the entry of the Port of Havana to the flags of all
+nations, provided their ships introduced provisions only. But while
+these new decrees favored the commerce of the colony, they reacted
+unfavorably upon the commerce of Spain, the merchant navy of which had
+been annihilated during the many wars, until there were not enough
+vessels to transport the goods the colonies needed. The imports of
+foreign products which the monopoly permitted Spain to make were in
+value superior to the exports from America. Direct commerce with
+friendly nations was more convenient inasmuch as the foreigners could in
+turn export all the fruits of the country. The only remedy for the evils
+confronting Spanish commerce would have been the reestablishment of the
+merchant fleet; but in their short-sightedness Spanish merchants turned
+back to the old monopoly and at the foot of the throne begged for return
+to the old system. Under such pressure were exacted from the king the
+decrees of the twentieth of January and the fifteenth of April, 1784,
+which once more closed the ports of Spanish America to the friendly
+nations, carrying the prohibition to the extreme of denying merchant
+vessels entry, even if they were foundering!
+
+Owing to this confusing and irritating condition of commercial
+legislation the growth and progress of the colonies received another
+setback, and probably caused the decrease in population which the
+Countess de Merlin mentions. It also seriously affected the agriculture
+of the island. For Spain had not enough inhabitants on her own soil to
+colonize her vast overseas territories; and even if her legislation in
+respect to commerce had been more liberal, her constant opposition to
+the admittance of foreigners to her provinces discouraged white
+immigration. Even during the reign of Carlos III., which seemed to
+inaugurate a new and more enlightened era, the distrust of the
+government towards foreigners is manifested in the new and abridged
+version of the law of the Indies, published in the year 1778, which
+decrees that in no port nor part of the West Indies, either the islands
+or the continent to the north and south, shall any kind of traffic with
+foreigners be admitted, even by way of barter or any other mode of
+commerce, those violating this order being liable to forfeit life and
+property.
+
+The slave trade was therefore the means Cuba was forced to adopt to
+supply the lack of white laborers and artisans. It was subject to the
+same restrictions as all maritime commerce, with the important
+difference that it could not be carried on without a special permission
+from the king, which usually fixed the number of years in which a
+certain number of slaves should be granted certain individuals,
+companies or corporations. These permissions were called licenses, later
+assientos, and finally contracts and privileges, until in the year 1789
+they entirely ceased to exist. A British concern, called the South Sea
+Company, had been the first to receive such a privilege, when in 1713 it
+was allowed to introduce into the colonies of Latin America, with
+absolute exclusion of Spaniards and foreigners, four thousand eight
+hundred negroes in the course of thirty years. Next came the permiso
+obtained by the Compania Mercantil of Havana in the year 1740, of which
+use was made until 1766. Then came the contract concluded with the
+Marquis de Casa Enrile, which lasted from 1773 to 1779; and finally the
+permission granted in the year 1780 on account of the war with England,
+that most Spaniards in America could have recourse to the French
+colonies for their supply of slaves.
+
+The manner in which this trade in human flesh was carried on reflects
+sadly upon those engaged in this traffic. Loaded into vessels that were
+hardly considered fit for carrying freight, thousands were known to have
+perished in shipwrecks. Crowded into the dark, unventilated holds of
+these rotten hulks, more thousands succumbed to disease and were thrown
+overboard. Of the trades associated with cruel exploitation and inhuman
+abuses, that of the slavetrader ranked first, for the sufferings to
+which the poor victims were subjected in the transit from their native
+home to the foreign land defied description. There were captains of
+slave ships who loathed their task. One is quoted in a book by the
+Jesuit Sandeval as confessing his misgivings about the business; he had
+just suffered a shipwreck in which only thirty out of nine hundred on
+board escaped!
+
+On their arrival in Cuba the poor wretches who survived the ordeal began
+to fare better. E. M. Masse, a French traveler and writer, in his work
+"L'Isle de Cuba et la Havane" describes the quarters in which they were
+lodged. They were the _baracones_, the famous barracks originally
+destined for the troops which were to take Pensacola, and that had cost
+four million pesos, though they could have been put up for a few
+thousand. At the time of his visit to Havana, some of the contractors
+who had made this handsome profit on the buildings were still in jail.
+He goes on to say that immediately on landing the negroes were taken to
+these barracks, waiting to be sold. They contained one immense room,
+covered with straw and divided into three compartments. The first was
+for the employees or jailers; the second for the women slaves, the third
+for the men. There was a spacious court or yard with a kitchen in one
+corner. In this yard they spent their days, shielded from the sun and
+the rain by tents. They were permitted to bathe in the sea. The writer
+looked at the spectacle with an artist's eye. For he remarks that he had
+always considered the pose of the Venus of Milo unnatural, until by
+observing these women slaves at their bath in the surf, he found that
+the identical pose was frequently assumed by them, and hence must have
+been natural. The only garment obligatory as long as a slave was not
+sold, was a kerchief; if somebody made them a gift of another kerchief,
+they made of it a turban or wore it like a sash.
+
+The freedom which they enjoyed in this brief interval between landing in
+Havana and being sold, may in the lives of the majority have been the
+only freedom they were to know. Being merchandise, it was of course in
+the interest of the slave traders to have them appear well when put on
+the market. Hence the food they received was wholesome. They were also
+encouraged to indulge in their wonted amusements and could be seen
+marching or dancing around in the yard, as they raised their voices in
+song. The African who had just arrived and spoke only his native tongue,
+was called _bosale_; the slave who was born in Africa, but spoke
+Spanish and knew the trade he was destined for, was called _ladino_.
+Children of African or European origin born in Spanish America, were
+called _criolles_, from which the French derived the term in use today:
+creole.
+
+Miscegenation was not favored in Cuba. When the immigration from Santo
+Domingo brought into the island a great number of mulattoes, quadroons
+and octoroons, the color line was severely drawn. A woman of colored
+origin with a perfectly white and very beautiful daughter was known to
+have denied her child in order to make it possible for her to marry a
+Havanese. Many of these women were far better educated than the native
+Cubans; M. Masse says that the art of conversation, unknown in Havana
+society, flourished only in their homes. But they were rigidly barred
+from the drawing-rooms of the wealthy Havanese.
+
+According to the data available, the number of slaves introduced into
+the island from the beginning of its colonization until the year 1789
+was probably not below 100,000. It is estimated that in the two hundred
+years between 1550 and 1750 the annual importations of the assientists
+into Spanish America averaged at least three thousand a year. In the
+census taken by Governor la Torre about 1772 Cuba was found to have
+45,633 slaves. In 1775 their number had risen to forty-six thousand and
+that of free colored people to about thirty thousand. The relaxation of
+the commercial restrictions gave a strong impulse to all sorts of
+enterprises, mercantile and otherwise, and especially to building, and
+the laboring forces employed on all the new constructions were mostly
+slaves. By the year 1775 their proportion to the free colored population
+was four and sixth tenths to three. As the value of slave labor began to
+be recognized in that period of internal improvements and general
+progress, the number of slave importations steadily increased. According
+to Blanchet, Cuba acquired in the years 1783 and 1784 one thousand and
+five hundred negroes through contracts between the government and
+various French and Spanish firms, as also the British house of Baker and
+Dawson and the private shipowners D. Vicente Espon and Col. D. Gonzalo
+O'Farrel. Armas y Cespedes gives the number of slaves for the year 1774
+as 44,333; for the year 1792 as 84,590. In the enormous number of
+negroes imported between 1791 and 1816 there were counted 132,000
+imported legitimately, 168,000 by contraband means.
+
+A more systematized and conclusive estimate of the number of negroes
+gradually introduced in Cuba was made by D. Francisco de Arango, the
+high-minded patriot of the period of Governor Las Casas. It covers the
+time from the beginning of the sixteenth to the middle of the eighteenth
+century. D. José Antonio Saco, author of "Collecion de papeles
+cientifices, historicos, politicos y de etros ramos sobre la isle de
+Cuba, ya publicados ya ineditos," and "Historia de la Esclavitud," did
+the same for the eastern part of the island from 1764 to 1789. These
+estimates furnish the following figures:
+
+    Imported on the whole island from 1523 to 1763   60,000
+    By the Compania de la Habana in 1764, 1765,
+        1766                                          4,957
+    By the Marquis de Casa Enrile from 1773 to
+        1779                                         14,132
+    By the permiso of 1780 authorizing the supply
+        of negroes from French colonies during the
+        war ending 1783                               6,593
+    By the house of Baker & Dawson from 1786 to
+        1789                                          8,318
+    From the eastern part of the island, 1764 to
+        1789                                          6,000
+                                                    -------
+    Total                                           100,000
+
+Humboldt remarks in his "Personal Narrative of Travels to the
+Equinoctial regions of America during the years 1799-1809, "that the
+British West Indies then contained seven hundred thousand negroes and
+mulattoes, free and slave, while the custom-house registers proved that
+from 1680 to 1786 two million one hundred and thirty thousand negroes
+had been imported from Africa, which suggests a rather high mortality.
+In Cuba the annual death rate of the recently imported negroes was seven
+per cent. Hence the current assumption that the African negro was
+particularly adapted for and could stand the climate of Cuba, does not
+seem to be well founded.
+
+About this time the social conscience of mankind seemed to be suddenly
+awakened and philanthropic ideas began to modify the general conception
+of slavery. Nations whose political organization made the government
+dependent upon public opinion, had already begun to yield to the demand
+of abolishing slave trade. The United States had auspiciously
+inaugurated that movement. The state of Virginia had closed her ports to
+the traffic in 1778; Pennsylvania, Connecticut, Rhode Island and
+Massachusetts followed in 1780, 1787 and 1788. The Third Congress of the
+American Republic proclaimed negro traffic as contrary to the
+civilization of Christian peoples and condemned it before the end of the
+eighteenth century. At the same time the Convention of the French
+Republic declared its abolition in the colonies of France, and the
+events in Santo Domingo, like a seismic disturbance made all
+slave-owning nations tremble. Stimulated by the example of America and
+stirred by the noble words of her own great humanitarians, Howard and
+Wilberforce, England, too, began from 1787 on to discuss that problem.
+
+In the course of the serious debates that took place in the British
+parliament in May, 1788, it was said that a decree abolishing the
+traffic would in a short time paralyze the commerce carried on by
+British merchants with Africa. In her isolation from the current tides
+of thought in Europe and other countries, Cuba had so far been untouched
+by the humanitarian aspect of the question and looked upon it merely
+from her utilitarian viewpoint. Fearing that the house of Baker &
+Dawson, which had been her main source of supply for negro labor, would
+no longer be able to furnish her the hands she needed in her deserted
+fields, she hastened through her representative in the Ayuntamiento to
+solicit from the king permission to continue the traffic. Hence on the
+twenty-eighth of February, 1788, a royal decree permitted the Spaniards,
+and foreigners in general for the term of two years, to introduce
+negroes, exempt from duties, in Cuba, Santo Domingo and Puerto Rico and
+in the province of Caracas.
+
+Guiteras, in his "Historia de la Isla de Cuba" speaks of the slavery
+problem with a remarkable display of native fervor. He says:
+
+"The slavery question met with political difficulties of an even graver
+character in the rapid progress made by the ideas of the abolitionists,
+which inflamed and inspired those foreign nations who had filled their
+own colonies with slaves. Imprudent exaltation of the republican ideals
+of France finally led the children of Hayti to rise in a horrible
+revolution. A race of men that had come to the coasts of America not in
+royal vessels and clad in steel to plant standards with the sign of
+Redemption, but locked up in the stench of a closed hold, the body naked
+and in chains, to irrigate with their sweat and blood the land of
+slavery, rose in defence of the natural laws, demolished the banner at
+the sight of which the most powerful nations of Europe had trembled, and
+conquered the outraged rights of humanity. One should think that the
+beam of light which radiated through all the sea of the Antilles would
+have dissuaded the Cubans and the government from promoting African
+colonization on the island of Cuba; nevertheless a lamentable error,
+though based upon the best intentions, caused Cuba to invite that evil
+and Spain filled the island with African slaves."
+
+It may seem incongruous that a man of D. Francisco de Arango's liberal
+ideas should have been instrumental in securing for Cuba from the court
+at Madrid a privilege which the enlightened humane viewpoint of his time
+began to consider a disgrace. But as pointed out in a previous chapter,
+this measure was resorted to by Arango only as a temporary expediency.
+As soon as the immediate shortage of hands was relieved, he himself
+recommended the substitution of free white labor for negro slavery. For
+the enormous influx of negroes as compared with the very minimum
+increase of white inhabitants began even then to fill with vague
+apprehensions for the future of Cuba's population those most earnestly
+concerned with the welfare of the island. To the Spaniards of Florida
+the great percentage of negroes was repulsive. More than five hundred
+Floridians, who in 1763 had come to Cuba to escape British rule,
+returned to their old home in 1784. When after the reign of terror in
+Santo Domingo French refugees settled in Cuba, they, too, were opponents
+of the slave traffic and their influence contributed no little towards
+changing the attitude of the Spaniards towards negro slavery.
+
+One of the disturbing features in this large negro population was the
+small proportion of women. Planters refused to invest in the latter,
+because they considered them unfit for the hard labor required. The
+result was such a surplus of male slaves that in some communities there
+were five hundred men to one negro woman. At first the negro slaves were
+employed mostly in the mines, where the native Indians had proved
+inefficient. Later they entered also domestic service. But with the
+development of agriculture, they began to be largely employed in the
+fields and on the plantations. Edward Gaylord Bourne says in his work on
+"Spain in America," the third volume in the historical series "The
+American Nation," in the chapter on Negro Slaves (p. 272):
+
+"The development of the sugar industry and the growth of slavery were
+dependent upon each other, especially after the mines of the Antilles
+gave out. Each trapiche, or sugar-mill, run by horses or mules, required
+thirty or forty negroes, and each water-mill eight at the least. Had the
+commerce of the islands been reasonably free, plantation slavery on a
+large scale would have rapidly developed, and the history of Hayti and
+the English islands would have been anticipated a century by the
+Spaniards."
+
+While Howard, Wilberforce, Judge Sewall and the Quakers are usually
+considered the pioneers of the abolition of slavery, the first voice
+raised against this institution came from Peru and was that of a Jesuit,
+Alfonso Sandoval, a native of Seville, but a resident of Peru, where his
+father held an important position in the royal administration. Sandoval
+wrote a work on negro slavery entitled "De Instauranda Aethiopum
+Salute," which was published in Madrid in 1647 and contains valuable
+data concerning the traffic, frequently quoted by historians. Nor can it
+be denied that the Spaniards knew better how to treat the negroes than
+either the French or the British. Evidences to the contrary suggest that
+whatever may have been the wrongs under which the negro slaves of the
+Spanish colonies suffered, they were not as much due to the cruelty of
+the masters, as to their ignorance and carelessness.
+
+The humane attitude of the Spaniard towards the negro slave made the
+Royal Cedula issued by King Carlos III. in 1789 a unique document. For
+in this royal decree are set forth the rights of the slaves with a
+precision which in an eventual dispute with the masters could admit of
+no doubt. By that decree the Spanish king earned for himself a niche in
+the gallery of human benefactors. For the individual paragraphs as
+compared with the civic code of Spain show little or no discrimination
+between the black and the white elements of the colonial population.
+These laws agreed perfectly with the spirit of the period which had
+produced Howard, Wilberforce, Sewall and others. They were conceived in
+a remarkable spirit of equity, whatever violations and abuses may have
+occurred in individual practice. According to this cedula, a slave, if
+ill-treated, had the right to choose another master, provided he could
+induce this new master to buy him. He could buy his liberty at the
+lowest market-price. He could buy wife and children and marry the wife
+of his choice. If he suffered cruel treatment, he could appeal to the
+courts and in some instances might be set free. If negroes were in doubt
+about the lawfulness of their enslavement, they also had the right to
+bring their case to the notice of the courts. By that same cedula negro
+slaves were granted the right to hold property which opened for them
+opportunities for eventual emancipation. Moreover that law declared that
+fugitive slaves who by righteous means had gained their freedom were not
+to be returned to their masters.
+
+In accordance with these humane slave laws, the colored population of
+Cuba enjoyed greater latitude than in many other colonies. Although
+converted to Catholicism, they were known to revert to their heathen
+practices at certain times and to have chanted invocations to the saints
+in the African dialect of their forefathers. Numerous clans existed
+among them, which were supposed to have for their aim the perpetuation
+of their ancestral customs. Among them was the _manigo_, which was
+frequently the source of grave apprehension on the part of the
+authorities and, surviving in the _cabildos_, societies, which are both
+religious and social, had in a later period to be suppressed. The rites
+of these organizations were a grotesquely uncanny mixture of Roman
+Catholicism and African paganism. One day in the year the negroes of the
+island had almost unlimited liberty to celebrate in their barbaric
+fashion. It was the sixth of January or All Kings' Day, and was the
+occasion for a spectacle as weirdly fascinating as any carnival. That
+day belonged to the negroes. Dressed in the gaudiest costumes, carrying
+huge poles with mysterious transparencies, they paraded through the
+streets to the beat of drums, shouting and gesticulating, or singing as
+they went along. At the squares they stopped and indulged in a dance.
+Melodious as were their songs, the rhythms betrayed the African origin.
+The dances, too, even after several generations, retained their African
+characteristics. As the day progressed, hilarity became more and more
+boisterous, and the holiday frequently ended in riotous demonstrations
+and street brawls. The white population of Havana and other towns, in
+which this day was celebrated by the blacks, remained indoors, and even
+suspended business for fear of disturbances.
+
+There is no doubt that the important service which negro labor performed
+for the agriculture of the country induced the Cubans to allow the
+negroes this great amount of freedom. For without them, as D. Francisco
+de Arango and others knew only too well, the fields and the plantations
+of the island could never have yielded that abundance of products upon
+which depended the wealth of Cuba.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XIII
+
+
+The prosperity of a new country and the happiness of the people depend
+largely upon a just apportionment of the land of that country and the
+opportunity to exploit the resources of the soil and sell the products
+thereof at the greatest possible profit to the producer. Had this simple
+truth been recognized as the cornerstone of Cuban colonization the
+island would have been spared centuries of hard up-hill struggle for
+healthy economic conditions.
+
+From the standpoint of the agrarian reformer, the land problem was at
+the bottom of all the evils that retarded the development of the colony,
+so richly endowed by nature that it should have been a paradise for
+those who came there to settle. The noble Spanish adventurers of
+Castilian blood, who had accompanied the early explorers and in a spirit
+of romance followed in their wake, were the first to obtain grants of
+land. They returned to Spain, brought with them their families and
+servants and settled upon the land, which became their new home. But
+they were hardly of a type willing to rough it after the first glamor of
+romance and novelty had faded, or able by hard labor to transform the
+wilderness into richly yielding fields and gardens. Stockbreeding was
+very much easier and according to their ideas required no particular
+exertion on their part. They let nature take care of the increase of
+their herds and flocks. A few of them retained the land, made their
+haciendas the home of generations to come, and attained to some rank and
+standing by virtue of these great holdings. Essentially domestic by
+nature, they lived there sometimes two or three generations under one
+roof, frugally and contentedly all the year round.
+
+Among the earliest Cuban landholders were nobles, Castilian, Andalusian
+and others, who received great grants of land in recognition of some
+services to the crown. These people, who had not known the spell of
+adventure in strange tropical climes, did not settle permanently on the
+island, but became absentee landlords. They owned perhaps a residence in
+Havana, which they visited briefly during the winter. They had a
+hacienda, which saw them even less frequently and more briefly. The
+traditions and conventions of their caste did not allow them to work,
+even if they had been able and willing; so they left the management of
+their land to an agent, whose paramount concern was to hold his position
+long enough to fill his pockets and who beyond that was no more
+interested in the colony than was his master. Whatever profits the
+latter made on the products of his Cuban estate, did not accrue to the
+benefit of the island; they were spent in the old country. Madrid was
+the place where these absentee landlords of Cuba wasted their wealth in
+extravagance and dissipation, instead of investing it in improvements of
+their estates and works of civic importance and advantage to the island.
+These property-holders looked out only for the revenues they could get
+out of their Cuban estates; but they were not concerned with the problem
+of revenues for the island. They have their counterpart today and not
+only in Cuba, but in other countries where vast tracts were acquired by
+foreigners, some for the hunting they afforded, some for speculative
+purposes, while native citizens had to go without the little plot of
+land that could insure them a home and sometimes even a living.
+
+Thus were the best tracts of land apportioned among or pre-empted by
+people having no vital interest in the development of the island's
+resources. When the real workers came, peasants from the Basque
+provinces, from Catalonia and other parts of the Peninsula, they again
+had no capital to invest in the necessary improvements, and being
+obliged to content themselves with a small plot of land and to work it
+with their own hands, soon drifted into a deadly indifference towards
+anything beyond the satisfaction of their most urgent daily needs. Even
+if their land had produced more than they needed for their own
+consumption, they would have been at a loss how to dispose of their
+products, since there were no transportation facilities and since every
+movement of the producer was subject to local customs and other
+restrictions, limiting the possibilities of creating a market and from
+the profits realized to set aside a fund to spend on current
+improvements or to insure their future.
+
+There is little doubt that much of the indolence attributed to the
+climate was gradually developed in the people by the lack of
+opportunities to market their products and to get into touch with the
+outside world. The Cuban settler of that class had in course of time to
+acquire a habitual indifference toward the morrow, which developed into
+shiftlessness. His initiative being paralyzed at the beginning, he never
+could rouse himself to conceive of another life. His children growing up
+about him under these same circumstances, true to the clannishness of
+Spanish family life, remained with the parents and followed in their
+footsteps. This may explain the lack of backbone with which the Cuban
+has been reproached. Official repression, even if founded upon a sort of
+paternal solicitude, is bound to stunt the growth of individuals as of
+nations; and of this repression the people of Cuba were for centuries
+the victims.
+
+The French traveler and writer quoted before, E. M. Masse, describes the
+life of Cuban rustics at the end of the eighteenth and beginning of the
+nineteenth century. He calls them _monteros_, which means huntsmen, and
+they were probably the more shiftless descendants of this first class of
+settlers. For he speaks of their simple, frugal and indolent ways; tells
+how satisfied they are just to own a little plot of ground, with a
+bananery beside the hut, or a rice or corn-field, and perhaps a few
+cows. They were happiest when they could afford a slave, who would go
+fishing and hunting for them; for that would allow the master to lie in
+the hammock and smoke cigarettes. It seems natural that the home of such
+a montero was usually a wretched little "cabane," a shack of one room in
+which he dwelt with his family, which was sometimes numerous, and in
+close companionship with a pig, and other domestic animals. Yet this
+same man, preferring to lie in the hammock rather than to exert himself
+in some much needed work, was very fond of lively sports, as
+horseback-riding. Even the women of the monteros were splendid
+horse-women.
+
+The dress of these people was extremely simple. The men wore trousers of
+oiled linen extending to the ankles; shoes of raw leather, a short shirt
+of the same material as the trousers, a kerchief wound tightly about the
+head and a big straw hat with a black ribbon or one of felt with gold
+braid. An indispensable article of accoutrement was the machete,
+cutlass, in his belt. The women wore a calico skirt, a white shirt with
+a bracelet at the elbow to hold the sleeves and a fichu on the head.
+When they went to mass, they dressed their hair, wore a mantilla on
+their head and put on shoes with big silver buckles. At dances they
+donned a round hat woven out of the tissue of plantain leaves, trimmed
+with gay ribbons, or a black hat with gold braid. Modest as was the
+montero in his demands upon life, there was one entertainment he could
+not forego: the _feria de gallo_, cock-fight. Many a one saved up his
+money for months to spend it on that day.
+
+This description by M. Masse, of the montero of Cuba at the end of the
+eighteenth and beginning of the nineteenth century, tallies well with
+the description of the guajiro of today by Forbes Lindsay in "Cuba and
+Her People Today." Lindsay sees in that Cuban rustic a descendant of
+Catalonian and Andalusian settlers:
+
+"Time was when he occasionally owned slaves and a fair extent of land,
+but nowadays he is more often than not a squatter in a little corner of
+that no man's land which seems to be so extensive in the central and
+eastern portions of the Island. In comparatively few instances he has
+title to a few acres, lives in a passably comfortable cabana, possesses
+a yoke of oxen, a good horse, half a dozen pigs, and plenty of poultry.
+Much more often he lives in a ramshackle _bohio_, the one apartment of
+which affords indifferent shelter to a large family and is fairly shared
+by a lean hog and a few scrawny chickens. There is nothing deserving the
+name of furniture in the house and the clothing of the family is of the
+scantiest. A nag of some sort, usually a sorry specimen of its kind, is
+almost always owned by the guajiro, who loves a horse and rides like the
+gaucho of the Argentine pampas."
+
+That montero of a hundred and more years ago and the guajiro of today
+have so much in common that it seems safe to consider the latter a
+descendant of the former.
+
+The lack of proper facilities for the exchange of commodities between
+city and country caused the fact that Havana up to the beginning of the
+nineteenth century raised almost all her necessities on her own soil.
+The economical cassava was still generally used. The ground in the
+environs of the capital, though not the best soil on the island, within
+a short time attained considerable value. The administration of the navy
+yard opposed the cultivation of ground rich in trees that it could use
+for shipbuilding. By this monopoly alone many people were barred from
+owning and cultivating land. The preference of the earlier Spanish
+settlers for stockbreeding also limited the agricultural area. Besides,
+real estate conventions and regulations were as rigid as other customs
+of the country, and were never changed, be the need for a change ever so
+pressing.
+
+From the first days of the colony the circular form of plot had been
+adopted, the extent of a _hatos_ being fixed at two miles and that of
+the _corrales_ at one mile in circumference. This curious system of
+measurement gave rise not only to difficulties in computing the area of
+contiguous properties, but to misunderstandings and disputes which
+caused much litigation. It was difficult to buy a plot of ground that
+was not in some way subject to legal controversy. The great number of
+lawyers on the island had probably a certain reason for existence owing
+to the innumerable boundary and other land disputes. It is evident, too,
+that complicated boundaries and questionable titles were a rich source
+of dubious activity for unscrupulous members of the profession. Land
+cases were wont to drag on from one generation to the other, and while
+the lawyers representing the interests of the clients waxed rich, the
+clients themselves had often to sacrifice the land itself in order to
+settle their claims.
+
+The changes brought on by gradual cultivation of unimproved lands on the
+other hand enriched the owners of such lands quite out of proportion to
+their original value. When pastures were converted into farm plots, the
+price was augmented. A hato contained more than sixteen hundred
+caballerias at thirty-three acres per caballeria. The corral contained
+more than four hundred. The caballeria pasture land cost from ten to
+twenty-five pesos; as soon as it was cultivated, its lowest price was
+three hundred pesos. Thus a hato, worth at most forty thousand pesos,
+was in its new state worth more than four hundred and eighty-four
+thousand. Likewise a corral, originally valued at most at ten thousand
+pesos, rose in price to one hundred and twenty thousand. The same was
+true of building lots. A caballeria in the suburbs, divided into
+_solares_, house plots, could sometimes bring eighty-five thousand
+pesos. A caballeria to the southwest of Havana was worth three thousand
+pesos, one in the neighborhood of Matanzas only five hundred. The
+extraordinary wealth of certain convents, frequently commented upon by
+economists and historians, was due to the gradual and enormous increase
+in the price of the land which had originally been given to them. From
+these early grants and concessions were derived the privileges which
+some private properties and some convents enjoyed; they had for instance
+the right to forbid the building in their neighborhood of houses beyond
+a certain height, a precious privilege in a city where the circulation
+of air had not been overencouraged.
+
+M. Masse comments at length upon these conditions in his book on Havana.
+He says:
+
+"The immense fortunes of certain Havana families are thus explained. The
+sobriety of the Spaniards, the very limited taste and luxury found in
+their residences and their furnishings, a commercial management which
+favored agricultural products, would have ended in concentrating in a
+few hands fortunes rivalling those of kings, had not libertinism, the
+rage of lawsuits and the passion for gambling produced that
+instability, which some moralists would have liked to secure by other
+means, though these were not easily found."
+
+The prospect of becoming hopelessly entangled in interminable lawsuits,
+and of having large tracts of land on one's hands without the certainty
+that the products of this land would find a market and bring a price
+commensurate with the amount of money and labor spent upon it, prevented
+many residents of the island from becoming landholders. Only when the
+conflict between the landholders and the monopoly that robbed them of
+their profits became acute, did certain patriots concerned with the
+welfare of Cuba unite to secure a radical reform in the legislation of
+the Indies. The demand for an extension of maritime commerce was the
+first to be urged upon the authorities, and the first to be granted. As
+has been related in a previous chapter, the British occupation of Havana
+opened the eyes of the Spaniards to the benefits of free commerce with
+and among the colonies, and led to a gradual relaxation of the law which
+gave to one or two Spanish ports the monopoly of transatlantic trade.
+When greater freedom of maritime commerce had been secured, and
+agriculture began to be carried on on a larger scale, not only for home
+consumption, but for export, the questions of repartition of land, of
+introducing different standards of measurement, of diminution of taxes
+on the fruits of the country and of duties on articles of importation,
+and lastly of securing the labor needed for these larger enterprises,
+began to occupy the minds of the leaders.
+
+The chief branches of Cuban agriculture were the raising of live stock
+and the cultivation of tobacco and sugar. Until the beginning of the
+eighteenth century the breeding of cattle was the principal occupation
+of the Cuban farmer. It suited the taste of the Castilian and
+Andalusian immigrant, for it required comparatively little work and lent
+itself to the acquirement of habits of idleness which the climate of the
+country tended to confirm. Guiteras is right, when he says:
+
+"Had our ganaderos (ranch owners) cultivated the plains for the
+alimentation of the animals and established a regular order in the care
+of breeds and in the management of their haciendas, this branch would
+have made greater progress and served as a powerful stimulus and been of
+great benefit for our agriculture. It would have supplied fertilizer for
+the fields, furnished the markets with meat for consumption by employers
+and laborers, and moreover, would have supplied oxen for our ploughs."
+
+But it seems that the Cuban farmer, as are many in other countries, was
+too short-sighted to perceive the advantages of a well-organized system
+of production, and indulged in a laissez-faire policy which did not much
+advance his interests or those of the community.
+
+The product next in importance was tobacco. The sections of the island
+best adapted for the cultivation of tobacco are the sandy fields west of
+Havana in the district of la Vuelta Baja, a country bathed by the waters
+of the San Sebastian, Richondo and the Consolacion of the south, and the
+Cuyaguateje or Mantua; also those in the palm belt running between
+Sierra Madre and the southern coast which forms a rectangle of
+twenty-eight leagues in length and seven in breadth. Other tobacco belts
+of great value are las Virtudes, between San Cristobal and Guanajas in
+the same Vuelta Baja, and in the east that nearest to Holguin and Cuba.
+The tobacco harvest of the year 1720 was six hundred thousand arrobas.
+But, as the historians say, "a severe system of monopoly, odious
+examinations and vexatious regulations and restrictions limited the
+profits, and the excessive cost of indispensable tools and the distance
+of the tobacco fields from the capital, discouraged the production of
+tobacco and visibly diminished the cultivation of this most important
+product of the island." The frequent disputes between the vegueros and
+the factoria, as the royal agency which owned the tobacco monopoly was
+called, abundantly prove the existence of conditions which were not
+likely to benefit the colony.
+
+The most valuable product of the island was sugar; and the cultivation
+of sugar cane was in such a backward state that it reflected upon the
+intelligence and enterprise of the native farmers. It revealed their
+ignorance, habitual indifference and lack of resources most lamentably.
+One of the oldest sugar planters of the island, Captain D. José Nicolas
+Perez Garvey, presented a series of memorials to the Sociedad Economica
+of Santiago de Cuba, which give a fair idea of the processes employed in
+the elaboration of this precious product. Sr. Garvey was a pioneer in
+demonstrating the imperfections of the existing methods and in advising
+the introduction of innovations. But his recommendation of modern
+inventions horrified the majority of the farmers and was violently
+objected to by the laborers.
+
+At first in order to press the juice out of the cane the same means were
+employed as for the grinding of wheat. They were cylinders set in motion
+by mules or oxen, a process in which half of the juice was wasted. At
+the beginning of the eighteenth century a more efficacious process was
+employed in imitation of that which was in use in Hayti. Not until the
+government itself took the initiative and encouraged the use of
+implements and machines that had proved of advantage in other
+sugar-raising colonies, was a change gradually effected. The great
+planter and landowner of Havana, D. Nicolas Calvo de la Puerta, was the
+man through whose influence and insistence upon certain innovations the
+sugar production was slowly improved. Finally there was the problem of
+converting the guarapo or fermented cane juice into sugar, which was at
+first also very primitive and slowly yielded to more productive and
+profitable methods. Lastly the sugar production of the island developed
+another product, which was not only popular on the island, but became an
+article of exportation. From 1760 to 1767 Havana, which was the only
+port qualified to export sweetmeats, sent out annually thirteen thousand
+cases of sixteen arrobas each. In the period of five years from 1791 to
+1795 inclusive, the export was 7,572,600 arrobas. White sugar was then
+worth thirty-two reals per arroba, brown sugar twenty-eight. The French
+immigrants from Santo Domingo were an element that contributed to the
+improvement and promotion of the sugar industry.
+
+Though they furnished a far smaller proportion of the island's wealth,
+hides, cane, brandy, refined honey and wax also began to figure in the
+economic records of Cuba. Wax became a valuable product about the year
+1764 when Bishop Morell brought a few swarms of bees from his Florida
+exile. It was exported to the ports of the Gulf of Mexico where it was
+highly esteemed for its superior quality. The indigo plant which was
+introduced during the administration of Governor Las Casas proved in
+time a new source of Cuban wealth. Coffee plantations and cocoa groves
+had also multiplied in number, and were slowly furnishing new products
+for home consumption as for exportation.
+
+The following figures will give a limited but reliable survey of the
+growth of agriculture towards the end of the century. Before the year
+1761 there were only between sixty and seventy sugar refineries on the
+island. By the end of the century there were four hundred and eighty.
+Before the year 1796 there were only eight or ten coffee plantations, so
+that the island barely produced enough coffee for its own consumption.
+By the end of the century there were three hundred and twenty-six
+"cafeyeres." At the same time the island had two thousand four hundred
+and thirty-nine vegas, or tobacco fields, and one thousand two hundred
+and twenty-three _colmenares_ or apiaries. The revenues of the island
+from 1793, when they amounted to over one million pesos, rose steadily
+until at the beginning of the century they were about three million
+pesos annually. The sugar plantations yielded great profits, but they
+also required big investments of money and labor. One of the most
+prominent sugar planters on the island, D. José Ignacio Echegoyen,
+calculated that to produce ten thousand arrobas of sugar, an expenditure
+of twelve thousand seven hundred and sixty-seven pesos was needed,
+besides a capital of sixty thousand. He was one of the foremost citizens
+that protested against the tax of one tenth on sugar. Work on the sugar
+plantations was the hardest imaginable; even the negro slaves could not
+stand it longer than ten years. Then their working capacity was
+completely exhausted and they were given their liberty.
+
+Though the importation of negro slaves essentially helped the
+development of agriculture and the industries connected with it, there
+still existed restrictions and regulations which acted as a continual
+check upon the growth of the population, and had a paralyzing effect
+upon the intellectual development of the colonists. A favorable solution
+of these important questions offered great obstacles. Although the
+principles on which Spain founded her restrictive system had been
+relaxed, there existed a great number of interests that had been created
+through this system and were unwilling to give up their privileges.
+Derogation of these restrictions would have meant loss and injury to
+some peninsular subjects that had grown rich and powerful through them.
+
+The historian Guiteras elucidates this point when he says that higher
+state reasons, supported by the right that, according to the notions of
+the epoch gave them the international law and the famous bull of
+Alexander VI. and was sustained by a great and expensive war against the
+nations that attempted to colonize America, had influenced the conduct
+of the government for nearly three centuries. The government only agreed
+by force of invincible circumstances to have the British and the French
+establish themselves in and continue in possession of a part of North
+America and a few islands of the Antilles; but it always insisted on
+maintaining the vast possessions that recognized its authority closed to
+the commerce of the allies according to the agreement. With the
+existence of a new and independent nation near these states, whose
+political organization, religious principles and national character were
+diametrically opposed to those of the Spanish government, these
+possessions and dominions of the crown seemed to be in danger. The
+imprudent demonstration in the state of Georgia had already shown the
+spirit of hostility which when the republic of the United States was
+barely established began to manifest itself against the neighboring
+possessions of a country which in her diplomatic relations had from the
+beginning of the Revolution always showed herself friendly. Such
+considerations very likely increased the aversion of the monarch as of
+his court towards Britain and the British race, in whose favor they had
+yielded more than to any other power concessions demanded by the
+interests of their subjects in America.
+
+These were some of the great impediments which the champions of progress
+encountered in their valiant endeavors to free the economic development
+of Cuba and to help its much hampered industries. But one of the most
+serious obstacles was the restriction of Spanish and especially foreign
+immigration.
+
+It seems that these restrictions which dated from the accession of
+Philip II. had two definite objects; the first was to preserve the
+purity of the Spanish stock in the West Indies and other possessions of
+Spanish America; the second was to prevent foreigners from learning the
+extent and the resources of Spain's American colonies. Edward Gaylord
+Bourne says in "Spain in America":
+
+"In regard to Spaniards, the policy adopted was one of restriction and
+rigid supervision. No one, either native or foreigner, was allowed to go
+to the Indies without a permit from the crown (or in some cases from the
+Casa de Contracion) under penalty of forfeiting his property. Officers
+of the fleets or vessels were held strictly responsible for infractions
+of this rule. In the code the details of these restrictions are
+amplified in seventy-three laws. The reasons for such strict regulations
+covering emigration was to protect the Indies from being overrun with
+idle and turbulent adventurers anxious only 'to get rich quickly and not
+content with food and clothing, which every moderately industrious man
+was assured of.'"
+
+Another reason for this strict supervision is given in a law enacted in
+the year 1602, which directs the deportation of foreigners from the
+ports of the Indies, because "the ports are not safe in the things of
+our holy Catholic faith, and great care should be taken that no error
+creep in among the Indians." An exception to the rule was made twenty
+years later, when expert mechanics were allowed, but traders in the
+cities remained excluded. So rigidly was this policy upheld that
+Humboldt during five years of travel in Spanish America met only one
+German resident.
+
+It is more difficult to understand the object of this policy than to
+realize its effect upon the country's growth and progress. M. Masse says
+in his book "L'Isle de Cuba et la Havane":
+
+"No Spaniard was allowed to sail for America without permission of the
+king, a permission granted only for well-defined business reasons, and
+for a period limited to two years. The agreement to settle there was
+even more difficult to obtain. A special permission was needed even to
+pass from the province first chosen to another. Priests and nuns were
+subject to the same rule."
+
+These restrictions were enforced even at the beginning of the nineteenth
+century. M. Masse continues to say that travelers were detained on board
+several days before they were allowed to land in Havana. They had to
+present a passport, a certificate of birth and baptism and a certificate
+of respectable life and good conduct, all signed by a consul of Spain.
+
+In individual cases these severe requirements may have been evaded--M.
+Masse mentions the fact that minor functionaries were ready to do the
+foreigners any favor--for a consideration. But upon the whole it must be
+admitted that their observance tended to keep up a certain moral
+standard in the colonies, which may not have been without some good
+influence in moulding the character of the people. While other powers of
+Europe allowed--and even encouraged--their colonies to become
+dumping-grounds for human refuse, to populate them with their derelicts
+and those of other nations, until America was spoken of by the Germans
+as the big reformatory, Spain made an attempt at what some centuries
+later, in our scientific age, might have been called "race culture."
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XIV
+
+
+The conditions which we have described did not, however, prevent the
+colony, when prosperity came to her, from succumbing to the evils which
+invariably follow in the wake of new wealth. The historian Blanchet
+reports that there existed in Cuba towards the end of the century a
+strange mixture of immorality and piety. Religious enthusiasm rose to an
+unusual degree of fervor in Villa Clara in the year 1790. Two Capuchin
+missionaries had been there a month, and the church was crowded from
+early morning until late at night with men and women spellbound by their
+words. After the orisons there was a sermon, and at times, immediately
+after the sermon, the women left, the building was closed and darkened
+and the men remained inside. Prayers alternated with flagellations,
+until some individuals were exhausted with pain and the loss of blood.
+In the penitential procession, which took place on some evenings, the
+two missionaries and the priests of the town were followed by a
+multitude in which both sexes were represented. The members of the
+Ayuntamiento took part, bare-legged and bare-foot; some marched with the
+head and face concealed by a white cowl, the body uncovered to the
+waist, and from the waist down wrapped in sack-cloth. Some staggered
+under the weight of a heavy cross; others walked straight and attempted
+to inflict wounds upon themselves with the point of a sword. It seems,
+however, that this religious exaltation was at times carried too far,
+for flagellation assumed such proportions at burials that it had to be
+forbidden.
+
+In contrast to this religious revival was the wave of frivolity and
+immorality that seemed simultaneously to sweep over the island. The
+streets of the towns resounded with ribald speech and lascivious songs.
+The Bishop was scandalized to see Cuban women discard their veils when
+they went on the street. When they wore décolleté gowns, they did not
+even close the blinds, but openly showed themselves at the windows.
+There is little doubt that increase of overseas traffic in the ports of
+the island contributed to the growing laxity of morals. M. Masse
+considered the navy yard a special source of the corruption which wealth
+had brought. "For the money needed by that enterprise circulated in the
+city at the same time as the vices and the passions of its employees and
+sailors." With a remarkable psychological insight he gives a most
+plausible explanation how the change in the life of the island affected
+the women of Cuba, and especially of Havana.
+
+For these women had so far been brought up in strict conformity to the
+conventions of their female ancestors in Spain. They had been sent to a
+girls' school, always escorted, and had never until they were married
+even talked alone with a man. In the narrow confines of their home,
+either before or after marriage, their beauty was taken for granted and
+passed uncommented. For the Cuban women were always unusually handsome,
+having the same regular features and rich coloring as the Spanish, the
+same large black eyes and bluish black hair, perhaps even accentuated by
+their placid immobility of expression. A strange type, bound to attract
+attention anywhere, they struck the strangers landing in this tropical
+city like rare exotic flowers, and they suddenly found themselves the
+objects of an admiration which manifested itself in ways that were new
+and irresistible. The Cuban husband was known not to be as loyal as his
+wife was expected to be; why should they not accept the homage offered
+them? To this host of admirers, ever changing, ever ready to shower them
+with favors, M. Masse, the keen psychologist, attributes the change in
+the attitude of the women and the gradual change in the tone of Cuban,
+especially Havanese, society. As more and more of these industrious
+foreigners, who might have been as good Spaniards as their own
+ancestors, settled on the island, the difference between them and the
+native Cubans manifested itself, not always to the latter's advantage.
+Women began to prefer them as husbands, and there was one more cause for
+antagonism between these scions of a common stock, whom different
+environment and conditions of existence had caused to drift apart, and
+become irreconcilably estranged.
+
+Of Havana that subtle student of life has this to say:
+
+"The need of forgetting the many privations of a prolonged sea voyage,
+with gold always in abundance for those who do not know how to manage
+their affairs and to whom each voyage seems a new adventure, the
+influence of a climate which makes for voluptuousness, all this combines
+to make Havana a new Cythera placed at the port of long journeys even as
+the ancient cradle of pleasure was at that end of the long voyage of
+that time."
+
+Thus Havana, like other capitals of the world, became gradually not only
+the cradle of Cuban culture, but also of that corruption of the simpler
+and purer instincts of human nature which seems to be inseparable from a
+certain degree of material comfort. The man of Havana had in centuries
+of repression and restriction lost the power of initiative; the end of
+the century which gave the colonists of North America their independence
+made them free to think and act, and work for themselves, and above
+everything else, to govern themselves, found him still under a rigorous
+paternal supervision by representatives of a king whom he perhaps never
+saw. Centuries of such guardianship had robbed him of all incentive and
+made him drift along the line of least resistance.
+
+Physically and morally a product of the country which was politically
+and economically a victim of that type of government, the Cuban of that
+period had no interests save the quest of comfort and such pleasurable
+excitement as certain entertainments offered. The women divided their
+attention between their church and their home, indulged in deadly
+idleness and senseless extravagance, dressed luxuriantly, but with bad
+taste, and sought distraction in gossip or gambling. The men, who had
+caught faint echoes of Voltaire and ideas of the Revolution and were
+estranged from the church, divided their interests between their
+business and their friends of both sexes, and also sought distraction in
+gambling. There was gambling in the home circle, in the houses of
+friends, in the clubs, even in the convents. It was estimated that ten
+thousand games of cards were annually imported into Havana.
+
+Of places of amusement there was no lack at that time. M. Villiet
+d'Arignon, who visited Havana fifty years before and was bored by the
+provincial monotony of Cuban life, could not have complained of lack of
+entertainment, had he seen Havana at the threshold of the nineteenth
+century, though his fastidious Gallic taste would perhaps not have been
+satisfied with the quality of the attractions the Cuban metropolis
+offered her guests. The native Cuban, and the Spaniard who had settled
+there, did not wish for anything more fascinating and more exciting
+than the national fiesta of the bull-fight, the corrida de toros. No
+true Cuban could resist the trumpet call summoning the population to
+that most sumptuous spectacle.
+
+"These costumes of the age of chivalry, those richly harnessed palfreys,
+those banderillos (small darts with a bandorol) or stilets trimmed with
+the colors, with which the neck of the poor beast is seen magnificently
+larded; this martial music, these cheers of the mousquetaires rendering
+homage unto the victors, this most eminent magistrate presiding at the
+feast, this vast arena, this wealth of beautiful women, who have the
+opportunity of hearing the most drastic, disgusting and obscene
+exclamations, into which the vulgarity of spectators and toreadors
+lapses in the heat of the combat. And yet I would not advise the Spanish
+government to attempt to abolish at least in Havana this sort of
+spectacle. A revolt might cause the authorities to repent of their
+temerity."
+
+Thus does the French author quoted before paint the picture of the
+greatest entertainment the Cuban of that time knew. But there were
+others, for instance the caroussel, the circus, the magicians, and there
+was always the cock-pit, offering almost as much excitement as the
+bull-ring. Here, too, the gambling craze of the people asserted itself.
+For not only the prosperous man about town spent his money in betting at
+the cock-fight, as he did at the bull-fight. Every little town had its
+cock-pit and every montero or guajiro sacrificed his wages to taste the
+excitement of that spectacle. Surely Cuba at that century's end had
+already learned what the hosts of strangers needed, when after a long
+and tedious voyage they landed on the island.
+
+One cannot help being reminded of the impressions M. Villiet d'Arignon
+carried with him from his visit to Cuba as recorded in Jean Baptiste
+Nougaret's "Voyages interessans," when after a month's sojourn he sailed
+for Vera Cruz on the same vessel that took D. Juan Guemez y Horcasitas
+from the governorship of Cuba to the vice-regency of Mexico. Then
+already was gambling the favorite, and, as the island lacked such places
+of amusement as were established later, probably the only pastime. The
+Frenchman noticed also the total absence of any interest in literature,
+art and music, and the impossibility of finding a circle of people where
+he could enjoy an animated conversation on subjects outside of the
+commonplace and of current local gossip, made him reflect rather
+unfavorably upon West Indian society of that time.
+
+Such reflections must, however, be accepted with some reservation. For
+if the West Indian and especially the Cuban of the eighteenth century
+lacked interest in those things that make for culture, it must be
+remembered that the country in which he was living was still young, and
+that the people's paramount interest had of necessity to be for the
+things material. There has perhaps never been a colony of settlers in a
+foreign and primitive land that has not been so thoroughly absorbed in
+the task of founding a home and making a living, that all other things,
+for the time being, did not seem to matter. All pioneer settlers are
+bound for at least one or two generations to be so engrossed in rude
+manual labor or in plans to establish a trade, that they lose touch with
+the current intellectual life of their mother country and fall behind.
+When those most urgent duties are performed and allow them brief spells
+of leisure, in which they look about and try to pick up the threads they
+had dropped, they find that the mother country has in the meantime
+advanced so far beyond them that they are unable to catch up with it.
+
+Spanish America was no exception to this rule. While the sons of Spain
+that had settled in the New World were engaged in cultivating the soil,
+making roads in the rough country and laying the foundations of commerce
+and trade in the cities founded by their fathers or grandfathers, Spain
+had entered upon the heritage of many centuries of European culture,
+which on her soil had a rich admixture of Arabian elements. The
+literature of Spain had given to the world an immortal epic, the story
+of Cervantes, "Don Quixote," the deep significance of which was not
+perhaps grasped at that time, but the human essence and the humor of
+which were not lost upon his generation. It had given to the world a
+drama, which was far in advance of anything the continent had so far
+produced, and was comparable only to the works of that unparalleled
+British genius, Shakespeare. The plays of Lopé de Vega were performed
+all over Europe and found their way even into the seraglio of
+Constantinople; and those of Calderon de la Barca have survived the
+changes of time and taste and are even today occasionally performed.
+
+Of all this the Spaniard of Cuba was hardly aware. Even if he had not
+been so engrossed in his rude task, he could barely have known anything
+about it, because the limited communication with the mother country and
+the restrictions upon travel kept Spanish America in a state of
+isolation, that made for stagnation rather than progress. When the
+period of material prosperity came to Cuba with the relaxation of
+Spain's commercial restrictions, the Cuban awoke to the realization that
+he had lost contact with Spain's intellectual life, and had been left at
+least two centuries behind. Out of this knowledge, depressing and
+discouraging as it must have been, grew the attempt to centralize and
+organize a gradual revival of literary and scientific activity on the
+island.
+
+Whether the Sociedad Economica Patriotica which was later called Junta
+di Fomento is identical with the Sociedad de Amigos del Real Pais, is
+not made clear by the historians. The Spaniards' fondness for long and
+sonorous names and titles may have added the second name. However, both
+this organization and a society founded about the same time in Santiago
+for the purpose of organizing the literary activities of that place, and
+similar societies in Sancti Spiritus and Puerto Principe were an
+expression of the earnest desire of at least a part of the people to
+turn their attention towards other things than those material. To
+Governor La Torre, Havana owed the foundation of its first theatre. That
+this establishment was encouraged and effectively patronized by Governor
+Las Casas and other men closely identified with the cultural work of the
+Sociedad, goes without saying.
+
+But it is perfectly natural in view of the long period of indifference
+towards anything like the drama that the classical Spanish dramas, the
+masterpieces of Lopé de Vega and of the inimitable Calderon, did not
+immediately find their way upon the stage of Havana. The audiences had
+gradually to grow up to their standard and the directors of the
+enterprise wisely refrained from forcing them upon a people that had so
+long been ignorant of the strides Spain had made in the interval since
+their ancestors settled in the New World. Hence the repertoire of the
+theatre of Havana towards the end of the century catered to the
+Spaniard's love of music and favored the best comic operas then produced
+in the theatres of Europe. The ballet was very popular, as it was
+everywhere at that period. But that subtle observer, M. Masse, was not
+favorably impressed with it.
+
+"The ballet is of that kind which carries far the art of varying the
+most voluptuous attitudes and the expression of the least equivocal
+sentiment."
+
+He suspected the fandango, supposed to be typically Havanese, of being
+originally a negro dance, saying "The difference is in the embroidery,
+which civilization, or if one wishes, corruption, has introduced."
+
+Very popular were at the time little comedies of domestic life, called
+Saynetes, and offering pretty truthful pictures of social customs and
+habits on the island, and especially glimpses of the society of Havana.
+A Cuban writer of the period, D. José Rodriguez, is credited with the
+authorship of a comedy, "El Principe Jardinero," The Prince Gardener,
+which by its complicated plot held the attention of the audience and was
+performed with great success in 1791. A comedian of considerable ability
+and fame, then very popular with the Havanese, D. Francisco Covarrubas,
+was the author of farces, which were very warmly received and drew large
+audiences. The theatre of New Orleans, much older and better equipped
+than that of Havana, sometimes sent its company of actors for a short
+season of more serious drama. Among other plays which this company
+produced was the tragedy "Les Templiers." Although undoubtedly still in
+its beginnings, the theatre of Havana was upon the whole doing good
+work. Anglo-Americans who visited Havana about the century's end are
+said to have admitted that it was superior in building, stage setting,
+acting and music to the American theatres of that period.
+
+The regular company which played in Havana at the time of Governor Las
+Casas was under the direction of Sr. Luis Saez. The performances were
+given twice a week, on Sundays and Thursdays, and mostly offered a
+program in which drama and music alternated. If a play of several acts
+was given, these musical numbers came between the acts. The program
+would usually begin with a dramatic composition; in the first
+intermission a short play was acted, in the second a tonadilla (musical
+composition) was played or a few Seguidillas (merry Spanish song or
+dance tunes). At times the pieces between the acts were suppressed and
+the performance ended with a tonadilla or a farce. In the bill of
+January twenty-ninth, 1792, it is announced that "this performance will
+conclude with a new duly censored piece entitled 'Elijir con discrecion
+i amante privilegiado' (The privileged lover chosen with discretion), by
+an inhabitant of this city, D. Miguel Gonzales."
+
+[Illustration: A VOLANTE: AN OLD TIME PLEASURE CARRIAGE]
+
+They did not know then, in Havana, the lyric theatre, although the
+Havanese were fond of music and the members of Havana society in their
+gatherings usually provided some musical entertainment by having an
+instrumentalist perform on the piano, guitar or harp. However, there
+seems to have existed an Academy of Music, where concerts were given.
+There is an article in an issue of the Havana paper of that time, the
+_Papel Periodico_, which refers to a concert given by Senora Maria
+Josefa Castellanos, whose performance on the harpsichord called forth
+not only a tribute in verse, but a glowing description of her "rare
+skill and mastery of which she has given proof in the Academy, with the
+sweetest harmonies of the best composers." This eulogy is contained in
+the Sunday issue of January twenty-second, 1792. Besides Senora
+Castellanos and other skilled amateurs, there was a Senora Doña Maria
+O'Farrell, who distinguished herself by her musical accomplishments, for
+another issue of the _Papel Periodico_ contains a sapphic ode dedicated
+to her by an admirer, who signed the pseudonym Filesimolpos.
+
+It appears that balls as an amusement were not approved of, which seems
+a contradiction in a society which was by no means puritanical. Although
+social evenings in private houses frequently ended in a dance, there
+were few indications that large affairs consisting mainly of dancing
+took place in the public assembly halls. The _Papel Periodico_ of
+December sixteenth, 1792, contains an announcement which for its brevity
+gives room to manifold interpretation. "The gentlemen are informed that
+there will be a dance today" is so laconic, that one is almost induced
+to believe that these dances were given at places known only to the
+initiated. In this particular instance it was subsequently learned that
+this dance of the sixteenth of December, 1792, took place at the house
+of a man who was considered "a dangerous reformer of the customs of
+Havana." Did this dangerous reformer perhaps admit to his dance the
+ravishingly beautiful and cultured women that had come from Santo
+Domingo, where they freely moved in society, but were barred in Havana,
+because they had a white father or grandfather and a colored mother or
+grandmother? Foreign visitors to Havana at that period were so warm in
+their praise of these refined unfortunate victims of miscegenation, that
+they may have converted some of the gilded youth of the smart set or the
+Bohemia of Havana to their point of view.
+
+The fine arts were not at first considered in the planning and building
+of the city of Havana. Though much money was spent upon public
+buildings, no artistic effect whatever was aimed at and the impression
+of a crude utilitarianism prevailed. The churches, too, did not possess
+the noble dignity of the great cathedrals of France, Italy and Spain.
+The most ambitious ecclesiastical edifice in Havana, the church of San
+Francisco, was architecturally mediocre in style and barbarously
+overornamented.
+
+In all the churches the sculpture and the wood-carving on the altars
+were over-elaborate and bewildered by their decorative details. Besides
+all these buildings were too low and narrow, and by their endless
+decoration diminished the sense of space and produced one of oppression.
+On special saints' days the decorations were pathetically crude and
+primitive. Angels of paper tissue, artificial flowers, birds, lambs,
+etc., were displayed with a profusion which was distracting, instead of
+adding to the fervor of religious sentiment.
+
+[Illustration: MONTSERRAT GATE IN CITY WALL OF HAVANA, BUILT 1780]
+
+The Church de la Concepcion, built about 1795, was the only church
+edifice which by a certain classic simplicity approached the solemn
+beauty of a Greek temple. The Carmelite Church was interesting for the
+tomb of Bishop Compostele with the epitaph, which expressed his wish to
+be laid to rest "between the lilies of Carmel and the choirs of the
+virgins." None of these churches had pews or chairs, the seating
+capacity being limited to two rows of stalls or benches along the nave.
+This made for an admirable democracy in a society which otherwise
+rigorously segregated the castes for it happened not infrequently that
+men of rank and ladies of position found themselves beside a poor negro.
+Occasionally, however, one could see a lady going to mass with her
+family of children, accompanied by a negro, carrying a rug and a small
+chair; and when such a handsome senora seated herself in the center of
+the rug with her offspring grouped about her, the effect was so
+picturesque as to call for the brush of a Velasquez. But this privilege
+was limited to white ladies of rank only. The music in the churches, on
+the other hand, was exclusively furnished by the musically gifted
+negroes. Though it sometimes occurred in Cuba, as in other colonies of
+America, that owing to the lack of printed church music sacred words
+were adopted to secular tunes, and frequently to those of popular comic
+opera, the master works of the old church composers were sometimes heard
+at special occasions.
+
+Among the streets of Havana the most metropolitan was the Calle de la
+Muralla, so called from the muralla or rampart built by Governor Ricla.
+This was the Rue de la Paix for the women of Havana. It was lined with
+"tiendas de ropas," shops displaying all the latest importations of
+dress goods and wearing apparel. At that time, as at the present, the
+fashionable ladies of the Cuban capital insisted upon keeping pace with
+the styles of dress and adornment which prevailed in the great cities of
+Europe, as their pecuniary means, their taste and their natural gifts
+abundantly enabled them to do. Every morning the street was crowded with
+the carriages of ladies engaged in shopping. For no white woman, unless
+she belonged to what in the southern states of North America would have
+been called "poor white trash" was allowed to go on foot during the day,
+unless she was going to mass. Up to the twenties of the new century and
+beyond, this convention was rigidly observed. Those who had to go on
+foot were not seen on the Calle de la Muralla until the evening hours.
+Then it was crowded with as gay and handsome a multitude of women,
+white, black and of all the intervening shades, as ever trod the
+pavement of a southern capital.
+
+At such times the relation between the white and the colored women of
+the city could be observed in little incidents that were an unending
+source of amusement to the student of life. The lithe and willowy form
+of the young girl of Spain, which Montaigne has called "un corps bien
+espagnole," was frequently to be found among the Cuban women. The almost
+regal dignity and grace of carriage, for which the Spanish women were
+noted, had also been transmitted to their descendants in the colonies.
+Now it was nothing unusual for any one to follow with his eyes the
+perfect form and the graceful movements of some woman in the crowd of
+such nights, and on coming up and catching a glimpse of the face to find
+a negress. For the imitative faculty of the colored race is
+extraordinary, and the negro maids of the white ladies of Havana copied
+faithfully every detail of the gait and gestures of their mistresses.
+The dress worn by the Havanese on the streets was the national basquina,
+a black skirt, with a waist according to the prevailing fashion, and
+under that basquina was often worn a white petticoat trimmed with lace,
+which most unconcernedly was being dragged through the dust. But the
+most important article of a Cuban woman's dress was the mantilla, also
+often trimmed with the rarest lace, that indispensable covering for head
+and shoulders, which made an effective frame for a face in which shone a
+pair of luminous black eyes. That mantilla, like the fan, was a medium
+of expression and spoke an eloquent language to those that understood.
+
+The cafés, which were sadly missed by M. Villiet d'Arignon in the middle
+of the century, had begun to appear in the streets of Havana, but never
+became as popular as in European capitals. The Cuban did not
+particularly care for coffee as a beverage; he preferred chocolate,
+which he took at home. He did not care to go out, unless it was for a
+game of cards, a feria di gallo, or cock-fight, or the bull-ring. He was
+essentially a domestic creature, though Havana had a smart set the
+masculine members of which furnished ample material for gossip of a
+more or less scandalous nature. He spent his time at home smoking; in
+fact, everybody in Cuba smoked, men, women, children, priests, masters
+and slaves. It was not an infrequent sight to see a negro maid about her
+work with a cigar in her mouth or behind her ear. Small favors and
+services were paid in cigars.
+
+Outside of the cultural endeavors of the Sociedad little was done in
+Cuba for the cause of education. As the Countess de Merlin reported in
+her book on Havana, there was only one school in that city in the year
+1791, that taught grammar and orthography, the instructor being the
+mulatto Melendez. The children of the monteros and guajiros in the
+country grew up in almost complete illiteracy. As was mentioned in a
+previous chapter Governor Las Casas devoted from eleven to twelve
+thousand pesos of his private fortune for primary instruction, but it is
+not clear whether this was to be extended throughout the island or
+limited to Havana. At any rate there were at the beginning of his
+administration thirty-nine schools in the city, seven of which were for
+males only, the others for children of both sexes. In many of these
+schools, which were in charge of mulattos or free negroes, only reading
+was taught; in the better schools arithmetic as far as fractions; thus
+prepared young men were expected to enter upon a university course. The
+smallest fee for primary instruction was four reales a month; for higher
+instruction two pesos. To two hundred white and colored children the P.
+P. de Belen (Fathers of Bethlehem) gave lessons free of cost; it is
+reported that their class surpassed in writing. Towards the end of the
+administration of Las Casas there were seventy schools, with about two
+thousand pupils. But they seemed to have a hard fight for their
+existence and the number is reported to have been later reduced to
+seven hundred and thirty-one pupils.
+
+The low intellectual standard of the average Havanese woman of that
+period is easily understood by a glance at these data. The education of
+girls even in the cities was considered of such minor importance, that
+as late as 1793 it was not deemed necessary for them to learn to read.
+The daughters of the Havanese patricians were taught accomplishments
+regarded as inseparable from an ideal of refined womanhood, such as
+embroidery and a little music. But as work of any kind was not on the
+program of their lives, serious occupation, even with household duties,
+was unheard of. The matronly senoras, who were frequently held up as
+models of womanhood and especially of motherhood, were woefully ignorant
+of the simplest cooking and other branches of what is today called home
+economics. The orphans and poor children admitted to the Casa de
+Beneficiencia were better prepared for life. They were all taught the
+alphabet, the girls sewing, embroidery and the making of artificial
+flowers, and the boys learned the cigar-makers' trade.
+
+From these premises it can be easily inferred that the standard of
+literary activity in Cuba could not have been very high. That great
+democratic medium for the diffusion of information, the printing press,
+was an institution which in Cuba was also limited by royal decrees.
+According to Sr. La Torre the first printing press was established in
+Havana in 1747; there were printed the decrees and reports and other
+official documents of the government, and sometimes matters of general
+interest were published on loose sheets. Some authorities claim for
+Santiago de Cuba the honor of priority, stating that it had a printing
+press before the year 1700. But Sr. Hernandez in his Ensayos literarios
+declares that he could find no foundation for this statement. Nor do
+Valdes, Arrate or Pezuela contain any definite data on that subject.
+
+It is safe to presume that the work of the press established in 1747
+produced some good results in spreading information otherwise withheld
+from the public; for in the year 1776 a royal decree forbade the
+establishment of any other printing press besides that devoted to
+governmental work. It is possible, too, that some speculator had
+attempted to found another printing establishment. For Sr. Saco tells us
+that in the year 1766 there was in Havana a printing concern under the
+name of Computo Ecclesiastico and in 1773 another under the direction of
+D. Blas de los Olivos. But there are no data to show that these concerns
+existed at the time of the royal decree of 1776.
+
+The establishment of a periodical has usually been deferred to the
+administration of Governor Las Casas. But there is reason to believe
+that the note contained in the fourth book of the history of Cuba by
+Valles rests upon fact; it speaks of a "Gaceta de la Habana" as being in
+existence in the year 1782. An issue of that _Gaceta_, dated May 16,
+1783, was said to contain a report of the festivals with which the Duke
+of Lancaster was honored in Havana. In that issue the publisher said:
+
+"Since in the preceding _Gaceta_ the arrival in this town of the Infante
+William Duke of Lancaster, third son of King George of England, could
+hardly be indicated, we suppressed for one week the circulation of other
+news, in order to offer to our readers the details of his entry into
+Havana."
+
+Besides those printing concerns no other is known to have existed in
+Havana until the opening of that of Bolona, in the year 1792, which is
+referred to in an advertisement in the _Papel Periodico_ of Sunday,
+August 26th of that year. This advertisement read:
+
+"Another negress about 20 or 21 years old, good cook and laundress,
+healthy and without defects, for three hundred pesos. He who wants her
+will apply to the printing office of D. Estaven Joseph Bolona, where her
+master will be found."
+
+That this press was not identical with the government printing
+establishment is inferred from the fact that in this number of the
+_Papel Periodico_ as well as other issues are contained many
+advertisements referring to the printing office, where information will
+be given.
+
+The _Gaceta de la Habana_ was a weekly, which probably contained the
+government announcements and news of the most important events of the
+time. The space of the _Gaceta_ was too limited to admit of the
+publication of communications from readers on matters concerning the
+community, hence such effusions, as also the lyrics coming from the pens
+of poetically inclined dilettanti, were published on separate sheets to
+be circulated among their admiring friends. But at the time of Governor
+Las Casas the desire of improving this publication of the government
+made itself felt; the space was enlarged and the old time _Gaceta_ seems
+to have been merged in the _Papel Periodico_, which began to circulate
+from the twenty-fourth of October, 1790. It appeared once a week and was
+edited by D. Diego de la Barrera.
+
+This publication was the only medium through which those desirous of
+knowing something of the current life of the island at the end of the
+eighteenth and the beginning of the twentieth century could obtain a
+fair picture of the customs and occupations of that time, described by
+the individual contributors with the warmth and the florid exuberance
+then in style and occasionally, when coming from a more critical mind,
+with a touch of satire. The following extract from the periodical will
+give an idea of its contents and character. In an issue of the year
+1792, the writer speaks of the lamentable ignorance reigning in the
+country districts of Cuba and hampering the development of agriculture.
+He attacks the current opinion that the climate is the source of the
+Cuban's indifference and indolence, saying that this assumption would
+give ground to deny even the possibility of progress. He says:
+
+"Many opine that the laziness of the inhabitants of this country is the
+effect of the climate. They take it for granted that the lassitude of
+the muscles and tendons is due to the heat and makes the bodies lose
+their tenseness and hence their capacity for exertion. They also give as
+cause the excessive evaporation of elements needed for the growth and
+the strength of the organism, asserting that this loss owing to weak
+constitution of the stomach cannot be repaired by fatty and abundant
+food.
+
+"These reasons founded upon the organic mechanism of our bodies seem
+quite conclusive. There is no doubt that the intense heat which we
+suffer during the greatest part of the year in the countries near the
+equator promotes evaporation too much. But I dare to assert that the
+excess is being insensibly recovered by the bodies through the particles
+produced by perspiration. This does not seem chimerical, when we reflect
+that by our constant respiration the air in which we are living enters
+and is being constantly renewed in our liquids, and that this air is
+impregnated with innumerable corpuscles extracted from the solids. The
+same is true of a fountain, the surplus flows off to fertilize the near
+forest, while at the same time is restored to its bosom through
+different means an equal quantity, which incessant infiltration also
+supplies from other water sources."
+
+After comparing the physical and intellectual aptitude of the children
+of the tropics with those of Greenland and the progress made by the
+French of Hayti in science, agriculture and art, which is in diametrical
+contrast to that of the Spanish West Indians, he continues:
+
+"Therefore, as indolence or laziness do not proceed from external
+causes, we must admit that they proceed from ourselves. I find no other
+source. It is a voluntary habit, or speaking more plainly, a vice
+propagated like the pestilence and causing incalculable harm to the
+social structure. But as I propose to combat this enemy, I shall show
+the most visible injuries it produces in those who yield to its
+insidious charm.
+
+"Every living body without movement goes into corruption. This is a well
+established principle and in the hot countries which are usually humid,
+the effect is quickly seen. We have a sad experience in this city, where
+the inhabitants are frequently afflicted with dropsy, internal and
+external tumors, hypochondria, nervous diseases and many other ailments,
+the origin of which is inaction or want of movement and circulation.
+While in this respect indolence conspires against our very existence,
+the injury is no less when it manifests itself in the vices to which
+professional idlers are subject. Incessant gambling, excessive
+sensuality, late hours, unreasonable food and drink and other
+correlative features are the means by which health is ruined, life is
+shortened; and he who succeeds in prolonging it, does so at the cost of
+a variety of aches and pains.
+
+"Prisons and other dismal places are the final abode of idleness. Those
+liable to get there for theft, debt and other offences curse their
+unhappy lot; but they will not admit that their laziness is the chief
+source of their misfortunes. Celibacy, depopulation, the languishing of
+commerce, the backwardness of science, art, agriculture, etc., are all
+the results of idleness.
+
+"When I see on this island a city of so large a population, the greater
+part of which is living in ill-concealed poverty, while her fertile and
+beautiful fields around are uncultivated and deserted, painful
+reflections suggest themselves to me. If this oldest and most wholesome
+occupation, agriculture, is an inexhaustible source of wealth even in
+countries less favored for it, how much wealth might not be produced in
+this country. It is evident that the difference in its favor would be as
+great as the superiority of our fields which in fertility are unrivalled
+by those of any other country.
+
+"I therefore conclude by saying that even those living in opulence have
+no excuse for giving themselves up to shameful inaction. When their
+riches exempt them from ordinary occupations, they should devote
+themselves to the cultivation of the mind."
+
+This somewhat predicatory article, published in Nos. 11, 13 and 14 of
+the _Papel Periodico_, proves how seriously the men at the head of the
+great intellectual revival of the century's end took their task of
+rousing the people from their torpor. Nevertheless there is little
+documentary proof that much was produced by the pens of that generation.
+
+The question of promoting agriculture seems to have preoccupied the
+minds of the readers at that time. In another article the author says:
+
+"I must state that no country can progress unless it produces in
+abundance fruits for exportation; if it confines itself to the amount
+used for home consumption, it will never come out of her poverty. The
+beautiful climate, the fertile soil, and the location of our island
+offer much richer resources than any other country; but unfortunately we
+are hampered by various conditions, mainly in the attitude of the people
+themselves. There are those whose notions do not permit them to take a
+great part in the community of laborers; these, again, living in
+poverty, are afraid to change their work, thinking that what they are
+doing is the best for them. What is needed is to remove some of the
+prejudices that prevent people from seeing the advantages that would
+result from their devoting themselves to the cultivation of fruits for
+exportation.
+
+"There is no doubt that there are in this island physical and moral
+causes that hamper the progress of agriculture. The physical are: the
+distribution of the grounds in large portions to individual owners, the
+condition of the roads, almost impassable during the rainy season; the
+lack of bridges, the lack of labor, and lastly the lack of concerted
+action among the inhabitants. The moral reasons are: insufficient
+instruction and education of the laboring people, the contempt for
+farming peculiar to the young, and especially the unmarried landholder;
+the great number of idlers and the small population."
+
+The measures adopted by the supreme government in 1784 had checked the
+progress of Cuba and even diminished the population. In that epoch the
+allowances from Mexico decreased and the authorities of the island found
+themselves without means to perform the every day business of the
+island. The evils produced by these new decrees were set forth in a
+petition to the king and were amply discussed in the paper.
+
+The excitement of the authorities and the population is reflected in
+various articles of the _Papel Periodico_ which have not only the merit
+of showing the state of the public mind, but also of proving that the
+authorities in Cuba itself favored reforms. They certainly would not
+have been published had they not been approved of by Governor Las Casas.
+There are interesting communications in the paper from foreigners then
+visiting in Havana. One of them signing himself "El Europeo imparcial"
+gives a very appreciative account of the character and customs of the
+Havanese. He praises their religion, their piety, their zeal for divine
+worship and devotion to the saints; their courteous and affable conduct,
+the refinement of their leaders, the magnificence of their festivities
+and assemblies, both sacred and secular, their streets and promenades,
+where multitudes of brilliant carriages are to be seen, and other
+features of public life which in all countries are the first to strike
+the foreign visitor.
+
+A most ambitious and for the time extraordinary work appeared in the
+year 1787. It was a book by D. Antonio Parra on the fish and crustacea
+of the island, illustrated by the Cuban Baez. It was the first
+scientific work written and published in Cuba, and seems for some time
+to have remained the only one. For until the end of the century the
+literature produced had a distinctly dilettante character. The fable,
+epigram and satire occasionally relieved the flood of lyric verse. Most
+of this appeared anonymously; or the writers used pseudonyms or signed
+their names in anagrams. P. José Rodriguez, the author of "The Prince
+Gardener," the comedy popular in Havana at that time, wrote under the
+pen-name "Capucho" a number of gay decimas, poems in the Spanish form of
+ten lines of eight syllables each. But none of these works were of a
+quality to call for serious criticism and had no merits that insured
+for them a permanent place in what was ultimately to be known as Cuban
+literature; for this literature dates only from the nineteenth century.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XV
+
+
+"Cuba; America: America; Cuba. The two names are inseparable." So we
+said at the beginning of our history of the "Pearl of the Antilles." So
+we must say at the beginning of a new era, the third, in these annals.
+At the beginning the connection was between Cuba and America as a
+whole--the continents of the western hemisphere. In this second case it
+is between Cuba and America in the more restricted meaning of the United
+States. There was a significant and to some degree influential forecast
+of this relationship in the preceding era, in which Cuba was in contact
+with England and with the rising British power in the New World. For
+what was afterward to become the United States was then a group of
+British colonies, and it was inevitable that relations begun in Colonial
+times should be inherited by the independent nation which succeeded.
+Moreover, Cuba was in those days brought to the attention of the future
+United States in a peculiarly forcible manner by the very important
+participation of Colonial troops, particularly from Connecticut and New
+Jersey, in that British conquest of Havana which we have recorded in
+preceding chapters.
+
+It was nearly half a century, however, after the establishment of
+American independence that any practical interest began to be taken in
+Cuba by the great continental republic at the north. The purchase of the
+Louisiana territory and the opening to unrestrained American commerce of
+that Mississippi River which a former Governor of Cuba had discovered
+and partially explored, had greatly increased American interest in the
+Gulf of Mexico and had created some commercial interest in the great
+Island which forms its southern boundary. Later the acquisition of
+Florida called attention acutely to the passing away of Spain's American
+Empire and to the concern which the United States might well feel in the
+disposition of its remaining fragments. Already, in the case of Florida
+in 1811 the United States Government had enunciated the principle that
+it could not permit the transfer of an adjacent colony from one European
+power to another. It will be pertinent to this narrative to recall that
+action in fuller detail. The time was in the later Napoleonic wars, when
+Spain was almost at the mercy of any despoiler. There was imminent
+danger that Spain would transfer Florida to some other power, as she had
+done a few years before with the Louisiana territory, or that it would
+be taken from her. In these circumstances the Congress of the United
+States on January 15, 1811, adopted a joint resolution in these terms:
+
+"Taking into view the peculiar situation of Spain, and of her American
+provinces; and considering the influence which the destiny of the
+territory adjoining the southern border of the United States may have
+upon their security, tranquility and commerce,
+
+"Be it Resolved: That the United States, under the peculiar
+circumstances of the existing crisis, cannot without serious inquietude
+see any part of the said territory pass into the hands of any foreign
+power; and that a due regard for their own safety compels them to
+provide under certain contingencies for the temporary occupation of the
+said territory; they at the same time declaring that the said territory
+shall, in their hands, remain subject to future negotiations."
+
+Then the same Congress enacted a law authorizing the President to take
+possession of Florida or of any part of it, in case of any attempt of a
+European power other than Spain herself to occupy it, and to use to that
+end the Army and Navy of the United States. Nothing of the sort needed
+to be done at that time, though a little later, during the War of 1812,
+Florida was invaded by a British force and immediately thereafter was
+occupied by an American army.
+
+The enunciation of this principle by Congress marked an epoch in
+American foreign policy, leading directly to the Monroe Doctrine a dozen
+years later. It also marked an epoch in the history of Cuba, especially
+so far as the relations of the Island with the United States were
+concerned. For while this declaration by Congress applied only to
+Florida, because Florida abutted directly upon the United States, the
+logic of events presently compelled it to be extended to Cuba. This was
+done a little more than a dozen years after the declaration concerning
+Florida. By this time Florida had been annexed to the United States and
+Mexico, Central America and South America had revolted against Spain and
+declared their independence. Only the "Ever Faithful Isle," as Cuba then
+began to be called, and Porto Rico remained to Spain of an empire which
+once nominally comprised the entire western hemisphere. Cuba was not
+like Florida geographically, abutting upon the United States. But it lay
+almost within sight from the coast of Florida and commanded the southern
+side of the Florida channel through which all American commerce from the
+Mississippi River and the Gulf of Mexico to the Atlantic Ocean must
+pass, and thus it was invested with peculiar importance to the United
+States. Nor was it lacking in importance to Great Britain and France.
+Those powers possessed extensive and valuable holdings in the West
+Indies and they were rivals for the reversionary title to these
+remaining Spanish Islands, Cuba and Porto Rico. Each of them realized
+that whichever of them should secure those two great Islands would, by
+virtue of that circumstance, become the dominant power in the West
+Indies. Moreover they both felt sure that Spain would soon have to
+relinquish her hold upon them. This latter belief prevailed widely also
+in the United States, and was by no means absent from Cuba itself.
+Indeed a party was organized in Cuba in the spring of 1822, for the
+express purpose of seeking annexation to the United States, and in
+September of that year did make direct overtures to that end to the
+American Government. The President of the United States, James Monroe,
+received these overtures in a cautious and non-committal manner. He sent
+a confidential agent to Cuba to examine into conditions there and to
+report upon them, but gave no direct encouragement to the annexation
+movement.
+
+At about this time the direction of the foreign affairs of Great Britain
+came into the hands of George Canning, a statesman of exceptional vision
+and aggressive patriotism, and one specially concerned with the welfare
+of British interests in the New World. He was well aware of the
+condition and trend of affairs in Cuba, and felt that the transfer of
+that Island from Spain to any other power would be unfortunate for
+British interests in the West Indies. When he learned of the Cuban
+overtures for annexation to the United States, therefore, in December,
+1822, he brought the matter to the careful consideration of the British
+Cabinet and suggested to his colleagues that such annexation of Cuba by
+the United States would be a very serious detriment to the British
+Empire in the western hemisphere. He made no diplomatic representation
+upon the subject either to Spain or to the United States, but he did
+send a considerable naval force to the coastal waters of Cuba and Porto
+Rico, apparently with the purpose of preventing, if necessary, any such
+change in the sovereignty and occupancy of those Islands.
+
+[Illustration: GEORGE CANNING]
+
+In this Canning was probably over-anxious, since there is no indication
+whatever that the American Government contemplated any such step or that
+it would have attempted to take possession of Cuba if the Island had
+been left unguarded. On the other hand, this action of Canning's very
+naturally aroused American concern and provoked the suspicion that
+England was planning the seizure or purchase of the Island. The result
+was the formal application to Cuba of the principle which had already
+been enunciated by Congress in respect to Florida. It was the
+legislative branch of the United States Government that took that action
+toward Florida. It was the executive and diplomatic branch which took
+the action toward Cuba. This was done in a memorable state document
+which formed a land-mark in the history of American foreign policy.
+
+The American Secretary of State, John Quincy Adams, on April 28, 1823,
+wrote an official letter to Hugh Nelson, who at the beginning of that
+year had become American minister to Spain. This letter contained
+official instructions to Nelson concerning his conduct in the war which
+was impending between Spain and France, because of the latter power's
+intervention in Spanish affairs in behalf of King Ferdinand VII. It then
+turned to the subject of Cuba and continued as follows:
+
+[Illustration: JOHN QUINCY ADAMS]
+
+"Whatever may be the issue of this war, it may be taken for granted that
+the dominion of Spain upon the American continents, north and south, is
+irrevocably gone. But the islands of Cuba and Porto Rico still remain
+nominally, and so far really, dependent upon her, that she yet possesses
+the power of transferring her own dominion over them, together with the
+possession of them, to others. These islands are natural appendages to
+the North American continent, and one of them almost in sight of our
+shores, from a multitude of considerations has become an object of
+transcendent importance to the commercial and political interests of our
+Union. Its commanding position with reference to the Gulf of Mexico and
+the West Indian seas, its situation midway between our southern coast
+and the island of San Domingo, its safe and capacious harbor of the
+Havana, fronting a long line of our shores destitute of the same
+advantages, the nature of its production and of its wants, furnishing
+the supplies and needing the returns of a commerce immensely profitable
+and mutually beneficial give it an importance in the sum of our national
+interests with which that of no other foreign territory can be compared,
+and little inferior to that which binds the different members of this
+Union together. Such indeed are, between the interests of that island
+and of this country, the geographical, commercial, moral and political
+relations formed by nature, gathering in the process of time, and even
+now verging to maturity, that in looking forward to the probable course
+of events for the short period of half a century, it is scarcely
+possible to resist the conviction that the annexation of Cuba to our
+Federal Republic will be indispensable to the continuance and integrity
+of the Union itself.... There are laws of political as well as of
+physical gravitation. And if an apple, severed by the tempest from its
+native tree, cannot choose but to fall to the ground, Cuba, forcibly
+disjoined from its own unnatural connection with Spain, and incapable of
+self-support, can gravitate only toward the North American Union, which,
+by the same law of nature cannot cast her off from her bosom. The
+transfer of Cuba to Great Britain would be an event unpropitious to the
+interests of this Union.... The question both of our right and of our
+power to prevent it, if necessary, by force, already obtrudes itself
+upon our councils, and the Administration is called upon, in the
+performance of its duties to the nation, at least, to use all the means
+within its competency to guard against and forefend it."
+
+That was the beginning of the policy of the United States toward Cuba.
+In making that declaration Adams had general support and little or no
+opposition. A few weeks afterward the ex-President, Thomas Jefferson,
+writing to Monroe, expressed in part the same view, though he coupled it
+with the suggestion of an alliance with Great Britain. He wrote:
+
+"Cuba alone seems at present to hold up a speck of war to us. Its
+possession by Great Britain would indeed be a great calamity to us.
+Could we induce her to join us in guaranteeing its independence against
+all the world, except Spain, it would be nearly as valuable as if it
+were our own. But should she take it, I would not immediately go to war
+for it; because the first war on other accounts will give it to us, or
+the island will give herself to us when able to do so."
+
+Two years later, in 1825, Henry Clay, then Secretary of State in the
+Cabinet of President John Quincy Adams, instructed the American
+ministers at the chief European capitals to make it known that the
+United States for itself desired no change in the political condition of
+Cuba; that it was satisfied to have it remain open to American commerce;
+but that it "could not with indifference see it passing from Spain to
+any other European power." A little later he added, referring to Cuba
+and Porto Rico, that "we could not consent to the occupation of those
+islands by any other European power than Spain, under any contingency
+whatever."
+
+This attitude of the American Government was sufficient to accomplish
+the purpose desired. Although the power of Spain continued to decline,
+no attempt was made by either France or England to acquire possession of
+Cuba by either conquest or purchase. But in August, 1825, the British
+Government laid before the American minister in London a proposal that
+the United States should unite with Great Britain and France in a
+tripartite agreement for the protection of Spain in her possession of
+Cuba to the effect that none of the three would take Cuba for itself or
+would acquiesce in the taking of it by either of the others. The
+American minister reported this to the President, who promptly and
+emphatically declined it. It was then that Henry Clay made the
+pronouncement already quoted, that the United States could not consent
+to the occupation of Cuba by any other European power than Spain, under
+any contingency whatever.
+
+A little later in the same year American interest in Cuba was again
+appealed to from another source. Several of the former Spanish colonies
+which had declared their independence, particularly Mexico and Colombia,
+expressed much dissatisfaction that Cuba and Porto Rico should remain in
+the possession of Spain. They desired to see the Spanish power entirely
+expelled from the western hemisphere. They therefore began intriguing
+for revolutions in those islands, and failing that prepared themselves
+to take forcible possession of them. These plans encountered the serious
+disapproval of the United States government, and on December 20, 1825,
+Henry Clay wrote to the representatives of the Mexican and Colombian
+governments urgently requesting them to refrain from sending the
+military expeditions to Cuba which were being prepared; a request with
+which they complied, Colombia readily but Mexico more reluctantly. Those
+two countries had been specially moved to their proposed action by the
+declaration of the famous Panama Congress, then in session, in favor of
+"the freeing of the islands of Porto Rico and Cuba from the Spanish
+yoke." It is interesting to recall, too, that in his instructions to the
+United States delegates to that Congress, who unfortunately did not
+arrive in time to participate in its deliberations, Clay declared that
+"even Spain has not such a deep interest in the future fate of Cuba as
+the United States."
+
+Justice requires us, unfortunately, in concluding our consideration of
+this early phase of Cuban-American relations, to confess that the
+motives of the United States were not at that time altogether of the
+highest character. To put it very plainly, there was much opposition to
+the extension of Mexican or Colombian influence to Cuba because that
+would have meant the abolition of human slavery in the island, and that
+would have been offensive to the slave states of the southern United
+States. Also some of the earliest movements in the United States toward
+the annexation of Cuba were inspired by the wish to maintain the
+institution of slavery in that island and to add it to the slave holding
+area of the United States. It was on such ground that Senator Hayne and
+others declared in the American Congress that the United States "would
+not permit Mexico or Colombia to take or to revolutionize Cuba." James
+Buchanan declared that under the control of one of those countries Cuba
+would become a dangerous explosive magazine for the southern slave
+States because Mexico and Colombia were free countries and "always
+conquered by proclaiming liberty to the slave."
+
+We have recalled these facts and circumstances in this place somewhat in
+advance of their strict chronological order, by way of introduction to
+the history of Cuba in the Nineteenth Century, because they really
+dominate in spirit the whole story. It will be necessary to recur to
+them again, briefly, in their proper place. But it is essential to bear
+them in mind from the beginning, even through this anticipatory review
+of them. Every page and line and letter of Cuban history in the
+Nineteenth Century is colored by the Declaration of Independence of
+1776, by the fact that the United States of America had arisen as the
+foremost power in the Western Hemisphere. Through the inspiration which
+it gave to the French Revolution, the United States was chiefly
+responsible, as an alien force, for the complete collapse of Spain as a
+great European power. Through its example and potential influence as a
+protector it was responsible for the revolt and independence of the
+Spanish colonies in Central and South America. Then through its
+assertion of special interests in Cuba, because of propinquity, and
+through the tangible influence of commercial and social intercourse,
+together with a constantly increasing and formidable, though generally
+concealed, political sway, it determined the future destinies of the
+Queen of the Antilles.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XVI
+
+
+We must consider, in order rightly to understand the situation of Cuba
+at the beginning of the nineteenth century, and the momentous train of
+incidents in her history which then began, the salient features of the
+history of Spain at that time. The reign of Charles III. had temporarily
+restored Spain to a place in the front rank of European powers, with
+particularly close relations, through the Bourbon crowns of the two
+countries, with France. But that rank was of brief duration. In 1788
+Charles IV. came to the throne, one of the weakest, most vacillating and
+most ignoble of princes, who was content to let his kingdom be governed
+for him by his wife's notorious lover. A few years later the Bourbon
+crown of France was sent to the guillotine, and then came the deluge, in
+which Spain was overwhelmed and entirely wrecked.
+
+The first Treaty of San Ildefonso in 1796 made Spain little better than
+the vassal of France in the latter's war against Great Britain. That was
+the work of Godoy, the "Prince of the Peace" and the paramour of the
+queen. Against him Spain revolted in 1798 and he was forced to retire
+from office, only to be restored to it by Napoleon Bonaparte in 1800.
+Then came the second secret and scandalous Treaty of San Ildefonso, in
+which Spain was the merest tool and dupe of France, or of Napoleon; and
+in 1803 there followed another international compact under which Spain
+agreed to pay France a considerable yearly subsidy. A few years later
+occurred the French invasion, the abdication of Charles IV., the
+accession, then merely nominal, of Ferdinand VII., the imposition of
+Joseph Bonaparte, and the Peninsular War.
+
+The effect of these events was two-fold, the two parts strongly
+contrasting. On the one hand, the Spanish national spirit was aroused as
+it had not been for many years. Napoleon's aggressions went too far. His
+ambition overleaped itself. In their resistance and resentment the
+Spanish people "found themselves" and rose to heights of patriotism
+which they had not scaled before. Concurrently they began the
+development of a liberal and progressive spirit of inestimable
+significance. They demanded a constitution and the abolition of old
+abuses which for generations had been stifling the life of the
+Peninsula.
+
+On the other hand, the prestige of Spain in her trans-Atlantic colonies
+was hopelessly impaired, and her physical power to maintain her
+authority in them was destroyed. With French and British armies making
+the Peninsula their fighting ground, Spain had no armies to spare for
+the suppression of Central and South American rebellions. Thus while
+there was an auspicious renascence of national vigor at home, there was
+an ominous decline of imperial authority abroad. The work of Miranda,
+San Martin and Bolivar was thus facilitated and assured of success.
+
+In domestic affairs, Spain showed some progress, even under her worst
+rulers. Godoy, vile as he was, abolished the savagery of bull-fighting
+and promoted the policing of cities and the paving and cleaning of
+streets, some advance was made in popular education, and the
+intellectual life of the nation began to emerge from the eclipse which
+it had been suffering. Possibly the most significant achievement of all
+was the development of an approximation to popular government, with an
+attempt to unify Spain and the colonies; which latter came too late. The
+Junta Central in January, 1809, declared that the American colonies were
+an integral part of the Spanish Kingdom, and were not mere appanages of
+the crown. This was revolutionary, but it was insisted upon by the
+Junta, and practical steps were taken to make the principle effective.
+The Junta was driven from Seville by Napoleon, whereupon it fled to
+Cadiz, and there, in superb defiance of the invader and oppressor,
+arranged for the assembling of a Cortes, or National Parliament, in
+which the colonies should be fully represented. This body, a single
+chamber, met in September, 1810, with elected representatives from the
+American colonies, including Cuba. Owing to the difficulty of getting
+deputies from America in time, however, men were selected in Spain to
+represent the colonies at the opening of the session.
+
+A tangled skein of history followed. The Cortes, though far from radical
+in tone, was progressive and was sincerely devoted to the principle of
+popular government, and it insisted upon the adoption of the
+Constitution of 1812, under which the people were made supreme, with the
+crown and the church in subordinate places. All Spaniards, in America as
+well as in Europe, were citizens of the kingdom, and were entitled to
+vote for members of the Cortes and were protected by a bill of rights.
+In many respects it was one of the most liberal and enlightened
+constitutions then existing in the world.
+
+The first act of the wretched Ferdinand VII., however, when Napoleon
+permitted him to return to Spain, was to decree the abrogation of this
+constitution and the establishment of a most repressive and reactionary
+régime which liberals were cruelly persecuted. The result of this was
+to promote the revolution which had already begun in America, and to
+provoke a revolution in the Peninsula itself; in the face of which
+latter Ferdinand pretended to yield and to consent to the summoning of
+another Cortes and the reestablishment of the Constitution of 1812.
+These things were effected in 1820. But the false and fickle Ferdinand
+made his appeal to the reactionary sovereigns of the Holy Alliance, with
+the result that in 1823 the French invaded Spain to suppress Liberalism,
+and those preparations were made for the resubjugation of Spain's
+American colonies which were frustrated by the promulgation of the
+Monroe Doctrine in the United States.
+
+Meantime all the Spanish colonies on the American continents had not
+only declared but had actually achieved their independence. There were
+left to Spain in all the Western Hemisphere, therefore, only the islands
+of Cuba and Porto Rico; and they remained intensely loyal. When the
+legitimate King of Spain was deposed in favor of Joseph Bonaparte, Cuba
+made it plain and emphatic that she would not recognize the French
+usurper, but would remain true to Ferdinand VII. Again, when the
+colonies of Central and South America seceded and declared their
+independence, Cuba remained loyal to the kingdom. It was because of
+these two acts that Cuba became known at the Spanish Court as "Our Ever
+Faithful Isle."
+
+For this contrast between Cuba and the rest of Spanish America there
+were three major reasons. One was, the insular position of Cuba, which
+separated her from the other Spanish provinces and their direct
+influence and cooperation, and which thus placed her at an enormous
+disadvantage for any revolutionary undertakings. The second was the
+character of the people. The Spanish settlers of Cuba had come chiefly
+from Andalusia and Estremadura, and were the very flower of the Iberian
+race, and from them had descended those who after three centuries were
+entitled to be regarded as the Cuban people. They retained unimpaired
+the finest qualities of the great race that in the sixteenth century had
+made Spain all but the mistress of the world, and they still cherished a
+chivalric loyalty to the spirit and the traditions of that wondrous age.
+In other colonies the settlement was more varied. Men had flocked in
+from Galicia and Catalonia, with a spirit radically different from that
+of Andalusians and Estremadurans. To this day the contrast between
+Cubans and the people of any other Latin-American state is obvious and
+unmistakable.
+
+The third reason was this, that in the years, perhaps a full generation,
+preceding the South and Central American revolt, Spain had manifested
+toward Cuba a disposition and actual practices well calculated to
+confirm that country in its loyalty and in its expectation of enjoying
+liberty and prosperity under the Spanish crown in an age of Spanish
+renascence. With the brief English occupation, indeed, the modern
+history of Cuba began in circumstances of the most auspicious character.
+The English opened Havana to the trade of the world and caused it to
+realize what its possibilities were of future expansion and greatness.
+Then the Spanish government, reestablished throughout the island, for a
+time showed Cuba marked favor. The old-time trade monopoly, which had
+been destroyed by the English, was abandoned in favor of a liberal and
+enlightened policy. Commerce, industry and agriculture were encouraged,
+even with bounties. Cuba was made to feel that there were very practical
+advantages in being a colony of Spain.
+
+Moreover, the island enjoyed a succession of capable and liberal
+governors, or captains-general; notably Luis de las Casas at the end of
+the eighteenth century, and the Marquis de Someruelos in the first dozen
+years of the nineteenth century. Under benevolent administrators and
+beneficent laws, and with Spain herself adopting the liberal
+constitution of 1812, Cuba had good cause to remain loyal to the Spanish
+connection.
+
+But these very same conditions and circumstances ultimately made Cuba
+supremely resolute in her efforts for independence. The men of
+Andalusian and Estremaduran ancestry had been loyal to Spain, but they
+were just as resolute in their loyalty to Cuba when they were once
+convinced that there must be a breach of relations. The same
+characteristics that made their ancestors the leaders of the Spanish
+race in adventure and in conquest made them now equally ready to be
+leaders in the great adventure of conquering the independence of Cuba
+from Spain. And if the liberal laws and policy of Spain, and the
+Constitution of 1812, had greatly commended Spanish government to them,
+the restored Spanish king's flat repudiation of all those things equally
+condemned that government.
+
+We must therefore reckon the rise of the spirit of Cuban independence
+from the date on which Ferdinand VII. repudiated the constitution which
+he had sworn to defend. From 1812 to 1820 that spirit passed through the
+period of gestation, and in the years following the latter date it was
+born and began to make its vitality manifest. The king's pretended
+repentance and readoption of the Constitution of 1812 in 1820 came too
+late, and when it was followed by several years of alternating weakness
+and violence, and by the French intervention in 1823, the Cuban
+resolution for independence was formed. To that resolution, once formed,
+Cuba clung with a persistence which for the third time entitled her to
+the name of "Ever Faithful Isle." But now it was to herself that she was
+faithful.
+
+[Illustration: JUAN JOSÉ DIAZ ESPADA
+
+Born at Arroyave, Spain, on April 20, 1756, and educated at Salamanca,
+Juan José Diaz Espada y Landa entered the priesthood of the Roman
+Catholic Church, and on January 1, 1800, was Bishop of Cuba. Much more
+than a mere churchman, he applied himself with singular ability and
+energy to the promotion of the mental and physical welfare of the people
+as well as to their religious culture. He strongly assisted Dr. Tomas
+Romay in introducing vaccination into the island and in the prosecution
+of other sanitary measures, and was one of the foremost patrons of
+education. He also gave much attention to the correction of abuses which
+had grown up in the ecclesiastical administration. He died on August 13,
+1832, leaving a record for good works second to that of no other
+ecclesiastic in the history of Cuba.]
+
+Seldom, indeed, has there been an era in the history of the world more
+strongly suited to cause the rise of a revolutionary spirit in such a
+people as the Cubans, than was the early part of the nineteenth century.
+We have already referred to the United States of America and its
+attitude toward Cuba and Cuban affairs. That country had achieved its
+independence in circumstances scarcely more favorable than would be
+those of a Cuban revolt; and it presently waged another war which made
+it formidable among the nations. On the other hand, all Europe was in
+war-ridden chaos, with the rights of peoples to self-determination made
+a sport of autocrats. There was nothing more evident than that
+republicanism was the policy of order, stability and progress. The
+United States had just forced Spain to sell Louisiana to France, and
+then had forced France to sell it to itself. That was an object lesson
+which was not lost upon thoughtful Cubans any more than upon the peoples
+of Central and South America. It demonstrated that the power of Spain
+was waning, and that the dominant power in the western world was that of
+Republicanism. And Cubans, as well as others, were not blind to the
+practical advantages of being on the winning side.
+
+Indeed, before that Cuba had had another great object lesson. At the
+middle of the eighteenth century the English had seized Havana. That in
+itself indicated clearly the decline of Spain and her inability to
+protect or even to hold her own colonies. But the English force which
+achieved that stroke was by no means purely English. It was largely
+composed of Americans, soldiers from the British Colonies in North
+America who were, of course, British subjects but who were more and more
+calling themselves Americans; and who in course of time altogether
+rejected British rule and established an independent republic. First,
+then, Spain was beaten by England; and next England was beaten by the
+United States. Obviously the latter was the power to whom to look for
+guidance and support.
+
+There were still other circumstances making toward the same end. We have
+remarked upon the puissant opulence of Spanish intellectuality in the
+first century of her possession of Cuba, and upon, also, the paucity of
+native Cuban achievements in letters. But in the seventeenth century a
+decline of Spanish letters and art began, with ominous progression,
+until at the end of the eighteenth century and the beginning of the
+nineteenth the very nadir of intellectual life had been reached. This
+was the more noteworthy and the more significant because of the contrast
+which the Peninsula thus presented to other lands. Elsewhere throughout
+Europe and in America that was an era of great and splendid intellectual
+activity. In almost every department of letters, science and art fine
+deeds, original and creative, were being done. The colossal military
+operations that convulsed the world from the beginning of the American
+Revolution to the fall of Napoleon sometimes blind our eyes and deaden
+our ears to what was then done in the higher walks of life; but the fact
+is that probably in no other equal space of time in the world's history
+was the mind of man more fecund, in both theory and practice.
+
+In science that era was adorned with the names of Priestly, Jenner,
+Herschel, Montgolfier, Fulton, Whitney, Volta, Pestalozzi, Piazzi, Davy,
+Cuvier, Oersted, Stevenson, Humboldt, Lavoisier, Buffon, Linnaeus. In
+music, Gluck, Haydn, Mozart, Beethoven. In literature the annals of
+those days read like a recapitulation of universal genius: Goethe, Kant,
+Herder, Lessing, Diderot, Voltaire, Rousseau, De Stael, Chateaubriand,
+Beranger, Lamartine, Burns, Scott, Goldsmith, Johnson, Adam Smith,
+Keats, Shelley, Byron, Colderidge, Lamb, Alfieri, Richter, Niebuhr,
+Derzhavin. The steamboat and the railroad came into existence. The
+Institute of France, the University of France, and the University of
+Berlin were founded. As on more than one other occasion political and
+military activity, in the direction of liberal revolution, stimulated
+intellectuality and made invention and letters vie with arms.
+
+Amid all this, Spain alone stood singular in her decline. Not one name
+of the first rank adorned her annals. In the two departments of letters
+which perhaps most of all reflect the national mind and spirit, lyrical
+poetry and the drama, she was almost entirely lacking. Most of such
+writers as she had seemed content to copy weakly French examples. And
+even when the Spanish people rose with splendid patriotic energy against
+the tyranny of Napoleon, fought their war of independence, and strove to
+establish their liberal Constitution of 1812 upon the wreck of broken
+Bourbonism, there was scarcely a glimmer of intellectual inspiration
+such as those deeds might have been expected to produce. It was reserved
+for later years, even for our own time, for Spanish letters to regain a
+place of mastery amid the foremost of the world.
+
+Meantime the intellectual life of Cuba was beginning to dawn. As early
+as 1790 a purely literary journal of fine rank, _El Papel Periodico_,
+was founded in Havana, and during many years contained contributions of
+sterling merit. As these were all unsigned, their authorship remains
+chiefly unknown. We know, however, that among them were two poets of
+real note, Manuel Justo de Rubalcava and Manuel de Zequiera y Arango.
+These were not, it is true, native Cubans. They were Spaniards from New
+Granada. But with many others from the South and Central American
+provinces they became fully identified with Cuban life and Cuban
+aspirations. In the third year of the nineteenth century, too, there was
+born of Spanish refugee parents from Santo Domingo, Cuba's greatest poet
+and indeed the greatest poet in Spanish literature in that century, José
+Maria Heredia. True, he called himself a Spaniard, in the spirit of the
+"Ever Faithful Isle," and referred to Spain as his "Alma Mater." He was
+in his youth a passionate partisan of the liberal movement in the
+Peninsula, especially of the revolution led by Riego, and his earliest
+poems were written in support of that ill-fated struggle and in scathing
+denunciation of the French oppressor of Spain and of those unworthy
+Spaniards who consented to the suppression in blood of the rising cause
+of liberty. A little later these very poems were equally applicable to
+the situation in Cuba, when the people of that island began to rise
+against their Spanish oppressors, and when a certain element among them
+consented to oppression. Thereafter his writings were largely the
+literary inspiration of Cuban patriotism; and he himself was doomed by
+Spain to perpetual banishment from the island of his birth.
+
+One other factor in the situation must be recalled. During the period
+which we are now considering Cuba was the asylum for a strangely mingled
+company of both loyalists and revolutionists; with the former probably
+predominating. When Spain lost Santo Domingo to France, many of the
+Spanish inhabitants of that island removed to Cuba; and when the island
+under Toussaint rose against Spain, there was a flight of both Spanish
+and French in the same direction. Also, when one after another of the
+Spanish provinces on the continent began to revolt, Cuba was sought as
+an asylum. Spanish loyalists came hither to escape the revolution which
+they did not approve; and it is quite possible that they were in
+sufficient numbers materially to affect the course and determination of
+the island, first in standing by Ferdinand against Napoleon and later in
+declining to join the revolutionists of the American continents. Yet not
+a few of these became in a short time imbued with Cuban patriotism and
+cast in their lot with the natives of the island.
+
+There were also many revolutionary refugees, who sought asylum in Cuba
+when their cause seemed not to be prospering in other lands. As we shall
+see, the first important Cuban revolutionist, Narciso Lopez, came from
+Venezuela; and there were others from that country, and from Guatemala
+and Mexico; sufficient to exert much influence in insular affairs.
+
+It was in these strangely diverse and complex circumstances that Cuba
+entered the third great era of her existence. She was still a Spanish
+colony, and she was still a potential pawn in the international games of
+diplomacy and war. But she had at last gravitated politically toward the
+American rather than the European system, and she had begun to develop a
+spirit of individual nationality which was destined after many years and
+many labors to assure her a place among the sovereign states of the
+Western Hemisphere.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XVII
+
+
+For a correct understanding of the internal dissensions and uprisings
+which played so large a part in the history of Cuba during the greater
+part of the nineteenth century, it is necessary to have clearly in mind
+an idea of the number, nature and distribution of her population during
+this period.
+
+The first record of anything like a satisfactory enumeration of the
+people of the island is that of the census of 1775. It was known as that
+of the Abbe Raynal, and was taken under the direction and by order of
+the Marquis de la Torre. It was so far from being accurate and complete
+that it can hardly be regarded as much more than a fair estimate.
+Indeed, most authorities are of the opinion that its figures are far
+below the actual facts. It showed a population of 170,370, for the
+entire island, with 75,604 of this number residing in the district of
+Havana.
+
+The population of Cuba at that time was made up almost entirely of two
+races, the whites and the blacks, the native Indians having long ago
+practically disappeared. The following table gives a brief resumé of the
+result of the census of 1775:
+
+                           _Men_     _Women_
+    Whites                  54,555   40,864
+    Free colored            15,980   14,635
+    Slaves                  28,774   15,562
+                          --------  -------
+                            99,309   71,061
+        Total                                 170,370
+
+The spirit in which this census was taken was admirable. It sought not
+only to present statistics as to the age, race, sex and social condition
+of the population, but also, so far as possible, to indicate something
+of its distribution. It is not difficult to imagine, however, what a
+momentous undertaking such a work must have been with the meagre
+facilities then in the hands of the authorities, and it is not
+astonishing that the results left much to be desired. The failure was
+not one of intent but of the means by which the information might be
+acquired.
+
+In 1791 a second attempt to enumerate and classify the population of
+Cuba was made by order of Don Luis de las Casas. This showed a
+population of 272,141. This apparently great increase, however, is to be
+attributed to a more accurate compilation, rather than to any unusual
+immigration to Cuba during this period. Indeed careful statisticians,
+notably Baron Humboldt, have reached the conclusion that even these
+figures fell far below the truth, and that in reality the population of
+the island at this period numbered at least 362,700 adult persons.
+Humboldt's conclusions merit quotation. He says:
+
+"In 1804 I discussed the census of Don Luis de las Casas with persons
+who possessed great knowledge of the locality. Examining the proportions
+of the numbers omitted in the partial comparisons, it seemed to us that
+the population of the island, in 1791, could not have been less than
+362,700 souls. This has been augmented, during the years between 1791
+and 1804, by the number of African negroes imported, which, according to
+the custom-house returns for that period, amounted to 60,393; by the
+immigration from Europe and St. Domingo (5,000); and by the excess of
+births over deaths, which, in truth, is indeed small in a country where
+one-fourth or one-fifth of the entire population is condemned to live in
+celibacy. The result of these three causes of increase was reckoned to
+be 60,000, estimating an annual loss of seven per cent, on the newly
+imported negroes; this gives approximately, for the year 1804, a minimum
+of 432,080 inhabitants. I estimated this number for the year 1804, to
+comprise, whites, 234,000, free-colored, 90,000, slaves, 180,000. I
+estimated the slave population, graduating the production of sugar at 80
+to 100 arrobas for each negro on the sugar plantations, and 82 slaves as
+the mean population of each plantation. There were then, 250 of these.
+In the seven parishes, Guanajay, Managua, Batabano, Guines, Cano,
+Bejucal, and Guanabacoa, there were found, by an exact census, 15,130
+slaves on 183 sugar plantations."
+
+After expatiating on the difficulty of ascertaining with absolute
+accuracy the ratio of the production of sugar to the number of negroes
+employed on the different estates, Humboldt continues:
+
+"The number of whites can be estimated by the rolls of the militia, of
+which, in 1804, there were 2,680 disciplined, and 27,000 rural,
+notwithstanding the great facilities for avoiding the service, and
+innumerable exemptions granted to lawyers, physicians, apothecaries,
+notaries, clergy and church servants, schoolmasters, overseers, traders
+and all who are styled noble."
+
+Accepting, however, for the moment the figures of the census of 1791,
+merely for the sake of future comparison, let us see how the population
+of the island was distributed at this period. Of the 272,141 inhabitants
+shown by the census over half, or 137,800, were in the district of
+Havana, and almost one third of the latter number in the city itself.
+These were divided as follows:
+
+    Whites, both sexes             73,000
+    Free colored, both sexes       27,600
+    Slaves, both sexes             37,200
+                                  -------
+                                  137,800
+
+One of the best reasons for believing that this 1791 census does not
+tell the whole story is that the proportion of white persons to the
+black slaves is practically two to one, while as a matter of fact the
+most eminent authorities are agreed that during the first half of the
+nineteenth century, and for some years previous, it was about 100 to 83,
+a matter which, as we shall see, was of grave concern to the Spanish
+colonists.
+
+It should be noted in passing that the greediness with which the Spanish
+conquerors regarded their possessions in the New World had marked effect
+on the difficulties of numbering the people. For too well the plantation
+owners had learned that a record of an increase in their possessions, an
+added number of slaves or signs of growing prosperity, meant that the
+long arm of the crown would stretch out to despoil by further taxation,
+added to the already heavy toll. It is no wonder, therefore, that the
+efforts of the census takers were impeded rather than furthered.
+
+In 1811, when the slave trade and the consequent increase of the black
+population was giving great concern to the more intelligent and
+far-seeing of the Cuban patriots, pressure was brought to bear on the
+Spanish government and on March 26 of that year, Señors Alcocer and
+Arguelles made a motion in the Spanish Cortes against the African
+slave-trade and the continuation of slavery in the Spanish colonies. A
+little later in the same year Don Francisco de Arango, an exceedingly
+erudite statesman, also made a remonstrance to the Cortes upon the same
+subject. This was in the name of the Ayuntamiento, the Consulado and the
+Patriotic Society of Havana. The text of this representation or
+remonstrance may be found in the "_Documents relative to the
+slave-trade, 1814_."
+
+Unfortunately in compiling the tables which were published in 1811 no
+new census was taken, and the increases in population from 1791 to 1811
+were merely estimated. These estimates show a population of 600,000--a
+greater number, it is interesting to note, by many thousands than was
+shown by the census of 1817, with which we shall deal later. This
+population was distributed as follows:
+
+    _Western Part of the_           _Free_
+        _Island_.         _Whites_ _Colored_ _Slaves_ _Total_
+    Surrounding Country    118,000   15,000  119,000  252,000
+    Havana and Suburbs      43,000   27,000   28,000   98,000
+                           -------   ------  -------  -------
+                           161,000   42,000  147,000  350,000
+
+    _Eastern Part of the Island_.
+    Santiago de Cuba        40,000   38,000   32,000  110,000
+    Puerto Principe         38,000   14,000   18,000   70,000
+    Cinco Villas            35,000   20,000   15,000   70,000
+                           -------   ------   ------  -------
+                           113,000   72,000   65,000  250,000
+                           -------  -------  -------  -------
+        Totals             274,000  114,000  212,000  600,000
+
+From the above we can see that at this time there were only 62,000 more
+white people in Cuba than there were slaves, and if we take into
+consideration the free blacks, then the negroes exceeded the white
+population by 52,000. This was perhaps inevitable when we consider that
+there must be labor to develop the plantations and that that labor was
+almost entirely provided by the slave trade. Nevertheless, the white
+population of Cuba lived in somewhat the same state of subconscious
+terror of the possibilities of a black uprising which tormented the
+planters in portions of the United States. But "that is another story"
+of which we shall hear more later.
+
+In 1813 the Spanish Cortes passed certain measures, which, together with
+the necessity for as accurate as possible an enumeration of the
+population of the island for the purpose of an equitable establishment
+of electoral juntas of provinces, partidas and parishes, made a new
+census obligatory. This was taken in 1817. The results of this new
+census were as follows:
+
+            _Districts_   _White_   _Free colored_   _Slaves_
+    _Western Department:_
+        Havana             135,177     40,419      112,122
+        Matanzas            10,617      1,675        9,594
+        Trinidad (with
+          Sancti Spiritus,
+          Remedios, and
+          Villa Clara)      51,864     16,411       14,497
+    _Eastern Department:_
+        Santiago  (with
+          Bayamo,  Holguin,
+          and Baracoa)      33,733     50,230       46,500
+    Puerto Principe         25,989      6,955       16,579
+                           -------    -------      -------
+                           257,380    115,691      199,292
+    Total                  572,363
+
+The census of 1817 was without doubt the most perfect which had up to
+that time been taken; but, for the reasons before given, it was far from
+being an accurate enumeration. To these figures, before transmitting
+them to Spain, the Provincial Deputation added 32,641 transients of
+various kinds, and 25,967 negroes imported during the year in which the
+census was taken. These additions made the report read as follows:
+
+    Whites                  290,021
+    Free Colored            115,691
+    Slaves                  225,259
+                            -------
+            Total           630,971
+
+It would seem that these various censuses and the estimate of 1811 show
+great discrepancies, but on this point we have the sage observations of
+no less an authority than Baron Humboldt to guide us. He says:
+
+"We shall not be surprised at the partial contradiction found in the
+tables of population when we taken into consideration all the
+difficulties that have been encountered in the centres of European
+civilization, England and France, whenever the great operation of a
+general census is attempted. No one is ignorant, for example, of the
+fact that the population of Paris, in 1820, was 714,000, and from the
+number of deaths, and supposed proportion of births to the total
+population, it is believed to have been 520,000, at the beginning of the
+eighteenth century; yet during the administration of M. Necker, the
+ascertained population was one-sixth less than this number."
+
+The process of census taking even in this twentieth century is an
+enormous undertaking and not free from error. How much more difficult
+must it have been in a country where it was to the interest of the
+intelligent to suppress the facts, where a large proportion of the
+population was still in slavery, and where means of communication from
+place to place were far from adequate!
+
+Baron Humboldt after very careful calculation estimated the population
+at the close of 1825 to be as follows:
+
+    Whites                  325,000
+    Free colored            130,000
+    Slaves                  260,000
+                            -------
+        Total               715,000
+
+This was nearly equal to that of the British Antilles, and about twice
+that of Jamaica.
+
+During the first half of the nineteenth century three additional
+censuses were taken:
+
+                         _Census of 1827_
+
+                 _Whites_      _Free Colored_     _Slaves_       _Total_
+ _Department_ _Male_ _Female_  _Male_ _Female_  _Male_  _Female_
+  Western     89,526  75,532   21,235  24,829  125,388  72,027   408,537
+  Central     53,447  44,776   13,296  10,950   28,398  13,630   164,497
+  Eastern     25,680  22,090   17,431  18,753   29,504  17,995   131,353
+             ------- -------   ------  ------  ------- -------   -------
+    Total    168,653 142,398   51,962  54,532  183,290 103,652   704,487
+
+                         _Census of 1841_
+
+                 _Whites_      _Free Colored_     _Slaves_       _Total_
+ _Department_ _Male_ _Female_  _Male_ _Female_  _Male_  _Female_
+  Western    135,079 108,944   32,726  33,737  207,954 113,320   631,760
+  Central     60,035  53,838   15,525  16,054   34,939  15,217   195,608
+  Eastern     32,030  28,365   27,452  27,344   38,357  25,708   180,256
+             ------- -------   ------  ------  ------- ------- ---------
+    Total    227,144 191,147   75,703  77,135  281,250 155,245 1,007,624
+
+                        _Census for 1846_
+
+                 _Whites_      _Free Colored_     _Slaves_       _Total_
+ _Department_ _Male_ _Female_  _Male_ _Female_  _Male_  _Female_
+  Western   133,968 110,141  28,964  32,730  140,131   87,682    533,617
+  Central    62,262  52,692  17,041  17,074   32,425   14,560    196,954
+  Eastern    34,753  31,951  26,646  26,771   28,455   20,506    169,082
+            ------- -------  ------  ------  -------  -------    -------
+    Total   230,983 194,784  72,651  76,575  201,011  122,748    898,752
+
+J. S. Thrasher, translator of Baron Humboldt's admirable work on Cuba,
+and himself an authority of note, offers the following interesting and
+suggestive discussion of the census of 1846:
+
+"The slightest examination leads to the belief that there is some error
+in the figures of the census of 1846; and we are inclined to doubt its
+results, for the following reasons:
+
+"1st--During the period between 1841 and 1846, no great cause, as
+epidemic, or emigration on a large scale, existed to check the hitherto
+steady increase of the slave population, and cause a decrease of 112,736
+in its numbers, being nearly twenty six per cent. of the returns of
+1841; which apparent decrease and the annihilation of former rate of
+increase (3.7 per cent. yearly), amount together to a loss of 47 per
+cent., in six years.
+
+"2d.--During this period the material prosperity of the country
+experienced no decrease, except the loss of part of one crop, consequent
+upon the hurricane of 1845.
+
+"3d.--During the period from 1842 to 1846, the church returns of
+christenings and interments were as follows:
+
+                 _White_   _Colored_ _Total_
+    Christenings  87,049    74,302   161,349
+    Interments    51,456    57,762   109,218
+                  ------    ------   -------
+    Increase      35,591    16,540    52,131
+
+"4th.--And because ... a capitation tax upon house servants was imposed
+in 1844, and a very general fear existed that it would be extended to
+other classes."
+
+Incorrect as we have seen these various censuses to be, they do furnish
+us with very interesting means of analysis. We can see by the foregoing
+tables that the free population (black and white) was nearly two thirds
+of the entire population of the island; and also that, according to the
+last census given above, the blacks on the island exceeded the white
+people by many thousands. The balance of power then lay with the free
+blacks.
+
+But this was not as dangerous as it may seem--as it often appeared to
+the Cubans. At this stage of his history the negro was not even one
+generation removed from his native jungle. He was imitating the white
+man not so much in his quiet virtues as in his glaring and showy vices.
+The negro is naturally sociable and happy-go-lucky. The island of Cuba
+has not a climate which is conducive to arduous labors.
+
+The natural tendency of the colored freed man was to gravitate away from
+the plantations, into the cities and villages. This made it necessary
+constantly to be importing new slaves to take the place of the freed
+man. Frequently, however, the latter improved in his new surroundings.
+His freedom, his increased obligations, his new sense of self-respect,
+made him desire to throw his fortunes, not with his enslaved black
+brothers but with the free born white man. This was the more easy of
+accomplishment because there is no place in the world where people are
+more democratic in matters of race than in Cuba. A free black man who
+improved his opportunities was sure of being received as the equal of
+the white man in the same station of life. This even extended to
+intermarriage with white women. Miscegenation was very common, but
+curiously enough, more common in plantation life, on the same basis that
+the American planter in the southern part of the United States conducted
+his relations with his women slaves. The tendency of the free colored
+man, in spite of his new opportunities, was to marry one of his own
+race.
+
+In 1820 the slave-trade with Africa was legally abolished, and
+undoubtedly if this law had been enforced the negro population would
+have diminished rapidly, because the mortality of the negro race in
+slavery is very high. Even in Cuba, a land where the climate is more
+similar to that of his own country than that of any part of the United
+States, the negro is all too frequently a victim of tuberculosis.
+Indeed, although in the Custom House between 1811 and 1817, 67,000
+negroes were registered as imported, and the real number must have been
+far greater, in 1817 there were only 13,300 more slaves than in 1811.
+
+Another reason, too, would have contributed very quickly to the
+diminishing of the negro population. Spain, always greedy for the main
+chance, never far-seeing in her relations with her American possessions,
+had urged the importation of male slaves in preference to females. Of
+course this meant a preponderance of laborers, but it also militated
+against the increase of the race in Cuba by natural means. There was far
+from being a sufficient number of young women of child-bearing age. On
+the plantations the proportion of women to men was one to four; in the
+cities the rate was better, 1 to 1.4; in Havana 1 to 1.2; and in the
+island considered as a whole 1 to 1.7. For a normal and proper birth
+rate there must be a preponderance of women over men.
+
+But, although the laws forbade the slave traffic, by illicit means it
+continued to be carried on. Between 1811 and 1825 no fewer than 185,000
+African negroes were imported into Cuba; 60,000 of these subsequent to
+the passage of the measure of 1820.
+
+The ratio of population to the square league is a very interesting and
+illuminating study. On this point J. S. Thrasher gives us some excellent
+deductions:
+
+"Supposing the population to be 715,000 (which I believe to be within
+the minimum number) the ratio of population in Cuba, in 1825, was 197
+individuals to the square league, and, consequently, nearly twice less
+than that of San Domingo, and four times smaller than that of Jamaica.
+If Cuba were as well cultivated as the latter island, or, more properly
+speaking, if the density of population were the same, it would contain
+3,515 x 974, or 3,159,000 inhabitants."
+
+In 1811, at the time the population was estimated, we find the negroes
+to have been distributed as follows; the figures indicating percentages:
+
+    _Western Department_ _Free_   _Slave_    _Total_
+    In towns              11       11-1/2     22-1/2
+    In rural districts     1-1/2   34         35-1/2
+    _Eastern Department_
+    In towns              11        9-1/2     20-1/2
+    In rural districts    11       10-1/2     21-1/2
+                         --------  --------  --------
+                          34-1/2   65-1/2    100
+
+The foregoing indicates that sixty per cent. of the black population at
+this period lived in the district of Havana, and that there were about
+equal numbers of freedmen and slaves, that the total black population in
+that portion of the island was distributed between towns and country in
+the ratio of two to three, while in the eastern part of the island the
+distribution between towns and country was about equal. We shall find
+the foregoing compilations of inestimable value in consideration of the
+problem which was such a source of concern to the white population and
+which played so large a part in this period of the history of Cuba;
+namely, slavery.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XVIII
+
+
+The first records of the slave trade in Cuba--so far as the eastern part
+of the island is concerned--were in 1521. Curiously enough it was begun
+by Portuguese rather than Spanish settlers. It was a well recognized
+institution, licensed by the government. The first license was held by
+one Gasper Peralta, and covered the trade with the entire Spanish
+America. Later French traders visited Havana and took tobacco in trade
+for their slaves. The English, during their possession of the island,
+far from frowning on the traffic, encouraged it; yet in the latter part
+of the eighteenth century the number of slaves in Cuba was estimated not
+to exceed 32,000. This was previous to 1790. Of these 32,000, 25,000
+were in the district of Havana.
+
+Baron Humboldt is authority for some interesting figures on the traffic.
+"The number of Africans imported from 1521 to 1763 was probably 60,000,
+whose descendants exist" (he writes in 1856) "among the free mulattoes,
+the greater part of which inhabit the eastern part of the island. From
+1763 to 1790 when the trade in negroes was thrown open, Havana received
+24,875 (by the Tobacco Company, 4,957 from 1763 to 1766; by the contract
+with the Marquis de Casa Enrile, 14,132, from 1773 to 1779; by the
+contract with Baker and Dawson, 5,786 from 1786 to 1789). If we estimate
+the importation of slaves in the eastern part of the island during these
+twenty-seven years (1763 to 1790) at 6,000, we have a total importation
+of 80,875 from the time of the discovery of Cuba, or more properly
+speaking, from 1521 to 1790."
+
+It was in the period of which we are writing, particularly in the very
+early years of the nineteenth century, that the slave trade most
+flourished in Cuba. It is estimated that more slaves were bought and
+sold from 1790 to 1820 than in all the preceding history of the Spanish
+possession of the island.
+
+England, possibly seeing what an enormous power for developing the
+natural wealth of the island an influx of free labor would give to
+Spain, entered into an arrangement with Ferdinand VII.--whose sole
+animating motive in dealing with his foreign possessions seems to have
+been to grab the reward in hand and let the future take care of
+itself--whereby, upon the payment by England to the king of four hundred
+thousand pounds sterling, to compensate for the estimated loss which the
+cessation of the slave trade would mean to the colonies, Ferdinand
+agreed that the slave trade north of the equator should be restricted
+from November 22, 1817, and totally abolished on May 30, 1820. Ferdinand
+accepted the money, but as we have seen he did not fulfil his contract
+and winked at the continuation of the importation of labor from Africa.
+
+The following table shows an importation into the district of Havana
+alone, for a period of 31 years, of 225,574 Africans:
+
+    1790      2,534          1806      4,395
+    1791      8,498          1807      2,565
+    1792      8,528          1808      1,607
+    1793      3,777          1809      1,152
+    1794      4,164          1810      6,672
+    1795      5,832          1811      6,349
+    1796      5,711          1812      6,081
+    1797      4,552          1813      4,770
+    1798      2,001          1814      4,321
+    1799      4,919          1815      9,111
+    1800      4,145          1816     17,737
+    1801      1,659          1817     25,841
+    1802     13,832          1818     19,902
+    1803      9,671          1819     17,194
+    1804      8,923          1820      4,122
+    1805      4,999                  -------
+                            Total    225,574
+
+But Havana was not the only port through which slaves entered Cuba, and
+the recognized channels were not the only ones through which they came.
+Therefore, to provide for the illicit importations and those made at
+Trinidad and Santiago these figures should be increased by at least one
+fourth to cover the importations for the whole island. This gives us the
+following results:
+
+        From 1521 to 1763                                60,000
+             1764                                        33,409
+    Havana
+        From 1791 to 1805                                91,211
+             1806 to 1820                               131,829
+    Secret trade and trade in other parts of the island  56,000
+                                                        -------
+                                                        372,499
+
+As we have seen, the trade did not stop when it was made illegal. We
+have the authority of one of the British commissioners at Havana that in
+1821 twenty-six vessels engaged in the slave trade landed 6,415 slaves;
+and this gentleman also states that only about fifty per cent. of such
+arrivals ever reached the attention of the commissioners, so that to
+this number an equal amount should be added to provide for the slaves
+imported by "underground" methods.
+
+The yearly reports of these British commissioners furnish some food for
+thought on this subject. They report the following data:
+
+    1822, 10 vessels arrived, bringing--estimated--3,000 slaves
+    1823,  4 vessels arrived, bringing--estimated--1,200   "
+    1824, 17 vessels arrived, bringing--estimated--5,100   "
+    1825, 14 vessels arrived, bringing--estimated--4,200   "
+    1826, 11 vessels arrived, bringing--estimated--3,000   "
+    1827, 10 vessels arrived, bringing--estimated--3,500   "
+    1828, 28 vessels arrived, bringing--estimated--7,000   "
+                                                --------
+                                                  27,000   "
+      Adding the estimated one half for the number
+        not reported                              13,500   "
+                                                 -------
+                                                  40,500   "
+
+In 1838, the British consul at Havana reported to the foreign office in
+London, regarding slave importations into Cuba for the previous nine
+years:
+
+    1829                 8,600
+    1830                 9,800
+    1831                10,400
+    1832                 8,200
+    1833                 9,000
+    1834                11,400
+    1835                14,800
+    1836                14,200
+    1837                15,200
+                       -------
+      Total            101,600
+    Add 1/5             20,320
+                       -------
+                       121,920
+
+It will be observed that the consulate adds only one fifth to cover the
+secret importations during this period.
+
+From 1838 to 1853 the importations, according to records laid before
+the British House of Commons, were as follows:
+
+    1838        10,495            1846          419
+    1839        10,995            1847        1,450
+    1840        10,104            1848        1,500
+    1841         8,893            1849        8,700
+    1842         3,630            1850        3,500
+    1843         8,000            1851        5,000
+    1844        10,000            1852        7,924
+    1845         1,300   1st half 1853        7,329
+                                             ------
+                                             99,239
+
+During the early years of the slave trade, the Spanish masters treated
+their slaves not so well as they treated their work animals. But
+gradually they began to realize that after all it was cheaper to keep
+the slaves that they had in good physical condition than to be
+continually buying new ones, especially when the trade had fallen off
+because of legal restrictions.
+
+A greater number of colored women were imported; the moral condition of
+the negroes, especially as to marriage, became a subject of greater
+interest to the plantation owners; the negroes were encouraged to marry,
+and wives were recruited from among the mulattoes as well as those of
+pure black blood. Some efforts were made for better sanitary conditions
+toward the middle of the century, and persons were employed on the
+estates whose business it was to look after the sick slaves and nurse
+them. In the last analysis, however, the conditions under which the
+slaves lived on each plantation rested entirely--as it did in the United
+States--on the kind of overseers under whom they were employed.
+
+There are many touching stories of the devotion of the slaves to their
+master. This was quite as great as among the old southern families in
+the United States. The Cuban was naturally a kind master--we wish the
+Spanish-born planter might always be as well spoken of--and he inspired
+in his slaves a feeling of real affection. This often developed into a
+single hearted devotion so great that the slave grew to count his
+master's enemies as his own.
+
+This is not extraordinary when we consider that the African, torn from
+his own home and family ties and transported to a strange country, among
+a strange people, took the name of his master and became a part of the
+big household, identified not only with the working life but also with
+the social life of the little community represented by the plantation.
+Fierce as he may have been in his native surroundings, he was naturally
+affectionate and clung eagerly to the one who, holding the slave's whole
+destiny in his hand, yet was kind to him. The women slaves, especially
+those of mixed blood, were bound to their masters often by ties of
+consanguinity. They attended the master's wife when her children were
+born, nursed the babies at their own breasts, and served and waited upon
+the second generation as foster mothers. They were like grown up
+children. The places where they lived, the food that they ate and the
+clothing that they wore were all under the control of the one whom they
+served. When he fell ill, they were devoted nurses, and when he died,
+they buried him, and manifested their grief in their own primitive
+fashion.
+
+The slave owner who treated his slaves well, until other factors began
+to enter the situation, had little to fear from them. But masters were
+not always kindly. There were as many different varieties of human
+disposition in those days as in these. The negro can hate as fiercely as
+he can love, and gradually, as he acquired more knowledge and
+understanding, on the estates where kindness was not the law, there grew
+up mutterings of discontent and hatred, and hints of possible uprisings.
+
+It was the excessive mortality among the black population which first,
+perhaps, influenced their owners to favor better laws and more natural
+and healthful conditions for them. Curiously enough, up to the opening
+of the nineteenth century there were "religious scruples" against the
+introduction of female slaves on the plantations, although the colored
+women were much less expensive to purchase than the men. The colored men
+were condemned to celibacy, as Baron Humboldt told us, "under the
+pretext that vicious habits were thus avoided." They were worked in the
+day time, and locked in at night to avoid their having any chance for
+female companionship. And yet, in spite of the fact that these
+"scruples" were "religious," we find the paradoxical situation that the
+Jesuit and Bethlehemite friars were the only planters who encouraged the
+importation of women slaves.
+
+Don Francisco de Arango, being a clear sighted man, endeavored to bring
+about the imposition of a tax upon such plantations as did not have at
+least one third as many women as men among their slaves. He also tried
+to have a duty of $6 levied upon every male negro imported from Africa.
+In both of these efforts he was defeated, but they had the excellent
+effect of stirring public opinion. While the juntas were opposed, as
+always, to enacting any such drastic measures, yet there began to be a
+disposition to encourage the mating of the slaves, to increase the
+number of marriages, to give each negro a little cabin of his own that
+he might call home, and, when children came, to see that they were
+properly cared for. Then, too, efforts were made to insure lighter work
+for the women during pregnancy, with a total relief as the time for the
+birth of the coming child grew nearer.
+
+How much of this came about because the slave owners were forced to see
+that a continuation of the early conditions would compass their own
+ruin, and how much because they were naturally inclined to be humane
+when their duty was brought home to them, it is difficult to determine;
+but judging from the Cuban's naturally kindly disposition, we are
+inclined to believe that in many instances the master was glad to treat
+his slaves as well as he could, when he began to realize that after all
+they were not merely property--cheap labor--but human beings with
+emotions and longings very much like his own. Under these bettered
+conditions the rate of negro mortality fell as low as from eight to six
+per cent. on the best plantations.
+
+Another element, however, which was not conducive to the betterment of
+the conditions of the negroes was the introduction of thousands of
+Chinese laborers. They contracted to work for a number of years at
+prices far below those usually estimated as fair, on the island. They
+were the very lowest type of Chinese, and brought with them many vicious
+influences and practices. No Chinese women were imported, and the
+Chinese men mingled freely with the negro women. The very worst kind of
+miscegenation was thus promoted, and the effect on the morals of the
+negroes on the estates where these Chinese were employed was very bad
+indeed.
+
+In no other of the foreign colonies in America did the free negro so
+predominate as in Cuba. It was not at all a difficult matter for a black
+to gain freedom, since almost no real obstacles were placed in his way.
+Every slave who did not like his "condition of servitude" had a right
+to seek a new master, or to purchase his liberty, on payment only of the
+price paid for him.
+
+Then, too, the religious education of the slaves came to be recognized
+as a matter of great importance. Religion played an important part in
+the life of the Spanish colonies in general. It was therefore only
+natural that they should employ every available means to convert the
+African slave from his "false heathen superstitions" to their own "true
+faith." Besides, it had long been the theory of tyrants that if men were
+imbued with religious fervor and taught self-immolation, they were thus
+rendered more docile under oppression. The slave code accordingly
+required every master to instruct his slaves in religion.
+
+One of the first and most marked results of this encouragement of
+religious feeling was quite different from what had been expected or
+intended. That was, to arouse a strong and increasing repugnance to the
+legal continuance of the institution of slavery. This prevailed among
+the better class of owners as well as among the slaves themselves. More
+and more frequent became the custom of providing by will for the
+emancipation of slaves at the death of their masters. The natural
+affection, also, to which we have referred, which arose between slaves
+who acted as domestic or body servants and the owners who enjoyed such
+faithful service, conduced to the same end. The natural inclination of
+the humane master was to grant such servitors their freedom.
+
+Despite these palliating circumstances, slavery was odious, and
+persistent negro insurrections began to cause serious concern to the
+white population. In hope of checking them by kindness, new laws were
+enacted. Legal restrictions were placed upon the hours of labor. It was
+decreed that except under certain stated conditions a master should not
+work his slaves more than nine or ten hours a day. When the exigencies
+of the season required greater efforts, sixteen hours were prescribed as
+the extreme limit, and the master was required to give extra pay for the
+extra time. But these regulations were difficult if not impossible to
+enforce. Indeed, we must assume that they were not meant to be enforced.
+They were for show and nothing more; and they remained practically a
+dead letter.
+
+Religious scruples could not and of course did not prevent the
+performance of much labor on Sundays, and the needs of agriculture often
+made work necessary on holidays. There were routine duties to be
+performed every day. For these, two hours were regarded as sufficient,
+and to such time the code restricted the labor of Sundays and holidays.
+There was also a general provision under which slaves were granted the
+right to labor on their own account, paying a certain part of their
+wages to the masters and retaining the remainder from which they might,
+if they desired, create a fund looking toward their own eventual
+freedom.
+
+One cannot escape the conclusion that during the periods of slavery,
+either in the United States or the Spanish colonies, the African negro
+was never really regarded--no matter how close and friendly his
+relations with his master--in the last analysis, as anything more than a
+sort of higher animal or at best a child. Men do not thrash their
+employes for disobedience, when there is any pretence of equality
+between master and servant. Animals are whipped to teach them obedience,
+and a child is chastised when he is naughty. The last was ever the
+corrective which the white master wielded against his disobedient or
+lazy slaves. It is true that nominally the laws of Cuba did not permit
+its brutal misuse. The slave code limited the amount of punishment for
+any offense to twenty-five lashes. Any more severe measures, if known,
+were the subject of careful judicial investigation, and the penalty for
+them on conviction was a fine of from $20 to $200. Unfortunately,
+however, these laws were not effective. It is obvious that a strong man
+can do much damage to a human being with 25 lashes. Infractions of the
+law were seldom reported. The frightened African, subject to his master,
+feared the results of reporting a violation of the law. He would have to
+stand trial before a jury, not of his peers but of white men, one of
+whose number was the aggressor. The other slaves--his witnesses--were
+far too afraid of what might befall them if they upheld the testimony of
+the complainant. Even the sluggish brain of the slave could picture,
+with dreadful anticipation, the anger of the master, and the subsequent
+retribution, much more severe than the original beating, should by any
+extraordinary chance the slave be triumphant and his master be compelled
+to pay a fine.
+
+And so, in spite of the fact that in none of the colonies was the
+condition of the black freedman better than in Cuba,--far better than in
+Martinique, where free negroes were prohibited from receiving gifts from
+white people, and where they might be apprehended and returned to
+servitude if they could be convicted of the very natural act of aiding
+any of their less fortunate brothers to escape--and in spite of the laws
+which might, if not dead letters, have safeguarded the interests of the
+slaves, a feeling of dissatisfaction and unrest among the blacks was
+seething beneath the surface. The more knowledge they gained, and,
+curiously enough, the more concessions there were granted them, the
+stronger it grew, breeding trouble and bad blood between the white
+owners and the blacks, both enslaved and free, destroying mutual
+confidence and engendering a spirit of fear and distrust which was
+presently to break forth into open revolt.
+
+The negroes hated the Spanish authorities, too, because they recognized
+them to be cowards and hypocrites, pretending one thing and doing
+another; oppressing the weak for their own gain, and siding with the
+powerful because it served their interests to do so. In such
+circumstances the drift toward slave insurrections was inevitable.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XIX
+
+
+Perhaps it is a wise Providence that decrees that even government shall
+be subject to that rhythm by which the tides of human affairs rise and
+fall. Who shall say? In 1796, Las Casas, who had tried to do so much for
+Cuba, was succeeded, as Captain-General, by the Conde de Santa Clara.
+The latter was of a different type from Las Casas. In spite of his
+aristocratic birth, he was a man of little education, and indifferent to
+it. The result was, since he had no taste for letters, and social
+elegance did not appeal to him, that the impetus was withdrawn from the
+development of the finer arts in Cuba. His influence was all the more
+deleterious since he was a man of generous, hearty, open-handed nature
+and personally was immensely popular. Naturally, but unhappily, culture
+in Cuba quickly fell from the high standards maintained by his
+predecessor.
+
+Santa Clara's interests were military and he did a great deal to improve
+the forts of Cuba--a much needed work. Almost all of the new
+fortifications on the island, which aided in its defense during the
+latter part of the nineteenth century, were originated by him, and the
+Bateria de Santa Clara, outside of Havana, was named in recognition of
+his services.
+
+Previous to 1796 there had been a great navy yard on the Bay of Havana,
+and more than a hundred war vessels or convoys for Spanish treasure
+ships had there been built. The same year that Santa Clara became
+Captain-General, the Spanish ship-builders, realizing that they were
+losing the large profits from this work, demanded that the navy yard at
+Havana be closed, and that the work be done in Spain. Influence was
+finally brought to bear on the crown, and an order was issued closing
+the Cuban navy yards.
+
+The rule of Santa Clara was, however, a short one; which was well for
+the island. In 1799, the Marquis de Someruelos succeeded him. By Spanish
+law the term of Captain-General was limited to five years. The Conde de
+Santa Clara failed to complete his term, but the Marquis de Someruelos
+served for a much longer period. He remained in Cuba until 1812, and he
+sought by every means in his power to efface the bad effects of the rule
+of Santa Clara and to reestablish the régime of progress which had
+flourished under Las Casas.
+
+In 1802 Havana was visited by a devastating conflagration. As frequently
+happens in such disasters, it was the poorer people who suffered the
+most severely. Over 11,000 of the poorer inhabitants of the suburb of
+Jesus Maria were rendered destitute. The Marquis de Someruelos lent his
+personal efforts to their succor, to excellent effect, and his kindness
+of heart quickly endeared him to rich and poor alike. He tried hard to
+rule impartially, to dispense justice to all classes without
+distinction, and attained a gratifying measure of success.
+
+The improvement of the island from an architectural point of view also
+interested him, and he left behind him two public memorials. The first
+was intended to give an impetus to art. It was a great public theatre;
+perhaps not great for these days, it is true, but an undertaking of note
+for that time. The second showed his interest in sanitary measures. It
+was a public cemetery, a huge burying-ground, 22,000 square yards in
+size, where the dead might be gathered, rather than to permit their
+being buried in small plots on estates or in yards. The walls, gateway
+and chapel were good examples of the Cuban architecture of the period,
+and the mortuary chapel contained a beautiful fresco depicting the
+Resurrection.
+
+Early in the nineteenth century, in 1807, the people of the island began
+to manifest a fear, which indeed was well founded, of hostile invasion.
+Both England and France had long cast appraising and jealous eyes on the
+Spanish possessions in America. The Spanish trade was valuable, and
+England was eager to seize as much as possible of it. In view of this
+peril the defenses of Havana were materially strengthened. Troops were
+carefully drilled, and the army was increased by the addition of
+recruits. Several coast towns were attacked and sacked by the English,
+but no large invasion took place and the damage was small.
+
+But the Cubans soon learned that the enemy whom they had real cause to
+fear was not England but France. Spain and France were at war, and the
+French colonists in America stood ready to take up the quarrel. To avert
+this peril "Juntas" or Committees were organized for national defense.
+War was unofficially declared on the unnaturalized Frenchmen on the
+Island, many of whom were killed and their plantations wrecked, while
+6,000 were expelled from the island. Even these drastic measures did not
+prevent a French invasion, although it was rather an opera bouffe
+performance. A motley company of soldiers of fortune, adventurers, and
+refugees from Santo Domingo tried to take Santiago and failed; they did,
+however, effect a landing at Batabano.
+
+The Cuban army hastened to defend the country, but found that the
+invaders were not particularly enthusiastic about fighting. They wanted
+to colonize. They endeavored to "build homes and make their residences
+in uninhabited portions of Cuba, just as they had done in Santo
+Domingo. The Cubans, however, realized that this apparently peaceful
+effort might well be a menace in disguise. If the French were allowed to
+settle portions of the island, soon France, who also appreciated the
+value of the Spanish possessions, might endeavor to claim the island, or
+at least a portion of it, as her territory.
+
+The Captain-General was equal to the occasion. He did not resort to
+arms. He plainly but firmly impressed upon the invaders the fact that it
+was unthinkable that they should be allowed to take as their own any
+portion of Cuba. He told them that if they were dissatisfied with Santo
+Domingo, he would see that transportation was furnished them to France.
+On the other hand, if they wanted to return to Santo Domingo, he would
+insure their being taken thither. But on no account could they remain as
+inhabitants of Cuba. His persuasions were partially successful and
+numbers of them peacefully left the country.
+
+For a long time, Spain had paid but meagre attention to her American
+possessions, save to mulct them for revenue. They had no representation,
+and their messages to and requests of the mother country received but
+scanty attention. Spain herself was passing through stormy times. The
+country was in turmoil. Revolution was impending. Napoleon, whose greedy
+glance embraced almost the whole of Europe, had turned his attention to
+the Peninsula. In 1808 the royal family of Spain was abducted, and held
+virtually prisoners by Napoleon, while a new government was set up.
+
+When the news of Napoleon's action reached Cuba, the Cabildo was in
+session. At once, each and every member took a solemn oath to make every
+effort to retain the island "for their lawful sovereign." Don Juan de
+Aguilar arrived in Cuba on the American ship _Dispatch_, and the
+government at once declared war against Napoleon and reaffirmed the
+loyalty of Cuba to Spain. On July 20, 1808, they proclaimed King
+Ferdinand VII as their lawful sovereign. This conduct, so little
+appreciated and so cruelly repaid by the mother country, won for Cuba
+the title of the "Ever-Faithful Isle."
+
+The internal troubles in Spain naturally had a most disastrous effect
+upon the Cuban trade and prosperity. The exports to Spain fell off to an
+alarming degree. The products of the country had, for a time, lost their
+natural market. Only statesmen of vision were able to understand the
+causes of the trouble. The common people looked upon the results only,
+and a strong feeling of unrest was engendered. The colony was
+practically independent of the mother country at this time, so far as
+any guidance or aid was concerned. The King was exiled and Joseph
+Bonaparte held sway in the Spanish capital.
+
+But now a new difficulty showed its head. Not all the French had
+returned to Santo Domingo or France. There were numbers of French
+settlers in the rural districts. The people were discontented, and soon
+a movement arose--on March 21, 1809, it came to a crisis--to endeavor to
+persuade the French colonists, who had been so easily disposed of by
+Someruelos, to return. This movement took on almost the aspect of a
+revolution. It seemed as if France, not content with obtaining control
+of Spain, was again stretching out a clutching hand to grab Cuba as
+well.
+
+The heads of the Cuban government were thoroughly aroused. Summary
+measures were taken, and the uprising, which had bid fair to be so
+serious, was subdued in two days. It was due, probably, to the firmness,
+decision and resourcefulness of those at the helm of Cuba at that time,
+that Cuba did not then and there become the victim of a movement which
+might have resulted in her becoming subject to France instead of Spain.
+The attitude of the United States toward French aggression also lent
+Cuba moral support, as we shall see.
+
+The encounters which took place in putting down this trouble were
+practically bloodless. Almost no lives were lost, but much property was
+destroyed. A more serious result was that dissatisfied colonists, some
+of them of the most desirable type, to the number of many thousands,
+were driven to seek their fortunes and find new homes away from Cuba.
+
+Napoleon was not satisfied to leave Spain in possession of Cuba, but
+soon instigated another effort to get possession of the island for
+France. In 1810, a young man arrived in Cuba from the United States. He
+was Don Manuel Aleman. His mission was apparently private business of
+his own, but the Cuban government had confidential information to the
+effect that he was an emissary of Napoleon. He was not allowed to land
+unapprehended, but was arrested on the ship on which he had come, and he
+was thrust into a none too pleasant Cuban prison. A council of war was
+assembled, but this was merely a form. Aleman's fate was predetermined.
+On the following morning, July 13, 1810, he was taken to the Campo de la
+Punta and there publicly hanged as a traitor to Spain.
+
+No account of events in Cuba at this time would be complete without some
+record of one whom Las Casas called "a jewel of priceless value to the
+glory of the nation, a protector for Cuba, an accomplished statesman for
+the monarchy," Don Francisco de Arango, the bearer of the "most
+illustrious name in Cuban annals."
+
+Arango, to whom we have previously made reference, was born on May 22,
+1765, at Havana. In early boy-hood he was left an orphan, but he managed
+the large estate which had been left him with all the skill and judgment
+of a mature mind. He studied law, and was admitted to practice in Spain,
+and he there acted, for a number of years, as agent for the municipality
+of Cuba. He was thoroughly familiar with the wrongs and needs of his
+country, and it is probable that no one of his time was more suited by
+nature, training and sympathies to act for Cuba. He succeeded in fact in
+obtaining from the crown some very valuable concessions for the island.
+In Cuba itself he worked hard to bring about an increase of staples. He
+exerted his influence among the planters to the end that the fertile
+soil should be worked to its utmost productiveness. It was necessary
+that not only should Cuba be self-supporting, and be able to pay her
+enormous taxes, but that there should be a large surplus to feed the
+royal exchequer. No one realized this more than Arango, whose years at
+the Spanish court had made him familiar with the greed of the Spanish
+government. His work was fruitful, and Cuban production at this period
+came almost up to the wild expectations of the Spanish government, which
+regarded Cuba as a land of inexhaustible riches. Arango was moreover a
+humanitarian at heart. The wrongs of the slaves and the evils of the
+slave trade appealed to his sense of justice. On the other hand, he saw
+very clearly the difficulty of obtaining the proper amount of labor for
+the Cuban plantations if the slave trade was abolished, and so his
+efforts on behalf of the slaves took the form of attempts toward their
+protection by wise laws.
+
+The attitude of Spain toward her colonies was at this time, as indeed
+always, grossly illogical. She wanted to take everything and give
+nothing. She could not foresee that a present of constant depletion
+meant a future of want; that in order to produce in quality the proper
+facilities must be provided. Arango, who was a diplomat as well as a
+statesman, by persuasion and by constant but gentle pressure at last won
+some of those in authority at the court to his point of view. If Cuba
+was to be a source of wealth to Spain, she must be endowed with the most
+efficient equipment to produce that wealth. Through Arango's efforts
+machinery was allowed to be imported into the island, free of duty.
+This, of course, furnished the means for industrial expansion. He also
+obtained the removal of the duty on coffee, liquors and cotton, for a
+period of ten years.
+
+But Arango saw as clearly as Las Casas had seen that Cuba to show
+progress must have facilities for uplift, and for the improvement of the
+mental and moral status of the inhabitants. He accordingly started a
+movement which resulted in the formation of the "Junta de Fomento," or
+Society for Improvement, which was long a power for good in the island,
+until later the Spanish Captains-General saw in it a means to further
+their own designs, and it became an instrument for oppression. Its
+object was avowedly to protect and to promote the progress of
+agriculture and commerce. The formation of the Cuban Chamber of Commerce
+was another benefit which Arango conferred upon Cuba. For a long time he
+was the Syndic of the Chamber of Commerce. There were certain
+perquisites of this office which Arango steadily refused to accept, and
+he also declined the salary which the office carried with it. In all his
+long and useful life he never accepted remuneration in any office which
+he held under the Cuban government.
+
+Now the real power at the court of Spain at this time was the infamous
+Godoy, the personal favorite of the king and the queen's lover; who
+seemed to be so firmly entrenched that no one would dare to oppose him.
+This creature turned greedy eyes toward Cuba. It was quite the fashion
+of those times for Spanish courtiers to consider Cuba as a source of
+revenue to bolster up their own fortunes. So Godoy claimed to be
+protector of the Chamber of Commerce, and demanded that the receipts of
+the custom house at Havana be turned over to him. He immediately met
+with the opposition of Arango, who bitterly opposed his every move and
+stood firmly against his plans for mulcting Cuba; in which conflict it
+is a pleasure to relate that for once virtue was triumphant. Godoy was
+unable to carry out his designs, and Arango was not only victor but he
+gained a still further point for Cuba, the relinquishment of the royal
+monopoly of tobacco.
+
+There is another curious and interesting phase of this matter, which
+speaks highly for the remarkably forceful personality of Arango.
+Although he at all times stood firmly as the inflexible opponent of any
+schemes which the court at Madrid might father for the oppression of
+Cuba, he was always an object of respect and esteem in high political
+circles in Spain, and he was offered a title of nobility. Possibly he
+looked upon this as a bribe. At any rate he declined it. However, when
+the Cross of the Order of Charles III. was offered him he accepted the
+decoration.
+
+In 1813 Cuba, by the adoption of the constitution of 1812, became
+entitled to representation in the Spanish Cortes, and Arango was
+unanimously chosen for this office. There was no person in Cuban
+politics more fitted for the honor. He proved himself worthy, for, as
+deputy to the Cortes, he achieved the greatest victory of his long fight
+for the good of Cuba, the opening of Cuban ports to foreign trade. New
+honors awaited him, for he was awarded the Grand Cross of Isabella, and
+when in 1817 he returned to Cuba, he was accorded the rank of Counsellor
+of State, and Financial Intendente of Cuba. Arango died in 1837, having
+lived seventy-two years, and having faithfully served his country for
+the greater portion of them. He bequeathed a large portion of his
+considerable fortune for public purposes and charitable objects, all for
+the betterment of the land that he loved.
+
+In the darkest hours of tyranny, while suffering wrongs that would have
+inflamed other peoples to rebellion, Cuba remained "The Ever-Faithful
+Isle" for many years, until forced to rebellion. Against the background
+of injustice, as contrasted with the Spanish Captains-General who were
+to follow, and whose sole interest in Cuba was to extract as much as
+they could from her, acting on the principle of "after us the deluge,"
+and caring nothing for her ultimate fate, the figure of Arango, the
+native Cuban, fighting at home and abroad for Cuba, stands out in bold
+and happy relief. It is not a matter for surprise that his name has been
+written on the annals of Cuba, with all the love and respect with which
+the other South American countries revere Bolivar. Here was a man who
+could not be tempted by honors, who refused remuneration for his
+services, and who against the greatest odds stood staunchly for
+everything which would help his travailing country.
+
+Among Spain's other possessions in America unrest was now beginning to
+manifest itself. They were sick of Spanish rule, and the period when
+Spain was occupied with troubles at home seemed to be a good opportunity
+to thrown off the yoke. Revolution was in the air in those days.
+Independence had arisen like a new star on the horizon, and had become
+the object of popular worship. It was therefore greatly to the credit
+of Someruelos that in such troublous times he maintained a relatively
+peaceful government. The better class of Cubans recognized his ability.
+They realized that he of all men was best fitted to keep Cuba free from
+disturbances which would hinder her advancement. Consequently when his
+term of office was ended, a petition was sent to the Spanish government,
+requesting that he be retained for a longer period. We have, however,
+only to study the dealings, not only of Spain but of all the European
+nations with the colonies in the New World, to understand that not the
+good of the subject country, but the supposed interests of the mother
+country, were what determined the destiny of the colonies. The very fact
+that Someruelos was so popular in Cuba apparently seemed to those in
+power in Spain an excellent excuse for his removal. They reasoned that
+if he had the interests of Cuba at heart, he might not be loyal to the
+government in Spain. And so, when multitudes of the best citizens of
+Cuba petitioned that he be retained longer in office, not only was the
+petition denied, but the petitioners were severely reprimanded by a
+mandate of the Spanish government.
+
+Hurricanes are not unusual in the southern seas, but now and then one of
+exceptional severity leaves so devastating a trail that it is worthy of
+chronicle even in a country where the elements are always more or less
+to be reckoned with. Such a hurricane visited the western coast of Cuba
+in 1810. Valuable shipping in the harbor of Havana was sunk. Sixty
+merchant vessels and many ships of war were torn from their anchors and
+swallowed up by the sea. Property all along the coast was destroyed, and
+a large number of lives were lost. That same year an uprising occurred
+among the negro population of the island. It bade fair to be far
+reaching in effect and occasioned much alarm among the white
+population. The most drastic and even cruel methods were taken to check
+it, and finally it was subdued.
+
+[Illustration: ALEJANDRO RAMIREZ]
+
+On April 14, 1812, Don Juan Ruiz de Apodaca, afterwards the Conde de
+Benadito, assumed the post of Captain-General, in place of the Marquis
+de Someruelos. His assumption of power was marked by the gift of
+additional authority to the office of Captain-General. For the first
+time, the Captain-General was also the commander of the naval forces.
+His initial act was to proclaim the Constitution of Cadiz. This was far
+from popular in Cuba, but the citizens realized the futility of
+resistance. His action created a sensation and caused much talk, but it
+met with no open opposition. De Apodaca's tenure of office was short. He
+retained the office of Captain-General for only two years, when he was
+sent to Mexico by the Spanish government.
+
+Next, Lieutenant-General Don José Cienfuegos was installed at Havana as
+Captain-General, on July 18, 1816. It was under his direction, in 1817,
+that the third census of the island was taken. Cienfuegos was most
+unpopular with the Cubans. He instituted many reforms which did not find
+favor in the eyes of those he governed.
+
+     ALEJANDRO RAMIREZ
+
+     An economist and statesman of three countries, Alejandro Ramirez
+     was born in Spain in 1777. He began his career in Guatemala as an
+     agricultural reformer and promoter; thence in 1813 went to Puerto
+     Rico as Intendente and saved that island from bankruptcy. In 1816
+     he became Intendente of Cuba, where he effected great reforms in
+     land-holding and in education. Despite his excellent services he
+     was bitterly attacked, and largely because of grief over the
+     ungrateful injustice thus shown him he sickened and died on May 20,
+     1821.
+
+The entire policing forces of Havana were revolutionized and put under
+new rules. We are told that his most unpopular move was to have the
+streets of that city lighted at night, and that this was "thoroughly
+resented." Just why such a move should be resented is not told us, but
+it certainly might be the subject of fruitful and romantic conjecture.
+His action is said to have caused "consternation."
+
+A second measure was even more distasteful to the Cubans, and they
+regarded it as an infringement of personal liberty. Cienfuegos ordered
+that, as soon as the public services in the churches in the evenings
+were over, all public thoroughfares be closed. Now this was the time of
+day when all Cuba was most bent on amusement and enjoyment, and this
+decree of the Captain-General made it impossible for any man to stray
+far from his own door with hope of returning the same night. The
+populace was up in arms with indignation. Cienfuegos had intended the
+command to have a quieting effect, but its result was exactly the
+reverse. It gave rise to the very disturbances which the Captain-General
+was endeavoring to restrain.
+
+It would be hard to conjecture what might have been the result of a
+continuance of Cienfuegos's arbitrary methods. They certainly boded no
+good for the peace of Cuba. Fortunately before he could resort to any
+more of what the Cubans termed "these outrages against liberty," he fell
+ill, and thereupon the administration of the government fell into the
+hands of Don Juan Maria Echeverria, as a temporary substitute. This
+officer had no time to formulate new rules for the government of the
+Cubans, being kept very busy laboring against the troubles caused by his
+predecessor's doings. Then, too, his stay was short, for on August 29,
+1819, the Spanish ship of war _Sabrina_ brought Cuba a new
+Captain-General, Don Juan Manuel Cagigal.
+
+In "Cuba and the Cubans," published in 1850, we are told that "The
+political changes adopted in Spain in 1812 and 1820 were productive of
+similar changes in the island: and when in both instances the
+constitution was proclaimed, the perpetual members of the municipalities
+were at once deprived of office, and their successors elected by the
+people. The provincial assembly was called, and held its sessions. The
+militia was organized; the press made entirely free, the verdict of a
+jury deciding actions for its abuses; and the same courts of justice
+were in no instance to decide a case a second time. But if the
+institution of the consulate was very beneficial during Ferdinand's
+absolute sway, the ultra-popular grants of the constitutional system,
+which could hardly be exercised with quiet in Spain, were ill-adapted to
+Cuba, though more advanced in civilization, stained with all those vices
+that are the legitimate curse of a country long under despotic sway.
+That system was so democratic that the king was deprived of all
+political authority. No intermediate house of nobility or senators
+tempered the enactments of a single elective assembly. This sudden
+change from an absolute government, with its usual concomitant, a
+corrupt and debased public sentiment, to the full enjoyment of
+republican privileges, served only to loosen the ties of decency and
+decorum throughout the Spanish community. Infidelity resulted from it;
+and that veil of respect for the religion of their fathers, which had
+covered the deformity of such a state of society, was imprudently thrown
+aside. As the natural consequence of placing the instruments of freedom
+in the hands of an ignorant multitude, their minds were filled with
+visions of that chimerical equality which the world is never to realize.
+The rich found themselves deprived of their accustomed influence, and
+felt that there was little chance of obtaining justice from the common
+people (in no place so formidable as in Cuba, from the heterogeneous
+nature of the population), and who were now, in a manner, arrayed
+against them throughout the land. They, of course, eagerly wished the
+return of the old system of absolute rule. But the proprietors only
+asked for the liberal policy which they had enjoyed at the hands of the
+Spanish monarch; not, most surely, that oppressive and nondescript
+government, which, by separating the interest of the country from that
+of her nearest rulers, and destroying all means of redress or complaint,
+thrust the last offspring of Spain into an abyss of bloodshed and ruin,
+during the recent disgusting exercise of military rule, in publishing by
+the most arbitrary and cruel measures, persons suspected of engaging in
+an apprehended servile insurrection."
+
+This not altogether coherent statement gives an idea of how the rule of
+the Spanish Captains-General of this period, and how the so-called
+reforms which were instituted during the early part of the nineteenth
+century, were regarded thirty-five or forty years afterward.
+
+Senor Cagigal was accompanied by troops, ostensibly to supply the local
+garrison, and it would be strange if they were not also imported to fill
+the native hearts with respect for the government and to help in
+quelling any threatened uprisings. History furnishes strange paradoxes,
+and so in 1820 we have the spectacle of Cagigal's own troops rising in
+revolt against him and compelling him to proclaim the constitution of
+1812. It is true that he soon quelled this rebellion, set aside his
+proclamation, and restored the old order, but that does not detract from
+the grim humor of the situation in which he for a time found himself.
+
+But Cagigal was a diplomat of a high order, and he did make efforts to
+accomplish well the difficult task of governing Cuba. His decisions and
+decrees were generally impartial. He had a charming social manner, and a
+delightfully conciliatory way; always suave, affable and approachable.
+He placated trouble makers, and dispensed justice in an endeavor to give
+universal satisfaction. He was accordingly held in the highest esteem by
+the majority of the Cubans. And Cuba apparently found favor in his eyes.
+He grew to love the beautiful island, and perhaps his heart was touched
+by her patience under the galling Spanish yoke. At any rate, he applied
+to the crown for special permission to spend the rest of his life in
+Cuba. This request was granted and he made for himself a home at
+Guanabacoa, where he lived until his death, some years later.
+
+Cagigal was succeeded in 1821 by Nicholas Mahy, an old man, of a
+distrustful and arbitrary disposition, who was entirely out of sympathy
+with the liberal movement in Cuba. He could see no way of retaining her
+for Spain except by keeping her people in subjection under an absolute
+despotism. He proceeded to carry out his ideas with a high hand, and it
+is a matter of speculation to what lengths he might have gone, had not
+death speedily cut short his career. He ruled for only a single year,
+after which no new Captain-General was sent out from Spain but Sebastian
+Kindelan, Mahy's subordinate, took command. He was a sterner
+disciplinarian than even his former master. His sole object seemed to be
+to reunite the military and civil power in the hands of the
+Captain-General. He was willing to stoop to any means to accomplish his
+purpose, and he was backed up by a large body of troops imported from
+Spain. Feeling ran high between these--as the Cubans termed
+them--"interlopers and troublemakers" and the local militia, and
+serious trouble was with difficulty avoided. Then in 1823 Ferdinand VII.
+was again in power in Spain; weak, crafty, scheming, malicious, and
+grasping; and it is needless to say that Cuba was visited with new
+oppression.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XX
+
+
+It was on May 2, 1823, that Don Francisco Vives, afterward Conde de
+Cuba, arrived in Cuba to take over the office of Captain-General. Let us
+first contemplate the good which he accomplished for Cuba, before
+scanning the darker pages of his high-handed rule.
+
+Vives reorganized the rural militia, and he caused the construction of a
+number of important fortresses and the completion of others already
+begun. He divided the island into three military departments. Under his
+instructions two asylums for the insane, el Departmento de Dementes, and
+the Casa de Beneficencia, were constructed. He made an effort to mark
+the historic spots of the island, and under his auspices a temple was
+built on the spot in the city of Havana where was reputed to have been
+celebrated the first mass. So much for the good done by Vives. Now we
+come to a different story.
+
+This Captain-General was a despot of the most pronounced type, the kind
+dear to the hearts of the rulers in the mother country. He obtained from
+his royal master, in 1825, an order placing Cuba under martial law, and
+giving the Captain-General complete control of her destiny. It reads as
+follows:
+
+"The King, our master, in whose royal mind great confidence has been
+inspired by your excellency's proved fidelity, indefatigable zeal in his
+majesty's service, judicious and well-concerted steps taken since Y. E.
+had charge of the government, in order to keep in quietude his faithful
+inhabitants, confine within the proper limits such as would deviate
+from the path of honor, and punish such as forgetting their duty would
+dare commit excesses in opposition to our wise laws; well convinced as
+H. M. feels, that at no time and under no circumstances whatever will
+the principles of rectitude and love toward H. M. royal person be
+weakened which now distinguish Y. E.; and being at the same time
+desirous of preventing the embarrassments which under ordinary
+circumstances might arise a division in the command, and from the
+complicated authority and powers of the different officers of
+government, for the important end of maintaining in that island his
+sovereign authority and the public quiet, it has pleased H. M., in
+conformity with the advice of his council of ministers, to authorize
+your excellency, _fully investing you with the whole extent of power
+which by the royal ordinances is granted to the governors of besieged
+towns_. In consequence thereof H. M. most amply and unrestrictedly
+authorizes Y. E. _not only to remove from that island such persons,
+holding offices from government or not_, whatever their occupation,
+rank, class or situation in life may be, whose residence there you may
+believe prejudicial, or whose public or private conduct may appear
+suspicious to you, _employing in their stead faithful servants of H. M.
+who shall fully deserve your excellency's confidence; but also to
+suspend the execution of whatever royal orders or general decrees in all
+the different branches of the administration, or in any part of them, as
+Y, E. may think conducive to the royal service_; it being in any case
+required that these measures be temporary, and that Y. E. make report of
+them for his majesty's sovereign approval.
+
+"In granting Y. E. this marked proof of his royal esteem, and of the
+high trust your proven loyalty deserves, H. M. expects that in due
+correspondence to the same, Y. E. will use the most wakeful prudence
+and reserve, joined to an indefatigable activity and unyielding
+firmness, in the exercise of your excellency's authority, and trusts
+that as your excellency shall by this very pleasure and graciousness of
+H. M. be held to a more strict responsibility, Y. E. will redouble his
+vigilance that the laws be observed, that justice be administered, that
+H. M. faithful vassals be protected and rewarded, and punishment without
+partiality or indulgence inflicted on those who, forgetful of their duty
+and their obligations to the best and most benevolent of monarchs, shall
+oppose those laws, decidedly abetting sinister plots, with infraction of
+them and disregard of the decrees from them issuing. And I therefore, by
+royal order, inform Y. E. of the same for Y. E.'s intelligence,
+satisfaction, and exact observance thereof. God preserve your
+excellency's life. Madrid, 28 May, 1825."
+
+As a marvel of unconscious irony this is a unique document. Evidently
+both the King and his minister lacked a sense of humor. Here is a
+document purporting to be issued "to keep in quietude" "faithful
+inhabitants." Why the "Ever-Faithful" needed a curb or why if such
+measures were necessary the insurgents were referred to as "Faithful,"
+only a stupid king through the mouth of an equally pig-headed minister
+could determine. This royal order, we may relate with satisfaction,
+proved a boomerang. It gave the Captain-General--just why it is hard to
+decide--absolute power, not only to govern by military force, but to
+depose from office those who offended him, whether they were the king's
+minions or not. It also made inoperative all royal decrees unless the
+Captain-General chose to sanction them. Now Cuba, at this time, was
+saddled with hosts of fortune seekers, court favorites who were
+temporarily and voluntarily exiles from the sunshine of the monarch's
+smiles, that they might line their pockets and return to startle the
+Spanish grandees with their new splendor. Naturally they were seeking
+office and emoluments from the Spanish government. But then came their
+royal master and placed them, their positions, their fortunes, in the
+hands of a man who, should they offend him, could summarily degrade
+them, and force them to return home no richer than when they came. Truly
+the ways of kings are no less inscrutable than those of Providence.
+Naturally this royal order found little favor in Cuba. In vain, however,
+were efforts made to have it suspended, and to prove that it had never
+been intended to be anything but a temporary measure.
+
+The trouble which was brewing for Spain, in Cuba, at this period was
+well forecast and described in an article, primarily on the dangers of
+the slave trade, which was published in a periodical in Havana, in 1832.
+After detailing some facts as to slave importations, it said:
+
+"Thus far we have only considered the power which has its origin in the
+numbers of the colored population that surrounds us. What a picture we
+might draw, if we were to portray this immense body acting under the
+influence of political and moral causes, and presenting a spectacle
+unknown in history! We surely shall not do it. But we should be guilty
+of moral treason to our country, if we were to forget the efforts now
+making to effect a change in the conditions of the African race.
+Philanthropic laws, enacted by some of the European nations,
+associations of distinguished Englishmen, periodicals solely devoted to
+this subject, eloquent parlimentary debates whose echoes are constantly
+repeated on this side of the Atlantic, bold exhortations from the
+pulpits of religious sects, political principles which with lightning
+rapidity are spreading in both hemispheres, and _very recent commotions
+in several parts of the West Indies, everything is calculated to awaken
+us from our profound slumber and remind us that we must save our
+country_. And should this our beloved mother ask us what measures we
+have adopted to extricate her from her danger, what would those who
+boast themselves her dutiful sons, answer? The horrid traffic in human
+blood is carried on in defiance of the laws, and men who assume the name
+of patriots, being no other than parricides, cover the land with
+shackled victims. And as if this were not sufficiently fearful with
+criminal apathy, Africans freed and brought to this country by English
+policy, are permitted to reside in our midst. How different the conduct
+of our neighbors the Americans! Notwithstanding the rapid increase of
+their country; notwithstanding the white has constantly been four fifths
+more numerous than the colored population, and have ten and a half
+millions to offset two millions; notwithstanding the importation of the
+latter is prohibited from one end of the republic to the other, while
+European immigration is immense; notwithstanding the countries lying
+upon their boundaries have no slaves to inspire dread, they organize
+associations, raise funds, purchase lands in Africa, establish colonies,
+favor the emigration of the colored population to them, increasing their
+exertions as the exigency may require, not faltering in their course,
+and leaving no expedient untried which shall prove them friends of
+humanity and their country. Not satisfied with these general measures,
+some states have adopted very thorough and efficient measures. In
+December, 1831, Louisiana passed a law prohibiting importation of slaves
+even from other states of the Union.
+
+"Behold the movement of a great people, who would secure their safety!
+Behold the model you should imitate! But we are told 'Your efforts are
+in vain. You cannot justly reproach us. Our plantations need hands and
+if we cannot obtain negroes, what shall we do?' We are far from wishing
+to offend a class equally deserving respect and esteem, including many
+we are happy to call friends. We are habitually indulgent and in no
+sense more so than in that before us. The notions and examples to which
+they have been accustomed justify in a great measure the part they act,
+and an immediate benefit and remote danger authorize in others a course
+of conduct which we wish may never be generally and permanently adopted.
+We would not rudely censure the motives of the planters. Our mission
+requires us only to remark, that it is necessary to adopt some plan,
+since the change in politics is inconsistent with and hostile to the
+much longer continuance of the illicit traffic in slaves. We all know
+that England has, both with selfish and humane motives, made and is
+still making great efforts against it by means of treaties. She is no
+longer the only power thus engaged, since France is also taking her
+share in the enterprise. The United States will soon appear in the field
+to vindicate down-trodden humanity. They will adopt strong measures, and
+perseveringly pursue the pirate negro-dealer. Will he then escape the
+vigilance of enemies so active and powerful? And even should some be
+able to do so, how enormously expensive must their piracy be! It is
+demonstrable that the number of imported negroes being then small, and
+their introduction subject to uncommon risks, their cost would be so
+enhanced as to destroy the motive for preferring slave labor. A proper
+regard to our true interests will lead us to consider henceforth other
+means of supplying our wants, since our present mode will ultimately
+paralyze our resources and be attended with baneful consequences. The
+equal distribution of the two sexes in the country, and an improved
+treatment of them, would alone be sufficient, not merely to prevent a
+diminution of their number, but greatly to increase it. But the existing
+disproportion of the sexes forbids our indulging in so pleasing a hope.
+We shall, however, do much to effect our purposes by discontinuing
+certain practices, and adopting a system more consonant to the good
+principles that should be our guide.
+
+"Would it not be advisable to try some experiments that we may be able
+to compare the results of cultivating cane by slaves, with such other
+methods as we may find expedient to adopt?
+
+"If the planters could realize the importance of these propositions to
+their welfare, we should see them striving to promote the introduction
+of white and the exclusion of colored hands. By forming associations,
+raising funds, and in various ways exerting themselves vigorously in a
+cause so eminently patriotic, they would at once overcome the obstacles
+to the introduction of white foreigners, and induce their immigration by
+the guarantees of good laws and thus assure the tranquillity of the
+country.
+
+"We may be told that these are imaginary plans, and never to be
+realized. We answer that they are essays, not difficult or expensive, if
+undertaken, as we suggest, by a whole community. If we are not disposed
+to make the voluntary trial now, the day is at hand when we shall be
+obliged to attempt it, or abandon the cultivation of sugar! The prudent
+mariner on a boisterous ocean prepares betimes for the tempest, and
+defies it. He who recklessly abandons himself to the fury of the
+elements is likely to perish in the rage of the storm.
+
+"'How imprudent,' some may exclaim, 'how imprudent to propose a subject
+which should be forever buried in "lasting oblivion."' Behold the
+general accusation raised against him who dares boldly avow new
+opinions respecting these matters. Unfortunately there is among us an
+opinion which insists that 'silence' is the true policy. All feel the
+evils which surround us, are acquainted with the dangers, and wish to
+avoid them. Let a remedy be suggested and a thousand confused voices be
+simultaneously raised; and a significant and imploring 'Hush!--hush!' is
+heard on every side. Such infatuation resembles his who conceals the
+disease which is hurrying him speedily to death, rather than hear its
+unpleasant history and mode of cure, from his only hope, the physician's
+saving science. Which betrays censurable apathy, he who obstinately
+rushes headlong to the brink of a mighty precipice, or he who gives the
+timely warning to beware? Who would not thus save a whole community
+perhaps from frightful destruction? If we knew most positively that the
+disease were beyond all hopes of cure, the knowledge of the fact would
+not stay the march of death, while it might serve but as a terrifying
+enunciation of his approach. If, however, the sick man is endowed with a
+strong constitution, that with timely prescription promises a probable
+return of health, it would be unpardonable to act the part of a passive
+spectator. We heed not that the selfish condemn, that the self-admiring
+wise censure, or the parricidal accuse us. Reflections of a higher
+nature guide us, and in the spirit of our responsible calling as a
+public writer, we will never cease to cry aloud, '_Let us save our
+country--let us save our country!_'"
+
+A subtle document that. Hidden carefully in the denunciation of slavery
+is a call to organization to form societies. We shall see later how
+important and potent those societies were and that their objects were
+something far different from the destruction of slavery. The paper
+closed with a clear cry for freedom for Cuba.
+
+It cannot be disguised that those who had the real good of the island of
+Cuba at heart, patriots, Cubans who loved their country, men who longed
+to stand upright, to put off the yoke of Spain, and to look the
+inhabitants of free countries in the face as equals, were withdrawing
+their heartfelt allegiance from Spain, and were longing for
+independence. That this desire had been created by Spanish oppression,
+and nurtured by Spanish injustice, is a self-evident fact. The causes
+which led to the insurrections by which Cuba was torn from this time on
+until she obtained her independence, we must leave for another chapter.
+There are two matters most pertinent to this investigation, which we
+must first discuss: The attitude of the United States toward Cuba at
+this period, and the revolt of the other Spanish colonies, led by Simon
+Bolivar, "The Liberator."
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XXI
+
+
+Cuba, so rich and fertile, was an object of desire, not alone to
+America, but at least equally to the countries of Europe. Thus England
+cast covetous eyes at Cuba, and some of the English papers intimated
+that the United States was anxious to acquire the island, and that if
+England wished to save her West Indian trade, she had best look to her
+interests and, if possible, wrest Cuba from Spain. Probably the
+strongest feeling in the United States in the early part of the
+nineteenth century was that Cuba must not pass from the hands of Spain
+into those of any other power, and that if Cuba was to be separated from
+Spain it must be either as an independent country or by annexation to
+the United States. The desire for annexation, _per se_, did not appear
+to be so strong as the feeling that the United States must not allow
+either France or England to acquire Cuba, and there were, of course,
+strong political and geographical reasons for this decision. In a former
+chapter we have recalled some of the circumstances of that time, and
+have cited some of the authoritative utterances of American statesmen
+concerning Cuba in the first half of the nineteenth century. Let us now
+recur to that part of Cuban history in its chronological order.
+
+Early in 1823, those Cubans who were more or less secretly in favor of
+independence sent an agent named Morales to Washington to try to
+discover what course the United States would pursue in case Cuba should
+declare her independence. It was intimated that in case Spain continued
+her oppressions, and did not grant Cuba a more liberal government, Cuba
+would ask for the protection of the United States, possibly for
+admission to the Union; and in case this was refused, she would appeal
+to England. While no definite promises were made to Cubans, it seemed to
+be the sentiment in Washington that, should Cuba thus offer herself, it
+would be tempting fate not to accept the gift. Indeed, a considerable
+portion of the United States was at this time eager for the annexation
+of Cuba. There seems moreover to have been in the American cabinet a
+strong feeling toward urging Cuba to declare her independence, and this
+might have resolved itself into promises if not into decided action, had
+it not been for the counter current of opinion that, should she do so,
+she could not maintain such a status. John Quincy Adams was sure of
+this, and although he felt that the time was not ripe in the United
+States for the adoption of a policy of annexation, yet if Cuba should
+fall to the United States by the mere gravitation of politics, he
+believed it would be folly to refuse to accept the gift, particularly
+since the occupation of Cuba by England would give her a base from which
+to proceed against the United States; and matters between England and
+her former possession were by no means yet settled on a basis of
+enduring friendship. Indeed, Adams believed that the future might make
+the annexation of Cuba almost indispensable to the destiny of the Union;
+as on April 28, 1823, he said in his instructions to the American
+minister at Madrid which we have already quoted.
+
+It was practically certain at this time that France would intervene in
+the affairs of Spain, and would try to overthrow the liberal government
+of that country, and it seemed probable that England would take
+advantage of the opportunity in an endeavor to secure Cuba for herself.
+The island was seething with an undercurrent of revolt, and Washington
+was uneasy as to what England might do. Reports had it that orders had
+been sent to British troops to take possession of Cuba, by force if
+necessary, and that Spain, in return for certain secret concessions from
+England, had consented to this course. Adams wisely saw that if the Holy
+Alliance overthrew the Spanish constitution, Spain could not hope to
+retain Cuba, and since the island was believed to be incapable of
+self-government, the natural inference was that it would become a
+dependent of either England or the United States. We may be sure that
+Washington did not intend that this dependence should be upon England.
+About this time, Mr. Miralla, a man of affairs who had been for some ten
+years a resident of Cuba, told Jefferson in a conference in Washington
+that public sentiment in Cuba was against the country becoming an
+English territory, and that the Cubans would rise to resist it. He
+stated that Cuba would prefer to remain as she was rather than to change
+masters--jump from Scylla to Charybdis, as it were--and that if any
+change must come she desired independence; that she realized that
+unaided she could not maintain herself a separate nation, but that she
+hoped for the support of the United States or of Mexico, or both, to
+help her to maintain her freedom. Cuba had a secret fear that should she
+seek independence, the turbulent blacks would try to seize the
+government, and of course that would mean ruin.
+
+On December 2, 1823, President Monroe delivered his epochal Doctrine:
+
+"In the wars of European powers in matters relating to themselves, we
+have never taken any part nor does it comport with our policy to do so.
+It is only when our rights are invaded or seriously menaced that we
+resent injuries or make preparations for defense. With the movements in
+this hemisphere we are of necessity more immediately connected, and by
+causes which must be obvious to all enlightened and impartial observers.
+The political system of the Allied Powers is essentially different in
+this respect from that of America.... We should consider any attempt on
+their part to extend their system to any portion of this hemisphere as
+dangerous to our peace and safety. With the existing colonies and
+dependencies of any European power we have not interfered and shall not
+interfere. But with the governments who have declared their independence
+and maintained it, and whose independence we have on great consideration
+and on just principles acknowledged, we could not view any interposition
+for the purpose of oppressing them, or controlling in any other manner
+their destiny, in any other light than as the manifestation of an
+unfriendly disposition toward the United States."
+
+[Illustration: JAMES MONROE]
+
+This message had the desired effect. The Holy Alliance wisely kept its
+hands off from affairs in the southern Americas, including Cuba. But the
+United States naturally sought to cultivate closer relations with its
+neighbor. There were indeed practical reasons why it should do so; even
+for its own peace and comfort. For pirates preyed on United States
+shipping. A blockade was proposed to catch the offenders, but it did not
+find favor with the powers at the United States capital. Landing in
+Cuba, and reprisals on persons and property, were suggested, but it was
+considered unwise for the United States thus to take steps which would
+be opposed if any other power should assume a like attitude.
+
+The United States government feared a secret transfer of Cuba by Spain
+and that such action would be taken before Washington could become
+cognizant of it. It therefore sought to be allowed to station consuls at
+Havana, and in Porto Rico, who were, of course, practically to be the
+eyes of the United States government, to detect any incipient plot to
+rid Spain of Cuba. This idea did not find favor at the Spanish court and
+a polite letter of demurrer was sent, stating that such a proposition
+was untenable at the time, owing to the turbulent condition of affairs
+on the island, but that later, when Cuba became more peaceful, it would
+be considered. The real reason for Spain's refusal doubtless was that
+she was still smarting from the United States's recognition of the
+independence of other South American countries, and she did not feel
+justified in allowing anyone who she felt would be a spy to have an
+official position on the island, particularly when that person came from
+a country which, having attained its own liberty, naturally had sympathy
+with those who had theirs yet to gain.
+
+The state of affairs at this time was epigrammatically described by _The
+London Courier_, when it said: "Cuba is the Turkey of trans-Atlantic
+politics, tottering to its fall, and kept from falling only by the
+struggles of those who contend for the right of catching her in her
+descent."
+
+Spain, always badly in need of money, made in 1838 a proposal to England
+to offer Cuba as security for a loan, which undoubtedly would have meant
+that England would eventually have to take Cuba in payment for the debt.
+The United States Minister at Madrid, hearing of the project, made it so
+clear that such a course would not be tolerated by his country, that
+the idea was abandoned. A few years later President Van Buren again
+expressed the American pro-slavery policy toward Cuban independence:
+
+"The Government has always looked with the deepest interest upon the
+fate of these islands, but particularly of Cuba. Its geographical
+position, which places it almost in sight of our southern shores, and,
+as it were, gives it the command of the Gulf of Mexico and the West
+Indian seas, its safe and capacious harbors, its rich productions, the
+exchange of which for our surplus agricultural products and manufactures
+constitutes one of the most extensive and valuable branches of our
+foreign trade, render it of the utmost importance to the United States
+that no change should take place in its condition which might
+injuriously affect our political and commercial standing in that
+quarter. Other considerations connected with a certain class of our
+population made it to the interest of the southern section of the Union
+that no attempt should be made in that island to throw off the yoke of
+Spanish dependence, the first effect of which would be the sudden
+emancipation of a numerous slave population, which result could not but
+be very sensibly felt upon the adjacent shores of the United States."
+
+The United States had a selfish interest in keeping Cuba in a state of
+peace and prosperity. In 1842 it was found that Spain could not pay the
+interest upon her debt to the United States. It was suggested that she
+make it a charge upon the revenues of Cuba, and the next year it was
+arranged that the entire claim be settled by a sum paid to the United
+States annually by the Captain-General of Cuba. Naturally if there were
+constant revolutions and uprisings in Cuba, these revenues would not be
+forthcoming. On the other hand, taxation for the purpose of settling
+Spain's debt to America was not looked on with favor among Cuban
+patriots.
+
+From the foregoing it will be seen that while the United States did not
+urge annexation,--since it was against her avowed policy to do so--she
+would not have been unwilling to accept Cuba, had that country knocked
+at her door and offered herself as a free gift. It will be equally clear
+that the United States had no intention that Cuba should be transferred
+by Spain to any other country than herself, and that she stood ready to
+combat such a project by force of arms if necessary. It will also be
+seen that some of her statesmen would have smiled upon the idea of Cuba
+as an independent nation, if they had for a moment believed that Cuba
+could maintain her independence, and that surreptitiously the United
+States might have lent her aid to this end, if it could have been done
+without embroiling herself with Spain. However, there was a division of
+opinion in Washington as to the effects on the Southern States of any
+change of condition in Cuba.
+
+It might also be observed that France and England--particularly the
+latter--would have been glad to add Cuba to their possessions, but they
+feared war with the United States if they made the attempt. And as for
+Cuba herself, her first choice was freedom, but if it were necessary, in
+order to escape Spanish tyranny, she would have accepted annexation to
+the United States, or at any rate a protectorate from that government.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XXII
+
+
+The half century from 1776 to 1826 was afire with the spirit of
+revolution and freedom. During this period the United States won her
+independence from England; Belgium sought separation from Holland;
+France was in the throes of revolution; and Greece won her freedom from
+Turkey. This spirit of liberty penetrated to Central and South America
+and set the Spanish colonies there aflame.
+
+A successful revolution must have a competent and daring leader. The
+South American revolt in Venezuela and surrounding countries was led by
+a romantic figure, a man of such tremendous personality, such high
+ideals, and such ability to carry them out, that, although he never set
+foot in Cuba, and never personally figured in her politics, his
+influence reached out from the other colonies and more than any other at
+this period swayed the destiny of the "Pearl of the Antilles." His
+desire for liberty was like a bright light which illumined the whole
+Latin-American atmosphere.
+
+It has been said that "only an aristocrat can be truly democratic," for
+only an aristocrat has everything to lose and nothing to gain by
+espousing the cause of democracy and liberty. It is true that, like
+Washington, Simon Bolivar came of wealthy and aristocratic ancestry. His
+people were among the foremost of the Creoles. His parents died when he
+was still a child, and his passionate, wilful nature was allowed to go
+uncurbed. He developed a violent and hasty temper, but he was also
+openhearted, generous, and quick to sue for pardon. He had a charming
+personality, and the ability to make friends and hold them for life. In
+his later years his followers would have died for him. He was absolutely
+fearless, and it is said of him that at one time at a banquet, in the
+presence of the Governor of Venezuela--Bolivar's native country--he
+arose and proposed a toast to the "Independence of the Americas."
+
+[Illustration: SIMON BOLIVAR]
+
+At an early age he went abroad. When in Spain he became friendly with
+Prince Ferdinand, afterwards King Ferdinand VII. of Spain--then a boy.
+They were both tennis enthusiasts, and it is told that Bolivar
+constantly beat the young prince on the courts at the royal palace at
+Madrid, just as later his armies prevailed against those of Ferdinand
+VII. He travelled in Italy and contrasted the progressive spirit of that
+country as compared with the turbidity and tendency to disintegration
+which dominated Spain. A sojourn in France made him an eye witness of
+some of the most frightful scenes of the French revolution. On his
+return home, he visited the United States and there beheld the actual,
+peaceful workings of a republic. All this time there was stirring within
+him the eager desire for freedom for his own country, which at last
+impelled him to cast aside the luxury and ease which his position and
+family gave him, and to accept the danger of exile and death, so that he
+might free South America.
+
+The process of revolutionary organization in Venezuela and her sister
+states was much the same as that later adopted in Cuba. Secret societies
+were formed, the members of which were pledged to the cause of liberty.
+They grew, and waxed strong and powerful, and at length the fire of
+revolt was kindled. Bolivar's first active step toward the rescue of his
+country from the Spanish rule was an insurrection at Caracas in April,
+1810. The governor was deposed and the freedom of Caracas was
+established without violence. The commerce of Venezuela was opened to
+the world, taxes to the crown were declared abolished, and a republic
+was formed. In recognition of Bolivar's services, he was given a
+commission as Colonel and with Louis Lopez Mendez went to England to try
+to get her aid. Great Britain, however, declined to be drawn into the
+controversy and declared her absolute neutrality.
+
+On July 5, 1811, the flag of the new republic was unfurled to the world.
+But Spain was not inclined to relinquish what she considered her rights
+without a struggle, and Spanish troops were quickly dispatched to
+Venezuela. In a famous speech Bolivar, now returned to his native
+country, voiced the sentiments of the republic. He said:
+
+"Why should we take into account Spain's intentions? What shall we care
+if she chooses to keep us as her slave or sell us to Bonaparte, since we
+have decided to be free? That great projects should be patiently
+weighed, I hear; but are not three hundred years of waiting long enough?
+Let us set without fear the foundation of South American independence.
+To tergiversate is to fail."
+
+With Bolivar to Venezuela came General Francisco Miranda, who had fought
+under Washington for the independence of the United States and under
+Dumouriez for the freedom of the French people. He was an experienced
+and tried soldier and one who loved liberty as he loved his life, but he
+was unfamiliar with conditions in Venezuela, and he was a better fighter
+than an organizer. He was made general-in-chief of the Venezuelan army;
+but his campaigns against the Spaniards were unsuccessful and he was
+captured and flung into a dungeon, where he remained for the rest of his
+life. Bolivar escaped and went to Curacao, where he published a
+declaration to the effect that in order to make possible the liberty of
+the continent Venezuela must be again established as a republic; and to
+accomplish this end he called for men. Two hundred responded and with
+this small force he engaged an army ten times the size of his own, and
+fought twenty successive battles in fifteen days. His way led across
+mountains and through passes where death, not only from the foe but as
+the result of a single misstep, was ever imminent, but neither Bolivar
+nor his men were daunted. He was victorious over the Spaniards, took the
+city of Cucuta, and added a million dollars to the treasury. His army
+was constantly increased by volunteers. Over 750 miles were traversed,
+and fifty times the Spaniards were engaged. On August 6, 1813, Bolivar
+entered Caracas in triumph. The most beautiful women of the city crowned
+him with laurels; cries of "Long live our Liberator! Long live New
+Granada! Long live the Savior of Venezuela!" filled the air; the people
+wept for joy, and Bolivar himself, much moved, dismounted from his horse
+and knelt to give thanks to God for the victory which had attended his
+efforts.
+
+But while the patriots were showering honors upon their "Liberator" the
+Spanish were remarshalling their forces. On the plains lived the
+Llaneros, cattle breeders, men of the wildest nature, almost outlaws.
+They were reckless fighters and rode fearlessly. They were won over to
+the Spanish cause by the promise of booty, and soon, under the
+leadership of a Spaniard named Boves, were arrayed against Bolivar's
+little army.
+
+The days that followed were dark for the patriots, with a long record of
+heart-breaking defeats. But no matter how the tide of battle went
+against them, their souls were unconquered. Rumors against the honor and
+integrity of Bolivar began to be circulated and he lost caste among
+those who had been his staunch supporters. Finally he was denounced as a
+traitor and driven into exile. In this, the darkest hour of his life, he
+made a farewell address to his people:
+
+"I swear to you," he said, "that this title (Liberator) which your
+gratitude bestowed upon me when I broke your chains shall not be in
+vain. I swear to you that Liberator or dead, I shall ever merit the
+honor you have done me; no human power can turn me from my course."
+
+Bolivar went to New Granada, where Camille Torres, the president of that
+Republic, was his staunch friend. He is said to have cried: "So long as
+Bolivar lives, Venezuela is not lost." There Bolivar never ceased to
+work for his country, even though he was unjustly exiled. The cause of
+liberty suffered severe reverses during these days. Ferdinand VII., who
+was once more securely seated on the throne of Spain, sent a great army
+to America, under the command of General Morillo, who had instructions
+to subdue the insurgent colonies even "if no patriot was left alive on
+the continent." New Granada was conquered and all the revolutionists on
+whom the Spanish could lay hands were massacred. Peru, Chili and Buenos
+Aires were also made to bow to the power of Spain, who outdid herself in
+cruel injustice to show the revolutionists that revolt was useless. Of
+the Spanish action in Venezuela, an official report says: "Provinces
+have ceased to exist. Towns inhabited by thousands now number scarcely a
+hundred. Others have been entirely wiped out. Roads are covered with
+dying, dead and unburied skeletons. Heaps of ashes mark the sites of
+villages. The trace of cultivated areas is obliterated."
+
+Bolivar next banded his little following together on the island of Santo
+Domingo, and at the close of 1816 landed just off the coast of
+Venezuela, on the island of Margarita. He convened a congress,
+instituted a government, and issued a proclamation abolishing slavery in
+Venezuela; almost fifty years before the famous Emancipation
+Proclamation of Lincoln. Then he entered upon a two years' campaign, of
+fierce and fearless fighting against the huge forces of General Morillo.
+On July 17, 1817, his capture of Angostura marked the turning tide of
+his fortunes. In 1818 his followers were increased by a large number of
+soldiers of fortune who were seeking new employment in the pastime of
+fighting, now that the end of the Napoleonic wars had taken away their
+occupation. These men were an acquisition because they were skilled in
+warfare and used to its hardships.
+
+A congress was convened at Angostura, in February, 1819, and Bolivar, as
+the unanimous choice for President, was given supreme power. He made an
+address which is famous in the annals of history. Among other things he
+said:
+
+"A republican form of government has been, is and ought to be that of
+Venezuela; its basis ought to be the sovereignty of the people, the
+division of power, civil liberty, the prohibition of slavery and the
+abolition of monarchy and privilege---- I have been obliged to beg you
+to adopt centralization and the union of all the states in a republic,
+one and indivisible."
+
+On August 7, 1819, the decisive battle of Boyaca was fought, and Bolivar
+entered the capital of New Granada again crowned with laurels. Bolivar
+believed that the colonies, to make a strong resistance to Spain, must
+be united. His dream was a confederacy of South American States. This
+was partially realized when he formed a union of Venezuela, New Granada
+and Ecuador, in 1819, as one republic, of which he was made president.
+He was also made commander in chief of the army, with full powers of
+organization of any new conquests which he might add to the union.
+
+Now Spain cried for mercy, and when, in 1820, King Ferdinand was again
+deposed, she asked for a six months truce, which was granted, because
+Bolivar saw in this lull in hostilities a chance further to entrench
+himself and prepare for new conquests. His wisdom was demonstrated by
+the fact that in June, 1821, his army was triumphant at Carabobo, and he
+soon entered Caracas to cries of "El Libertador," his honor vindicated
+and his vow fulfilled. In victory he was generous, for in reviewing his
+army he greeted them with the words, "Salvadores de mi patria." In the
+period from 1821 to 1824, Bolivar fought for the freedom of Ecuador and
+Peru, and accomplished it. He was hailed as the South American
+Liberator, and a separate nation, formed from the territory of Upper
+Peru, became known as Bolivia, in honor of the great South American
+patriot. In 1826 Bolivar was at the height of his power, with his best
+dreams realized. He bore the titles, Perpetual Protector of Bolivia,
+President of Colombia and Dictator of Peru. The territory under his
+control was almost two-thirds the size of all Europe.
+
+History is too often a record of ingratitude. One would think that in
+South America Bolivar would have remained first in the hearts of all the
+people. But jealous seekers after self-aggrandizement plotted against
+his rule and even attempted his life. Venezuela, which owed so much to
+him, was the first to withdraw, Ecuador became a separate republic and
+Bolivar was banished. At this his heart and his spirit were broken and
+he died at the age of only 47, on December 17, 1830. His last words
+were: "For my enemies I have only forgiveness. If my death shall
+contribute to the cessation of factions and the consolidation of the
+Union, I can go tranquilly to my grave."
+
+No other single individual has left such a mark on the pages of South
+American history; and though he never even visited the island he greatly
+influenced Cuba as well as the countries in which he lived and struggled
+for freedom.
+
+For the breath of revolt which was scorching the Spanish possessions on
+the main land, was no longer leaving Cuba untouched. It has ever been
+the history of tyranny that sooner or later the oppressed have found a
+leader and have risen against their tormentors, and also--we have only
+to contemplate French history, or to study the story of Russia under the
+Czars, to find confirmation--that such opposition was born first in
+secret gatherings, and gained strength under cover of concealment and
+darkness, until it grew strong enough to stand in the daylight.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XXIII
+
+
+Tales of Bolivar's triumphs in South America were not slow to penetrate
+to the knowledge of the Cubans. Liberty, which had seemed only a dream,
+now began to take on the aspect of a possible reality. Men expressed
+their opinions and desires furtively in their own homes, to tried and
+trusted friends. They began to assemble and exchange views. No one dared
+to come out openly at first, and so propaganda was carried on through
+veiled articles, by word of mouth, by the secret clasp or sign of union.
+Under pretext of meeting for amusement and social pleasure clubs whose
+members were all friends of liberty began to be formed, about 1820. The
+Free Masons, whose principles were far from inimical to what now began
+to become the aim of all Cubans who loved their country, organized
+societies, which immediately became hot-beds of revolt, of the fiercest
+kind of protest against Spanish rule, and the rendezvous of those who
+planned to overthrow it.
+
+Other clubs, all of them masking their real purpose under some pretext,
+sprang into existence like magic. The best known of them all was called
+the "Soles de Bolivar" in which the influence of Bolivar had bridged the
+waters which separate Cuba from South America, and was leading the
+Cubans, in the inception of their fight for liberty. What the members of
+these societies most longed for was that the renowned "Liberator" would
+come at the head of an army and overthrow the Spanish rule in Cuba;
+though this was not to be.
+
+Now if the Spanish rule was politically weak and tottering at this
+time, the evidence of this fact was strongly repressed, and financially
+the country was flourishing. At the head of the financial department was
+the Count de Villanueva. He made many reformations in the methods of
+collecting taxes--to enable Spain more readily to lay her hands on her
+spoils. He changed the methods of keeping accounts, and of checking up
+the books of the public treasury. His influence at the Spanish court was
+greater than that of the Captain-General, and so he was able to have him
+deposed as President of the Consulado and himself appointed in his
+stead. He exercised a despotic control over the functions of that body,
+and made them subservient to the improvement and development of Cuba for
+the enrichment of Spain. He saw to it that everything that could be
+taxed paid its share into the public treasury. As agriculture increased,
+its products were more heavily taxed. The plight of the Cuban who
+desired to own property and get on, was similar to that of a pieceworker
+who, when he speeded up productions, found the piece work price cut to
+take care of any surplus. The more the Cuban produced, the more he was
+taxed, and his last state was about the same as his first; the only ones
+who profited were the officials in Spain. Now for the first time taxes
+were imposed without even consulting those taxed, to say nothing of
+obtaining their consent. Villanueva was the friend of the
+Captain-General and his co-conspirator against Cuba's happiness, in
+spite of the fact that he wrested from him certain honors. He was
+naturally most popular with the Spanish court, and was cordially hated
+by all loyal Cubans.
+
+Yet Villanueva did do some things for the improvement of Havana. He had
+many roads in and near the city paved, and devices erected to clear the
+anchorage of the harbor of the infiltrations of mud, and to preserve
+the wharves. He had the waters of the Husille brought into the city by
+an excellent method. He established a regular mail packet system between
+Spain and Cuba, and it was under his administration that the Guines
+railroad was built. This road ran from Havana to Guines, a distance of
+forty-five miles, and was built under the direction of an American
+engineer, Mr. Cruger. It was the nucleus of a system which in 1848
+comprised 285 miles of rails in operation, and 85 more in process of
+construction. These lines connected Havana with Guines, Batabano,
+Cardenas and Matanzas; Cardenas with Juacaro, Matanzas with Sabanilla
+and Colisco, Nuevitas with Puerto Principe, and Santiago de Cuba with
+the copper mines. They represented an investment of between five and six
+million dollars.
+
+Villanueva, however, oppressed and robbed the people in order that he
+might make frequent and munificent remittances to the treasury in Spain.
+The more they gave, the more they were urged to give. Spain cared
+nothing for the manner in which the money which she demanded was
+accumulated, only that by fair means or foul it might be forthcoming.
+Villanueva established the Bank of St. Ferdinand, but for all the good
+it did Cuba at this time, it might have remained unestablished. Its
+capital was seized by the crown as fast as it accumulated, and it proved
+to be just a new method for the extortioners. Spain had no more
+unscrupulous agent than her chief of the finance department.
+
+The victims were not quiescent, except in appearance. The rack keys were
+being too tightly turned. In the "Soles de Bolivar" and in other
+assemblies patriots were crying out for vengeance. In vain Vives tried
+to suppress the societies. Known members were arrested and thrown into
+prison, and meetings were forbidden; but the movement was like a
+conflagration which has gained start in many parts of a city. When
+stamped out in one place--when one society was destroyed--it only made
+its appearance in another. The principal headquarters were at Matanzas.
+Very carefully and in secret the leaders laid their plans for a
+widespread revolt, the date of which was set for August 16, 1823. But
+Vives had secret agents in the societies, and there were traitors as
+there frequently are in such movements. When the day of the revolt
+dawned the leaders were seized and imprisoned. There were many eminent
+Cubans among the patriots, the best known being the greatest of Cuban
+poets, José Maria Heredia. Perhaps some appreciation not so much of this
+man's courage as of his genius influenced the Captain-General. At any
+rate, instead of being condemned to death, he was sent into perpetual
+exile. A few of the members of the society learned of the betrayal
+before they could be taken and made their escape from the island.
+
+Those who were conspiring for the liberation of Cuba were not cowed,
+however, but simply temporarily overcome. One of the first acts of Vives
+under the royal decree of May 25, 1825, was to use every means possible
+to suppress and to annihilate the secret societies, but he simply made
+them more wary. The desire for liberty which had sprung up in the
+breasts of so many Cuban patriots was destined never again to be
+extinguished, and the history of the island from this time down to the
+War of Independence, in the closing decade of the century, is that of
+one long struggle for separation from Spain--sometimes open, more
+frequently secret but always continuous.
+
+When the uprising of 1823 failed so signally, a number of the refugees
+who escaped prosecution fled to Mexico and Colombia. There was a
+settlement of these people in Caracas. They turned to "The Liberator"
+for support, and soon the invasion of Cuba, by a force composed of
+Mexicans and Colombians, either under the personal leadership, or under
+the direction of Bolivar, was planned. The leaders of this movement also
+sought aid in the United States. Now the slaveholders of the South were
+at this time opposed to the separation of Cuba from Spain, because under
+the lead of Bolivar it would mean the doom of the slave trade, the
+abolition of slavery, and such an achievement in Cuba would be inimical
+to their own interests. So the attempt to procure assistance in the
+United States was really the cause of the failure of the proposed
+expedition. Spanish spies were quickly informed of the proposed plan,
+and such strenuous efforts were openly made to make such an attempt
+ineffective, that it was never made. Bolivar had all he could attend to
+in South America, and he was too intelligent a leader to attempt the
+impossible, and at the same time leave his plans for the liberation of
+South America to meet certain defeat in his absence.
+
+But Spain did not easily overlook the conspiracy, and she seized the
+leaders in Cuba who were conspiring with those in Colombia and Mexico.
+Two young men of fine families, Don Francisco de Aguero Velasco and Don
+Bernabe Sanchez, were apprehended by the aides of the Captain-General,
+imprisoned and most cruelly treated, and when their spirit was not
+broken by torture and they refused to divulge the secrets of their
+leaders, they were condemned to die for treason, and paid the penalty of
+their patriotism with their lives.
+
+Still the love of freedom grew and waxed stronger in Cuba. In 1828, a
+secret society known as El Aguila Negra (The Black Eagle) was
+inaugurated in Colombia and Mexico, by those patriots who were escaping
+the vengeance of Spain by remaining in exile. This movement was
+splendidly organized. It had branches, not only in Colombia and Mexico,
+but also in the United States, where recruiting offices were openly
+established, and in Cuba where its operations were secret. But the
+organizers of The Black Eagle could not make a move which Spanish spies
+did not report to their master, the Captain-General of Cuba. Every plan
+was known to him as soon as it was formulated. He made no secret of his
+determination to deal summarily with those who were plotting against the
+power of Spain, but he waited in hope that he might be able to seize the
+real brains of the expedition. Besides this, the declaration of Bolivar
+for the freedom of the slaves as one of the principles for which he was
+fighting, and the fact that he was so closely connected with these
+revolutionary movements in Cuba, excited at this time the fears and
+animosity not only of the slave owners in the United States, but also of
+the most selfish, greedy and powerful of this class--particularly those
+of Spanish birth and sympathies--in Cuba. Before the expedition could be
+actually started, the leaders were apprehended and a farce of a trial
+followed. The Captain-General was beginning to fear the new spirit which
+was abroad in the land. Perhaps he had discovered that cruelty and
+fierce opposition only fanned the flame. At any rate he commuted the
+sentence of death, and imprisoned the conspirators.
+
+Since Mexico had conspired against the Spanish occupation of Cuba,
+General Vives retaliated by a military expedition against Mexico, in
+1828. A force of three thousand and five hundred men was sent against
+Mexico--not a large army, but General Vives expected that large numbers
+of Mexicans would join his soldiers, once they set foot on Mexican soil.
+A landing was made at Tampico, in August, 1828. Instead of being
+received with acclamations by the people of Mexico, the movement met
+with the most strenuous opposition. The expedition was surrounded by the
+Mexican army, and its members were glad to surrender and to make terms
+with the Mexicans by which they were allowed to return to Havana. In
+March, 1829, the would-be conquerors of Mexico arrived in Havana with
+none of the honors with which it had been planned to crown the victors.
+
+Vives, while a stern governor, did not actually play the part of a
+despot. He held his office until May 15, 1832, when he was succeeded by
+Don Mariana Ricafort, a tyrant of the most pronounced type. His rule
+left one continuous record of oppression and misgovernment. No better
+person to encourage in the hearts of thinking Cubans an eagerness to be
+rid of Spain could have been chosen, for he was thoroughly hated and
+despised. His rule continued two years, and then, in 1834, the reins of
+government were taken into the hands of General Don Miguel Tacon. The
+eastern department of the island was commanded at this time by General
+Lorenzo.
+
+Tacon, one of the most famous of the nineteenth century
+Captains-General, was a man of small mind and great stubbornness,
+shortsighted, narrow and jealous. He was exceedingly vain, grasping for
+power, and a tyrant of the most pronounced type. He took many privileges
+from the wealthy inhabitants of the island, and he seized for himself
+the power, which had theretofore been a municipal function, of naming
+the under-commissaries of police in Havana.
+
+Like all people of extremely arbitrary nature, Tacon was an arrant
+coward at heart. He was perpetually in terror of being assassinated,
+and upon the slightest pretext had anyone whom he considered dangerous
+to his rule thrown into prison. The life of no Cuban who happened to
+offend the Captain-General was safe at this time.
+
+In 1836 there occurred in Spain the revolution of La Granja, when the
+progressive triumphed over the moderate party, and the Queen Regent was
+obliged to proclaim the old Constitution of 1812, granting Cuba
+representation in the Spanish Cortes, and to summon deputies from Cuba.
+The news of this triumph reached Santiago de Cuba before it did Havana,
+whereupon General Lorenzo, in command there, immediately proclaimed the
+Code of Cadiz, and ordered an election for deputies to the Cortes. He
+reestablished the constitutional ayuntamiento, declared the press free,
+reorganized the national militia and put his department on the same
+footing that it had been in 1823.
+
+Tacon was furious when knowledge of this action reached him. He had no
+power to compel General Lorenzo to retract, but he summarily cut off all
+communications with his department and laid his plans to invade that
+territory, and by military force to restore his own absolute government
+and do away with representation for Cuba in the Spanish Cortes. Perhaps
+nothing that he could have done could have added more to his
+unpopularity. He was hissed in the streets, and plots were made against
+his life.
+
+For himself, Tacon paid no attention to the royal mandate which
+announced the reestablishment of the Constitution of 1812 and
+foreshadowed orders for election of deputies to the Cortes. Under the
+royal decree of 1825, which was still in force, Tacon had power to set
+aside any instructions which came from Spain, if it seemed to him to
+the best interests of Cuba. He did not hesitate to take advantage of
+this authority, which gave him the same rights as a Spanish governor
+over a city in a state of siege, allowed him to suspend any public
+functionary no matter what his rank, and to banish any resident of the
+island who opposed him, without trial, and even without the formal
+preferring of accusations, as well as to suspend any law or regulation
+emanating from Spain, should he see fit.
+
+Under Tacon's orders, a column of soldiers, picked from the Spanish army
+of occupation, and chosen--much against their will and inclination--from
+the rural and provincial militia and cavalry, was placed under the
+command of General Gascue, in the town of Guines. Meanwhile, Tacon's
+secret agents were carrying on an active propaganda among the citizens
+of Santiago de Cuba, and endeavoring to seduce public sentiment from
+Lorenzo's to Tacon's side. They did not hesitate to tell the most
+unblushing falsehoods, and to make the most dishonest promises to win
+the people over, and by such means attained some degree of success.
+
+If Tacon had had a different sort of opponent the story would have been
+written along very different lines. A strong commander of the large
+forces at Santiago de Cuba could easily have compelled him to withdraw
+from his position, and could have assured for Cuba greater freedom, and
+this course might in the long run at least have postponed her further
+efforts for separation from Spain. But General Lorenzo though
+well-meaning was fatally weak. Instead of resisting Tacon's tyranny he
+left Cuba for Spain, in an effort to make sure of the support of the
+Spanish crown, leaving Tacon to follow his own will, and to wreak his
+vengeance on those who had opposed him. Tacon was of course delighted
+with the success of his strategy. He sent some of the officers of his
+companies to Santiago and established a military commission to try all
+the people of prominence who under General Lorenzo had opposed him.
+Moya, the commandant, was the presiding judge, and Miret, a lawyer and a
+tool of Tacon's, acted as advocate. No greater travesty of justice has
+ever been staged than the proceedings of this precious body.
+
+Now all the Creoles of wealth, education and family had welcomed the
+royal decree, and hastened to obey the commands of General Lorenzo and
+to take oath to uphold a constitution which was so beneficial to their
+interest. Their names were known to Tacon, and he seized not only such
+people, but anyone of whom he had the slightest suspicion. Men of the
+highest rank, or the best reputation for loyalty and honesty, of the
+finest education and standing, were among the number who were summoned
+before Tacon's tribunal. Even the church was not exempt, and several
+clergymen, with liberal leanings, and of known revolutionary sentiments,
+were arrested and imprisoned. This was an excellent time for Tacon to
+find a pretext to separate the sheep from the goats, and to put those
+who seemed likely to oppose him where he thought they belonged. Many of
+these people were confined in dungeons which were as barbarous as those
+of the middle ages, and were left there until they died of disease or of
+starvation. They were cut off from communications with their families
+and friends, and in darkness and filth suffered until death relieved
+them. A few considered themselves fortunate to get off with sentences of
+banishment, and those who had warning were glad to escape to another
+country. Families were separated and homes were broken up. Tacon was
+very thorough in his methods of putting down what he considered a
+menace to his government. Even the soldiers under General Lorenzo's
+command were made his victims. They had been guilty of no offence save
+that of obeying their superior officer, but this made no difference to
+Tacon. He decided to make an example of them. Over five hundred of them,
+with ball and chain dragging, were condemned to work on the streets of
+Havana like convicts.
+
+The deputies to the Cortes whom Lorenzo had chosen, or who had been
+chosen under his rule, were among those who escaped from the island.
+They made their way to Spain, and, hoping that the Spanish crown would
+recognize the regularity of their election, and the irregularity of
+Tacon's action, presented their credentials to the Cortes. They were
+referred to a special committee composed of Spaniards whose only
+interest in Cuba was in what might be extracted from her, and who had no
+sympathy with her struggles or concern for her welfare or the good of
+her people. What few ideas they had of the best way to govern Cuba and
+make her pay the highest returns to Spain were derived from such
+intellects as those possessed by men of Tacon's ilk, and they were
+stoutly ranged on Tacon's side of the controversy. The deputies were
+refused seats in the Cortes, and it was decided that the Constitution of
+1812 did not apply to Cuba. Cuba was thus placed under the despotic rule
+of the Captains-General, who were given absolute power, even precedence,
+over the will of the Spanish Cortes. The decree of the Cortes on this
+matter was framed in the following language:
+
+"The Cortes, using the power which is conceded to them by the
+Constitution, have decreed: Not being in a position to apply the
+Constitution which has been adopted for the peninsula and adjacent to
+the ultramarine provinces of America and Asia, these shall be ruled and
+administered by special laws appropriate to their respective situations
+and circumstances, and proper to cause their happiness. Consequently,
+the Deputies for the designated provinces are not to take their seats in
+the present Cortes."
+
+Tacon was exultant over this strengthening of his hand, and he began a
+regime even more cruel than his previous record. His agents were
+constantly busy stirring up strife and jealousy between the Spanish
+residents of the island and the native Cubans. He dominated the civil
+courts with his military officers, and justice became a mere chimera of
+fancy. In order to keep the police in line, he insisted that a certain
+number of arrests must be made within a given period. When there were
+not enough real offenders to make up the quota, the police naturally
+wreaked any little personal animosities which they might have against
+private citizens; and it has even been said that frequently they were
+paid by certain revengeful citizens who held grudges to prefer charges
+against men who were absolutely innocent of any offence.
+
+Of course societies, whether political or social, came under the
+governmental ban. Citizens were not encouraged to assemble in groups for
+any purpose, and they feared to do so openly, lest the entire group
+might be apprehended and tried on some trumped up charge. All
+associations for education or personal betterment were discouraged,
+because if people came to know too much, they were harder to handle and
+more apt to revolt. Besides this, any society or institution which did
+not depend on the favor of the Captain-General might find means of
+denouncing his rule, and one could never tell how royal favor might be
+swayed. Tacon well knew it to be a very uncertain quantity, and meant
+to keep the wind blowing in his quarter, if possible.
+
+In connection with his management of the police force, the whole
+attitude of justice was changed. No person was presumed innocent until
+his guilt was proved, but on the contrary his guilt was presumed unless
+he could beyond the shadow of a doubt prove his innocence; and if he had
+been unfortunate enough to incur the displeasure of one of the legion of
+sycophants from the court of Spain who hung around the palace of the
+Captain-General, seeking their own aggrandizement, his chances of having
+an opportunity to prove himself innocent were very small. Tacon
+encouraged rather than discouraged his subordinates in acts of
+injustice, and did not care to what lengths they went if they kept the
+people quiet. He roared at his officers, and demanded that they be
+vigilant against his enemies, and they were thoroughly cowed by him. To
+satisfy him, they invented accusations and thrust just men into prison,
+or had them condemned to death. A curious result of this regime, and one
+which shows how some good will often work out of the basest evils, was
+that thieves and banditti were much less active than under any other
+Captain-General. The long arm of Tacon reached out to subdue them, to
+fall upon the guilty as well as the innocent.
+
+Tacon is said to have stated his own position in these words: "I am
+here, not to promote the interests of the people of Cuba, but to serve
+my master, the king." The press was muzzled, and the local ayuntamientos
+were deprived of their rights, and became merely the means for the
+collection and distribution of the funds of the municipalities. The
+prisons were overcrowded with Tacon's victims, and it became necessary
+to lodge some of the political prisoners in the dungeons of castles.
+Nearly 600 people, against whom there was no formal accusation, and
+about whom no treason could be proved, were lodged in cells and
+dungeons. No private citizen was safe, and no one had any personal
+liberty.
+
+In spite of the lack of a free press, pamphlets denouncing the rule of
+Tacon were constantly being written, printed and circulated. One,
+entitled "_Cuba y su Gobierno,_" contained the following assertions:
+
+"With the political passions of Spaniards and Cubans excited; the island
+reduced from an integral part of the monarchy to the conditions 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 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 opinions; 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 party in Cuba which was struggling against her oppression decided
+that since they dared not give expression of their views in the local
+press, they would establish organs outside their distressed country. Two
+papers were accordingly issued, one at Paris, called _El Correo de
+Ultramar_, and one at Madrid called _El Observador_. These were both
+edited by able Cubans who were in exile. Later, in 1848, _La Verdad_, a
+paper devoted to Cuban interests, was started in New York and the copies
+given free distribution.
+
+Tacon, like other despots, sought to cover his misdeeds by public works,
+with which he tried to placate those possible insurgents whom he had not
+imprisoned, and to deceive the Spanish government; for cruel and
+arbitrary as had been the Spanish attitude toward her colonies, it is
+doubtful whether the Spanish Cortes, had all the facts been known, would
+have countenanced some of the brutalities of which Tacon was guilty.
+There is a curious irony, a sort of paradox, about one of the
+improvements which Tacon made on the island. As we have seen, the
+prisons had never before been so full, and there had never before been
+such a demand for places to incarcerate political offenders. Tacon
+consequently caused a prison to be built, which has ever since been
+pointed to as a palliation of some of his misdeeds. It is situated near
+the gate of La Punta, and not far distant from the sea coast. It is well
+ventilated and airy, and open to the sea breezes. One point urged in its
+favor was that "its unfortunate inmates were protected from those
+pestilential fevers rising from crowded and ill-ventilated rooms." In
+other words, they were torn from squalor to well ventilated
+imprisonment. This would have been all very nice, were it not for the
+fact that numbers of the prisoners were from the best homes on the
+island, and had no need of a comfortable boarding house by the sea,
+watched over by an inhuman jailor. The prison had a capacity of five
+thousand prisoners, and very shortly after its erection it sheltered one
+thousand. It was built by the labor of convicts, and poor, unhappy
+political prisoners, and partly with funds which Tacon extracted from
+some of the officers who served under his predecessors, claiming that
+such funds had been by them unlawfully appropriated to their own use.
+
+To give opportunities for "graft" to his followers, and work to their
+hangers-on, Tacon constructed a wall, high, level and massive, and for
+what purpose only he knew, right through the widest avenue of Havana.
+The Cubans were taxed to pay for the work, and subsequently were retaxed
+to pay for its removal. Tacon also established a public meat and fish
+market, for which he won popular approbation--outside of Cuba. It was in
+fact much to the detriment of the public and the public revenue, and
+greatly to his own gain and that of his friends. Even the contract for
+this market was not honestly let, but was given to the highest bidder
+for Tacon's enrichment, while honest bidders were ignored. The grant was
+obtained, whereupon the contractors came into their own, and commenced
+extorting large and valuable fees to which they were not entitled.
+Finally the matter became such a public scandal that even Tacon could
+not avert its being investigated, but when this investigation was
+completed, the record was taken possession of by Tacon, and mysteriously
+never again was discovered. The scandal of Tacon's administration at
+last became too great even for the Spanish court, which was supposed to
+be inclined to stand for anything, and the voice of Don Juan Montalvo y
+Castillo was raised in the Spanish Cortes in expostulation. But Tacon
+wrote artful reports, dodged the real issues, and cheerfully lied, and
+his utterances--perhaps better fitting the temper of the Cortes--found
+credence and his rule was continued.
+
+Tacon caused the Governor's palace to be rebuilt, at great profit to
+himself and his favorites in the way of perquisites and bribes; he
+caused a military road to be constructed; and he had a spacious theatre
+erected, cynically saying, that "it would keep the people amused, and
+keep their minds off of matters which did not concern them." He also
+caused a large parade ground to be opened just outside the city. But in
+none of his improvements was he free from suspicion of having enriched
+his own purse, and having in some manner pulled the wool over the sadly
+strained eyes of the Cuban patriots.
+
+A story which reads like a romance is told of Tacon's institution of the
+fish market. In those days pirates infested the waters around Cuba, and
+indeed were a menace to American and French vessels, as we have seen.
+The most daring pirate and smuggler of them all was said to be a man
+named Marti, of whom many exciting tales are related. He was a bold
+leader of desperadoes, and since the Isle of Pines was where his band
+most frequently had their headquarters, he was known as the "King of the
+Isle of Pines." Now Tacon was eager to suppress smuggling and piracy,
+probably because they interfered with his own plans. The Spanish ships
+of war lay in the harbors of Cuba at anchor, while the officers indulged
+in dancing on board with Cuban ladies, or took long period of leave on
+shore. This did not please Tacon, and he accordingly issued commands
+that they suppress the smugglers at all costs. But the smugglers carried
+on their operations from small coves and inlets, in little crafts which
+did not draw much water, and the clumsy and half-hearted efforts of the
+Spanish sailors to apprehend them filled their leaders with mirth. There
+are many tales of the impudent daring with which these outlaws operated
+under the very noses of those who were sent out to capture them.
+
+At last Tacon, who had an abounding belief that every man had his price,
+and perhaps had heard enough of the character of the men he was hunting
+to gauge it correctly, offered a reward for anyone who would desert and
+inform the government of the pirates. A much larger and more tempting
+sum was offered for the delivery of Marti, dead or alive. These offers
+were posted throughout the country.
+
+For some time nothing happened, and then one dark night, when it was
+raining copiously, a man evaded the sentinels before the main entrance
+to the governor's palace in Havana. He stole through the entrance, and
+hid himself among the pillars in the inner court. Next this man silently
+crept up the staircase to the governor's apartments. Here he met a
+guard, but he saluted, and passed on with such nonchalance that he was
+not challenged, and entering the reception room of the governor, found
+himself in the semi-royal presence. Tacon was alone, busily writing. He
+promptly inquired who his visitor might be, and was informed that he was
+one who had valuable information for the Captain-General.
+
+"I am the Captain-General," said Tacon.
+
+"Your excellency is desirous of apprehending the pirates who infest the
+coasts of the island?"
+
+"You must have been reading the proclamations," jocosely suggested
+Tacon.
+
+"And you wish to take Marti, dead or alive?"
+
+Tacon signified that such was his purpose. His strange visitor then
+exacted the Captain-General's promise that he would be granted a free
+pardon in return for the valuable information which he was about to
+divulge. When this promise was given he said:
+
+"I will lead you to the strongholds of the smugglers."
+
+"You?" cried Tacon. "Who are you?"
+
+"I am Marti!" was the reply.
+
+Marti, who so calmly and unscrupulously betrayed his followers, was of
+course a welcome visitor to the Captain-General, and one worthy of his
+warmest co-operation and friendship. He was placed under surveillance,
+and was obliged to remain in the palace for the night, but the
+Captain-General refrained from telling anyone his identity. On the next
+day he acted as pilot for one of the Captain-General's boats, and after
+the course of several weeks he had exposed every hiding place of his
+men. The amount of money and property thus secured and appropriated by
+the Captain-General cannot be estimated, but it was very great. A great
+deal of it never found its way into the treasury. Marti was a scoundrel
+so much to his liking that the Captain-General decided not only to give
+him a free pardon, but an order on the treasury for a large sum of
+money. However, Marti had his own ideas of what he desired. In place of
+the money he chose the absolute right to fish the waters surrounding
+Havana, to the exclusion of all fishermen who were not in his employ. He
+had in his wild career marked for his own all the best fishing grounds
+in the harbor. This concession granted, there must naturally be found a
+market for his fish, and thus the fish market project was born. Then
+fishing made Marti so wealthy that he now had time for more elegant
+occupations, and turned his mind to theatricals. He is said to have
+obtained some sort of monopoly from the government over theatrical
+performances in the island, and then the public theatre idea was formed.
+
+Tacon had as many press agents as an opera singer, albeit they had no
+methods of getting their material into public print and disseminated it
+by word of mouth. His agents told many stories of him to illustrate his
+love of justice, his wonderful generosity, and his many other admirable
+traits, for which he was in reality only negatively to be celebrated.
+The one which follows is merely illustrative of the others.
+
+In the first year of his rule there was a young Creole girl, of
+surpassing beauty and modesty, of the name of Miralda Estalez. She was
+an orphan of seventeen, and kept a cigar store, which her beauty and
+grace made very popular with the young men of Havana. Miralda, like all
+proper heroines of fiction or fairy stories, was good as well as
+beautiful, and although many of the young bloods sighed for her, her
+glance fell with favor only on a handsome but, of course, poor and
+deserving young man, of the name of Pedro Mantenez. Pedro was a boatman,
+which is a most romantic and fitting occupation for an impoverished but
+righteous hero. He was more than this. By his wit and sagacity--which as
+we have seen failed to line his coffers, but if they had done so he
+would have been out of drawing in this affecting picture, since he would
+no longer have been poor but deserving--he was a leader among the other
+boatmen and beloved by all. The records of his noble and
+self-sacrificing deeds would have filled a volume as large as an
+unabridged dictionary. Miralda loved Pedro, and Pedro loved Miralda, and
+all was going as merry as a marriage bell, when entered the villain, a
+famous roué of the name of Count Almonte, who liked Miralda's cigars and
+cast melting glances at Miralda herself, but all in vain, because, as we
+have said, Miralda was good as well as beautiful. Finding that he would
+have to do something more substantial than make eyes, the worthy count
+offered Miralda a costly present which so affected her that she fainted,
+not with joy, but with horror. Then she ordered the count from her shop,
+but he refused to go and continued to hang around and buy her wares.
+Next the fine count offered her money and lands and rich clothes and
+what not, but the pure-minded young girl righteously spurned his offer.
+Acting quite in character the count then decided to kidnap her. His
+plans were ingenious, but in order to gain popularity for Tacon it was
+necessary that not far from this point he should get into the story.
+
+One afternoon, just at twilight, that fine hour for abduction, a
+lieutenant--probably in Tacon's pay--stepped into the store and demanded
+that Miralda go with him, by order of the Captain-General; which does
+look like the cloven hoof in the velvet glove, or something of the sort.
+But instead of taking Miralda to the Captain-General she was conveyed to
+the count's country estates, where she was kept a prisoner, although of
+course not harmed--in fiction the villain never harms the heroine before
+the hero arrives even if he is a bit late at the appointment. Pedro, by
+that wit and sagacity which had made him a master boatman, discovered
+the count's treachery. He disguised himself as a friar and went to the
+count's gate every day and slipped notes through the cracks to Miralda,
+thus cheering her exceedingly. Then entered the most high excellency,
+the Captain-General, that defender of those who loved liberty in Cuba,
+that builder of prisons and master genius in filling them, that
+despoiler of rich and poor alike, and thus the man most likely to help
+defenseless virtue. Pedro's excess of wit and sagacity led him straight
+to the spotless Captain-General. After trying three times to get an
+audience, for governing the island and putting down rebellions kept
+Tacon reasonably busy, Pedro succeeded in getting into the presence of
+the lord of Cuba. When he had told his story, and sworn to his honorable
+intentions toward his fiancee, Tacon sent his soldiers to the count's
+estate to bring him and Miralda into the sacred presence. When the
+Captain-General had demanded to know, and the count had assured him,
+that Miralda was "as pure as when she came beneath my roof," Tacon
+immediately produced a priest and married Miralda to the count, much to
+the astonishment and chagrin of the faithful Pedro. But Tacon the Just
+was not through. He was ever on the side of the oppressed, when his own
+interests leaned that way. The count was ordered to return to his own
+plantation, without his bride. While on the way he was shot in the back,
+after Tacon's most pleasant manner and by his orders. In one record it
+is hinted that his estates were pleasant picking for Tacon, but the
+story which is most current leaves out that interesting detail. Tacon's
+version is that he gave the count's estate to the widow; and at any rate
+Pedro and Miralda were married and lived happily ever afterward, and
+Tacon gave them his blessing with the high-sounding pronouncement: "No
+man nor woman on this island is so humble but that they may claim the
+justice of Tacon."
+
+Tacon's rule, one of the worst that the long-suffering Cubans had to
+endure, finally came to an end, on April 16, 1838, when he was succeeded
+by Don Joaquin de Espeleta. The latter had been born in Cuba, and it is
+a mystery why he was ever appointed, for Spain was not wont to accord
+honors to Cubans, or to confer the high rank of Captain-General on one
+who might naturally be expected to have Cuban sympathies. He had been
+for some time connected with the government in a subordinate capacity,
+being inspector-general of the troops, and second cabo-subalterno. From
+all accounts Espeleta was an excellent governor, and must have afforded
+the harassed Cubans a much needed breathing spell after the misrule of
+Tacon. But he was not long allowed to rule Cuba. Spain began to suspect
+that the Cubans were being treated too well, and that trouble might
+follow. Indeed, Espeleta was reported to be conciliating the people,
+and holding out hopes of great reforms. This in itself seemed to justify
+his removal, and so, in 1840, he was succeeded by the Prince de Aglona.
+
+During this administration the Royal Pretorial Audience, a high court of
+appeal to which all civil cases might be taken, was established. If this
+had been kept free from deleterious influences, it would have been a
+most beneficial thing for the oppressed Cubans, but the royal favorites
+dominated it, as they did pretty much everything else.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XXIV
+
+
+General Geronimo Valdez, who succeeded the Prince de Aglona as
+Captain-General in 1840, probably endeavored to rule wisely, since he
+was by nature a rather gentle and just man; but he had absolutely no
+chance with the power of Spain against him. It was during his incumbency
+that the first of the alarming slave uprisings occurred, and the Spanish
+officials were so frightened that they counseled the most violent
+methods of subduing the offenders, to which as we shall see General
+Valdez at least shut his eyes. For he was weak and indecisive, and had
+not the power to rule insurgents or to keep his Spanish colleagues
+within bounds.
+
+The British consul, David Turnbull, of whom we shall hear more later,
+was unpopular with the planters, who accused him of inciting their
+slaves to rebellion. Certainly he was an ardent advocate of
+emancipation, and a book which he wrote about this period was filled
+with denunciations of slavery. Valdez tried to placate both him and the
+planters, and between the two promptly fell down and won the enmity of
+both. His numerous grants of freedom to negroes were another cause for
+complaint. The planters combined and caused his downfall, and he yielded
+his office to one better suited to Spanish standards. Some years later
+they secured the recall of Turnbull. It is said of Valdez that he
+departed from Cuba no richer than when he had come, and if this is
+true,--it sounds almost impossible,--then he stands unique in an
+assembly of "grafters."
+
+In 1843 George Leopold O'Donnell took office as Captain-General. No
+despot who had preceded him surpassed him in cruelty. He turned every
+possible happening to his personal advantage, and lined his pockets with
+Cuban money. It was during his tenure of office that the most
+wide-spread and most dangerous of the insurrections among the slaves
+happened. Of the methods used in subduing this we shall write in another
+chapter, but they were the most disgraceful that have blotted the pages
+of the history of any nation. General O'Donnell himself, his wife and
+daughter were said to have profited by the slave trade. The wife of the
+Captain-General, by the way, seems to have had a painfully itching palm.
+It is told of her that she had a number of loaves of bread left after a
+reception, and that she sent for the baker at three o'clock in the
+morning, to require him to take back the surplus. When he demurred, that
+he could only sell it for stale bread, and would thus lose money on it,
+she said: "Oh, I sent for you early because now you can mix it with the
+other bread, and sell it to the masses, and no one will know the
+difference." She is accused of having been engaged in all kinds of
+schemes by which she profited in an illegitimate way. She dabbled in the
+letting of contracts for the cleansing of sewers and for the removal of
+dirt and manure from the city streets, demanding her bonus from the one
+who secured the contract, and these municipal operations stained her
+hands with illgotten gains. It is said that O'Donnell, who had a large
+interest in marble quarries in the Isle of Pines, had his agents select
+able bodied laborers, and trump up charges of treason against them. They
+were then sentenced to deportation to work in the Captain-General's
+stone quarries, and thus solved the problem of low priced labor.
+O'Donnell was fertile also in inventing new taxes and new methods of
+extorting money, which of course brought him into high favor at court.
+So pleasing was his rule to his masters and to his aides that he was
+allowed to stay in office longer than usual, and was not succeeded until
+1848.
+
+One of the most ridiculous figures in Cuban history came next, in the
+person of General Frederico Roncali. Some 400 Americans had taken up
+their abode on an island far distant from Cuba. Rumors reached General
+Roncali that they intended to free Cuba from Spanish rule. He promptly
+marched 4,000 picked soldiers to garrisons in Cuba, and promised them
+double pay if they would fight bravely when the enemy landed. Of course,
+the enemy never came, and General Roncali presented a foolish figure.
+But after all there was a portent in this of the fear which the
+Spaniards were beginning to entertain, that the end of their rule in
+Cuba was at hand.
+
+While the slave trade had been made illegal in 1820, it flourished with
+more or less vigor until the end of the Ten Years' War in the latter
+part of the century. Spain officially frowned upon it, but unofficially
+the Spanish crown is said to have been financially interested in the
+slave trading companies, and to have shared largely in their profits. To
+add to this incentive for the continuance of the trade, the
+Captain-General had his own reasons for not suppressing it. He was paid
+a fixed bonus for every slave imported. Indeed, the post of
+Captain-General of Cuba was one not to be despised by any soldier of
+fortune. The perquisites of the office are said to have been--of course,
+not from the slave trade alone--close to $500,000 a year. The
+Captain-General is said to have received "half an ounce of gold" for
+every "sack of charcoal," as they facetiously dubbed the negro, allowed
+to pass into the country.
+
+Although no excuse of expediency can be urged for the enslavement of
+human beings, no matter what their color or race, it remains a fact that
+the sugar plantations of Cuba required laborers in great numbers for
+their development, and the easiest and most profitable way to obtain
+that labor was through the employment of black slaves. It would probably
+have been impossible to obtain a sufficient number of white men at that
+time to do the work required, especially since when an attempt was made
+to import white men for work on the plantations, the owners who were of
+Spanish birth brought every influence possible to bear on the government
+to make such laws and regulations for that kind of labor that, if it
+could be procured, its retention was well nigh impossible.
+
+The blacks were naturally not satisfied with slavery. In their
+association with their masters they acquired just enough information and
+knowledge to make them dangerous. And at this time the blacks, free and
+slave, were a large majority of the population. The negro race in
+captivity was always difficult to manage. They were affectionate and
+responsive to good treatment but when their rage was aroused by hard and
+unjust treatment they reverted to habits of the jungle. The Spanish
+planters believed that the way to keep the negroes quiet was to keep
+them under with a strong hand and consequently overseers were frequently
+brutal.
+
+There began to be a strong undercurrent of unrest among the negro
+population, and an equally strong fear of them among the whites.
+Sporadic uprisings occurred, which were like the overflowing of a
+boiling caldron, not organized, and not well prepared, and therefore
+easily put down by the authorities. A description of a typical uprising
+of this character is contained in a work called "The Slaves in the
+Spanish Colonies" by the Countess Merlin, published about 1840. It
+relates the experiences of one Don Rafael with a mutiny of his slaves.
+
+"The slaves lately imported from Africa were mostly of the Luccommee
+tribe, and therefore excellent workmen, but of a violent and unwieldly
+temper, and always ready to hang themselves at the slightest opposition
+to their way.
+
+"It was just after the bell had struck five, and the dawn of morning was
+scarcely visible. Don Rafael had gone over to another of his estates,
+within half an hour before, leaving behind him, and still in tranquil
+slumbers, his four children and his wife, who was in a state of
+pregnancy. Of a sudden the latter awaked, terrified by hideous cries and
+the sound of hurried steps. She jumped affrighted from her bed, and
+observed that all the negroes of the estate were making their way to the
+house. She was instantly surrounded by her children, weeping and crying
+at her side. Being attended solely by slaves, she thought herself
+inevitably lost; but scarcely had she time to canvass these ideas in her
+distracted mind, when one of her negro girls came in, saying, 'Child,
+your bounty need have no fears; we have fastened all the doors, and
+Michael is gone for the master.' Her companions placed themselves on all
+sides of their female owners, while the rebels advanced, tossing from
+hand to hand among themselves a bloody corpse, with cries as awful as
+the hissing of a serpent. The negro girls exclaimed, 'That's the
+overseer's body!' The rebels were already at the door, when Pepilla
+(this is the name of the lady) saw the carriage of her husband coming at
+full speed. That sweet soul, who, until that moment, had valiantly
+awaited death, was now overpowered at the sight of her husband coming
+unarmed toward the infuriated mob, and she fainted. In the mean time,
+Rafael descended from the vehicle, placed himself in front of them, and
+with only one severe look, and a single sign of the hand, designated the
+purging house for them to go to. The slaves suddenly became silent,
+abandoned the dead body of their overseer, and, with downcast faces,
+still holding their field-swords in their hands, they turned round and
+entered where they had been ordered. Well might it be said, that they
+beheld in the man who stood before them the exterminating angel.
+
+"Although the movement had for a moment subsided, Rafael, who was not
+aware of its cause, and feared the results, selected the opportunity to
+hurry his family away from the danger. The _quitrin_ or vehicle of the
+country could not hold more than two persons, and it would have been
+imprudent to wait till more conveyances were in readiness. Pepilla and
+the children were placed in it in the best possible manner; and they
+were on the point of starting, when a man, covered with wounds, with a
+haggard, deathlike look, approached the wheels of the _quitrin_, as if
+he meant to climb in by them. In his pale face the marks of despair and
+the symptoms of death could be traced, and fear and bitter anguish were
+the feelings which agitated his soul in the last moments of his life. He
+was the white accountant, who had been nearly murdered by the blacks,
+and having escaped from their ferocious hold, was making the last
+efforts to save a mere breath of life. His cries, his prayers, were
+calculated to make the heart faint. Rafael found himself in the cruel
+alternative of being deaf to the request of a dying man, or throwing his
+bloody and expiring corpse over his children: his pity conquered; the
+accountant was placed in the carriage as well as might be, and it moved
+away from the spot.
+
+"While this was passing on the estate of Rafael, the Marquis of
+Cardenas, Pepilla's brother, whose plantations were two leagues off, who
+had been apprised through a slave of the danger with which his sister
+was threatened, hastened to her aid. On reaching the spot, he noticed a
+number of rebels who, impelled by a remnant of rage, or fear of
+punishment, were directing their course to the Savannas--large open
+plains, the last abodes resorted to by runaway slaves. The Marquis of
+Cardenas, whose sense of the danger of his sister had induced him to fly
+to her, had brought with him, in the hurry of the moment, no one to
+guard his person except a single slave. Scarcely had the fugitive band
+perceived a white man, when they went towards him. The marquis stopped
+his course and prepared to meet them; it was useless temerity in him
+against such odds. Turning his master's horse by the bridle, his own
+slave addressed him thus: 'My master, let your bounty get away from
+here; let me come to an understanding with them.' And he then whipped
+his master's horse, which went off at a gallop.
+
+"The valiant José, for his name is worthy of being remembered as that of
+a hero, went on toward the savage mob, so as to gain time for his master
+to fly, and fell a victim to his devotedness, after receiving thirty-six
+sword-blows. This rising, which had not been premediated, had no other
+consequences. It had originated in a severe chastisement inflicted by
+the overseer, which had prompted the rebels to march toward the owner's
+dwelling to expound their complaint. They begged Rafael's pardon, which
+was granted, with the exception of two or three, who were delivered
+over to the tribunals."
+
+This specimen of the fine writing of the period has hidden within it two
+truths which stand out in the history of the difficulties between the
+blacks and the whites on the island of Cuba. First, although we must
+discount a bit the Countess's account of Rafael's valor, and the ease
+with which he subdued the uprising, by taking into account the fact that
+he was her cousin, and that therefore she naturally looked at him with
+over-favorable eyes, nevertheless the fact remains that the blacks were
+usually amenable to the commands of their owners, unless aroused to an
+unusual pitch of ferocity, and were, through fear or respect, not
+difficult to reduce to control.
+
+In the second place, it has been the history of the relations between
+the blacks and whites in every country that with anything like fair
+treatment those who worked about the house, or acted as body servants,
+became personally attached to their masters--to whom it is true there
+was often a tie of consanguinity--and showed the same spirit of loyalty
+which was displayed by Pepilla's women slaves.
+
+Shortly after this insurrection, reported by the Countess Merlin, there
+was another near Aguacate, which was more formidable and more difficult
+to subdue. Meanwhile, the government was handling the matter of slave
+insurrections in a vacillating manner. Laws were made which granted the
+slaves a right to assemble and to establish societies, even to form
+military bodies for the public defense; actually giving them greater
+rights than white laborers; and this went hand in hand with such cruel
+injustice as public whipping posts. The white population, on the other
+hand, even in localities where there was a great preponderance of
+blacks, could not form a militia.
+
+Turnbull, the English consul, fancied that he saw in these slave
+insurrections a chance to advance the interests of his country. It is
+claimed that he also had visions of a republic in which the blacks ruled
+with himself as president. He was _persona non grata_ with the
+aristocracy of the island, and is supposed to have been actuated in part
+by a desire to avenge social slights. He was charged with planning to
+effect a huge black uprising, to seize and execute enough of the white
+population to cow the rest and then to set up his black republic. But it
+is impossible to determine the truth or falsity of these accusations.
+Turnbull had many enemies who were only too glad to charge him with any
+crime.
+
+In 1842 there was an insurrection in Martiaro, and it was with
+difficulty suppressed. Then evidence began to be seen everywhere of a
+systematic propaganda among the slaves on plantations scattered in
+widely separated parts of the island. A negro mason accidentally dropped
+an incendiary proclamation from his pocket, and it finally reached the
+hands of the captain of the district. The negro was tortured, but would
+not divulge the source of the paper. An itinerant monk went through the
+country ostensibly begging alms for the church, but in reality
+prophesying to the blacks that in July, 1842, they would, on St. John's
+Day, rise and obtain their freedom. The wholesale insurrection did not
+occur, but there were uprisings in July in various parts of the island,
+and the slaves of an estate near Bemba murdered their master and a
+neighbor, and were only subdued when the militia had been called. In
+January, 1843, an official of the government was murdered by the blacks.
+A colored man secretly gave evidence against the slayers and in some
+manner fell under their suspicion, and soon after was assassinated by
+one of his own people, who afterward was tried for the crime, but
+committed suicide in jail, before he could pay the death penalty. In
+March, 1843, near Bemba five hundred negroes rose against their white
+masters, and it was only after considerable bloodshed that they were
+subdued. No sooner was this trouble quieted than there was another
+uprising on a plantation in the neighborhood, and still a third one the
+same year, the exact details of which are lacking. Then followed, at the
+close of 1843, the most serious trouble of all, when, in November, the
+negroes near Matanzas revolted and went on an orgy of murder and rape,
+ravishing and killing women, and murdering white men. Turnbull was
+accused of being the brains behind these troubles, but it was impossible
+to fix the guilt on him. If he was guilty he was not a good organizer,
+for none of the revolts had any national effect. They were all local in
+character, and all unsuccessful in attaining any lasting results.
+
+After the insurrection of November, 1843, a meeting of planters was
+called in Matanzas, and the government was asked to take steps to make
+further revolts impossible. But in 1844, near Matanzas, occurred another
+serious insurrection, and it was reported that the negroes on all the
+plantations in the neighborhood were organized and were planning a
+wholesale revolt, which would bring about the realizations of Turnbull's
+dreams. It was then that the government decided to act ruthlessly, and
+methods which would have done credit to the old Spanish Inquisition were
+promptly introduced.
+
+In March, 1844, the Captain-General, O'Donnell, addressed a letter to
+General Salas, who was the head of the military tribunal, in which he
+counseled drastic and violent measures against any insurgent blacks. He
+suggested that all blacks, slave or free, who were suspected of treason
+to their masters, should be apprehended, and if they refused to give
+information as to the extent of the organization and their associations,
+the knowledge must be wrung from them by torture. The slaves were to be
+tried in the district where they were taken. The officer in charge of
+each district was promptly given full power to apprehend and punish the
+plotters as he saw fit. The Spanish officers were often cruel and brutal
+men, who exercised their authority in the most revolting manner. The hue
+and cry went from hut to cabin and no black man was safe at his own
+hearth. Opportunity was taken in some cases to work out a personal
+grudge and gain freedom from an enemy. No one, not even a white man,
+dared publicly to raise his voice to expostulate, for he was promptly
+dubbed an abolitionist and thrown into prison. If a negro had a little
+money saved to buy his freedom, or, if he was a freedman, to obtain a
+little business, he stood a better chance of his life. He might buy his
+tormentors off, but all too frequently when he had paid, he was murdered
+lest he might tell of the man whom he had bribed.
+
+One tender hearted Spanish judge, Don Ramon Gonzales, is reported to
+have condemned his victims to be taken to a room, the walls of which
+were already dripping with the blood and shredded flesh of previous
+victims. There they were tied head down to a ladder, and flogged by two
+Africans until they were dead. To make their torture the more
+excruciating, the thongs with which they were scourged had on the ends
+small buttons made of fine wire, which bit into the flesh. When several
+freedmen had been executed in this pleasant fashion, and when public
+opinion dared feebly to protest at such atrocities, death certificates
+were made out by unscrupulous physicians, reporting death from some
+simple disease, and under this authority the murdered negroes were
+quickly buried.
+
+A second kind judge seized on some pretext a freeborn negro, an old man,
+who was gentle and inoffensive, but who had incurred the judicial
+displeasure, and had him tied to the ladder and flogged on three
+separate occasions, without even going to the trouble to bring an
+indictment against him or divulge the nature of his offense. Another
+free negro was taken by this same official, hung by his hands from the
+ceiling of the torture chamber, and left there all night, while he was
+at intervals whipped. At length this poor victim succumbed to the
+treatment and gave information of a comrade, who was promptly taken out
+and shot without a trial.
+
+Another officer, Don Juan Costa, had a record of ninety-six negroes
+killed by the lash, of whom fifty-four were slaves and forty-two
+freedmen. The record shows the following entries, which gives an inkling
+of the colored man's powers of endurance and of what each must have
+suffered: "Lorenzo Sanchez, imprisoned on the first of April, died on
+the fourth. Joseph Cavallero, imprisoned on the fourth, died on the
+sixth. John Austin Molino, imprisoned on the ninth, died on the
+twelfth." There were similar laconic entries for the whole ninety-six.
+Don José del Piso, a fiscal officer, was responsible for the flogging to
+death of a negro a hundred and ten years of age, too old and infirm to
+be an active conspirator. This was within the walls of the Matanzas
+jail. The poor victim was so lacerated that he was hardly recognizable
+as a human being. This del Piso had a pleasant form of afternoon sport
+which he conducted to the great edification of his brother
+inquisitioners. He would have his victims tied to the high limb of a
+tree, and then cut the rope and watch them writhe when they fell. Don
+Ferdinand Percher fell slightly below the record of his colleague, Don
+Juan Costa, for he could boast of only seventy-two deaths to his credit.
+
+Then there occurred to these just men and true a new and exceedingly
+fine way of adding to their revenue. Don Miguel Ballo de la Rore
+extorted from the negroes on a certain estate, in the absence of their
+owners, affidavits accusing their master of treason; and the latter was
+notified through his overseer that unless he paid two hundred ounces of
+gold forthwith he was a condemned man. However, the correspondence fell
+into the hands of General Salas who had the grace to put an end to the
+matter.
+
+But not only the blacks were victims. A white man who had incurred the
+displeasure of the minions of the government was never safe. One Spanish
+officer had a grudge against a young Englishman and accused him of
+inciting the negroes on an estate to poison their master; and the
+Englishman paid the forfeit of his life for a crime of which he was
+entirely guiltless. The fiscal officers ranged the island, looking for
+chances to murder, obtaining false testimony, seizing property, cattle,
+furniture, horses, the property of freed blacks, which they sold,
+converting the proceeds to their own use. This record seems incredible,
+but it is vouched for beyond question. Furthermore, at this time no
+comely colored woman was safe. If she happened to attract the lustful
+eyes of a Spanish general, her husband or father or brothers were
+seized, and she herself was delivered up to be ravished and then slain.
+One of the episodes of this campaign was a largely attended ball, at
+which no white woman was present, and at which all the colored women
+were obliged to appear in the garb of Eve before the Fall.
+
+[Illustration: JOSÉ ANTONIO SACO
+
+One of the greatest of Cuban publicists, José Antonio Saco was born at
+Bayamo on May 7, 1797; studied philosophy and politics, and succeeded
+Varela as Professor of Philosophy at the San Carlos Seminary, Havana. In
+1828 he founded in New York the "Mensajero Quincenal," and four years
+later in Havana became editor of the _Revista Bimestre Cubana_. Because
+of his defense of the Academy of Literature, Captain-General Tacon
+banished him to the island of Trinidad. In 1836 he represented Cuba in
+the Spanish Cortes, and afterward travelled in Europe. In Paris he
+published a treatise of Cuban annexation to the United States, and after
+the Lopex expedition he wrote again on the political situation in Cuba.
+He was a member of the Junta of Information in 1866, and a Deputy to the
+Cortes from Santiago de Cuba. He died at Barcelona, Spain, on September
+26, 1879, and his body was returned to Cuba for burial. His greatest
+literary work was a monumental "History of Slavery," but he wrote many
+others on political, economical, social and literary subjects.]
+
+The fiscal officers were able to carry out these infamies because they
+were at once prosecuting attorney, judge and jury. They obtained
+testimony, apprehended, imprisoned, condemned and executed. The
+testimony which they extorted was taken without witnesses. They
+themselves wrote down the declarations, distorting them to suit their
+own purposes. The blacks seldom knew how to read or write, and they were
+obliged to set their mark to anything which the fiscal officer chose to
+record. Not even the notary who swore the witness was allowed to check
+up the declaration with his knowledge of the statements. The Spanish
+government had for a long time played the most corrupt and petty of
+politics in apportioning the smaller offices on the island. Political
+hangers-on, with little education, no moral sense and no honor, were
+paid for their loyalty to Spain with these positions. The records show
+that during this reign of terror one thousand three hundred and
+forty-six people were victims of the inquisition.
+
+But Spain in her campaigns of cruelty was only laying up trouble for
+herself. She was raising a storm which would never again be completely
+quelled until Cuba was free. The abolitionists and the liberals, or
+those who longed for freedom from Spanish rule, began joining forces.
+The cause of freedom for the slaves, and of separation from Spain, were
+curiously interlaced. The country was worn out with turmoil and eager
+for peace, but there could be no peace, it was believed, while Spain and
+the Spaniards on Cuban soil ruled with such cruel measures.
+
+The problem of how separation might be obtained was capable of either
+of two solutions, by annexation to some other country, or by
+independence. The cause of independence had at this time for its leader
+a Cuban of the highest type, José Antonio Saco, who had traveled all
+over the world, and was a man of fine education and great culture. The
+larger proportion of those Cubans who were intelligent, and who were
+thinking out for themselves the problem of the fate of Cuba, accepted
+him as their leader. Of course, it is understood that all organization,
+all plans and almost all conversation, except in whispers behind closed
+doors, or in corners of cafes which seemed safe from surveillance, had
+to be secret. To come out openly for the salvation of Cuba from Spanish
+rule meant banishment or death.
+
+Saco's ideas were well known to the Spanish governor, for in 1834 he had
+been exiled because of them. But he was prudent, and was not disposed to
+do anything that would hurl Cuba into the throes of revolution. He felt
+that a revolution at this time, with the blacks subdued but not
+conquered, might mean a race war which would be the most disastrous
+thing that could happen to the island. He also opposed annexation to any
+other country, particularly to the United States, because he felt that
+Cuba, being in such close proximity to the latter country, would lose
+her individuality, be absorbed and become Anglo-Saxon. In 1845 he wrote
+on this subject, as follows:
+
+"If the slave trade continues, there will be in Cuba neither peace nor
+security. Their risings have occurred at all times; but they have always
+been partial, confined to one or two forms, without plan or political
+result. Very different is the character of the risings which at brief
+intervals have occurred in 1842-43; and the conspiracy last discovered
+is the most frightful which has even been planned in Cuba, at once on
+account of its vast ramifications among slaves and free negroes, and on
+account of its origin and purpose. It is not necessary that the negroes
+should rise all at once all over the island; it is not necessary that
+its fields should blaze in conflagration from one end to the other in a
+single day; partial movements repeated here and there are enough to
+destroy faith and confidence. Then emigration will begin, capital will
+flee, agriculture and commerce will rapidly diminish, public revenues
+will lessen, the poverty of these and the fresh demands imposed by a
+continual state of alarm, will cause taxes to rise; and, with expenses
+on the one hand increased, but with receipts diminished, the situation
+of the island will grow more involved until there comes the most
+terrible catastrophe."
+
+[Illustration: GASPAR BETANCOURT
+
+CISNEROS]
+
+Again we find in a letter to a friend, Caspar Betancourt Cisneros,
+written a little later than the former communication:
+
+                        GASPAR BETANCOURT CISNEROS
+
+     Scion of a distinguished stock, Gaspar Betancourt Cisneros was born
+     in Camaguey in 1803 and was educated in the United States. In 1823
+     he went with other Cubans to Colombia to confer with Bolivar on the
+     theme of Cuban independence, and remained there for many years. In
+     1837 he began a notable series of papers in the Cuban press, on
+     familiar economic and educational topics, signing them El Lugareno;
+     under which pen name he became famous. He established schools and
+     agricultural colonies, and built the second railroad in Cuba. In
+     1846 while he was in Europe he was suspected of revolutionary
+     conspiracy, and his property was confiscated. He then became a
+     teacher in the United States, but returned to Cuba in 1861 and
+     became a journalist. He was too ill to accept election to the Junta
+     of Information, and died in 1866.
+
+"Let there be neither war nor conspiracies of any kind in Cuba. In our
+critical situation either one means the desolation of the country. Let
+us bear the yoke of Spain. But let us bear it so as to leave to our
+children, if not a country of liberty, at least one peaceful and
+hopeful. Let us try with all our energies to put down the infamous
+traffic in slaves; let us diminish without violence or injustice the
+number of these; let us do what we can to increase the white population;
+let us do all which you have always done, giving a good example to our
+own fellow countrymen, and Cuba, our beloved Cuba, shall some day be
+Cuba indeed!"
+
+On the other hand the Annexationists were waging a vigorous though quiet
+campaign. On April 20, 1848, a proclamation urging the Cubans to make
+every effort to add their island to the United States appeared. It was
+signed simply "Unos Cubanos," and urged opposition to Saco and his
+sympathizers and a concerted effort to gain the political and civil
+rights which were enjoyed by Americans. "Amalgamation of the races," ran
+the proclamation, "would not extinguish Cuban nationality, for every
+child born in Cuba would be at once a Cuban and an American. Cuba united
+to this strong and respected nation, whose southern interests would be
+identified with hers, would be assured quiet and future success; her
+wealth would increase, doubling the value of her farms and slaves,
+trebling that of her whole territory; liberty would be given to
+individual action, and the system of hateful and harmful restrictions
+which paralyze commerce and agriculture could be destroyed."
+
+But no matter what the Cubans themselves might dream of or hope for,
+Spain had not the slightest intention of surrendering Cuba without a
+struggle. No country, not even one more altruistic in its policies, and
+more highly civilized than Spain had shown herself to be at this time,
+would be eager to relinquish a colony which brought her in a revenue of
+three and a half millions clear, and which in the twenty years from 1830
+to 1850 had poured over $50,000,000 into her coffers. Spain therefore
+cast around for any expedient which would enable her to retain her last
+possession in the new world. Roncali during his term as Captain-General
+very clearly expressed his views as to where the Spanish interests in
+Cuba lay:
+
+"Among the considerable elements of power with which Spain counts in
+this island, ought to be mentioned slavery. Permit me, your excellency,
+to explain my belief in this regard. The interest in preserving their
+fortunes and in developing the rich crops from which they spring causes
+all the wealthy inhabitants of the country to fear the first whisper of
+conflict which may relax the discipline of the slaves, or threaten
+emancipation. From this fact I infer that slavery is the rein which,
+through fear and interest, will keep in submission the great majority of
+the white population. But if the event should arrive of foreign war and
+of inner commotions such as to threaten the dependence of the island,
+what should be the conduct of the Captain-General toward slavery? I, my
+noble lord, state my solemn belief that this terrible weapon which the
+government holds in its hand might in the last extremity prevent the
+loss of the island, and that if the inhabitants are persuaded that it
+will be used they will trouble and renounce every fond illusion rather
+than draw down such an anathema. The chance is remote without doubt, but
+that very fact makes me express myself clearly: the liberty of all the
+slaves in a day of gravest peril, proclaimed by Her Majesty's
+representative in these territories, would re-establish superiority and
+even strengthen our power in a very real way, based as it would then be
+on that very class which it seems best today to keep submerged. But if
+that last resort should prove insufficient, or if it did not suit Spain
+afterward to retain her hold, it may always be brought about that the
+conquerors shall acquire Hayti instead of the rich and prosperous Cuba
+and that the bastard sons who have brought down that calamity by their
+rebellion shall meet in their complete ruin, punishment and
+disillusionment. A principle of retributive justice or of harmony with
+the maxims of modern civilization, to which it is so customary now to
+appeal, would also call for general emancipation, at the moment when,
+for whatever reason, Spain should decide to renounce the island.... So
+far this trans-Atlantic province is still strongly attached to the
+mother land, and thanks to the wisdom and material solicitude of Her
+Majesty, I believe that the bonds of union will be still more
+strengthened; but if the fate of nations brings to this land a day
+pregnant with such circumstances as to threaten its loss, their national
+honor and interest alike would demand that every recourse and means be
+exhausted, without saving anything. If, even then, fortune should
+abandon us, we should at least leave it written in history that our
+departure from America corresponded to the heroic story of its
+acquisition."
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XXV
+
+
+The era of Cuban history which embraced part of the seventeenth, the
+eighteenth, and part of the nineteenth centuries, and which we have
+endeavored to review in this volume, presents a striking and almost
+unique contrast to the customary course of human affairs. The normal
+order of civic development begins with the rise and confirmation of
+nationality, and thence proceeds to international relationships and
+cosmopolitan interests and activities. Such was the record of other
+American states which grew up contemporaneously with Cuba. Such was
+notably the course of the United States of North America. In their
+colonial period they were intensely local, parochial, in sentiment and
+spirit. In their revolutionary era they began to manifest a national
+entity. It was not until long after their establishment of national
+independence that they fully realized their international status.
+
+In Cuba the order was reversed. At first, as a colony of triumphant and
+masterful Spain, the island had neither national sentiment nor
+international interests. In the second stage, however, it became a pawn
+in the great international game which was being played between declining
+Spain and her increasingly powerful neighbors, actually for a time
+passing from Spanish to British possession, and often being regarded as
+likely to pass permanently into the hands of some other power than
+Spain.
+
+These circumstances had a marked effect upon the whole genius of the
+Cuban people. It gave them international vision before they had learned
+to discern themselves even as a potential nation. It gave them a degree
+of cosmopolitanism such as few comparable colonies have ever known. It
+divorced them in sentiment from the Mother Country to an exceptional
+degree. They were made to feel that Spain meant little or nothing to
+them. She had planted them, it is true. But she had given them little
+cultivation, little protection. She had looked to them for more help for
+herself than she had herself given to them. She was unable to save them
+from the danger of being passed from hand to hand, from owner to owner.
+
+At the north, England had not governed her Thirteen Colonies well. But
+she had at least protected them. There had never been on their part any
+fear that she would abandon them to some other conqueror, or that they
+would be taken from her by force, or sold or traded away. The British
+colonists knew that in the last emergency the whole power of the United
+Kingdom would be exerted for their protection. Yet even so they revolted
+against misgovernment, and declared their independence.
+
+How much more, almost infinitely more, cause had Cubans for alienation
+from Spain! She had given them no such protection. Her policy suggested
+always the possibility of their transfer in some way to some other
+sovereignty. And her misgovernment had been immeasurably worse than that
+of England. If Cuba was more patient than the Thirteen Colonies at the
+north, that was another of the paradoxes of history--that the impulsive,
+hot-blooded Latin of the south should be more deliberate and
+conservative than the cool and phlegmatic Anglo-Saxon of the north.
+
+This very quality of patience was, indeed, the saving virtue of the
+Cuban character. Quijano Otero wrote of Colombia, at the very time of
+her revolt against Spain and the establishment of her independence, that
+she "had lived so fast in her years of glory and great deeds that,
+though still a child, she was already entering a premature decrepitude."
+Not so Cuba. It is true that, as we have seen, she had imbibed enough of
+the spirit of Spain and of other lands to be measurably saturated with
+their customs, even their luxurious vices and follies. Yet she did not
+live fast. She did not grow prematurely old. In so far as she adopted
+the customs of Europe, she adapted them to herself, not herself to them.
+The result was that after three centuries, she still had the
+ingenuousness and spontaneity of youth. She might almost have said, in
+paraphrase of a great captain's epigram, "I have not yet begun to live!"
+
+Half unconsciously, however, she had made an exceptionally complete
+preparation for the life that was to come as a nation. She had already
+become international in the scope of her vision, in the range of her
+sympathies, and in her intellectual and social culture. Many of her sons
+had studied abroad, acquiring the learning of the best European schools.
+If the world at large knew little about Cuba, Cuba knew much about the
+world at large.
+
+Though indeed the world did know something about Cuba, and took a lively
+and intelligent interest in her. This we have endeavored to indicate in
+these pages by our numerous citations of authorities, observers and
+writers of various lands, who found in the Queen of the Antilles a theme
+worthy of their most interested attention. More and more, as the
+unimproved estates of the world were partitioned among the powers, the
+transcendent value of this island was recognized, and more and more
+covetous gaze was fixed upon it by the nations which were extending
+their empires instead of losing them.
+
+So at the close of the eighteenth century it was apparent that another
+epoch in Cuban history was at hand. North America had been swept by
+revolution. South America was at the brink of revolution. Europe was
+convulsed with revolution. Amid all these, Cuba was like the calm spot
+at the centre of a whirlpool. Changes had occurred on every side, but
+she had been left unchanged. Yet every one of those changes had, deeply
+and irrevocably, though perhaps imperceptibly, wrought its effect upon
+her.
+
+The potency and the promise of national life were within her. Thus far
+everything that she had accomplished had been accredited to Spain. But
+the time was at hand when she would claim her own. During three
+centuries Cuba had produced the flower of the Spanish race; as indeed
+from time immemorial colonies had been wont to produce stronger men, in
+their comparatively primitive and healthful conditions, than the more
+sophisticated and often decadent Mother Countries. But they had all been
+reckoned Spaniards. Now the time was coming, and was at hand, when
+Cubans would be reckoned Cubans, by all the world as well as by
+themselves.
+
+The errors of Spain were not of Cuba's choosing. The disasters of Spain
+were not of Cuba's inviting. The decadence of Spain was not of Cuba's
+working. If in the downfall of Spanish power Cuba saw the opportunity
+for her own uprising, it was not that she herself had compassed that
+downfall, but only that she chose not needlessly to let herself be
+involved therein. As Spain weakened, Cuba girded and strengthened
+herself, and made herself ready to stand alone.
+
+THE END OF VOLUME TWO
+
+
+
+
+INDEX to Volumes 1 thru 4
+
+
+    Abarzuza, Sr. proposes reforms for Cuba, IV, 6.
+
+    Abreu. Marta and Rosalie, patriotism of, IV, 25.
+
+    Academy of Sciences, Havana, picture of, IV, 364.
+
+    Adams, John Quincy, enunciates American policy toward Cuba, II, 258;
+      portrait, 259;
+      on Cuban annexation, 327.
+
+    Aglona, Prince de. Governor, II, 363.
+
+    Agramonte, Aristide, in yellow fever campaign, IV, 172.
+
+    Agramonte, Enrique, in Cuban Junta, IV, 12.
+
+    Agramonte, Eugenio Sanchez, sketch and portrait, IV, 362.
+
+    Agramonte, Francisco, IV, 41.
+
+    Agramonte, Ignacio, portrait, facing. III, 258.
+
+    Agriculture, early attention to, I, 173, 224;
+      progress, 234;
+      II, 213;
+      absentee landlords, 214;
+      statistics, 223;
+      discussed in periodicals, 250;
+      rehabilitation of after War of Independence, IV, 147.
+
+    Aguayo, Geronimo de, I, 161.
+
+    Aguero, Joaquin de, organizes revolution, III, 72;
+      final defeat, 87.
+
+    Aguiar, Luis de, II, 60.
+
+    Aguiera, Jose, I, 295.
+
+    Aguila, Negra, II, 346.
+
+    Aguilera, Francisco V., sketch and portrait, III, 173.
+
+    Aguirre, Jose Maria, filibuster, IV, 55;
+      death, 85.
+
+    Albemarle, Earl of, expedition against Havana, II, 46;
+      occupies Havana, 78;
+      controversy with Bishop Morell, 83.
+
+    Alcala, Marcos, I, 310.
+
+    Aldama, Miguel de, sketch and portrait, III, 204.
+
+    Aleman, Manuel, French emissary, II, 305.
+
+    Algonquins, I, 7.
+
+    Allen, Robert, on "Importance of Havana," II, 81.
+
+    Almendares River, tapped for water supply, I, 266;
+      view on, IV, 167.
+
+    Almendariz, Alfonso Enrique, Bishop, I, 277.
+
+    Alquiza, Sancho de, Governor, I, 277.
+
+    Altamarino, Governor, I, 105;
+      post mortem trial of Velasquez, 107;
+      attacked by the Guzmans, 109;
+      removed, 110.
+
+    Altamirano, Juan C., Bishop, I, 273;
+      seized by brigands, 274.
+
+    Alvarado, Luis de, I, 147.
+
+    Alvarado, Pedro de, in Mexico, I, 86.
+
+    Amadeus, King of Spain, III, 260.
+
+    America, relation of Cuba to, I, 1;
+      II, 254. See UNITED STATES.
+
+    American Revolution, effect of upon Spain and her colonies, II, 138.
+
+    American Treaty, between Great Britain and Spain, I, 303.
+
+    Andrea, Juan de, II, 9.
+
+    Angulo, Francisco de, exiled, I, 193.
+
+    Angulo, Gonzales Perez de, Governor, I, 161;
+      emancipation proclamation, 163;
+      quarrel with Havana Council, 181;
+      flight from Sores, 186;
+      end of administration, 192.
+
+    Anners, Jean de Laet de, quoted, I, 353.
+
+    Annexation of Cuba to United States, first suggested, II, 257, 326;
+      campaign for, 380;
+      sought by United States, III, 132, 135;
+      Marcy's policy, 141;
+      Ostend Manifesto, 142;
+      Buchanan's efforts, 143;
+      not considered in War of Independence, IV, 19.
+
+    Antonelli, Juan Bautista, engineering works in Cuba, I, 261;
+      creates water supply for Havana, 266.
+
+    Apezteguia. Marquis de, Autonomist leader, IV, 94.
+
+    Apodaca, Juan Ruiz, Governor, II, 311.
+
+    Arana, Martin de, warns Prado of British approach, II, 53.
+
+    Arana, Melchior Sarto de, commander of La Fuerza, I, 237.
+
+    Arana, Pedro de, royal accountant, I, 238.
+
+    Aranda, Esquival, I, 279.
+
+    Arango, Augustin, murder of, III, 188.
+
+    Arango, Napoleon, treason of, III, 226.
+
+    Arango y Pareño, Francisco, portrait, frontispiece, Vol. II;
+      organizes Society of Progress, II, 178;
+      leadership in Cuba, 191;
+      attitude toward slavery, 208;
+      his illustrious career, 305 et seq.
+
+    Aranguren, Nestor, revolutionist, IV, 85;
+      death, 92.
+
+    Araoz, Juan, II, 181.
+
+    Arias, A. R., Governor, III, 314.
+
+    Arias, Gomez, I, 145.
+
+    Arignon, Villiet, quoted, II, 26, 94.
+
+    Armona, José de, II, 108.
+
+    Army, Cuban, organization of, III, 178;
+      reorganized, 263;
+      under Jose Miguel Gomez, IV, 301.
+
+    Army, Spanish, in Cuba, III, 181, 295.
+
+    Aroztegui, Martin de, II, 20.
+
+    Arrate, José Martin Felix, historian, II, 17, 179.
+
+    Arredondo, Nicolas, Governor at Santiago, II, 165.
+
+    Asbert, Gen. Ernesto, amnesty case, IV, 326.
+
+    "Assiento" compact on slavery, II, 2.
+
+    Assumption, Our Lady of the, I, 61.
+
+    Astor, John Jacob, aids War of Independence, IV, 14.
+
+    Asylums for Insane, II, 317.
+
+    Atares fortress, picture, II, 103.
+
+    Atkins, John, book on West Indies, II, 36.
+
+    Atrocities, committed by Spanish, III, 250;
+      Cespedes's protest against, 254;
+      "Book of Blood," 284;
+      Spanish confession of, 286;
+      war of destruction,
+      295;
+      Weyler's "concentration" policy, IV, 85.
+
+    Attwood's Cay. See GUANAHANI.
+
+    Autonomist party, III, 305;
+      IV, 34;
+      attitude toward Campos in War of Independence, 59;
+      Cabinet under Blanco, 94;
+      earnest efforts for peace, 101;
+      record of its government, 102.
+
+    Avellanda, Gertrudis Gomez de, III, 331;
+      portrait, facing, 332.
+
+    Avila, Alfonso de, I, 154.
+
+    Avila, Juan de, Governor, I, 151;
+      marries rich widow, 154;
+      charges against him, 157;
+      convicted and imprisoned, 158.
+
+    Avila. See DAVILA.
+
+    Aviles, Pedro Menendez de, See MENENDEZ.
+
+    Ayala, Francisco P. de, I, 291.
+
+    Ayilon, Lucas V. de, strives to make peace between Velasquez
+      and Cortez, I, 98.
+
+    Azcarata, José Luis, Secretary of Justice, sketch and portrait,
+      IV, 341.
+
+    Azcarate, Nicolas, sketch and portrait, III, 251, 332.
+
+    Azcarraga, Gen., Spanish Premier, IV, 88.
+
+
+    "Barbeque" sought by Columbus, I, 18.
+
+    Bachiller, Antonio, sketch and portrait, III, 317.
+
+    Bacon, Robert, Assistant Secretary of State of U. S., intervenes
+      in revolution, IV, 272.
+
+    Bahia Honda, selected as U. S. naval station, IV, 256.
+
+    Balboa, Vasco Nuñez de, I, 55, 91.
+
+    Bancroft, George, quoted, I, 269;
+      II, 1, 24, 41, 117, 120, 159.
+
+    Banderas, Quintin, revolutionist, IV, 34;
+      raid, 57;
+      death, 84.
+
+    Baracoa, Columbus at, I, 18;
+      Velasquez at, 60;
+      picture, 60;
+      first capital of Cuba, 61, 168.
+
+    Barreda, Baltazar, I, 201.
+
+    Barreiro, Juan Bautista, Secretary of Education, IV, 160.
+
+    Barrieres, Manuel Garcia, II, 165.
+
+    Barrionuevo, Juan Maldonado, Governor, I, 263.
+
+    Barsicourt, Juan Procopio. See SANTA CLARA, Conde.
+
+    Bayamo, founded by Velasquez, I, 68, 168;
+      Cuban Republic organized there, III, 157.
+
+    Bayoa, Pedro de, I, 300.
+
+    Bay of Cortez, reached by Columbus, I, 25.
+
+    Bees, introduced by Bishop Morell, II, 104;
+      increase of industry, 132.
+
+    "Beggars of the Sea," raid Cuban coasts, I, 208.
+
+    Bells, church, controversy over, II, 82.
+
+    Bembrilla, Alonzo, I, 111.
+
+    Benavides, Juan de, I, 280.
+
+    Berrea, Esteban S. de, II, 6.
+
+    Betancourt, Pedro, Civil Governor of Matanzas, IV, 179;
+      loyal to Palma, 271.
+
+    Betancourt. See CISNEROS.
+
+    "Bimini," Island of, I, 139.
+
+    Bishops of Roman Catholic Church in Cuba, I, 122.
+
+    "Black Eagle," II, 346.
+
+    _Black Warrior_ affair, III, 138.
+
+    Blanchet, Emilio, historian, quoted, II, 9, 15, 24;
+      on siege of Havana, 57, 87.
+
+    Blanco, Ramon, Governor, IV, 88;
+      undertakes reforms, 89;
+      plans Cuban autonomy, 93;
+      on destruction of _Maine_, 99;
+      resigns, 121.
+
+    Blue, Victor, observations at Santiago, IV, 110.
+
+    Bobadilla, F. de, I, 54.
+
+    Boca de la Yana, I, 18.
+
+    "Bohio" sought by Columbus, I, 18.
+
+    Bolivar, Simon, II, 333;
+      portrait, 334;
+      "Liberator," 334 et seq.;
+      influence on Cuba, 341;
+      "Soles de Bolivar," 341.
+
+    Bonel, Juan Bautista, II, 133.
+
+    "Book of Blood," III, 284.
+
+    Bourne, Edward Gaylord, quoted, on slavery, II, 209;
+      on Spanish in America, 226.
+
+    Brinas, Felipe, III, 330.
+
+    British policy toward Spain and Cuba, I, 270;
+      aggressions in West Indies, 293;
+      slave trade, II, 2;
+      war of 1639, 22;
+      designs upon Cuba, 41;
+      expedition against Havana, 1762, 46;
+      conquest of Cuba, 78;
+      relinquishment to Spain, 92. See GREAT BRITAIN.
+
+    Broa Bay, I, 22.
+
+    Brooke, Gen. John R., receives Spanish surrender of Cuba, IV, 122;
+      proclamation to Cuban people, 145;
+      retired, 157.
+
+    Brooks, Henry, revolutionist, IV, 30.
+
+    Buccaneers, origin of, I, 269.
+
+    Buccarelli, Antonio Maria, Governor, II, 110;
+      retires, 115.
+
+    Buchanan, James, on U. S. relations to Cuba, II, 263;
+      III, 135;
+      Minister to Great Britain, 142;
+      as President seeks annexation of Cuba to U. S., 143.
+
+    Bull-fighting, II, 233.
+
+    Burgos, Juan de, Bishop, I, 225.
+
+    Burtnett, Spanish spy against Lopez, III, 65.
+
+    Bustamente, Antonio Sanchez de, jurist, sketch and portrait, IV, 165.
+
+
+    Caballero, José Agustin, sketch and portrait, III, 321.
+
+    Caballo, Domingo, II, 173.
+
+    Cabanas, defences constructed, II, 58;
+      Laurel Ditch, view, facing, 58.
+
+    Caballero, Diego de, I, 111.
+
+    Cabezas, Bishop, I, 277.
+
+    Cabrera, Diego de, I, 206.
+
+    Cabrera, Luis, I, 198.
+
+    Cabrera, Lorenzo de, Governor, I, 279;
+      removed, 282.
+
+    Cabrera, Rafael, filibuster, IV, 70.
+
+    Cabrera, Raimundo, conspirator in New York, IV, 334;
+      warned, 339.
+
+    Cadreyta, Marquis de, I, 279.
+
+    Cagigal, Juan Manuel de, Governor, II, 154;
+      defence of Havana, 155;
+      removed and imprisoned, 157.
+
+    Cagigal, Juan Manuel, Governor, II, 313;
+      successful administration, 315.
+
+    Cagigal de la Vega, Francisco, defends Santiago, II, 29;
+      Governor, 32;
+      Viceroy of Mexico, 34.
+
+    Caguax, Cuban chief, I, 63.
+
+    Calderon, Gabriel, Bishop, I, 315.
+
+    Calderon, Garcia, quoted, II, 164, 172.
+
+    Calderon de la Barca, Spanish Minister,
+      on _La Verdad_, III, 19;
+      on colonial status, 21;
+      negotiations with Soulé, 140.
+
+    Calhoun, John C., on Cuba, III, 132.
+
+    Calleja y Isisi, Emilio, Governor, III, 313;
+      proclaims martial law, IV, 30;
+      resigns, 35.
+
+    Camaguey. See PUERTO PRINCIPE, I, 168.
+
+    Campbell, John, description of Havana, II, 14.
+
+    Campillo, Jose de, II, 19.
+
+    Campos, Martinez de, Governor, III, 296;
+      proclamations to Cuba, 297, 299;
+      makes Treaty of Zanjon and ends Ten Years War, 299;
+      in Spanish crisis, IV, 36;
+      Governor again, 37;
+      establishes Trocha, 44;
+      defeated by Maceo, 46;
+      conferences with party leaders, 59, 63;
+      removed, 63.
+
+    Cancio, Leopoldo, Secretary of Treasury, IV, 161, 320.
+
+    Canizares, Santiago J., Minister of Interior, IV, 48.
+
+    Canning, George, policy toward Cuba, II, 257;
+      portrait, 258.
+
+    Canoe, of Cuban origin, I, 10.
+
+    Canon, Rodrigo, I, 111.
+
+    Canovas del Castillo, Spanish Premier, IV, 36;
+      assassinated, 88.
+
+    Cape Cruz, Columbus at, I, 20.
+
+    Cape Maysi, I, 4.
+
+    Cape of Palms, I, 17.
+
+    Capote, Domingo Menendez. Vice-President, IV, 90;
+      Secretary of State, 146;
+      President of Constitutional Convention. 189.
+
+    Carajaval, Lucas, defies Dutch, I, 290.
+
+    Cardenas, Lopez lands at, III, 49.
+
+    Caribs, I, 8.
+
+    Carillo, Francisco, filibuster, IV, 55.
+
+    Carleton, Sir Guy, at Havana, II, 47.
+
+    Carranza, Domingo Gonzales, book on West Indies, II, 37.
+
+    Carrascesa, Alfonso, II, 6.
+
+    Carreño, Francisco, Governor, I, 219;
+      conditions at his accession, 228;
+      dies in office, 229;
+      work in rebuilding Havana, 231.
+
+    Carroll, James, in yellow fever campaign, IV, 172.
+
+    Casa de Beneficienca, founded, I, 335;
+      II, 177.
+
+    Casa de Resorgiamento, founded, II, 31.
+
+    Casares, Alfonso, codifies municipal ordinances, I, 207.
+
+    Castellanos, Jovellar, last Spanish Governor of Cuba, IV, 121;
+      surrenders Spanish sovereignty, 123.
+
+    Castillo, Demetrio, Civil Governor of Oriente, IV, 180.
+
+    Castillo, Ignacio Maria del, Governor, III, 314.
+
+    Castillo, Loinaz, revolutionist. IV, 269.
+
+    Castillo, Pedro del, Bishop, I, 226.
+
+    Castro, Hernando de, royal treasurer, I, 115.
+
+    Cathcart Lord, expedition to West Indies, II, 28.
+
+    Cathedral of Havana, picture, facing I, 36;
+      begun, I, 310.
+
+    Cat Island. See GUANAHANI.
+
+    Cayo, San Juan de los Remedios del, removal of, I, 319.
+
+    Cazones, Gulf of, I, 21.
+
+    Cemi, Cuban worship of, I, 55.
+
+    Census, of Cuba, first taken, by Torre, II, 131;
+      by Las Casas, 176;
+      of slaves, 205;
+      of 1775, 276;
+      of 1791, 277;
+      Humboldt on, 277;
+      of 1811, 280;
+      of 1817, 281;
+      of 1827, 283;
+      of 1846, 283;
+      of 1899, IV, 154;
+      of 1907, 287.
+
+    Cespedes, Carlos Manuel, III, 157;
+      portrait, facing 158;
+      in Spain, 158;
+      leads Cuban revolution, 158;
+      President of Republic, 158;
+      proclamation, 168;
+      negotiations with Spain, 187;
+      removed from office, 275.
+
+    Cespedes, Carlos Manuel, filibuster, IV, 55.
+
+    Cespedes, Enrique, revolutionist, IV, 30.
+
+    Cervera, Admiral, brings Spanish fleet to Cuba, IV, 110;
+      portrait, 110;
+      surrenders, 114.
+
+    Chacon, José Bayoma, II, 13.
+
+    Chacon, Luis, I, 331, 333.
+
+    Chalons, Sr., Secretary of Public Works, IV, 297.
+
+    Chamber of Commerce founded, II, 307.
+
+    Charles I, King, I, 74;
+      denounces oppression of Indians, 128.
+
+    Chaves, Antonio, Governor, I, 157;
+      prosecutes Avila, 157;
+      ruthless policy toward natives, 159;
+      controversy with King, 160;
+      dismissed from office, 161.
+
+    Chaves, Juan Baton de, I, 331.
+
+    Chilton, John, describes Havana, I, 349.
+
+    Chinchilla, José, Governor, III, 314.
+
+    Chinese, colonies in America, I, 7;
+      laborers imported into Cuba, II, 295.
+
+    Chorrera, expected to be Drake's landing place, I, 248.
+
+    Chorrera River, dam built by Antonelli, I, 262.
+
+    Christianity, introduced into Cuba by Ojeda, I, 55;
+      urged by King Ferdinand, 73.
+
+    Church, Roman Catholic, organized and influential in Cuba, I, 122;
+      cathedral removed from Baracoa to Santiago, 123;
+      conflict with civil power, 227;
+      controversy with British during British occupation, II, 84;
+      division of island into two dioceses, 173;
+      attitude toward War of Independence, IV, 26;
+      controversy over property, 294.
+
+    Cienfuegos, José, Governor, II, 311.
+
+    Cimmarones, "wild Indians," I, 126;
+      revolt against De Soto, 148.
+
+    Cipango, Cuba identified with, by Columbus, I, 5.
+
+    Cisneros, Gaspar Betancourt, sketch and portrait, II, 379.
+
+    Cisneros, Pascal Jiminez de, II, 110, 127.
+
+    Cisneros, Salvador, III, 167;
+      sketch and portrait, 276;
+      President of Cuban Republic, 277;
+      President of Council of Ministers, IV, 48;
+      in Constitutional Convention, 190.
+
+    Civil Service, law, IV, 325;
+      respected by President Menocal, 325.
+
+    Clay, Henry, policy toward Cuba, II, 261.
+
+    Clayton, John M., U. S. Secretary of State, issues proclamation
+      against filibustering, III, 42.
+
+    Cleaveland, Samuel, controversy over church bells, II, 83.
+
+    Cleveland, Grover. President of United States, issues warning against
+      breaches of neutrality, IV, 70;
+      reference to Cuba
+      in message of 1896, 79;
+      its significance, 80.
+
+    Coat of Arms of Cuba, picture, IV, 251;
+      significance, 251.
+
+    Cobre, copper mines, I, 173, 259.
+
+    "Cockfighting and Idleness" campaign, IV, 291.
+
+    Coffee, cultivation begun, II, 33, 113.
+
+    Coinage, reformed, II, 142;
+      statistics of, 158.
+
+    Collazo, Enrique, filibuster, IV, 55.
+
+    Coloma, Antonio Lopez, revolutionist, IV, 30.
+
+    Colombia, designs upon Cuba, II, 262;
+      III, 134;
+      attitude toward Cuban revolution, 223.
+
+    Columbus, Bartholomew, recalled to Spain, I, 57.
+
+    Columbus, Christopher, portrait, frontispiece, Vol. I;
+      discoverer of America, I;
+      i;
+      first landing in America, 2;
+      monument on Watling's Island, picture, 3;
+      arrival in Cuba, 11;
+      question as to first landing place, 12;
+      first impressions of Cuba and intercourse with natives, 14;
+      exploration of north coast, 16;
+      end of first visit, 18;
+      second visit, 19;
+      exploration of south coast, 21;
+      at Bay of Cortez, 25;
+      turns back from circumnavigation, 26;
+      at Isle of Pines, 26;
+      final departure from Cuba, 27;
+      diary and narrative, 28 et seq.;
+      death and burial, 33;
+      tomb in Havana cathedral, 34;
+      removal to Seville, 36;
+      removal from Santo Domingo to Havana, II, 181;
+      epitaph, 182.
+
+    Columbus, Diego, plans exploration and colonization of Cuba, I, 57;
+      attempts mediation between Velasquez and Cortez, 97;
+      replaces Velasquez with Zuazo, 100;
+      rebuked by King, 100.
+
+    Comendador, Cacique, I, 55.
+
+    Commerce, begun by Velasquez, I, 68;
+      rise of corporations, II, 19;
+      after British occupation, 98;
+      under Torre, 132;
+      reduction of duties, 141;
+      extension of trade, 163;
+      Tribunal of Commerce founded, 177;
+      Real Compania de Havana, 199;
+      restrictive measures, 200;
+      Chamber of Commerce founded, 307;
+      commerce with United States, III, 2;
+      during American occupation, IV, 184;
+      present, 358.
+
+    Compostela, Diego E. de, Bishop, I, 318;
+      death, 332.
+
+    Concepcion, Columbus's landing place, I, 3.
+
+    Concessions, forbidden under American occupation, IV, 153.
+
+    Concha, José Gutierrez de la, Governor, III, 62, 290.
+
+    Conchillos, royal secretary, I, 59.
+
+    Congress, Cuban, welcomed by Gen. Wood, IV, 246;
+      turns against Palma, 269;
+      friendly to Gomez, 303;
+      hostile to Menocal, 323;
+      protects the lottery, 324.
+
+    Constitution: Cuban Republic of 1868, III, 157;
+      of 1895, IV, 47;
+      call for Constitutional Convention, 185;
+      meeting of Convention, 187;
+      draft completed, 192;
+      salient provisions, 193;
+      Elihu Root's comments, 194;
+      Convention discusses relations with United States, 197;
+      Platt
+      Amendment, 199;
+      amendment adopted, 203;
+      text of Constitution, 304 et seq.;
+      The Nation, 205;
+      Cubans, 205;
+      Foreigners, 207;
+      Individual Rights, 208;
+      Suffrage, 211;
+      Suspension of Guarantees, 212;
+      Sovereignty, 213;
+      Legislative Bodies, 214;
+      Senate, 214;
+      House of Representatives, 216;
+      Congress, 218;
+      Legislation, 221;
+      Executive, 222;
+      President, 222;
+      Vice-President, 225;
+      Secretaries of State, 226;
+      Judiciary, 227;
+      Supreme Court, 227;
+      Administration of Justice, 228;
+      Provincial Governments, 229;
+      Provincial Councils, 230;
+      Provincial Governors, 231;
+      Municipal Government, 233;
+      Municipal Councils, 233;
+      Mayors, 235;
+      National Treasury, 235;
+      Amendments, 236;
+      Transient Provisions, 237;
+      Appendix (Platt Amendment), 238.
+
+    "Constitutional Army," IV, 268.
+
+    Contreras, Andres Manso de, I, 288.
+
+    Contreras, Damien, I, 278.
+
+    Convents, founded, I, 276;
+      Nuns of Santa Clara, 286.
+
+    Conyedo, Juan de, Bishop, II, 35.
+
+    Copper, discovered near Santiago, I, 173;
+      wealth of mines, 259;
+      reopened, II, 13;
+      exports, III, 3.
+
+    Corbalon, Francisco R., I, 286.
+
+    Cordova de Vega, Diego de, Governor, I, 239.
+
+    Cordova, Francisco H., expedition to Yucatan, I, 84.
+
+    Cordova Ponce de Leon, José Fernandez, Governor, I, 316.
+
+    Coreal, Francois, account of West Indies, quoted, I, 355.
+
+    Coronado, Manuel, gift for air planes, IV, 352.
+
+    Cortes, Spanish, Cuban representation in, II, 308;
+      excluded, 351;
+      lack of representation, III, 3;
+      after Ten Years' War, 307.
+
+    Cortez, Hernando, Alcalde of Santiago de Cuba, I, 72;
+      sent to Mexico by King, 74;
+      agent of Velasquez, 86;
+      early career, 90;
+      portrait, 90;
+      quarrel with Velasquez, 91;
+      marriage, 92;
+      commissioned by Velasquez to explore Mexico, 92;
+      sails for Mexico, 94;
+      final breach with Velasquez, 96;
+      denounced as rebel, 97;
+      escapes murder, 99.
+
+    Cosa, Juan de la, geographer, I, 6, 53.
+
+    Councillors, appointed for life, I, 111;
+      conflict with Procurators, 113.
+
+    Creoles, origin of name, II, 204.
+
+    Crittenden, J. J., protests against European intervention in Cuba,
+      III, 129.
+
+    Crittenden, William S., with Lopez, III, 96;
+      captured, 101;
+      death, 105.
+
+    Crombet, Flor, revolutionist, IV, 41, 42.
+
+    Crooked Island. See ISABELLA.
+
+    Crowder, Gen. Enoch H., head of Consulting Board, IV, 284.
+
+    Cuba: Relation to America, I, 1;
+      Columbus's first landing, 3;
+      identified with Mangi or Cathay, 4;
+      with Cipango, 5;
+      earliest maps, 6;
+      physical history, 7, 37 et seq.;
+      Columbus's discovery, 11 et seq.;
+      named Juana, 13;
+      other names, 14;
+      Columbus's account of, 28;
+      geological history, 37-42;
+      topography, 42-51;
+      climate, 51-52;
+      first circumnavigation, 54;
+      colonization, 54;
+      Velasquez at Baracoa, 60;
+      commerce begun, 68;
+      government organized, 69;
+      named Ferdinandina, 73;
+      policy of Spain toward, 175;
+      slow economic progress, 215;
+      land legislation, 232;
+      Spanish discrimination against, 266;
+      divided into two districts, 275;
+      British description in 1665, 306;
+      various accounts, 346;
+      turning point in history, 363;
+      close of first era, 366;
+      British conquest, II, 78;
+      relinquished to Spain, 92;
+      great changes effected, 94;
+      economic condition, 98;
+      reoccupied by Spain, 102;
+      untouched by early revolutions, 165;
+      effect of revolution in Santo Domingo, 190;
+      first suggestion of annexation to United States, 257;
+      "Ever Faithful Isle," 268;
+      rise of independence, 268;
+      censuses, 276 et seq.;
+      representation in Cortes, 308;
+      "Soles de Bolivar," 341;
+      representatives rejected from Cortes, 351;
+      transformation of popular spirit, 383;
+      independence proclaimed, III, 145;
+      Republic organized, 157;
+      War of Independence, IV, 15;
+      Spanish elections held during war, 67;
+      Blanco's plan of autonomy, 93;
+      sovereignty surrendered by Spain, 123;
+      list of Spanish Governors, 123. See REPUBLIC OF CUBA.
+
+    Cuban Aborigines;
+      I, 8;
+      manners, customs and religion, 8 et seq.;
+      Columbus's first intercourse, 15, 24;
+      priest's address to Columbus, 26;
+      Columbus's observations of them, 29;
+      hostilities begun by Velasquez, 61;
+      subjected to Repartimiento system, 70;
+      practical slavery, 71;
+      Key Indians, 125;
+      Cimmarones, 126;
+      new laws in their favor, 129;
+      Rojas's endeavor to save them, 130;
+      final doom, 133;
+      efforts at reform, 153;
+      oppression by Chaves, 159;
+      Angulo's emancipation proclamation, 163.
+
+    "Cuba-nacan," I, 5.
+
+    "Cuba and the Cubans," quoted, II, 313.
+
+    "Cuba y Su Gobierno," quoted, II, 354.
+
+    Cuellar, Cristobal de, royal accountant, I, 59.
+
+    Cushing, Caleb, Minister to Spain, III, 291.
+
+    Custom House, first at Havana, I, 231.
+
+
+    Dady, Michael J., & Co., contract dispute, IV, 169.
+
+    Davila, Pedrarias, I, 140.
+
+    Davis, Jefferson, declines to join Lopez, III, 38.
+
+    Del Casal, Julian, sketch and portrait, IV, 6.
+
+    Del Cueta, José A., President of Supreme Court, portrait, IV, 359.
+
+    Delgado, Moru, Liberal leader, IV, 267.
+
+    Del Monte, Domingo, sketch, portrait, and work, II, 323.
+
+    Del Monte, Ricardo, sketch and portrait, IV, 2.
+
+    Demobilization of Cuban army, IV, 135.
+
+    Desvernine, Pablo, Secretary of Finance, IV, 146.
+
+    Diaz, Bernal, at Sancti Spiritus, I, 72;
+      in Mexico, 86.
+
+    Diaz, Manuel, I, 239.
+
+    Diaz, Manuel Luciano, Secretary of Public Works, IV, 254.
+
+    Diaz, Modeste, III, 263.
+
+    Divino, Sr., Secretary of Justice, IV, 297.
+
+    Dockyard at Havana, established, II, 8.
+
+    Dolz, Eduardo, in Autonomist Cabinet, IV, 96.
+
+    Dominguez, Fermin V., Assistant Secretary of Foreign Affairs, IV, 50.
+
+    Dorst, J. H., mission to Pinar del Rio, IV, 107.
+
+    "Dragado" deal, IV, 310.
+
+    Drake, Sir Francis, menaces Havana, I, 243;
+      in Hispaniola, 246;
+      leaves Havana unassailed, 252;
+      departs for Virginia, 255.
+
+    Duany, Joaquin Castillo, in Cuban Junta, IV, 12;
+      Assistant Secretary of Treasury, 50;
+      filibuster, 70.
+
+    Dubois, Carlos, Assistant Secretary of Interior, IV, 50.
+
+    Duero, Andres de, I, 93, 115.
+
+    Dulce y Garay, Domingo, Governor, III, 190, 194;
+      decree of confiscation, 209;
+      recalled, 213.
+
+    Dupuy de Lome, Sr., Spanish Minister at Washington, IV, 40;
+      writes offensive letter, 98;
+      recalled, 98.
+
+    Duque, Sr., Secretary of Sanitation and Charity, IV, 297.
+
+    Durango, Bishop, I, 225.
+
+    Dutch hostilities, I, 208, 279;
+      activities in West Indies, 283 et seq.
+
+
+    Earthquakes, in 1765, I, 315;
+      II, 114.
+
+    Echeverria, Esteban B., Superintendent of Schools, IV, 162.
+
+    Echeverria, José, Bishop, II, 113.
+
+    Echeverria, José Antonio, III, 324.
+
+    Echeverria, Juan Maria, Governor, II, 312.
+
+    Education, backward state of, II, 244;
+      progress under American occupation, IV, 156;
+      A. E. Frye, Superintendent, 156;
+      reorganization of system, 162;
+      Harvard University's entertainment of teachers, 163;
+      achievements under President Menocal, 357.
+
+    Elections: for municipal officers under American occupation, IV, 180;
+      law for regulation of, 180;
+      result, 181;
+      for Constitutional Convention, 186;
+      for general officers, 240;
+      result, 244;
+      Presidential, 1906, 265;
+      new law, 287;
+      local elections under Second Intervention, 289;
+      Presidential, 290;
+      for Congress in 1908, 303;
+      Presidential, 1912, 309;
+      Presidential, 1916, disputed, 330, result confirmed, 341.
+
+    Enciso, Martin F. de, first Spanish writer about America, I, 54.
+
+    Epidemics: putrid fever, 1649, I, 290;
+      vaccination introduced, II, 192;
+      small pox and yellow fever, III, 313;
+      at Santiago, IV, 142;
+      Gen. Wood applies Dr. Finlay's theory of yellow fever, 171;
+      success, 176;
+      malaria, 177.
+
+    Escudero, Antonio, de, II, 10.
+
+    Espada, Juan José Diaz, portrait, facing II, 272.
+
+    Espagnola. See HISPANIOLA.
+
+    Espeleta, Joaquin de, Governor, II, 362.
+
+    Espinosa, Alonzo de Campos, Governor, I, 316.
+
+    Espoleto, José de, Governor, II, 169.
+
+    Estenoz, Negro insurgent, IV, 307.
+
+    Estevez, Luis, Secretary of Justice, IV, 160;
+      Vice-President, 245.
+
+    Evangelista. See ISLE OF PINES.
+
+    Everett, Edward, policy toward Cuba, III, 130.
+
+    "Ever Faithful Isle," II, 268, 304.
+
+    Exquemeling, Alexander, author and pirate, I, 302.
+
+
+    "Family Pact," of Bourbons, effect upon Cuba, II, 42.
+
+    Felin, Antonio, Bishop, II, 172.
+
+    Fels, Cornelius, defeated by Spanish, I, 288.
+
+    Ferdinand, King, policy toward Cuba, I, 56;
+      esteem for Velasquez, 73.
+
+    Ferdinandina, Columbus's landing place, I, 3;
+      name for Cuba, 73.
+
+    Ferrara, Orestes, Liberal leader, IV, 260;
+      revolutionist, 269;
+      deprecates factional strife, 306;
+      revolutionary conspirator in New York, 334;
+      warned by U. S. Government, I, 239.
+
+    Ferrer, Juan de, commander of La Fuerza, I, 239.
+
+    Figueroa, Vasco Porcallo de, I, 72;
+      De Soto's lieutenant, 142;
+      returns from Florida in disgust, 145.
+
+    Figuerosa, Rojas de, captures Tortuga, I, 292.
+
+    Filarmonia, riot at ball, III, 119.
+
+    Filibustering, proclamation of United States against, III, 42;
+      after Ten Years' War, 311, in War of Independence, IV, 20;
+      expeditions intercepted, 52;
+      many successful expeditions, 69;
+      warnings, 70.
+
+    Fine Arts, II, 240.
+
+    Finlay, Carlos G., theory of yellow fever successfully applied
+      under General Wood, IV, 171;
+      portrait, facing, 172.
+
+    Fish, Hamilton, U. S. Secretary of State, prevents premature
+      recognition of Cuban Republic, III, 203;
+      protests against Rodas's decree, 216;
+      on losses in Ten Years' War, 290;
+      seeks British support, 292;
+      states terms of proposed mediation, 293.
+
+    Fish market at Havana, founder for pirate, II, 357.
+
+    Fiske, John, historian, quoted, I, 270.
+
+    Flag, Cuban, first raised, III, 31;
+      replaces American, IV, 249;
+      picture, 250;
+      history and significance, 250.
+
+    Flores y Aldama, Rodrigo de, Governor, I, 301.
+
+    Florida, attempted colonization by Ponce de Leon, I, 139;
+      De Soto's expedition, 145. See MENENDEZ.
+
+    Fonseca, Juan Rodriguez de, Bishop of Seville, I, 59.
+
+    Fonts-Sterling, Ernesto, Secretary of Finance, IV, 90;
+      urges resistance to revolution, 270.
+
+    Fornaris, José, III, 230.
+
+    Forestry, attention paid by Montalvo, I, 223;
+      efforts to check waste, II, 166.
+
+    Foyo, Sr., Secretary of Agriculture, Commerce and Labor, IV, 297.
+
+    France, first foe of Spanish in Cuba, I, 177;
+      "Family Pact," II, 42;
+      interest in Cuban revolution, III, 126.
+
+    Franquinay, pirate, at Santiago, I, 310.
+
+    French refugees, in Cuba, II, 189;
+      expelled, 302.
+
+    French Revolution, effects of, II, 184.
+
+    Freyre y Andrade, Fernando, filibuster,
+      IV, 70;
+      negotiations with Pino Guerra, 267.
+
+    Frye, Alexis, Superintendent of Schools, IV, 156;
+      controversy with General Wood, 162.
+
+    Fuerza, La: picture, facing I, 146;
+      building begun by De Soto, I, 147;
+      scene of Lady Isabel's tragic vigil, 147, 179;
+      planned and built by Sanchez, 194;
+      work by Menendez, and Ribera, 209;
+      slave labor sought, 211;
+      bad construction, 222;
+      Montalvo's recommendations, 223;
+      Luzan-Arana quarrel, 237;
+      practical completion, 240;
+      decorated by Cagigal, II, 33.
+
+
+    Galvano, Antony, historian, quoted, I, 4.
+
+    Galvez, Bernardo, seeks Cuban aid for Pensacola, II, 146;
+      Governor, 168;
+      death, 170.
+
+    Galvez, José Maria, head of Autonomist Cabinet, IV, 95.
+
+    Garaondo, José, I, 317.
+
+    Garay, Francisco de, Governor of Jamaica, I, 102.
+
+    Garcia, Calixto, portrait, facing III, 268;
+      President of Cuban Republic, III, 301;
+      joins War of Independence, IV, 69;
+      his notable career, 76 et seq.;
+      joins with Shafter at Santiago, 111;
+      death, 241.
+
+    Garcia, Carlos, revolutionist, IV, 269.
+
+    Garcia, Esequiel, Secretary of Education, IV, 320.
+
+    Garcia, Marcos, IV, 44.
+
+    Garcia, Quintiliano, III, 329.
+
+    Garvey, José N. P., II, 222.
+
+    Gastaneta, Antonio, II, 9.
+
+    Gelder, Francisco, Governor, I, 292.
+
+    Gener y Rincon, Miguel, Secretary of Justice, IV, 161.
+
+    Geraldini, Felipe, I, 310.
+
+    Germany, malicious course of in 1898, IV, 104;
+      Cuba declares war against, 348;
+      property in Cuba seized, 349;
+      aid to Gomez, 350.
+
+    Gibson. Hugh S., U. S. Chargé d'Affaires, assaulted, IV, 308.
+
+    Giron. Garcia, Governor, I, 279.
+
+    Godoy, Captain, arrested at Santiago, and put to death, I, 203.
+
+    Godoy, Manuel, II, 172.
+
+    Goicouria, Domingo, sketch and portrait, III, 234.
+
+    Gold, Columbus's quest for, I, 19;
+      Velasquez's search, 61;
+      the "Spaniards' God," 62;
+      early mining, 81;
+      value of mines, 173.
+
+    Gomez, José Antonio, II, 18.
+
+    Gomez, José Miguel, Civil Governor of Santa Clara, IV, 179;
+      aspires to Presidency, 260, 264;
+      turns from Conservative to Liberal party, 265;
+      compact with Zayas, 265;
+      starts revolution, 269;
+      elected President, 290;
+      becomes President, 297;
+      Cabinet, 297;
+      sketch and portrait, 298;
+      acts of his administration, 301;
+      charged with corruption, 304;
+      conflict with Veterans' Association, 304;
+      quarrel with Zayas, 306;
+      suppresses Negro revolt, 307;
+      amnesty bill, 309;
+      National Lottery, 310;
+      "Dragado" deal, 310;
+      railroad deal, 310;
+      estimate of his administration, 311;
+      double treason in 1916, 332;
+      defeated and captured, 337;
+      his orders for devastation, 337;
+      aided by Germany, 350.
+
+    Gomez, Juan Gualberto, revolutionist, IV, 30;
+      captured and imprisoned, 52;
+      insurgent, 269.
+
+    Gomez, Maximo, III, 264;
+      succeeds Gen. Agramonte, 275;
+      makes Treaty of Zanjon with Campos, 299;
+      in War of Independence, IV, 15;
+      commander in chief, 16, 43;
+      portrait, facing 44;
+      plans great campaign of war, 53;
+      controversy with Lacret, 84;
+      opposed to American invasion, 109;
+      appeals to Cubans to accept American occupation, 136;
+      impeachment by National Assembly ignored, 137;
+      influence during Government of Intervention, 149;
+      considered by Constitutional Convention, 191;
+      proposed for Presidency, 240;
+      declines, 241.
+
+    Gonzalez, Aurelia Castillo de, author, sketch and portrait, IV, 192.
+
+    Gonzales, William E., U. S. Minister to Cuba, IV, 335;
+      watches Gomez's insurrection, 336.
+
+    Gorgas, William C., work for sanitation, IV, 175.
+
+    Government of Cuba: organized by Velasquez, I, 69;
+      developed at Santiago, 81;
+      radical changes made, 111;
+      revolution in political status of island, 138;
+      codification of ordinances, 207;
+      Ordinances of 1542, 317;
+      land tenure, II, 12;
+      reforms by Governor Guemez, 17;
+      reorganization after British occupation, 104;
+      great reforms by Torre, 132;
+      budget and tax reforms, 197;
+      authority of Captain-General, III, 11;
+      administrative and judicial functions, 13 et seq.;
+      military and naval command, 16;
+      attempted reforms, 63;
+      concessions after Ten Years' War, 310.
+
+    Governors of Cuba, Spanish, list of, IV, 123.
+
+    Govin, Antonio, in Autonomist Cabinet, IV, 95;
+      sketch and portrait, 95.
+
+    Grammont, buccaneer, I, 311.
+
+    Gran Caico, I, 4.
+
+    Grand Turk Island. See GUANAHANI.
+
+    Grant, U. S., President of United States, III, 200;
+      inclined to recognize Cuban Republic, 202;
+      prevented by his Secretary of State, 203;
+      comments in messages, 205, 292.
+
+    Great Britain, interest in Cuban revolution, III, 125;
+      protection sought by Spain, 129;
+      declines cooperation with United States, 294;
+      requires return of fugitives, 310.
+
+    Great Exuma. See FERDINANDINA.
+
+    Great Inagua, I, 4.
+
+    Great War, Cuba enters, IV, 348;
+      offers 10,000 troops, 348;
+      German intrigues and propaganda, 349;
+      attitude of Roman Catholic clergy, 349;
+      ships seized, 350;
+      cooperation with Food Commission, 351;
+      military activities, 352;
+      liberal subscriptions to loans, 352;
+      Red Cross work, 352;
+      Señora Menocal's inspiring leadership, 353.
+
+    Grijalva, Juan de, I, 65;
+      expedition to Mexico, 66;
+      names Mexico New Spain, 97;
+      unjustly recalled and discredited, 88.
+
+    Guajaba Island, I, 18.
+
+    Guama, Cimmarron chief, I, 127.
+
+    Guanabacoa founded, II, 21.
+
+    Guanahani, Columbus's landing place, I, 2.
+
+    Guanajes Islands, source of slave trade, I, 83.
+
+    Guantanamo, Columbus at, I, 19;
+      U. S. Naval Station, IV, 256.
+
+    Guardia, Cristobal de la, Secretary of Justice, IV, 320.
+
+    Guazo, Gregorio, de la Vega, Governor, I, 340;
+      stops tobacco war, 341;
+      warnings to Great Britain and France, 342;
+      military activity and efficiency, II, 5.
+
+    Guemez y Horcasitas, Juan F., Governor, II, 17;
+      reforms, 17;
+      close of administration, 26.
+
+    Guerra, Amador, revolutionist, IV, 30.
+
+    Guerra, Benjamin, treasurer of Junta, IV, 3.
+
+    Guerro, Pino, starts insurrection, IV, 267, 269;
+      commander of Cuban army, 301;
+      attempt to assassinate him, 303.
+
+    Guevara, Francisco, III, 265.
+
+    Guiteras, Juan, physician and scientist, sketch and portrait, IV, 321.
+
+    Guiteras, Pedro J., quoted, I, 269;
+      II, 6;
+      42;
+      207.
+
+    Guzman, Gonzalez de, mission from Velasquez to King Charles I, I, 85;
+      vindicates Velasquez, 108;
+      Governor of Cuba, 110;
+      marries rich sister-in-law, 116;
+      litigation over estate, 117;
+      tremendous indictment by Vadillo, 120;
+      appeals to King and Council for Indies, 120;
+      seeks to oppress natives, 128;
+      second time Governor, 137;
+      makes more trouble, 148;
+      trouble with French privateers, 178.
+
+    Guzman, Nuñez de, royal treasurer, I, 109;
+      death and fortune, 115.
+
+    Guzman, Santos, spokesman of Constitutionalists, IV, 59.
+
+
+    Hammock, of Cuban origin, I, 10.
+
+    Hanebanilla, falls of, view, facing III, 110.
+
+    Harponville, Viscount Gustave, quoted, II, 189.
+
+    Harvard University, entertains Cuban teachers, IV, 163.
+
+    Hatuey, Cuban chief, leader against Spaniards, I, 62;
+      death, 63.
+
+    Havana: founded by Narvaez, I, 69;
+      De Soto's home and capital, 144;
+      rise in importance, 166;
+      Governor's permanent residence, 180;
+      inadequate defences, 183;
+      captured by Sores, 186;
+      protected by Mazariegos, 194;
+      sea wall proposed by Osorio, 202;
+      fortified by Menendez, 209;
+      "Key of the New World," 210;
+      commercial metropolis of West Indies, 216;
+      first hospital founded, 226;
+      San Francisco church, picture, facing 226;
+      building in Carreño's time, 231;
+      custom house, 231;
+      threatened by Drake, 243;
+      preparations for defence, 250;
+      officially called "city," 262;
+      coat of arms, 202;
+      primitive conditions, 264;
+      first theatrical performance, 264;
+      capital of western district, 275;
+      great fire, 277;
+      attacked by Pit Hein, 280;
+      described by John Chilton, 349;
+      first dockyard established, II, 8;
+      attacked by British under Admiral
+      Hosier, 9;
+      University founded, 11;
+      described by John Campbell, 14;
+      British expedition against in 1762, 46;
+      journal of siege, 54;
+      American troops engaged, 66;
+      surrender, 69;
+      terms, 71;
+      British occupation, 78;
+      great changes, 94;
+      description, 94;
+      view from Cabanas, facing, 96;
+      reoccupied by Spanish, 102;
+      hurricane, 115;
+      improvements in streets and buildings, 129;
+      view in Old Havana, facing 130;
+      street cleaning, and market, 169;
+      slaughter house removed, 194;
+      shopping, 242;
+      cafés, 243;
+      Tacon's public works, 365;
+      view of old Presidential Palace, facing III, 14;
+      view of the Prado, facing IV, 16;
+      besieged in War of Independence, 62;
+      view of bay and harbor, facing, 98;
+      old City Wall, picture, 122;
+      view of old and new buildings, facing 134;
+      General Ludlow's administration, 146;
+      Police reorganized, 150;
+      view of University, facing 164;
+      view of the new capitol, facing 204;
+      view of the President's home, facing 268;
+      view of the Academy of Arts and Crafts, facing 288;
+      new railroad terminal, 311.
+
+    Hay, John, epigram on revolutions, IV, 343
+
+    Hayti. See HISPANIOLA.
+
+    Hein, Pit, Dutch raider, I, 279.
+
+    Henderson, John, on Lopez's expedition, III, 64.
+
+    _Herald_, New York, on Cuban revolution, III, 89.
+
+    Heredia, José Maria. II, 274;
+      exiled, 344;
+      life and works, III, 318;
+      portrait, facing 318.
+
+    Hernani, Domingo, II, 170.
+
+    Herrera, historian, on Columbus's first landing, I, 12;
+      on Hatuey, 62;
+      description of West Indies, 345.
+
+    Herrera, Geronimo Bustamente de, I, 194.
+
+    Hevea, Aurelio, Secretary of Interior, IV, 320.
+
+    Hispaniola, Columbus at, I, 19;
+      revolution in, II, 173;
+      186;
+      effect upon Cuba, 189.
+
+    Hobson, Richmond P., exploit at Santiago, IV, 110.
+
+    Holleben, Dr. von, German Ambassador at Washington, intrigues of,
+      IV, 104.
+
+    Home Rule, proposed by Spain, IV, 6;
+      adopted, 8.
+
+    Horses introduced into Cuba, I, 63.
+
+    Hosier, Admiral, attacks Havana, I, 312;
+      II, 9.
+
+    Hospital, first in Havana, I, 226;
+      Belen founded, 318;
+      San Paula and San Francisco, 195.
+
+    "House of Fear," Governor's home, I, 156.
+
+    Humboldt, Alexander von, on slavery, II, 206;
+      on census, 277;
+      282;
+      on slave trade, 288.
+
+    Hurricanes, II, 115, 176, 310.
+
+    Hurtado, Lopez, royal treasurer, I, 116;
+      has Chaves removed, 162.
+
+
+    Ibarra, Carlos, defeats Dutch raiders, I, 288.
+
+    Incas, I, 7.
+
+    Independence, first conceived, II, 268;
+      326;
+      first revolts for, 343;
+      sentiment fostered by slave trade, 377;
+      proclaimed by Aguero, III, 72;
+      proclaimed by Cespedes at Yara, 155;
+      proposed by United States to Spain, 217;
+      War of Independence, IV, 1;
+      recognized by Spain, 119. See WAR OF INDEPENDENCE.
+
+    Intellectual life of Cuba, I, 360;
+      lack of productiveness in Sixteenth Century, 362;
+      Cuban backwardness, II, 235;
+      first important progress, 273;
+      great arising and splendid achievements, III, 317.
+
+    Insurrections. See REVOLUTIONS, and SLAVERY.
+
+    Intervention, Government of: First, established, IV, 132;
+      organized, 145;
+      Cuban Cabinet, 145;
+      saves island from famine, 146;
+      works of rehabilitation and reform, 148;
+      marriage law, 152;
+      concessions forbidden, 153;
+      census, 154;
+      civil governments of provinces, 179;
+      municipal elections ordered, 180;
+      electoral law 180;
+      final transactions, 246;
+      Second Government of Intervention, 281;
+      C. E. Magoon, Governor, 281;
+      Consulting Board, 284;
+      elections held, 289, 290;
+      commission for revising laws, 294;
+      controversy over church property, 294.
+
+    Intervention sought by Great Britain and France, III, 128;
+      by United States, IV, 106.
+
+    Iroquois, I, 7.
+
+    Irving, Washington, on Columbus's landing place, I, 12.
+
+    Isabella, Columbus's landing place, I, 3.
+
+    Isabella, Queen, portrait, I, 13.
+
+    Isidore of Seville, quoted, I, 4.
+
+    Islas de Arena, I, 11.
+
+    Isle of Pines, I, 26;
+      recognized as part of Cuba, 224;
+      status under Platt Amendment, IV, 255.
+
+    Italian settlers in Cuba, I, 169.
+
+    Ivonnet, Negro insurgent, IV, 307.
+
+
+    Jamaica, Columbus at, I, 20.
+
+    Japan. See CIPANGO.
+
+    Jaruco, founded, II, 131.
+
+    Jefferson, Thomas, on Cuban annexation, II, 260;
+      III, 132.
+
+    Jeronimite Order, made guardian of Indians, I, 78;
+      becomes their oppressor, 127.
+
+    Jesuits, controversy over, II, 86;
+      expulsion of, 111.
+
+    Jordan, Thomas, joins Cuban revolution, III, 211.
+
+    Jorrin, José Silverio, portrait, facing III, 308.
+
+    Jovellar, Joachim, Governor, III, 273;
+      proclaims state of siege, 289;
+      resigns, 290.
+
+    Juana, Columbus's first name for Cuba, I, 13.
+
+    Juan Luis Keys, I, 21.
+
+    Judiciary, reforms in, II, 110;
+      under Navarro, 142;
+      under Unzaga, 165;
+      under Leonard Wood, IV, 177.
+
+    Junta, Cuban, in United States, III, 91;
+      New York, IV, 2;
+      branches elsewhere, 3;
+      policy in enlisting men, 19.
+
+    Junta de Fomento, II, 178.
+
+    Juntas of the Laborers, III, 174.
+
+
+    Keppel, Gen. See ALBEMARLE.
+
+    Key Indians, I, 125;
+      expedition against, 126.
+
+    "Key of the New World and Bulwark of the Indies," I, 210.
+
+    Kindelan, Sebastian de, II, 197, 315.
+
+
+    Lacoste, Perfecto, Secretary of Agriculture, Industry and Commerce,
+      IV, 160.
+
+    Land tenure, II, 12;
+      absentee landlords, 214.
+
+    Lanuza, Gonzalez, Secretary of Justice, IV, 146;
+      portrait, 146.
+
+    Lares, Amador de, I, 93.
+
+    La Salle, in Cuba, I, 73.
+
+    Las Casas, Bartholomew, Apostle to the Indies, arrival in Cuba, I, 63;
+      portrait, 64;
+      denounces Narvaez, 66;
+      begins campaign against slavery, 75;
+      mission to Spain, 77;
+      before Ximenes, 77.
+
+    Las Casas, Luis de, Governor, II, 175;
+      portrait, 175;
+      death, 182.
+
+    Lasso de la Vega, Juan, Bishop, II, 17.
+
+    Lawton, Gen. Henry W., leads advance against Spanish, IV, 112;
+      Military Governor of Oriente, 139.
+
+    Lazear, Camp, established, IV, 172.
+
+    Lazear, Jesse W., hero and martyr in yellow fever campaign, IV, 172.
+
+    Ledesma, Francisco Rodriguez, Governor, I, 310.
+
+    Lee, Fitzhugh, Consul General at Havana, IV, 72;
+      reports on "concentration" policy of Weyler, 86;
+      asks for warship to protect Americans at Havana, 97;
+      _Maine_ sent, 98;
+      commands troops at Havana, 121.
+
+    Lee, Robert Edward, declines to join Lopez, III, 39.
+
+    Legrand, Pedro, invades Cuba, I, 302.
+
+    Leiva, Lopez, Secretary of Government, IV, 297.
+
+    Lemus, Jose Morales, III, 333.
+
+    Lendian, Evelio Rodriguez, educator, sketch and portrait, IV, 162.
+
+    Liberal Party, III, 306;
+      triumphant through revolution, IV, 285;
+      dissensions, 303;
+      conspiracy against election, 329.
+
+    Liberty Loans, Cuban subscriptions to, IV, 352.
+
+    Lighthouse service, under Mario G. Menocal, IV, 168.
+
+    Linares, Tomas de, first Rector of University of Havana, II, 11.
+
+    Lindsay, Forbes, quoted, II, 217.
+
+    Linschoten, Jan H. van, historian, quoted, I, 351.
+
+    Liquor, intoxicating, prohibited in 1780, II, 150.
+
+    Literary periodicals: _El Habanero_, III, 321;
+      _El Plantel_, 324;
+      _Cuban Review_, 325;
+      _Havana Review_, 329.
+
+    Literature, II, 245;
+      early works, 252;
+      poets, 274;
+      great development of activity, III, 315 et seq.
+
+    Little Inagua, I, 4.
+
+    Llorente, Pedro, in Constitutional Convention, IV, 188, 190.
+
+    Lobera, Juan de, commander of La Fuerza, I, 182;
+      desperate defence against Sores, 185.
+
+    Lolonois, pirate, I, 296.
+
+    Long Island. See FERDINANDINA.
+
+    Lopez, Narciso, sketch and portrait, III, 23;
+      in Venezuela, 24;
+      joins the Spanish
+      army, 26;
+      marries and settles in Cuba, 30;
+      against the Carlists in Spain, 31;
+      friend of Valdez, 31;
+      offices and honors, 33;
+      plans Cuban revolution, 36;
+      betrayed and fugitive, 37;
+      consults Jefferson Davis and Robert E. Lee, 38;
+      first American expedition, 39;
+      members of the party, 40;
+      activity in Southern States, 43;
+      expedition starts, 45;
+      proclamation to his men, 46;
+      lands at Cardenas, 49;
+      lack of Cuban support, 54;
+      reembarks, 56;
+      lands at Key West, 58;
+      arrested and tried, 60;
+      second expedition organized, 65;
+      betrayed, 67;
+      third expedition, 70;
+      final expedition organized, 91;
+      lands in Cuba, 98;
+      defeated and captured, 112;
+      death, 114;
+      results of his works, 116.
+
+    Lorenzo, Gen., Governor at Santiago, II, 347.
+
+    Lorraine, Sir Lambton, III, 280.
+
+    Los Rios, J. B. A. de, I, 310.
+
+    Lottery, National, established by José Miguel Gomez, IV, 310.
+
+    Louisiana, Franco-Spanish contest over, II, 117;
+      Ulloa sent from Cuba to take possession, 118;
+      O'Reilly sent, 123;
+      Uznaga sent, 126.
+
+    Louverture, Toussaint, II, 186.
+
+    Luaces, Joaquin Lorenzo, sketch and portrait, III, 330.
+
+    Ludlow, Gen. William, command and work at Havana, IV, 144.
+
+    Lugo, Pedro Benitez de, Governor, I, 331.
+
+    Luna y Sarmiento, Alvaro de, Governor, I, 290.
+
+    Luz y Caballero, José de la, "Father of the Cuban Revolution,"
+      III, 322;
+      great work for patriotic education, 323;
+      Portrait, frontispiece, Vol III.
+
+    Luzan, Gabriel de, Governor, I, 236;
+      controversy over La Fuerza, 237;
+      feud with Quiñones, 241;
+      unites with Quiñones to resist Drake, 243;
+      energetic action, 246;
+      tenure of office prolonged, 250;
+      end of term, 260.
+
+
+    Macaca, province of, I, 20.
+
+    Maceo, José Antonio, proclaims Provisional Government, IV, 15;
+      leader in War of Independence, 41;
+      commands Division of Oriente, 43;
+      defeats Campos, 46;
+      plans great campaign, 53;
+      invades Pinar del Rio, 61;
+      successful campaign, 73;
+      death, 74;
+      portrait, facing 74.
+
+    Maceo, José, IV, 41;
+      marches through Cuba, 76.
+
+    Machado, Eduard, treason of, III, 258.
+
+    Machete, used in battle, IV, 57.
+
+    Madison, James, on status of Cuba, III, 132.
+
+    Madriaga, Juan Ignacio, II, 59.
+
+    Magoon, Charles E., Provisional Governor, IV, 281;
+      his administration, 283;
+      promotes public works, 286;
+      takes census, 287;
+      election law, 287;
+      retires, 295.
+
+    Mahy, Nicolas, Governor, II, 315.
+
+    Mail service established, II, 107;
+      under American occupation, IV, 168.
+
+    Maine sent to Havana, IV, 98;
+      destruction of, 98;
+      investigation, 100.
+
+    Maldonado, Diego, I, 146.
+
+    Mandeville, Sir John, I, 20.
+
+    Mangon, identified with Mangi, I, 20.
+
+    Manners and Customs, II, 229 et seq.;
+      balls, 239;
+      shopping, 242;
+      relations of black and white races, 242;
+      cafés, 243;
+      early society, 248.
+
+    Monosca, Juan Saenz, Bishop, I, 301.
+
+    Manrique, Diego, Governor, II, 109.
+
+    Manzaneda y Salines, Severino de, Governor, I, 320.
+
+    Manzanillo, Declaration of Independence issued, III, 155.
+
+    Maraveo Ponce de Leon, Gomez de, I, 339.
+
+    Marco Polo, I, 4, 20.
+
+    Marcy, William L., policy toward Cuba, III, 136.
+
+    Mar de la Nuestra Señora, I, 18.
+
+    Mariguana. See GUANAHANI.
+
+    Marin, Sabas, succeeds Campos in command, IV, 63.
+
+    Markham, Sir Clements, on Columbus's first landing, I, 12.
+
+    Marmol, Donato, III, 173, 184.
+
+    Marquez, Pedro Menendez, I, 206.
+
+    Marriage law, reformed under American occupation, IV, 152;
+      controversy over, 153.
+
+    Marti, José, portrait, frontispiece, Vol IV;
+      leader of War of Independence, IV, 2;
+      his career, 9;
+      in New York, 11;
+      organizes Junta, 11;
+      goes to Cuba, 15;
+      death, 16;
+      his war manifesto, 17;
+      fulfilment of his ideals, 355.
+
+    Marti, José, secretary of War, portrait, IV, 360.
+
+    Marti, the pirate, II, 357.
+
+    Martinez Campos. See Campos.
+
+    Martinez, Dionisio de la Vega, Governor, II, 8;
+      inscription on La Punta, 14.
+
+    Martinez, Juan, I, 192.
+
+    Martyr, Peter, I, 53.
+
+    Maso, Bartolome, revolutionist, IV, 34;
+      rebukes Spotorno, 35;
+      President of Cuban Republic, 43;
+      Vice President of Council, 48;
+      President of Republic, 90;
+      candidate for Vice President, 242;
+      seeks Presidency, 243.
+
+    Mason, James M., U. S. Minister to France, III, 141.
+
+    Masse, E. M., describes slave trade, II, 202;
+      rural life, 216;
+      on Spanish policy toward Cuba, 227;
+      social morals, 230.
+
+    Matanzas, founded, I, 321;
+      meaning of name, 321.
+
+    Maura, Sr., proposes Cuban reforms, IV, 5.
+
+    McCullagh, John B., reorganizes Havana Police, IV, 150.
+
+    McKinley, William, President of United States, message of 1897
+      on Cuba, IV, 87;
+      declines European mediation, 103;
+      message for war, 104.
+
+    Maza, Enrique, assaults Hugh S. Gibson, IV, 308.
+
+    Mazariegos, Diego de, Governor, I, 191;
+      a scandalous moralist, 193;
+      defences against privateering, 193;
+      takes charge of La Fuerza, 195;
+      controversy with Governor of Florida, 196;
+      replaced by Sandoval, 197.
+
+    Medina, Fernando de, I, 111.
+
+    Mendez-Capote, Fernando, Secretary of Sanitation, portrait, IV, 360.
+
+    Mendieta, Carlos, candidate for Vice President, IV, 328;
+      rebels, 338.
+
+    Mendive, Rafael Maria de, III, 328.
+
+    Mendoza, Martin de, I, 204.
+
+    Menendez, Pedro de Aviles, I, 199;
+      commander of Spanish fleet, 200;
+      clash with Osorio, 201;
+      Governor of Cuba, 205;
+      dealing with increasing enemies, 208;
+      fortifies Havana, 209;
+      recalled to Spain, 213;
+      conflict with Bishop Castillo, 226.
+
+    Menocal, Aniceto G., portrait, IV, 50.
+
+    Menocal, Mario G., Assistant Secretary of War, IV, 49;
+      Chief of Police at Havana, 144, 150;
+      in charge of Lighthouse Service, 168;
+      candidate for President, 290;
+      slandered by Liberals, 291;
+      elected President, 312;
+      biography, 312;
+      portrait, facing 312;
+      view of birthplace, 313;
+      Cabinet, 320;
+      opinion of Cuba's needs, 321;
+      first message, 322;
+      conflict with Congress, 323;
+      important reforms, 324;
+      suppresses rebellion, 327;
+      candidate for reelection, 328;
+      vigorous action against Gomez's rebellion, 335;
+      declines American aid, 337;
+      escapes assassination, 339;
+      reelection confirmed, 341;
+      clemency to traitors, 342;
+      message on entering Great War, 346;
+      fulfilment of Marti's ideals, 355;
+      estimate of his administration, 356;
+      achievements for education, 357;
+      health, 357;
+      industry and commerce, 358;
+      finance, 359;
+      "from Velasquez to Menocal," 365.
+
+    Menocal, Señora, leadership of Cuban womanhood in Red Cross and
+      other work, IV, 354;
+      portrait, facing 352.
+
+    Mercedes, Maria de las, quoted, II, 174;
+      on slave insurrection, 368.
+
+    Merchan, Rafael, III, 174;
+      patriotic works, 335.
+
+    Merlin, Countess de. See MERCEDES.
+
+    _Merrimac_, sunk at Santiago, IV, 111.
+
+    Mesa, Hernando de, first Bishop, I, 122.
+
+    Mestre, José Manuel, sketch and portrait, III, 326.
+
+    Meza, Sr., Secretary of Public Instruction and Arts, IV, 297.
+
+    Mexico, discovered and explored from Cuba, I, 87;
+      designs upon Cuba, II, 262;
+      Cuban expedition against, 346;
+      warned off by United States, III, 134;
+      fall of Maximilian, 150.
+
+    Milanes, José Jacinto, sketch, portrait and works, III, 324.
+
+    Miles, Gen. Nelson A., prepares for invasion of Cuba, IV, 111.
+
+    Miranda, Francisco, II, 156;
+      with Bolivar, 335.
+
+    Miscegenation, II, 204.
+
+    Molina, Francisco, I, 290.
+
+    Monastic orders, I, 276.
+
+    Monroe Doctrine, foreshadowed, II, 256;
+      promulgated, 328.
+
+    Monroe, James, interest in Cuba, II, 257;
+      promulgates Doctrine, 328;
+      portrait, 329.
+
+    Monserrate Gate, Havana, picture, II, 241.
+
+    Montalvo, Gabriel, Governor, I, 215;
+      feud with Rojas family, 218;
+      investigated and retired, 219;
+      pleads for naval protection for Cuba, 220.
+
+    Montalvo, Lorenzo, II, 89.
+
+    Montalvo, Rafael, Secretary of Public Works, urges resistance
+      to revolutionists, IV, 270.
+
+    Montanes, Pedro Garcia, I, 292.
+
+    Montano See VELASQUEZ, J. M.
+
+    Montes, Garcia, Secretary of Treasury, IV, 254.
+
+    Montesino, Antonio, I, 78.
+
+    Montiel, Vasquez de, naval commander, I, 278.
+
+    Montoro, Rafael, Representative in Cortes, III, 308;
+      spokesman of Autonomists, IV, 59;
+      in Autonomist Cabinet, 95;
+      candidate for Vice President, 290;
+      attacked by Liberals, 291;
+      biography, 317;
+      portrait, facing 320.
+
+    Morales case, IV, 92.
+
+    Morales. Pedro de, commands at Santiago, I, 299.
+
+    Morals, strangely mixed with piety and vice, II, 229.
+
+    Morell, Pedro Augustino, Bishop, II, 53;
+      controversy with Albemarle, 83;
+      exiled, 87;
+      death, 113.
+
+    Moreno, Andres, Secretary of Foreign Affairs, IV, 90.
+
+    Moret law, abolishing slavery, III, 243.
+
+    Morgan, Henry, plans raid on Havana, I, 297;
+      later career, 303.
+
+    Morro Castle, Havana, picture, facing I, 180;
+      site of battery, 180;
+      tower built by Mazariegos, 196;
+      fortified against Drake, 249;
+      planned by Antonelli, 261;
+      besieged by British, II, 55.
+
+    Morro Castle, Santiago, built, I, 289;
+      picture, facing 298.
+
+    Mucaras, I, 11.
+
+    Muenster, geographer, I, 6.
+
+    Mugeres Islands, I, 84.
+
+    Munive, Andres de, I, 317.
+
+    Murgina y Mena, A. M., I, 317.
+
+    Music, early concerts at Havana, II, 239.
+
+
+    Nabia, Juan Alfonso de, I, 207.
+
+    Nancy Globe, I. 6.
+
+    Napoleon's designs upon Cuba, II, 203.
+
+    Naranjo, probable landing place of Columbus, I, 12.
+
+    Narvaez, Panfilo de, portrait, I, 63;
+      arrival in Cuba, 63;
+      campaign against natives, 65;
+      explores the island, 67;
+      errand to Spain, 77;
+      sent to Mexico to oppose Cortez, 98;
+      secures appointment of Councillors for life, 111.
+
+    Naval stations, U. S., in Cuba, IV, 255.
+
+    Navarrete, quoted, I, 3, 12.
+
+    Navarro, Diego Jose, Governor, II, 141, 150.
+
+    Navy, Spanish, in Cuban waters, III, 182, 225.
+
+    Negroes, imported as slaves, I, 170;
+      treatment of, 171;
+      slaves and free, increasing numbers of, 229. See SLAVERY.
+
+    New Orleans, anti-Spanish outbreak, III, 126.
+
+    New Spain. See MEXICO.
+
+    Newspapers: _Gazeta_, 1780, II, 157;
+      _Papel Periodico_, 179;
+      246;
+      publications in Paris, Madrid and New York, 354;
+      El Faro Industrial, III, 18;
+      Diario de la Marina, 18;
+      La Verdad, 18;
+      La Vos de Cuba, 260;
+      La Vos del Siglo, 232;
+      La Revolucion, 333;
+      El Siglo, 334;
+      El Laborante, 335.
+
+    Norsemen, American colonists, I, 7.
+
+    Nougaret, Jean Baptiste, quoted, II, 26.
+
+    Nuñez, Emilio, in Cuban Junta, IV, 12;
+      in war, 57;
+      Civil Governor of Havana, 179;
+      head of Veterans' Association, 305;
+      Secretary of Agriculture, 320;
+      candidate for Vice President, 328;
+      election confirmed, 341.
+
+    Nuñez, Enrique, Secretary of Health and Charities, IV, 320.
+
+
+    Ocampo, Sebastian de, circumnavigates Cuba, I, 54.
+
+    O'Donnell, George Leopold, Governor, II, 365;
+      his wife's sordid intrigues, 365.
+
+    Oglethorpe, Governor of Georgia, hostile to Spain, II, 24, 30.
+
+    O'Hara, Theodore, with Lopez, III, 46.
+
+    Ojeda, Alonzo de, I, 54;
+      introduces Christianity to Cuba, 55.
+
+    Olid, Christopher de, sent to Mexico, I, 88.
+
+    Olney, Richard. U. S. Secretary of State, attitude toward War
+      of Independence, IV, 71.
+
+    Oquendo, Antonio de, I, 281.
+
+    Orejon y Gaston, Francisco Davila de, Governor, I, 301, 310.
+
+    O'Reilly, Alexandre, sent to occupy Louisiana, II, 123;
+      ruthless rule, 125.
+
+    Orellano, Diego de, I, 86.
+
+    Ornofay, province of, I, 20.
+
+    Ortiz, Bartholomew, alcalde mayor, I, 146;
+      retires, 151.
+
+    Osorio, Garcia de Sandoval, Governor, I, 197;
+      conflict with Menendez, 199, 201;
+      retired, 205;
+      tried, 206.
+
+    Osorio, Sancho Pardo, I, 207.
+
+    Ostend Manifesto, III, 142.
+
+    Ovando, Alfonso de Caceres, I, 214;
+      revises law system, 233.
+
+    Ovando, Nicolas de, I, 54.
+
+
+    Palma, Tomas Estrada, head of Cuban Junta in New York, IV, 3;
+      Provisional President of Cuban Republic, 15;
+      Delegate at Large, 43;
+      rejects anything short of independence, 71;
+      candidate for Presidency, 241;
+      his career, 241;
+      elected President, 245;
+      arrival in Cuba, 247;
+      portrait, facing 248;
+      receives transfer of government from General Wood, 248;
+      Cabinet, 254;
+      first message, 254;
+      prosperous administration, 259;
+      non-partisan at first, 264;
+      forced toward Conservative party, 264;
+      reelected, 266;
+      refuses to believe insurrection impending, 266;
+      refuses to submit to blackmail, 268;
+      betrayed by Congress, 269;
+      acts too late, 270;
+      seeks American aid, 271;
+      interview with W. H. Taft, 276;
+      resigns Presidency, 280;
+      estimate of character and work, 282;
+      death, 284.
+
+    Palma y Romay, Ramon, III, 327.
+
+    Parra, Antonio, scientist, II, 252.
+
+    Parra, Maso, revolutionist, IV, 30.
+
+    Parties, political, in Cuba, IV, 59;
+      origin and characteristics of Conservative and Liberal, 181, 261.
+
+    Pasalodos, Damaso, Secretary to President, IV, 297
+
+    Pasamonte, Miguel, intrigues against Columbus, I, 58.
+
+    Paz, Doña de, marries Juan de Avila, I, 154.
+
+    Paz, Pedro de, I, 109.
+
+    Penalosa, Diego de, Governor, II, 31.
+
+    Penalver. See PENALOSA.
+
+    Penalver, Luis, Bishop of New Orleans, II, 179.
+
+    "Peninsulars," III, 152.
+
+    Pensacola, settlement of, I, 328;
+      seized by French, 342;
+      recovered by Spanish, II, 7;
+      defended by Galvez, 146.
+
+    Pereda, Gaspar Luis, Governor, I, 276.
+
+    Perez, Diego, repels privateers, I, 179.
+
+    Perez, Perico, revolutionist, IV, 15, 30, 78.
+
+    Perez de Zambrana, Luisa, sketch and portrait, III, 328.
+
+    Personal liberty restricted, III, 8.
+
+    Peru, good wishes for Cuban revolution, III, 223.
+
+    Philip II, King, appreciation of Cuba, I, 260.
+
+    Pieltain, Candido, Governor, III, 275.
+
+    Pierce, Franklin, President of United States, policy toward
+      Cuba, III, 136.
+
+    Pina, Severo, Secretary of Finance, IV, 48.
+
+    Pinar del Rio, city founded, II, 131;
+      Maceo invades province, IV, 61;
+      war in, 73.
+
+    Pineyro, Enrique, III, 333;
+      sketch and portrait, 334.
+
+    Pinto, Ramon, sketch and portrait, III, 62.
+
+    "Pirates of America," I, 296.
+
+    Pizarro, Francisco de, I, 54, 91.
+
+    Platt, Orville H., Senator, on relations of United States
+      and Cuba, IV, 198;
+      Amendment to Cuban Constitution, 199;
+      Amendment adopted, 203;
+      text of Amendment, 238.
+
+    Pococke, Sir George, expedition against Havana, II, 46.
+
+    Poey, Felipe, sketch and portrait, III, 315.
+
+    Point Lucrecia, I, 18.
+
+    Polavieja, Gen., Governor, III, 314.
+
+    Police, reorganized, II, 312;
+      under American occupation, IV, 150;
+      police courts established, 171.
+
+    Polk, James K., President of the United States, policy toward
+      Cuba, III, 135.
+
+    Polo y Bernabe, Spanish Minister at Washington, IV, 98.
+
+    Ponce de Leon, in Cuba, I, 73;
+      death, 139.
+
+    Ponce de Leon, of New York, in Cuban Junta, IV, 13.
+
+    Pope, efforts to maintain peace, between United States and
+      Spain, IV, 104.
+
+    Porro, Cornelio, treason of, III, 257.
+
+    Port Banes, I, 18.
+
+    Port Nipe, I, 18.
+
+    Port Nuevitas, I, 3.
+
+    Portuguese settlers, I, 168.
+
+    Portuondo, Rafael, Secretary for Foreign Affairs, IV, 48;
+      filibuster, 70.
+
+    Prado y Portocasso, Juan, Governor, II, 49;
+      neglect of duty, 52;
+      sentenced to degradation, 108.
+
+    Praga, Francisco de, I, 282.
+
+    Presidency, first candidates for, IV, 240;
+      Tomas Estrada Palma elected, 245;
+      José Miguel Gomez aspires to, 260;
+      candidates in 1906, 265;
+      Palma's resignation, 280;
+      Jose Miguel Gomez elected, 290;
+      fourth campaign, 312;
+      Mario G. Menocal elected, 312;
+      fifth campaign, 328;
+      General Menocal reelected, 341.
+
+    Prim, Gen., Spanish revolutionist, III, 145.
+
+    Printing, first press in Cuba, II, 245.
+
+    Privateers, French ravage Cuba, I, 177;
+      Havana and Santiago attacked, 178;
+      Havana looted, 179;
+      Jacques Sores, 183;
+      Havana captured, 186;
+      Santiago looted, 193;
+      French raids, 220, et seq.
+
+    Proctor, Redfield, Senator, investigates and reports on condition
+      of Cuba in War of Independence, IV, 87.
+
+    Procurators, appointment of, I, 112.
+
+    Protectorate, tripartite, refused by United States, II, 261;
+      III, 130, 133.
+
+    Provincial governments organized, IV, 179, confusion in, 292.
+
+    Public Works, promoted by General Wood, IV, 166;
+      by Magoon, 286.
+
+    Puerto Grande. See GUANTANAMO.
+
+    Puerto Principe, I, 18, 167.
+
+    Punta, La, first fortification, I, 203;
+      strengthened against Drake, 249;
+      fortress planned by Antonelli, 261;
+      picture, IV, 33.
+
+    Punta Lucrecia, I, 3.
+
+    Punta Serafina, I, 22.
+
+
+    Queen's Gardens, I, 20.
+
+    Quero, Geronimo, I, 277.
+
+    Quesada, Gonzalo de, Secretary of Cuban Junta, IV, 3;
+      Minister to United States, 275.
+
+    Quesada, Manuel, sketch and portrait, III, 167;
+      proclamation, 169;
+      death, 262.
+
+    Quezo, Juan de, I, 113.
+
+    Quilez, J. M., Civil Governor of Pinar del Rio, IV, 179.
+
+    Quiñones, Diego Hernandez de, commander of fortifications at
+      Havana, I, 240;
+      feud with Luzan, 241;
+      unites with Luzan to resist Drake, 243.
+
+    Quiñones, Doña Leonora de, I, 117.
+
+
+    Rabi, Jesus, revolutionist, IV, 34, 42.
+
+    Railroads, first in Cuba, II, 343.
+
+    Raja, Vicente, Governor, I, 337.
+
+    Ramirez, Alejandro, sketch and portrait, II, 311.
+
+    Ramirez, Miguel, Bishop, partisan of Guzman, I, 120;
+      political activities and greed, 124.
+
+    Ramos, Gregorio, I, 274.
+
+    Ranzel, Diego, I, 295.
+
+    Recio, R. Lopez, Civil Governor of Camaguey, IV, 180.
+
+    Recio, Serafin, III, 86.
+
+    Reciprocity, secured by Roosevelt for Cuba, IV, 256.
+
+    "Reconcentrados," mortality among, IV, 86.
+
+    Red Cross, Cuban activities, IV, 353.
+
+    Redroban, Pedro de, I, 201.
+
+    Reed, Walter, in yellow fever campaign, IV, 172.
+
+    Reformists, Spanish, support Blanco's Autonomist policy, IV, 97.
+
+    Reggio, Andreas, II, 32.
+
+    Reno, George, in War of Independence, IV, 12;
+      running blockade, 21;
+      portrait, 21;
+      services in Great War, 351.
+
+    Renteria, Pedro de, partner of Las Casas, I, 75;
+      opposes slavery, 76.
+
+    Repartimiento, I, 70.
+
+    Republic of Cuba: proclaimed and organized, III, 157;
+      first representative Assembly, 161;
+      Constitution of 1868, 164;
+      first House of Representatives, 176;
+      Judiciary, 177;
+      legislation, 177;
+      army, 178;
+      fails to secure recognition, 203;
+      Government reorganized, 275;
+      after Treaty of Zanjon, 301;
+      reorganized in War of Independence, IV, 15;
+      Maso chosen President, 43;
+      Conventions of Yara and Najasa, 47;
+      Constitution adopted, 47;
+      Government reorganized, Cisneros President, 48;
+      capital at Las Tunas, 56;
+      removes to Cubitas, 72;
+      exercises functions of government, 72;
+      reorganized in 1897, 90;
+      after Spanish evacuation of island, 134;
+      disbanded, 135;
+      Constitutional Convention called, 185;
+      Constitution completed, 192;
+      relations with United States, 195;
+      Platt Amendment, 203;
+      enters Great War, 346.
+
+    Revolutions: Rise of spirit, II, 268;
+      in South America, 333;
+      "Soles de Bolivar," 341;
+      attempts to revolt, 344;
+      "Black Eagle," 346;
+      plans of Lopez, III, 36;
+      Lopez's first invasion, 49;
+      Aguero's insurrection, 72;
+      comments of New York _Herald_, 89;
+      Lopez's last expedition, 91;
+      results of his work, 116;
+      European interest, 125;
+      beginning of Ten Years' War. 155;
+      end of Ten Years' War, 299;
+      insurrection renewed, 308, 318;
+      War of Independence, IV, 1;
+      Sartorius Brothers, 4;
+      end of War of Independence, 116;
+      revolt against President Palma, 266;
+      ultimatum, 278;
+      government overthrown, 280;
+      Negro insurrection, 307;
+      conspiracy against President Menocal, 327;
+      great treason of José Miguel Gomez, 332;
+      Gomez captured, 337;
+      warnings from United States Government, 338;
+      revolutions denounced by United States, 343.
+
+    Revolutionary party, Cuban, IV, 1, 11.
+
+    Rey, Juan F. G., III, 40.
+
+    Riano y Gamboa, Francisco, Governor, I, 287.
+
+    Ribera, Diego de, I, 206;
+      work on La Fuerza, 209.
+
+    Ricafort, Mariano, Governor, II, 347.
+
+    Ricla, Conde de, Governor, II, 102;
+      retires, 109.
+
+    Rio de la Luna, I, 16.
+
+    Rio de Mares, I, 16.
+
+    Riva-Martiz, I, 279.
+
+    Rivera, Juan Ruiz, filibuster, IV, 70;
+      succeeds Maceo, 79.
+
+    Rivera, Ruiz, Secretary of Agriculture, Commerce and Industry, IV, 160.
+
+    Roa, feud with Villalobos, I, 323.
+
+    Rodas, Caballero de, Governor, III, 213;
+      emancipation decree, 242.
+
+    Rodney, Sir George, expedition to West Indies, II, 153.
+
+    Rodriguez, Alejandro, suppresses revolt, IV, 266.
+
+    Rodriguez, Laureano, in Autonomist Cabinet, IV, 95.
+
+    Rojas, Alfonso de, I, 181.
+
+    Rojas, Gomez de, banished, I, 193;
+      Governor of La Fuerza, 217;
+      rebuilds Santiago, 258.
+
+    Rojas, Hernando de, expedition to Florida, I, 196.
+
+    Rojas, Juan Bautista de, royal treasurer, I, 218.
+
+    Rojas, Juan de, aid to Lady Isabel de Soto, I, 145;
+      commander at Havana, 183.
+
+    Rojas, Manuel de, Governor, I, 105;
+      adopts policy of "Cuba for the Cubans," 106;
+      second Governorship, 121;
+      dealings with Indians, 126;
+      noble endeavors frustrated, 130;
+      resigns, 135;
+      the King's unique tribute to him, 135.
+
+    Roldan, Francisco Dominguez, Secretary of Public Instruction,
+      sketch and portrait, IV, 357.
+
+    Roldan, José Gonzalo, III, 328.
+
+    Roloff, Carlos, revolutionist, IV, 45;
+      Secretary of War, 48;
+      filibuster, 70.
+
+    Romano Key, I, 18.
+
+    Romay, Tomas, introduces vaccination, II, 192;
+      portrait, facing 192.
+
+    Roncali, Federico, Governor, II, 366;
+      on Spanish interests in Cuba, 381.
+
+    Roosevelt, Theodore, at San Juan Hill, IV, 113;
+      portrait, 113;
+      President of United States, on relations with Cuba, 245;
+      estimate of General Wood's work in Cuba, 251;
+      fight with Congress for Cuban reciprocity, 256;
+      seeks to aid President Palma against revolutionists, 275;
+      letter to Quesada, 275.
+
+    Root, Elihu, Secretary of War, on Cuban Constitution, IV, 194;
+      on Cuban relations with United States, 197;
+      explains Platt Amendment, 201.
+
+    Rowan, A. S., messenger to Oriente, IV. 107.
+
+    Rubalcava, Manuel Justo, II, 274.
+
+    Rubens, Horatio, Counsel of Cuban Junta, IV, 3.
+
+    Rubios, Palacios, I, 78.
+
+    Ruiz, Joaquin, spy, IV, 91;
+      death, 92. See ARANGUREN.
+
+    Ruiz, Juan Fernandez, filibuster, IV, 70.
+
+    Rum Cay. See CONCEPTION.
+
+    Rural Guards, organized by General Wood, IV, 144;
+      efficiency of, 301.
+
+    Ruysch, geographer, I, 6.
+
+
+    Saavedra, Juan Esquiro, I, 278.
+
+    Sabinal Key, I, 18.
+
+    Saco, José Antonio, pioneer of Independence, II, 378;
+      portrait, facing 378;
+      literary and patriotic work, III, 325, 327.
+
+    Sagasta, Praxedes, Spanish Premier, proposes Cuban reforms, IV, 6;
+      resigns, 36.
+
+    Saint Augustine, expedition against, I, 332.
+
+    Saint Mery, M. de, search for tomb of Columbus, I, 34.
+
+    Salamanca, Juan de, Governor, I, 295;
+      promotes industries, 300.
+
+    Salamanca y Negrete, Manuel, Governor, III, 314.
+
+    Salaries, some early, I, 263.
+
+    Salas, Indalacio, IV, 21.
+
+    Salazar. See SOMERUELOS.
+
+    Salcedo, Bishop, controversy with Governor Tejada, I, 262.
+
+    Sama Point, I, 4.
+
+    Samana. See GUANAHANI.
+
+    Sampson, William T., Admiral, in Spanish-American War, IV, 110;
+      at Santiago, 114;
+      portrait, 115.
+
+    Sanchez, Bartolome, makes plans for La
+      Fuerza, I, 194;
+      begins building, 195;
+      feud with Mazariegos, 197.
+
+    Sanchez, Bernabe, II, 345.
+
+    Sancti Spiritus, founded by Velasquez, I, 68, 168.
+
+    Sandoval, Garcia Osorio, Governor, I, 197. See OSARIO.
+
+    Sanitation, undertaken by Guemez, II, 18;
+      vaccination introduced by Dr. Romay. 192;
+      bad conditions, III, 313;
+      General Wood at Santiago, IV, 142;
+      achievements under President Menocal, 357.
+
+    Sanguilly, Julio, falls in leading revolution, IV, 29, 55.
+
+    Sanguilly, Manuel, in Constitutional Convention, IV, 190.
+
+    San Lazaro watchtower, picture, I, 155;
+      fortified against Drake, 248.
+
+    San Salvador. See GUANAHANI.
+
+    Santa Clara, Conde de, Governor, II, 194, 300.
+
+    Santa Crux del Sur, I, 20.
+
+    Santa Cruz, Francisco, I, 111.
+
+    Santiago de Cuba, Columbus at, I, 19;
+      founded by Velasquez, 68;
+      second capital of island, 69;
+      seat of gold refining, 80;
+      site of cathedral, 123;
+      condition in Angulo's time, 166;
+      looted by privateers, 193;
+      fortified by Menendez, 203;
+      raided and destroyed by French, 256;
+      rebuilt by Gomez de Rojas, 258;
+      capital of Eastern District, 275;
+      Morro Castle built, 289;
+      captured by British, 299;
+      attacked by Franquinay, 310;
+      attacked by Admiral Vernon, II, 29;
+      literary activities, 169;
+      great improvements made, 180;
+      battles near in War of Independence, IV, 112;
+      naval battle, 114;
+      General Wood's administration, 135;
+      great work for sanitation, 142.
+
+    Santiago, battle of, IV, 114.
+
+    Santiago, sunset scene, facing III, 280.
+
+    Santillan, Diego, Governor, I, 205.
+
+    Santo Domingo See HISPANIOLA.
+
+    Sanudo, Luis, Governor, I, 336.
+
+    Sarmiento. Diego de, Bishop, makes trouble, I, 149, 152.
+
+    Saunders, Romulus M., sounds Spain on purchase of Cuba, III, 135.
+
+    Sartorius, Manuel and Ricardo, revolutionists, IV, 4.
+
+    Savine, Albert, on British designs on Cuba, II, 40.
+
+    Schley, Winfield S., Admiral, in Spanish-American War, IV, 110;
+      portrait, 110;
+      at Santiago, 114.
+
+    Schoener's globe, I, 5.
+
+    Schools, backward condition of, II, 174, 244, 312. See EDUCATION.
+
+    Shafter, W. R., General, leads American army into Cuba, IV, 111.
+
+    Shipbuilding at Havana, II, 8, 33, 113, 300.
+
+    Sickles, Daniel E., Minister to Spain, offers mediation, III, 217.
+
+    Silva, Manuel, Secretary of Interior, IV, 90.
+
+    Slave Insurrection, II, 13;
+      III, 367, et seq.
+
+    Slavery, begun in Repartimiento system, I, 70;
+      not sanctioned by King, 82;
+      slave trading begun, 83;
+      growth and regulation, 170;
+      oppressive policy of Spain, 266;
+      the "Assiento," II, 2;
+      great growth
+      of trade, 22;
+      gross abuses, 202;
+      described by Masse, 202;
+      census of slaves, 204;
+      rise of emancipation movement, 206;
+      rights of slaves defined by King, 210;
+      African trade forbidden, 285;
+      Negro census, 286;
+      early records of trade, 288;
+      Humboldt on, 288;
+      statistics of trade, 289 et seq.;
+      domestic relations of slaves, 292;
+      dangers of system denounced, 320;
+      official complicity in illegal trade, 366;
+      slave insurrection, 367;
+      inhuman suppression by government, 374 et seq.;
+      emancipation by revolution of 1868, 159;
+      United States urges Spain to abolish slavery, 242;
+      Rodas's decrees, 242;
+      Moret law, 243.
+
+    Smith, Caleb. publishes book on West Indies, II, 37.
+
+    Smuggling, II, 133.
+
+    "Sociedad de Amigos," II, 169.
+
+    "Sociedad Patriotica," II, 166.
+
+    "Sociedad Patriotica y Economica," II, 178.
+
+    Society of Progress, II, 78.
+
+    Solano, José de, naval commander, II, 147.
+
+    "Soles de Bolivar," II, 341;
+      attempts to suppress, 343.
+
+    Solorzano, Juan del Hoya, I, 337;
+      II, 10.
+
+    Someruelos, Marquis of, Governor, II, 196, 301.
+
+    Sores, Jacques, French raider, II, 183;
+      attacks Havana, 184;
+      captures city, 186.
+
+    Soto, Antonio de, I, 292.
+
+    Soto, Diego de, I, 109, 217.
+
+    Soto, Hernando de, Governor and Adelantado, I, 140;
+      portrait, 140;
+      arrival in Cuba, 141;
+      tour of island, 142;
+      makes Havana his home, 144;
+      chiefly interested in Florida, 144;
+      sails for Florida, 145;
+      his fate in Mississippi, 147;
+      trouble with Indians, 148.
+
+    Soto, Lady Isabel de, I, 141;
+      her vigil at La Fuerza, 147;
+      death, 149.
+
+    Soto, Luis de, I, 141.
+
+    Soulé, Pierre, Minister to Spain, III, 137;
+      Indiscretions, 138;
+      Ostend Manifesto, 142.
+
+    South Sea Company, II, 21, 201.
+
+    Spain: Fiscal policy toward Cuba, I, 175;
+      wars with France, 177;
+      discriminations against Cuba, 266, 267;
+      protests against South Sea Company, II, 22;
+      course in American Revolution, 143;
+      war with Great Britain, 151;
+      attitude toward America, 159;
+      peace with Great Britain, 162;
+      restrictive laws, 224;
+      policy under Godoy, 265;
+      decline of power, 273;
+      seeks to pawn Cuba to Great Britain for loan, 330;
+      protests to United States against Lopez's expedition, III, 59;
+      seeks British protection, 129;
+      refuses to sell Cuba, 135;
+      revolution against Bourbon dynasty, 145 et seq.;
+      rejects suggestion of American mediation in Cuba, 219;
+      seeks American mediation, 293;
+      strives to placate Cuba, IV, 5;
+      crisis over Cuban affairs, 35;
+      attitude toward War of Independence, 40;
+      considers Autonomy, 71;
+      Cabinet crisis of 1897, 88;
+      proposes joint investigation of Maine disaster, 100;
+      at war with United States, 106;
+      makes Treaty of Paris, relinquishing Cuba, 118.
+
+    Spanish-American War: causes of, IV, 105;
+      declared, 106;
+      blockade of Cuban coast, 110;
+      landing of American army in Cuba, 111;
+      fighting near Santiago, 112;
+      fort at El Caney, picture, 112;
+      San Juan Hill, battle, 113;
+      San Juan Hill, picture of monument, 114;
+      naval battle of Santiago, 115;
+      peace negotiations, 116;
+      "Peace Tree," picture, 116;
+      treaty of peace, 118.
+
+    Spanish literature in XVI century, I, 360.
+
+    Spotorno, Juan Bautista, seeks peace, rebuked by Maso, IV, 35.
+
+    Steinhart, Frank, American consul, advises President Palma to
+      ask for American aid, IV, 271;
+      correspondence with State Department, 272.
+
+    Stock raising, early attention to, I, 173, 224;
+      development of, 220.
+
+    Stokes, W. E. D., aids War of Independence, IV, 14.
+
+    Students, murder of by Volunteers, III, 260.
+
+    Suarez y Romero, Anselmo, III, 326.
+
+    Sugar, Industry begun under Velasquez, I, 175, 224;
+      growth of industry, 265;
+      primitive methods, II, 222;
+      growth, III, 3;
+      great development under President Menocal, IV, 358.
+
+    "Suma de Geografia," of Enciso, I, 54.
+
+    Sumana, Diego de, I, 111.
+
+
+    Tacon, Miguel, Governor, II, 347;
+      despotic fury, 348;
+      conflict with Lorenzo, 349;
+      public works, 355;
+      fish market, 357;
+      melodramatic administration of justice, 359.
+
+    Taft, William H., Secretary of War of United States, intervenes
+      in revolution, IV, 272;
+      arrives at Havana, 275;
+      negotiates with President Palma and the revolutionists, 276;
+      portrait, 276;
+      conveys ultimatum of revolutionists to President Palma, 279;
+      accepts President Palma's resignation, 280;
+      pardons revolutionists, 280;
+      unfortunate policy, 283.
+
+    Tainan, Antillan stock, I, 8.
+
+    Tamayo, Diego, Secretary of State, IV, 159;
+      Secretary of Government, 254.
+
+    Tamayo, Rodrigo de, I, 126.
+
+    Tariff, after British occupation, II, 106;
+      reduction, 141;
+      oppressive duties. III, 5;
+      under American occupation, IV, 183.
+
+    Taxation, revolt against, II, 197;
+      "reforms," 342;
+      oppressive burdens, III, 6;
+      increase in Ten Years' War, 207;
+      evasion of, 312;
+      under American intervention, IV, 151.
+
+    Taylor, Hannis, American Minister at Madrid, IV, 33.
+
+    Tejada, Juan de, Governor, I, 261;
+      great works for Cuba, 262;
+      resigns, 263.
+
+    Teneza, Dr. Francisco, Protomedico, I, 336.
+
+    Ten Years' War, III, 155 et seq.;
+      first battles, 184;
+      aid from United States, 211;
+      offers of American mediation, 217;
+      rejected, 219;
+      campaigns of destruction, 222;
+      losses reported, 290;
+      end in Treaty of Zanjon, 299;
+      losses, 304.
+
+    Terry, Emilio, Secretary of Agriculture, IV, 254.
+
+    Theatres, first performance in Cuba, I, 264;
+      first theatre built, II, 130, 236.
+
+    Thrasher, J. S., on census, II, 283.
+
+    Tines y Fuertes, Juan Antonio, Governor, II, 31.
+
+    Tobacco, early use, I, 9;
+      culture promoted, 300;
+      monopoly, 334;
+      "Tobacco War," 338;
+      effects of monopoly, II, 221.
+
+    Tobar, Nuñez, I, 141, 143.
+
+    Tolon, Miguel de, III, 330.
+
+    Toltecs, I, 7.
+
+    Tomayo, Esteban, revolutionist, IV, 34.
+
+    Torquemada, Garcia de, I, 239;
+      investigates Luzan, 241.
+
+    Torre, Marquis de la, Governor, II, 127;
+      work for Havana, 129;
+      death, 133.
+
+    Torres Ayala, Laureano de, Governor, I, 334;
+      reappointed, 337.
+
+    Torres, Gaspar de, Governor, I, 234;
+      conflict with Rojas family, 235;
+      absconds, 235.
+
+    Torres, Rodrigo de, naval commander, II, 34.
+
+    Torriente, Cosimo de la, Secretary of Government, IV, 320.
+
+    Toscanelli, I, 4.
+
+    Treaty of Paris, IV, 118.
+
+    Tres Palacios, Felipe Jose de, Bishop, II, 174.
+
+    Tribune, New York, describes revolutionary leaders, III, 173.
+
+    Trinidad, founded by Velasquez, I, 68, 168;
+      great fire, II, 177.
+
+    Trocha, begun by Campos, IV, 44;
+      Weyler's, 73.
+
+    Troncoso, Bernardo, Governor, II, 168.
+
+    Turnbull, David, British consul, II, 364;
+      complicity in slave insurrection, 372.
+
+
+    Ubite, Juan de, Bishop, I, 123.
+
+    Ulloa, Antonio de, sent to take possession of Louisiana, II, 118;
+      arbitrary conduct, 120.
+
+    Union Constitutionalists, III, 306.
+
+    United States, early relations with Cuba, II, 254;
+      first suggestion of annexation, 257;
+      John Quincy Adams's policy, 258;
+      Jefferson's policy, 260;
+      Clay's policy, 261;
+      representations to Colombia and Mexico, 262;
+      Buchanan's policy, 263;
+      Monroe Doctrine, 328;
+      consuls not admitted to Cuba, 330;
+      Van Buren's policy, 331;
+      growth of commerce with Cuba, III, 22;
+      President Taylor's proclamation against filibustering, 41;
+      course toward Lopez, 60;
+      attitude toward Cuban revolutionists, 123;
+      division of sentiment between North and South, 124;
+      policy of Edward Everett, 130;
+      overtures for purchase of Cuba, 135;
+      end of Civil War, 151;
+      new policy toward Cuba, 151;
+      recognition denied to revolution, 172;
+      aid and sympathy given secretly, 195;
+      Cuban appeals for recognition, 200;
+      recognition denied, 203;
+      protests against Rodas's decrees, 216;
+      offers of mediation, 217;
+      rejected by Spain, 219;
+      increasing interest and sympathy with revolutionists, 273;
+      warning to Spanish Government, 291;
+      effect of reciprocity upon Cuba, 313;
+      attitude toward War of Independence, IV, 27, 70;
+      Congress favors recognition, 70;
+      tender of good
+      offices, 71;
+      President Cleveland's message of 1896, 79;
+      appropriation for relief of victims of "concentration" policy, 86;
+      President McKinley's message of 1897, 87;
+      sensation at destruction of _Maine_, 99;
+      declaration of war against Spain, 106;
+      Treaty of Paris, 118;
+      establishment of first Government of Intervention, 132;
+      relations with Republic of Cuba, 195;
+      protectorate to be retained, 196;
+      Platt Amendment, 199;
+      mischief-making intrigues, 200;
+      naval stations in Cuba, 255;
+      reciprocity, 256;
+      second Intervention, 281;
+      warning to José Miguel Gomez, 305;
+      asks settlement of claims, 308;
+      Chargé d'Affaires assaulted, 308;
+      supervision of Cuban legislation, 326;
+      warning to revolutionists, 339;
+      attitude toward Gomez revolution, 343.
+
+    University of Havana, founded, II, 11.
+
+    Unzaga, Luis de, Governor, II, 157.
+
+    Urrutia, historian, quoted, I, 300.
+
+    Urrutia, Sancho de, I, 111.
+
+    Utrecht, Treaty of, I, 326;
+      begins new era, II, 1.
+
+    Uznaga, Luis de, sent to rule Louisiana, II, 126;
+      reforms, 165.
+
+
+    Vaca, Cabeza de, I, 140.
+
+    Vadillo, Juan, declines to investigate Guzman, I, 118;
+      temporary Governor, 119;
+      tremendous indictment of Guzman, 120;
+      retires after good work, 121;
+      clash with Bishop Ramirez, 124.
+
+    Valdes, historian, quoted, II, 175.
+
+    Valdes, Gabriel de la Conception, III, 325.
+
+    Valdes, Jeronimo, Bishop, I, 335.
+
+    Valdes, Pedro de, Governor, I, 202, 272;
+      retires, 276.
+
+    Valdes, Geronimo, Governor, II, 364.
+
+    Valdueza, Marquis de, I, 281.
+
+    Valiente, José Pablo, II, 170, 180.
+
+    Valiente, Juan Bautista, Governor of Santiago, II, 180.
+
+    Vallizo, Diego, I, 277.
+
+    Valmaseda, Count, Governor, proclamation against revolution, III,
+      171, 270;
+      recalled for barbarities, 273.
+
+    Van Buren, Martin, on United States and Cuba, II, 331.
+
+    Vandeval, Nicolas C., I, 331, 333.
+
+    Varela, Felix, sketch and portrait, III, 320;
+      works, 321.
+
+    Varnhagen, F. A. de, quoted, I, 2.
+
+    Varona, Bernabe de, sketch and portrait, III, 178.
+
+    Varona, José Enrique, Secretary of Treasury, IV, 159;
+      Vice President, 312;
+      biography, 316;
+      portrait, facing 316.
+
+    Varona, Pepe Jerez, chief of secret service, IV, 268.
+
+    Vasquez, Juan, I, 330.
+
+    Vedado, view in, IV, 176.
+
+    Vega, Pedro Guerra de la, I, 243;
+      asks fugitives to aid in defence against Drake, 248.
+
+    Velasco, Francisco de Aguero, II, 345.
+
+    Velasco, Luis Vicente, defender of Morro against British, II, 58;
+      signal valor, 61;
+      death, 67.
+
+    Velasquez, Antonio, errand to Spain, I, 77
+
+    Velasquez, Bernardino, I, 115.
+
+    Velasquez, Diego, first Governor of Cuba, I, 59;
+      portrait, 59;
+      colonizes Cuba, 60;
+      hostilities with natives, 61, explores the island, 67;
+      marriage and bereavement, 68;
+      founds various towns, 68;
+      begins Cuban commerce, 68;
+      organizes government, 69;
+      favored by King Ferdinand, 73;
+      appointed Adelantado, 74;
+      seeks to rule Yucatan and Mexico, 85;
+      recalls Grijalva, 88;
+      quarrels with Cortez, 91;
+      sends Cortez to explore Mexico, 92, 94;
+      seeks to intercept and recall Cortez, 97;
+      sends Narvaez to Mexico, 98;
+      removed from office by Diego Columbus, 100;
+      restored by King, 102;
+      death and epitaph, 103;
+      posthumous arraignment by Altamarino, 107;
+      convicted and condemned, 108.
+
+    Velasquez, Juan Montano, Governor, I, 293.
+
+    Velez Garcia, Secretary of State, IV, 297.
+
+    Velez y Herrera, Ramon, III, 324.
+
+    Venegas, Francisco, Governor, I, 278.
+
+    Vernon, Edward, Admiral, expedition to Darien, II 27;
+      Invasion of Cuba, 29.
+
+    Viamonte, Bitrian, Governor, I, 286.
+
+    Viana y Hinojosa, Diego de, Governor, I, 317.
+
+    Victory loan, Cuban subscriptions to, IV, 353.
+
+    Villa Clara, founded, I, 321.
+
+    Villafana, attempts to assassinate Cortez, I, 99.
+
+    Villafana, Angelo de, Governor of Florida, controversy with
+      Mazariegos, I, 196.
+
+    Villalba y Toledo, Diego de, Governor, I, 290.
+
+    Villalobos, Governor, feud with Roa, I, 323.
+
+    Villalon, José Ramon, in Cuban Junta, IV, 13;
+      Secretary of Public Works, 160, 330.
+
+    Villalon Park, scene in, IV, 247.
+
+    Villanueva, Count de, II, 342.
+
+    Villapando, Bernardino de, Bishop, I, 225.
+
+    Villarin, Pedro Alvarez de, Governor, I, 333.
+
+    Villaverde, Cirillo, III, 327.
+
+    Villaverde, Juan de, Governor of Santiago, I, 276.
+
+    Villegas, Diaz de, Secretary of Treasury, IV, 297;
+      resigns, 302.
+
+    Villuendas, Enrique, in Constitutional Convention, IV, 188;
+      secretary, 189.
+
+    Virginius, capture of, III, 277;
+      butchery of officers and crew, 278 et seq.;
+      British intervention, 280;
+      list of passengers, 281;
+      diplomatic negotiations over, 283.
+
+    Vives, Francisco, Governor, II, 317;
+      despotism, 317;
+      expedition against Mexico, 346.
+
+    Viyuri, Luis, II, 197.
+
+    Volunteers, organized, III, 152;
+      murder Arango, 188;
+      have Dulce recalled, 213;
+      cause murder of Zenea, 252;
+      increased activities, 260;
+      murder of students, 261.
+
+
+    War of Independence, IV, i, 8;
+      circumstances of beginning, 9;
+      finances, 14;
+      Republic of Cuba proclaimed, 15;
+      attitude of Cuban people, 22;
+      actual outbreak, 29;
+      martial law proclaimed, 30;
+      Spanish forces in Cuba, 31;
+      arrival and policy of Martinez Campos, 38;
+      Gomez and Maceo begin great campaign, 53;
+      Spanish defeated, and reenforced, 55;
+      campaign of devastation, 60;
+      entire island involved, 61;
+      fall of Campos, 63;
+      Weyler in command, 66;
+      destruction by both sides, 68;
+      losses, 90;
+      entry of United States, 107;
+      attitude of Cubans toward American intervention, 108;
+      end of war, 116.
+
+    Watling's Island. See GUANAHANI.
+
+    Wax, development of Industry, II, 132.
+
+    Webster, Daniel, negotiations with Spain, III, 126.
+
+    Weyler y Nicolau, Valeriano, Governor, IV, 65;
+      portrait, 66;
+      harsh decree, 66;
+      conquers Pinar del Rio. 83;
+      "concentration" policy, 85;
+      recalled, 88.
+
+    Wheeler, Gen. Joseph, at Santiago, IV, 113, 115.
+
+    White, Col. G. W., with Lopez, III, 40.
+
+    Whitney, Henry, messenger to Gomez, IV, 107.
+
+    Williams, Ramon O., United States consul at Havana, IV, 32;
+      acts in behalf of Americans in Cuba, 72;
+      opposes sending _Maine_ to Havana, 100.
+
+    Wittemeyer, Major, reports on Gomez revolution to Washington
+      government, IV, 336;
+      offers President Menocal aid of United States, 337.
+
+    Wood, General Leonard, at San Juan Hill, IV, 113;
+      Military Governor of Santiago, 135;
+      his previous career, 140;
+      unique responsibility and power, 141;
+      dealing with pestilence, 142;
+      organizes Rural Guards, 144;
+      portrait, facing 158;
+      Military Governor of Cuba, 158;
+      well received by Cubans, 158;
+      estimate of _La Lucha_, 158;
+      his Cabinet, 159;
+      comments on his appointments, 160;
+      reorganization of school system, 161;
+      promotes public works, 166;
+      Dady contract dispute, 171;
+      applies Finlay's yellow fever theory with great success, 171;
+      reform of jurisprudence, 177;
+      organizes Provincial governments, 179;
+      holds municipal elections, 180;
+      promulgates election law, 181;
+      calls Constitutional Convention, 185;
+      calls for general election, 240;
+      his comments on election, 245;
+      announces end of American occupation, 246;
+      surrenders government of Cuba to
+      Cubans, 249;
+      President Roosevelt's estimate of his work, 251;
+      view of one of his mountain roads, facing 358.
+
+    Woodford, Stewart L., United States Minister to Spain, IV, 103;
+      presents ultimatum and departs, 106.
+
+
+    Xagua, Gulf of, I, 21.
+
+    Ximenes, Cardinal and Regent, gives Las Casas hearing on Cuba, I, 77.
+
+
+    Yanez, Adolfo Saenz, Secretary of Agriculture and Public Works,
+      IV, 146.
+
+    Yellow Fever, first invasion, II, 51;
+      Dr. Finlay's theory applied by General Wood, IV, 171;
+      disease eliminated from island, 176.
+
+    Yero, Eduardo, Secretary of Public Instruction, IV, 254.
+
+    Ynestrosa, Juan de, I, 207.
+
+    Yniguez, Bernardino, I, 111.
+
+    Yucatan, islands source of slave trade, I, 83;
+      explored by Cordova, 84.
+
+    Yznaga, Jose Sanchez, III, 37.
+
+
+    Zaldo, Carlos, Secretary of State, IV, 254.
+
+    Zambrana, Ramon, III, 328.
+
+    Zanjon, Treaty of, III, 299.
+
+    Zapata, Peninsula of, visited by Columbus, I, 22.
+
+    Zarraga, Julian, filibuster, IV, 70.
+
+    Zayas, Alfredo, secretary of Constitutional Convention, IV, 189;
+      compact with José Miguel Gomez, 265;
+      spokesman of revolutionists against President Palma, 277;
+      elected Vice President, 290;
+      becomes Vice President, 297;
+      sketch and portrait, 300;
+      quarrel with Gomez, 306;
+      candidate for President, 328;
+      hints at revolution, 330.
+
+    Zayas, Francisco, Lieutenant Governor, I, 205;
+      resigns, 206.
+
+    Zayas, Francisco, in Autonomist Cabinet, IV, 95.
+
+    Zayas, Juan B., killed in battle, IV, 78.
+
+    Zayas, Lincoln de, in Cuban Junta, IV, 12;
+      Superintendent of Schools, 162.
+
+    Zenea, Juan Clemente, sketch and portrait, III, 252;
+      murdered, 253;
+      his works, 332.
+
+    Zequiera y Arango, Manuel, II, 274.
+
+    Zipangu. See CIPANOO.
+
+    Zuazo, Alfonso de, appointed second Governor of Cuba, I, 100;
+      dismissed by King, 102.
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+End of the Project Gutenberg EBook of The History of Cuba, vol. 2, by 
+Willis Fletcher Johnson
+
+*** END OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK THE HISTORY OF CUBA, VOL. 2 ***
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+  <head>
+<meta http-equiv="Content-Type" content="text/html;charset=iso-8859-1" />
+<title>
+  The Project Gutenberg eBook of The History Of Cuba, vol. 2, by Willis Fletcher Johnson.
+</title>
+
+<style type="text/css">
+ p {margin-top:.2em;text-align:justify;margin-bottom:.2em;text-indent:2%;}
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+
+
+<pre>
+
+Project Gutenberg's The History of Cuba, vol. 2, by Willis Fletcher Johnson
+
+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: The History of Cuba, vol. 2
+
+Author: Willis Fletcher Johnson
+
+Release Date: October 9, 2011 [EBook #37676]
+
+Language: English
+
+Character set encoding: ISO-8859-1
+
+*** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK THE HISTORY OF CUBA, VOL. 2 ***
+
+
+
+
+Produced by Chuck Greif, Broward County Library and the
+Online Distributed Proofreading Team at http://www.pgdp.net
+
+
+
+
+
+
+</pre>
+
+
+<table border="1" cellpadding="5" cellspacing="0" summary="note"
+style="background-color:#DEE6C9;max-width:90%;font-size:85%;">
+<tr><td>Etext transcriber's note:
+
+<p>Many of the images may be seen at an enlarged size by clicking on them.</p>
+
+<p>Obvious typographical errors have been corrected; the original
+orthography, including variation in the spelling of names, has been
+retained.</p>
+
+<p>The Index included at the end of this etext (which includes volumes 1 thru 4) appears at the end
+of volume four of <i>The History of Cuba</i>. It is provided here for the convenience
+of the reader.</p></td></tr>
+</table>
+
+<hr class="full" />
+
+<p class="figcenter"><a name="front" id="front"></a>
+<a href="images/arango_lg.jpg">
+<img src="images/arango_sml.jpg" width="361" height="550" alt="FRANCISCO DE ARANGO" title="FRANCISCO DE ARANGO" /></a>
+</p>
+
+<div class="blockill"><p class="c">FRANCISCO DE ARANGO</p>
+
+<p>One of the noblest names in Cuban history of a century and more ago is
+that of Francisco de Arango y Parreño, advocate, economist and
+statesman. He came of a family of noble lineage, and was born in Havana
+on May 22, 1765. Among the great men of his day in Cuba, who were many,
+he was one of the foremost, as the detailed story of his labors and
+achievements in the chapters of this History abundantly attests. He
+worked for the reform of the economic system of the island, for the
+development of agriculture on an enlightened basis, for the extension of
+popular education, and for the promotion of commerce. He urged upon King
+Charles III plans for averting the evil influences of the French
+Revolution, while securing the good results; and he set an example in
+educational matters by himself founding an important school. Recognized
+and honored the world over for his character, talents and achievements,
+he died on March 21, 1837.</p></div>
+
+<h1 class="red">THE<br />
+HISTORY OF CUBA</h1>
+
+<p class="cb"><small>BY</small><br />
+WILLIS FLETCHER JOHNSON<br />
+<small>A.M., L.H.D.<br />
+Author of "A Century of Expansion," "Four Centuries of<br />
+the Panama Canal," "America's Foreign Relations"<br />
+Honorary Professor of the History of American Foreign<br />
+Relations in New York University</small></p>
+
+<p>
+<br />
+<br />
+</p>
+
+<p class="cb"><i>WITH ILLUSTRATIONS</i><br />
+<br /><br />
+V<small>OLUME</small> T<small>WO</small></p>
+
+<p>
+<br />
+<br />
+</p>
+
+<p class="figcenter">
+<a href="images/colophon_lg.jpg">
+<img src="images/colophon.jpg" width="200" height="112" alt="colophon" title="colophon" /></a>
+</p>
+
+<p class="cb">NEW YORK<br />
+<span class="red">B. F. BUCK &amp; COMPANY, Inc.</span><br />
+156 F<small>IFTH</small> A<small>VENUE</small><br />
+1920</p>
+
+<p>
+<br />
+<br />
+</p>
+
+<p class="c">
+<small>Copyright, 1920,<br />
+<span class="smcap">By CENTURY HISTORY CO.</span><br />
+&mdash;&mdash;&mdash;<br />
+<i>All rights reserved</i></small></p>
+
+<p>
+<br />
+<br />
+</p>
+
+<p class="cb"><small>ENTERED AT STATIONERS HALL<br />LONDON, ENGLAND.</small></p>
+
+<p class="cb"><small>PRINTED IN U. S. A.</small></p>
+
+<h3><a name="CONTENTS" id="CONTENTS"></a>CONTENTS</h3>
+
+<table border="0" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" summary="CONTENTS"
+style="width:80%;">
+
+<tr><td>&nbsp;</td><td>&nbsp;</td><td align="right"><small>PAGE</small></td></tr>
+
+<tr class="sml90"><td><a href="#CHAPTER_I">C<small>HAPTER</small>&nbsp;I&mdash;</a></td><td align="right"><a href="#page_001">1</a></td></tr>
+
+<tr><td>&nbsp;</td><td class="sml90">Entering a New Era&mdash;The Freedom of the Seas&mdash;Progress of the
+Slave Trade&mdash;Clandestine Commercial Operations and Political
+Intrigues&mdash;The Genius of Governor Guazo&mdash;Attacking the<br  />
+British and French&mdash;Close of a Notable Administration&mdash;Shipyards
+at Havana&mdash;Havana Threatened by the British&mdash;Rivalries
+in Cuban Politics&mdash;Foundation of the University of Cuba&mdash;Change
+in Land Tenure&mdash;Copper Mining&mdash;Insurrections of the
+Slaves&mdash;Glimpses of Social Life in Cuba.</td><td>&nbsp;</td></tr>
+
+<tr class="sml90"><td><a href="#CHAPTER_II">C<small>HAPTER</small>&nbsp;II&mdash;</a></td><td align="right"><a href="#page_018">18</a></td></tr>
+
+<tr><td>&nbsp;</td><td class="sml90">The Administration of Guemez&mdash;Introduction of Reforms&mdash;Sanitation&mdash;Economic
+and Fiscal Reforms&mdash;Monopolies in Trade&mdash;Further
+Fortifications&mdash;Controversies Over the Slave Trade&mdash;Disputes
+with Great Britain&mdash;Declaration of War&mdash;Conflicts in
+Florida&mdash;Two British Expeditions&mdash;Admiral Vernon in the West
+Indies&mdash;Attack upon Santiago&mdash;The War in Florida&mdash;Governorship
+of Cagigal&mdash;Peace of Aix-la-Chapelle&mdash;Accession of Charles III&mdash;British
+Plans for the Conquest of Spanish America&mdash;Some
+Interesting Literature.</td><td>&nbsp;</td></tr>
+
+<tr class="sml90"><td><a href="#CHAPTER_III">C<small>HAPTER</small>&nbsp;III&mdash;</a></td><td align="right"><a href="#page_041">41</a></td></tr>
+
+<tr><td>&nbsp;</td><td class="sml90">Some European Alliances&mdash;A Period of Peace for Spain&mdash;Reasons
+for the British Attacks upon Cuba&mdash;The Family Pact Between
+France and Spain&mdash;Spain's Break with Great Britain&mdash;Declaration
+of War by George III&mdash;Havana Chosen as the Point
+of Attack&mdash;The Albemarle-Pococke Expedition&mdash;Preparations at
+Martinique&mdash;The Advance upon Havana.</td><td>&nbsp;</td></tr>
+
+<tr class="sml90"><td><a href="#CHAPTER_IV">C<small>HAPTER</small>&nbsp;IV&mdash;</a></td><td align="right"><a href="#page_053">53</a></td></tr>
+
+<tr><td>&nbsp;</td><td class="sml90">First Appearance of Yellow Fever in Cuba&mdash;Preparations to Resist
+the British Attack&mdash;Divided Counsels&mdash;Arrival of the British
+Fleet&mdash;Consternation of the Inhabitants&mdash;Velasco Chosen
+as Commander of the Defense of Havana&mdash;Beginning of the Attack&mdash;Heroism
+of the Spanish Commander&mdash;British Accounts of
+the Fighting&mdash;Raids and Counter-Raids&mdash;British Reinforcements
+from the American Colonies&mdash;British Tributes to Spanish Valor&mdash;Surrender
+of the City&mdash;The Articles of Capitulation.</td><td>&nbsp;</td></tr>
+
+<tr class="sml90"><td><a href="#CHAPTER_V">C<small>HAPTER</small>&nbsp;V&mdash;</a></td><td align="right"><a href="#page_080">80</a></td></tr>
+
+<tr><td>&nbsp;</td><td class="sml90">British Occupation of Havana&mdash;Attitude of the Cubans Toward
+the British Conquerors&mdash;Departure of the Spanish Forces&mdash;British
+Views of the Conquest of Cuba&mdash;A Controversy Over
+Church Bells&mdash;Difficulties with the Spanish Clergy&mdash;Character of
+Lord Albemarle's Administration&mdash;Troubles Over Taxation&mdash;Plots
+Against British Rule&mdash;Corruption in Colonial Government&mdash;Political
+Disturbances in England&mdash;The Making of Peace&mdash;Restoration
+of Cuba to Spain.</td><td>&nbsp;</td></tr>
+
+<tr class="sml90"><td><a href="#CHAPTER_VI">C<small>HAPTER</small>&nbsp;VI&mdash;</a></td><td align="right"><a href="#page_096">96</a></td></tr>
+
+<tr><td>&nbsp;</td><td class="sml90">Far-Reaching Effects of British Rule in Cuba&mdash;A French Picture
+of Life in Havana&mdash;A British Tribute to the City&mdash;Character
+of the People&mdash;Economic Changes in the Island&mdash;The Commerce
+of Havana&mdash;Defenses of the City&mdash;Not an Impregnable
+Fortress.</td><td>&nbsp;</td></tr>
+
+<tr class="sml90"><td><a href="#CHAPTER_VII">C<small>HAPTER</small>&nbsp;VII&mdash;</a></td><td align="right"><a href="#page_104">104</a></td></tr>
+
+<tr><td>&nbsp;</td><td class="sml90">Departure of the British and Re-entry of the Spanish&mdash;The
+New Spanish Governor&mdash;Antagonisms Between British and Spanish&mdash;A
+Period of Reconstruction&mdash;Reclassification of Revenues&mdash;Military
+Reorganization of Havana&mdash;New Provincial Administration&mdash;Establishment
+of a Mail Service&mdash;End of a Noteworthy
+Administration&mdash;Reform in Police Regulations&mdash;Expulsion of
+Religious Orders&mdash;Suppressing Contraband Trading&mdash;Destruction
+by Earthquakes&mdash;A Disastrous Hurricane&mdash;An Administration
+Void of Complaints.</td><td>&nbsp;</td></tr>
+
+<tr class="sml90"><td><a href="#CHAPTER_VIII">C<small>HAPTER</small>&nbsp;VIII&mdash;</a></td><td align="right"><a href="#page_119">119</a></td></tr>
+
+<tr><td>&nbsp;</td><td class="sml90">An Era of Peace in Cuba&mdash;Tribulations in Spanish Louisiana&mdash;Spain
+Still Lagging Behind Other Colonial Powers&mdash;Fear of a
+Republic&mdash;O'Reilly's Expedition from Cuba to Louisiana&mdash;His
+Success&mdash;Effects of His Severity&mdash;The Tragic Prelude to Spanish
+Rule&mdash;Louisiana an Appanage of Cuba.</td><td>&nbsp;</td></tr>
+
+<tr class="sml90"><td><a href="#CHAPTER_IX">C<small>HAPTER</small>&nbsp;IX&mdash;</a></td><td align="right"><a href="#page_129">129</a></td></tr>
+
+<tr><td>&nbsp;</td><td class="sml90">Administration of the Marquis de la Torre&mdash;One of Cuba's Best
+Governors&mdash;Cleansing and Paving the Streets of Havana&mdash;New
+Public Buildings&mdash;Harbor Improvements&mdash;The First Theatre&mdash;Trinidad,
+Santiago and Puerto Principe also Renovated&mdash;Founding
+of Pinar del Rio and Other Towns&mdash;Reforms in Government&mdash;Havana
+a Beautiful and Prosperous City&mdash;Turgot's Warning
+to Spain Unheeded&mdash;Interest in the North American Revolution&mdash;Tariff
+Reform&mdash;The Currency&mdash;Jurisprudence.</td><td>&nbsp;</td></tr>
+
+<tr class="sml90"><td><a href="#CHAPTER_X">C<small>HAPTER</small>&nbsp;X&mdash;</a></td><td align="right"><a href="#page_145">145</a></td></tr>
+
+<tr><td>&nbsp;</td><td class="sml90">Rise of the United States&mdash;Spanish Interests Involved&mdash;Negotiations
+Over Florida&mdash;Alliance Between France and Spain&mdash;Cuba's
+Intense Interest in the War Against Great Britain&mdash;Disaster
+to an Expedition from Havana&mdash;Operations at Mobile&mdash;Cuban
+Reconquest of Pensacola and Florida&mdash;An Early Prohibition
+Decree.</td><td>&nbsp;</td></tr>
+
+<tr class="sml90"><td><a href="#CHAPTER_XI">C<small>HAPTER</small>&nbsp;XI&mdash;</a></td><td align="right"><a href="#page_153">153</a></td></tr>
+
+<tr><td>&nbsp;</td><td class="sml90">An Ill-Managed Armada&mdash;Neutrality Violated in Warfare upon
+Commerce&mdash;An Orgy of Privateering&mdash;Rodney's Exploits&mdash;Cagigal's
+Expedition to the Bahamas&mdash;Rodney's Menace to Havana&mdash;The
+First Newspaper in Havana&mdash;Negotiating for General
+Peace&mdash;Spanish Chagrin at American Independence&mdash;More
+Liberal Trade Laws for Cuba&mdash;Insurrection in Peru&mdash;Peace and
+Prosperity in Cuba&mdash;Wasteful Forestry&mdash;Visit of an English
+Prince&mdash;Improvements and Reforms in Havana&mdash;Foundation of
+the Sociedad de Amigos&mdash;Reign of Charles IV&mdash;Godoy, "Prince
+of the Peace"&mdash;Ecclesiastical Changes in Cuba&mdash;Economic Ills&mdash;Administration
+of Las Casas&mdash;A New Census&mdash;Disastrous Hurricane&mdash;The
+Society of Progress&mdash;Advance in Commerce, Agriculture,
+Literature and Education&mdash;Work of Francisco de Arango&mdash;The
+Tomb of Columbus.</td><td>&nbsp;</td></tr>
+
+<tr class="sml90"><td><a href="#CHAPTER_XII">C<small>HAPTER</small>&nbsp;XII&mdash;</a></td><td align="right"><a href="#page_186">186</a></td></tr>
+
+<tr><td>&nbsp;</td><td class="sml90">Influence of the French Revolution in Spain&mdash;Toussaint Louverture&mdash;Cession
+of Santo Domingo to France&mdash;The Peace of
+Basle&mdash;Panic and Chaos in Spain&mdash;Advantages Gained by Cuba&mdash;A
+Civic Awakening in the Island&mdash;Dr. Romay's Introduction
+of Vaccination&mdash;Defense Against the Slave Revolt of Santo
+Domingo&mdash;The Work of Santa Clara&mdash;British Capture of Trinidad&mdash;Fears
+for the Safety of Cuba&mdash;Administration of Someruelos&mdash;Founding
+of the Intendencia&mdash;Expansion of Commerce&mdash;The
+Slave Trade&mdash;Extent and Conditions of Slavery&mdash;Rise of
+the Emancipation Movement&mdash;Importance of Negro Labor to
+Cuba.</td><td>&nbsp;</td></tr>
+
+<tr class="sml90"><td><a href="#CHAPTER_XIII">C<small>HAPTER</small>&nbsp;XIII&mdash;</a></td><td align="right"><a href="#page_215">215</a></td></tr>
+
+<tr><td>&nbsp;</td><td class="sml90">The Land Problem in Cuba&mdash;Lands Withheld from the Real
+Workers&mdash;Indolence Induced by Lack of Opportunity&mdash;Manners
+and Customs of the Cuban People at the End of the
+Eighteenth Century&mdash;Lawyers and Land Titles&mdash;Prices of Land&mdash;Live
+Stock, Sugar and Tobacco&mdash;Primitive Sugar Factories&mdash;Progress
+of Agriculture&mdash;Obstacles to Economic Progress&mdash;Restrictions
+upon Commerce and Travel.</td><td>&nbsp;</td></tr>
+
+<tr class="sml90"><td><a href="#CHAPTER_XIV">C<small>HAPTER</small>&nbsp;XIV&mdash;</a></td><td align="right"><a href="#page_231">231</a></td></tr>
+
+<tr><td>&nbsp;</td><td class="sml90">Conditions Accompanying the Rise of Wealth&mdash;Strange Mixture
+of Immorality and Religion&mdash;Seclusion of Cuban Women&mdash;Amusements
+and Entertainments&mdash;The Bull Ring&mdash;The Cock
+Pit&mdash;The Beginning of Literary Activity and Intellectual Life&mdash;The
+Drama in Cuba&mdash;Musical Culture&mdash;Dancing&mdash;Architecture&mdash;Home
+Life&mdash;Backward State of Education&mdash;Printing and
+Publishing&mdash;Suggestive Articles in the Press&mdash;The Beginning of
+Cuban Literature.</td><td>&nbsp;</td></tr>
+
+<tr class="sml90"><td><a href="#CHAPTER_XV">C<small>HAPTER</small>&nbsp;XV&mdash;</a></td><td align="right"><a href="#page_256">256</a></td></tr>
+
+<tr><td>&nbsp;</td><td class="sml90">Rise of Relations Between Cuba and the United States&mdash;Early
+Interest of the United States in Cuba&mdash;Action of Congress
+in 1811&mdash;"The Ever Faithful Isle"&mdash;First Overtures for Annexation&mdash;George
+Canning and British Policy Toward Cuba&mdash;Policy
+of John Quincy Adams&mdash;Utterances of Jefferson and Clay&mdash;American
+Attitude Toward British and French Designs&mdash;Mexico
+and Colombia Restrained from Conquest.</td><td>&nbsp;</td></tr>
+
+<tr class="sml90"><td><a href="#CHAPTER_XVI">C<small>HAPTER</small>&nbsp;XVI&mdash;</a></td><td align="right"><a href="#page_267">267</a></td></tr>
+
+<tr><td>&nbsp;</td><td class="sml90">Spain in Her Decline&mdash;The Napoleonic Wars&mdash;The Constitution
+of 1812&mdash;Revolt of Spain's South and Central American
+Colonies&mdash;Cuba the "Ever Faithful Isle"&mdash;Reasons for Her Loyalty
+to Spain&mdash;Origin of the Cuban Spirit of Independence&mdash;An
+Age of Intellectual Activity&mdash;The Rise of Cuban Literature and
+Scholarship&mdash;Refugees in Cuba.</td><td>&nbsp;</td></tr>
+
+<tr class="sml90"><td><a href="#CHAPTER_XVII">C<small>HAPTER</small>&nbsp;XVII&mdash;</a></td><td align="right"><a href="#page_278">278</a></td></tr>
+
+<tr><td>&nbsp;</td><td class="sml90">The First Cuban Census&mdash;The Second Census and Humboldt's
+Comments Thereon&mdash;Distribution of the Population by Races&mdash;Effects
+of the Slave Trade on Population&mdash;The Census of 1817&mdash;Subsequent
+Enumerations&mdash;Discrepancies in Statistics&mdash;Character
+of the Negroes of Cuba&mdash;The Birth Rate.</td><td>&nbsp;</td></tr>
+
+<tr class="sml90"><td><a href="#CHAPTER_XVIII">C<small>HAPTER</small>&nbsp;XVIII&mdash;</a></td><td align="right"><a href="#page_290">290</a></td></tr>
+
+<tr><td>&nbsp;</td><td class="sml90">Early Records of the Slave Trade&mdash;Participation by the Portuguese,
+French and British&mdash;Statistics of Slave Importations&mdash;Illegality
+No Bar&mdash;Relations Between Masters and Slaves&mdash;Efforts
+to Ameliorate the Conditions of Slaves&mdash;Introduction of
+Chinese Labor&mdash;Free Negroes&mdash;Religious Training of Slaves&mdash;Punishments
+of Slaves&mdash;Fear of Servile Insurrections.</td><td>&nbsp;</td></tr>
+
+<tr class="sml90"><td><a href="#CHAPTER_XIX">C<small>HAPTER</small>&nbsp;XIX&mdash;</a></td><td align="right"><a href="#page_302">302</a></td></tr>
+
+<tr><td>&nbsp;</td><td class="sml90">The Administration of Santa Clara&mdash;Someruelos&mdash;Great Fire
+in Havana&mdash;Architectural Progress&mdash;Fear of Invasion&mdash;A French
+Fiasco&mdash;Hostility to Napoleon&mdash;Loyalty to an Unworthy King&mdash;Napoleon's
+Designs upon Cuba&mdash;The Aleman Episode&mdash;Arango
+and the Chamber of Commerce&mdash;Conflict with Godoy&mdash;Arango in
+the Cortes&mdash;Arbitrary Administration of Cienfuegos&mdash;Opposition
+to Street Lighting&mdash;Political Changes&mdash;Cagigal's Diplomatic Administration&mdash;Mahy
+the Reactionary.</td><td>&nbsp;</td></tr>
+
+<tr class="sml90"><td><a href="#CHAPTER_XX">C<small>HAPTER</small>&nbsp;XX&mdash;</a></td><td align="right"><a href="#page_319">319</a></td></tr>
+
+<tr><td>&nbsp;</td><td class="sml90">Good and Bad Deeds of Vives&mdash;A Royal Decree that Proved
+a Boomerang&mdash;Dangers of the Slave Trade Perceived&mdash;Apprehension
+of Intervention by Other Powers&mdash;A Subtle Appeal for
+Patriotic Organization&mdash;Progress of the Spirit of Independence.</td><td>&nbsp;</td></tr>
+
+<tr class="sml90"><td><a href="#CHAPTER_XXI">C<small>HAPTER</small>&nbsp;XXI&mdash;</a></td><td align="right"><a href="#page_328">328</a></td></tr>
+
+<tr><td>&nbsp;</td><td class="sml90">British Designs upon Cuba&mdash;Cuban Negotiations with the
+United States&mdash;The Mission of Morales&mdash;Annexation Sentiment&mdash;Attitude
+of the United States Government&mdash;Issuance of the Monroe
+Doctrine&mdash;Its Effect in Europe and America&mdash;United States
+Consuls to Cuba Rejected&mdash;Cuba Offered to England in Pawn&mdash;American
+Objections to the Scheme&mdash;Increase of American Interest
+in Cuba.</td><td>&nbsp;</td></tr>
+
+<tr class="sml90"><td><a href="#CHAPTER_XXII">C<small>HAPTER</small>&nbsp;XXII&mdash;</a></td><td align="right"><a href="#page_335">335</a></td></tr>
+
+<tr><td>&nbsp;</td><td class="sml90">An Era of Revolution&mdash;Career of Simon Bolivar&mdash;His Observation
+of the French Revolution&mdash;Liberation of Venezuela&mdash;Miranda
+and His Work&mdash;Bolivar in Exile&mdash;Final Success of the Liberator&mdash;Influence
+of His Career upon Cuba.</td><td>&nbsp;</td></tr>
+
+<tr class="sml90"><td><a href="#CHAPTER_XXIII">C<small>HAPTER</small>&nbsp;XXIII&mdash;</a></td><td align="right"><a href="#page_343">343</a></td></tr>
+
+<tr><td>&nbsp;</td><td class="sml90">The "Soles de Bolivar" in Cuba&mdash;Administration of Villanueva&mdash;Oppression
+of the People&mdash;Vain Attempts to Suppress Patriotic
+Societies&mdash;Conspiracies for Freedom&mdash;Early Martyrs to
+Patriotism&mdash;The Black Eagle&mdash;Trouble with Mexico&mdash;The
+Tyranny of Tacon&mdash;His Conflict with Lorenzo&mdash;Victims of Spanish
+Despotism&mdash;Cuban Deputies Excluded from the Cortes&mdash;Manipulation
+of the Police&mdash;Propaganda of Freedom by Cubans
+in Exile&mdash;Tacon's Public Works&mdash;Dealing with Pirates and
+Smugglers&mdash;Origin of the Havana Fish Market&mdash;Tacon as the
+Champion of Virtue in Distress&mdash;End of a Bad Reign.</td><td>&nbsp;</td></tr>
+
+<tr class="sml90"><td><a href="#CHAPTER_XXIV">C<small>HAPTER</small>&nbsp;XXIV&mdash;</a></td><td align="right"><a href="#page_366">366</a></td></tr>
+
+<tr><td>&nbsp;</td><td class="sml90">Beginning of Slave Insurrections&mdash;David Turnbull's Pernicious
+Activities&mdash;O'Donnell the Despot&mdash;Roncali the Ridiculous&mdash;Causes
+of Slave Unrest&mdash;Story of One Uprising&mdash;Vacillating
+Course of the Government&mdash;Systematic Propaganda Among the
+Slaves&mdash;Some Serious Outbreaks&mdash;Savage Methods of Repression&mdash;A
+Reign of Torture and Slaughter&mdash;White Victims as Well as
+Black&mdash;An Appalling Record&mdash;Saco's Advocacy of Independence&mdash;Some
+Advocates of Annexation to the United States&mdash;Spain's
+Determination to Hold Cuba Fast.</td><td>&nbsp;</td></tr>
+
+<tr class="sml90"><td><a href="#CHAPTER_XXV">C<small>HAPTER</small>&nbsp;XXV&mdash;</a></td><td align="right"><a href="#page_385">385</a></td></tr>
+
+<tr><td>&nbsp;</td><td class="sml90">Review of an Era in Cuban History&mdash;Progress in Inverse Order
+from International to National Interests&mdash;Alienation from Spain&mdash;Contrasts
+Between Cuba and Other Colonies, Spanish and English&mdash;Unconscious
+Preparation for Independent Statehood&mdash;Cuban
+Interest in the World and the World's Interest in Cuba&mdash;On the
+Verge of a New Era&mdash;The Promise of Cuban Nationality.</td><td>&nbsp;</td></tr>
+
+<tr><td colspan="3"><a href="#INDEX">Index to volumes 1 thru 4</a></td></tr>
+</table>
+
+<h3><a name="ILLUSTRATIONS" id="ILLUSTRATIONS"></a>ILLUSTRATIONS</h3>
+
+<table border="0" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" summary="">
+
+<tr><td colspan="2" align="center">FULL PAGE PLATES:</td></tr>
+
+<tr><td>Francisco de Arango</td><td><a href="#front"><i>Frontispiece</i></a></td></tr>
+
+<tr><td>&nbsp;</td><td align="right"><small>FACING<br />
+PAGE</small></td></tr>
+
+<tr><td>Laurel Ditch, Cabanas Fortress</td><td align="right"><a href="#page_058">58</a></td></tr>
+
+<tr><td>Havana, from Cabanas</td><td align="right"><a href="#page_096">96</a></td></tr>
+
+<tr><td>In Old Havana</td><td align="right"><a href="#page_130">130</a></td></tr>
+
+<tr><td>Tomas Romay</td><td align="right"><a href="#page_192">192</a></td></tr>
+
+<tr><td>Juan José Diaz Espada</td><td align="right"><a href="#page_272">272</a></td></tr>
+
+<tr><td>José Antonio Saco</td><td align="right"><a href="#page_378">378</a></td></tr>
+<tr><td colspan="2">&nbsp;</td></tr>
+
+<tr><td colspan="2" align="center">TEXT EMBELLISHMENTS:</td></tr>
+<tr><td>&nbsp;</td><td align="right"><small>PAGE</small></td></tr>
+<tr><td>Old Espada Cemetery, Havana</td><td align="right"><a href="#page_052">52</a></td></tr>
+
+<tr><td>Atares Fortress, 1763</td><td align="right"><a href="#page_103">103</a></td></tr>
+
+<tr><td>Don Luis de las Casas</td><td align="right"><a href="#page_175">175</a></td></tr>
+
+<tr><td>A Volante, Old-Time Pleasure Carriage</td><td align="right"><a href="#page_238">238</a></td></tr>
+
+<tr><td>Monserrate Gate, Havana</td><td align="right"><a href="#page_244">244</a></td></tr>
+
+<tr><td>George Canning</td><td align="right"><a href="#page_258">258</a></td></tr>
+
+<tr><td>John Quincy Adams</td><td align="right"><a href="#page_259">259</a></td></tr>
+
+<tr><td>Alejandro Ramirez</td><td align="right"><a href="#page_311">311</a></td></tr>
+
+<tr><td>James Monroe</td><td align="right"><a href="#page_329">329</a></td></tr>
+
+<tr><td>Simon Bolivar</td><td align="right"><a href="#page_334">334</a></td></tr>
+
+<tr><td>Gaspar Betancourt Cisneros</td><td align="right"><a href="#page_380">380</a></td></tr>
+</table>
+
+<p><a name="page_001" id="page_001"></a></p>
+
+<h1>THE HISTORY OF CUBA</h1>
+
+<h3><a name="CHAPTER_I" id="CHAPTER_I"></a>CHAPTER I</h3>
+
+<p>When the Treaty of Utrecht was signed on the eleventh of April, 1713,
+the Spanish colonies in America felt as if they were entering upon a new
+era, an era of peace and unhindered growth and prosperity. They did not
+realize until the first elation over the establishment of peace had
+spent itself, that this treaty contained the seeds of future wars which
+were bound to be quickened by the powerful spirit of commercial rivalry,
+which had been awakened in the European nations and was alarmingly
+dimming the justice and righteousness of their policies. By losing the
+European possessions, the population of Spain had been so seriously
+diminished that it was entirely out of proportion to the area of her
+over-seas dominion. While the Bourbon king had nothing more to fear from
+France, even her pirates having palpably decreased their operations
+against the Spanish colonies in America, he had in England a rival and
+enemy whose power he had reason to dread. For all the maritime and
+commercial agreements of the treaty favored England.</p>
+
+<p>George Bancroft justly characterizes the spirit of the period in the
+second volume of his "History of the United States" when he says
+(Chapter XXXV, p. 388):</p>
+
+<div class="blockquot"><p>"The world had entered on the period of mercantile privilege.
+Instead of establishing equal justice, England sought commercial
+advantages; and, as the mercantile system was identified with the
+colonial system of the great maritime powers of Europe, the
+political interest, which could alone kindle universal war, was to
+be<a name="page_002" id="page_002"></a> sought in the colonies. Hitherto, the colonies were subordinate
+to European politics; henceforth, the question of trade on our
+borders, of territory on our frontier, involved an interest which
+could excite the world to arms. For about two centuries, the wars
+of religion had prevailed; the wars for commercial advantages were
+now prepared. The interests of commerce, under the narrow point of
+view of privilege and of profit, regulated diplomacy, swayed
+legislation, and marshalled revolutions."</p></div>
+
+<p>Concerning the mooted problem of the freedom of the seas, discussed as
+ardently and widely then as at the present time, Bancroft had this to
+say in the same chapter (p. 389):</p>
+
+<div class="blockquot"><p>"To the Tory ministry of Queen Anne belongs the honor of having
+inserted in the treaties of peace a principle which, but for
+England, would in that generation have wanted a vindicator. But
+truth, once elicited, never dies. As it descends through time, it
+may be transmitted from state to state, from monarch to
+commonwealth; but its light is never extinguished, and never
+permitted to fall to the ground. A great truth, if no existing
+nation would assume its guardianship, has power&mdash;such is God's
+providence&mdash;to call a nation into being, and live by the life it
+imparts."</p></div>
+
+<p>The great principle first formulated by the illustrious Dutch historian
+and statesman Hugo Grotius was touched upon in the treaty of Utrecht in
+the passage saying,&mdash;"Free ships shall also give a freedom to goods."
+The meaning of contraband was strictly defined; the right of a nation to
+blockade another's ports was rigorously restricted. As to the rights of
+sailors, they were protected by the flag under which they sailed.</p>
+
+<p>But whatever credit belongs to England for her upholding of this
+principle was obscured by her exploitation of a monopoly, created by a
+special agreement of the same treaty. The "assiento," which established
+that most ignominious traffic in negro slaves, was to have disastrous
+effects, political, economic and racial, upon the American colonies,
+whether British, French or Spanish. The agreement<a name="page_003" id="page_003"></a> had been specially
+demanded by the British representatives and had been approved by Louis
+XIV, who saw in its acceptance not only an advantage for England, but
+justly hoped his own colonies on the Gulf of Mexico to profit by it. It
+was worded simply as follows:</p>
+
+<div class="blockquot"><p>"Her Britannic Majesty did offer and undertake by persons whom she
+shall appoint, to bring into the West Indies of America belonging
+to his Catholic Majesty, in the space of thirty years, one hundred
+and forty-four thousand negroes, at the rate of four thousand eight
+hundred in each of the said thirty years."</p></div>
+
+<p>The duty on four thousand of these negroes was to be thirty-three and a
+third pesos. But the assientists were entitled to introduce besides that
+number as many more as they needed at the minor rate of sixteen and two
+third pesos a head. However, no Frenchman or Spaniard or any individual
+of another nation could import a negro slave into Spanish America.</p>
+
+<p>This trade in human flesh was duly organized and carried on by a stock
+company which promised enormous profits. King Philip V., sorely in need
+of money with which to execute all his plans for the reconstruction of
+his kingdom, anticipated great gains from such an investment and bought
+one quarter of the stock. Queen Anne was the owner of another quarter
+and the remainder was sold among her loyal subjects. Thus the sovereigns
+of these two kingdoms became the leading slave-merchants in the world
+and by the provisions of the agreement "her Britannic Majesty" enjoyed
+the somewhat dubious distinction of being for the Spanish colonies in
+the Gulf of Mexico, on the Atlantic and along the Pacific coasts, the
+exclusive slave-trader.</p>
+
+<p>No trade required as little outlay in capital as the slave-trade.
+Trifles, trinkets and refuse stock of every possible kind of merchandise
+including discarded weapons, were<a name="page_004" id="page_004"></a> exchanged for the human cargoes on
+the African coast; who, crowded into vessels, crossed the seas, and upon
+their arrival in the New World were sold to the colonists who wanted
+cheap labor and a cheaper service. A fever of speculation which had in
+it no little touch of adventure, seemed to sweep over England and to
+delude the people with visions of wealth to be acquired by a conquest of
+the Spanish possessions from Florida south, including Mexico and Peru.
+Wild schemes of colonization promised to open Golcondas on the fields of
+sugar-cane and tobacco, and in the mines holding inestimable treasures
+of gold and silver. For the realization of those plans negro labor was
+needed. Even in the West Indies it was welcomed especially by those
+settlements engaged in the raising of sugar cane.</p>
+
+<p>That the Assiento opened the door to all sorts of clandestine commercial
+operations, as also to insidious political intrigue was soon to become
+evident. Agents of the Assiento had the right to enter any Spanish port
+in America and from there send other agents to inland settlements; they
+had the right to establish warehouses for their supplies, safe against
+search unless proof of fraudulent operations, that is importations, was
+incontestable. They could send every year a ship of five hundred tons
+with a cargo of merchandise to the West Indies and without paying any
+duty sell these goods at the annual fair. On the return trip this ship
+was allowed to carry products of the country, including gold and silver,
+directly to Europe. The assientists urged the American colonies to
+furnish them supplies in small vessels. Now it was known that such
+vessels were particularly favored by the smuggling trade. Hence British
+trade in negro slaves was indirectly used to encourage smuggling and
+thus undermine Spanish commerce.<a name="page_005" id="page_005"></a></p>
+
+<p>To estimate the extent of the smuggling trade directly traceable to the
+loop-holes which the Assiento offered, was impossible. Jamaica, the
+stronghold of British power in the West Indies, and ever a hotbed of
+political and commercial intrigue against the Spanish neighbors, became
+a beehive of smuggling activities. In places formerly used as bases of
+buccaneer operations a lively business was carried on with contraband
+goods. The danger to legitimate commerce in and with the West Indies
+became so great that the Cuban authorities were forced towards the end
+of Governor Guazo's administration to adopt strenuous methods in dealing
+with such offenders. D. Benito Manzano, Andrez Gonzales and other
+mariners and soldiers of experience and known valor were sent out
+against them and made important seizures in this service. The governor
+was authorized to organize cuadrillos (patrols) of custom officers and
+equip custom house cutters that watched for and descended upon all
+vessels found without proper clearance papers or that had failed to
+register their cargoes in conformity to the laws of the island. The
+smugglers were tried and condemned to suffer various penalties, ranging
+from loss of property, hard labor and imprisonment, to death.</p>
+
+<p>Governor Guazo's reorganization of the military forces gave proof of his
+extraordinary foresight and his executive power. He formed a battalion
+of infantry composed of seven companies of one hundred men and besides
+two other companies, one of artillery, the other of light cavalry, which
+was later changed to mounted dragoons. Two more companies of seventy men
+each were added some years later by order of the king. For the lodgment
+of these troops Governor Guazo ordered built the rastrille (gateway of a
+palisade), which became later part of the fortress and the quarters that
+run along the southern part.<a name="page_006" id="page_006"></a></p>
+
+<p>Governor Guazo was a man of action and enterprise, besides being endowed
+with no little military genius. Never once during his administration did
+he lapse into that passive attitude which was in a large degree
+responsible for the slow pace at which the Spanish colonies progressed.
+One of his first aims was to inflict an exemplary punishment upon the
+outlaws of the seas that rendered insecure the coasts of the Spanish
+island colonies, and interfered seriously with commerce in the Gulf of
+Mexico. The militia of Havana had on previous occasions, when called
+into service on the sea, proved its mettle and displayed so much bravery
+and perseverance in the pursuit of its tasks that he had unlimited
+confidence in its ability to do the work he planned. He conferred with
+the governor of Florida, and they agreed upon concerted action against
+the English colony of St. George in the Carolinas. He made it known that
+he intended to dislodge the pirates on the island of the Bahamas called
+New Providence and for some time settled by the British. For that
+purpose he fitted out fourteen light vessels, ten bilanders (small
+one-mast ships, one of them of fourteen pieces), two brigantines
+(two-masted vessels with square sails) and other smaller ships with
+munitions and sufficient stores. Then he gathered a force of one
+thousand volunteers, one hundred veteran soldiers and a few of the
+prominent residents of the city to whom he entrusted the command of some
+of the ships. As head of the expedition he named D. Alfonso Carrascesa,
+a dependable official, and as his assistant D. Esteban Severino de
+Berrea, a native of Havana and the oldest captain of the white militia.</p>
+
+<p>The story of this enterprise as related by Guiteras gives a somewhat
+different version of the struggles between the French and the Spaniards
+for the possession of<a name="page_007" id="page_007"></a> Pensacola as that contained in the preceding
+chapter. According to Guiteras the armada organized in Havana and placed
+under command of Carrascesa sailed on the fourth of July, 1719. But it
+had barely left the harbor, when it sighted two French warships. They
+were coming from Pensacola, which the French had just captured, and had
+on board as prisoners the governor and the whole garrison. Carrascesa
+did not for a moment lose his calm assurance at this unexpected
+intermezzo. He stopped the French when they turned to flee, and they
+were in turn captured. With the rescued Spaniards from Pensacola he
+returned to Havana, considering this easy victory of happy augury for
+the expedition upon which he had set out. But Governor Guazo persuaded
+him that the reconquest of Pensacola was of paramount importance.
+Carrascesa yielded to Guazo's arguments and the entreaties of the
+governor of Florida's stronghold and started upon his new task. He
+succeeded in recovering Pensacola and reinstalling the Spanish governor
+with his garrison. Of the ultimate defeat of the expedition Guiteras has
+nothing to say.</p>
+
+<p>Carrascesa, too, was a man of untiring activity and did not rest upon
+the laurels of his victory over the French. He made several expeditions
+to the ports of Masacra, Mobile and other places, laying waste rice
+fields and sugar plantations. He captured a number of transports
+carrying army provisions, and also took many negroes that had been
+brought over by the company carrying on slave trade, prisoners. So
+encouraged was he by his successes, that he planned another attack upon
+Masacra, which was defended by four batteries mounted on the coast and
+had a garrison of about two thousand Frenchmen and Canadians. But he
+realized that his forces were numerically far inferior and he desisted
+from carrying out this enterprise.<a name="page_008" id="page_008"></a> He contented himself with turning
+his attention to the improvement of the fortifications of Pensacola and
+built a fort at the point of Siguenza for the defense of the canal.
+While engaged upon this work he was surprised by the arrival of a French
+squadron under the command of the Count de Champmeslin. There were six
+vessels in all well equipped with artillery far superior in quality to
+that of the Spaniards. A fierce and stubborn combat ensued, in which the
+volunteers from Havana distinguished themselves by their valor, but the
+French admiral succeeded in forcing the passage of Siguenza and
+compelled Carrascesa to surrender. Pensacola fell for the second time
+into the hands of the French, who, however, gave credit to the Cubans
+for unusual bravery and declared that, had it not been for their
+inferior numbers, and the inferior equipment of their ships and their
+troops, they never would have been defeated. This is the story of the
+fights for Pensacola as related by the Spanish historian Guiteras.</p>
+
+<p>Governor Guazo's administration covered one of the most important
+periods in the history of Cuba. One of his last acts was the
+proclamation in Havana in March, 1724, of the ascension of King Luis I.
+to the throne of Spain, his father, King Philip V., having abdicated.
+But King Luis died on the thirty-first of August and King Philip V.
+resumed the scepter. In the following month Governor Guazo retired from
+office and on the twenty-ninth of September was succeeded by the
+Brigadier D. Dionisio Martinez de la Vega. One of the first acts of
+Governor Martinez was to raise the garrison to the number of two hundred
+and fifty men. By decree of the court he also superintended the
+construction of the arsenal which was to contribute much to the
+improvement of the rather poorly equipped fleet. In order effectively to
+pursue<a name="page_009" id="page_009"></a> his predecessor's policy of prosecuting the smuggler bands, the
+number of which was alarmingly multiplying on and about the island,
+Governor Martinez suggested to the Minister of the Treasury the erection
+of a shipbuilding plant to turn out vessels especially designed for that
+purpose. He obtained the consent of the Minister and within a short time
+the plan was realized.</p>
+
+<p>This dockyard for the construction of ships primarily intended for
+revenue service, was at first erected between the fort of la Fuerza and
+la Contaduria (office of the accountant or auditor of the exchequer),
+because that location offered great facilities to lower the vessels
+directly from the rocks to the sea. But as soon as the superiority of
+the ships built in Havana over those produced in Spain became manifest,
+owing to the excellent quality of the timber used, it was at once
+decided to extend the dockyard and it was moved to the extreme southern
+part of the city where it occupied a space of one-fourth of a league,
+near the walls with the batements and buttresses, which added much to
+its solidity and beauty. There within a few years were built all kinds
+of ships, from revenue cutters to warships intended to strengthen the
+Armada. In time the plant turned out large numbers of vessels. According
+to Valdes there were built between the years 1724 and 1796 forty-nine
+ships, twenty-two frigates, seven paquebots, nine brigantines, fourteen
+schooners, four ganguiles (barges used in the coasting-trade, lighters)
+and four pontones (pontoons or mud-scows, flat bottomed boats, furnished
+with pulleys and implements to clean harbors); in all one hundred and
+nine vessels.</p>
+
+<p>This shipyard and the fortifications which were being steadily improved
+were found of invaluable service in the year 1726, when a break between
+Spain and England occurred and a British fleet appeared in the Antilles.
+So<a name="page_010" id="page_010"></a> alarmed was King Philip V. by the news of the danger of British
+invasion which threatened Cuba, that he immediately ordered D. Gregorio
+Guazo, who had in the meantime been entrusted with the superior military
+government of the Antilles and Central America, to adopt measures of
+safety. Guazo accordingly sent the squadron of D. Antonio Gastaneta with
+a force of one thousand men to assist in the defense of Cuba. The
+historians Alcazar and Blanchet report that D. Guazo himself accompanied
+the squadron, fell sick upon his arrival in Havana and died the same
+month. But Valdes records that he died on the thirteenth of August of
+that year in his native town of Ossuna. However, D. Juan de Andrea
+Marshall of Villahemosa seems to have been appointed his successor.</p>
+
+<p>The precautions taken were to be well rewarded. On the twenty-seventh of
+April, 1727, the English squadron under the command of Admiral Hossier
+came in sight and approached the entrance to the harbor of Havana. But
+the population had so effectively prepared the defense of the city, that
+the attack of the British failed. Besides seeing himself defeated by the
+enemy, the Admiral saw with dismay that his crews were decimated by
+fever. Gastaneta was at that time in Vera Cruz and Martinez alone
+carried off the victory over the British forces which after a blockade
+of a month had to retire. Admiral Hossier was so overcome with his
+failure and the loss of his men that he himself died of grief shortly
+after.</p>
+
+<p>The following two years of the governorship of D. Martinez were
+turbulent with the discord of rivals and their factions. The immediate
+cause of these regrettable disturbances was Hoyo Solorzana, the governor
+of Santiago de Cuba. He had some time before taken a prominent part in
+the removal of the treasures lost in el Palmer de Aiz. The charge was
+raised against him that he had<a name="page_011" id="page_011"></a> appropriated a certain portion of these
+treasures and he was suspended and proceedings were begun against him.
+The case was pending when the accused, who enjoyed great popularity with
+the people, suddenly without the knowledge of the Captain-General or the
+Dominican Audiencia, took possession of the government office in which
+he had formerly exercised his official functions. The authorities were
+indignant and sent a complaint to his Majesty in Madrid. When the reply
+arrived a few months later, it ordered his immediate removal from
+office, annulled his earlier appointment and demanded that he be sent to
+Madrid. The commander-in-chief took steps for his removal, but the
+municipal government claimed that the cause could not be pursued as long
+as an appeal was pending. Governor Martinez, too, waited with the
+execution of the royal decree in order to learn what decision the
+Ayuntamento of Havana would take. But the latter was kindly disposed to
+Hoyo Solorzano, remembering the undeniable services he had rendered the
+city.</p>
+
+<p>Both sides held stubbornly to their opinions and the lawyers also could
+not be swayed by any arguments. Suddenly there appeared in the harbor of
+Santiago de Cuba a few galleons under command of the chief of the
+squadron, Barlavente, and acting under orders of Fra D. Antonio de
+Escudero. They were to apprehend the governor and his supporters, and
+take them as prisoners to Vera Cruz on the Admiral's ship. True to his
+character and antecedents, Solorzano bravely defended himself and with
+the help of his adherents managed to elude his pursuers and to escape to
+the country. After visiting places where many of his friends lived, he
+ventured into Puerto Principe, whose inhabitants were such loyal
+partisans of his that they decided upon protecting him arms in hand.<a name="page_012" id="page_012"></a> A
+detachment of troops had been sent from Havana and surrounded the house
+in which Solorzano was staying. They succeeded in crushing the riotous
+demonstrations in his favor and seized him. Manacled and chained he was
+taken to el Morro and imprisoned. Although he was evidently the victim
+of misaimed ambition, the court that tried his case condemned him to
+death.</p>
+
+<p>While these unpleasant events were agitating the official circles of the
+island, the people saw in the year 1728 one of the most ardent desires
+of the ambitious youth of Cuba attain fulfillment. This was the
+foundation of the University. Hitherto, it was necessary for young men
+desiring a superior and especially a scientific education to attend the
+universities of Mexico, Santo Domingo or Seville. With the opening of
+this institution of learning in the metropolis of the island, Havana,
+the intellectual life received a strong impulse. The credit for having
+secured the permission to open this university is due to the Dominican
+order which was mainly instrumental in promoting the cause of education
+in Latin America and especially the West Indies. The University was
+opened in the convent of Havana by virtue of a bull issued by Pope
+Innocent XIII. and in accord with the royal order of March fourteenth,
+1732. The event was celebrated by brilliant decoration and illumination
+of the principal thoroughfares and buildings of the city and by festive
+gatherings and banquets, as also by dignified and solemn ceremonies in
+the building itself.</p>
+
+<p>The first rector of the University was Fra Tomas de Linares. According
+to the custom of the period and the country the rector, vice-rector and
+assistants were all selected from the clergy. The curriculum comprised
+courses in grammar, rhetoric, mathematics, philosophy, theology, canons
+of economic laws, jurisprudence and<a name="page_013" id="page_013"></a> medicine. But it seems strange that
+for a number of years no professor could be found to occupy the chair of
+mathematics. The peripatetic system prevailed. After two years of
+existence the university won such hearty approbation from the king that
+it was granted by royal decree of the twenty-seventh of June, 1734, the
+same concessions and prerogatives as were accorded to the University of
+Alcala. In the year 1733 Cuba lost her most revered and beloved
+spiritual leader, Bishop Valdes, who expired on the twenty-ninth of
+March. He lived in the memory of many generations that followed not only
+by the many parishes which he had founded in the smaller towns and rural
+districts, and by the seminary of San Baulie el Magne, which he had
+called into being, but also by his many personal virtues that had
+endeared him to his people.</p>
+
+<p>An important innovation was made at this period concerning land tenure.
+The Ayuntamentos or municipal corporations started to rent lands, that
+is to give them in usufructu for the pasturing of cattle, to swine
+herds, for labor or as ground plots. The person receiving such a grant
+paid to the propios (estates or lands belonging to the city or civic
+corporation) six ducats annually for the first, four for the second, and
+two for the others. The land-surveyor, D. Luis de la Pena, resolved to
+give a plot of land in the radius of two leagues to the haciendas that
+raised black cattle, called hatos, and to the raisers of hogs, cordos or
+corroles (enclosures within which cattle is held). But there was such a
+lack of precision in determining the boundaries of the lands covered by
+these concessions, that one overlapped the others and caused innumerable
+heated lawsuits. The abuses committed by the corporation concerned in
+these land deals, finally caused the king to strip these bodies of the
+power of renting the lands. This<a name="page_014" id="page_014"></a> important royal decree was according
+to the historian Pezuela dated 1727, according to La Torre 1729.</p>
+
+<p>The copper-mines of Cuba which had during the second half of the
+seventeenth century been totally abandoned, but had been reopened in the
+year 1705 under the direction of D. Sabastian de Arancibia and D.
+Francisco Delgado, once more disappointed those interested in that
+investment and yielding little profit were closed. The result was very
+disastrous for the men that had been employed in the mines. For when
+they found themselves without work, they began to lead a sort of
+unrestrained life, which caused unrest and disturbances. In the year
+1731, the governor of Santiago de Cuba, D. Pedro Jiminez, decided to put
+an end to this idleness and without warning imposed upon them hard
+labor. This the men resented and rebelled. After considerable
+difficulty, the gentle exhortations of the Canonicus Morrell of Santa
+Cruz prevailed and succeeded in appeasing the men, who took up other
+work.</p>
+
+<p>In other parts of the island there occurred about this time uprisings of
+the slaves, which required the use of force and led to no little
+bloodshed before they could be suppressed. One of these revolts on the
+plantation Quiebra Hache and some on other neighboring haciendas led to
+the foundation of Santa Maria del Rosario. It was D. Jose Bayona Chacon,
+Conde de Casa-Bayona, who conceived the idea that the existence of a
+white population in the heart of the mutinous district might help to
+keep the negroes submissive. He asked the king's permission to establish
+a town on the land of said plantation and of the Jiaraco corral, which
+were all his property, and asked for manorial grants, civil and criminal
+jurisdiction, that is the right to appoint alcaldes (ordinary judges),
+eight aldermen and as many other officials of the court as were<a name="page_015" id="page_015"></a> needed.
+King Philip, remembering the services D. Bayona Chacon had rendered the
+island, granted this request in the year 1732, and D. Bayona or Conde
+(count) Casa-Bayona settled thirty families on the place, which was
+henceforth called Santa Maria del Rosario.</p>
+
+<p>The last years of the governorship of D. Martinez were undisturbed by
+strife either from within or without, and Cuba prospered during that
+brief spell of peace and quiet. But he did not delude himself by
+imagining Cuba safe from further disturbances, either of her internal
+conditions or her relations to her enemies. Like his predecessors he
+continued to add to the fortifications, as is proved by an inscription
+on the gate of la Punta, which reads:</p>
+
+<div class="blockquot"><p>Reinando en Espana Don Felipe V. El Animoso y Siendo Gobernador y
+Captan General de Esta Plaza E Isla de Cuba El Brigadier Don
+Dionisio Martinez de la Vega, se Hiciron Estas Bovedas, Almacenes,
+Terraplenes, Y Muralla Hasta San Telmo; Se Acabo La Murella Y
+Baluartes Desde El Angel Hasta El Colateral De La Puerta de Tierra
+Y Desde El Anguilo De la Tonaza Hasta El Otro Colatoral; Se Puso En
+Estado y con Respeto La Artilleria; Se Hizo La Caldaza, Y En El
+Real Artillero Navios De Guerra Y Tres Paquebotos, Con Otras Obras
+Menores; Y Lo Gueda Continua do Por Marzo de 1731 Con 220 Esclavos
+De S. M. Que Con Su Arbotrio Ha Puesto En Las Reales Fabrica.</p>
+
+<p>(While King Philip V. the Brave reigned in Spain and the Brigadier
+Don Dioniosio Martinez de la Vega was Governor of this place and
+the island of Cuba, there were built three vaults, stores, terraces
+and a wall as far as Telma, were finished the wall and bastions
+from El Angel unto the Colateral of the Gate of Tierra, and from
+the corner of the tenaillo unto the other collateral; was set up in
+good condition the artillery; was constructed the high road and
+were built in the royal dockyard war vessels and three packet-boats
+and minor ships; and this was continued in March, 1730, with 200
+slaves of his Majesty, who deigned to have them placed in the royal
+shops.)</p></div>
+
+<p>Accounts of foreigners that traveled in the West Indies and visited Cuba
+during this period give glimpses of the cities and the life therein
+which are interesting reading.<a name="page_016" id="page_016"></a> John Campbell, the author of "The
+Spanish Empire in America" and "A Concise History of Spanish America,"
+published in London in the year 1747, says in the latter book, in the
+description of Havana:</p>
+
+<div class="blockquot"><p>"The Buildings are fair, but not high, built of Stone and make a
+very good appearance, though it is said they are but meanly
+furnished. There are eleven Churches and Monasteries and two
+handsome hospitals. The Churches are rich and magnificent; that
+dedicated to St. Clara having seven Altars, all adorned with Plate
+to a great Value; And the Monastery adjoining contains a hundred
+Nuns with their Servants, all habited in Blue. It is not, as some
+have reported, a Bishop's see, though the Bishop generally resides
+there. But the Cathedral is at St. Jago, and the Revenue of this
+Prelate not less than fifty thousand Pieces of Eight per Annum.
+Authors differ exceedingly as to the Number of Inhabitants in this
+City. A Spanish Writer, who was there in 1700 and who had Reason to
+be well acquainted with the Place, computed them at twenty-six
+thousand, and we may well suppose that they are increased since.
+They are a more polite and sociable People than the Inhabitants of
+any of the Ports on the Continent, and of late imitate the French
+both in their Dress and their Manner."</p></div>
+
+<p>The Spanish historian, Emilio Blanchet, also limns a picture of life in
+Havana about this time. Always inclined to express their feelings of joy
+or of sorrow in a rather demonstrative manner, every national event of
+some importance gave occasion for festivities that lasted sometimes
+several days, and in one instance almost a whole month. This
+extraordinary example of Cuban delight in great public celebrations
+occurred in the year 1735 in Villaclara. The recent victories of Spain
+in Italy and the ascension of Carlos to the Neapolitan crown were
+celebrated in that town from the first to the twenty-second of February.
+Of course, the national sport of bull-fights figured largely in the
+program of this month of festivities; but there were also equestrian
+contests, military games, processions and cavalcades, and for the first
+time in Cuban history, dramatic performances. Besides such<a name="page_017" id="page_017"></a> unusual
+occasions as the celebration of a victory, the numerous church festivals
+also encouraged the people's love of more or less ceremonial display and
+solemn public functions. The eyes of the people loved to feast upon the
+processions on foot or on horseback which took place on various saints'
+days, especially on the days of St. John, St. Peter, St. James and St.
+Anna.</p>
+
+<p>The British writer quoted above was right in saying that the Cubans
+emulated the example and followed the models of the French in the dress
+of the period. For Blanchet gives a description of the dress of the
+Cuban women of that time, which evokes before the reader visions of the
+elaborate costumes inseparable from the period of Louis XIV. The Spanish
+historian dwells at some detail upon the gorgeous dresses of the wealthy
+women of Cuba. There were gowns with long, sweeping trains, the material
+of which was mostly a heavy brocade silk, interwoven with threads of
+gold or silver, trimmed with taffeta in sky blue or crimson. Other
+material was trimmed with gold or silver braids. The belt generally of
+rose taffeta joined the waist to the skirt. The hair was adorned with a
+large silver or gold pin which held the folds of a richly trimmed
+mantilla, also either of brocade or some lighter tissue, gracefully
+falling back over the shoulders. The undergarments were of silk taffeta,
+all of these materials being flowered or checkered and interwoven with
+threads of gold. Velvet was also used in the fashioning of vestees and
+jackets. Cloaks, capes and redingotes were either of camelot or barocan,
+or of some other fine cloth. Pink was the favorite color. Laces and
+embroideries were used on the dress of both men and women. No cavalier
+was without a frill. The use of powder for the face and hair was quite
+common, and the powdered queue was as indispensable to the costume of a
+cavalier as the buckled shoe.<a name="page_018" id="page_018"></a></p>
+
+<h3><a name="CHAPTER_II" id="CHAPTER_II"></a>CHAPTER II</h3>
+
+<p>When Governor Martinez de la Vega was promoted to the post of President
+and Captain-General of Panama, there was appointed in his place, as the
+thirty-sixth governor of Cuba, Fieldmarshal D. Juan Francisco Guemez y
+Horcasitas, a native of Oviedo and son of Baron de Guemez. Valdes
+remarks that during his administration was born his son D. Juan, who
+seems to have been also actively engaged in public life. Guemez was
+governor of Cuba long enough to occupy a prominent place in the
+chronicles of the island. He was inaugurated on the eighteenth of March,
+1734, and continued in office until the twenty-eighth of April, 1746.
+Guemez entered upon the political and military administration
+simultaneously with the Franciscan padre D. Juan Lasso de la Vega, who
+assumed the spiritual leadership of the people as successor to Bishop
+Valdez. During his governorship, the Municipio of Havana was organized,
+and Santiago de Cuba being for the first time subordinated to his
+authority, Havana became virtually the capital of the island, and one of
+the most important of Spanish America. In that civic corporation, a very
+prominent member was the Habanero D. Jose Martin Felix de Arrate, who
+wrote a valuable history of Havana under the title "Llave del Nuevo
+Mundo, Antemural de las Indias Occidentales, la Habana descriptiva:
+Noticias de su fundacion, aumentos y Estado."</p>
+
+<p>Governor Guemez introduced some measures of reform which tended to
+appease the discontent occasioned by previous abuses of municipal power.
+One of these was the rigid enforcement of the royal decree which forbade
+the<a name="page_019" id="page_019"></a> ayuntamentos to trade in land. He also improved the functioning of
+the primary courts called Justicias ordinarias; for a great deal of
+disorder was caused by the fact that their decisions were rarely
+promptly obeyed. He associated with them the tenentes a guerra, military
+lieutenants, whose authority was more likely to be respected. One of
+these, the Captain of militia D. Jose Antonio Gomez, was sent to the
+salt works of Punta Hicacos and Cayo Sal, where much confusion had
+reigned, to regulate the salt production, and insure an efficient
+functioning of the organization concerned in it. He became later known
+as a famous guerillero, a civilian serving in guerilla warfare, and was
+familiarly called by the people Pepe Antonio.</p>
+
+<p>During this administration some very important work was done towards
+sanitation. Guemez succeeded in having the harbor thoroughly dredged; by
+urgent appeals to the residents he secured the removal from the streets
+of all encumbrances of traffic and insisted upon having them regularly
+cleaned. It can be justly said that, if the standard of public health in
+Cuba was raised at this period, it was undoubtedly due to his efforts.
+Nor was he indifferent to the extortion practiced upon the poorer
+inhabitants by unscrupulous landlords and shopkeepers, one of his
+ordinances to that effect regulating the prices at which provisions were
+to be sold by the grocers and thus insuring a proper and sufficient
+supply of these necessities to the population which otherwise would have
+been underfed. He was also the first governor of Cuba who paid attention
+to the island's forests and curbed the operations of the thieves that
+ravaged them. Of course such measures were bound to be resented by those
+elements who had previously profited from the freedom with which they
+could carry on their trade regardless of human equity and<a name="page_020" id="page_020"></a> public
+welfare; and although the administration of Guemez was one of great
+material prosperity for the people, he did not escape the fate that
+befell so many of his predecessors, that of being made the target of
+slanderous accusations. But the government had profited from previous
+experiences of this character, that of the Marquis de Casa-Torres being
+still remembered; it was no longer inclined to lend so ready an ear to
+charges raised against the governors, and paid no attention to the
+attempts made by his enemies to discredit Guemez in Madrid.</p>
+
+<p>The colonial government was then in charge of D. Jose del Campillo, an
+official of great knowledge and sagacity and of wide experience in
+economic and financial affairs. Many of the improvements that had been
+introduced in Spain by Minister Ori were through D. Campillo's efforts
+now applied to the colonies in America. Among these valuable innovations
+were the regulation of the revenues, the reduction of import and export
+duties, and the distribution of the realenzes or royal patrimonies. But
+equally important was the creation of royal commissions to inquire into
+the state, the resources and needs of the provinces, and to organize
+industry and commerce upon a sound and equitable basis.</p>
+
+<p>On the other hand it cannot be denied that powerful influences were at
+work to secure privileges for private corporations, which in a measure
+threatened to undo what those commissions attained. The organization
+which came into being in Havana in the year 1740 under the name Real
+Compania de Comercio under the patronage of the Virgin del Rosario, was
+such a corporation and it seems doubtful whether the privileges it
+enjoyed and the profits that accrued from them did not outweigh the
+advantages which were promised to the colony. The company was given a
+general monopoly, including the exclusive<a name="page_021" id="page_021"></a> right of exportation of
+tobacco and sugar; it had the right of importation of articles of
+consumption in the island without paying custom on goods imported into
+the interior. Of course, it pledged itself on its part to render the
+community certain services which should not be underestimated. It was to
+build in its dockyards vessels of war and of trade; to supply the
+warships anchored in the harbor with provisions for their crews; to
+furnish ten armed vessels for the persecution of contraband; and for the
+transportation of the country's products to the port of Cadiz; to bring
+from Spain the ammunition needed in Cuba; to provision the garrison of
+Florida; and to furnish articles of equipment to the weather-side fleet.</p>
+
+<p>The Captain-General himself was given the office of Juez conservador
+(judge conservator). The first president of the company was D. Martin de
+Aroztegui. The organizers had at first counted upon a capital of one
+million pesos, but it barely exceeded nine hundred thousand. Each share
+was valued at five hundred duros (dollars) and eight shares were
+required to entitle the holder to a vote in the general conventions.
+There were at first five directors in all, but they were gradually
+reduced to two only. Some historians had warm praise for the work of the
+company, among them Arrate, who with many others was preoccupied by the
+economic interests and the commercial progress of the community. But
+there is no doubt that at the end it did not bring about the results
+that had been expected. During twenty years of its existence Cuba
+derived no tangible benefit. The importation of goods from Spain did not
+amount to more than three vessels annually. The exports amounted to less
+than twenty-one thousand arrobas of sugar (a weight of twenty-five
+pounds of sixteen ounces each).</p>
+
+<p>Governor Guemez was not oblivious to the dangers forever<a name="page_022" id="page_022"></a> menacing the
+security and the peace of the island. He made great improvements on the
+batteries of el Morro; he had parts of the city walls, which ran from la
+Tenaze to Paula, demolished, and rebuilt of better material; he had the
+walls on the inland side re-enforced so as to offer greater resistance
+in case of attack by enemies. To all these improvements the citizens of
+Havana contributed generously; they furnished ten thousand peons
+(day-laborers) and as many beasts of burden to do the work. Guemez also
+built factories in the parish of El Jaguey on the other side of the bay
+and established the first powder magazine on the coast. During the
+latter part of his administration, in the year 1743, the town of
+Guanabacoa received its charter. The following year, 1744, is memorable
+in the history of Cuba as the year when the first postal service was
+organized. Thus the governorship of D. Guemez proved for the island a
+period of great civic and material progress and prosperity. The peace it
+enjoyed during the earlier years was, however, to be seriously disturbed
+later on.</p>
+
+<p>For even towards the end of the administration of D. Martinez de la Vega
+clouds had arisen upon the political horizon of Europe which had begun
+to cast their shadows over the colonies. The slave-trade sanctioned by
+the famous Assiento agreement gave rise to more and more serious tension
+between the governments of England and of Spain. In order to execute
+that part of the Treaty of Utrecht which related to the importation of
+negro slaves into Spanish America, the British government had encouraged
+the formation of a company, the Compania de la Mar del Sud, or South Sea
+Company, which was to act as agent of the assientists. It consisted of
+men holding the large national debt of Great Britain and had received a
+grant for the exclusive trade of the South Seas.<a name="page_023" id="page_023"></a> But since Spain was in
+possession of a great proportion of the coast in that part of the world
+and had so far enjoyed a monopoly of its trade, the South Sea Company
+derived no benefit from that grant, unless the commercial activity of
+Spanish America could be paralyzed. The slave-trade with its clandestine
+opportunities for contraband, offered the South Sea Company
+possibilities to undermine Spanish trade. The slavers, as the
+slave-carrying vessels were called, being protected by passports issued
+by their contractors, were not slow in getting into communication with
+those elements in the Spanish colonies that placed their personal profit
+above their duty to the country under the protection of which they
+lived, and had no difficulty in delivering cargoes of divers merchandise
+while they unloaded their human freight. Moreover they never returned to
+Europe in ballast, but carried a correspondingly large cargo of West
+Indian goods of which they disposed in European ports.</p>
+
+<p>Spain had repeatedly entered complaints against these scandalously
+dishonest operations upon the coasts of Spanish America, but Great
+Britain was then not in the mood to concern herself with problems of
+international ethics. The enormous profits that the trade in negro
+slaves had brought to investors in that enterprise had dimmed their
+sense of honor. Queen Anne herself had in a speech to the parliament
+boasted of having secured to the British a new market for slaves in
+Spanish America. A considerable part of the population of Jamaica lived
+exclusively on the profits of this traffic between the Spanish-American
+harbors. The vessel which the British according to the Assiento were
+allowed to send annually to Portobello was soon followed at a certain
+distance by a fleet of smaller ships that approached the harbor at night
+and replaced the cargo that had been unloaded by day.<a name="page_024" id="page_024"></a> Frequently the
+slavers would appeal to the human feelings of the officials in
+Spanish-American ports and with stories of shipwreck and damages
+sustained in hurricanes induce them to desist from the customary
+inspection of every foreign vessel. The effect of these manoeuvers was
+the complete extinction of Spanish commerce. While the tonnage of the
+fleet of Cadiz had formerly reached sixteen thousand, it was reduced at
+the beginning of the eighteenth century to two thousand.</p>
+
+<p>But the reclamations of Spain were not heeded. Great Britain, then in a
+mad fever for the acquisition of wealth, was intoxicated with the rich
+profits it was deriving from the operations in the West Indies and other
+parts of Spanish America. It not only wished to continue these, but it
+also tried to bring about war between the two countries. As Guiteras
+says, and Bancroft expresses the same ideas in his second volume of his
+"History of the United States," the war which was on the point of
+breaking out was not about the right to cut the timber of Campeche in
+the Bay of Honduras, nor because of the difference between the King of
+Spain and the South Sea Company, nor about the disputed frontiers of
+Florida. All these questions could have been easily settled. The sole
+aim and end was to compel Spain to renounce her right of inspecting or
+examining suspected merchant vessels that cruised in the Antilles, in
+order that Great Britain might extend her insidious operations.</p>
+
+<p>After much deliberation on both sides, an instrument was drawn up and
+signed, in which the mutual claims for damages sustained in the overseas
+commerce were balanced and settled. The king of Spain demanded from the
+South Sea Company sixty-eight thousand pounds as his share of their
+profits, in the slave-trade; on the other hand he paid to the British
+merchants as indemnity for<a name="page_025" id="page_025"></a> losses caused by unwarranted seizures the
+sum of ninety-five pounds. The question with regard to the boundaries of
+Florida was also disposed of; it was agreed that both nations were to
+retain the land then in their possession, until a duly appointed
+commission should determine the exact boundaries, which meant that Great
+Britain would hold jurisdiction over the country to the mouth of St.
+Mary's River.</p>
+
+<p>The discussion about this agreement in the British parliament did not
+add to the glory of the United Kingdom. Walpole spoke in favor of its
+acceptance, saying "It requires no great abilities in a minister to
+pursue such measures as make a war unavoidable. But how many ministers
+have known the art of avoiding war by making a safe and honorable
+peace?" The Duke of Newcastle, not credited with too much intelligence,
+opposed the measure. William Pitt, Pulteny and others sided with him.
+The opposition finally triumphed. Bancroft says of this disgraceful
+termination of a conference intended to seek equitable solution of a
+most harassing international problem:</p>
+
+<div class="blockquot"><p>"In an ill hour for herself, in a happy one for America, England,
+on the twenty-third of October, 1639, declared war against Spain.
+If the rightfulness of the European colonial system be conceded,
+the declaration was a wanton invasion of it for immediate selfish
+purposes; but, in endeavoring to open the ports of Spanish America
+to the mercantile enterprise of her own people, she was beginning a
+war on colonial monopoly, which could not end till American
+colonies of her own, as well as of Spain, should obtain
+independence."</p></div>
+
+<p>Even before this official break between the two countries, the British
+had become guilty of movements that violated Spanish territory.</p>
+
+<p>There is not much said by Spanish historians about the difficulties
+between Florida and the newly planned<a name="page_026" id="page_026"></a> British colony of Georgia. But
+the dispute about the boundary of Florida ripened into an armed
+conflict, in which Cuban forces assisted those of St. Augustine.
+Oglethorpe, the founder of Georgia, had in the year 1736 endeavored to
+vindicate British rights to territory previously claimed by the
+Spaniards and the opposition of the latter when the British approached
+more and more closely was easily understood. Oglethorpe dispatched
+messengers to St. Augustine and, claiming the St. John's River as the
+southern boundary of the British colony, built Ft. George for defense of
+the British frontier. The messengers were for a time held in St.
+Augustine as prisoners, but eventually released. The dispute was
+temporarily settled by negotiation. But though the British abandoned Ft.
+George, they kept St. Andrew's at the mouth of St. Mary's, which was
+bound to be a perpetual source of irritation to the Spaniards. Two years
+later, according to Blanchet, hostile movements of British ships were
+observed in Cuban waters. He speaks of the <i>Commodore Brown</i> as having,
+by the effective defense which Guemez had prepared, been prevented from
+landing in Bacuranao, Bahia-Honda and other places. With the beginning
+of the war, Guemez was called upon to secure the aprovionamento, the
+provisioning of the island and to insure its security. He received
+efficient assistance from some of his privateers, among them D. Jose
+Cordero and D. Pedro Garaicochea, who valorously fought some British
+vessels and obtained advantages over the British fleets commanded by the
+admirals Bermon and Oglethorpe. D. Jose Hurriaza, too, won some
+victories over the British with his three ships, of the kind called at
+that time guipuzcoanos. He sank one British vessel, captured another and
+anchored safely with his booty in the harbor of San Juan of Puerto
+Rico.<a name="page_027" id="page_027"></a></p>
+
+<p>The British war party made capital out of the news of these encounters.
+Exaggerated reports about the cruelty practiced upon British prisoners
+were sent to London. The authorities did not hesitate to call as
+witnesses of victims of such outrages, characters whose words would not
+have received credence at other times. Bancroft quotes the case of a
+notorious smuggler by the name of Jenkins, who accused the enemy of
+having cut off one of his ears, and Pulteny, in order to precipitate the
+issue, exclaimed in parliament: "We have no need of allies to enable us
+to command justice; the story of Jenkins will raise volunteers."</p>
+
+<p>Not only politicians and the ever ready pamphleteers lent their voice to
+the "cause," but even the poets joined the ignoble chorus. Alexander
+Pope wrote in his customary mordant manner:</p>
+
+<table border="0" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" summary="">
+<tr><td align="left">"And own the Spaniard did the waggish thing</td></tr>
+<tr><td align="left">Who cropped our ears, and sent them to the king";</td></tr>
+</table>
+
+<p class="nind">and even Samuel Johnson burst out into the cry:</p>
+
+<table border="0" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" summary="">
+<tr><td align="left">"Has Heaven reserved, in pity to the poor,</td></tr>
+<tr><td align="left">No pathless waste or undiscovered shore,</td></tr>
+<tr><td align="left">No secret island in the boundless main,</td></tr>
+<tr><td align="left">No peaceful desert yet unclaimed by Spain?"</td></tr>
+</table>
+
+<p>Thus was the mood of the moment prepared in the multitude and mass
+psychology did the rest, as it always does in such crises.</p>
+
+<p>About this time occurred an incident, in which Guemez showed his mettle
+as a man, regardless of his official capacity. It is the historian
+Blanchet who has recorded this remarkable example of noble generosity.
+It seems that the British frigate <i>Elizabeth</i>, under the command of a
+Captain Edwards, had been caught in a terrible tempest off the coast of
+Cuba and threatened with inevitable shipwreck,<a name="page_028" id="page_028"></a> sought the protection of
+the harbor. According to the laws of warfare, the Captain surrendered as
+prisoner of war. But Guemez, as acting Captain General, refused to take
+advantage of his misfortune, and not only permitted the vessel to careen
+and take on much-needed supplies, but gave Captain Edwards letters of
+safe-conduct allowing him to continue on his way as far as Bermuda. The
+rivals and enemies of Guemez, who had previously attempted to lodge
+complaints against him with the Consejo de Indias, renewed their
+intrigues and cabals, aimed at robbing him of the good name he enjoyed
+in Cuba as in Madrid, and accused him of all sorts of misdemeanors and
+abuses. But they failed in ruining his career. He was made
+lieutenant-general and on his retirement from the governorship was given
+the rank and title of Conde (count) de Revillagigedo and appointed
+Viceroy of New Spain. He died in Madrid as commander-in-chief of the
+army at the ripe old age of eighty-six years.</p>
+
+<p>However great were the services rendered by D. Guemez y Horcasitas to
+Cuba, the conflicting rumors attacking his character must have had some
+foundation. Perhaps the impression the governor made upon a French
+traveler, who visited Havana at this time and was on board the vessel
+which took him to Mexico, may add some traits to his portrait. M.
+Villiet d'Arignon is quoted in Pierre Jean Baptiste Nougaret's "Voyages
+interessans" as saying:</p>
+
+<div class="blockquot"><p>"D. Juan Orcazita had been appointed to this important post on
+account of the sums he had lavishly spent at the court of Madrid.
+One could say that he bought it. The immense fortune he made during
+his governorship soon enabled him to turn his eyes to a higher
+goal. Everything depended upon contributions. So he in a short time
+amassed considerable sums, which from a simple civilian raised him
+to the highest rank ambition could aspire to. We shall see that he
+continued the same tactics in Mexico and<a name="page_029" id="page_029"></a> profited even more, the
+country being wealthier. Orcazita was a man of some height, rather
+handsome, but of a mediocre intelligence, and had no ambition
+except for spoils. This was the viceroy given to Mexico, whither
+his reputation had preceded him. For the inhabitants soon made fun
+of his, and circulated this uncomplimentary nickname which sounds
+better in Spanish than in French: 'Non es Conde, ni Marquis, Juan
+es,' which means that he was neither count, nor Marquis, but simply
+'Juan.' In fact he was not a man of birth, and he owed all he had
+to his money."</p></div>
+
+<p>In the meantime Great Britain's preparations for the war resulted in the
+sending over to Spanish America of two fleets. The one under Edward
+Vernon was commanded to make an attack upon Chagres, east of the Isthmus
+of Darien; the other one, considerably smaller, under the command of
+Commodore Anson, was to begin operations in the Pacific. But a series of
+unfortunate accidents made it impossible for him to cooperate with
+Vernon, as he was expected to do. He encountered terrible gales, which
+disabled and scattered his ships, one by one, and after many romantic
+adventures which were set forth by a member of the expedition in a very
+readable book, he returned to England with a single vessel, but one
+richly laden with spoils acquired in pirate fashion. Edward Vernon,
+whose experiences have also been recorded in a volume, giving
+interesting details of his expedition, arrived at Portobello in
+November, 1739. He had under his command six war ships and a
+well-equipped force of trained men, and on the twenty-second of the
+month launched an attack. The garrison was so small and poorly prepared
+that he forced it to capitulate on the very next day. The British lost
+only seven men in the engagement and found themselves in the possession
+of the place. Vernon dismantled the fortifications and returned to
+Jamaica with a booty of ten thousand pesos. Expecting to be joined by
+Anson, he went to Chagres early in January,<a name="page_030" id="page_030"></a> succeeded in forcing that
+port, too, to surrender, and after having demolished it, returned to
+Jamaica, and rested from his easily won victory, which the party
+opposing Walpole celebrated in London as a most heroic exploit.</p>
+
+<p>The greatest armed force that had yet been seen in West Indian waters
+had in the mean time sailed from England to join the expedition of
+Vernon. It consisted not only of British troops, but had been reenforced
+by recruits from the colonies north of Carolina. Its commander was Lord
+Cathcart, who, when they stopped to take on fresh water in Dominica, was
+taken violently ill with a malignant fever and succumbed. His death was
+a disastrous blow to the British, for it destroyed the unity of command
+which is indispensable for the success of military operations.
+Cathcart's successor was Wentworth, who not only lacked experience and
+firmness, but was a political opponent of the impulsive, irritable
+Vernon. Thus the enterprise seemed to be at the outset doomed to failure
+owing to the rivalry and the discord of the leaders. The fleet under
+their command consisted of twenty-nine line ships, eighty smaller
+vessels with a crew of fifteen thousand sailors and a land force of
+twelve thousand men.</p>
+
+<p>The expedition set sail from Jamaica without having agreed upon any
+definite plan of attack. Havana was the nearest point at which
+operations should be directed and besides her conquest would have given
+Great Britain supremacy over the Gulf. But Admiral Vernon saw everything
+only in the light of his own advantages and decided to go in search of
+the French and Spanish squadrons, without taking trouble to inform
+himself whether they had not already left. Finally a war council was
+held and it was decided to make an assault upon the tower of Cartagena.
+The squadron appeared before the city on<a name="page_031" id="page_031"></a> the fourth of March and after
+a siege of twenty-two days succeeded in capturing the fort of Bocachica
+at the entrance of the harbor. Admiral Wentworth then made preparations
+to take the fort of San Lazare, which dominated the city. He planned to
+attack it with a force of two thousand men, but half of them,
+misunderstanding his directions, remained in camp. The squadron, too,
+failed to come to his assistance in time, and after a complete defeat he
+was forced to retire. Before the British had a chance to recover from
+the effects of this disaster, caused mainly by the lack of harmonious
+cooperation between their commanders, the rainy season set in. With it
+came the usual epidemic of tropical fever and alarmingly decimated the
+forces of the British. The blockade was for the time being abandoned and
+the survivors of the expedition returned to Jamaica.</p>
+
+<p>Admiral Vernon resumed the plan in July, 1741, and arrived in the bay of
+Guantanamo on the coast of Cuba with a force of three thousand men and
+about one thousand negroes. He landed and then moved to Santiago with
+the purpose of taking that city. There the governor Colonel Francisco
+Cagigal prepared for him an unexpectedly hot reception. He divided his
+people into small detachment of trained troops, militia and armed
+inhabitants, and placed himself at their head. His example and the care
+with which he had calculated the defense inspired the people with the
+will to win and they plunged with zest into the fight with the invaders.
+Never for a moment stopping in their furious assaults upon the British,
+the forces of Admiral Vernon were decimated in the endless series of
+attacks and counter attacks. The climate, too, was against the British,
+and they were forced to retire. Vernon left the island with the
+remainder of his<a name="page_032" id="page_032"></a> men and abandoned large stores of provisions and
+ammunition, which Governor Cagigal appropriated amid the enthusiastic
+acclamation of the brave citizens.</p>
+
+<p>Thus ended according to the reports of Guiteras and other Spanish
+historians the British expedition which had started out with the
+intention of conquering not only the Spanish West Indies, but Mexico and
+Peru as well. British arrogance and greed had for the moment received a
+well-earned lesson. The fleet retired to Jamaica towards the end of
+November. When a survey of the state of both the naval and military
+forces was made, it was found that the British had lost some twenty
+thousand men. During all the time that these fights took place, commerce
+with the Spanish colonies had of necessity been suspended. The
+importation of negroes had ceased. Smuggling had considerably decreased.
+Spanish privateers lay in wait and intercepted the British merchant
+vessels, whose cargoes were triumphantly brought to Spanish ports. Great
+Britain, on the contrary, had not conquered a single Spanish possession
+and the damage caused to her commerce was far greater than that which
+Spanish America had suffered.</p>
+
+<p>In the meantime, the undaunted Oglethorpe had once more decided to
+challenge the Spanish neighbor in Florida, and encouraged by the British
+authorities marched upon St. Augustine. He had six hundred regular
+troops, four hundred militia from Carolina and two hundred Indians, and
+set out on his expedition in January, 1740. But the garrison of the old
+town, under the command of the able Monteaco, was prepared and had also
+secured reenforcements. Five weeks lasted the siege; the troops of
+Oglethorpe lost patience and courage, failure staring them in the face.
+When they threatened to abandon him, he retired without even being
+pursued<a name="page_033" id="page_033"></a> by the enemy. After this provocation the Spanish authorities
+felt forced to retaliate and decided upon an invasion of Georgia. A
+large fleet with troops from Cuba joined the forces of the Florida
+settlement. They arrived at the mouth of St. Mary's, where Oglethorpe
+had built Ft. William, in the first days of July. But Oglethorpe
+succeeded in retaining his hold upon that place, though his forces had
+to retire. The Spanish took possession of their abandoned camps, but on
+the seventh of July, when they were attempting to advance towards the
+town on a road which skirted a swamp on one side and a dense wood of
+brush-oak on the other, they were surprised by Oglethorpe and the fight
+which ensued was so fierce, and caused such a great loss of life, that
+the spot has ever since been known as Bloody Marsh. Another attack was
+made upon Fort William, but being again repulsed, the Spanish forces
+retired, abandoning a quantity of ammunition.</p>
+
+<p>When Guemez of Cuba was promoted to the vice-regency of New Spain, he
+had been succeeded by Field Marshal D. Juan Antonio Tines y Fuertes, who
+was inaugurated on the twenty-second of April, 1746, but died on the
+twenty-first of July of the same year. In spite of his very brief term
+of service, he is remembered according to Valdes for having been the
+first governor to whom it occurred to do something for the confinement
+and possible reform of dissolute women. He is said to have founded for
+that purpose the Casa de Resorgimento, which seems to have been both a
+home and a reform school. He was temporarily replaced by Colonel D.
+Diego de Penalosa. About the name and exact date of his interim
+administration there seems to exist some confusion, some historians
+placing him immediately after Martinez de la Vega. Valdes says he was
+Tenente-Rey<a name="page_034" id="page_034"></a> in 1738, assumed the functions of provisional governorship
+at the death of Fuentes, and upon the arrival of the newly appointed
+governor, was sent to Vera Cruz as Brigadier General. Blanchet, too,
+calls him Penalosa; but Alcazar gives his name as Penalver. However,
+Penalosa or Penalver enjoyed during his brief administration the
+privilege of proclaiming the ascension of Fernando VI. to the throne of
+Spain.</p>
+
+<p>King Philip V., who had so reluctantly been dragged into the war with
+England, did not live long after the victory of Santiago had temporarily
+checked the designs of Great Britain. He had died on the ninth of July,
+1746, and his crown descended to his son Fernando, an amiable and
+virtuous prince. King Fernando VI. was also inclined to follow a
+peaceful policy. He promptly settled the foreign questions that called
+for attention at this time, and tried his best to enter into and
+maintain friendly relations with all foreign powers. He aimed at the
+preservation of Spanish neutrality in the European wars of the period,
+being most deeply concerned with developing the national wealth. The
+brilliant festivities with which Cuba celebrated Fernando's coronation
+gave proof of the love his subjects even in Spanish America had
+conceived for him before he ascended the throne.</p>
+
+<p>After the brief administrations of Fuentes and Penalosa, a new governor
+was appointed in Madrid and the choice fell upon D. Francisco Cagigal de
+la Vega, Knight of the order of Santiago. The brave defender of his town
+against the attack of Admiral Vernon had since that experience
+ingratiated himself with his people by other equally commendable
+exploits. With the cooperation of his valiant seamen Regio Espinela and
+D. Vicenzo Lopez, he had repulsed many an aggressive manoeuver of the
+British fleet in Cuban waters, until the signing of the<a name="page_035" id="page_035"></a> peace of
+Aix-la-Chapelle. Cagigal was a personality of quite different calibre
+from Guemez. While the latter had been singularly open and sincere for a
+man in an official position, Cagigal was endowed with a suavity of
+manner which concealed his keen shrewdness. He had after the defeat of
+Admiral Vernon been created Field Marshal and was certainly the right
+man for his place.</p>
+
+<p>His inauguration occurred on the ninth of June, 1747, and from that day
+Cagigal entered upon his duties with the energy and perseverance that
+had characterized his previous career. Seriously concerned with the
+defenses of Havana, he had the battery of la Pastora finished, which had
+been begun long before him, and upon his urgent request the king ordered
+a citadel to be built on the mountain-side of la Cabana. He also had the
+Barlovento (weather-side) fleet removed from the port of Vera Cruz to
+that of Havana. The activity of the ship-building plant of Havana was
+remarkable during his administration. In the thirteen years of his
+governorship it turned out seven line ships, one frigate, one brig and
+one packet-boat and kept in steady work a great number of laborers.
+Cagigal improved the fort of la Fuerza by having a reception hall built
+on the seaward side, which was surrounded by a row of balconies. The
+interior was sumptuously decorated with medallions and escutcheons in
+bas-relief. He was much interested in the work of the Commercial Company
+which had been organized during the administration of Guemez; its
+capital at this time was nine hundred thousand pesos, with shares of one
+hundred pesos each, and there was declared in 1760 a dividend of thirty
+per cent. on each share.</p>
+
+<p>Before the signing of the peace of Aix-la-Chapelle became known in
+America there was a serious engagement between the British fleet and the
+Spanish on the twelfth of<a name="page_036" id="page_036"></a> October, 1747, a league off Havana. There
+were six vessels on each side, the Spanish under the command of General
+Andreas Reggio, the British under that of Admiral Knowles. The Spanish
+opened fire at three o'clock in the afternoon and a furious battle took
+place which lasted for full six hours. The forces of both sustained
+heavy losses, computed approximately at one thousand men on each side,
+and when the firing ceased, neither could claim a decisive victory. The
+British fleet retired and the Spanish returned to Havana.</p>
+
+<p>The efficient management of the island's affairs during the
+administrations of Guemez and Cagigal greatly stimulated the initiative
+and enterprise of the Cubans. The first coffee-trees were set out on a
+plantation in the province of Waja by D. Jose Gelabert. Brandy and other
+spirits were distilled. The armory of Vera Cruz having been removed to
+Havana, there was great activity in military circles, and D. Rodrigo de
+Torres was appointed as the first commander of the navy of Cuba.</p>
+
+<p>King Fernando VI. succeeded during the thirteen years of his reign in
+keeping out of the general European war of 1756, in which England and
+Prussia had ranged themselves against Austria, France, Russia, Sweden
+and Poland. He was intent upon building up the resources of the kingdom
+which had been drained by the wars waged by his predecessors and devoted
+his attention to promoting the agriculture, industry and commerce of
+Spain. He was fortunate in the choice of an intelligent wife and of two
+ministers whose wise counsel he could ever depend upon. The Marquis de
+Ensenada, who had risen from a peasant to a banker, financier and
+finally minister of marine, war and finance, enjoyed at first the
+unlimited confidence of the sovereign and the people, but later fell
+into disgrace, because it was discovered that he had sent<a name="page_037" id="page_037"></a> out secret
+orders to the West Indies to attack the British logwood colony on the
+Mosquito Coast. The other adviser of Fernando VI., D. Jose de Carvajal,
+was a man of quite different stamp, endowed with common sense, sound
+judgment, pure of morals and as just as he was incorruptible. But
+Fernando died without direct heir to the throne in the year 1759, and
+his brother, D. Carlos III., succeeded him.</p>
+
+<p>The solemn proclamation of King Carlos III. in the cities of Cuba was
+one of the last acts of the administration of Governor Cagigal. In the
+year 1760, he was promoted to the post of viceroy of Mexico and left the
+affairs of the government in charge of the Tenente-Rey, the King's
+Lieutenant, D. Pedro Alonso. During this provisional government there
+was erected a new sentry-house at the gate of Tierra, as is commemorated
+in the following inscription:</p>
+
+<div class="blockquot"><p>Reynando La Magesdad de Carlos III Y Siendo Gobernador Y Capitan
+General de Esta Ciudad E Isla El Coronel D. Pedro Alonso Se
+Construyo Esta Garita. Ano de 1760.</p>
+
+<p>In the reign of his Majesty Charles III. and when Colonel D. Pedro
+Alonzo was Governor and Commander-in-Chief of this town and island
+was built this sentry-box. In the year 1760.</p></div>
+
+<p>During this administration died the venerable Cuban prelate D. Juan de
+Conyedo, who as spiritual adviser to individuals and as counselor to
+prominent officials had won the love and esteem of the population as did
+the Bishop Compostela and later the popular Bishop Valdes. Conyedo's
+services to Cuba in the interest of religion, charity and education were
+invaluable. He was especially identified with the growth of Villa Clara,
+where in the year 1712 he had founded a free school for children of both
+sexes and had himself taken charge of the classes. Before he opened this
+school, the people knew absolutely<a name="page_038" id="page_038"></a> nothing besides the Christian
+doctrine, and the rudiments of reading and writing.</p>
+
+<p>The propaganda of the British war party favoring the conquest of Spanish
+America was in the meantime going on without interruption. When the
+greed of acquisition of territory is once roused in a nation, it is
+difficult to appease it. It enlists in the cause all ranks and
+professions, it employs all means, whether they answer the test of
+international justice and human equity, or not. Art, literature, science
+are harnessed in its service. It is needless to remind of a recent
+example of national mentality and morality gone astray through
+misapplied ambition. The utterances of Pope and Johnson were tame in
+comparison to the hymns of hate following the declaration of the World's
+war, still fresh in our memory.</p>
+
+<p>But, there was another side to this literary activity. It did not always
+appeal to the emotions and stir up feelings. It was also of an
+instructive kind. Just as the Dutch at the time when their attention was
+fixed upon the Spanish possessions of America wrote book upon book
+describing the coveted islands and the coasts of the continent supposed
+to hold inexhaustible riches, so did the British during the eighteenth
+century suddenly conceive an interest in Spanish America which led to
+magazine articles, pamphlets and books dealing with those lands. That
+this literature with its endless descriptions of ports and products was
+intended for the use of mariners venturing forth on legitimate or
+illegitimate business, was evident. All these writers did not fail to
+remark that Havana was the richest town in America, that it had
+magnificent churches and public buildings and that the streets were
+narrow, but clean. But their main concern was to describe the exact
+location of every bay and every harbor: Matanzas, Nipe, Puerto del
+Principe, Santiago, Baracoa,<a name="page_039" id="page_039"></a> Guantanamo, etc., and their next concern
+was to dwell upon the several products of the country, as tobacco,
+sugar, and others.</p>
+
+<p>One of the most curious books of this kind was "A Voyage to Guinea,
+Brazil and the West Indies," published in London in the year 1735. Its
+author was John Atkins, surgeon of the Royal Navy, and though it
+contained an account of a trip made by him, it very plainly revealed an
+interest in the commerce of the countries visited and in the
+possibilities they offered, which, while natural in a business man, was
+quite surprising in a member of the medical fraternity. After devoting
+considerable space to the products of these southern lands, hurricanes,
+etc., he also discourses at length upon the slave-trade and gives
+interesting glimpses of the manner in which it was conducted. "To give
+dispatch," says he, "cajole the traders with Brandy," and continues:
+"Giving way to the ridiculous Humours and Gestures of the trading
+Negroes is no small artifice for success. If you look strange and are
+niggardly of your Drams, you frighten him. Sambo is gone, he never cares
+to treat with dry lips, and as the Expenses is in English Spirits of two
+Shillings a Gallon, brought partly for this purpose, the good Humour it
+brings them into, is found discounted in the sale of goods." Speaking of
+Cuba, he calls it a very pleasant and flourishing island, the Spanish
+building and improving for posterity without dreaming, as the English
+planters do, of any other homes. But he does not fail to add, "They make
+the best Sugars in the world."</p>
+
+<p>Another publication aiming more directly at the mariners and merchants
+of Great Britain is by one Caleb Smith, called on the title page, the
+inventor of the "New Sea Quadrant." It was printed in 1740 and was a
+translation of Domingo Gonzales Carranza's description of the<a name="page_040" id="page_040"></a> coasts,
+harbors and sea-ports of the Spanish West Indies. In the curious preface
+he says:</p>
+
+<div class="blockquot"><p>"The original was brought to England by a Sympathetic prisoner who
+had been in Havana where he procured it in manuscript and presented
+it to the Editor as a Testimony of his friendship and respect,"</p></div>
+
+<p class="nind">and the dedication is addressed "to the Merchants of Great Britain, the
+Commanders of Ships, and others who were pleased to subscribe for this
+Treatise."</p>
+
+<p>Thus was the mind of the people perpetually stimulated to look beyond
+the Atlantic for lands and seas which waited to be conquered by British
+prowess; and the defeat of Vernon in Santiago was hardly heeded. In the
+meantime negotiations had been going on between the European powers and
+a convention of their representatives had met at Aix-la-Chapelle to
+settle certain disputes and sign a treaty of peace. England and Spain on
+the one and England and France on the other hand had gained nothing by
+eight years of mutual fighting, but an immense national debt. As at
+other conferences for the establishment of the world's peace much was
+said and after all little was done. For when the document known since as
+the Treaty of Aix-la-Chapelle was signed in 1748, it left some of the
+most harassing problems unsolved. Among them was the frontier of Florida
+and the right of Spanish ships to search British vessels suspected of
+smuggling. The assiente agreement, which had been found so profitable,
+was continued for four more years. In the light of later events the
+treaty was found to be only a makeshift for the moment, and did not
+prevent the outbreak of new hostilities between Great Britain and Spain
+when the ink with which the treaty was signed had barely dried on that
+document.<a name="page_041" id="page_041"></a></p>
+
+<h3><a name="CHAPTER_III" id="CHAPTER_III"></a>CHAPTER III</h3>
+
+<p>The alliances among the powers of Europe in the middle of the
+seventeenth century and the unsatisfactory settlements of some of the
+most harassing questions in dispute produced a state of unrest and
+tension throughout the world which the clever pourparlers and the
+fascinating fencing bouts of European diplomacy failed to relieve, and
+of which Cuba was destined to feel the effects. In spite of her insular
+isolation Great Britain was closely concerned with the intrigues that
+were being spun at the courts of the continent and were bound sooner or
+later to involve Europe in a new bloody conflict. She had on the one
+hand allied herself with Austria, bribing even some of the South German
+principalities to insure the election of Joseph II. to the throne of the
+Holy Roman Empire, and on the other hand with Russia, which was then a
+newcomer not yet vitally interested in the issues at stake. Both allies
+failed to keep their pledge; Austria turned away to enter into a
+confederacy with France, while Russia passed from one camp to the other.
+The growing ascendancy of Prussia under Frederick II. had long been
+watched with distrust by the immediate neighbors, but by this time even
+those whose territories seemed safe from his acquisitive aggressiveness
+were roused to the realization of the danger it foreboded.</p>
+
+<p>When Saxony and some other German states, Austria, Hungary, Sweden,
+Russia and France combined to check the Prussian's ambitious designs,
+Great Britain, Hanover, Hesse-Cassel and Brunswick became the allies of
+Frederick. Spain with remarkable firmness decided to<a name="page_042" id="page_042"></a> keep out of the
+general war which broke out in 1756 and, lasting until 1763, was to be
+known in history as The Seven Years' War. Even when Pitt, who was the
+ally of Frederick of Prussia, offered the conditional return of
+Gibraltar and the abandonment of the British settlements on the Mosquito
+Coast and in the Bay of Honduras, Fernando VI. resolutely refused to
+participate.</p>
+
+<p>By this wise policy of non-interference this king secured for Spain a
+period of peace which brought with it a prosperity it had long lacked.
+The country recovered from the losses occasioned by previous wars, and
+when Carlos III. succeeded his father, he found fifteen millions of
+dollars in the treasury. He, too, was determined to keep peace, but the
+stubborn resistance of Great Britain to any equitable settlement of the
+question in dispute between the two countries, and the continual
+violation of international justice by her mariners were hard to bear and
+sorely tried the patience of the people. Bancroft says in his history of
+the United States (Vol. III, p. 264):</p>
+
+<p>"The restitution of the merchant ships, which the English had seized
+before the war, was justly demanded. They were afloat on the ocean,
+under every guarantee of safety; they were the property of private
+citizens, who knew nothing, and could know nothing, of the diplomatic
+disputes of the two countries. The capture was unjustifiable by every
+reason of equity and public law. 'The cannon,' said Pitt, 'has settled
+the question in our favor; and, in the absence of a tribunal, this
+decision is a sentence.'"</p>
+
+<p>It is meet in this place to call attention to the literature called
+forth by Britain's colonial ambitions. Albert Savine, a French writer,
+during the Spanish-American war, wrote an interesting article in the
+<i>Revue Brittanique</i> of Paris (1898, Vol. III, pp. 167 etc.), entitled:
+"Les<a name="page_043" id="page_043"></a> Anglais dans l'ile de Cuba au dix-huitieme siecle," in which he
+refers to a History of Jamaica by Hans Sloane, published in 1740 and
+translated into French in 1751. This writer brought out the importance
+of Cuba very clearly, saying that no vessel could go to the continent
+without passing that island, that Havana was the general rendezvous of
+the fleet and that for the British to be really lords of the seas
+surrounding them, nothing was needed but Havana. Savine in discussing
+Britain's designs upon Havana, continued:</p>
+
+<p>"The reason for their attack upon Cuba was, as is seen, the commercial
+and military importance of the island, which was at that epoch
+considered a necessary stopping place, a rallying point for the vessels
+going from Spain to America and from America to Spain. To be master of
+Cuba, thought they, was to be master of the road which the Spanish
+galleons followed. This rôle of port of supply and repairs for the
+damages sustained on the sea had made of Havana since the middle of the
+sixteenth century an important arsenal and dockyard, where there were
+continually in process of construction enormous ships destined for
+travel to Spain or South America. From 1747 to 1760 they fitted out
+seven ships of line, a frigate, a brigantine, and a packet-boat. The
+vessels which at the side of our fleet at Trafalgar fought those of
+Nelson had almost all come from the yards of Havana, which used the
+excellent timber of the island, commerce in which has somewhat
+diminished in our century."</p>
+
+<p>The notes and dispatches exchanged between France and Spain on the one,
+and Britain on the other side, prove how the two were slowly forced into
+an alliance against the latter. On the fifteenth of May, France
+presented a memorial asking that England give no help to the king of
+Prussia and simultaneously a paper was presented<a name="page_044" id="page_044"></a> from Spain, demanding
+indemnity for seizure of ships, the right to fish at Newfoundland and
+the abandonment of the settlements in the Bay of Honduras. On the
+twenty-ninth, England demanded Canada, the fisheries, granting to the
+French a limited concession, unlikely to be of any use, the reduction of
+Dunkirk, half of the neutral islands; Senegal and Goree, which was
+equivalent to a monopoly of the slave trade; Minorca; freedom to give
+help to the king of Prussia; and British supremacy in East India. On the
+fifteenth of August, the French minister Choiseul concluded with Spain
+what was called a family compact, rallying all the Bourbons to check the
+arrogance of Britain. On the same day a special agreement was reached
+between France and Spain, empowering the latter, unless peace were
+concluded between France and England before the first of May, 1762, to
+declare war against England.</p>
+
+<p>Guiteras in his "Historia de la Isla de Cuba" has set forth the position
+of Spain at this time and her relation to France, which led to the
+famous alliance known as the Family Pact. He says justly, that the
+general interests of the nation demanded from Carlos III. the
+continuation of the strict neutrality which his brother had pursued in
+this war; for by that neutrality the commerce and general welfare of
+Spain had derived great benefits. But personal motives of resentment
+against England and of esteem and gratitude for Louis XV. predominated
+in his mind against the serious reasons of state and the advantages to
+his subjects, and the voluminous correspondence carried on between him
+and the king of France made him deeply share the humiliation of the
+principal branch of his family under the triumph of British arms. These
+sentiments and other motives finally gave birth to the treaty which was
+concluded between the two sovereigns on the fifteenth<a name="page_045" id="page_045"></a> of August, 1761,
+and which was a defensive and offensive alliance of the two countries
+with the object of creating between them firm and lasting bonds for the
+mutual protection of their interests, and thus to secure on a solid
+basis the internal prosperity of the two kingdoms and the predominance
+of the house of Bourbon among the princes of Europe.</p>
+
+<p>It was agreed to consider henceforth as a common enemy any government
+that would declare war against either of the two kingdoms and
+reciprocally to guarantee the dominions they possessed at the conclusion
+of the war, in which France saw herself involved; to lend each other aid
+at sea and on land, and not to listen to or enter into any settlement
+with the enemies of both crowns unless so done with common accord. For
+as much in peace as in war they had to consider the identified interests
+of the two nations, compensate their losses and divide their respective
+acquisitions and operate as though the two peoples were one, by granting
+to the subjects of both kingdoms in their European dominions the
+enjoyment of the same privileges as those of their native subjects; and,
+finally, to admit to participation in this treaty only such countries as
+were ruled by sovereigns of the House of Bourbon.</p>
+
+<p>As Spain was by this treaty compelled to break with Great Britain, they
+awaited only the arrival of the galleons from South America in order to
+provide for the security of their commerce and territory, and that of
+their distant possessions. Then would be the moment to make known the
+consummation of this alliance and to begin hostilities against the
+common enemy. But somehow Britain anticipated the designs of Spain, for
+the French with their characteristic impatience had divulged the secret
+in their communications to foreign courts, and a lively correspondence
+ensued between the countries, soon<a name="page_046" id="page_046"></a> to be arrayed against each other in
+the war Carlos III. had so zealously wished to avoid. But there was no
+doubt in the minds of the Spanish king and his cabinet, that the British
+policy was one solely of conquest, that Britain recognized no other law
+than the aggrandizement of her power on land and her universal despotism
+on the ocean. Nor could it be doubted by any impartial onlooker that
+Britain had long cast covetous eyes upon the Spanish possessions in
+America, and had for a long time given Spain sufficient cause for
+grievance. The audacity of her privateers and pirates in their attacks
+upon the West Indies had not been forgotten; the colonies especially had
+reason to remember the numerous and criminal outrages to which they had
+been subjected at the hands of men openly or covertly breaking treaties
+that had been made and accepted by the two nations for the mutual
+protection of their merchantmen at sea. The leniency of Britain in
+dealing with the most notorious pirate of all, the scoundrel Morgan,
+whom she allowed to settle under the protection of her flag in Jamaica,
+to rise to social prominence, to be appointed to public offices of
+importance, and whom her king had finally distinguished by conferring
+upon him knighthood, had always been felt as acts of defiance.</p>
+
+<p>In the rapid exchange of notes during the period when the rupture
+between the two powers was daily coming nearer the suavity of diplomatic
+language was sometimes discarded for rather plain speech. When Britain
+proposed some regulations of the privileges of the British to cut
+logwood in Campeche, the king of Spain, through his minister, Wall,
+replied in a dispatch:</p>
+
+<p>"The evacuation of the logwood establishment is offered, if his Catholic
+majesty will assure to the English the logwood! He who avows that he has
+entered another man's house to seize his jewels says, 'I will go out of
+your<a name="page_047" id="page_047"></a> house, if you will first give me what I am come to seize!'"</p>
+
+<p>This drastic comparison enraged Pitt and he decided upon even more
+stringent measures to humiliate Spain and crush her power in America.
+But in the meantime the party in parliament that had steadily opposed
+him succeeded in its propaganda against him, and he was forced to
+retire. However, the feelings had run too high, the hostility on both
+sides had assumed such proportions that war was inevitable. The British
+were more than ever bent upon pursuing their acquisitions in America,
+regardless of France and Spain; and the Spanish were unanimous in their
+hatred of the aggressor.</p>
+
+<p>The year 1762 opened for the powers concerned in this conflict with the
+declaration of war upon Spain by King George III. on the fourth of
+January. This was promptly followed on the sixteenth of the same month
+by a declaration of war upon Britain by King Carlos III. Thus was the
+die cast, and both governments at once set about to make extensive
+preparations for military and naval action. Fortune seemed to favor the
+British; for George Rodney, the gifted naval officer, who was to
+distinguish himself during the war between Britain and her colonies by
+his daring and successful operations against the French and Spanish
+fleets in the West Indian waters, was at that time in the neighborhood
+of what was to be the scene of action. He had with a fleet of sixteen
+ships of line and thirteen frigates, carrying an army of twelve thousand
+men under Monckton, arrived at Martinique and laid siege to the colony
+which France cherished most among her island possessions in America.
+After five weeks, it was forced to surrender. A number of other islands
+followed, until all the outer Caribbeans from St. Domingo towards the
+continent of South America were in the possession of the British.<a name="page_048" id="page_048"></a></p>
+
+<p>Naturally the attention of the British government was immediately fixed
+upon Havana. This being the most important military post of New Spain,
+its conquest promised to close the passage of the ocean to the Spanish
+ships carrying away from America its inexhaustible treasures for the
+sole enrichment of the crown of Spain. It meant also opening that and
+other ports of the Spanish West Indies to British navigation, and lastly
+it was to be only the beginning of operations which ultimately were to
+include the conquest of other possessions of Spain in that part of the
+world. The honor of conceiving the project has been conceded to Admiral
+Knowles, who had submitted his plan to the Duke of Cumberland; but
+although the latter recommended it to the ministry, the plan of the
+invasion, which had been simultaneously submitted by Lord Anson, chief
+of the board of Admiralty, and which was almost identical with that of
+Knowles, was the one finally adopted. In order to divert the attention
+of the enemy from the true object of the expedition, a rumor was
+circulated that the forces were destined for Santo Domingo, which seemed
+quite plausible, this island being nearer to Martinique than to Cuba,
+and one half of it belonging to France, the other to Spain. <i>The London
+Gazette</i> of January ninth corroborated this statement by the
+announcement that the English army was bound for the Antilles.</p>
+
+<p>George III. entrusted the Duke of Cumberland with the task of selecting
+the chiefs who were to be placed at the head of the enterprise, and his
+choice fell upon the following: Lieutenant-General Keppel, Earl of
+Albemarle, for general-in-chief of the land forces, and Admiral Sir
+George Pococke for the command of the squadron. The latter and a
+division of four thousand men gathered in Portsmouth and orders were
+given to General<a name="page_049" id="page_049"></a> Monckton to hold the forces which had gone to the
+conquest of Martinique and Guadeloupe ready for the arrival of Admiral
+Pococke. The authorities in Jamaica and the British colonies of North
+America were ordered to prepare two divisions, the first of two thousand
+men, the latter of four thousand. The British command staked everything
+upon a surprise attack. Fear that information of the rupture between the
+two countries might have reached Cuba, caused no little anxiety to Lord
+Albemarle and Admiral Pococke. The expedition narrowly escaped an
+encounter with the squadron of M. de Blenac, who had left Brest in aid
+of Martinique with seven vessels and four frigates and a sufficient
+force to have saved that colony, had he come in time. Unfortunately he
+arrived in sight of Martinique only after the surrender of Fort Royal,
+and on hearing that the island was in possession of the British, he
+altered his course and turned towards Cape France, leaving the passage
+free for Admiral Pococke and his fleet.</p>
+
+<p>Upon his arrival in Martinique, Lord Albemarle took command of all the
+forces assembled on the island and found that his army consisted of
+twelve thousand men. He divided them into five brigades and formed
+besides them two bodies, one of four companies of light infantry brought
+from England, and one battalion of grenadiers under the command of
+Colonel Guy Carleton, and placed two other battalions of grenadiers
+under the command of William Howe. He also ordered the purchase of four
+thousand negroes in Martinique and other islands, who were incorporated
+into a company with six thousand negroes of Jamaica. When all these
+preparations had been made, the forces that were to take part in the
+siege of Havana were under orders of the following commanders:</p>
+
+<p>Lord Albemarle, Commander-in-chief.<a name="page_050" id="page_050"></a></p>
+
+<p>Lieutenant-General George August Eliot, second chief.</p>
+
+<p>Field Marshals: John Lafanfille and the Hon. William Keppel.</p>
+
+<p>Brigadiers: William Haviland, Francis Grant, John Reid, Andrew Lord
+Rollo and Hunt Walsh.</p>
+
+<p>Adjutant-General: Hon. Col. William Howe; second;&mdash;Lieutenant-Colonel
+Dudley Ackland.</p>
+
+<p>Quartermaster General: Col. Guy Carleton; sub-delegate:&mdash;Major Nevinson
+Poole.</p>
+
+<p>Secretary of the general-in-chief: Lieutenant-Colonel John Hale.</p>
+
+<p>Engineer-chief: Lieutenant-Colonel Patrick MacKellar.</p>
+
+<p>Chief of the Military Health Board and of the medical corps: Sir Clifton
+Wintringham; sub-delegate: Richard Hunck and a staff of three
+physicians, four surgeons, four druggists and forty-four attendants.</p>
+
+<p>A month passed in concluding the details of this well-elaborated plan.
+Finally on the sixth of May Admiral Pococke started from Martinique in
+the direction of the Paso de la Mano, where he was joined on the eighth
+by the division of Captain Hervey, who was blocking the squadron of
+Admiral de Blenac at Cape France; on the seventeenth they arrived at
+Cape Nicolas and on the twenty-third they met the Jamaica fleet under
+command of Sir James Douglas. The British naval forces, including these
+two divisions and the one that later arrived from North America,
+consisted of fifty-three warships of various kinds with a crew of ten
+thousand eight hundred men, and a great number of transports, among them
+two hundred vessels carrying provisions, hospital supplies, ammunition,
+etc. When the manner of conducting the expedition was at last decided
+upon, the fleet ordered to take<a name="page_051" id="page_051"></a> part in the siege of Havana was
+composed of the following vessels:</p>
+
+<p>The Admiral ship <i>Namur</i> of fifty cannons; <i>Cambridge</i> of eighty;
+<i>Valiant</i>; <i>Culloden</i>; <i>Temerare</i>; <i>Dragon</i>; <i>Centaur</i>; and <i>Dublin</i> of
+seventy-four; <i>Marlborough</i> and <i>Temple</i> of seventy; <i>Oxford</i> and
+<i>Devonshire</i> of sixty-six; <i>Belleisle</i>; <i>Edgar</i>; <i>Alcide</i>; <i>Hampton
+Court</i>; and <i>Sterling Castle</i> of sixty-four; <i>Pembroke</i>; <i>Rippon</i>;
+<i>Nottingham</i>; <i>Defense</i>; and <i>Intrepid</i> of sixty; <i>Centurion</i>;
+<i>Depford</i>; <i>Sutherland</i>; and <i>Hampshire</i> of fifty; the frigates
+<i>Penzance</i>, <i>Dover</i> and <i>Enterprise</i> of forty; <i>Richmond</i> and <i>Alarm</i> of
+thirty-two; <i>Echo</i>, <i>Lizard</i>, <i>Trent</i>, <i>Cerberus</i> and <i>Boreas</i> of
+twenty-eight; <i>Mercury</i> of twenty-four; <i>Rose</i>, <i>Portmahon</i>, <i>Forvey</i>
+and <i>Glasgow</i> of twenty; <i>Bonetta</i>, <i>Cygnet</i> and <i>Merle</i> of sixteen; the
+schooner <i>Porcupine</i> of sixteen, <i>Barbadoes</i>, <i>Viper</i>, <i>Port Royal</i>,
+<i>Lurcher</i> and <i>Ferret</i> of fourteen, and the bomb-vessels <i>Thunder</i>,
+<i>Grenade</i> and <i>Basilisk</i>, each of eight cannons.</p>
+
+<p>Of such formidable dimensions were, according to Guiteras, the
+preparations made by Britain for the attack upon Havana. Little is heard
+of corresponding steps taken by her opponents. France was too exhausted
+to indulge in great expenditures of money or men. Spain was curiously
+unconcerned. The possibility of an attack upon Havana was discussed in
+Madrid, but the Spanish minister Grimaldi could not be made to believe
+that it might be successful. Cuba, too, little suspected what was in
+store for her. The new governor appointed to take the place of Cagigal,
+when the latter was promoted to the vice-regency of Mexico, was the
+Field Marshal D. Juan Prado y Portocasso. Before the consummation of the
+Family Pact, in March, 1670, King Carlos III. had told Prado of the
+menacing attitude of Britain and had warned<a name="page_052" id="page_052"></a> him of the possibility of a
+rupture. He counted upon him to reorganize the island from a military
+point of view. Nevertheless Prado did not immediately after his
+appointment sail for Cuba, but lingered six more months in Spain, and,
+when he arrived on the island, wasted another month in a visit to his
+friend Madriaga, the governor of Santiago. He did not arrive in Havana
+until January, 1761. Valdes gives July as the month of his inauguration
+which seems improbable.<a name="page_053" id="page_053"></a></p>
+
+<h3><a name="CHAPTER_IV" id="CHAPTER_IV"></a>CHAPTER IV</h3>
+
+<p>When Prado took charge of the governorship, he immediately proceeded to
+build quarters for the reenforcement of dragoons which were to be sent
+over from Spain, and for that purpose engaged sixty galley-slaves from
+Vera Cruz. He also began work on the fortifications of Cabanas under the
+direction of the excellent engineer Francois Ribaut de Tirgale. But a
+second consignment of galley-slaves in June brought to Havana the
+"vomito negro," the yellow fever, of which Siam had made a gift to
+Mexico in 1713 and which so far had been unknown in Cuba. Physicians
+being unfamiliar with the terrible scourge, all remedies proved of no
+avail. Within three months eighteen hundred men of the garrison and the
+fleet succumbed to the disease. The hospitals were filled with the sick,
+and work on the important public constructions was suspended. Engineer
+Tirgale was one of the first stricken. He was succeeded by his brother
+Balthazar, but he himself was sick and had such insufficient and
+inadequate help that he was much handicapped in his work. New
+difficulties having arisen with the vigueros, or tobacco-planters, Prado
+convoked the Junta which agreed to fix the process, the quantity and the
+brands of tobacco which the General Factory was to receive from the
+planters.</p>
+
+<p class="figcenter">
+<a href="images/pg54x_lg.jpg">
+<img src="images/pg54x_lg.jpg" width="581" height="374" alt="THE OLD ESPADA CEMETERY, HAVANA, 1750" title="THE OLD ESPADA CEMETERY, HAVANA, 1750" /></a>
+
+<br /><span class="caption">THE OLD ESPADA CEMETERY, HAVANA, 1750</span>
+</p>
+
+<p>Thus was the whole year 1761 wasted, while the signs of the impending
+outbreak multiplied and the danger of the dreaded invasion came nearer
+and nearer. On the sixteenth of January, war was declared and only on
+the twenty-sixth of February did the news reach Prado, for<a name="page_054" id="page_054"></a> the vessel
+carrying the dispatches of the Spanish government had been captured by
+the tender of the <i>Dublin</i>. He called at once a meeting of the council
+and asked for one thousand veterans to replace the losses which the
+troops had sustained through the epidemic. He also demanded that he be
+furnished four thousand rounds of powder. The army that he could muster
+in the eventuality of an invasion did not number at that time more than
+four thousand six hundred men. Yet Prado could not be roused from a
+curious apathy that possessed him and that made him again lapse into the
+indolence of Creole life. It seemed impossible for him to realize that
+anybody would dare to attempt what neither Hossier, nor Vernon, nor
+Knowles had dared. M. de Blenac, who commanded a French fleet charged
+with the protection of Santo Domingo, and Prado's friend Madriaga were
+equally unsuspecting. Had the former come to an understanding with the
+commander of the Royal Spanish transports, they<a name="page_055" id="page_055"></a> might have surprised
+the British in the straits of Bahama and averted the disaster.</p>
+
+<p>On the twenty first of May, a business man from Santiago, Martin de
+Arana, who had been on an errand to Kingston and in his patriotic
+anxiety perceived the armaments and supplies that were being collected
+there, came to Havana to inform the government. Reluctantly Governor
+Prado consented to an interview with this man who had braved the sea
+voyage and suffered privations to save his country from the menacing
+attack. The attitude of the people as soon as the news spread was
+commendable. The sugar-planters promised their negroes freedom if they
+joined the troops of defense and the clergy went about rousing the
+spirit of the people to action. Bishop Pedro Agustino Morell of Santa
+Cruz did admirable work. He had during the expedition of Edward Vernon
+traversed the country on horseback, and stirred the people to resist the
+invaders. Beloved by his parishioners, whom he inspired with his zeal,
+he had for twenty years preached the holy war against the enemies of his
+native soil. His generosity and his self-denial knew no bounds. The word
+of such a man at such a moment had weight and the people were ready to
+go to any length of sacrifice; but the man at the head of the government
+seemed oblivious to the gravity of the situation and did nothing
+efficiently to prepare the defense of the city. Prado presided at the
+meetings of the War Junta which failed to suit the action of the word
+and wasted time in heated discussions. This War Council consisted of the
+"Marquès" of the Royal Transports, the honorary marine quartermaster, D.
+Juan Montalvo, Col. del Rio D. Alejandro Arroyo, the engineer D.
+Balthasar Ricaut, and the captains of the vessels anchored in the bay.
+Later it was joined by the Lieutenant-General D. Jose Manso de<a name="page_056" id="page_056"></a> Velasco,
+the former viceroy of Peru, the Field Marshal D. Diego Tabares,
+ex-governor of Cartagena, and the Lieutenant-General Conde de Superanda,
+then visiting Havana. The council did not heed the warning of D. Martin
+de Arana, the Santiago trader, any more than did Governor Prado.</p>
+
+<p>In the meantime the British fleet was approaching through the straits of
+Bahama, clear of purpose, strong of will, and bent upon conquest. An
+interesting document of that event is "An Authentic Journal of the Siege
+of the Havana By an Officer. Printed in London MDCCLXII. Reprinted in
+Dublin, by Boulton Grierson, Printer to the King's Most Excellent
+Majesty." That record of the expedition had evidently for its author a
+man of sound judgment and is imbued throughout with a rare sense of
+justice towards British and Spanish alike. Spanish authorities, among
+them Blanchet, give the number of line ships in the fleet as twenty-six,
+fifteen frigates and an infinite number of smaller vessels, and about
+twenty thousand combatants. The author of the journal reports nineteen
+ships of the line, about eighteen frigates, sloops, and other vessels
+and one hundred and fifty transports with ten thousand troops. The
+commander of the fleet was Sir George Pococke, Knight of the Bath,
+Admiral of the Blue, etc., and the commander of the troops,
+Lieutenant-General Earl of Albemarle. The witness writes that they left
+Cape Nicolas, northwest of Hispaniola, on the twenty-seventh of May and
+sailed in seven divisions through the old straits of Bahama&mdash;"an
+undertaking far superior to anything we know in our times, or read of in
+the past, as few ships care to go through this passage at any time, much
+less such a fleet, destitute of pilots that professed any knowledge of
+it and almost of any information of the passage that could be relied
+on."<a name="page_057" id="page_057"></a> He goes on to say that "frigates, smaller vessels and even the
+great ships' boats were sent ahead and so distributed on both shores,
+with such proper and well adapted signals for day and night, that not
+only reconciled every one to the dangers and risk of so hazardous an
+undertaking, but almost ensured our success. We were often in sight of
+the keys or shoals on each side."</p>
+
+<p>In the first days of June some of the British ships engaged in a fight
+with and took a Spanish frigate of twenty-four guns and a smaller vessel
+of eighteen guns, a brig and a schooner, all of which had sailed ten
+days before from Havana for timber. Through the crews of these vessels,
+the British learned that at the time of their sailing the people of
+Havana had not yet been informed of the declaration of war. On the fifth
+of June the fleet cleared the straits and the next day was off Puerto de
+Terrara, about thirty-six miles windward of Havana. Colonel Carleton and
+Colonel Howe went to reconnoitre the coast for landing. The siege of
+Morro Castle was left to Commodore Keppel. "The Admiral went himself
+with the rest of the fleet off the harbor, to block up the enemy's ships
+and in order to more effectually draw the attention of the enemy that
+way, took with him all the victualling ships, store ships and
+transports, whose troops had over night been put in those men-of-war
+appointed for securing the landing." By daylight the troops were in the
+flat and other boats, and Captain Hervey gave the signal for descent on
+the sandy beach between Boconao and Cojimar. The enemy had thrown up
+small breastworks near the old tower commanding the mouth of Boconao and
+attempted a defense, but was soon dispersed by fire from two ships
+anchored close to shore. At three o'clock in the afternoon the army was
+on shore and began to advance toward the Morro, five miles away, along a
+road which had a thick<a name="page_058" id="page_058"></a> wood to the left and the sea to the right. The
+ten guns of the old stone fort of Cojimar were soon silenced by the
+<i>Dragon</i>, anchored close by. Two and a half miles from the Morro the
+British lay down for the night upon their arms in a heavy rain.</p>
+
+<p>While the British were continuing their advance upon Havana, the
+authorities of the Cuban metropolis were deliberating in the sessions of
+the War Junta, and the Governor was still unconvinced of the serious
+intention of the British, this time determined not to rest until Havana
+was in their possession. Valdes reports that this state of affairs
+lasted until on the sixth of June there appeared on the weather-side
+about two hundred and fifty vessels. Everybody but Governor Prado was
+convinced that they had come ready to fight. He supposed them to be a
+flotilla come from Jamaica to discharge their cargo. Nevertheless he
+went that morning to the Morro to observe the movements of the armada.
+He found the garrison under arms by order of the royal lieutenant D.
+Dionisio Soler. Much vexed by what he considered exaggerated fear and
+suspicion, he rescinded the order and commanded the soldiers to return
+to their quarters. That afternoon, however, the report came from the
+Morro, that the fleet had arrived and was preparing to land troops.</p>
+
+<p class="figcenter">
+<a href="images/cabanas_lg.jpg">
+<img src="images/cabanas_sml.jpg" width="550" height="353" alt="LAUREL DITCH, CABANAS FORTRESS" title="LAUREL DITCH, CABANAS FORTRESS" /></a>
+</p>
+
+<div class="blockill"><p class="c">LAUREL DITCH, CABANAS FORTRESS</p>
+
+<p>The Cabanas fortress stands near the Morro Castle, at the eastern side
+of the entrance to the harbor of Havana, and ranks with the Morro and La
+Punta, on the western headland, as one of the historic fortifications of
+the capital. Like the Morro Castle, it was used by the Spaniards as a
+prison, and the Laurel Ditch, under its landward walls, was the scene of
+many a martyrdom of Cuban patriots. Here men and boys innumerable,
+during the years of Cuba's struggles to be free, were lined up to be
+shot, until the massive wall was thickly pitted with the marks of
+bullets fired not at the foes but at the friends of Cuba.</p></div>
+
+<p>The consternation of the inhabitants can be imagined when suddenly the
+bells began to ring and the cannons to thunder. The people rushed out of
+their houses. Some were armed; but the greater part had no weapons and
+hurried to the Sala Real, where fifteen hundred guns were stored away
+with some old carabines, swords, bayonets, and other weapons, mostly out
+of order and too old to be of any use. They were quickly distributed
+among the people. The war council assembled. The governor, the Royal
+Lieutenant, the General of the Navy, the Marques<a name="page_059" id="page_059"></a> of the Royal
+Transports, the Commissary D. Lorenzo Montalvo and the distinguished
+visitors, the Commander-in-Chief Conde de Superanda and Field Marshal D.
+Diego Tabares were present. It was decided to charge Colonel D. Carlos
+Caro with the task of opposing and preventing the enemy's debarkation at
+Cojimar and Boconao, and to collect the cavalry of that place, a few
+companies of infantry, militia and lancers, in all about three thousand
+men, at this point. La Cabanas was rapidly supplied with artillery. But
+in the meantime the enemy, according to the testimony of a British
+officer's journal, had already landed troops and overcome the resistance
+of the very places to the support of which these forces were sent!</p>
+
+<p>The military defense of Havana, as described by Blanchet, presented a
+sorry spectacle. It consisted of eight hundred and ten cavalry, three
+thousand five hundred infantry, three hundred artillery, nine thousand
+marines and fourteen thousand militia. The armament of these troops was
+insufficient in quantity and inferior in quality. Twelve vessels were
+anchored in the port. The entrance was protected by the Morro with
+fourteen cannons, the battery of the Doce Apostoles with twelve guns,
+that of the Divina Pastora with fourteen guns and the fort of la Punta.
+In the city there were the twenty two guns of la Fuerza, the residence
+of the Captain-General, and the depository of the royal estates. The
+condition of the walls was unsatisfactory. The town was dominated by
+fortified heights, which, however, were very accessible. It is not
+difficult to imagine the state of the people when the news reached the
+town that Cojimar and Boconao had fallen. When on the following day
+General Eliot defeated D. Luis Rasave and took Guanabacoa, Colonel Caro,
+who had been little more than a spectator, retired to Havana. The
+population was in a panic.<a name="page_060" id="page_060"></a></p>
+
+<p>The war council then entrusted the defense of the Morro to D. Luis
+Vicente Velasco, a native of Villa de Noja in Santander and commander of
+the vessel <i>La Reina</i>. Defenses were hurriedly put up at Chorrera and
+Cabanas. All residents unable to bear arms were advised to leave the
+city. Soon a procession of women and children and members of the
+religious orders of both sexes, with here and there the calash of some
+wealthy family, were seen to proceed along the roads radiating from the
+city towards the suburbs and the more remote haciendas, under the
+protection of a detachment of troops. It was a heartrending picture to
+see these crowds, trudging along on foot in the cruel heat of the
+tropical sun, on roads almost impassable from recent rains. Many
+succumbed to the hardships of this exodus. Others were dumb with terror
+as they realized that they might never again see their fathers, brothers
+and husbands. Again others gave vent to their high-strung emotions by
+loud wails. About the time this evacuation took place, fire was set to
+the suburbs outside of the city walls and unspeakable was the distress
+of innumerable unfortunate families, who in the face of foreign invasion
+saw their homes reduced to ashes.</p>
+
+<p>A part of the British fleet was seen sailing at this time towards the
+leeward part of the island with the manifest intention of making another
+landing. The population was dazed. Some men rushed out to defend their
+homes and their women, but the greater number was so overcome by the
+calamity confronting them, that their wills seemed paralyzed and they
+dumbly awaited the blow that was coming. The next day the work of
+fortifying la Cabanas began in such an exposed place on the border of
+the city that rifle bullets could reach the Plaza de los Armas. The
+construction of a trench was also begun. It was intended to hold one
+hundred cannon, but after<a name="page_061" id="page_061"></a> nine or ten had been mounted, the war council
+changed its plan, ordered the destruction of the trench and had the
+artillery brought down. This was done in the night of the ninth of June
+and fire was set to some houses on the hill. The people were startled by
+this surprising procedure and began not only to grumble, but to talk of
+treason.</p>
+
+<p>As the British fleet was then menacing the port, the three vessels,
+<i>Neptune</i>, <i>Europa</i> and <i>Asia</i>, were concentrated in the canal of the
+entrance. With the huge iron beams that closed it and the artillery of
+the harbor, they acted like forts securing its safety. It seemed as if
+these land batteries could prevent the landing of any enemy vessel. But
+the war council wanted to improve upon this measure and decided to sink
+<i>Neptune</i> and <i>Europa</i>, during the hurried execution of which order two
+sailors were drowned. Still bent upon what seemed an improvement, two
+days later the <i>Asia</i>, too, was sunk. The British, supposing the port to
+be closed, anchored along the coast, landed five thousand men and after
+defeating the land forces, the fleet entered the canal without
+encountering serious obstacles. But the Spanish authorities continued to
+commit more blunders. Appointing as commanders of the land-forces
+officers of the fleet, the army of course resented this as an insult.
+The task of mobilizing the troops was entrusted to D. Juan Ignacio de
+Madriaga; the defense of el Morro had been given to D. Luis Vicente de
+Velasco, whose second was D. Bartolome Montes, and that of la Punta to
+D. Manuel Briseno, who was soon relieved by D. Fernando de Lortia.
+Almost all the army posts were occupied by officers of the fleet. The
+reasons for these measures which seemed absolutely senseless in view of
+the critical situation, were hotly discussed and some malicious tongues
+asserted that the object of this<a name="page_062" id="page_062"></a> curious disposition was to prevent the
+fleet from making its escape.</p>
+
+<p>On the tenth of June a British division moved from the leeward part of
+the fort of Chorrera, a short distance from the port, with the object of
+landing troops. They met with greater resistance than they had reason to
+expect; for the defense was here aided by the loyal executor D. Luis de
+Aguiar, who had been appointed Colonel of the militia. All day his men
+fought bravely; they consisted of whites and negroes. They expected a
+supply of powder and ammunition from an official of Guadeloupe, but he
+by mistake had delivered them at la Caleta. Finally their stock gave
+out, and, obeying the order of a superior officer, Aguiar withdrew his
+troops with little loss. The British then advanced about three thousand
+men strong, until they reached the hill of San Lazaro, where they dug
+trenches and prepared a new encampment. They also occupied and fortified
+the height of the caves, called Taganana, where they mounted three
+cannon and two large mortars. With two vessels, armed with bombs, in the
+small bay, the fire they kept up helped the camp on the weather-side, at
+which the chief force was concentrated. They then proceeded to erect
+batteries on the height of la Cabanas and were at first much molested
+during their work by Aguiar, Chacon and the guerilla Pepe Antonio, who
+had collected a force at that point. A detachment of militia under the
+command of Captain D. Pedro de Morales was sent to reenforce them, but
+on the next day he was surprised by the British, who thus came into
+possession of this important place.</p>
+
+<p>In the meantime, the British expedition was beginning to suffer much
+from incessant rains, alternating with excessive heat. Their work was
+retarded as much by the weather as by the physical condition of their
+forces, which<a name="page_063" id="page_063"></a> began to suffer from the climate and fatigue. The
+resistance of the Cubans was increasing in proportion as the enemy drew
+near. During the last days of June, Colonel D. Alejandro de Arroyo
+landed a body of six hundred men at Pastora battery. Simultaneously the
+naval lieutenant D. Francisco de Corral placed three hundred men at
+Norno de Barba. The plan was to spike up the enemy's artillery. But
+laudable as was the ambition of the commanders, their ability of
+achievement was not in proportion. Their forces, too, were sadly
+inferior in number to those of the British. The Captain of the infantry
+of the fleet, D. Manuel de Frias, was made prisoner, three hundred of
+his troops were killed and forty men wounded. The force of Col. Arroyo
+also sustained heavy losses, especially the grenadiers of Arrajon.</p>
+
+<p>A council held at el Morro resulted in the election by the commanders of
+D. Luis Vicente de Velasco as their head and chief. No man was more able
+or worthy to fill this responsible position. Untiring in his efforts to
+defend the fortress, Velasco resolutely and capably endeavored to foil
+the enemy's designs. But he was out-numbered and the danger grew daily
+nearer. Though at a great loss to their forces, the British forged ahead
+and surrounded Velasco with a continuous fire. With the port closed to
+the Cuban squadron they were free to place their cannon as they went
+along. The rain of bullets, bombs and grenades was incessant and the
+breakdown of the bastions inevitable. The garrison seemed to be doomed.
+The commander declared that it would not be possible to maintain his
+position without some aid from the camp, but while the walls were being
+gradually destroyed by the enemy, he did not venture a well organized
+sortie. On the first of July el Morro was attacked by the batteries
+which the British had planted on el Cabanas and<a name="page_064" id="page_064"></a> the fire from three
+vessels, among them the <i>Cambridge</i> and the <i>Dragon</i>. The valor of
+Velasco inspired his troops, pathetically small in comparison with those
+of the British. After seven hours of the hottest fire, the <i>Cambridge</i>
+and the <i>Dragon</i> were so badly battered that they were forced to the
+rear. The British lost three hundred men, among them Captain Goostree of
+the <i>Cambridge</i>. So fierce had been the resistance offered by Velasco
+and the few cannon at his disposal, that the British camp, which had
+been pouring a rain of bombs on el Morro, finally ceased firing. So the
+honor of this day belonged to the Spanish commander.</p>
+
+<p>It is interesting at this point to revert to the journal of the British
+officer, who took part in this memorable siege of Havana. After
+reporting under date of July third that their great battery had caught
+fire, he continues on the following day:</p>
+
+<p>"The Morro was now found to be tougher work and the Spaniards more
+resolute than was at first imagined. Our people grew fatigued by the
+heat and hard labour and the want of water near them was a sensible
+distress, and the disappointment of the Morro's not being reduced so
+speedily as at first they were made to hope, helped to depress the
+spirits of the weak and low minds; but we found every want relieved and
+amply made up for by the Admiral's attention, not only to supply every
+article that could be asked, but by his own sagacity, foreseeing and his
+precaution providing everything we could want."</p>
+
+<p>During the following days the British seem to have suffered much from
+the climate. The writer of the journal records that the men in general
+"fall down with fevers and fluxes, but few are carried off by them."
+Admiral Keppel was much weakened by illness and fatigue, but<a name="page_065" id="page_065"></a> this
+discouraging entry is followed immediately by a cheerier note, dated
+July 8th and 9th:</p>
+
+<p>"Every one was exerting himself in his different station and with such
+zeal as gave fresh hopes to our undertaking, notwithstanding the
+melancholy scene of the infinite number of sick and the apprehension of
+the approaching hurricane season."</p>
+
+<p>The British had begun to realize the failure of the naval attempt to
+reduce el Morro. They tried to fortify themselves in the harbor and
+established the lee-shore camp on the slope of Aroztegui, the same on
+which El Principe was situated. From this point they undertook many
+movements, but were always driven back. In spite of these temporary and
+local successes the Cuban authorities now fully realized that their
+situation was almost hopeless and devised various measures to stay the
+progress of the enemy. The magistrates D. Luis de Aguiar and D. Laureane
+Chacon were made colonels of the militia. They decided to stop the
+forays and attacks from that encampment, and D. Aguiar established
+himself in the Horon and tried to dislodge the enemy from various points
+to which they had penetrated. His undertaking was successful, as was
+proved by the number of prisoners taken. The hostile forces at Taganana,
+however, did much mischief and he resolved to attack them on the night
+of the eighteenth of July. His troops consisted of peasants and negro
+slaves and fought so effectively, that he was able to send to the
+fortress eighteen prisoners, including an officer and many trophies. The
+governor was so elated by this success that he gave one hundred and four
+negro slaves, that had taken part, their liberty.</p>
+
+<p>The British officer in his journal alludes in the entries of these days
+to the heavy losses sustained by the British,<a name="page_066" id="page_066"></a> but dwells more upon the
+ravages caused by disease. The sick list increasing, the guards had to
+be reduced. The necessity of having a supply of fresh meat for the
+invalids and convalescents worried them much. They had counted upon
+getting it from Santiago and Bejucal, where the rich plantations and
+pastures were, and a monastery that promised rich loot. But D. Laureane
+Chacon anticipated their movements in that direction. He concentrated
+some troops four leagues leeward from Wajay, and thus not only checked
+their progress, but by his persistent opposition weakened their forces.</p>
+
+<p>Many of the smaller actions that were undertaken against the British by
+the Cubans were by volunteer forces recruited by veteran fighters, who
+had not been associated with the army proper, and their manner of waging
+war was of the kind called guerrilla warfare. Nevertheless they did
+active and efficient work and had they not been hindered and restrained
+by orders from the regulars, they might have accomplished much more. The
+Lieutenant Diego Ruiz lost his life in such an enterprise. Another
+famous guerrilla, the valiant fighter known as Pepe Antonio, had won the
+esteem of the whole army by his courage. He had collected a force of
+three hundred men and was planning an ambitious assault upon the enemy,
+when he was called to report to Colonel Caro, who commanded the
+encampment at Jesus del Monte and San Juan. Colonel Caro, who had not
+during the siege distinguished himself by any extraordinary
+achievements, not only censured Pepe Antonio severely, but discharged
+him. The valiant patriot hero of many daring exploits was so grieved by
+this injustice that he died within five days.</p>
+
+<p>Among these side plays of the great siege an expedition led by Colonel
+Gutierrez had some successful encounters<a name="page_067" id="page_067"></a> with the British. D. Luis de
+Aguiar and D. Laureane Chacon, too, who had gathered under their command
+the brave youths of the country side, were untiring in their efforts to
+weaken the British. They prevented them from establishing a cordon and
+cutting communication with the fort and were themselves enabled
+uninterruptedly to secure provisions and supplies with which to carry on
+their operations. Less fortunate was the attack upon Cabanas by D. Juan
+Benito Lujan with a thousand militia men from the interior of the
+island. At daybreak, on the twenty-second of July, according to the
+British officer, the Spanish at el Morro, having been enforced by twelve
+hundred men from the town, furiously attacked the British. But Brigadier
+Carleton directed so fierce a fire against them that their forces were
+driven into the water. He describes them as having consisted mainly of
+militia, some seamen, mulattoes and negroes. They lost four hundred
+dead, many wounded and seventy prisoners. A violent cannonade followed,
+during which Carleton was wounded.</p>
+
+<p>While the British troops were encamped from La Cabanas to Cojimar they
+made many looting raids in the neighborhood, extending their incursions
+as far as San Miguel and Santa Maria del Rosario. They not only
+ransacked the churches for their treasures, but also private estates,
+and took away whatever they could carry. They had approached el Morro by
+the bulwark of Pina and a body of forty to fifty men in the shelter of
+some rocks maintained an incessant gunfire. The garrison of the fort,
+which was being steadily reduced by the rain of bombs and grenades,
+wanted to make a sortie into the open country, hoping there to be
+reenforced. Remaining in el Morro was becoming more and more perilous,
+because the enemy had undermined the fortress. D. Luis de Velasco,
+broken down by the strain and overwork received<a name="page_068" id="page_068"></a> a blow on the shoulder,
+which temporarily disabled him. His aide, Mentes, was likewise wounded,
+and the two were replaced by D. Francisco Medina and D. Manuel de
+Cordova. During their absence nothing was done, for the peasantry, fond
+as they were of Velasco, were reluctant to fight and perhaps die under
+the command of another. Mentes returned on the third day, appointed
+Lieutenant-Colonel, and, joined by D. Juan Benito Lujan, who commanded
+one thousand men of Tierradentro and some colored troops from the fort,
+attempted a sally. But the British on the heights threw themselves upon
+the Cubans and overpowered them. The loss on both sides was so great,
+however, that the enemy had to ask for a truce to bury their dead. As
+the British said, the Spanish were valiant, but they had no head. If
+there had been at their head a man of foresight, and if unity of command
+had been insured at the beginning, the disaster might have been avoided.</p>
+
+<p>The British forces were at this time beginning to suffer painfully for
+want of water and lack of fresh provisions. Five thousand men, and a
+great proportion of officers among them, were unfit for duty. But the
+arrival of North American troops under convoy of the <i>Intrepid</i> of
+sixty-four guns, revived the spirit of the expedition. The North
+Americans had lost a ship of forty guns and six transports in the old
+straits of Bahama, but the people were saved and encamped upon the
+shores, and the British Admiral sent frigates for them. One thousand and
+four hundred men under Brigadier Burton reenforced Col. Howe on the west
+side. The Cuban defense was also encouraged in these days, for Velasco,
+who had been wounded on the sixteenth of July, with second, Mentes,
+forced to seek medical care in the city, returned to his post at el
+Morro on the twenty-fourth. During the siege the<a name="page_069" id="page_069"></a> Spanish vessels, with
+the exception of the frigate <i>Perla</i>, which was sunk by the foe, were
+singularly inactive. The critical and decisive moment of the siege came
+on the thirteenth of July, when at two o'clock in the afternoon the
+British sprung their mines. Through the breach they rapidly entered and
+captured the battery of San Nicolas. Although the garrison was so
+terrified that not a few soldiers had fled, the remaining offered a
+brave opposition to the invaders. D. Fernando Parrayo and thirteen men,
+supported by two cannon, fought heroically, while the British forces
+poured into the port. The British officer gives due credit to the Cuban
+commanders who desperately tried to save the honor of their country. He
+writes:</p>
+
+<p>"The Marquis de Gonzales, commander of a man of war, etc., second in
+command of the fort, fell bravely endeavoring to animate and rally his
+people. Don Luis de Velasco, also Captain of the <i>Reina</i> man-of-war,
+soon after shared the same fate endeavoring to defend the colours of the
+fort, round which he had made a breastwork and had collected about 100
+men, who soon fled and left him to that stroke he seemed to invite and
+wait for; for being shot through the breast he fell, offering his sword
+to the conquerors. Confusion and fright ensued, and as much slaughter;
+for near 400 of the enemy fell by the sword; as many more taken
+prisoners to whom the soldiers had generously given quarters, though no
+ways obliged by the rules of war. English colours were soon flying on
+the fort, that were welcomed by the loud huzzas of all the rejoiced army
+and navy. A parley ensued, and D. Luis de Velasco (not yet dead) was at
+his own request sent to breathe out his last at the Havana, where he
+expired a day after, leaving a name behind and a character that justly
+merited admiration and esteem from his opposites as respect and love
+from his confederates."<a name="page_070" id="page_070"></a></p>
+
+<p>The historian Blanchet also reports that the British showed due
+reverence to the dead leader and that hostilities were for that reason
+suspended during the following day. They received a reenforcement of
+troops from New York on the second of August; but they had fallen in
+with three French men-of-war and some frigates on their passage, who
+took five or six transports with about five hundred men. Their forces
+were being decimated by the climate and the hardships. The British
+witness writes that finishing the batteries on Cabanas cost the lives of
+many poor seamen who were obliged to be day and night filling vessels
+with water for the men at work. Some men-of-war were sent down with
+transports to Mariel, for want of men made it unsafe for them to remain
+any longer on this most open and frightful coast, where the Spaniards as
+well as West Indians expressed their surprise and dread at seeing such a
+fleet ride so long in such a season.</p>
+
+<p>When the British entered el Morro, they found only one hundred and two
+bronze cannon of various calibres, two hundred iron cannon, nine bronze
+mortars, two iron mortars, four thousand one hundred and fifty-seven
+rifles, five hundred hand grenades, four hundred and seventy empty
+grenades of various quality, seventeen thousand four hundred and four
+cannon balls, thirty quintals of rifle balls, one hundred and
+twenty-five thousand cartridges and five hundred quintals of powder. The
+sorrow at being forced to give up el Morro was great. Supported by the
+vessel <i>Aquilon</i> the quick fire from la Punta and the bulwarks of the
+place promptly demolished the fort. The Cuban vessels retired to the
+interior of the bay, fearing the bombs from la Cabanas. The commanders
+for the same reason sought shelter in the hospiteum of St. Isidore,
+which was situated at the point farthest away<a name="page_071" id="page_071"></a> from the fire. Yet the
+determination to continue to resist the invaders prevailed and a battery
+was formed on the elevation of Soto, where the fort of Attares was
+located, and fortifications were continued to be strengthened wherever
+it was possible.</p>
+
+<p>The batteries of the British were completed on August tenth, and Lord
+Albemarle summoned the city to surrender. But Governor Prado relied upon
+reenforcements promised him by the governor of Santiago de Cuba and
+hoped also for the possible arrival of a French squadron, so he refused.
+The people, too, were opposed to surrender, for they had within the last
+six days received reenforcements from several sides; two hundred and
+twelve rifles and ammunition from the town of Cuba, five hundred more
+from Jagua and fifteen hundred on the very last day. However, the fierce
+fire which the British opened against Havana at daybreak on the eleventh
+of August, induced the commander of the Cuban forces to give up the last
+hope. About noon the Spanish ceased firing and at three o'clock in the
+afternoon flags of truce appeared everywhere. The governor sent word
+that Havana was ready to capitulate.</p>
+
+<p>According to the British officer's journal the victors took possession
+of the town and port of Havana on the next day; they also became the
+owners of nine ships of the line, of seventy four and sixty four guns,
+two very large ones on the stocks, nearly completed, about twenty-five
+loaded merchant ships; nearly three million dollars belonging to the
+King and the Royal Company; about six hundred pieces of cannon, and
+great magazines of stores and merchandise of all kinds. He continues:</p>
+
+<p>"But the most grateful at the time was, that it furnished us with fresh
+provisions, rest and shelter for the many thousands poor sick wretches
+we had in our camp and<a name="page_072" id="page_072"></a> hospital ships, all mouldering away for want of
+nourishment when their disorders had left them. Our battalion is so weak
+that we have not above one hundred and fifty men fit for duty. I am told
+the navy is badly off. Our loss of killed and wounded is very trifling
+in comparison to that of the enemy. Theirs amounts to upwards of six
+thousand killed and dead of their wounds since, and of sickness."</p>
+
+<p>The following day the governor ordered all weapons to be surrendered by
+military bodies as private individuals and Mayor D. Antonio Ramirez de
+Estenez was authorized to accord the articles of capitulation.</p>
+
+<p class="cq">><span class="smcap">Articles of Capitulation</span></p>
+
+<p class="cq">ARTICLE I</p>
+
+<p>The garrison will leave by the puerta de Tierra on the twenty-eighth of
+the present month, if there should not arrive before sufficient help to
+raise the siege, with all military honors, the soldiers with arms,
+hoisted flags, six field cannon, and the regiments will also remove the
+military cases with their contents, and besides six carriages of the
+Governor.</p>
+
+<p class="cq">ARTICLE II</p>
+
+<p>Said garrison will be permitted to remove from the town all luggage and
+money, and transport them to another place of the island.</p>
+
+<p class="cq">ARTICLE III</p>
+
+<p>That the ship crews of the port that had served on land shall in their
+departure enjoy the same honors as the garrison and be brought back to
+their vessels. They may sail to any other place of Spanish domination,
+on the condition that on their voyage until their arrival at their
+destination<a name="page_073" id="page_073"></a> they shall not attack any vessel of H. British Majesty, of
+his allies, or any vessel of his subjects.</p>
+
+<p class="cq">ARTICLE IV</p>
+
+<p>That of all the artillery, arms, ammunition and provisions belonging to
+his Catholic Majesty, excepting those that particularly correspond with
+said fleet, an exact inventory shall be taken, with the assistance of
+four subjects of the king of Spain, who will be appointed by the
+governor, and four subjects of H. British Majesty, chosen by H. Ex Count
+Albemarle, who will take possession of all until both sovereigns agree
+otherwise.</p>
+
+<p class="cq">ARTICLE V</p>
+
+<p>That in this capitulation shall be comprised H. Ex Conde de Superanda,
+Lieutenant-General of the armies of H. Catholic Majesty, and former
+Viceroy of Peru, as well as Don Diego Tabares, Fieldmarshal of the same
+royal arms, and former Governor of Cartagena, who happens to be in that
+town on their way to Spain, together with their families. They shall be
+left in the possession of their baggage and their sailing to Spain shall
+be facilitated.</p>
+
+<p class="cq">ARTICLE VI</p>
+
+<p>That the Catholic Apostolic Roman religion shall be maintained, and
+conserved, as before exercised under H. Catholic Majesty, and that not
+the least impediment shall be placed in the public acts in regard to the
+rites exercised and with the churches, and the observation of religious
+feasts, and all priests, convents, monasteries, hospitals, societies,
+universities, colleges shall remain in the free enjoyment of their
+privileges and rights, as to their property and income, and furnitures,
+as they had enjoyed before.<a name="page_074" id="page_074"></a></p>
+
+<p class="cq">ARTICLE VII</p>
+
+<p>That the Bishop of Cuba shall likewise conserve his rights, privileges
+and prerogatives, which are required for the direction and spiritual
+nourishment of the faithful of the Catholic religion, or nomination of
+priests and ecclesiastical ministers necessary, and exercise his
+accustomed jurisdiction. (Note: Conceded with the reserve that the
+nomination of priests and other employes be subject to the approval of
+the Governor of H. British Majesty sent to the place.)</p>
+
+<p class="cq">ARTICLE VIII</p>
+
+<p>That in the cloisters and nunneries the internal government hitherto
+prevailing shall be followed with subordination to their legitimate
+superiors, according to the statutes of the particular institutions.
+("Conceded.")</p>
+
+<p class="cq">ARTICLE IX</p>
+
+<p>That the funds in the town belonging to H. Catholic Majesty shall be
+embarked on the vessels of the fleet that happen to be in port to be
+shipped to Spain, likewise all the tobacco belonging to H. Catholic
+Majesty; that even in war time the same Sovereign shall be permitted to
+buy tobacco from the island, in the district subject to the King of
+Great Britain at current prices, and to transport it to Spain in their
+own foreign vessels. ("Refused.")</p>
+
+<p class="cq">ARTICLE X</p>
+
+<p>That in consideration of the fact that this port is so conveniently
+situated for those navigating in these parts of America, be they Spanish
+or English, it shall be available to the subjects of H. Catholic Majesty
+as a neutral port and they shall be permitted to enter and leave freely,
+taken the food they require and repair their vessels, paying for
+everything at current prices, and that they cannot<a name="page_075" id="page_075"></a> be insulted or
+disturbed in their navigation by the ships of H. British Majesty, nor
+the ships of his subjects and allies, from the promontory of Celoche on
+the coast of Campêche and St. Antonio in the West, and from the sound of
+la Tortuga to this port, and thence to the latitude 33° North, until
+their two Majesties agree otherwise. ("Refused.")</p>
+
+<p class="cq">ARTICLE XI</p>
+
+<p>That all permanent inhabitants of the city and neighborhood remain in
+the free use and possession of their political offices and employments,
+and in that of their funds and other property, i.e. household stuff of
+whatever origin, quality, or in whatever condition they be, without
+being obliged to contribute in other terms than those made by H.
+Catholic Majesty. (Conceded, and they will be permitted to continue in
+the enjoyment of their property so long as their conduct does not give
+cause for denying them.)</p>
+
+<p class="cq">ARTICLE XII</p>
+
+<p>That these same should retain and have guaranteed the rights and
+privileges which they hitherto enjoyed, and that they will be governed
+in the name of H. British Majesty under the same conditions as they have
+been under Spanish domination, naming their judges and agents of justice
+according to usages and customs. (Answered in the preceding.)</p>
+
+<p class="cq">ARTICLE XIII</p>
+
+<p>That whoever of said inhabitants is unwilling to stay in this city, be
+permitted freely to remove his property and wealth in the manner most
+convenient to him, to sell them or leave them to be administrated, and
+to go away with them to the dominions of H. Catholic Majesty,<a name="page_076" id="page_076"></a> he may
+choose, granting them a space of four years and giving them bought or
+chartered vessels for conveyance, with the passports and necessary
+protection of safety, and the power to arm them in the cruise against
+the Moors and Turks, with the express condition not to use them against
+subjects of H. British Majesty or his allies, nor to be ill-treated or
+molested by them. (Reply: The inhabitants will be permitted to sell and
+remove their effects to any place of Spanish dominions, in vessels at
+its coast, for which purpose they will be given passports; and it is to
+be understood that officials who have property in the island will enjoy
+the same benefits as conceded to the other inhabitants.)</p>
+
+<p class="cq">ARTICLE XIV</p>
+
+<p>That these will not be in the least molested for having in their loyalty
+taken up arms, and enlisted their militia for the war; nor shall the
+English troops be permitted to plunder or any other abuse, and that, to
+the contrary, they shall completely enjoy the other rights, exemptions
+and prerogatives as the other subjects of H. British Majesty, the
+families that had left the town on account of the present invasion to
+return without any obstacle or difficulty from the country to the city
+with all their provisions and funds, and it is to be understood that
+neither the one nor the others will be inconvenienced by the stationing
+of troops in their houses, unless it be in quarters as were used during
+Spanish dominion. (Reply: Conceded, excepting that in case it becomes
+necessary to quarter the troops, it must be left to the direction of the
+Governor. All the slaves of the King will be delivered to the persons
+that will be named to receive them.)</p>
+
+<p class="cq">ARTICLE XV</p>
+
+<p>That holders of stocks found in this town and belonging<a name="page_077" id="page_077"></a> to merchants of
+Cadiz and in which all nations of Europe are interested, be facilitated
+to depart freely with them, to remit them with the protocols without
+being insulted in their voyage.</p>
+
+<p class="cq">ARTICLE XVI</p>
+
+<p>That the ministers in charge of the administration and distribution of
+the Exchequer or any other business of H. Catholic Majesty be left in
+the free use of all those documents that are in their guard, with the
+power to remit or bring them to Spain for safety, and the same to hold
+also good with regard to the Royal Company established in this town, and
+its clerks. All public papers will be delivered for revision to the
+secretaries of the Admiral, and will be restored to the ministers of H.
+Catholic Majesty, unless they be found necessary for the Government of
+the island.</p>
+
+<p class="cq">ARTICLE XVII</p>
+
+<p>That the public archives remain in the power of the Ministers in whose
+charge they are, without being permitted the least irregularity in
+regard to these papers and the instruments they contain, because of the
+grave mischief that would result from it to the rights of the community
+and to private individuals. (Replied in the preceding articles.)</p>
+
+<p class="cq">ARTICLE XVIII</p>
+
+<p>That the officials and soldiers who are in the hospitals be treated in
+the same way as the garrison, and after having recovered, they should be
+helped in obtaining beasts of burden or vessels for their transportation
+to where the rest of the garrison happens to be, as well as everything
+necessary for their safety and subsistence during the voyage, and among
+others they should be given the<a name="page_078" id="page_078"></a> provisions and medicines asked for by
+the directors and surgeons of said hospitals. (Conceded: The governor
+having competent commissaries to assist them with provisions, surgeons
+and the necessary medicines at the cost of H. Catholic Majesty.)</p>
+
+<p class="cq">ARTICLE XIX</p>
+
+<p>That the prisoners of either party taken by the other since the sixth of
+June when the English fleet appeared before this port, be reciprocally
+restituted without any ransom whatever in the course of two months.
+(This article cannot be concluded before the British prisoners are
+returned.)</p>
+
+<p class="cq">ARTICLE XX</p>
+
+<p>Upon the granting of the articles of this capitulation, and the giving
+of hostages by either party, the gate of Tierra will be delivered to the
+troops of H. British Majesty, for placing there a guard, together with
+another provided by the garrison of the place until the evacuation is
+carried out, and His Ex Conde de Albemarle will send a few soldiers for
+the protection of the churches, convents, the houses of the generals and
+other officials. (Conceded.)</p>
+
+<p class="cq">ARTICLE XXI</p>
+
+<p>That the governor and commander of the fleet be permitted to dispatch to
+H. Catholic Majesty and to other parties information by the vessels, to
+which passports for their voyage shall be given. (Since the troops are
+to be sent to Spain, the information is useless.)</p>
+
+<p class="cq">ARTICLE XXII</p>
+
+<p>That in consideration of the vigorous defense made by the Fort of la
+Punta, it shall be included in this capitulation and its garrison shall
+enjoy the same honors as that<a name="page_079" id="page_079"></a> of the fortress, and it shall leave
+through one of the most suitable breaches made in the ramparts.
+(Conceded.)</p>
+
+<p class="cq">ARTICLE XXIII</p>
+
+<p>This capitulation to be observed punctually and literally. (Conceded.)</p>
+
+<p>Headquarters in Habana, August 12, 1762.</p>
+
+<p>
+<span style="margin-left: 2em;">(Signed) G. Pococke,</span><br />
+<span style="margin-left: 5em;">Albemarle,</span><br />
+<span style="margin-left: 5em;">Marques of the Royal Fleet,</span><br />
+<span style="margin-left: 5em;">Juan de Prado.</span><br />
+</p>
+
+<p>What is contained in these articles in regard to the squadron, its
+officials, crew and garrisons, has been done with my intervention, and I
+propose them as their Comendante General, and in consequence of what has
+been accorded in the Junta of yesterday.</p>
+
+<p>Habana, August 12, 1762&mdash;El Marques of the Royal Transports.</p>
+
+<p>We agree with these articles, which are a true copy of the originals,
+according to the translation made from the English into Spanish by D.
+Miguel Brito, public interpreter of this town for H. Catholic Majesty.</p>
+
+<p>Habana, August 12, 1762&mdash;El Marques of the Royal Transports&mdash;Juan de
+Prado.<a name="page_080" id="page_080"></a></p>
+
+<h3><a name="CHAPTER_V" id="CHAPTER_V"></a>CHAPTER V</h3>
+
+<p>With the solemn signing of the foregoing articles of capitulation on the
+twelfth of August, 1762, began the occupation of Havana by the British,
+who thus seemed to have attained the goal of their covetous aspirations.
+It was a great day for them; it was a day of mourning for the Cubans.</p>
+
+<p>While these articles of capitulation were in themselves not unjust,
+differing in no essentials from those usually exacted by the victors
+from the vanquished, the people of Havana found it difficult to obey all
+these injunctions coming to them from a foreign authority. History
+furnishes abundant proofs that it is comparatively easy to conquer a
+country by numerical superiority or clever strategy, but that it is
+infinitely more difficult to conquer the hearts of its people. The
+Spanish historian Alcazar records an incident belonging to the history
+of the capture of Havana which illustrates this point.</p>
+
+<p>As soon as the British were masters of the city Lord Albemarle called an
+extraordinary meeting in which he declared to the Municipio that, being
+masters of the city by force of arms of King George III. of England,
+they had to insist upon obedience and allegiance to him as sovereign.
+The Alcalde D. Pedro Santa Cruz at once rose to say that subjects of Don
+Carlos III. of Spain could not without committing perjury swear
+allegiance to any other monarch. He added: "The capitulation compels us
+to passive obedience. Count on this, but never on our dishonor." It
+seems that these noble words found an echo<a name="page_081" id="page_081"></a> in the heart of the British
+commander who henceforth let the people choose whether to take the oath
+or not.</p>
+
+<p>This story is symptomatic of the attitude of the population of Cuba
+towards the conquerors. When the morning of the thirteenth of August,
+1762, dawned, the British were in possession of the town and port of
+Havana with one hundred and eighty miles to the east and all that tract
+of land to the west which terminates the island on that side. They took
+without resistance Managuas, Bejucal, Santiago, Mariel and Matanzas. The
+commander of the fort of San Severine in Matanzas, D. Felipe Garcia
+Solis, had stored up a large amount of provisions and supplies of all
+kinds in view of an eventual attack. But when he heard of the
+capitulation of Havana, he blew up the fort and retired with part of the
+garrison to Santiago. The governor of that city, D. Lorenzo Madriaga,
+was recognized as the authority to be obeyed by the people in that part
+of the island not taken by the British. Perhaps the British had gauged
+the sentiment of the population; perhaps they felt that their forces
+were too much weakened by the hardships of the siege. They made no
+attempts at further extending their conquest.</p>
+
+<p>According to the agreement between Admiral George Pococke and Lord
+Albemarle on the one side and the Marques of the Royal Transports and D.
+Juan de Prado on the other side, the Spanish garrison was to retire with
+military honors; artillery arms and munitions were to be delivered to
+the British; the Spanish troops were to be sent back on British
+transports; but the British were to respect the Catholic religion, its
+ministers, and churches, hospitals, and colleges; and the population was
+not to be disturbed in the exercise of wonted occupations and
+employments; and the laws of Spain were to remain in force. On the
+thirteenth of August, the gates of Tierra<a name="page_082" id="page_082"></a> were opened to the British
+and on the following day they entered with two pieces of artillery and
+planted their flags on the forts. The following day the Spanish vessels
+were delivered to them: <i>Tigre</i>, <i>Reina</i>, <i>Soberano</i>, <i>Infante</i>,
+<i>Aquilon</i>, <i>America</i>, <i>Conquistader</i>, <i>San Antonio</i> and <i>San Genero</i>.
+Many merchant vessels in the bay were also taken. The value of their
+booty was estimated at fourteen million pesos. But according to Valdes
+their losses during the first twenty four days of the siege had been
+seven thousand men, some killed in combat, some deserters, but the
+greater part victims of the Cuban climate. Hence in spite of
+reenforcements from Jamaica and North America, they had only three
+thousand men of infantry when Havana was taken.</p>
+
+<p>The departure of the Spanish troops was scheduled for the twenty-fourth
+of August. The British held ready for them three transports which on the
+thirtieth sailed through the gate of la Punta. One of them carried the
+Governor and his family. On his arrival in Madrid he was tried by a war
+council, which for his lack of foresight and energy in preparing the
+defense of Havana, condemned him to exile. But the king commuted the
+sentence to imprisonment for life. The British commanders, no longer
+needed in Havana, worn out with fatigue and weakened by the climate,
+also hurried to leave. Brigadier Burton returned to North America,
+Admiral Keppel to Jamaica, Pococke to England. He met with terrible
+tempests, lost one ship of line, and twelve transports. But the greeting
+he received on his arrival in England was most enthusiastic. Though the
+parliament was divided on the question of extending British conquests in
+Spanish America, there was still the party representing commercial
+interests to be reckoned with.</p>
+
+<p>With a promptness quite unusual at that time a book<a name="page_083" id="page_083"></a> was published
+shortly after the capture of Havana, which outlined the course to be
+pursued in order to reap the benefits of the South Sea trade, which so
+far had been in the hands of the French and Spanish. It was entitled
+"The Great Importance of the Havana" set forth in an "Essay on the
+Nature and Methods of Carrying on a Trade to the South Sea and the West
+Indies, by Robert Allen, Esq., who resided some years in the Kingdom of
+Peru, London, printed for J. Hinxman in Paternoster Row and D. Wilson in
+the Strand, in 1762. Dedicated to the most Hon. Thomas Harley, Esq., M.
+P. and Merchant of London." The author begins with reference to an old
+tradition that a Prince of Wales had made an expedition to the coast of
+Mexico in 1190 and died there. Upon this tradition and the assertion
+that the Mexican language abounds in Welsh words, he seems to base the
+right of British priority to Spanish America.</p>
+
+<p>Mr. Allen was evidently much concerned with the activity of the French
+in West Indian waters. He says: "As to the slave-trade, it is too well
+known that the French are now under contract with the Spanish Assiento
+to supply them with four or five thousand negroes yearly and the greater
+profits and advantages which they reap from this trade has encouraged
+them to send many strong ships yearly to the coast of Africa which have
+not only taken many of our own ships on that coast, but also destroyed
+several of our many forts and settlements and likewise made several new
+settlements of their own, all which has been frequently represented both
+in the governing and legislative bodies of Britain, and no effectual
+reconciling remedy taken yet." He continues, that the channel of Spanish
+trade is quite altered from Jamaica "and the French, a nation whom we
+least suspected in trade, have of late years engrossed much of the
+greatest<a name="page_084" id="page_084"></a> part thereof to themselves." He tries to rouse the British to
+the need of regaining the Spanish market in America, which was slowly
+slipping away from them, by a strenuous appeal to his Majesty to
+encourage such commerce by underselling the French. After giving a list
+of commodities and manufactures proper for this trade, he adds the
+postscript:</p>
+
+<p>"If Queen Anne, at the treaty of Utrecht, obtained so valuable a branch
+of trade as the Assiento contract by the success of the Duke of Marlboro
+alone, which according to stipulation was for two millions in shares
+annually, but doubly augmented under that contract in other goods (tho'
+given up by the treaty of Aix-la-Chapelle with our right of logwood) how
+much more ought we to insist on valuable terms since the reduction of
+Cuba, the key to the South Sea trade?"</p>
+
+<p>While the British people, like all people under a mass suggestion, were
+giving themselves up to jubilating and celebrating, the politicians in
+Parliament and elsewhere to controversies on technical questions, the
+business world of London and the great industrial and manufacturing
+centers of the country were considering investments in West Indian trade
+and calculating the profits to be made thereby. After all human nature
+is very much alike the world over. That the British as victors were also
+not different from other conquerors by force of arms and exacted
+requisitions and even without any formalities and ceremonies
+appropriated the treasures that seemed worth taking possession of, is
+evident from many data in the chronicles of those days. Not only were
+the royal chests taken, but also the property of private corporations,
+and individuals. Some documents relating to the "right of bells" have
+been presented and are interesting reading.<a name="page_085" id="page_085"></a> Lieutenant Colonel Samuel
+Cleaveland, Artillery Commander of the island, addressed the following
+communication to Bishop Senor D. Pedro Agustino Morell of Santa Cruz,
+and to other priests:</p>
+
+<p>"According to the rules and customs of war observed by all official
+commanders of artillery in all European countries when a besieged town
+surrenders by capitulation:</p>
+
+<p>"I command that the city of Havana and the neighboring towns, where the
+army was situated, give account of all the bells found in all the
+churches, convents and monasteries, as well as in the sugar-plantations,
+and of other metals similar to bells, in order that said point shall be
+put into effect.</p>
+
+<p>"Havana, 19 August, 1762.<br />
+<span style="margin-left: 5em;">"<span class="smcap">Samuel Cleaveland</span>,</span><br />
+<span style="margin-left: 5em;">"Lieutenant-Colonel of Artillery."</span><br />
+</p>
+
+<p>
+<br />
+</p>
+
+<p>The bishop addressed a letter of inquiry concerning this "Derecho de
+companes" to Lord Albemarle and received the reply, that the war custom
+was well known, that the chiefs of artillery receive a gratification
+from any besieged and captured town or city, and that the
+Lieutenant-Colonel insisted upon compliance with his demand, adding,
+however, that it would not be disproportionate. Cleaveland was offered
+one thousand pesos in place of the coveted bells, but the British
+considered this amount too small, and the bishop received another letter
+from Lord Albemarle, which reads:</p>
+
+<p>
+<br />
+</p>
+
+<p class="nind">"Illustrious Sir:</p>
+
+<p>"The compensation offered to the Commandant of Artillery of His British
+Majesty for the bells of the city is so low as to compel me to express
+my indignation. In<a name="page_086" id="page_086"></a> order to have the matter settled, I say, that your
+Reverence can give the said official for all the churches ten thousand
+pesos and I am in the hope that this letter will deserve your immediate
+attention.</p>
+
+<p>
+<span style="margin-left: 50%;">"Your obedient servant,</span><br />
+<span style="margin-left: 65%;">"<span class="smcap">Albemarle</span>.</span></p>
+
+<p class="nind">"Havana, 27 August, 1762."</p>
+
+<p>
+<br />
+</p>
+
+<p>The Bishop tried to obtain the sum demanded by alms and collections
+among his parishioners. But at a meeting on the thirty-first of August
+it was seen that the collection amounted only to one hundred pesos and
+four reales, which together with the previous one thousand pesos did not
+nearly approach the sum required. This was communicated to the British
+General with the remark that it would be impossible to raise more. This
+communication received no reply and the Commander of Artillery came to
+ask for the delivery of the bells, although this was not to take place
+until September fourth. He did not receive the bells, for the ten
+thousand pesos were got together by a loan, and the money was paid to
+Cleaveland on the sixth of that month.</p>
+
+<p>Difficulties between the British authorities and the Spanish clergy
+increased as time went on. On the twentieth of August the Junta of
+priests and prelates had a meeting at which was discussed the demand of
+the British Lieutenant-General, the local governor of the place, for a
+church in which the Anglican worship was to be instituted. The Bishop
+decided at once to send the communication to said governor, explaining
+to him that this demand was not contained in the articles of
+capitulation and if his Excellency had some other basis to justify his
+claim, he should communicate it. In reply the Bishop received on the
+thirtieth of August the following letter:<a name="page_087" id="page_087"></a></p>
+
+<p>
+<br />
+</p>
+
+<p class="r">"Havana, Aug. 30, 1762.</p>
+
+<p class="nind">"Rev. Sir:</p>
+
+<p>"I wish and ask that your Reverence provide for the British troops a
+church for their divine worship, or that an alternative be arranged with
+the Catholics for such hours in the morning or evening, in which they
+don't use their church.</p>
+
+<p>"I request at the same time that an account be given me of all churches,
+convents, monasteries of every denomination, that are comprised in the
+jurisdiction of the Bishop of Cuba, as well as of Superiors and public
+officers associated with them.</p>
+
+<p>
+<span style="margin-left: 50%;">"Very respectfully, etc.,</span><br />
+<span style="margin-left: 65%;">"<span class="smcap">Albemarle</span>."</span><br />
+</p>
+
+<p>
+<br />
+</p>
+
+<p>In a long letter dated September second, 1762, the Bishop replied, that
+he had to consult with the government of his Spanish Majesty and briefly
+avoided complying with the demand. Thereupon he received a caustic
+communication from Albemarle saying:</p>
+
+<p>
+<br />
+</p>
+
+<p class="nind">"Sir:</p>
+
+<p>"I received your very large letter, but which is no answer to mine. I do
+not know having read a particular Capitulation made with the Church, but
+I am sure that there is none that can exclude the Subjects of H. British
+Majesty of their public worship in churches; and for that reason, if you
+do not assign me a church I shall take one that suits me best, and
+please remember that all Ecclesiastical employes or dignitaries have to
+receive my approbation, and also that you better comply with my demand,
+and cease writing such long Epistles.</p>
+
+<p class="r">"<span class="smcap">Albemarle</span>.</p>
+
+<p>"Havana, September 4, 1762."<a name="page_088" id="page_088"></a></p>
+
+<p>
+<br />
+</p>
+
+<p>After a consultation with the other prelates the bishop informed
+Albemarle that since he was so decided, he should choose any church that
+he liked best. Albemarle selected the Church of San Francisco. But he
+insisted upon his other claims, as can be seen from the following letter
+dated September 25:</p>
+
+<p>
+<br />
+</p>
+
+<p>"Some time ago I asked for a list of all Ecclesiastical Benefices (to
+which is associated a curacy) of the Donation of Your Honor; and once
+more I repeat my wish to be complied with without loss of time.</p>
+
+<p>"I learn that the Jesuit college received in their order an English
+official dismissed from the Royal Service on account of his bad
+proceedings; I can hardly believe that such a thing has been done
+without my license. That order has even in Spain a bad reputation, and
+in Portugal and France they have been expelled. If they are not entirely
+under your jurisdiction, send to me their Rector, etc.</p>
+
+<p class="r">"<span class="smcap">Albemarle.</span>"</p>
+
+<p>
+<br />
+</p>
+
+<p>The Bishop replied that the story about the admission of the discredited
+Englishman into the Jesuit seminary was altogether untrue, since the
+authorities of that college could not admit anybody, this being a
+special privilege of the Provincial residing in Mexico. A somewhat
+amusing incident of these disputes between the British authorities and
+the Spanish clergy of Havana is recorded in the following letter of the
+Bishop dated October twenty-second. It reads:</p>
+
+<p>
+<br />
+</p>
+
+<p class="nind">"Your Excellency:</p>
+
+<p>"Yesterday between 4 and 5 o'clock in the afternoon, there called on me
+on your part a person whose name and nationality I do not know. All I
+know is that he speaks Spanish, though with a foreign accent and wears<a name="page_089" id="page_089"></a>
+golden earrings as is customary with women. He addressed me with
+'Usted.' I informed him in the conversation that in speaking to me he
+had to use a more dignified title. He replied that he would always use
+'Usted.' It then occurred to me that this obstinacy might be justified
+by his higher rank. I asked him and he said that he had no other rank
+but that of a bomb-thrower in his Majesty's name. He continued in his
+way of speaking to me with a loud voice, and since in all his conduct he
+was wanting of the respect due to my dignity, I deem it fair that it
+should be corrected and that your excellency give me satisfaction."</p>
+
+<p>
+<br />
+</p>
+
+<p>Lord Albemarle seems to have paid no attention to this letter. But on
+the same day the Bishop received another urgent order in which Lord
+Albemarle, as Governor and Captain-General of the island, insisted in
+his demand to receive a list of all ecclesiastical orders and benefices,
+in order to know and be the "competent judge" of the persons appointed
+by the Bishop and be able to consent to their appointment. The Bishop in
+his reply referred to his previous letter, stating that the Governor
+could neither before nor after the appointment be a competent judge of
+the appointees, since ecclesiastics, according to all rights, were
+exempt of protests by the laity, and their privileges were inviolate.</p>
+
+<p>According to the historian Blanchet, Bishop Morrell was at the end
+exiled to Florida for having refused to obey certain orders given by the
+British authorities.</p>
+
+<p>Although Albemarle cannot be said to have governed with the tyranny that
+characterized the German governors of occupied territories in the recent
+war, he failed to win the people. Those residents of Havana who were
+able to leave the place, moved into the country or to towns like
+Villa-Clara. The peasants of the neighborhood,<a name="page_090" id="page_090"></a> who had carried on a
+profitable trade with the city in garden and dairy products, fowl,
+venison, etc., preferred to renounce these profits rather than go to the
+market and have the British buy what their soil had raised and their
+hands had tended. The spirit of the people was unanimous in the hatred
+of the enemy conquerors. Their intemperance, their customs, and even
+their language irritated them. Altercations that terminated in bloodshed
+became more and more numerous as time went on. Any act of violence
+against the British was severely punished, and not a few Cuban "rebels"
+were executed; the atmosphere of Havana was soon charged with invisible
+mines that a spark could set off.</p>
+
+<p>Complying with the orders of the British government, Albemarle had to
+exact the payment of certain sums from the population, including the
+clergy and the religious organizations, and found great difficulty in
+enforcing these orders. On the other hand, it cannot be denied that the
+feelings of the population were being deliberately hurt, especially by
+the disregard of the British authorities for the institutions maintained
+by the clergy. Thus a wave of indignation swept over the city, when the
+beggars and the sick were ejected from the convent of San Juan de Dios,
+which was turned into a hospital for the British. Without remuneration
+they occupied almost one-third of the buildings subject to an
+ecclesiastical tax, they transformed private residences into jails; they
+seized merchandise and funds that were owned by the Real Compania de
+Comercio and when these were claimed as private property, they were
+returned only after payment of one hundred and seventy-five pesos. As
+the tension grew crimes committed from vindictiveness increased among
+the population. M. Savine, the French writer referred to previously,
+reports<a name="page_091" id="page_091"></a> that the Guajiros of the mountains poisoned the milk furnished
+to the garrison. A Cuban "rebel" who had escaped from the jail went
+about in the part of the island not occupied by the British and preached
+a "holy war" against the invaders of the island. Conditions were such
+that Havana might have become at any moment the scene of a new Sicilian
+Vespers.</p>
+
+<p>It was at this time that the Commissary D. Lorenzo de Montalvo wrote to
+the Minister of War at Madrid under date of October eighteenth, 1762:</p>
+
+<p>"The extraordinary mortality of the British troops has reduced them to
+the state which Your Excellency will see from the included papers. If at
+this moment eight or ten vessels arrived with two or three thousand men
+to debark, it would not be forty eight hours before they would
+capitulate."</p>
+
+<p>There was indeed a movement on foot in the unoccupied part of Cuba to
+collect a force, march against Havana and deliver it from the British
+conquerors. A force of guerilleros was ready for action under command of
+the intrepid Aguiar. He was only waiting for enforcement promised him by
+Governor Madriaga of Santiago, who had three hundred and fifty men with
+two thousand and five hundred guns, collected at Yaguas and Villa-Clara.
+But he lingered at Yaguas and it was supposed that he was afraid of
+losing his position if the British should decide upon moving against
+Santiago. Madriaga was however associated with Aguiar, D. Lorenzo
+Montalvo, D. Nicolas Rapua, D. Pedro Calvo de la Puerta, D. Augustin de
+Cardenas and other prominent citizens and patriots of Cuba in a pact to
+reconquer Havana at an opportune moment, and action may have been
+delayed only because rumors were afloat that peace was about to be
+signed.<a name="page_092" id="page_092"></a></p>
+
+<p>In Spain itself feeling ran high. The provinces of Murcia, Granada,
+Aragon, Valencia and Catalonia sent an address to King Charles III.
+asking to defend the colonies. It said among other things:</p>
+
+<p>
+<br />
+</p>
+
+<p class="nind">"Sir:</p>
+
+<p>"Now is the moment to hold high the glory of the nation; let us
+humiliate under your auspices ambitious England which in her folly
+proposes nothing less than the ruin of all Europe. As her only aim is
+commerce, that is sordid gain, she wages a regrettable war upon a
+warlike nation that does not know meanness and has no other sentiments
+than the love of her king and her country. Money may be needed in
+London, as once in Carthage; but virtue, constancy and heroism we shall
+never lack, as they never failed the ancient Romans."</p>
+
+<p>
+<br />
+</p>
+
+<p>But there is no record that this address elicited anything more than an
+appreciative reply from the government at Madrid. For the diplomatic and
+political world of Spain as of Great Britain was indeed occupied in
+considering a settlement of the Spanish-British problem.</p>
+
+<p>Nevertheless there were Spaniards, who even at that trying time must
+have viewed the state of things dispassionately, for the historian
+Pezuela gives the British much credit for the moderation and
+conciliatory tendency of their policy during the occupation. He records
+that they did not materially alter the general regime of the city, nor
+even make any radical changes in the municipal government. On taking
+possession of the town, Albemarle named for civil lieutenant-governor
+the Alderman D. Sebastian Penalver, a prominent lawyer; for the latter's
+Suplente or alternate, the alferez real or chief ensign D. Gonzale
+Oquendo, and for common civil judge D. Pedro Calvo de la Puerta, a
+high-constable and property holder<a name="page_093" id="page_093"></a> highly esteemed by his fellow
+citizens. These three officials by their wisdom, unselfishness and
+impartiality lightened the burden of the foreign yoke.</p>
+
+<p>Both Albemarle and Keppel had soon recognized some of the greatest evils
+of the colonial administration, among them the corruption of the lower
+courts and the amazing amount of bribery going on even in the higher
+departments of the government. They tried to check the malpractice of
+lawyers, and in a decree dated the fourth of November, 1762, prohibited
+the making of gifts or presents of any kind to the principal governor
+and to the inferior authorities, considering such practice as means to
+promote dishonesty. However, the attitude of the great majority was and
+remained hostile to the British and it needed all the prudence and tact
+of men like Oquendo, Penalver and Puerta to avoid conflicts between the
+citizens and the foreign authorities. Nor should the Intendant Montalvo
+be forgotten, whose services were highly appreciated by Albemarle.</p>
+
+<p>In the British parliament there existed at that time a state of turmoil.
+The Earl of Bute, friend and adviser of George III., did not care for
+further extension of Britain's colonial possessions in America, saying
+that it was much greater importance "to bring the old colonies in order
+than to plant new ones." Others favored the return of Havana to Spain in
+exchange for Porto Rico and Florida. On the twenty-sixth of October,
+1762, the British King expressed his approval of the latter proposal and
+urged the diplomats engaged in deliberating upon the subject speedily to
+draft a treaty. He wrote to Bedford, as quoted by Bancroft in his
+"History of the United States," Vol. III., p. 298:</p>
+
+<p>"The best despatch I can receive from you will be those preliminaries
+signed. May Providence, in compassion<a name="page_094" id="page_094"></a> to human misery, give you the
+means of executing this great and noble work."</p>
+
+<p>The terms proposed to the French according to the same authority were
+severe and even humiliating, and Choiseul is reported as having said:</p>
+
+<p>"But what can we do? The English are furiously imperious; they are drunk
+with success; and, unfortunately, we are not in a condition to abase
+their pride."</p>
+
+<p>The preliminaries of a peace which was to bring a certain stability to
+the colonies in America and permanently settle the claims of the three
+nations that had for three centuries been striving for supremacy in the
+New World, were signed on the third of November, 1762. They contained
+the following stipulations: England was to receive the Floridas and some
+islands in the West Indies, but abandon Havana; it was to have Louisiana
+to the Mississippi, but without the island of New Orleans; it was
+likewise to have all Canada, Acadia, Cape Breton and its independent
+islands, Newfoundland, except a share of France in the fisheries, with
+the two islands of St. Pierre and Miquelon as shelter for their
+fishermen. In Africa England was to have Senegal, which insured for it
+the monopoly of the slave-trade. In the East Indies, too, France
+recovered only what she possessed on the first of January, 1749, the
+rest going to England and assuring its sway over that territory. France,
+on the other hand, to indemnify Spain for the loss of Florida, ceded to
+Spain New Orleans and all Louisiana west of the Mississippi. There is no
+doubt that France came off worst in this settlement; but, as her
+minister Choiseul said, it was at the time helpless. In England, which
+by this settlement laid the foundations of her great power, there was a
+great display of flamboyant oratory. The king was reported to have
+said:<a name="page_095" id="page_095"></a></p>
+
+<p>"England never signed such a peace before, nor, I believe, any other
+power in Europe."</p>
+
+<p>Granville, then, on his deathbed, exclaimed:</p>
+
+<p>"The country never saw so glorious a war or so honorable a peace," and
+Bute, roused to defend it against some opponents in Parliament, uttered
+these words significant of the high esteem in which he held himself and
+whatever services he rendered England as favorite of the king:</p>
+
+<p>"I wish no better inscription on my tomb than that I was its author."</p>
+
+<p>It is needless to say that the effect of this document upon Spain was of
+quite a different nature. For it practically checked for all time her
+ambitions for maintaining supremacy in the world her discoverers and
+explorers had once claimed under her colors. Cuba, of course, rejoiced
+at the prospect of the restitution of Havana. Lord Albemarle, suffering
+from the strain of the siege and the climate, as no less from the
+realization that he would never be able to reconcile the Cubans to a
+recognition of his authority, had left early in the year 1762 and Sir
+William Keppel occupied his post. The peace was ratified at Paris on the
+tenth of February, 1763, and the people began to look forward with
+impatience to the arrival of a new governor from Madrid and to the
+debarkation of the British. In spite of the harassing situation which
+they had endured during the rule of the enemy they had not been idle,
+but planned many improvements and reforms which they promised themselves
+to execute as soon as the British domination would end. They had
+learned, too, to appreciate the advantages of free trade; for during the
+British occupation no less than nine hundred merchant vessels entered
+the harbor and not a few cargoes of negroes were landed.<a name="page_096" id="page_096"></a></p>
+
+<h3><a name="CHAPTER_VI" id="CHAPTER_VI"></a>CHAPTER VI</h3>
+
+<p>The changes which the island underwent during this time were
+far-reaching. The British occupation had established a direct contact
+with the world outside of Spain, which was bound to broaden the narrowly
+provincial viewpoint of the residents of the colony. For the nobles to
+whom large tracts of land had been granted in the earlier days of the
+colony had never permanently resided there but only came over for a
+short time to occupy their winter residence in Havana and for another
+brief season to show themselves in all their old-world aristocratic
+splendor on their haciendas. The great majority of the people,
+descendants of the adventurers and the poor immigrants of the pioneer
+period, had acquired the habits of country people so engrossed in their
+fields, their live stock and the daily labors required to make these
+possessions profitable, that they had lost any desire to seek the
+stimulating influence of city life. The cities themselves, Havana not
+excepted, had a provincial aspect and offered little attraction to the
+foreign traveler who did not come there exclusively on business.
+Nevertheless they left a pleasant memory with many a casual visitor. A
+Frenchman, who spent some time in Havana about the year 1745, set down
+his impressions, which with other letters and memoirs of travel were
+edited by Pierre Jean Baptiste Nougaret and published in Paris in 1783
+under the title: "Voyages interessans dans differentes Colonies
+francaises, espagnoles, anglaises, etc." In these reminiscences of
+Havana some twenty years before the British<a name="page_097" id="page_097"></a> occupation, he draws a
+picture of the city, which it is interesting to compare with what other
+writers have to say of the Havana of 1762. He writes:</p>
+
+<p class="figcenter">
+<a href="images/havana_lg.jpg">
+<img src="images/havana_lg.jpg" width="550" height="331" alt="HAVANA, FROM CABANAS" title="HAVANA, FROM CABANAS" /></a>
+</p>
+
+<div class="blockill"><p class="c">HAVANA, FROM CABANAS</p>
+
+<p>"Beautiful for situation" indeed is the Cuban capital, whether it be
+used as a point from which to view the sea and land, or be itself looked
+upon from some neighboring or distant height. This view, from the
+grounds of the great Cabanas fortress, shows the central portion of the
+city, with the notable public buildings clearly discernible, and nearer
+at hand the waters of the inner harbor, where occurred in 1898 the
+memorable and mysterious tragedy of the <i>Maine</i>.</p></div>
+
+<p>"It is a very spacious city, well enough built and among the best
+fortified in America. In size it compares about with la Rochelle, but it
+is far more populated. It is graced with a large number of public
+buildings, churches, convents and you see there usually more negro
+slaves than in any other city of Spanish domination. Its harbor
+especially is one of the largest and most beautiful in America, and they
+build there warships for the construction of which the king of Spain
+employs a prodigious number of laborers, an arsenal and an immense
+workshop. It is the Catholic king's custom to pay one thousand piastres
+a cannon; so a vessel of eight cannon costs him eight thousand piastres.
+There are always on the docks five or six vessels at once; it is a
+company called the Company of Biscay which attends to the business.
+Havana is rather regular in plan; the streets are surveyed by the line,
+although some of them are not absolutely straight; all houses are of two
+or three floors, built of masonry and have balconies mostly of wood; the
+lower part of most houses is terrace-like as in European Spain and
+altogether they make a respectable impression.</p>
+
+<p>"The city is protected by a numerous garrison of about four thousand
+regular troops, extremely well kept, who make Havana impregnable in a
+country where one cannot attack, except with considerable forces. The
+city which is one of the best located seems an oval; the entrance to her
+port is advantageously protected by different forts, of which one, the
+first, is called Morro or port of entrance; the second is opposite; a
+third has been erected toward the side of the city; it is so large that
+it<a name="page_098" id="page_098"></a> seems rather a citadel than a fort. There is besides before the
+principal section of the city before the palace of the governor which is
+magnificent, a battery of big guns and of considerable calibre; so one
+can say that Havana is the best defended of all places in America, the
+vessels that want to enter being obliged to pass so close to the forts
+that it would be easy to sink them.</p>
+
+<p>"The customs of the Spanish are here about the same as in Spain,
+differing from other colonies of the nation, where frankness,
+righteousness and probity seem to have been exiled. The Havanese are
+quite frank, extremely gay, more so than suits the ordinary Spanish
+gravity which is probably due to the great number of strangers which
+come there from all parts. The climate is rather good; the sex very
+handsome and enjoying much more liberty than in the rest of Spanish
+America.</p>
+
+<p>"Armed cruisers are entertained to keep away strangers from the coast,
+which does not prevent all the fraudulent operations in which the
+commandant often shares. Nevertheless life is agreeable for the rich,
+everything being abundant in Havana; and the residents are far more
+neatly habited than elsewhere. One does not drink but cistern water,
+much superior to that of the only fountain which is in the center of a
+large square; and which serves only as watering trough for animals. You
+see in Havana many rolling chairs, most of which are rented, which gives
+the city an air resembling European towns."</p>
+
+<p>Appreciative as this description sounds, which had for its author a M.
+Sr. Villiet d'Arignon, the Havana of the time of the British calls forth
+even more appreciative language from the Spanish historians of Cuba.
+They dwell much on the beauty of its location and of the city itself
+say:<a name="page_099" id="page_099"></a></p>
+
+<p>The streets were not large or well leveled, especially those running
+from north to south, which caused the town to be so great in length;
+over three thousand houses occupied an expanse of nine hundred fathoms
+in length and five hundred in width; they were of hewn stone, of
+graceful form and as a whole afforded a very beautiful appearance. To
+the beauty of the city contributed eleven churches and convents and two
+large hospitals; the churches were rich and magnificent, especially
+those of Recoletos, Santa Clara, San Agustino and San Juan de Dios.
+Their interior was adorned with altars, lamps and candelabra of gold and
+silver of an exquisite taste. There were three principal squares: The
+Plaza des Armas, which still retains its name, encompassed by houses of
+uniform frontage with the metropolitan church. A magnificent aspect was
+added to this square by the castille de la Fuerza, where resided the
+Captain-Generals, and the pyramid encompassed by three luxuriant
+five-leaved silk cotton trees planted there in memory of the tradition,
+that the first mass and town meeting were held in the shadow of a robust
+tree of that kind; that of San Francisco adorned with two fountains was
+considered the best place in the city and on it were the houses of the
+Ayuntamento and the public jail, whose two-story façade with arched
+entrance contrasted with the severe architecture of the convent after
+which the square is named; and there was still another, the new square,
+because it had been opened after the former, with a fountain in the
+center and all encompassed with porticos for the convenience of the
+public, serving also as market-place, where the inhabitants, according
+to Arrate, provided themselves "copiously" with all they wanted.</p>
+
+<p>Native writers also dwell upon the good manners of the Havanese, calling
+them the most polite and social<a name="page_100" id="page_100"></a> people of Spanish America, much given
+to imitating the French customs and manners, which were then in vogue at
+the Spanish court of Madrid, both in their dress and their conversation,
+as also in the furnishings of their houses and the good table they set
+their guests. These descriptions of Cuba and Cuban life tally well with
+those of the foreigners quoted by the author, and indicate the progress
+made by the island, and especially by Havana, in the sixth and seventh
+decades of the century.</p>
+
+<p>The economic conditions of the island underwent a great change during
+the sixth decade of the century. Up to this time, the majority of the
+people had been engaged in agriculture and led a more or less simple,
+rustic life. The products of her soil were consumed on the spot. Her
+mines were neglected because the gold and silver which had been
+discovered in the earlier part of Cuba's history and which had roused
+the jealousy of other countries were not sufficient in quantity to
+justify the labor needed for working them. With the increasing number of
+negro slaves, the possibilities of exploiting all the rich natural
+resources of the island were multiplied. Among the products that came
+into prominence was sugar. Not ordinarily consumed, it brought forty
+three cents a pound. John Atkins, the British surgeon and author of that
+interesting book of travel in Spanish America referred to in a previous
+chapter, had declared the sugar of Cuba the best in the world; and it
+was indeed so considered in the market. It became soon one of the most
+important articles of Cuba's commerce. The cheapened labor encouraged
+enterprises which the Spanish would have been physically unable to carry
+through.</p>
+
+<p>The commerce of Havana had in this epoch increased considerably and the
+greatest part of it came from the<a name="page_101" id="page_101"></a> ports of the island itself. Besides
+supplying with goods the towns of the interior and the littoral, Havana
+exported great amounts of hides, much esteemed for their excellent
+quality, and also sugar, tobacco and other articles. The trade was
+carried on by vessels registered from Cadiz and the Canaries besides
+those of Spanish merchants who were allowed to trade with the
+Spanish-American continent. Especially favored were those that returned
+to Spain from Cartagena, Porto Bello and Vera Cruz and entered Havana to
+renew their supply of provisions and water, and enjoy the advantage of
+going out with the convoy which in the month of September returned to
+the Peninsula with galleons loaded with the riches of Peru and Chile,
+and the fleet freighted with the treasures of New Spain. This periodical
+assembly of a great number of merchant and war vessels in Havana had
+introduced the custom of holding fairs, during which great animation
+prevailed in the city. For while they facilitated commercial
+transactions, they also furnished diversion and entertainment to the
+sailors and others who were waiting for the sailing of the convoy. At
+that time an order was published prohibiting on penalty of death any
+person belonging to the squadron to remain on land over night, and all
+had to retire on board at the report of a gun. Provisions were then, as
+also M. d'Arignon reported at his time, very dear. The monopoly which
+was exercised by the company had unreasonably raised the cost of living.
+The flour brought from foreign smugglers at five or six piasters a
+barrel, was sold at his time at thirty-five and more! Besides the
+ordinary wages of men hired by the day every male slave day-laborer was
+paid in excess four pesos a day and every female two pesos.</p>
+
+<p>The description of the defenses of the city during the<a name="page_102" id="page_102"></a> British invasion
+suggest that the surrender to the enemy may after all not have been
+entirely the fault of the procrastination and unconcern of the Cuban
+governor, as some zealous patriots alleged at the time. The entrance of
+the port was in the eastern part, defended by the strong fort of el
+Morro, situated upon an elevated rock of irregular, somewhat triangular
+form, in the walls and bulwarks of which were forty mounted cannon. It
+was protected also by the battery of Doce Apostoles, so called for
+having a dozen mounted cannon, situated toward the interior of the port
+in the lower parts of the Morro bulwark, which looked to the southeast
+and were almost at sea-level. There was also the Divina Pastora with
+fourteen cannon, on a level with the sea at a point a little higher than
+the former facing the gate of la Punta. Toward the west in the same
+entrance of the port and about two hundred yards from it with four
+bulwarks well-mounted with artillery, was la Fuerza with twenty-two
+cannon. Although not of as solid construction as the others, it served
+as storehouse for the treasures of the King and was also the residence
+of the governor. Between these fortresses there were erected along the
+bay a number of other bulwarks well supplied with artillery. The walls
+from la Punta to the arsenal were protected by bulwarks with parapets
+and a ditch. From the first to the second gate there was considerable
+territory converted at that time into gardens, and pasture land, and
+covered with palmettos. In front of the Punta de Tierra was a ravelin.</p>
+
+<p>Nevertheless those fortifications had serious defects of position,
+because the city as well as the forts were dominated by many hills easy
+of access. East of the port was Cabanas, where there was a citadel built
+later, dominating a great part of el Morro and the<a name="page_103" id="page_103"></a> northeastern part of
+the city. West of the town was a suburb, called Guadeloupe, the church
+of which was situated on an eminence half a mile from the gate of
+Tierra, and on the same level with it, the highest of all fortifications
+in that direction. From the northern side of this elevation the gate of
+Punta could be flanked and from the southeast the shipyard was
+dominated. The zanja real, or royal trench, in the northern part,
+descended not far from the Punta de Tierra and then ran into the
+shipyard where its water was employed in running a mill. Half a mile
+from said church was the Chavez bridge, built over a rivulet flowing
+into the bay, which served to unite the central road of the island with
+that of Baracoa; and from the bridge to the Lazareto was a stretch of
+two miles with an intermediate hill. A trench between these two points
+could easily cut the communication of Havana with the rest of the
+island. From this close description it can be seen that in spite of the
+imposing impression its fortifications made upon foreigners, Havana was
+by no means an impregnable fortress at the time of the British invasion,
+which was brought out at the trial of Governor Prado. But whatever may
+have been the cause of its capitulation to the British, the period of
+their occupation at the end benefited Cuba, for it opened the eyes of
+the government to the needs of the island, and prepared a new era,
+political, social and economic.<a name="page_104" id="page_104"></a></p>
+
+<h3><a name="CHAPTER_VII" id="CHAPTER_VII"></a>CHAPTER VII</h3>
+
+<p>By the terms of the treaty signed at Versailles on the tenth of
+February, 1763, Britain was to give back to Spain the city and territory
+of Havana in the condition in which the British had found it and Spain
+was to grant the British a term of eighteen months, so that those who
+had established themselves upon the island could insure their interests
+by transferring their property. To administrate the political and
+military affairs of Cuba and carry out these stipulations, a new
+governor was appointed in the person of the Lieutenant-General Conde de
+Ricla, a relative of the famous Minister Aranda. Ricla arrived in Havana
+on the thirteenth of June and prepared to enter upon his duties, while
+the British authorities made preparations to wind up their affairs and
+to embark. Spanish love of festive demonstrations of joy must have
+culminated in a frenzy of exultation on the day when Admiral Keppel
+solemnly and formally gave up Havana to the Tenente Rey, the King's
+Lieutenant, who took possession of all military posts. It was the sixth
+of July, 1763, ever since remembered as the glorious day when Cuba was
+delivered from the British yoke. The new governor entered through one of
+the iron gates of the city, driven in an open coach, and acclaimed by
+the enthusiastic vivas of the population. On the same day the British
+authorities set sail, and the city entered upon a celebration of the
+event which lasted nine days. The Spanish colors fluttered from every
+roof, the houses were draped in them, the doors were garlanded in green,
+and when the evening came, lights shone in every window<a name="page_105" id="page_105"></a> and sky rockets
+were set off on every street corner, turning the tropical night into
+day.</p>
+
+<p class="figcenter">
+<a href="images/pg105x_lg.jpg">
+<img src="images/pg105x_lg.jpg" width="538" height="301" alt="ATARES FORTRESS&mdash;(ERECTED 1763)" title="ATARES FORTRESS&mdash;(ERECTED 1763)" /></a>
+<br /><span class="caption">ATARES FORTRESS&mdash;(ERECTED 1763)</span>
+</p>
+
+<p>The new governor was a man of rare character and was endowed by the
+royal government with more power than any of his predecessors had
+enjoyed. He received a salary of eighteen thousand pesos annually. The
+task before him was one of reorganization and reconstruction. He was
+charged and expected to inaugurate a new era in the administration of
+the colony, to employ the most judicious means to prevent errors
+committed by his predecessors and to insure a prompt and efficient
+enforcement of the principles of colonial policy which the time
+demanded. He was also to repair all the fortifications and defenses of
+the island, rebuild whatever had been destroyed and add to them whatever
+was needed as rapidly as possible, so they would be proof against any
+possible coup-de-main on the part of any enemy. The reconstruction of
+the Morro and of the arsenal destroyed by the British, and the erection
+of the forts of Cabanas and Atares was entrusted to the able engineers
+D. Silvestro Abarca and D. Agostino Crame, who later drew the plan<a name="page_106" id="page_106"></a> for
+that of Puerto Principe, intended to protect that place and prevent any
+landing by la Chorrera. The records of the period show that six million
+pesos were spent on those fortifications. New hospitals and other public
+buildings were also erected. The work was greatly facilitated by the
+number of negroes that had been added to the population since the
+British domination of the city. The great activity of the building
+trades stimulated the circulation of gold and gave a new impetus to all
+business life.</p>
+
+<p>That the antagonism between the Spanish and British was not confined to
+Havana, which had suffered British occupation, is proved by the influx
+of immigrants from Florida, when this province was ceded to England.
+Unwilling to live under British dominion, many French and Spanish
+families of that colony left their old homes for new ones in Cuba. A
+great number of them settled in Matanzas and its environs, on land which
+belonged to the famous Marquis Justiz de Santa Anna. The generosity of
+this man in gratuitously ceding that land endeared him to these
+immigrants. Their love for the place they came from induced them to give
+to the towns into which their settlements were formed, names that
+suggested the old home, as San Augustin de la Nueva Florida proves. As
+soon as the enemy had left, the residents of Havana who had retired to
+the interior of the island returned to the city and resumed their
+occupations. Bishop Morell, who had been exiled to Florida by the
+British, also returned. He brought with him the white-wax bee, which in
+time became a new source of wealth for the island.</p>
+
+<p>It was a period of reconstruction and readjustment during which not only
+were old business relations renewed and reaffirmed, but many new steps
+taken to insure the<a name="page_107" id="page_107"></a> welfare of the community. Those elements of the
+population which were particularly concerned with the honest and
+efficient management of its affairs, had during the British occupation
+become aware of some malpractices that had escaped their attention or to
+which they had become so accustomed that they did not make any effort to
+check them. There were always on the island rumors of corruption in this
+or that department. Occasionally a fraudulent functionary was tried and
+convicted, but the great majority of these dishonest officials escaped
+without ever being brought to trial. The frequent change of governors
+with the inevitable periods of interim administration gave unscrupulous
+men ample opportunity to fill their pockets at the expense of the
+government. Nor can it be doubted, that the governors sent over by the
+Spanish court were invested with a farther reaching authority than was
+advantageous for the colony. For they enjoyed not only a political power
+almost absolute, but directed the economic affairs of the colony.</p>
+
+<p>The governors of Cuba had in former times authority to handle the
+revenues and in accord with the municipal councils were wont to elect
+delegates to discharge these duties. In 1551 they had begun to exercise
+these functions as ministers de capa y espada, which means literally of
+cloak and sword. There were two of them for the island; they enjoyed
+seat and vote in the town corporations and were considered royal
+officials. They supervised the work of the Auditor and Treasurer and
+together with the Governor were judges in cases of contraband. Later
+there were appointed tenientes (lieutenants), one for each of the
+following communities, Bayamo, Puerto Principe, Trinidad, Matanzas, San
+Juan de los Remedios, Sancti Spiritus, and Guanabacoa, and two for
+Santiago de Cuba. The new ministers of the Tribunal de Cuentes<a name="page_108" id="page_108"></a>
+(Exchequer) were provisionally endowed and the whole department hitherto
+in charge of the royal officers was reorganized and managed under a new
+system by the newly appointed Intendant. To him was probably due the new
+classification of the revenue rates, which was as follows:</p>
+
+<table border="0" cellpadding="2" cellspacing="0" summary="">
+<tr><td align="left">(1)</td><td>Duties on imports and exports,</td></tr>
+<tr><td align="left">(2)</td><td>of the fleet,</td></tr>
+<tr><td align="left">(3)</td><td>of the armadilla,</td></tr>
+<tr><td align="left" valign="top">(4)</td><td>of the royal Fifths (i.e. a duty of 20% on prizes, etc., paid to the Spanish government),</td></tr>
+<tr><td align="left">(5)</td><td>the duty on anchoring,</td></tr>
+<tr><td align="left" valign="top">(6)</td><td>the duty on frucanga, i.e. beverages made of water<br />
+and molasses, which at a later time, when the use of wine,<br />
+beer, etc., became more general, went into oblivion.</td></tr>
+</table>
+
+<p>These duties were from twenty-one to two and one half per cent.
+according to the articles, the time and the place they came from. There
+were also two per cent. duties on importations, on fruits of the country
+brought to Havana in smaller vessels; on the gold and copper of the
+mines of Jaguas, Holguin, etc., and there was also what was called the
+extraordinario del Morro, which consisted in collecting four pesos for
+each vessel sent to Spain and the American continent. The enforcement of
+these custom regulations was entrusted to the Intendant referred to
+above, who in October of the year 1764 was given the right to use a
+special building for the offices of this department.</p>
+
+<p>For the military reorganization of Havana had been appointed Marshal
+Senor Conde D. Alexandre O'Reilly, who as Inspector-General devoted
+himself to the organization of line troops and militia and was
+materially assisted in his work by Aguiar. O'Reilly succeeded in getting
+the veteran troops and militia of the island into good<a name="page_109" id="page_109"></a> condition. By
+studying the city, dividing it into districts, naming the
+streets&mdash;simple requirements which according to Valdes had at that late
+date not yet been established in Havana&mdash;O'Reilly learned that the city
+alone could raise a battalion of disciplined militia of white men. After
+organizing two such battalions in Havana and Guanabacoa, he realized
+that this force was insufficient for the protection of the capital and
+he raised two more battalions, composed of colored men. When on
+examining the polls or registers of tax-payers he found that owing to
+the poverty and also the ignorance of the majority of the people he
+could not proceed with the draft system without including the married
+and other classes, he decided to resort to conscription.</p>
+
+<p>In 1764 there was created by royal decree a military and provincial
+administration for Cuba in the manner of the peninsulas. D. Miguel de
+Altavilla took charge of it in February, 1765. He established in Havana
+an accountant's (auditor's) office, a treasury and custom-houses at
+various points, subject to the department. This organization required
+many employees, and increased the expenses of the administration. The
+salaries of the officials amounted to one million two hundred thousand
+pesos, while until the year 1761 they had been only four hundred and
+fifty thousand pesos annually. As the Mexican assistant of the director
+never arrived in time to help with the accounts, the Royal Hacienda, as
+it was called, was not a sinecure. The revenues rose within a short time
+to one million two hundred and fifty thousand pesos, but whether this
+was due to the high duties or to the wise administration of the
+Intendencia does not appear.</p>
+
+<p>The tentative effort at establishing a mail service during a previous
+administration was taken up in 1765,<a name="page_110" id="page_110"></a> when the tax administrator D. José
+de Armona established the internal and external mail service of the
+island. It was found that every fortnight there was sent from Havana to
+Santiago de Cuba the mail, touching at Villa-Clara, Sancti Spiritus,
+Puerto Principe and Bayamo. According to royal decree of 1718 there
+should have been sent annually to Spain eight avisos or ships of one
+hundred tons, carrying letters from the Philippines and America, four of
+them stopping for provisions and supplies at Havana. These avisos
+(advice-boats, light vessels for carrying dispatches) sailed at the
+beginning of January, the end of March, the middle of June, and the
+first days of November. Most of the letters at that time were carried by
+smugglers. Armona succeeded in establishing a weekly postal
+communication between the towns mentioned above and also engaged
+postillions to carry mail sacks of San Juan de los Remedies, Trinidad
+and other towns not included in the other line. Every month except
+September, <i>la Coruna</i>, a vessel with the mail of Cuba and Spanish
+America, sailed from Havana for Spain. The work of Armona was
+extraordinary in face of the great difficulties which he had to
+overcome, both in regard to the lack of sufficient funds and to the lack
+of efficient and reliable officials. When he retired from the department
+the mail service of Cuba was neglected and even the line established
+between Havana and other towns of the island reduced its operation to
+one mail a month.</p>
+
+<p>In the meantime the tragedy of the siege of Havana was being discussed
+in Spain before the tribunal charged with the investigation of the
+conduct of the men then at the head of the government in Havana and
+supposed to be responsible for its defeat by the British. After many
+months of tedious conferences, the Military Council, according to
+Alcazar, condemned Ex-Governor Prado to<a name="page_111" id="page_111"></a> degradation of rank and
+banishment, Conde de Superanda and Tavares likewise, and the colonel of
+engineers Ricaut to ten years' suspension from office. The Teniente-Rey
+Soler, the colonels Caro and Arroyo and the artillery-commander Crel de
+la Hoz escaped with severe admonitions. Thus was the curtain rung down
+upon the epilogue to the tragedy of that siege.</p>
+
+<p>After two years, during which he administered the affairs of the
+government with great sagacity and introduced many valuable reforms,
+Conde de Ricla asked permission to retire from his office and return to
+Spain. The Court accepted his resignation and appointed as his successor
+the Field Marshal D. Diego Manrique, who took charge of the government
+on the thirtieth of June, 1765. But he was almost immediately taken sick
+of yellow fever and died on the thirteenth of July, a few days after his
+inauguration. The Municipio of Havana urgently requested Ricla to resume
+the duties of governor, but he firmly refused and embarked for Spain.
+There may have been reasons for his determination not to continue in
+office, that are not mentioned by Valdes and Alcazar. For Blanchet
+remarks that the Conde de Ricla, though a man of action and efficiency,
+seems in the awarding of privileges and assignment of punishments not to
+have conducted himself quite properly. Ricla is described as having been
+a man of small stature, and grave but not unpleasant manner. He died in
+1780 as minister of war in Spain.</p>
+
+<p>There is a memorial to his services in carrying through the extensive
+work on the fortifications of Havana in the chapel of Cabana, where on a
+block is found this inscription:</p>
+
+<p>"During the reign in Spain of His Catholic Majesty Senor D. Carlos III.
+and the government in this island<a name="page_112" id="page_112"></a> of the Count de Ricla, Grandee of
+Spain and Lieutenant-General of the Royal Armies, was begun, in the year
+1763, this fort of San Carlos, that of Atares in the Loma de Sota and
+the rebuilding and enlargement of el Morro. The works of this fort were
+continued and those of el Morro and Atares were finished during the
+government of the Lieutenant-General of the Royal Army Senor Baylio D.
+Antonio Maria Buccarelli, etc."</p>
+
+<p>The provisional governorship of the Teniente de Rey, the King's
+Lieutenant, D. Pascal Jiminez de Cisneros, lasted from the thirteenth of
+July, 1765, to the nineteenth of March, 1766. He conscientiously
+endeavored to continue to rule in the spirit of his predecessor and to
+carry out the instructions given him by Ricla before he left for Spain.
+Some disturbances took place during that time, caused by the
+tobacco-planters and by the soldiers. The former began to object to
+selling their entire harvest to the factory. The latter had become
+dissatisfied on account of the irregularity with which they were paid.</p>
+
+<p>The new governor appointed by the court of Madrid for Cuba was the Field
+Marshal Senor Baylio D. Antonio Maria Buccarelli, a native of Sevilla.
+He entered upon his office on the nineteenth of March, 1766, and was
+evidently determined to continue and if possible improve upon the many
+reforms and improvements that had been introduced by Ricla. Among them
+were certain police regulations which tended to insure the safety of the
+residents, as well as order and cleanliness on the streets. He also
+resolved to abolish the abuses of the bar, by putting a stop to the
+extortions practised by unscrupulous lawyers on ignorant clients. This
+decidedly new departure from any precedent was outlined in a
+proclamation of good government, which he published according to Valdes
+on the seventh, according to Alcazar on the twelfth of April,<a name="page_113" id="page_113"></a> 1766. In
+this memorable address to the people, he announced that he would devote
+two hours daily to giving hearing to complainants; at this hearing were
+to be present attorneys and clerks to take down the depositions and
+render advice, and the judgments there delivered were to be signed
+without delay, except on holidays. By these verbal audiences he
+succeeded in clearing up many cases before they went to the regular
+courts, thus protecting the people against exploitation by the numerous
+officials attached to the lower courts and avoiding expensive lawsuits.
+This new reform in the judicial department of the island especially
+benefited the slaves, whose rights he endeavored to protect and insure.
+The extraordinary discretion with which he performed this function of
+his office, preserving his dignity and affability in the most trying
+situations, endeared him to the people.</p>
+
+<p>The most difficult task before him, and one calling for unusual prudence
+and tact, was the execution of the royal decree concerning the expulsion
+of certain religious orders against whom drastic measures had been taken
+in Europe. The movement began in Portugal in 1759, when the Jesuits were
+expelled from that country. Two years later the society was dissolved
+and its members banished from France. Then the opposition to them made
+itself felt in Spain. King Carlos III. had always been their zealous
+protector, but he suddenly turned against them after the curious
+Sombrero-and-Manta revolution in Madrid in 1766. His favorite, the
+Marquis Squilaci, a Neapolitan, had tried to inaugurate various reforms
+in the city, among them the cleaning of the streets, which were in an
+unspeakable state of filth, the regulation of the prices of food and the
+installment of a lighting system. Simple and reasonable as were these
+innovations, they met with furious opposition on the part of certain
+classes of the<a name="page_114" id="page_114"></a> people. This opposition was fanned into open revolt by
+another ordinance which he issued. It was directed against the enormous
+sombreros and voluminous mantas (cape cloaks) worn with preference by
+individuals who could thus easily disguise themselves, hide their
+identity and carry dangerous weapons which played a dismal part in the
+numerous assassinations that had shocked the authorities. An organized
+revolt against these measures took place in Madrid and led to
+considerable bloodshed. The king was made to believe that the Jesuits
+were the prime agents in that insurrection, and at midnight of the
+seventeenth of February, 1767, Carlos III. signed a decree ordering
+their immediate expulsion from Spain. In this decree, the execution of
+which was entrusted to Count Aranda, the king gave as reason for this
+step, the necessity to maintain among his subjects order, obedience,
+quiet and justice. At the same time he ordered the temporal property of
+the society of Jesuits in the dominions of Spain to be adjudged to the
+treasury. The order was executed with a promptness and a quiet deserving
+especial comment. On the same day were sent to all judges, governors,
+regents and viceroys a secret message, accompanied by a circular letter
+saying that the message containing royal instructions to be obeyed by
+every one should not be opened before April 1. Those officials were
+moreover warned not to communicate the contents of the message to any
+one, and should the public by some chance obtain such knowledge, those
+responsible were to be treated as though they had violated the secret
+and were guilty of opposition to the Sovereign's orders. This measure
+was so effectively executed that the padres of the order were taken by
+surprise, and were speedily sent on their way out of the country without
+the slightest disorder. On the day of<a name="page_115" id="page_115"></a> this expulsion the king had
+affixed a "pragmatica" on the doors of the palace and public buildings
+in the principal streets, in which it was said among other things, that
+the individual priests would be given seventy-two pesos annually for
+their means of subsistence, and the lay brothers sixty-five, that their
+pensions would be paid out of the property of the Society, and that it
+was prohibited in the whole monarchy to receive any individual of the
+Society in particular, or to admit them into any community, or any court
+or tribunal, or to appeal in their behalf. It was also prohibited to
+write or influence the minds of the people for or against this
+pragmatica or to enter into any correspondence with the members of the
+expelled order. This royal decree was carried into effect in all the
+colonies of Spanish America, and in Cuba it was Buccarelli to whom
+credit was due for the tact displayed in performing this extremely
+difficult duty. The proceeds of the property of the Society, which
+reverted to the state, were devoted by Buccarelli to the endowment of
+three professorships at the university, two for law and one for
+mathematics. The decision of the King met with no open opposition among
+the residents, although the Jesuit College, since then called the
+Seminario de San Carlos, and their church, actually the Cathedral, had
+been a center of interest to the society of Havana, and the much
+esteemed and beloved Senor D. Pedro Agostine Morell was reported to have
+been responsible for the coming of the order to Havana. Senor Morell
+died on the twenty-ninth of December, 1769, and was succeeded in his
+diocese by D. José Echeverria.</p>
+
+<p>Governor Buccarelli made strenuous efforts to abolish contraband trading
+in the island. He tried also to promote coffee culture in Cuba, which
+had so far yielded so<a name="page_116" id="page_116"></a> little as to be not even sufficient for home
+consumption. His Majesty granted an extension of customs for five years
+at that time. A new step for the improvement of the maritime department
+was taken in the year 1766, when the Apostadero was created a military
+and naval station. To the administration of this office was appointed D.
+Juan Antonio de la Colina, who during the siege of Havana in 1762 had
+ordered the sinking of the three vessels for the purpose of closing to
+the British the entry of the port. Colina was invested with the same
+powers possessed in Spain by the Captain-General of the naval
+department. In the shipyard of Havana there were built at this time
+vessels of various sizes and purposes, among them the <i>Santissima
+Trinidad</i>, a vessel of one hundred and twelve guns, and three smaller
+but excellent ships. The <i>Santissima Trinidad</i> was destined some years
+later to be destroyed in the battle of Trafalgar.</p>
+
+<p>Two great calamities caused much distress and loss of lives and property
+during Buccarelli's administration. In July and August, 1766,
+earthquakes destroyed a great portion of Santiago de Cuba. It was
+estimated that more than one hundred persons perished. Among them was
+the governor, Marquis de Casa-Cagigal, who was removed from the ruins of
+his residence. The disaster called for such great funds for the
+alleviation of the suffering and the hardships occasioned by this
+catastrophe, that the Royal Treasury had to retard the payment of the
+salaries to the officials of the island. The civilian population
+contributed generously to the relief funds collected in the principal
+towns of the island. Governor Buccarelli himself sent contributions to
+two hundred presidarios and to two engineers that had been stricken in
+the performance of their duties.</p>
+
+<p>The losses and the sorrow caused by this calamity had<a name="page_117" id="page_117"></a> barely been
+repaired and mitigated, when another disaster called for sympathy and
+active assistance on the part of those that were spared. This was the
+tremendous hurricane which swept over Havana on the fifteenth of
+October, 1768, and left the city a scene of desolation. The vessels in
+the harbor were torn from their anchorage, and drifted into the sea
+lashed into fury by the tempest; the trees in the orchards were
+uprooted, the fields appeared as if they had been churned. Buildings
+were carried away from their foundations and deposited in remote places.
+It was difficult to estimate the damage done in the city and its
+neighborhood. Again a call for relief was sounded and responded to
+readily. To assist the sufferers a great sum came from the proceeds of
+the Jesuit properties recently seized, which according to the valuation
+of experts amounted to several million pesos.</p>
+
+<p>Buccarelli was appointed Viceroy of Mexico, and retired on the fourth of
+August, 1771. He had proved a worthy successor of the much esteemed
+Count Ricla and left behind him an excellent reputation. It was said of
+him that he had never once lacked that political prudence which should
+ever guide the actions of an official in such a responsible position as
+was the governorship of Cuba. He was praised for his cautious inquiries
+into legal abuses and his judicious settlement of cases, some of which
+had for forty years occupied the time of the courts and filled the
+pockets of greedy attorneys. He was reported under the most exasperating
+circumstances to have always conserved his affable disposition and to
+have never lost his temper, however great may have been the provocation.
+Upon the whole, he was looked upon as a man of rare nobility of
+character and Cuba was loath to part with him. He was one of the few
+governors that had never given cause for any complaint. This was
+attested by the<a name="page_118" id="page_118"></a> Minister of the Indies, then Baylio Knight Julian de
+Arriaga, who wrote to him by order of His Majesty that not the slightest
+complaint of his government had come to the court.<a name="page_119" id="page_119"></a></p>
+
+<h3><a name="CHAPTER_VIII" id="CHAPTER_VIII"></a>CHAPTER VIII</h3>
+
+<p>While Cuba was enjoying the peace and prosperity which had followed its
+return to Spain, Louisiana, which by the Treaty of Paris had been ceded
+to Spain by Louis XV. of France, to indemnify her for the Floridas and
+the government of which was annexed to that of Cuba, was going through a
+most harassing period of anxiety. For this agreement, which transferred
+the French inhabitants of Louisiana to Spain, was a violation of that
+human right which at this very time was beginning to dawn in the
+awakening political consciousness of mankind, and was to be a source of
+serious conflicts between the French of Louisiana and the authorities
+that came to establish upon her soil the rule of the king of Spain.</p>
+
+<p>Bancroft gives an interesting account of the events that occurred. He
+writes in his "History of the United States" (Vol. IV, p. 122):</p>
+
+<p>"The Treaty of Paris left two European powers sole sovereigns of the
+continent of North America. Spain, accepting Louisiana without
+hesitation, lost France as her bulwark, and assumed new expenses and
+dangers, to keep the territory from England. Its inhabitants loved the
+land of their ancestry; by every law of nature and human freedom, they
+had the right to protest against the transfer of their allegiance."</p>
+
+<p>The spirit which found ultimate expression in the formula: "no
+government without the consent of the governed" had been awakened in the
+people of the North American continent. As soon as the news reached
+Louisiana, that the territory was to be transferred under the rule<a name="page_120" id="page_120"></a> of
+the Spanish king, the call for an assembly was issued and every parish
+in the colony sent representatives to voice their protest and deliberate
+upon measures preventing the execution of that transfer. Under the
+leadership of Lafreniere the people unanimously decided to address a
+petition to the king of France, entreating him not to abandon them to
+foreign rule. The loyalty with which the colony had so far adhered to
+the kings of the mother country seemed to call for redress of the wrong
+which was about to be inflicted upon them.</p>
+
+<p>The wealthiest merchant of New Orleans, Jean Milhet, went to Paris as
+the spokesman of the colony. He met Bienville, the pioneer founder of
+the city which enjoyed at that time the reputation of being an American
+Paris, and the octogenarian lent his aid in an attempt to appeal to the
+French minister, Choiseul. But Choiseul gave them no encouragement. His
+answer was, briefly: "It cannot be; France cannot bear the charge of
+supporting the colony's precarious existence." On the tenth of July,
+1765, the Brigadier D. Antonio de Ulloa, who was appointed by Governor
+Buccarelli of Cuba to take possession of the territory ceded to Spain,
+sent a letter from Havana to the superior council of the colony at New
+Orleans announcing that he had orders to take possession of that city
+for the Catholic king. But the French authorities did not remove the
+flag of France and Acadian exiles continued to pour into the colony from
+the north. Ulloa finally sailed from Havana and on the fifth of March,
+1766, he arrived in the bay.</p>
+
+<p>The very elements of nature seem to have conspired to lend gloom to his
+arrival. A terrible thunderstorm and violent downpour of rain was a
+feature of the landing. He was accompanied by some civil officers, three
+Capuchin monks and eighty soldiers. The people, resentful of<a name="page_121" id="page_121"></a> being
+forced to submit to foreign rule, received him coldly and sullenly. He
+had brought with him orders to redeem the seven million livres of French
+paper money which had been a heavy burden upon a population of not more
+than six thousand souls. He saw at once that the population was
+unwilling to give up its nationality and to change its allegiance from
+France to Spain. He learned that the French garrison peremptorily
+refused to serve under Spanish commanders. So he was forced to leave the
+government, which he was supposed to administer with the aid of the
+Spanish officials that he had brought with him, in the hands of the
+former French functionaries.</p>
+
+<p>When in September of that year an ordinance was introduced by Ulloa
+forcing French vessels having special permits to accept the paper
+currency in payment for their cargoes at an unreasonable tariff, the
+merchants of the colony protested vigorously. They declared stoutly:</p>
+
+<p>"The extension and freedom of trade, far from injuring states and
+colonies, are their strength and support."</p>
+
+<p>Reports circulating about the disorders caused by this conflict between
+the French population and the Spanish authorities frightened the owners
+of merchant vessels that had been in the habit of trading at the colony
+and its commerce with them was for the time being almost suspended. The
+ordinance was rescinded, and Ulloa retired from New Orleans to the
+Balise. He had to be contented to establish Spanish rule at that spot
+and opposite Natchez at the river Iberville. Perhaps a man of different
+disposition would have been able to reconcile the colonists to the
+foreign régime. But Ulloa did not possess the amiable qualities that
+characterized the Governor of Cuba, Buccarelli. He had to learn, as did
+Lord Albemarle during his brief administration of Havana,<a name="page_122" id="page_122"></a> that it was
+not an easy task to conquer the hearts of a people and win them over to
+the rule of foreign authorities.</p>
+
+<p>According to Bancroft this irritating state of things continued for more
+than two years. He writes (p. 123):</p>
+
+<p>"But the arbitrary and passionate conduct of Ulloa, the depreciation of
+the currency with the prospect of its becoming an almost total loss, the
+disputes respecting the expenses incurred since the cession of 1762, the
+interruption of commerce, a captious ordinance which made a private
+monopoly of the traffic with the Indians, uncertainty of jurisdiction
+and allegiance, agitated the colony from one end to the other. It was
+proposed to make of New Orleans a republic, like Amsterdam or Venice,
+with a legislative body of forty men, and a single executive. The people
+of the country parishes crowded in a mass into the city; joined those of
+New Orleans; and formed a numerous assembly, in which Lafreniere, John
+Milhet, Joseph Milhet, and the lawyer Doucet were conspicuous. 'Why,'
+said they, 'should the two sovereigns form agreements which can have no
+result but our misery, without advantage to either?' On the twenty-fifth
+of October, they adopted an address to the superior council, written by
+Lafreniere and Caresse, rehearsing their griefs; and in their petition
+of rights, they claimed freedom of commerce with the ports of France and
+America, and the expulsion of Ulloa from the colony."</p>
+
+<p>This address was signed by upwards of five hundred persons and at the
+meeting of the council on the very next day it was, contrary to the
+warnings of Aubry, accepted. The excitement of the people, when they
+heard this good news, was indescribable. The French colors appeared in
+the public square and veteran pioneers of the colony, women and children
+crowded around to kiss the cherished flag of the much beloved mother
+country. Nine hundred<a name="page_123" id="page_123"></a> men pressed around the flag pole when it was
+about to be raised, eager to lend a hand in what was to them a sacred
+function, and men, women and children began to cry: "Vive le roi de
+France! Nul autre que lui pour nous!" This clamorous demonstration
+manifested to Ulloa the will of the people; and when they proceeded to
+elect their town officials, he abandoned the attempt of establishing
+Spanish rule in Louisiana. He set sail for Havana, and through his
+representatives sent the news of these events to Spain. That incident
+was so significant of the spirit of the times that Du Chatelet wrote to
+Choiseul:</p>
+
+<p>"The success of the people of New Orleans in driving away the Spaniards
+is a good example for the English colonies; may they set about following
+it."</p>
+
+<p>For at this very time the British colonies of America were entering upon
+their struggle for deliverance from restrictions upon trade as
+symbolized in the stamp act and the atmosphere upon the continent was
+rife with revolution. While the statesmen of France and even some of
+England were inclined to grant greater freedom of commerce, Spain still
+lagged behind. She had been the champion of the protective system for
+centuries, and though it had not added to her wealth, on the contrary,
+had helped to impoverish her, she was unwilling to depart from the
+time-honored policy. Grimaldi, the Spanish minister, thus set forth the
+stand which Spain was to take in this question:</p>
+
+<p>"Besides, the position and strength of the countries occupied by the
+Americans excite a just alarm for the rich Spanish possessions on their
+borders. Their interlopers have already introduced their grain and rice
+into our colonies. If this should be legalized and extended to other
+objects, it would increase the prosperity of a neighbor already too
+formidable. Moreover, this neighbor, if<a name="page_124" id="page_124"></a> it should separate from the
+metropolis, would assume the republican form of government; and a
+republic is a government dangerous from the wisdom, the consistency, and
+the solidity of the measures which it would adopt for executing such
+projects of conquests as it would naturally form."</p>
+
+<p>This fear of a republic in Louisiana haunted the king of Spain and his
+cabinet and after discussing the question of returning it to France, it
+was almost unanimously agreed that Louisiana was needed "as a granary
+for Havana and Puerto Rico, a precaution against French contraband trade
+and a barrier to keep off the English encroachments." The Duke of Alva
+said, in a spirit true to his namesake of two centuries before:</p>
+
+<p>"The world, and especially America, must see that the king can and will
+crush even an intention of disrespect."</p>
+
+<p>Masones de Lima expressed himself briefly:</p>
+
+<p>"If France should recover Louisiana, she would annex it to the English
+colonies or would establish its independence."</p>
+
+<p>Minister de Aranda began cautiously:</p>
+
+<p>"A republic in Louisiana would be independent of the European powers,
+who would all cultivate her friendship and support her existence. She
+would increase her population, enlarge her limits, and grow into a rich,
+flourishing and free state, contrasting with our exhausted provinces."</p>
+
+<p>He continued in this vein, dwelling at length upon the consequences such
+an example might bring in its wake, and advised to keep New Orleans in
+such insignificance as to tempt no attack.</p>
+
+<p>The deliberations in the French cabinet were of quite a different
+nature. Du Chatelet, as quoted by Bancroft (p. 151), declared:</p>
+
+<p>"Spain can never derive benefit from Louisiana. She<a name="page_125" id="page_125"></a> neither will nor
+can take effective measures for its colonization and culture. She has
+not inhabitants enough to furnish emigrants; and the religious and
+political principles of her government will always keep away foreigners,
+and even Frenchmen. Under Spanish dominion, the vast extent of territory
+ceded by France to Spain on the banks of the Mississippi will soon
+become a desert.</p>
+
+<p>"The expense of colonies is required only by commerce; and the commerce
+of Louisiana, under the rigor of the Spanish prohibitive laws, will
+every day become more and more a nullity. Spain then will make an
+excellent bargain, if she accords liberty to the inhabitants of
+Louisiana, and permits them to form themselves into a republic. Nothing
+can so surely keep them from falling under English rule as making them
+cherish the protection of Spain and the sweetness of independence."</p>
+
+<p>But the king of Spain had no thought save that of upholding the Spanish
+traditions, and, accepting the advice of the Duke de Alva, decided to
+crush the rebellion of Louisiana. He chose as his instrument the Conde
+Alexandre O'Reilly, who had gone to Cuba with de Ricla and had
+reorganized the army and militia of the island. Buccarelli was informed
+of the royal decision and assisted O'Reilly in fitting out an expedition
+which was to enable him to enforce Spanish rule and eradicate all traces
+of republican leanings in the French colony. The people of New Orleans
+had in the meantime once more sent a petition to France in the attempt
+to enlist the sympathy and aid of the mother country in their endeavor
+to remain French citizens. They also sent an appeal to the British at
+Pensacola but the governor was not inclined to offend any powers with
+which his king was at peace. So great was the dread of the Louisianans
+of being forced to bow to Spanish rule, that they spoke seriously of
+burning New<a name="page_126" id="page_126"></a> Orleans rather than giving it up to the hated foreign
+authorities.</p>
+
+<p>O'Reilly set sail from Havana with a squadron of twenty-four vessels,
+with three thousand well-trained troops on board. He arrived at the
+Balise at the end of July. For a time panic reigned in the city. Aubry
+tried to quiet the people, and advised them to submit and trust in the
+clemency of the king of Spain. A committee of three, Lafreniere, as
+representative of the council, Marquis of the colonists, and Milhet of
+the merchants, presented themselves at the Balise to pay their respects
+to the Spanish general and to appeal to his mercy. O'Reilly entertained
+them at dinner and they left assured of perfect amnesty. On the eighth
+of August the Spanish squadron anchored before the city itself, and the
+authorities took possession in the name of his Majesty, Carlos III. of
+Spain. The Spanish colors replaced those of France and it seemed as if
+with this ceremony and the installment of Spanish officials in the
+different departments of the colony's government the mission of O'Reilly
+was ended. But there was still the punishment to be meted out to the
+rebels who had dared to defy the authority of the Spanish king and had
+sworn unchanging allegiance to the sovereign of France. After having
+received from Aubry, who seemed to play traitor to his compatriots, a
+list of those who had taken part in the recent insurrection and had
+prepared the foundation of a republic with a protector and an elective
+council of forty, O'Reilly on the twenty-first of August invited to his
+home the most prominent citizens and asked the representatives of the
+people's council to pass, one by one, into his private apartment. In
+their unsuspecting innocence, they accepted this invitation as a mark of
+distinction, but they were sadly disillusioned, when O'Reilly entered
+with Aubry and three<a name="page_127" id="page_127"></a> Spanish officers, and arrested them in the name of
+his Majesty the King of Spain.</p>
+
+<p>According to Bancroft two months were spent in collecting evidence
+against the men. The defense asserted that they could not be tried and
+condemned by Spanish officials for acts done before the proper
+establishment of Spanish rule in the colony. The citizens begged for
+time to send a petition to the Spanish sovereign. But all attempts to
+divert O'Reilly from his purpose summarily to punish the men who had
+dared to defy Ulloa, as the representative of Spain, were futile. Twelve
+of the richest men of the colony had to see their estates confiscated;
+from the proceeds were paid the officers employed in the trial. Six
+others were sentenced to various terms of imprisonment, from six years
+to life. The five who had been most conspicuous in the revolt,
+Lafreniere, Marquis, Milhet, Caresse and Noyau, were sentenced to death.
+According to Bancroft they were shot in presence of the troops and the
+people on the twenty-fifth of October, 1769. According to Spanish
+historians they were hanged.</p>
+
+<p>Whatever the fate of these French champions of the newly awakened desire
+for liberty may have been, the effects of O'Reilly's cruelty were felt
+far beyond the still ill defined boundaries of the colony. Though the
+king of Spain was reported to have expressed his approval of O'Reilly's
+summary procedure, even in Spain voices rose to condemn it. A pall
+spread over Louisiana. Business life was for a time paralyzed. Commerce
+came to an absolute standstill. In the country parishes of the colony,
+the Spanish authority was accepted with sullen silence. Many of the
+wealthy families, long identified with the history of the colony,
+abandoned their homes and emigrated to other parts of the continent. The
+government<a name="page_128" id="page_128"></a> of the colony was reorganized on the pattern of all Spanish
+colonies. The restrictions which were placed upon commerce robbed the
+people of whatever initiative and enterprise they had possessed. A
+period of stagnation set in, contrasting sharply with the activity and
+the animation that had previously reigned in the city which claimed and
+was reported by travelers of that time to have been fairly well started
+on the road of becoming the Paris of America. It was an inauspicious
+beginning for the Spanish régime in Louisiana. But the successor of
+O'Reilly, D. Luis de Uznaga, made up for his predecessor's mistake by
+showing so much discretion and exercising his authority with such
+mildness, that he gradually succeeded in reconciling a part of the
+population to the Spanish rule. Only the families of the victims that
+had paid for their loyalty to France with their lives remained the
+implacable enemies of Spain, as long as the colony remained under her
+rule. Aubry, who immediately after the tragedy of the twenty-fifth of
+October had set sail for France, suffered shipwreck on his voyage and
+perished. The six men who had been committed to the dungeons of Havana
+were, according to Bancroft, later set free by the aid of France.</p>
+
+<p>This tragic prelude to the Spanish rule in Louisiana, little as it has
+to do with Cuba, with which colony it was but loosely connected in an
+administrative way, was the herald of a new epoch dawning upon the
+horizon of the New World. The establishment of the little republic at
+the mouth of the Mississippi had been frustrated. But the establishment
+of the greater republic on the continent, under the protection of which
+Cuba was to come some centuries later, was even at this time approaching
+consummation.<a name="page_129" id="page_129"></a></p>
+
+<h3><a name="CHAPTER_IX" id="CHAPTER_IX"></a>CHAPTER IX</h3>
+
+<p>While the new Spanish possession annexed to Cuba by virtue of the Treaty
+of Paris, Louisiana, was passing through that painful state of
+transition which always follows the transfer of a nation belonging to a
+certain race speaking a certain language and cherishing customs deeply
+rooted in the national consciousness, to the rule of another nation, of
+a different race, speaking a different language and practising widely
+different customs, Cuba was enjoying a period of peace, prosperity and
+progress. When Buccarelli was appointed Viceroy of Mexico, D. Pascal
+Jiminez de Cisneros once more exercised superior authority as
+provisional governor of the island. But in November, 1771, the newly
+appointed governor arrived from Spain, the Captain-General D. Felipe
+Fons de Viela, Marquis de la Torre. He was a valiant soldier who in the
+wars of Spain with Italy and Portugal had distinguished himself by his
+conduct and his ability, and had risen to his high rank at the cost of
+his blood. He was a native of Zaragoza, a Knight of the military order
+of Santiago and Alderman in perpetuity, or prefect-governor of his
+native city. He came to Cuba with the reputation of an exceptionally
+worthy official and in the five years of his administration not only
+justified but far surpassed the hopes that his arrival awakened in the
+population of the colony. He entered upon his duties on the eighteenth
+of November, 1771.</p>
+
+<p>Marquis de la Torre was without doubt one of the most efficient and
+successful governors that Cuba ever had.<a name="page_130" id="page_130"></a> Havana was at that time
+growing in population and extent, and entering upon a new era in her
+economic development, due largely to the foresight of King Carlos III.,
+who had granted her an exemption from certain taxes. The city had,
+however, suffered so much in previous times, first from the perpetual
+unrest arising from the fear of invasion by pirates, then from the
+siege, and lastly from the hurricane of 1768, that it needed a man,
+clear of purpose and strong of will, to inaugurate the many innovations
+which he introduced, in order to make the place worthy of being the
+metropolis of Spain's richest island-possession in America. While Ricla
+and Buccarelli, entering upon their governorships immediately after the
+occupation of Havana by the British, had of necessity devoted most of
+their energy towards insuring the safety of the place from a repetition
+of the events of 1762, and had therefore been primarily concerned with
+the fortifications and the military reorganization of the place, la
+Torre was able to direct his attention to improvements, which made for a
+higher standard of public health, and paved the way for a culture, which
+in spite of the wealth of the population, was still only in its
+beginnings. Coming as he did from the Spain of Carlos III., who during
+his long peaceful reign did so much for the cultural progress of his
+country by introducing measures of sanitation and other improvements
+unknown to his predecessors, it was the ambition of la Torre to make
+Havana worthy of comparison with the large cities of the mother country.</p>
+
+<p class="figcenter">
+<a href="images/oldhavana_lg.jpg">
+<img src="images/oldhavana_lg.jpg" width="360" height="550" alt="IN OLD HAVANA" title="IN OLD HAVANA" /></a>
+</p>
+
+<div class="blockill"><p class="c">IN OLD HAVANA</p>
+
+<p>Havana is at once one of the oldest and of the newest of the great
+cities of the western world, and the architecture of its streets
+exhibits samples of the work of five centuries. This scene, showing the
+side wall of the great Cathedral, is typical of the older portions of
+the city, with comparatively narrow streets and characteristic Spanish
+houses.</p></div>
+
+<p>It seems almost unbelievable that Havana had up to this time lacked
+proper pavements; that it had no public promenade, such as every
+European city far inferior in size and population possessed, that the
+streets were disfigured by unsightly and unsanitary out-houses and that
+even the government buildings had been put up with little<a name="page_131" id="page_131"></a> regard
+for appearance, not to mention beauty. Moreover it is almost incredible
+that a city, the population of which belonged to the race that had
+produced some of the greatest dramatists of the world, Calderon and Lope
+de la Vega, had after an existence of some centuries not yet erected a
+playhouse, providing wholesome entertainment for her residents there to
+enjoy the works of their master poets and be for the time of the
+performance lifted above the purely material pursuits of their daily
+life. This was the state in which la Torre found Havana and he
+immediately set to work to study the city's most urgent needs and to
+raise it as rapidly as possible to the high standard he intended to
+apply.</p>
+
+<p>The first task that claimed his attention was the improvement of the
+streets. When the plan to have them paved was about to be realized it
+was found that there was not a sufficient quantity of cobblestones
+available for that purpose. So the contractors had to employ timber
+soaked in tar, which had proved to be extremely durable, little affected
+by atmospheric conditions, and offered only the one disadvantage of
+making a very slippery surface in the rainy season. The next step
+towards raising Havana out of its village state to urban cleanliness and
+dignity was the abolition of the ugly and unsanitary out-houses, a
+measure which seemed so radical and revolutionary to the conservative
+elements of the population that it met with no little opposition. Then
+la Torre deliberated upon plans for public promenades, and those of
+Paula and Almadea Nueva were laid out, followed by the Mall in the
+interior of the city and the Nueva Prado outside of the city walls.
+Great was the delight of the residents, who slowly began to wake up to
+the benefits and the pleasures to be derived by these attempts at
+improvement and embellishment of their town. Among the ordinances<a name="page_132" id="page_132"></a>
+insuring the health, the beauty and the safety of the city, was one
+prohibiting the roofing of houses with guano, which had long been the
+source of dangerous conflagrations, aside from its unsanitary features
+and its being an eyesore. Modest as these demands may seem to twentieth
+century readers, la Torre had no little difficulty in carrying them
+through. But thanks to his energy, perseverance and executive power the
+streets of Havana with their neat pavements, and the public promenades
+with their gravel walks not only improved the appearance of the city,
+but stimulated the dormant esthetic sense of the inhabitants to an
+appreciation of civic beauty.</p>
+
+<p>The next step undertaken by la Torre for the improvement of Havana was
+the erection of more suitable public buildings, especially one for the
+governor himself and for the Ayuntamento, which, strange enough, was to
+be under the same roof as the public jail. Under his order were rebuilt
+seven of the old barracks for the soldiers and a new one was erected for
+the veterans. A great number of bridges was built, that of the Santa Fe
+passage over the Cojimar river, that of las Vegas on the road of Santa
+Maria del Rosario; the bridge of Arroyo Hondo, under the leeside of that
+town; the Enriquez and the Carrillo, and others. All these bridges had
+shields of arms and inscriptions on their pillars and with their many
+arches presented a beautiful sight. The harbor was thoroughly dredged
+with the aid of twelve pontoons and barges manned by a crew of
+presidarios (criminals condemned to hard labor) and slaves. The wharves
+of Carpineti, Cabana and Marimilena were constructed. Finally there was
+erected the first theatre, which was in its way as important an addition
+to the cultural life of the city as had been the foundation of the
+university some time before. For the wealthy and intellectually
+ambitious part of the<a name="page_133" id="page_133"></a> population had keenly felt the lack of dignified
+entertainment and not a few individuals had made an annual pilgrimage to
+Madrid to enjoy a season in drama and music and keep in touch with the
+progress of the arts. The value of all the public edifices and
+reconstruction was appraised by D. Simon de Ayala as amounting to two
+hundred and fourteen thousand eight hundred seventy-three and one half
+reals; in the light of more recent days a very small amount in
+proportion to the number and the importance of the buildings
+constructed.</p>
+
+<p>Nor were the efforts of la Torre by any means limited to the improvement
+of the capital. Trinidad, Santiago and Puerto Principe benefited largely
+from the earnest desire for improvement that actuated Governor la Torre
+to undertake these many works. He was instrumental in the founding of
+the towns of Jaruco and of Nueva Filipina, which was later called Pinar
+del Rio. He inspired new life into all the towns that he visited during
+his administration and turned the colony into one of the richest and
+most beautiful, by applying to its improvement the most advanced ideas
+in civic management that were known in his time. From the census which
+la Torre ordered to be taken it appears that there were on the island
+three hundred and thirty-nine corrales or well defined farms, seven
+thousand eight hundred and fourteen farms for horse-breeding, estancias
+for cattle pasture and vegas for tobacco culture and four hundred and
+seventy-eight sugar plantations. There were twenty-nine thousand five
+hundred and eighty casas (buildings, private or public), ninety churches
+and fifty-two parochial chapels. The population of the island numbered
+one hundred and seventy-two thousand inhabitants; of which ninety-six
+thousand four hundred and thirty were whites, forty-five thousand six
+hundred and thirty-three slaves; that of<a name="page_134" id="page_134"></a> Havana seventy-five thousand;
+Santiago nineteen thousand; Bayamo twelve thousand; Santa Clara eight
+thousand two hundred; Sancti Spiritus eight thousand, Guanabacoa seven
+thousand nine hundred; Trinidad five thousand six hundred, Matanzas
+three thousand two hundred and San Juan de los Remedios three thousand.</p>
+
+<p>The reforms which la Torre inaugurated in the government itself were
+also remarkable. In the proclamation published on the fourth of April,
+1772, he repeated the ordinances issued by his predecessors to insure
+order and quiet in the communities; but he added some important
+innovations. He delivered the people from the exploitation they had
+suffered at the hands of annually appointed visitadores de partido
+(party judges), whose legal malpractices had been a source of great
+grievance to the citizens, and he compelled the members of the inferior
+courts of justice to reside in their respective districts. Commerce had
+after its transient extension during the British dominion once more
+begun to suffer from the restrictions imposed by the government of
+Spain. But about the year 1771, it was revived, for the export duties on
+sugar, honey, cane brandy, hides and wax were lowered and cotton could
+be exported free of duty. In order to stimulate the wax industry, the
+growth of which was remarkably rapid and added largely to the wealth of
+the island, la Torre published in form of a decree measures for its
+protection and promotion. Among them he prohibited the cutting of trees
+on which there were hives. In the year 1770 there were exported to Vera
+Cruz more than five arrobas of wax. At the end of the same year Cuba
+exported to Spain and various points in America twelve thousand five
+hundred and forty-six and in the following year twenty-one thousand one
+hundred and eighty-seven arrobas. The Captain-General was authorized in
+certain<a name="page_135" id="page_135"></a> cases to import provisions from abroad. But contraband
+prevailed and flourished as ever. Governor Torre engaged in an active
+campaign against the smugglers and was the cause of their suffering
+heavy losses; but he was unable to exterminate the evil. This was mainly
+due to the arrogance and arbitrary attitude of Governor D. Antonio Ayanz
+de Ureta, who favored the smugglers that carried on a lively trade in
+the eastern part of the island with Jamaica and the foreign Antilles.</p>
+
+<p>Much as General la Torre ingratiated himself with the citizens by his
+gentle disposition as well as his sound judgment and impeccable honesty,
+he was not to be spared disagreeable experiences with other officials.
+One of these was with the commandant of the Apostadero or naval station,
+D. Juan Bautista Bonel, to whom credit is due for having enriched the
+shipyard by some magnificent structures. The dispute between them
+concerned some civilians who were implicated in a case against
+individuals belonging to the navy, and whom la Torre asked to be given
+over to his jurisdiction. Another unpleasantness was caused by
+conflicting orders given by la Torre and the commandant-general of the
+army. The latter had opened the new gateway that ran as far as the
+suburb of Jesus Maria in the neighborhood of the arsenal, and it was
+said the governor ordered that of la Tenaza to be closed, because the
+commandant opposed its running to that suburb and thus running through
+the arsenal. But upon the complaints that were entered at Madrid by
+Ureta as well as the other gentlemen, that caused these dissensions, his
+Majesty always upheld the side of la Torre and dismissed the
+accusations. Governor la Torre retired on the twelfth of June, 1776, and
+died in Madrid as Lieutenant-General on the sixth of July, 1784. His
+term of administration was the first during which the revenues<a name="page_136" id="page_136"></a> exceeded
+a million of pesos, which augured an era of prosperity for Cuba.</p>
+
+<p>That Governor Torre left Havana a healthier and more beautiful city to
+live in, than it had been before, is an achievement which gives his
+administration a place of its own among those that were especially
+concerned with the welfare of the population. Visitors to Cuba that had
+marked the difference between the Havana of 1745 and that of 1762, would
+have been even more impressed with the appearance of the city after
+Torre had left upon it the seal of his improvements. The residents began
+to take a pride in the capital of the island; a civic spirit arose and
+began to weld the inhabitants more closely by the bond of interests,
+which at last began to surpass those associated with their purely
+material welfare. Visitors coming from the old centers of European
+culture had formerly commented upon the absence in the colonies of
+places where men and women could gather for social intercourse and
+intelligent entertainment. The French visitor quoted in a previous
+chapter, after his visit to Cuba and Santo Domingo, wrote rather
+dejectedly:</p>
+
+<p>"Life offers no attraction here for anybody who is not in commerce.
+Dependent on one's self, there is no relaxation for anyone who has lived
+in France and there played a certain rôle. One must not expect theaters,
+nor cafés, nor public promenades, and still less societies. One does not
+know how to spend the time and this is a real annoyance to a man of
+leisure. The carnival, especially where there are French, offers the
+only opportunity to banish in a degree the dryness of the entertainments
+in these countries&mdash;and what entertainments! One would never dream of
+seeking them, if one were not so far from Europe. The residents in
+comfortable circumstances come to town, you play a game of cards in some
+house, in others<a name="page_137" id="page_137"></a> you drink abundantly, and in most you are bored. The
+country has hardly more attraction for any one having no residence; but
+besides the restraint which is banished there, you can at least enjoy a
+morning and an evening walk; and if you are so lucky as to come across
+some wealthy resident of the better class, you may in rare instances
+find yourself in agreeable company. But there are parts of the country
+where neighbors hardly visit one another once a year."</p>
+
+<p>This is a true glimpse of life in the colonies before the British
+occupation. Had the distinguished foreigner who made these observations
+come to Cuba after the administration of la Torre, he would have found
+the theatre and the promenades, and perhaps even the cafés he had
+previously missed. For the prosperity which set in for the island after
+King Carlos III. began to relax the unreasonable restrictions upon her
+trade and navigation, brought with it to the wealthier classes that
+leisure which calls for higher forms of social life and leads to the
+appreciation of such entertainment as the arts of music and drama offer.
+The theatre of Havana became the meeting place of Cuba's intellectuals
+and the center from which began to radiate the modest beginnings of a
+Cuban culture, which a century later was to produce poets that took
+their place beside those of the mother country. With closer commercial
+relations and increasing facilities of travel even the inhabitants of
+the country living on their haciendas a beautiful domestic life, but one
+making for a certain clannishness, gradually came out of their
+isolation, and benefiting by the progress of their urban neighbors, were
+stimulated to participate in enterprises which a few decades before they
+would have spurned. The constantly growing intercourse with the Old
+World, bringing them into touch with contemporary thought, was another<a name="page_138" id="page_138"></a>
+leaven that began to work in the minds of the Cubans, and to encourage
+activities and interests held as being entirely without the range of a
+people whose chief pursuits for some centuries had been agriculture.
+Thus Cuba entered upon her first period of progress.</p>
+
+<p>This was due in no little measure to the peace and prosperity of Spain
+during the long reign of King Carlos III. For the overseas colonies of
+the European powers were so closely associated with and dependent upon
+the mother countries, that their healthy progress as a rule indicated
+healthy political and economic conditions of the latter. If there was at
+this time any unrest and anxiety at the courts and in the diplomatic
+circles of Europe this was due to events that were happening in North
+America and were beginning to shake the foundations of the old order. On
+the nineteenth of April, 1775, there had been fired the first shot in
+the struggle upon which the thirteen British colonies had entered in
+order to secure their freedom from the unbearable restrictions which
+Britain had imposed upon them. That shot sounded an alarm which was
+heard all over the world and sent a thrill through millions of hearts.
+The spirit that had dictated the works of the French encyclopedists and
+had worked like a leaven of liberty in millions of minds, had become
+incarnate in the British colonists and was clamoring for consummation of
+its ultimate aims. Monarchs and ministers convened in solemn conferences
+and deliberated seriously upon the possible effects of the action taken
+by the rebels against British overrule.</p>
+
+<p>Spain and France, sharing with Britain colonial possessions in America,
+were profoundly disturbed. They had been allies in the recent war
+against Britain, and they still depended upon each other for mutual
+counsel and consolation. The king of France, Louis XVI., an autocrat<a name="page_139" id="page_139"></a> if
+ever there was, had an excellent minister of finance in Turgot, a man of
+extraordinary foresight, of liberal judgment and of rare administrative
+ability. After Vergennes, the minister of foreign affairs, who favored
+the emancipation of America, had forwarded to the king a cautiously
+worded report upon the situation, Turgot was asked to give his opinion,
+and did so in a memorial which very succinctly stated the position of
+both France and Spain, and contained the following significant passages:</p>
+
+<p>"The yearly cost of colonies in peace, the enormous expenditures for
+their defence in war, lead to the conclusion that it is more
+advantageous for us to grant them entire independence, without waiting
+for the moment when events will compel us to give them up. This view
+would, not long since, have been scorned as a paradox, and rejected with
+indignation. At present we may be the less revolted at it, and perhaps
+it may not be without utility to prepare consolation for inevitable
+events. Wise and happy will be that nation which shall first know how to
+bend to the new circumstances, and consent to see in its colonies,
+allies and not subjects. When the total separation of America shall have
+healed the European nations of jealousy of commerce, there will exist
+among men one great cause of war the less, and it is very difficult not
+to desire an event which is to accomplish this good for the human race.
+In our colonies we shall save many millions, and, if we acquire the
+liberty of commerce and navigation with all the northern continent, we
+shall be amply compensated.</p>
+
+<p>"The position of Spain with regard to its American possessions will be
+more embarassing. Unhappily she has less facility than any other power
+to quit the route she has followed for two centuries, and conform to a
+new order of things. Thus far she has directed her policy to<a name="page_140" id="page_140"></a>
+maintaining the multiplied prohibitions with which she has embarrassed
+her commerce. She has made no preparations to substitute for empire over
+her American provinces a fraternal connection founded on identity of
+origin, language, and manners, without the opposition of interests; to
+offer them liberty as a gift, instead of yielding it to force. Nothing
+is more worthy of the wisdom of the king of Spain and his council, than
+from this present time to fix their attention on the possibility of this
+forced separation, and on the measures to be taken to prepare for it."</p>
+
+<p>Alas! the warning of Turgot was not heeded by the government of Spain
+and a whole century had to elapse and many lives had to be sacrificed
+before the Spanish colonies in America were to gain their independence!
+Both the French and the Spanish king were opposed to taking sides in the
+war which Britain was waging with her colonies; but they were quite
+ready secretly to help those colonies, knowing that their success meant
+the weakening of British power! Bancroft reports in his "History of the
+United States" (Vol. V., p. 321):</p>
+
+<p>"After a year's hesitation and resistance, the king of France, early in
+May, informed the king of Spain that he had resolved, under the name of
+a commercial house, to advance a million of French livres, about two
+hundred thousand dollars, towards the supply of the wants of the
+Americans."</p>
+
+<p>His example was followed by the king of Spain, who, a few weeks later,
+without the knowledge of any of his advisers except Grimaldi, sent a
+draft for a million livres more, as his contribution!</p>
+
+<p>Such had been the effect of the first shot fired in the struggle for
+American independence. When the news of the official declaration of this
+independence on July<a name="page_141" id="page_141"></a> fourth, 1776, reached Paris and Madrid, the worst
+fears of the upholders of the old régime and the most exalted dreams of
+the champions of the new political ideal were realized. But neither
+France nor Spain dared openly to take sides against Britain, both having
+ample reason to avoid being involved in new wars. As Turgot intimated in
+his message, Spain was far more directly interested in the step taken by
+the British colonies and the possible effects it might have upon her own
+possessions. Hence France decided to do nothing without the agreement of
+Spain. Again it is Bancroft who gives the clearest statement of the
+economic position of Spain and her reasons for avoiding a break with
+Britain. He writes in his "History of the United States" (Vol. V., p.
+535):</p>
+
+<p>"Equal to Great Britain in the number of her inhabitants, greatly
+surpassing that island in the extent of her home territory and her
+colonies, she did not love to confess or to perceive her inferiority in
+wealth and power. Her colonies brought her no opulence, for their
+commerce, which was soon to be extended to seven ports, then to twelve,
+and then to nearly all, was still confined to Cadiz; the annual exports
+to Spanish America had thus far fallen short of four millions of dollars
+in value, and the imports were less than the exports. Campomanes was
+urging through the press the abolition of restriction on trade; but for
+the time the delusion of mercantile monopoly held the ministers fast
+bound. The serious strife with Portugal had for its purpose the
+occupation of both banks of the river La Plata, that so the mighty
+stream might be sealed up against all the world but Cadiz. As a
+necessary consequence, Spanish shipping received no development; and,
+though the king constructed ships of the line and frigates, he could
+have no efficient navy, for want of proper nurseries of seamen. The war
+department was in<a name="page_142" id="page_142"></a> the hands of an indolent chief, so that its business
+devolved on O'Reilly, whose character is known to us from his career in
+Louisiana, and whose arrogance and harshness were revolting to the
+Spanish nation. The revenue of the kingdom fell short of twenty-one
+millions of dollars, and there was a notorious want of probity in the
+management of the finances. In such a state of its navy, army, and
+treasury, how could it make war on England?"</p>
+
+<p>Nobody realized these facts better than King Carlos III. His new
+ministers, D. Jose Monino, Count de Florida Blanca, who had succeeded
+Grimaldi, and Galvez, the minister for the Indies, agreed with the
+sovereign; and when Arthur Lee, emissary of the new republic, appeared
+in Europe and sought an audience with the authorities in Madrid, he was
+detained at Burgos to confer with Grimaldi, who was then on his way to
+his native Italy. Lee found little encouragement and satisfaction in
+this interview; he was told that the Americans would find at New Orleans
+three thousand barrels of powder and some store of clothing, and that
+Spain would perhaps send them a cargo of goods from Bilbao, but he was
+urged to hurry back to Paris. Florida Blanca, too, very decidedly
+expressed his aversion to the new republic and was reported to have said
+"that the independence of America would be the worst example to other
+colonies, and would make the Americans in every respect the worst
+neighbors that the Spanish colonies could have." Thus the constant fear
+that the close proximity of an independent state might rouse the spirit
+of independence in her own colonies, determined the policy of Spain
+toward the War of American Independence.</p>
+
+<p>Yet her colonies in America gave Spain little trouble at that time,
+being contented with their lot and working out the problem of their
+existence as well as their loyalty<a name="page_143" id="page_143"></a> to Spanish institutions would
+permit. Cuba, especially, was at that time absorbed in living up to the
+high standards set her by the three excellent governors that had
+followed the British domination: Ricla, Buccarelli and la Torre. Their
+successor was the Field Marshal D. Diego José Navarro, a native of
+Badajoz. He entered upon the duties of his administration on the twelfth
+of July, 1777, at a time when the war being waged between Britain and
+her American colonies had created an atmosphere of apprehension and once
+more brought near the possibility of a conflict with the old enemy. The
+repeated protests of her economic experts against her trade restrictions
+had induced the government of Spain to issue the royal "Ordenanza para
+el libre comercio con las colonias," a decree due to the constant
+efforts of the Minister of the Indies, D. José de Galvez, whose
+experience in the colonies had given his voice sufficient weight to
+convince his Majesty of the urgent necessity of this reform. During two
+and a half centuries Spain had traded with America only, through the
+ports of Cadiz and Sevilla; this ordinance opened all the ports of the
+peninsula to traffic with all those of Spanish America.</p>
+
+<p>At the same time was ordered a reduction in the duties and the
+permission of importing foreign goods, though they always had to be
+carried in Spanish boats. These duties were henceforth three per cent.
+on Spanish products, and seven per cent. on foreign products. When the
+value of the goods was greater than their bulk, a duty was levied,
+called estranjeria (foreign custom). As a result of this reform, the
+revenues of Cuba which in 1764 had amounted to not more than three
+hundred and sixteen thousand pesos, rose in the year 1777 to one million
+twenty seven thousand two hundred and thirteen pesos. Contraband which
+had been one of the worst evils that<a name="page_144" id="page_144"></a> the Cuban authorities had to
+contend with for two centuries, visibly declined and was soon limited to
+articles of luxury. At the same time there was also ordered by royal
+decree the unification of the coinage, and the macuquino, a coin with
+the milled edges cut off, was replaced by one of silver with a corded
+edge. All these reforms were received by the people with unbounded
+enthusiasm. In all parts of the island the inhabitants spontaneously
+gave vent to their joy in brilliant festivals and in a display of
+oratory, which acclaimed the beginning of the new era for Cuba.</p>
+
+<p>Like Buccarelli, Governor Navarro was much concerned with the legal
+malpractice that had long existed in the courts. The bar was composed of
+many men who with insidious cunning stirred up and prolonged innumerable
+lawsuits. Their machinations not only violated the sense of justice, but
+directly disgraced their profession and the judicial administration of
+the island. So many families had been ruined by such legal procedures,
+that Governor Navarro was determined to check the operations of these
+sharks. He ordered that no one but a duly appointed notary should be
+permitted to draft legal documents and perform judicial acts and he
+reduced the number of these men to thirty-four for the whole island. He
+also appointed an appraiser to adjust the costs of legal proceedings and
+ordered that lawyers who had been convicted of malpractice should be
+deprived of the right to plead. The Audiencia of Santo Domingo protested
+against some of these decisions of Navarro, but he succeeded in
+convincing the court of the justice of his acts.<a name="page_145" id="page_145"></a></p>
+
+<h3><a name="CHAPTER_X" id="CHAPTER_X"></a>CHAPTER X</h3>
+
+<p>In the mean time events in North America continued to agitate the
+diplomatic world of Europe and to stir up trouble. As Great Britain had
+begun to interfere with the commerce and navigation of France, the
+relations between the two countries grew daily more strained. France had
+come to an understanding with Spain, that by the beginning of the year
+1778, the two powers would have to combine to make war on Britain, but
+Carlos III., getting old and more and more conservative, did not want to
+depart from his policy of neutrality and wanted to end his days in
+peace. When on the thirteenth of March, the British secretary of state
+received from the French ambassador a note, saying that France and the
+United States of North America had signed a treaty of friendship and
+commerce without any definite advantage to France, but that the king was
+determined to protect the lawful commerce of his subjects, a state of
+war was established between the two kingdoms. Efforts to change the
+decision of Spain were repeated; the return of Florida to Spain was
+offered with the consent of the United States. But Florida had by this
+time lost all charm for the conservative court of Spain, so awed by the
+fact that a republic was to be the neighbor of her American possessions
+that it was bound not to do anything that might help the insurgents, and
+sooner or later kindle the desire for independence in their own
+colonies. Only the prospect of recovering Gibraltar might at that moment
+have swayed the decision of Spain. But that seemed beyond reasonable
+possibility.<a name="page_146" id="page_146"></a></p>
+
+<p>The king was in an embarrassing position. The compact entered into by
+the two countries when the Bourbons ascended the Spanish throne, a
+certain respect for the senior branch of the family and the grudge which
+he bore Britain, tempted him many a time to revise his decision. His
+ministers, too, were by no means unanimous in approving Spain's
+neutrality. While some held that to assist rebels in their fight upon
+their mother country was morally wrong and politically imprudent,
+others, impatient of the passive inactivity to which they were reduced,
+modestly expressed their disapproval. One of them, Florida Blanca, more
+ambitious for himself than for his country, eager at any moment to
+embrace an opportunity of making a name for himself, continued to
+negotiate with the statesmen of France and secretly hoped that somehow
+he would have a hand in the return of Gibraltar to Spain. In this vague
+hope he quietly worked to enlarge and improve both the army and the
+fleet of his country; he collected a large number of battering cannon at
+Seville, and the port of Cadiz soon held a greater number of well-built
+vessels than it had seen since the golden age of Spanish maritime power.
+Cunningly holding out the prospect of a final alliance against the
+common enemy to France, while at the same time offering Britain to
+become a mediator in the bloody conflict, he succeeded in delaying any
+decisive action on the part of France. The French became irritable.
+Finally the diplomats of the two powers came to an agreement and on the
+twelfth of April, 1779, a treaty of alliance was signed.</p>
+
+<p>The terms of this treaty were as follows: France was to invade Great
+Britain or Ireland; if she succeeded in wresting from the British
+Newfoundland, she pledged herself to share the fisheries exclusively
+with Spain; she also pledged herself to secure for Spain the return of<a name="page_147" id="page_147"></a>
+Minorca, Pensacola and Mobile, the Bay of Honduras and the coast of
+Campeche. Moreover, the two powers pledged themselves to continue the
+war on Britain, until that country agreed to return Gibraltar to Spain.
+From the United States Spain expected as reward of her services the
+basin of the St. Lawrence and the lakes, the unrestricted navigation of
+the Mississippi and all the territory lying between that river and the
+Alleghany mountains. The United States were by this treaty to be free to
+make peace with Britain, as soon as their independence was recognized,
+but were not in any way expected to continue war until Gibraltar was
+returned to Spain.</p>
+
+<p>The Spanish colonies in America proved at this time that the distance
+which separated them from the mother country, and the greater sense of
+space and elbowroom which they enjoyed and in which several generations
+of their people had been born, was beginning to differentiate the
+Spanish Americans from their kinsmen in old Spain. Unable in the varying
+aspects of rough pioneer life to preserve the old traditions and
+conventions, the character of the people themselves had changed. They
+were not to be bound by the numerous considerations that entered into
+every step European nations took. They were not slow in taking action,
+when there was cause and opportunity for such. The news of the alliance
+between France and Spain against Britain was received in Cuba and
+Louisiana with intense interest. Within a few days both colonies were
+swayed by the desire to avenge wrongs formerly suffered at the hands of
+the British, and with a remarkable promptness framed measures to this
+effect. Governor Navarro immediately issued privateering patents to
+Spanish ships and they as promptly set out on their quest and captured a
+number of British vessels. The coasts of Cuba were closely watched for
+the<a name="page_148" id="page_148"></a> possible arrival of a hostile fleet, and the garrison of el Morro
+was keenly on the alert.</p>
+
+<p>In Louisiana the feeling against the British ripened into the plan of
+reconquering Pensacola. D. Bernardo de Galvez, who had settled in that
+colony in 1776, had in 1779 been elected Governor and invested with full
+rights, proprietary and otherwise. The official council of the colony
+was of the opinion that Louisiana should assume a passive defensive,
+until advices and perhaps reenforcements were received from Havana. But
+Galvez, enterprising and energetic in all his undertakings, and a
+fighter whose valor had been tried before, was determined to attack the
+British without delay. He collected a force of only seven hundred men,
+according to Valdes, fourteen hundred according to Blanchet, among them
+many veterans and militia men, and marched towards Fort Manchac. It was
+a perilous and trying expedition through a country then little more than
+a wilderness. But he arrived at his goal and surprised the garrison,
+taking the British prisoners. Encouraged by this success, he left the
+captured fort under guard of a part of his force and turned towards
+Baton Rouge. There he found the enemy much stronger; the British under
+command of Lieutenant-Colonel Dickson opposed his attacks so
+strenuously, that his forces had to entrench themselves in anticipation
+of a prolonged siege. But after nine days, on the twenty first of
+September, Dickson surrendered and his garrison, too, were made
+prisoners. Point Thompson and Point Smith, British establishments on the
+eastern bank of the Mississippi, followed, and leaving General de Camp
+in charge of the conquered territory, Galvez hurried to Cuba to secure
+reenforcements for his attack on Mobile and Pensacola.</p>
+
+<p>In Havana he found everything in readiness to engage<a name="page_149" id="page_149"></a> in or furnish an
+expedition against the British possessions. He had in the meantime been
+raised to the rank of Field Marshal and everything seemed to favor his
+plan. During the preparations there arrived in the port the squadron of
+D. José Solano, consisting of eight thousand men under the command of
+the Lieutenant-General D. Victorio Navia. Receiving a valuable addition
+to his troops from Solano, Galvez prepared to embark with five
+regiments, a small squadron of dragoons, two companies of artillery and
+forty pieces of ordnance. The expedition was abundantly supplied with
+ammunition and provisions. On the sixteenth of October, 1780, they set
+sail with fifty transports, escorted by Solano, seven ships, five
+frigates and three brigantines. But on the following day a terrible
+hurricane surprised them out at sea, seriously damaging some of the
+ships and dispersing the others. Galvez was obliged to return to the
+sailing port without even knowing the fate of some of his vessels. A
+number of them on escaping from the storm drifted towards Campeche,
+others to the mouth of the Mississippi, still others to unknown ports
+and one was known to have been wrecked.</p>
+
+<p>News coming to Havana, that the forces at Mobile, which had in the
+meantime been taken by General de Campo, were in need of food and
+threatened with an attack by the British, a council of generals was held
+and ordered two ships, capable of transporting five hundred men and
+carry a sufficient amount of provisions, to be immediately prepared and
+sent on their way. The convoy sailed on the sixth of December under the
+command of the Captain of the frigate, D. José de Rada. On arriving at
+the mouth of the Mobile, he did not dare to enter, having found some
+variation in the channel, and sailed directly for the Balize of the
+Mississippi. He<a name="page_150" id="page_150"></a> left his cargo at the entrance and returned to Havana.
+Two days later two British frigates penetrated the very Bay of Mobile
+and the detachment of the village was reported to be attacked. D.
+Bernardo de Galvez urged that, although the state of things did not
+permit a repetition of the expedition that had sailed from Havana in
+October, some troops be given him with which to reenforce the garrisons
+of Louisiana and Mobile. There, as soon as a favorable opportunity
+presented itself, he would pledge the inhabitants to a further effort
+and attack Pensacola. The plan was approved by the council, thirteen
+hundred and fifteen men were organized, including five companies of
+grenadiers, five vessels were equipped as transports and the war-ship
+<i>San Ramon</i>, under command of D. José Calvo, the frigate <i>Santa Clara</i>,
+commanded by Captain D. Miguel Alderato, the <i>Santa Cecilia</i>, commanded
+by Captain D. Miguel de Goicochoa, the tender <i>Caiman</i>, commanded by
+Captain D. José Serrato, and the packet <i>San Gil</i> under Captain D. José
+Maria Chacon, were designated as escorts. The whole fleet was placed
+under the command of D. Bernardo de Galvez, who now bore the title of
+General.</p>
+
+<p>A communication sent by the General of the Marine to D. José Calvo shows
+in what esteem Galvez was held and how eager were the Spanish
+authorities to help him with his attack on Pensacola:</p>
+
+<p>"To the question contained in your paper of yesterday, that I manifest
+to you the terms under which you must subordinate to and obey the orders
+of the Field Marshal of the Royal armies, D. Bernardo de Galvez, I beg
+to advise that your honor shall put in practice with all your well-known
+and notorious diligence those that the expressed Don Bernardo shall give
+your Honor relative to the conquest of Pensacola, without separating<a name="page_151" id="page_151"></a>
+yourself in other things from what the Royal Ordinances of the Armada
+provide, endeavoring that the strictest discipline be observed in all
+the ships under your orders as provided therein. May our Lord keep you
+many years.</p>
+
+<p>
+<br />
+</p>
+
+<p class="r">"<span class="smcap">Juan Bautista Bonet</span>,&nbsp; &nbsp; <br />
+"Sr. D. José Calvo.</p>
+
+<p>"Havana, 6th of February, 1781."</p>
+
+<p>Galvez embarked on the thirteenth of February, the troops followed on
+the fourteenth and the convoy sailed on the twenty-eighth. The General
+had previously sent Captain D. Emiliano Maxent in a schooner to New
+Orleans with orders to the Commandant of Arms, so that the troops which
+D. José Rada had left and those that had arrived there on account of the
+October hurricane should set out to meet the convoy. He had ordered them
+to be ready to sail at the first signal. On the first of March the
+General sent D. Miguel de Herrera of the Regiment of Spain to Mobile by
+schooner with letters for D. José Espeleta, directing him to proceed to
+the east of Santa Rose island, fronting the port of Pensacola. He
+advised him to march by land to form a union with the troops of his
+command. Such were the extensive and well calculated preparations made
+by the Spaniards for the recapture of Pensacola. After Galvez had
+effected the junction of his troops with those of Mobile and New
+Orleans, he proceeded towards the place which was well fortified and
+garrisoned.</p>
+
+<p>The progress of the blockade was at first very slow. Colonel Campbell,
+who commanded the British, offered a stubborn resistance to the attacks
+of the Spanish troops. But Galvez was equally persistent and undaunted
+continued in his operations. Very much smaller in number than the
+Spanish forces, the British seemed from the<a name="page_152" id="page_152"></a> first to be doomed to
+defeat. But the decisions of the siege hung a long time in the balance.
+After a brave struggle against odds, the British began to relax in their
+firing, while the Spaniards seemed ever to bring into the firing line
+new batteries. Finally the powder magazine was blown up and demolished
+some of the advance works, and on the ninth of May, 1781, the British
+garrison surrendered with honors. The conquest of Pensacola decided the
+fate of Florida, which returned to Spanish dominion. As a reward for his
+valor the king promoted D. Galvez to the rank of Lieutenant-General and
+gave him the title Conde de Galvez. The British garrison had to pledge
+themselves not to serve during the war against Spain or her allies, but
+were left free to do so against the United States.</p>
+
+<p>During the administration of Governor Navarro, which was soon to come to
+an end, there was one measure enacted, which anticipated our modern
+prohibition. It was promulgated by means of a proclamation of the year
+1780, which prohibited, except for medicinal uses, the sale of liquor.
+So disastrous and wide-spread were the ravages caused by an immoderate
+consumption of distilled spirits, brandy, wine, etc., in the population
+of the island, and especially among the soldiers, that heavy fines were
+imposed upon the offenders; the first offence was punished by a fine of
+fifty pesos, the second by one of one hundred pesos and the third by
+banishment and a fine. The fear that the British would invade Havana or
+Puerto Rico caused a revival of all military activities and the building
+of additions and improvements of the fortifications. In the year 1781
+Governor Navarro, being old and sickly, resigned his office and retired
+to Spain, where the king rewarded his services with the
+Captain-Generalship of Estramadura.<a name="page_153" id="page_153"></a></p>
+
+<h3><a name="CHAPTER_XI" id="CHAPTER_XI"></a>CHAPTER XI</h3>
+
+<p>Washington's warning of entangling alliances comes to one's mind on
+reading the curious results of the concerted action against Britain
+decided upon by France and Spain in Europe, while the United States were
+fighting the British in North America, and the Spanish colonies of Cuba
+and Louisiana were attempting to wrest from them the Gulf coast. The
+lure of Gibraltar had led to a state of blockade; but this was far from
+satisfying to the insatiable ambition of the Spanish prime minister,
+Florida Blanca, still bent upon making the world ring with the sonority
+of his name. Ignoring all arguments to the contrary presented by the
+French statesman Vergennes, and even by some of the Spanish authorities
+familiar with the situation, he began to insist upon an immediate attack
+on Britain and gradually persuaded the French allies. An expedition was
+fitted out and in June, 1779, the fleet consisting of thirty-one French
+ships of line and twenty Spanish warships sailed for the Channel.</p>
+
+<p>It was the largest and best equipped force that had been seen on the
+Atlantic in many years; for the Spanish shipbuilders had been busy
+during the past years of unrest and threatening war clouds and had
+turned out vessels far superior in construction to those of Britain. The
+French were not over hopeful; even light-hearted Marie Antoinette was
+conscious of the importance of the enterprise and the great risk it
+involved; for she wrote in a private letter: "Everything depends on the
+present moment. Our fleets being united, we have a great superiority.
+They are in the Channel; and I cannot<a name="page_154" id="page_154"></a> think without a shudder that,
+from one moment to the next, our destiny will be decided." The French
+staked their hope upon the reputation of the Spanish as fighters on sea.
+Montmorin said: "I hope the Spanish marine will fight well; but I should
+like it better if the British, frightened at their number, would retreat
+to their own harbors without fighting." King Carlos alone was
+optimistic; he imagined a rapid invasion, a prompt victory and the
+humiliation of Britain, which he had so long wished for.</p>
+
+<p>The unexpected was to happen for both French and Spaniards. The fleet
+appeared at Plymouth on the sixteenth of August, but, without even an
+attempt at attacking the town, for some unexplained reason was idle for
+two whole days. Then a storm came up and drove it westward. When the
+weather became more favorable, the vessels returned and the British
+retired before them. There was no action to speak of; there was nothing
+lost and nothing gained, and realizing the futility of the undertaking,
+the chiefs decided to abandon it. The French returned to Brest, and the
+Spanish to Cadiz. To the onlooking world the actions of the expedition
+appeared nothing less than quixotic. The reasons for this
+incomprehensible performance gradually became known; the expedition had
+sailed under many chiefs, but it lacked the one chief, whose will and
+word was to prevail and insure unity of purpose. Unable to agree upon
+any one plan of action, they decided upon no action whatever. The
+Spanish admiral, who had been fired with the spirit of Florida Blanca
+and been eager to display the famous military prowess of his nation in a
+big fight with the enemy, was so furious, that he vowed on his honor
+after this experience rather to serve against France than Britain. Marie
+Antoinette wrote to her mother: "The doing<a name="page_155" id="page_155"></a> of nothing at all will have
+cost us a great deal of money."</p>
+
+<p>But while a legitimate engagement between the French and Spanish vessels
+on the one and the British on the other side was for the time being
+avoided, the three countries did not disdain to stoop to smaller means
+to inflict damage upon the commerce and the navigation of one another.
+Nor did they hesitate to attack the vessels of neutral countries, if
+they suspected them of lending aid to the belligerent they were
+opposing; and as this spirit began to spread, it led to a state of
+anarchy upon the seas, which recalled the golden age of piracy. British
+privateers and other vessels cruised about the ocean in quest of booty
+and attacked and robbed indiscriminately whatever ships they suspected;
+and very frequently this suspicion was only a pretext. Dutch commerce
+and navigation especially suffered from these depredations, and as
+French and Spanish vessels began to vie with the British in these
+violations of neutrality, the council chambers of the European powers,
+from Lisbon to Petrograd and from Naples to Christiania began to ring
+with vociferous protests against these disgraceful conditions. When
+Spain issued an order that all ships found by her vessels to be carrying
+provisions and to be bound for Mediterranean ports, should be brought
+into the harbor of Cadiz and their cargoes sold to the highest bidder,
+even Britain was alarmed and indignant.</p>
+
+<p>That was the moment which brought into prominence Sir George Rodney, the
+British commander, whose naval exploits soon were to worry the Spanish
+colonies, as did once those of British freebooters. Rodney sailed with
+his squadron on the twenty-ninth of December, 1779, and by the eighth of
+January had captured seven warships and fifteen merchantmen. At Cape St.
+Vincent,<a name="page_156" id="page_156"></a> where he arrived on the sixteenth, he destroyed a part of the
+Spanish squadron under command of D. Languara. In the spring of the same
+year he had several encounters with the French fleet, under command of
+Admiral Guichen, with results so favorable for him that Britain soon
+resounded with his praise. His progress had so far been almost
+unobstructed, but in the summer it was temporarily checked, when the
+Spanish squadron, commanded by D. Solano, joined that of the French.
+However, the curious disparity of French and Spanish temperament once
+more manifested itself in a manner which disastrously affected their
+work. Unable to agree on important questions of action, their
+cooperation threatened to come to naught. In the mean time an epidemic
+of fever broke out in both fleets and D. Solano returned with his ships
+to Havana, while Admiral Guichen sailed for France.</p>
+
+<p>The new governor, who had succeeded Navarro in the administration of
+Cuba, was Lieutenant-General D. Juan Manuel de Cagigal. Alcazar calls
+his governorship a provisional one; Blanchet asserts that he received
+his appointment in reward for the valuable services he had rendered
+during the recent conquest of Pensacola, he having been the first to
+enter through the breach which the Spanish had made in the
+fortifications. Cagigal was a native of Cuba; he entered upon his office
+on the twenty-ninth of May, 1781, and remained until December of the
+same year. He contributed largely to the efficiency of the expedition
+which was fitted out under the command of D. Solano, the General of the
+Spanish fleet, consisting of twelve vessels with one thousand men on
+board, and was to join the French fleet at Guarico. The object of the
+expedition was to capture the island of Providence and eventually take
+other island possessions<a name="page_157" id="page_157"></a> of the British in the contiguous seas.
+According to Alcazar, Providence was taken, but the defeat of the French
+squadron by Rodney made the position of Cagigal critical and attention
+had to be concentrated upon the defense of Havana.</p>
+
+<p>According to Blanchet this joint expedition of the French and Spanish
+forces, which had for its ultimate object the capture of Jamaica, had
+elected for its chief D. José de Galvez, giving him for the duration of
+the campaign authority over the Captain-General of Cuba and the
+president of Santo Domingo. By order of Galvez, Cagigal had set out from
+Havana in April, 1782, with forty-eight transports and two thousand men
+to possess himself of the British island of Bahama, and in particular of
+Providence. During his absence D. José Dahan exercised the authority of
+the governor. Cagigal was not aware that a week before his sailing
+Admiral Rodney had defeated the French squadron of Count de Grasse,
+which he was to join in the attack on Jamaica. However, Providence was
+taken and a sufficient garrison left there to make the conquest secure.
+Blanchet indulges in some criticism of Cagigal that he had left Havana,
+and taken all the troops with him at such a critical time. For when he
+reached Matanzas after a heavy gale which had dispersed his ships, he
+found the authorities no little alarmed since a British fleet had been
+sighted.</p>
+
+<p>Cagigal immediately hurried to the capital, fortified the approaches,
+employing one thousand negroes in the work, and formed an intrenched
+camp. He armed the militia, which was reenforced by many civilians,
+eager to fight the enemy, and when on the fifth of August el Morro gave
+notice of the presence of the British, everybody was prepared for the
+defence. Sir George Rodney,<a name="page_158" id="page_158"></a> now Admiral, had calculated upon taking
+Havana by surprise. He brought with him a squadron composed of
+twenty-six ships of the line, and carrying a large number of troops.
+When he arrived and began to reconnoiter, he perceived the formidable
+preparations that had been made for the defence of the place, and
+deciding that it was imprudent to attack Havana by land, planned to
+approach it from Jarico. In the meantime Cagigal had received
+reenforcements which seemed to assure the safety of the capital. Daring
+as was the gallant Britisher, he was not inclined to waste his material
+in an enterprise so doubtful of success, and to the great relief of the
+Cubans he sailed away.</p>
+
+<p>In his administration Cagigal did not prove as efficient as in his
+military operations. He was a born soldier. He had followed the military
+profession in Portugal, Oran and at Gibraltar; he had participated in
+the unfortunate expedition against Argel, had fought in Florida and had
+been with D. Pedro Caballero at Buenos Aires. He disliked the atmosphere
+of official bureaus and the complicated machinery of government. This
+lack of interest in the indispensable functions of his office brought
+him into serious trouble. He had counselors or asesores attend to
+matters which did not immediately require his intervention, and as such
+had employed the Venezuelan D. Francisco Miranda, who eventually became
+prominent in the history of his own country. When Miranda returned from
+a commission in Jamaica, he disembarked some contraband in Batabano. The
+Intendente Urriza, who was informed of the matter, at once sent a
+complaint to Cagigal, who, either from indifference or indolence, never
+even stopped to examine the case, but simply resolved to suppress it. He
+had, however, not taken into account the presence of the functionaries<a name="page_159" id="page_159"></a>
+of the royal Hacienda or Treasury, who communicated the incident to the
+proper authorities in Spain. An urgent order for Cagigal's removal from
+office was the result; and the Captain-General of Caracas, D. Luis de
+Unzaga, was sent to take his place as governor of Cuba. Miranda fled.
+Cagigal was sent to Guarico and later dispatched by D. José de Galvez to
+Cadiz, where he was for four years a prisoner in Fort Santa Catalina.
+During the proceedings against him it was found that he was in no way
+implicated in the smuggling operation of Miranda. He was rehabilitated
+during the reign of King Carlos IV. and in the war with the French
+Republic had once more an opportunity to prove his military abilities.
+He died as Captain General of Valencia.</p>
+
+<p>The strong impulse towards progress which had been given to Cuba in that
+period of peace when the administrations of Buccarelli and la Torre
+devoted their main energies to internal improvements and to modest
+attempts at laying the foundations of Cuban culture, had of course
+subsided during the recent unrest and the predominance of military
+interests. Nevertheless, there is evidence that the spark kindled a few
+years before was not quite dead. A long-felt want had been the absence
+of any periodical publication that would give the people of Cuba
+information upon the current political events and also be a medium for
+advertising purposes. According to some historians the first periodical
+of this kind, the <i>Gazeta</i>, published under the direction of D. Diego de
+la Barrera, made its appearance in the year 1780; others give as the
+date of its foundation the year 1782.</p>
+
+<p>Whatever the date of its publication may have been, the <i>Gazeta de la
+Habana</i> became a medium through which the people were kept informed of
+the doings of the<a name="page_160" id="page_160"></a> various administrative departments. The issue dated
+April eleventh, 1783, contains some statistics concerning the silver
+coins with milled edges cut away, which had been recently withdrawn from
+circulation, which is of interest as it suggests the relative financial
+rank of the different localities mentioned.</p>
+
+<table border="0" cellpadding="2" cellspacing="0" summary="">
+<tr align="center"><td>In the Treasury of the General&nbsp; &nbsp;<br />
+Administration:</td>
+<td>Silver Reales<br />
+with milled edges &nbsp; &nbsp;<br />
+cut away</td>
+<td>Weight<br />
+in ounces</td><td>&nbsp;</td></tr>
+
+<tr><td align="left">Havana</td><td align="right">311,625</td><td align="right">23,340</td><td align="right">10</td></tr>
+<tr><td align="left">Guanabacoa</td><td align="right">2,808</td><td align="right">151</td><td align="right">&nbsp;</td></tr>
+<tr><td align="left">Santa Maria del Rosario</td><td align="right">21,870</td><td align="right">1,117</td><td align="right">12</td></tr>
+<tr><td align="left">Arroyo Arenas</td><td align="right">7,049</td><td align="right">380</td><td align="right">&nbsp; 14</td></tr>
+<tr><td align="left">Santa Clara</td><td align="right">237,665</td><td align="right">12,558</td><td align="right">&nbsp;</td></tr>
+<tr><td align="left">San Juan de Los Remedios</td><td align="right">68,153</td><td align="right">3,848</td><td align="right">&nbsp;</td></tr>
+<tr><td align="left">Trinidad</td><td align="right">40,137</td><td align="right">2,145</td><td align="right">&nbsp;</td></tr>
+<tr><td align="left">Sancti Spiritus</td><td align="right">197,905</td><td align="right">11,670</td><td align="right">14</td></tr>
+<tr><td align="left">Puerto Principe</td><td align="right">73,792</td><td align="right">3,207</td><td align="right">&nbsp;</td></tr>
+<tr><td align="left">Bayamo</td><td align="right">94,499</td><td align="right">4,615</td><td align="right">7</td></tr>
+<tr><td align="left">Holguin</td><td align="right">31,013</td><td align="right">1,701</td><td align="right">&nbsp;</td></tr>
+<tr><td align="left">Baracoa</td><td align="right">6,396</td><td align="right">1,465</td><td align="right">&nbsp;</td></tr>
+<tr><td align="left">&nbsp;</td><td align="right"
+style="border-top:1px solid black;">1,092,940</td><td align="right"
+style="border-top:1px solid black;">66,231</td><td align="right"
+style="border-top:1px solid black;">5</td></tr>
+</table>
+
+<p>The <i>Gazeta</i> added to this report: "There have been collected from the
+public over two million pesos (cut away), and in their exchange they
+yielded a little over eighty thousand pesos fuertes (efficacious), and
+although the loss is excessive as a whole it must be stated, that in
+particular it was not very grave, the money being distributed in small
+amounts among the public."</p>
+
+<p>This was a critical period in the conflict which had gradually involved
+the principal countries and was watched with apprehension by all the
+sovereigns of Europe. Up to this date Florida Blanca, who, from a simple
+lawyer in the provinces had risen to be prime minister of Spain, had not
+attained the goal of his ambition and secured for Spain victories, the
+glory of which should cast a halo about his name. On the contrary,
+circumstances began so to complicate the task which he had<a name="page_161" id="page_161"></a> imagined to
+be comparatively easy, that he was puzzled and began to lose some of his
+extraordinary self-assurance. Bancroft gives in his "History of the
+United States" (Vol. VI. p. 441) a very interesting review of the
+situation and of the relation of Spain to the Revolutionary War, which
+was drawing towards its close. He says:</p>
+
+<p>"The hatred of America as a self-existent state became every day more
+intense in Spain from the desperate weakness of her authority in her
+trans-atlantic possessions. Her rule was dreaded in them all; and, as
+even her allies confessed, with good reason. The seeds of rebellion were
+already sown in the vice-royalties of Buenes Ayres and Peru; and a union
+of Creoles and Indians might prove at any moment fatal to metropolitan
+dominion. French statesmen were of the opinion that England, by
+emancipating South America, might indemnify itself for all loss from the
+independence of a part of its own colonial empire; and they foresaw in
+such a revolution the greatest benefit to the commerce of their own
+country. Immense naval preparations had been made by the Bourbons for
+the conquest of Jamaica; but now, from the fear of spreading the love of
+change Florida Blanca suppressed every wish to acquire that nest of
+hated contraband trade. When the French ambassador reported to him the
+proposal of Vergennes to constitute its inhabitants an independent
+republic, he seemed to hear the tocsin of insurrection sounding from the
+La Plata to San Francisco, and from that time had nothing to propose for
+the employment of the allied fleets in the West Indies. He was perplexed
+beyond the power of extrication. One hope only remained. Minorca having
+been wrested from the English, he concentrated all the force of Spain in
+Europe on the one great object of<a name="page_162" id="page_162"></a> recovering Gibraltar, and held France
+to her promise not to make peace until that fortress should be given
+up."</p>
+
+<p>From that time began a series of secret manoeuvres in favor of a general
+peace, and rumors of the signing of treaties that had then not even been
+drafted, began to float across the ocean and agitate the colonies of
+Spanish America. But naval operations in the waters of the West Indies
+continued almost without cessation. The French fleet under de Grasse had
+before its return to France restored to the Dutch St. Eustatius. It had
+captured St. Christopher, Nevis and Montserrat. When in February, 1782,
+Admiral Rodney appeared at Barbados with twelve new ships of line in
+addition to his fleet, and was towards the end of the month joined by
+the squadron under command of Hood at Antigua, it became necessary for
+the French to look for a junction with the Spanish fleet. For this
+purpose de Grasse left Port Royal to Martinique on the eighth of April
+and hurriedly sailed for Hispaniola. After a small engagement at
+Dominica, Admiral Rodney by a skillful ruse brought on a battle with the
+French between Guadeloupe, Saintes and Marie Galante. The British had on
+their side superiority in number and quality, having thirty six vessels,
+all in good repair and manned by well-trained and disciplined sailors.
+The French ships were better constructed, but inferior in number, and
+their mariners were known to be less efficient and experienced. The
+combat raged for eleven hours. Four of de Grasse's ships were captured,
+one sunk. The British lost about one thousand men in killed and wounded,
+the French about three times as many. This defeat of their ally tended
+to depress the spirits of the Spanish people, both in the mother country
+and the colonies, for they saw Britain once more exercising<a name="page_163" id="page_163"></a> almost
+undisputed authority over the seas.</p>
+
+<p>By this time the belligerents were all becoming tired of the war and
+were seriously hoping for peace. The situation in France had after this
+new defeat become specially precarious. Her coffers had been depleted by
+participating in a war in which she had nothing to gain. Hence her
+statesmen were particularly anxious to end a conflict the ideal aim of
+which had been attained by the recognition of the independence of the
+United States from Britain. But she was bound by the alliance with
+Spain; and Spain was inflexible in refusing to acknowledge that
+independence and in insisting upon her demands, among them above all
+others, in Europe, the return of Gibraltar, in America the territory
+east of the Mississippi, including the right of navigation on that
+river. Conferences between John Jay and Benjamin Franklin, the special
+American emissaries, and the French minister Vergennes and his able
+assistant Rayneval were constantly taking place. Couriers were speeding
+back and forth between Paris and London. Rayneval attempted to bring the
+subject of Gibraltar to the attention of the Earl of Shelburne, saying:
+"Gibraltar is as dear to the king of Spain as his life," but he was told
+that it was out of the question even to propose to the government to
+cede it to Spain. He pleaded for Spain's claim of the Mississippi and
+its eastern valley, and received an ambiguous reply, implying that
+Britain might be induced to cede Jamaica. But the indirect offer was
+ignored, just as had been that of Porto Rico some time before. The more
+the negotiations progressed, the more did Spain, persisting in her
+traditional conservatism, prove a stumbling block to peace. For as late
+as September, 1782, in a meeting between Lafayette, Jay and Aranda, did
+the latter, as representative of King Carlos III., refuse<a name="page_164" id="page_164"></a> to
+acknowledge the independence of the new republic.</p>
+
+<p>In the mean time Spain was clamoring for action against Gibraltar, and
+the French and Spanish fleets united in an attempt to reduce the fort
+under the command of the Duke of Crillon. But three years of blockade,
+with intervals of famine and privation, had not broken the spirit of the
+British garrison. While the first question of the king of Spain on
+awakening every morning was: "Is Gibraltar taken?" the British continued
+to defend it with a stubbornness which threatened to prolong the
+struggle interminably. Receiving constant supplies from the British
+fleet under Lord Howe, General Eliot was able to hold his own and the
+futility of this expedition soon became apparent. When the Spanish
+batteries were blown up and General Eliot made his audacious sortie, the
+hope of this victory had to be abandoned.</p>
+
+<p>Spain at last realized the necessity of yielding to the inevitable. Her
+debt had been increased by twenty millions sterling, her navy had been
+almost annihilated and she had gained nothing but an island or two. King
+Carlos III., who had so long withheld his recognition of the United
+States and blocked the negotiations for peace, because the American
+envoys justly demanded that recognition before they could deal with the
+representatives of Spain, finally yielded to the pressure of the moment
+and the preliminaries of peace were signed on the thirtieth of November,
+1782. By the separate articles of this treaty, the claim of the United
+States to all the country from the St. Croix to the southwestern
+Mississippi, from the Lake of the Woods to the St. Mary's, was verified.
+By a separate article the line of north boundary between West Florida
+and the United States was<a name="page_165" id="page_165"></a> defined, in case Great Britain at the
+conclusion of the war should recover that province.</p>
+
+<p>Thus was the republic, the consummation of which King Carlos III. had in
+his loyalty to the old tradition of sovereignty so zealously tried to
+prevent, established upon the very continent, which Columbus had
+discovered, and to the greater part of which Spain had laid claim. If
+the Spanish king and his cabinet were at all conscious of the analogy
+presented by comparison of the commercial and other restrictions placed
+upon both colonies by the kingdoms from which they had sprung, they had
+reason to be filled with vague apprehensions at the rise of this new and
+free power among the countries of the world. They could not help seeing
+in the republic which by a long and tenacious fight had won her
+independence from the mother country, a neighbor whose example offered a
+dangerous precedent.</p>
+
+<p>Perhaps it was with the intention of forestalling the development of
+such events in Cuba, as had led to the Declaration of Independence by
+the colonies to the north, that the Spanish King had some years before
+begun to remove the restrictions which had for two centuries and more
+hampered the growth of Cuban commerce and retarded her general
+development. It was a proof of his own growth towards a more liberal
+conception of the relations between a country and her colonies, that the
+removal of these restrictions was effected within so short a time. He
+opened the trade of Cuba and the other islands of his possessions in
+America in 1765, and that of Louisiana in 1768 to eight Spanish ports
+besides Cadiz; he gradually permitted direct trade from the Spanish
+ports to his dependencies in South and Central America; and in 1782 even
+allowed New Orleans and<a name="page_166" id="page_166"></a> Pensacola to trade with French ports that had
+Spanish consuls.</p>
+
+<p>The breath of freedom which seemed to sweep across the world during
+these last decades of the eighteenth century, might well have filled the
+sovereigns of Europe with fear for their possessions and prerogatives.
+Although Carlos III. was the most liberal monarch that Spain had had in
+a long time, he still clung to a rigorous paternal regime in the
+relations of the court to the colonies, the population of which began to
+resent the rule of officials sent to them from Madrid, and rarely
+concerned with their welfare. He had had more cause than other European
+sovereigns to dread the consequences which the American Revolution might
+bring in its wake. For an insurrection, headed by Tupac-Amaru, who
+called himself an Inca, had broken out in Peru, and was directed against
+the exactions of the corregidores; and though it was suppressed by the
+year 1782, incipient revolt seemed everywhere to be ready to break out.
+As Garcia Calderon says of that period in his book on Latin America:</p>
+
+<p>"The revolution was not merely an economic pretext; it nourished
+concrete social ambitions. An equalizing movement, it aimed at
+destruction of privileges, of the arbitrary Spanish hierarchy, and
+finally, when its levelling instinct was aroused and irritated, the
+destruction of authority to the profit of anarchy. The Creoles, deprived
+of all political function, revolted; in matters of economics they
+condemned excessive taxation and monopoly; in matters of politics they
+attacked slavery, the Inquisition, and moral tutelage. Charles III. had
+recognized, in 1783, in spite of the counsels of his minister Aranda,
+the independence of the United States, which were to serve his own
+colonies as precedent, and he expelled<a name="page_167" id="page_167"></a> the Jesuits from America, the
+defense of the Indians against the oppression of Spanish governors. The
+corruption of the courts, the sale of offices, and the tyranny of the
+viceroys, all added to the causes of discontent, disturbance and
+poverty."</p>
+
+<p>The insurrection in Peru was but the tocsin sounding the alarm. It was
+to be followed by a number of revolts that shook the very foundations of
+Spain's colonial empire in America.</p>
+
+<p>Cuba for some time to come remained untouched by the high tide of
+insurrection. It enjoyed a period of peace, which promoted the welfare
+of the people and insured their content. D. Luis de Unzaga, who entered
+upon his office as governor of the island in December, 1783,
+distinguished himself by his strenuous prosecution of officials, whose
+honesty he had reason to doubt. One of these was the administrator of
+the Factoria or tobacco factory, D. Manuel Garcia Barrieres, whose
+disposal and trial he ordered. This factory, which monopolized the
+tobacco crop of the island for the benefit of the royal government,
+received a subvention from Spain which at this time was increased to
+fifty thousand pesos annually. Unzaga also took steps to limit the
+number of inexperienced and unscrupulous lawyers, against whom some of
+his predecessors had already inaugurated a campaign, by refusing to
+issue new diplomas to barristers, there being at that time two hundred
+practicing in the island. A royal decree of the year 1784 was directed
+towards the same evil, but lawyers still remained too numerous in
+proportion to the population for in 1792 the island had one hundred and
+six, and Havana seventy two. Governor Unzaga had also some trouble with
+the governor of Santiago de Cuba, D. Nicolas Arredondo. D. Arredondo,
+who is remembered in history<a name="page_168" id="page_168"></a> of the island as the founder of the first
+"Sociedad Patriotica," in which he had such fellow-members as D.
+Francisco Lozo de la Torre, D. Pedro Valiente, and D. Francisco Grinan,
+was accused of participating in contraband trade and was temporarily
+deposed. Ultimately it was discovered that the real offenders were two
+aldermen, the brothers Creaght. After a protracted trial the innocence
+of Arredondo was established and he was reinstated in office.</p>
+
+<p>The greater the natural wealth of a country, the more are its
+inhabitants inclined to indulge in thoughtless or deliberate waste of
+resources which would be carefully husbanded in country less favored by
+nature. Cuba was wasteful of her forest wealth. The governors of the
+island had so far paid little or no heed to the wanton destruction of
+the forests by people who exploited them for their timber. In a
+proclamation issued soon after he was inaugurated, Governor Unzaga made
+a serious attempt at checking this criminal waste of the island's
+wealth. He prohibited the use of cedar for building purposes; he
+designated the land where the people could procure their supply of that
+valuable wood, and ordered that for each log cut the arsenal should
+receive two "knees." The state had for years looked with indifference
+upon the devastation of the forests, and, conceding to private
+individuals the absolute dominion over those that shaded favored
+territory, wanted to monopolize them for the use of the Navy. Not only
+the sugar refineries were using unreasonable quantities of that wood,
+but especially the shipyard. This enterprise, which received an annual
+subvention from the Spanish government of seven hundred thousand pesos,
+and was more active than those of the mother country, because negro
+labor was cheaper than white, used enormous quantities of cedar.<a name="page_169" id="page_169"></a></p>
+
+<p>Thus the order of Governor Unzaga, while ultimately benefiting the
+island, caused for the moment no little heated discussion and unpleasant
+tension.</p>
+
+<p>Among the foreigners of high rank that visited Cuba immediately after
+peace had been signed was the son of George III., William of Lancaster,
+who had served as midshipman in Rodney's squadron. According to Alcazar,
+he was most graciously received, being sumptuously lodged by Governor
+Unzaga, who in honor of his presence arranged many brilliant
+festivities, in which the aristocracy of the island had opportunity to
+show itself resplendent in all its wealth. So pleased seemed the prince
+with his stay that he might have prolonged it, had not the admiral
+reprimanded him, and insisting upon his immediate return on board,
+threatened to leave without him. Knowing Rodney's severity, the prince
+obeyed, although it must have been difficult for him to tear away from
+that gay life. The visit cost the Cubans great sums of money, officials
+and civilians having vied with one another in offering entertainment.
+The mess at which the General of the Marine, D. Solano, had treated him,
+is reported by Valdes to have cost four thousand pesos. A gold peso
+being about the value of three dollars, it was a handsome sum to spend
+on the son of the king who had been Spain's enemy in the war just
+concluded.</p>
+
+<p>One of the most serious mistakes which Spain had always made in the
+administration of her American colonies was the appointment of men who
+were mostly natives of the mother country and not as familiar with the
+conditions and the needs of the territory they governed as those who had
+been born in the colonies. The short period of some administrations also
+greatly hindered a well-ordered systematic management of the different
+departments<a name="page_170" id="page_170"></a> of the government. Earlier periods of the history of Cuba
+had such frequent changes of governorship; and the latter part of the
+eighteenth century was to undergo the same experience. When Unzaga
+retired on the eighth of February, 1785, he was succeeded by a man whose
+previous career had given him a reputation which recommended him to the
+Cubans; D. Bernardo Galvez, who had distinguished himself in the last
+expedition against Pensacola, and as former governor of Louisiana was
+thoroughly in touch with colonial life in Spanish America. Galvez was a
+native of Malaga, Knight Commander of the order of Calatrava and endowed
+with the title of Conde de Galvez. But the hopes of the island were much
+disappointed when only two months later he was transferred to the
+vice-regency of Mexico and was on the fifth of April temporarily
+replaced by the King's Lieutenant-teniente de Rey, and Field Marshal D.
+Bernardo Troncoso. He had been governor of Guatemala, and when he had
+barely become acquainted with Cuban conditions, was appointed governor
+of Vera Cruz. But during his brief administration he showed no little
+initiative and firmness of purpose and among other things succeeded in
+repressing the bakers' guild which had become very troublesome.</p>
+
+<p>At this time the Spanish colonies of the continent, Louisiana and
+Florida, became aware of the hostility with which they were regarded by
+certain elements of the United States, that tried to foment disturbances
+along their northern boundaries. In June of that year Troncoso received
+news from Louisiana that a corps of two thousand three hundred Americans
+were organizing in the state of Georgia for the purpose of taking the
+fortifications of Natchez, which they alleged were on ground of their
+demarcation. Troncoso accordingly dispatched<a name="page_171" id="page_171"></a> from Havana a few pickets
+of infantry and a company of dragoons, with the aid of which the
+governor of Louisiana could mobilize a column of twelve hundred regular
+troops to check the project.</p>
+
+<p>With the inauguration of Brigadier D. José de Espoleto on the first of
+December, 1785, a little more stability came into the government of the
+island. One of the first official acts was the formation of the Regiment
+of Cuba, in which he was ably assisted by the Inspector D. Domingo
+Cabello. Espoleto entered upon the functions of his office in the spirit
+of the Marques de la Torre, to whose wise administration Havana was
+indebted for all the improvements and reforms that made her worthy of
+being the metropolis of the Spanish West Indies. Espoleto continued the
+work on the piers, hastened the completion of the buildings for the
+government and the Intendencia, inaugurated a system of water supply and
+street cleaning and established a public market for the convenience of
+the producers in the outlying districts and the city dwellers relying
+upon them for their supplies in dairy and garden products. He also
+introduced some reforms in the police department of Havana. But what was
+most important for that commonwealth was his settling upon it of a sum
+which was to be devoted to the permanent lighting of the city.</p>
+
+<p>In his administration Santiago de Cuba took a significant step towards
+the more effective concentration of the literary activities of the
+island. This was the foundation of the first Sociedad de Amigos, which
+was approved of by the king and on the thirteenth of September, 1787,
+received a royal grant. In his colonial administration Espoleto tried to
+follow the example of Ricla and Buccarelli, ordering the publication of
+the decrees which they had enacted and which in the course<a name="page_172" id="page_172"></a> of time had
+been forgotten, and did his best to enforce them. In this by no means
+easy task he was backed by D. José Pablo Valiente, an oidor of the
+Audiencia or judge of the Supreme Court, who had come to Havana in 1787
+to start an inquiry into the disbursement of certain funds. By order of
+the king he had to investigate how the enormous sums, which the
+expeditions of the gallant Galvez had cost, had been invested; had to
+examine the state of the royal revenues and suggest needed reforms,
+watch the administration of justice and propose measures to raise the
+standard of the bar. One of the high officials who had given a previous
+administration trouble and was probably guilty of irregularities,
+Urriza, was so resentful of this investigation of his office, which D.
+Valiente was ordered to undertake, that he speedily resigned. He was
+succeeded by D. Domingo Hernani.</p>
+
+<p>Death reaped a rich harvest between 1786 and 1788, in removing men so
+closely identified with the fate of the colonies and the mother country
+that they were not soon to be adequately replaced. On the thirtieth of
+November, 1786, D. Bernardo de Galvez died in Mexico, where he had
+reigned as viceroy since he left Havana eleven months before. By his
+rare executive talent and his extensive knowledge he had become one of
+the most efficient colonial governors that Spanish America had known,
+and to him was in a great measure due their progress and prosperity. A
+few days later died in Madrid his uncle D. José de Galvez, the noted
+minister of the Indies, whose name is also identified with colonial
+reforms. But the greatest loss to the colonies and to Spain was the
+death on the twenty-eighth of December, 1788, of King Carlos III. The
+kind and prudent sovereign had in a reign of almost thirty years,
+handicapped as he was by the Spanish tradition of absolutism,<a name="page_173" id="page_173"></a> tried his
+best to further the growth and the welfare of his country and its
+dependencies, and inaugurated policies more liberal than any his
+predecessors had followed. He had endeared himself to his people and was
+sincerely mourned.</p>
+
+<p>The accession of Carlos IV. to the throne of Spain was not calculated to
+advance Spain and her colonies beyond the degree of development they had
+attained during the long reign of his father. He was forty years of age
+and by stature and physiognomy was singularly fitted to represent so
+important a kingdom as Spain. But he was as unintelligent as ignorant,
+and allowed himself to be guided by his wife, Maria Louise, princess of
+Parma, who was as clever and scheming as he was dull and indolent. She
+was an autocrat, who suffered nobody to share the reins with her, and
+imperceptibly they slipped into her hands, until she was absolute
+sovereign of the kingdom. Two years after the death of Carlos III.
+Florida Blanca was forced to resign. Count Cabarrus, an ardent champion
+of reform, and a man of considerable executive power, was arrested. D.
+Gaspar Melchior de Jovellanos, one of the most profound thinkers and
+noblest patriots that Spain could claim in the eighteenth century, was
+removed from the important position he held in Madrid and exiled.
+Campomanes, too, fell into "disgrace" in 1791. All these men,
+distinguished for their character and their ability, were replaced by
+some feeble creatures with no idea or will of their own, puppets in the
+hands of the queen, who transformed the court of Madrid into a den of
+corruption.</p>
+
+<p>The policies pursued by Spain during this time culminated in so much
+confusion that Florida Blanca was recalled in 1792 and set about to make
+an attempt at restoring order in a thoroughly disorganized government.<a name="page_174" id="page_174"></a>
+But he was deposed the same year, having been unable to obtain the favor
+of the queen. Aranda, who during the previous reign had been the
+representative of progress, peace and the liberal ideas that came to
+Spain from France, followed him with no better luck. For he too was
+dismissed within a year and his place was taken by the queen's favorite,
+Manuel Godoy, who some years later was to turn up in Cuba. Godoy was a
+handsome young officer; she made him a grandee of the first class with
+the title of Duke of Alcudia, and entrusted him with the ministry of
+foreign affairs. The proud old aristocracy of Spain grumbled at the rise
+of the upstart; but it succumbed to the spirit of servility which
+pervaded the atmosphere of the court, and sought the favorite's favor.</p>
+
+<p>Such was the condition of the country which was exercising a paternal
+authority over Spanish America. It was not calculated to tighten the
+bonds existing between the mother country and the colonies. As
+transportation increased and news began to spread more rapidly and to
+circulate more freely, the eyes of the colonists were opened to the
+iniquities they suffered, and they began to question institutions and
+laws which they had formerly unconditionally accepted. The glamor of the
+period of conquistadores had long faded; the excitement of the age of
+piracy was slowly being forgotten. Cuba, like all Latin America, had
+entered upon that period, which President Poincaré in his preface to
+Garcia Calderon's book on "Latin America" calls "the colonial phase with
+its disappointments, its illusions, its abuses and errors; the
+domination of an oppressive theocracy, of crushing monopolies; the
+insolence of privileged castes, and the indignities of Peninsular
+agents." It needed strong and noble men to guide her through the<a name="page_175" id="page_175"></a> period
+of unrest which even at that moment was culminating in the French
+Revolution.</p>
+
+<p>The immediate echoes of this Revolution were heard in 1791 in
+Hispaniola, where at the very first risings of the people in France, the
+slaves had revolted, killing their masters and burning their property.
+It was only the prelude to the greater insurrection, which broke out
+later and in which Cuba became involved. In the mean time, this island
+had come under another interim governorship, and was drifting along on
+the tide of progress in some directions, while in others it had come to
+a standstill, if it had not retrograded. The provisional government of
+D. Domingo Caballo which began on the twentieth of April, 1789, and
+ended on the eighth of July, 1790, was not noteworthy for any important
+measures, unless it be another attempt at restricting the number and the
+activities of lawyers. The royal decree of the nineteenth of November,
+1789, which prohibited the admission of any more professors of
+jurisprudence, native or foreign, to the bar of the island, was modified
+to read thus: "To the profession of lawyer, only those shall be admitted
+who studied in the greater universities of their countries and had
+practiced in some of their capitals, where there existed a superior
+tribunal certifying that they had practiced six years at the superior
+courts of Spain."</p>
+
+<p>During Caballo's interim rule there occurred the ecclesiastical division
+of the island. The archbishopric of Santo Domingo was divided into two
+suffragan dioceses, both the bishopric of Santiago de Cuba which had
+existed since 1518 and the new bishopric of Havana being subject to the
+metropolitan mitre of Santo Domingo. To the bishopric of Santiago was
+appointed D. Antonio<a name="page_176" id="page_176"></a> Feliu, a man of great piety and gentle
+disposition, who rapidly won the esteem of the community and the love of
+his flock. That of Havana, which also comprised Louisiana and Florida,
+was entrusted to D. Felipe José de Tres Palacios.</p>
+
+<p>In spite of the apparent prosperity, the island was still suffering from
+centuries of restriction which had paralyzed the initiative of its
+population. Maria de las Mercedes (Jaruco), Countess de Merlin, says of
+that period in her work, "La Havana" (Paris, 1844):</p>
+
+<p>"Owing to the long tyranny which had weighed upon the island, Cuba
+needed hands to cultivate her fields. The products were devoured by a
+monopoly; territorial property did not exist; for the proprietor could
+not even cut a tree in his woods without the permission of the royal
+marine; the population was reduced to 170,370 souls; the sugar
+production had become so inferior in quality, that no more than 50,000
+barrels of sugar annually left the port of Havana; finally, the island
+was involved in debts and Mexico was obliged to aid it in the necessary
+expenses of the administration and agriculture."</p>
+
+<p>The author, a niece of the Conde de Casa Montalvo, who was identified
+with the great revival of civic spirit during the administration of
+Governor Las Casas, also limns a rather discouraging picture of the
+state of education in the island, saying that in the year 1792, Havana
+had only one grammar school, of which the mulatto Melendez was the
+teacher, and that up to the year 1793 girls were forbidden to learn to
+read. So thoroughly familiar was the author with the political and
+economic conditions of Cuba, and closely associated with the men, whose
+energy, integrity and patriotic ambition ushered in that wonderful era
+of progress, that the three volumes<a name="page_177" id="page_177"></a> of her work, consisting of letters
+to Chateaubriand, George Sand, Baron Rothschild, and others are full of
+valuable information presented in a most fascinating manner.</p>
+
+<div class="figright">
+<a href="images/pg177x_lg.jpg">
+<img src="images/pg177x_lg.jpg" width="235" height="278" alt="DON LUIS DE LAS CASAS" title="DON LUIS DE LAS CASAS" /></a>
+
+<br /><span class="caption">DON LUIS DE LAS CASAS</span>
+</div>
+
+<p>The historian Valdes is not far from right, when he calls the history of
+Cuba, as compared with that of other countries, <i>nuestra pequena
+historia</i>&mdash;our little history. But that little history contains more
+than one great epoch and its biography more than one figure that stands
+out with something like sovereign impressiveness from the many names
+which it records. The administration of D. Luis de Las Casas is such an
+epoch, and he is such a man. Born in the village of Sapuerta in Viscaya,
+his was a picturesque career. He had embraced the military profession
+and been on the battlefields of Villaflor and Almeida; in Portugal he
+attracted the attention of Count O'Reilly, who took him on the
+expedition to Louisiana, where he was sergeant-mayor of New Orleans. On
+his return to Spain, he solicited permission to go to Russia and served
+under the flag of Marshal Romanzow, distinguishing himself in the
+campaign waged by the empress. Then he studied the science of government
+in Paris; but as soon as Spain was once more engaged in war, he joined
+the expedition of O'Reilly against Argel. His conduct at the capture of
+Minorca earned for him the title of Field Marshal and Commandant-General
+of Oran. He also took a gallant part in the unfortunate attempt to
+recover Gibraltar. On being appointed to the governorship of Cuba, he
+arrived in<a name="page_178" id="page_178"></a> Havana the eighth of July, 1796, and on the following day
+took charge of his office.</p>
+
+<p>One of his first official measures was to have a new census taken, for
+when the results of the one taken by la Torre were published, many
+questioned the correctness of the figures. It was said, not without some
+justice, that, if the population of the island in the year of the
+British invasion, 1762, was one hundred and forty thousand, it should
+have been more in 1775 than one hundred and seventy-one thousand six
+hundred and twenty, since the number of negroes that had been added to
+the population was in itself enormous, and there were also the
+immigrants from Florida that had settled on the island. Profiting by the
+criticism of his predecessor's work, Las Casas took great pains so to
+systematize the work of the census takers, that their investigations
+would be unexceptionally thorough and conclusive. When the result became
+known two years later, the population of the island was found to be two
+hundred and seventy-two thousand five hundred and one inhabitants.</p>
+
+<p>In the second year of his administration, Governor Las Casas had an
+opportunity to show his generosity and his executive ability when Cuba
+was visited by another typical West Indian hurricane. It broke upon the
+island on the twenty-first of June and lasted fully twenty-four hours.
+The terrible windstorm was accompanied by a deluge of rain, which caused
+the overflow of the Almendares and its tributaries, uprooted the trees
+in orchards and nurseries, inundated plantations and damaged houses to
+such an extent, that great numbers of residents in the districts of
+Wajay, San Antonio, Managua and others were rendered homeless and
+reduced to poverty. The governor not only effectively organized the work
+of relief, but spent freely of his private funds to alleviate<a name="page_179" id="page_179"></a> the
+suffering of the people. He showed the same spirit a year later, when
+Trinidad was visited by a conflagration which consumed property valued
+at six hundred thousand pesos. The establishment of the Real Casa de
+Beneficiencia was another work that proved his sincere concern for the
+welfare of the people, and especially those unfortunates who were
+dependent upon public charity. The founding of this asylum for destitute
+orphans of both sexes, including a school, in which they were to be
+taught a trade to make them self-supporting on reaching maturity, was
+first proposed by him in a meeting of citizens on the twenty-second of
+March, 1792. So warm and rousing was his appeal, that large
+subscriptions to defray its expenses were immediately signed. A royal
+patent of the fifteenth of December conferred upon the plan official
+approval. There was connected with the asylum a hospital, and both were
+temporarily organized and began their work in a provisional building,
+until on the eighth of December they were transferred to the structure
+erected for them.</p>
+
+<p>Cuba's commerce, though still laboring under difficulties due to
+unreasonable trade laws of Spain, was gradually becoming so extensive
+that it needed some central organization to protect and promote its
+interests. The citizens had so far let things take their course as they
+might; lack of initiative was perhaps natural with a people under the
+strict paternal supervision which Spain exercised over colonies.
+Governor Las Casas roused their latent energies and induced them to
+organize for mutual profit and for the general progress of the island's
+commerce. For this purpose was established the Tribunal of Commerce or
+Consulado, which was also to act as a court of justice for mercantile
+litigants and bankrupts. The Consulado was founded on the sixth<a name="page_180" id="page_180"></a> of
+June, 1795, and within a short time settled more than three hundred and
+twenty such cases.</p>
+
+<p>But the most important step towards the internal reform and improvement
+of the island was taken by Las Casas when on the second of January,
+1793, he presided at the foundation of the "Real Sociedad Patriotica o
+Economica," which later changed its name to Junta de Fomento, or Society
+of Progress. Among his associates in this most significant enterprise
+were the marquises de Casa Calvo, Casa Penalver and San Felipe, the
+counts de Casa Bayona, Lagunillas, Buenavista, O'Farrel and Jaurequi,
+distinguished citizens like Romany, Sequeira and Caballero, and that
+greatest patriot among them all, Sr. D. Francisco Arango y Pareno, to
+whom credit is due for the inception of this organization. The different
+sections, into which this society was divided, devoted themselves to the
+development of agriculture, stockbreeding, industry, commerce, science
+and art, and were of inestimable service to the people. Reports of the
+meeting held on the twenty-first of December, 1796, showed a clearness
+and seriousness of purpose which commanded respect and augured well for
+the future of the undertaking.</p>
+
+<p>In those first four years of its existence it was the medium through
+which were established some much needed improvements for the
+facilitation of traffic. Within a few months after its foundation it
+invested some of its funds in the highway of Horcon which cost about
+thirty thousand seven hundred pesos. Then it built the Guadalupe road
+and finished the principal pier of that place. To introduce indigo
+culture on the island, it lent to the administration three thousand five
+hundred pesos without interest. When the royal professor of botany, D.
+Martin Sese, suggested to take with him a young<a name="page_181" id="page_181"></a> native of Havana to
+study that science in its application to agriculture, the society again
+defrayed the expenses. There was hardly a work of public utility that
+was not materially assisted by this corporation.</p>
+
+<p>Its efforts at promoting the cultural progress of the population were no
+less remarkable. A number of its members united in editing the <i>Papel
+Periodico</i>, which was published every Thursday and Sunday at a cost of
+fourteen reales per month and was of the size of a half sheet of Spanish
+paper. As the work of the society expanded, it gave to the press its
+"Memorias," a collection of original writing and translations by the
+members, covering a variety of subjects, among them contributions to
+Cuban history which contain valuable data. Some forty years after its
+foundation, it published at its expense the history of D. José Martin
+Felix de Arrate, which is one of the earliest works on the history of
+Cuba. But even more important were the constant and vigorous efforts of
+the Society to reform and improve public education. It founded many
+establishments of free instruction and offered special inducements to
+teachers, who could show a certain number of children with a more solid
+knowledge of grammar and the four fundamental principles of arithmetic
+than the schools had so far produced. The university, too, was
+encouraged in its work; the textbooks were improved and the curriculum
+was enlarged so as to include courses in geography, physics, history and
+Spanish literature.</p>
+
+<p>The first director of the Society was Sr. D. Luis Penalver, bishop of
+New Orleans, and later archbishop of Guatemala, a man who was closely
+identified with the work of the Casa de la Benficiencia and other
+institutions. But, although all members were men distinguished for their
+gifts and their achievements, the soul<a name="page_182" id="page_182"></a> and moving spirit was D.
+Francisco Arango, of whom we shall hear much more in our later
+narrative.</p>
+
+<p>A worthy fellow-worker of Arango was D. José Pablo Valiente, who as
+Intendente organized the Royal Exchequer, and with no little risk to
+himself, permitted and encouraged commerce with neutral and friendly
+nations, regardless of still existing restrictions. He assisted in the
+establishment of the Consulado and the Sociedad Economica, made a gift
+of seven thousand pesos to the Casa de Beneficencia, encouraged the
+progress of public instruction and in many lawsuits brought before the
+Consulado played the role of a noble conciliator. With such men as these
+to assist him, the administration of Las Casas was soon regarded as the
+most glorious in the history of the island. For though Havana was the
+principal scene of the activities of these men, Las Casas did not fail
+to extend the blessing of his reforms and improvements to other
+communities. The towns of Santa Maria del Rosario, Santiago de las Vegas
+and others soon showed considerable growth; in the districts of
+Guanajey, Alquiza, Quivican, Managua and others, the territory under
+cultivation was steadily expanding; the village of Casa Blanca and the
+town of Manzanillo were founded, and the port of Nuevitas essentially
+improved. An excellent cooperator of Governor Las Casas was D. Juan
+Bautista Valiente, governor of Santiago de Cuba, who protected
+agriculture, founded primary and Latin schools, introduced a system of
+lighting in his city, started to pave its streets, and invested his
+savings in an edifice, which served to house the Ayuntamiento, the
+governor's and other offices and also contained the jail.</p>
+
+<p>The first revolution in Santo Domingo in 1791 had warned Las Casas and
+brought home to the administration of Cuba the necessity of looking once
+more<a name="page_183" id="page_183"></a> after the defences of the island. He was aided in this task by the
+chief of the navy yard, D. Juan Araoz, who hastened the work of naval
+constructions, and in a short time turned out six war vessels, four
+frigates and a number of boats of lesser tonnage. They proved of great
+usefulness in the operations against Santo Domingo and Guarico during
+the second uprising when in order to protect Spanish interests and
+inhabitants there were sent from Havana the regiment bearing the name of
+the city and from Cuba a piquet of artillery. That revolt is so closely
+associated with the problem of slavery, which had become the cause of
+grave apprehension to the government that it will be referred to in the
+following chapter. The massacre of French and other colonists in that
+unfortunate island brought a multitude of refugees to Cuba and
+materially increased its population.</p>
+
+<p>An event in the last year of the administration of Las Casas gave rise
+to festivities of a memorable character. When the war between Spain and
+the French Republic broke out, General D. Gabriel Aristizabal, who
+operated in Hayti, did not want the ashes of Columbus to be lost during
+the ensuing disturbances. It seemed more appropriate, too, that they
+should not remain in the place where he had been slandered and
+persecuted and where the villain Bobadilla had put him in fetters, but
+in the island that had always smiled upon him. On the fifteenth of
+January, 1796, there entered into the port of Havana the warship <i>San
+Lorenzo</i>, carrying the casket. It was received by Governor Las Casas and
+General Araoz, the bishops Penalver and Tres Palacios, and between two
+lines of soldiers was carried to the cathedral, where it was deposited
+in a humble niche. Though the first city of the island did not then
+raise a monument to Columbus it was done by a much smaller town,
+Cardenas,<a name="page_184" id="page_184"></a> which for this act alone deserves to be mentioned.</p>
+
+<p>The inscription upon the stone, under which the remains of Columbus
+found rest, reads:</p>
+
+<p class="c">
+                    D. O. M.
+        Clares   &nbsp; &nbsp;   Heros.   &nbsp; &nbsp;    Ligustin.<br />
+      Christophorus Columbus<br />
+        A Se, Rei Nautic. Scient. Insign.<br />
+                Niv. &nbsp; &nbsp;  Orb. &nbsp; &nbsp;  Detect.<br />
+        Araque Castell. Et Legin. Regib. Subject.<br />
+                      Vallice. Occub.<br />
+              XIII Kal. &nbsp; &nbsp;    Jun. &nbsp; &nbsp;  A.M. &nbsp; &nbsp;  DVI<br />
+      Cartusianor.  &nbsp; &nbsp; Hispal. &nbsp; &nbsp;  Cadav. &nbsp; &nbsp;  Custod. &nbsp; &nbsp;  Tradit.<br />
+              Transfer.&nbsp; &nbsp;  Nam.  &nbsp; &nbsp;  Ipse Praescrips.<br />
+        In H<small>ISPANIOLAE</small> M<small>ETROP</small>. Ecc.<br />
+        Hinc Pace Sancit.&nbsp; &nbsp;  Galliae Reipub.&nbsp; &nbsp;  Cess<br />
+    In Hanc V. Mar. Concept. Imm. Cath. Ossa Trans.<br />
+        Maxim.&nbsp; &nbsp;  Om.&nbsp; &nbsp;  Frequent.&nbsp; &nbsp;  Sepult.&nbsp; &nbsp;  Mand.<br />
+        XIV.&nbsp; &nbsp;  Kal.&nbsp; &nbsp;  Feb. A. Md. C. C. X. C. V. I.<br />
+              H<small>AVAN</small>. &nbsp; &nbsp;   C<small>IVIT</small><br />
+        Tant.&nbsp; &nbsp;  Vir.&nbsp; &nbsp;  Meritor. &nbsp; &nbsp; In Se Non Immen.<br />
+          Pretros.&nbsp; &nbsp;  Exux.&nbsp; &nbsp;  In Optat Diem Tuitur.<br />
+                  Hocce Monum.&nbsp; &nbsp;  Erex.<br />
+        Praesul.&nbsp; &nbsp;  Ill. D. D.&nbsp; &nbsp;  Philippo&nbsp; &nbsp;  Iph Trespalacios<br />
+          Civic AC Militar.&nbsp; &nbsp;  Rei. &nbsp; &nbsp; Gen.&nbsp; &nbsp;  Praef.&nbsp; &nbsp;  Exme<br />
+              D.D.&nbsp; &nbsp;  L<small>UDOVICO DE</small> L<small>AS</small> C<small>ASAS</small></p>
+
+<p>When the administration of Las Casas came to an end, the municipality of
+Havana called a testimonial meeting for the sixteenth of December, 1796,
+which gave proof of the high esteem in which the extraordinary man was
+held by the people. Four years after his retirement, on the nineteenth
+of November, 1800, he died of poison. He had not escaped criticism by
+those who saw in his enforcement of forgotten laws and in many of<a name="page_185" id="page_185"></a> his
+new ordinances the manifestation of an arbitrary spirit; but it was
+universally conceded that during his government Cuba reached a
+high-water mark in her development. Though the corruption and
+degradation of the court at Madrid had a baneful influence upon the
+Spanish colonies, the island which had enjoyed the blessings of his rule
+and caught a breath of the spirit of such men as Arango and Montalvo
+could never again be contented unquestioningly to accept the dictates of
+that court. The flood of new liberal ideas which, coming from France,
+swept over the whole world, could not be turned back at el Morro. They
+found their way into the hearts and the minds of the people and slowly
+but surely taught them to see where their ultimate salvation lay.<a name="page_186" id="page_186"></a></p>
+
+<h3><a name="CHAPTER_XII" id="CHAPTER_XII"></a>CHAPTER XII</h3>
+
+<p>The French Revolution set the pace for the world's movements in the last
+decade of the eighteenth century and spread the seeds of many more in
+the century to come. Pamphlets, books and proclamations coming to Spain
+from France opened the eyes of the people to evils, which in their
+loyalty to the throne and to the traditions of the country they had
+never dared to perceive. The corruption of her court, the ruin of her
+finances, the incompetency of her statesmen and her generals were
+revealed to the population and stirred sullen resentment. Demoralization
+seemed to have set in and threatened to dismember the once all-powerful
+kingdom. To the profligate Godoy was in a great measure attributed the
+degradation of the country and an atmosphere of conspiracy pervaded even
+the royal palace, from which patriotic plotters, resentful of Spain's
+humiliation, hoped soon to chase the favorite of the queen, who with
+supreme unconcern continued to fill his pockets from the royal treasury
+and to live in his wonted extravagance and dissipation. The forces of
+the French Republic had occupied the frontier forts and seemed to find
+little or no resistance. The fate of the royal Bourbons of France struck
+terror in the souls of the royal Bourbons of Spain, and the flight of
+the king and his family from Madrid was daily expected.</p>
+
+<p>Even to the overseas possessions of France and Spain had the influence
+of the liberating movement extended and awakened the indolent and
+indifferent creoles to the<a name="page_187" id="page_187"></a> realization of wrongs they had suffered at
+the hands of their mother countries. Moreover, the gospel of Liberty,
+Equality and Fraternity had reached the ears of those who had for
+centuries silently borne oppression and had been made to believe that
+serfdom was to be their fate forever. Already in 1791 the news of the
+outbreak of the Revolution had been acclaimed by the slaves in Santo
+Domingo and followed by revolt and violence against the life and the
+property of their masters. When in 1794 the Convention declared the
+abolition of slavery in the colonies of the Republic, the floodgates of
+insurrection were opened. For Old Hispaniola, divided between two
+foreign powers, populated by races antagonistic to one another, was a
+fertile soil for any revolutionary propaganda. As early as 1762 there
+were three negroes to one Frenchman in the northern part of the island;
+and these negroes whom a Jesuit priest of the time declared to be fit
+only for slavery, hated all other races and castes: the whites, the free
+negroes and the mulattoes.</p>
+
+<p>But even among this ignorant and superstitious race there were
+individuals that rose far above the average in intelligence and had by
+association with the more advanced and privileged castes and races
+acquired certain achievements. They were men who had done some thinking
+of their own and perhaps by their relation of servant to master learned
+to know the faults and weaknesses of the latter far better than they
+knew their own. When these men caught the ring of the magic three words,
+a world of possibilities opened before them, and they embraced the
+message they conveyed with the eagerness of people desperate from and
+resentful of iniquities, real and imaginary. Their brains were afire
+with hatred and revenge and it needed only a great leader to organize
+this<a name="page_188" id="page_188"></a> powerful army of malcontents into a horde of fiends. That leader
+came to them in the person of the ex-coachman, Toussaint L'Ouverture, a
+man of exceptional gifts and abilities, who with the one-track mind of
+the idealist-fanatic had but one aim and pursued but one goal: the
+liberation of his race.</p>
+
+<p>The war between the French republic and Spain had naturally called forth
+hostilities between the two parts of the island inhabited on one side by
+French, on the other by Spaniards. The negro insurgents saw their
+opportunity and did not let it go by without exploiting it for their
+purposes. The unfortunate jealousies between the President and
+Captain-General of Santo Domingo and the General of the Navy,
+Aristizabel, who had captured Bayaja, had weakened the Spanish forces,
+and when they attempted to take Guarico, they had to retire at Yazique
+before a force of five hundred undisciplined negroes. This encouraged
+the negro commanders and in quick succession they captured San Rafael
+and Las Caobas, and had the satisfaction to see San Miguel, Bonica and
+Incha evacuated before they even reached these places. Bayaja was
+strongly fortified and garrisoned; but the climate of that place being
+very unhealthy, the Spanish troops were decimated by sickness, until
+they numbered only about four hundred men. The negro general Juan
+Francisco on the other hand could increase his troops at will. In order
+to enforce the Spanish it was proposed to send them a regiment of white
+Frenchmen. Seven legions of these men arrived at Bayaja on the morning
+of the seventh of July, 1794. But Juan Francisco surprised the place
+half an hour before, and placing artillery in the principal streets and
+squares, informed the commandant that all white Frenchmen were to leave
+Bayaja before three o'clock that afternoon. When the commandant
+remonstrated<a name="page_189" id="page_189"></a> saying that the time was too short to provide barges for
+their transportation, the negro leader left the government house and
+gave the signal for the massacre of all Frenchmen in the place. The
+terrible slaughter lasted until far into the afternoon, when the
+governor and the venerable priest of the place so urgently implored the
+negro troops to have mercy, that they moderated their savage rage.</p>
+
+<p>While this wholesale murder, which cost the lives of seven hundred and
+forty-two Frenchmen, not counting those who were drowned in flight, was
+going on in the streets, military conferences were held at which, after
+some irresolute wrangling, it was decided to withdraw to Fuerte Dolfin,
+about five hundred varas (rods) distant from Bayaja, in order to save
+the garrison from being at the mercy of a negro mob, intoxicated with
+the victory won over their adversaries. They succeeded in holding Fuerte
+Dolfin, until Bayaja itself was evacuated by Juan Francisco on the
+thirteenth of July. The loss of the Spanish troops, including deserters
+and those that died from privations, was about three thousand men. The
+national treasury suffered during the revolt a defalcation of some fifty
+thousand pesos. The negroes were at first charged with the embezzlement
+of that sum, but there were rumors to the contrary, which in view of the
+only too well-known turpitude of many colonial officials, were quite
+plausible.</p>
+
+<p>The peace concluded between Spain and the French republic at Basilea
+(Basle) on the twenty-second of July, 1795, and published in Madrid on
+the sixth of November, terminated Spanish rule on the island, Spain
+ceding her part of Santo Domingo to the French Republic. The people of
+Spain welcomed this peace, as they would have hailed any other. To the
+part played in the negotiations<a name="page_190" id="page_190"></a> by Manuel Godoy was due his title
+"Prince of Peace." In the elation of the moment the court even
+remembered Aranda, Florida Blanca, Cabarrus and Jovellanos, the able
+statesmen and faithful patriots who had been imprisoned or exiled, and
+granted them full amnesty. Yet this treaty of Basilea was the official
+admission of the decline of Spain's power. It heralded the gradual
+disintegration of her colonial possessions, where, as some authorities
+assert, British intrigue sowed the seeds of discord and discontent. When
+two years later, in February, 1797, the Spanish fleet, although superior
+in vessels and artillery, was defeated by the British in the battle of
+Cape St. Vincent off the south point of Portugal, the ruin of the
+kingdom was complete. The total income between 1793 and 1796 was
+twenty-four hundred and forty-five millions of reals; the total
+expenses, thirty-seven hundred and fourteen millions; the debt amounted
+to more than twelve hundred millions. The annual deficit was eight
+hundred millions. The paper money in circulation amounted to nineteen
+hundred and eighty millions. Such was the financial status of the royal
+bankrupt.</p>
+
+<p>If the peace of Basilea had temporarily brought satisfaction and
+lightened the burden of anxiety, the defeat at Cape St. Vincent sufficed
+once more to cloud the horizon. The capture of Rome by the French in
+1798 and the proclamation of a republic in place of the papal
+sovereignty, plunged Spain into a state of panic. Cabinet ministers
+succeeded one another with bewildering rapidity. Even Jovellanos, who
+had been recalled to restore order in the disorganized department of
+justice, was unable to cope with the chaotic situation. Enormous sums
+were being continually wasted. Of eighteen hundred and thirty-three
+millions spent in 1799, the royal court alone had used one hundred and
+five, the department of war<a name="page_191" id="page_191"></a> nine hundred and thirty-five, finance four
+hundred and twenty-eight, foreign affairs forty-six, and the department
+of justice only seven! Every branch of the administration was filled
+with the minions of Godoy, who was now related to the royal house,
+having espoused the daughter of the Infante Don Luis. His annual
+revenues amounted to one million reals. The elements themselves seemed
+to be in conspiracy against what had once been the greatest power in
+Europe. The failure of crops, famine, epidemics and earthquakes filled
+the minds of the superstitious with vague terrors.</p>
+
+<p>Cuba was at that time too much engrossed in the attempt to continue on
+the path of progress to be seriously affected by the fate of Spain. The
+insurrection of Santo Domingo had brought the eventuality of internal
+trouble so close to her door, that she did not dare to look across the
+ocean for more sources of apprehension. Yet the revolt of the
+neighboring island had also its advantages for Cuba. At the first
+outbreak of hostilities against the French, many French refugees had
+fled to Cuba. They were followed by others and after the massacre of
+Bayaja even by Spaniards and by colored women. This French element which
+settled in Santiago and Havana became a valuable factor in the
+population of the island. A French traveler and writer, Vicomte Gustave
+d'Hespel d'Harponville, says about it in his book "La Reine des
+Antilles":</p>
+
+<p>"They brought to Cuba the remnants of their wealth, some slaves, but
+especially their knowledge, their experience and their activity. From
+that moment the two great Antilles changed rôles: San Domingo lapsed
+into barbarism, Cuba placed her foot in the chariot of fortune."</p>
+
+<p>The French settlers were industrious laborers and skilled artisans and
+as such were highly valued by economists<a name="page_192" id="page_192"></a> who had been anxious to
+increase Cuba's insufficient labor supply by the introduction of white
+labor. Even the women among them were workers, in strange contrast to
+the Cuban women, who were given to tropical indolence. Many of these
+French "Dominicans" established themselves as nurses, laundresses and
+seamstresses. In education, too, these newcomers were far above the
+average Havanese; a difference which foreign travelers were quick to
+detect and to comment upon. The French settlements southeast of Havana,
+in the environs of Matanzas, Santiago and Baracoa, became such centers
+of activity, industrial and otherwise, that the Spanish, who had
+persisted in their habitual indolence and indifference, became jealous,
+which in time resulted in some friction and unpleasant disturbances.</p>
+
+<p>The definite loss of Santo Domingo to Spain caused also a great change
+in ecclesiastical affairs. The archbishopric was removed to Santiago de
+Cuba. Havana and Puerto Rico remained "suffragans," i.e. subject to the
+other. About that time there was established a territorial tribunal in
+Puerto Principe.</p>
+
+<p class="figcenter">
+<a href="images/romay_lg.jpg">
+<img src="images/romay_sml.jpg" width="368" height="550" alt="TOMAS ROMAY" title="TOMAS ROMAY" /></a>
+</p>
+
+<div class="blockill"><p class="c">TOMAS ROMAY</p>
+
+<p>One of the foremost figures in the great Cuban awakening at the close of
+the eighteenth century was Dr. Tomas Romay, physician and scientist, who
+was born in Havana on December 21, 1764, and died on March 30, 1849. He
+greatly aided the two good Governors, Las Casas and Someruelos, in their
+labors for the betterment of Cuba; with the help of Bishop Espada he
+introduced vaccination into the island; he was prominent in the Society
+of Friends of Peace, and did much for education, agriculture, and other
+interests of the Cuban people. Among his writings was a monograph on
+yellow fever which attracted world-wide attention. His earnest
+patriotism involved him in violent controversies in the troublous times
+of 1820-1823, from which he emerged in triumph and in universal honor.</p></div>
+
+<p>Everything seemed to combine at that period to promote the growth and
+assure the future welfare of Cuba. The government of Las Casas, with its
+wonderful awakening among the citizens of a sense of civic
+responsibility and opportunity, was one of those epochs which seem to
+form a pivot around which past and future revolve. It was impossible to
+consider it in its full value and significance without comparing it with
+the past out of which it had developed, and taking note of the progress
+it signalized. Nor was it possible to forecast the future, without
+projecting into it the lines of evolution along which the work of Las
+Casas and his associates seemed to have prepared the progress of the
+island. Compared with the passive<a name="page_193" id="page_193"></a> inertia which had all through the
+history of the Spanish West Indies retarded individual and communal
+advancement, it was like a sudden birth of aspirations and endeavors all
+directed towards a lofty goal, perhaps still vague to the multitude, but
+clearly and strongly defined in the minds of the men who with a singular
+unity of purpose, forgetting for once all the petty jealousies that had
+clouded so many big issues in previous periods, combined for concerted
+action for the common good.</p>
+
+<p>They were men who had at heart the interests of the island, who had
+inquired into the causes for its backwardness and who had thought deeply
+about the measures that might provide a means to rouse the whole
+population to the realization of the gigantic task before them. They
+were men of extraordinary intelligence, of thorough knowledge, of
+unblemished character and of wide experience. Never before had Cuba been
+able at any one period to point to such a galaxy of names as Las Casas,
+Arango, Romay, Montalvo, Pedro Espinola, Caballero, and others. Never
+before had it at any one time a like number of men combining all the
+qualifications that seemed to destine them to be the leaders in a great
+movement of revival and reconstruction. For the task they accomplished
+was not only that of rousing the inhabitants, who had lingered for
+several generations in apathy and indolence, but to reconstruct the
+whole decadent edifice of provincial management, in order to start anew
+on a solid foundation.</p>
+
+<p>Individually considered almost every one of those men stood for some
+achievement, some work the benefits of which the future was to reap.
+Towering above them all, Arango seemed to combine all these efforts,
+seemed to be the center from which radiated all the plans that had for
+their ultimate aim the happiness of all. As one looks<a name="page_194" id="page_194"></a> back upon that
+brilliant epoch, this man of noble birth, of rare gifts and of
+considerable means, seemed to dominate them all. Surely no other could
+have accomplished what he did; for his youth, his affability, his
+distinguished manners, these invaluable social qualities impressed and
+attracted those in the highest positions at the Spanish court and won
+for him a hearing, which would have been refused to many others. Once
+this was gained, his general learning, and his special knowledge of the
+economic and financial problems of his native island, backed by an array
+of conclusive statistics and conveyed to his listeners with forcible
+logic and convincing oratory, compelled the attention even of the most
+recalcitrant conservatives that had steadily opposed reforms in the
+colonies. By this rare combination of qualities Arango had succeeded in
+obtaining from the royal government greater concessions for Cuba than it
+had ever made to any of her colonial possessions. The effect of Arango's
+work, though at intervals clouded by periodical relapses of the
+government into the old evil ways, was felt during more than a
+generation, and his name remained identified in the memory of the people
+with the great strides that the island was henceforth to make in
+agriculture, industry and commerce, as no less in matters of education.</p>
+
+<p>Among his associates, the name of Dr. D. Thomas Romay was to be
+remembered by future generations for the great blessing which his
+medical skill and foresight secured for the island. He had been
+identified with many measures promoting public health, when Dr. Maria
+Bustamente of la Aguadilla, Puerto Rico, brought to Havana the first
+consignment of vaccine. Following the example of Dr. Bustamente, who had
+vaccinated his little son and two mulatto servants, Dr. Romay at once
+introduced vaccination in Havana and gradually checked the<a name="page_195" id="page_195"></a> ravages
+which small-pox epidemics had caused. The Count de Montalvo was forever
+to be remembered for his wise and humane adjustment of judicial
+conflicts in connection with the tribunal of commerce. Pedro Espinola's
+memory was to be cherished by all those concerned with the cause of
+education. Nicolas Calvo's efforts at introducing timely innovations in
+the sugar industry could never be forgotten in the island. Lastly there
+was Governor Las Casas himself, who, had he been a man of smaller
+calibre, could have clogged the wheels of progress by administrative red
+tape and obfuscated the larger issues of his time by petty official
+considerations. But, unlike some of his predecessors, who did not suffer
+any citizens in the community to rise to such eminence as to rival them,
+he had appreciated the spirit of those men and to further their aims had
+brought to bear all the weight of his official position.</p>
+
+<p>Rarely in the history of any country did so many fortuitous
+circumstances combine at one and the same period to call out what was
+best in the latent forces of the population, as in Cuba during the
+administration of Governor Las Casas. The future never seemed to smile
+so brightly upon that island, so richly endowed by nature and so long
+indifferently treated by men. Setbacks and even relapses into previous
+errors might occur, but it seemed unthinkable that the work accomplished
+by Las Casas and his associates, individually and collectively, could
+ever be undone.</p>
+
+<p>Such periods of extraordinary growth are infallibly followed by a
+standstill during which individuals as communities seem to gather
+strength for new efforts. Nor is it likely that a country will
+successively produce men of such marked individuality and forceful
+character. The governor that followed Las Casas could not reasonably<a name="page_196" id="page_196"></a> be
+expected to come up to the high standard of his predecessor. The
+Lieutenant-Governor Conde de Santa Clara, who was inaugurated on the
+sixteenth of December, 1796, was a man of generous character and
+agreeable manners towards all classes of society, but he was not a man
+of that broad culture which distinguished Las Casas and his associates
+in the famous Sociedad. D. Juan Procopio Barsicourt de Santa Clara was a
+native of Barcelona, and had come to Havana at a critical moment. The
+colonies of the West Indies and the Gulf coast were deeply worried about
+the slave revolt of Santo Domingo. The Cuban forces that had taken part
+in the attempt to quell the uprising, and the French and Spanish
+immigrants that had fled to Cuba from the terrors of the insurrection
+had brought with them tales of the doings of the insurgents which filled
+with vague apprehensions all territories that contained a numerous slave
+population. Moreover, the favorite of the queen of Spain, Manuel Godoy,
+had by his blunders involved Spain in a new war with Great Britain, and
+Spanish America was once more threatened by her old enemy.</p>
+
+<p>This menace forced the new Governor to turn his attention first towards
+the defenses of the island. He constructed between San Lazaro and la
+Chorrera the battery known as Santa Clara, and took other measures for
+the protection of Havana as well as Santiago. Among the municipal
+improvements which he effected the most important for Havana was his
+removal of the principal matadero (slaughterhouse), from the city to a
+place outside of its walls. The existence of this establishment had long
+been considered a public nuisance; for the foul smells which it spread
+in the neighborhood and which the wind sometimes carried over the whole
+town were a menace to the health of the inhabitants, and the frequent
+commotion<a name="page_197" id="page_197"></a> caused by bulls that escaped from the enclosures was also a
+feature that made a most unfavorable impression. Both the suburb of
+Jesus Maria and el Horcon being without any direct water supply, Santa
+Clara had a fountain constructed in each place.</p>
+
+<p>Santa Clara was a man of generous instincts. The Casa del Beneficencia,
+the fortunes of which had been declining, owed him many a rich supply of
+provisions and some large donations. Both he and his wife, who was said
+to be a perfect model of womanly virtues, were interested in the
+hospital of San Paula. They also gave material aid to the hospital of
+San Francisco, which had progressed very slowly since its foundation.
+Within one year after Santa Clara's arrival, the number of beds was
+raised from thirty-two to seventy-eight. The governor's lady also
+succeeded in enlisting the cooperation of the clergy and many other
+wealthy and influential people in the San Antonio Hospital, which was
+increased to a capacity of one hundred and nine beds. Though the more
+ambitious cultural work which had been begun under the previous
+administration was not promoted by him, Santa Clara proved himself
+possessed of no little executive power and tact.</p>
+
+<p>This last quality was especially needed at the time when Havana was
+honored by the visit of three French notables, the Dukes of Orleans and
+Montpensier, and Count de Beaujolais. Santa Clara received them most
+courteously and an opulent lady of Havana, Doña Leonor Herrera de
+Contreras, gave up to them her home, placed at their disposal her
+servants and defrayed all their expenses. Refugees from their country,
+which was suffering from the terrors of the Revolution, they remained in
+Havana and enjoyed this sumptuous hospitality for almost four months,
+when even the famous "Prince of<a name="page_198" id="page_198"></a> Peace," Godoy, in order to avoid
+further disagreements with the French Republic, indicated to them the
+propriety of removing to other dominions.</p>
+
+<p>In the meantime the British had declared war and made an auspicious
+beginning by the capture of Trinidad. They had demanded the surrender of
+the vessels commanded by D. Sebastian Ruiz de Apodoca, a high-spirited
+mariner, but he preferred reducing them to ashes before giving them up
+to the enemy. This first loss was, however, amply retrieved at San Juan
+of Porto Rico. The city had been attacked by over ten thousand trained
+soldiers under the command of Gen. Abercrombie, but the attack was
+repulsed and the British lost over one thousand men and two thousand
+prisoners, besides a stock of provisions and equipment. At Santa Cruz de
+Teneriffe the Spaniards defeated even the celebrated Nelson and seized a
+number of vessels that tried to take other points. But there was more
+trouble in sight for the Spanish colonies. For the South American
+revolutionist Miranda who had emigrated to London by clever intrigues
+induced the British government to stir up insurrections in the
+Spanish-American possessions. These intrigues resulted in revolts that
+broke out in Puerto Cabello, Caracas, Panama and Maracaibo. Their prompt
+suppression was due to the firmness and energy of the Captain-General of
+Caracas, D. Manuel de Guevara y Basconcelos.</p>
+
+<p>These disquieting occurrences made the Spanish government fear for the
+safety of Cuba and decided the court to give the island a governor more
+capable of coping with the eventuality of invasion. The Field Marshal D.
+Salvador de Muro y Salazar, Marques de Someruelos was appointed on the
+second of March, 1799, and ordered secretly and immediately to repair to
+the place of his destination. Accordingly there appeared in Havana on
+the<a name="page_199" id="page_199"></a> thirteenth of May a distinguished stranger who delivered to the
+governor important messages from the court and proved to be no less than
+the new governor. Santa Clara immediately retired in favor of his
+successor and Someruelos entered upon the functions of his office. The
+Intendente Valiente was promoted to the position of Counselor of the
+Indies and his place was taken by D. Luis Viyuri. Colonel D. Sebastian
+de Kindelan was appointed to the governorship of Santiago.</p>
+
+<p>The administration of Someruelos beginning on the threshold of a new
+century, it seems meet to cast a backward look upon the condition of the
+island and the great changes which had taken place during the hundred
+years just closing. The great need for reform was urged upon the
+government immediately after the British occupation of Havana, which had
+opened the eyes of the authorities to mistakes made not only in the
+political and military, but especially in the economic management of the
+colony. Revenues had to be created in order to meet the increased
+expenses of the administration and defray the cost of much needed
+improvements. Hence upon the proposal of Count Ricla the king had
+ordered a thorough reorganization of the administration and especially
+of the treasury department. In the attempt of solving the problem of
+taxation, Spain had followed a suggestion of M. Choiseul, minister of
+foreign affairs in France, which was conceived with little knowledge of
+colonial conditions and legislation and hastily accepted by the supreme
+government. This change in the tax system then in force in the Indies
+produced great commotion in the island of Cuba and other Spanish
+possessions in America.</p>
+
+<p>Guiteras reports that many real estate owners of Puerto Principe and the
+southern territory designated in the island by the name of la Vuelta de
+Abajo were especially<a name="page_200" id="page_200"></a> bitter in complaining against the innovation, but
+neither the intendant nor the Brigadier Cisneros could modify
+dispositions decreed by the supreme government. Discontent increased and
+some men were so exasperated that they preferred to destroy their own
+products rather than pay the tax which was to go to the public treasury.
+By the influence of D. Pedro Calvo de la Puerta, D. Penalver and other
+land-owners, some of the people were pacified, before disorder ensued.
+But others rose in open revolt and had to be dispersed by the militia
+hastily mobilized for their repression. Although hardly any blood was
+shed, the opposition which the authorities had met gave them cause for
+anxiety, and upon their urgent appeal the supreme government renounced
+the enforcement of the new taxes.</p>
+
+<p>After the establishment of the Intendencia and the creation of a weekly
+Junta, D. Juan de Alda drew up a budget of expenditure for the year
+1768, which amounted to 1,681,452 pesos. Of this sum the army consumed
+only 665,655 pesos. Approved by the supreme government and taken as a
+basis for figuring the annual expenditure, 1,200,000 pesos were
+consigned to the treasury of Mexico with the assumption that the public
+revenues would cover the eventual difference. According to Ramon de la
+Sagra, the general revenues of the island from 1764 to 1794 amounted to
+20,286,173 pesos, and the sums which besides came to the treasury under
+the name of situados (duties assigned upon certain goods or effects) and
+other classifications amounted from 1766 to 1788 to 101,735,350 pesos.
+The revenues of the island for the same period were, according to
+Alcazar, 50,000,000 pesos, but he adds that the decree of the
+seventeenth of August, 1790, by which farmers and merchants were allowed
+to pay with promissory notes, resulted in some loss to the import<a name="page_201" id="page_201"></a>
+duties. On the other hand, the system of tax collection was open to
+dishonest practices, which were checked during the administration of
+Someruelos.</p>
+
+<p>The objections which had been raised against the new taxation having
+chiefly come from people engaged in agriculture, the government found on
+investigation that the existing commercial laws were at fault. Inclined
+as was the court of Spain during the rule of Carlos III. to yield in
+favor of the people, the new measures only mitigated but did not remove
+the evils complained of, which were founded on institutions and
+ordinances so thoroughly antiquated as no longer to be of any benefit to
+the population. The commerce of Cuba had since the year 1740 been
+carried on by the Real Compania of Havana. Although its institution was
+based upon the old and faulty principle of monopoly and privilege, and
+discriminated against foreign goods that came to Cuba via Spanish ports,
+the exportations of the island which at the beginning of the eighteenth
+century were confined to timber, hides and a small amount of cattle,
+soon began to include other products, such as sugar, honey, brandy and
+wax.</p>
+
+<p>After the founding of the Intendencia there was opened by way of
+experiment a small commerce with the principal ports of Spain; but the
+regulations required the collection in the Peninsula of two custom
+duties on manufactures embarked at Cuba and destined for Spain, one
+being called entry, the other exit duty, to which was later added a
+consumer's duty. These extraordinary charges destroyed the profits hoped
+for by the extension of commerce, and were the source of more
+discontent, until in the year 1767 the king authorized the abolition of
+the Compania of Havana "in case of urgent necessity for Cuba" and at the
+same time inaugurated some franchises which<a name="page_202" id="page_202"></a> tended to relieve the much
+restricted commerce of the island. As has been recorded at the time, it
+was not until the twelfth of October, 1778, that the king issued an
+order calling for free commerce and abolishing the monopolies of the
+larger ports.</p>
+
+<p>The effects of this measure made themselves felt in a sudden revival of
+commercial activities which led to such an expansion of Cuba's commerce,
+that the island was forced to ask concessions and obtained from the
+court more favors than any other of Spain's American possessions. When
+the War of Independence paralyzed the commerce of the British colonies
+with the island, the king granted still greater franchises and a new
+decree opened the entry of the Port of Havana to the flags of all
+nations, provided their ships introduced provisions only. But while
+these new decrees favored the commerce of the colony, they reacted
+unfavorably upon the commerce of Spain, the merchant navy of which had
+been annihilated during the many wars, until there were not enough
+vessels to transport the goods the colonies needed. The imports of
+foreign products which the monopoly permitted Spain to make were in
+value superior to the exports from America. Direct commerce with
+friendly nations was more convenient inasmuch as the foreigners could in
+turn export all the fruits of the country. The only remedy for the evils
+confronting Spanish commerce would have been the reestablishment of the
+merchant fleet; but in their short-sightedness Spanish merchants turned
+back to the old monopoly and at the foot of the throne begged for return
+to the old system. Under such pressure were exacted from the king the
+decrees of the twentieth of January and the fifteenth of April, 1784,
+which once more closed the ports of Spanish America to the friendly
+nations, carrying<a name="page_203" id="page_203"></a> the prohibition to the extreme of denying merchant
+vessels entry, even if they were foundering!</p>
+
+<p>Owing to this confusing and irritating condition of commercial
+legislation the growth and progress of the colonies received another
+setback, and probably caused the decrease in population which the
+Countess de Merlin mentions. It also seriously affected the agriculture
+of the island. For Spain had not enough inhabitants on her own soil to
+colonize her vast overseas territories; and even if her legislation in
+respect to commerce had been more liberal, her constant opposition to
+the admittance of foreigners to her provinces discouraged white
+immigration. Even during the reign of Carlos III., which seemed to
+inaugurate a new and more enlightened era, the distrust of the
+government towards foreigners is manifested in the new and abridged
+version of the law of the Indies, published in the year 1778, which
+decrees that in no port nor part of the West Indies, either the islands
+or the continent to the north and south, shall any kind of traffic with
+foreigners be admitted, even by way of barter or any other mode of
+commerce, those violating this order being liable to forfeit life and
+property.</p>
+
+<p>The slave trade was therefore the means Cuba was forced to adopt to
+supply the lack of white laborers and artisans. It was subject to the
+same restrictions as all maritime commerce, with the important
+difference that it could not be carried on without a special permission
+from the king, which usually fixed the number of years in which a
+certain number of slaves should be granted certain individuals,
+companies or corporations. These permissions were called licenses, later
+assientos, and finally contracts and privileges, until in the year 1789
+they entirely ceased to exist. A British concern, called the South<a name="page_204" id="page_204"></a> Sea
+Company, had been the first to receive such a privilege, when in 1713 it
+was allowed to introduce into the colonies of Latin America, with
+absolute exclusion of Spaniards and foreigners, four thousand eight
+hundred negroes in the course of thirty years. Next came the permiso
+obtained by the Compania Mercantil of Havana in the year 1740, of which
+use was made until 1766. Then came the contract concluded with the
+Marquis de Casa Enrile, which lasted from 1773 to 1779; and finally the
+permission granted in the year 1780 on account of the war with England,
+that most Spaniards in America could have recourse to the French
+colonies for their supply of slaves.</p>
+
+<p>The manner in which this trade in human flesh was carried on reflects
+sadly upon those engaged in this traffic. Loaded into vessels that were
+hardly considered fit for carrying freight, thousands were known to have
+perished in shipwrecks. Crowded into the dark, unventilated holds of
+these rotten hulks, more thousands succumbed to disease and were thrown
+overboard. Of the trades associated with cruel exploitation and inhuman
+abuses, that of the slavetrader ranked first, for the sufferings to
+which the poor victims were subjected in the transit from their native
+home to the foreign land defied description. There were captains of
+slave ships who loathed their task. One is quoted in a book by the
+Jesuit Sandeval as confessing his misgivings about the business; he had
+just suffered a shipwreck in which only thirty out of nine hundred on
+board escaped!</p>
+
+<p>On their arrival in Cuba the poor wretches who survived the ordeal began
+to fare better. E. M. Masse, a French traveler and writer, in his work
+"L'Isle de Cuba et la Havane" describes the quarters in which they were
+lodged. They were the <i>baracones</i>, the famous barracks<a name="page_205" id="page_205"></a> originally
+destined for the troops which were to take Pensacola, and that had cost
+four million pesos, though they could have been put up for a few
+thousand. At the time of his visit to Havana, some of the contractors
+who had made this handsome profit on the buildings were still in jail.
+He goes on to say that immediately on landing the negroes were taken to
+these barracks, waiting to be sold. They contained one immense room,
+covered with straw and divided into three compartments. The first was
+for the employees or jailers; the second for the women slaves, the third
+for the men. There was a spacious court or yard with a kitchen in one
+corner. In this yard they spent their days, shielded from the sun and
+the rain by tents. They were permitted to bathe in the sea. The writer
+looked at the spectacle with an artist's eye. For he remarks that he had
+always considered the pose of the Venus of Milo unnatural, until by
+observing these women slaves at their bath in the surf, he found that
+the identical pose was frequently assumed by them, and hence must have
+been natural. The only garment obligatory as long as a slave was not
+sold, was a kerchief; if somebody made them a gift of another kerchief,
+they made of it a turban or wore it like a sash.</p>
+
+<p>The freedom which they enjoyed in this brief interval between landing in
+Havana and being sold, may in the lives of the majority have been the
+only freedom they were to know. Being merchandise, it was of course in
+the interest of the slave traders to have them appear well when put on
+the market. Hence the food they received was wholesome. They were also
+encouraged to indulge in their wonted amusements and could be seen
+marching or dancing around in the yard, as they raised their voices in
+song. The African who had just arrived and spoke only his native tongue,
+was called <i>bosale</i>; the slave who<a name="page_206" id="page_206"></a> was born in Africa, but spoke
+Spanish and knew the trade he was destined for, was called <i>ladino</i>.
+Children of African or European origin born in Spanish America, were
+called <i>criolles</i>, from which the French derived the term in use today:
+creole.</p>
+
+<p>Miscegenation was not favored in Cuba. When the immigration from Santo
+Domingo brought into the island a great number of mulattoes, quadroons
+and octoroons, the color line was severely drawn. A woman of colored
+origin with a perfectly white and very beautiful daughter was known to
+have denied her child in order to make it possible for her to marry a
+Havanese. Many of these women were far better educated than the native
+Cubans; M. Masse says that the art of conversation, unknown in Havana
+society, flourished only in their homes. But they were rigidly barred
+from the drawing-rooms of the wealthy Havanese.</p>
+
+<p>According to the data available, the number of slaves introduced into
+the island from the beginning of its colonization until the year 1789
+was probably not below 100,000. It is estimated that in the two hundred
+years between 1550 and 1750 the annual importations of the assientists
+into Spanish America averaged at least three thousand a year. In the
+census taken by Governor la Torre about 1772 Cuba was found to have
+45,633 slaves. In 1775 their number had risen to forty-six thousand and
+that of free colored people to about thirty thousand. The relaxation of
+the commercial restrictions gave a strong impulse to all sorts of
+enterprises, mercantile and otherwise, and especially to building, and
+the laboring forces employed on all the new constructions were mostly
+slaves. By the year 1775 their proportion to the free colored population
+was four and sixth tenths to three. As the value of slave labor began to
+be recognized in that period of internal<a name="page_207" id="page_207"></a> improvements and general
+progress, the number of slave importations steadily increased. According
+to Blanchet, Cuba acquired in the years 1783 and 1784 one thousand and
+five hundred negroes through contracts between the government and
+various French and Spanish firms, as also the British house of Baker and
+Dawson and the private shipowners D. Vicente Espon and Col. D. Gonzalo
+O'Farrel. Armas y Cespedes gives the number of slaves for the year 1774
+as 44,333; for the year 1792 as 84,590. In the enormous number of
+negroes imported between 1791 and 1816 there were counted 132,000
+imported legitimately, 168,000 by contraband means.</p>
+
+<p>A more systematized and conclusive estimate of the number of negroes
+gradually introduced in Cuba was made by D. Francisco de Arango, the
+high-minded patriot of the period of Governor Las Casas. It covers the
+time from the beginning of the sixteenth to the middle of the eighteenth
+century. D. José Antonio Saco, author of "Collecion de papeles
+cientifices, historicos, politicos y de etros ramos sobre la isle de
+Cuba, ya publicados ya ineditos," and "Historia de la Esclavitud," did
+the same for the eastern part of the island from 1764 to 1789. These
+estimates furnish the following figures:</p>
+
+<table border="0" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" summary="">
+<tr><td align="left">Imported on the whole island from 1523 to 1763</td><td align="right">60,000</td></tr>
+<tr><td align="left">By the Compania de la Habana in 1764, 1765, 1766</td><td align="right">4,957</td></tr>
+<tr><td align="left">By the Marquis de Casa Enrile from 1773 to 1779</td><td align="right">14,132</td></tr>
+<tr><td align="left">By the permiso of 1780 authorizing the supply<br />
+&nbsp; of negroes from French colonies during the<br />
+&nbsp; war ending 1783</td><td align="right">6,593</td></tr>
+<tr><td align="left">By the house of Baker &amp; Dawson from 1786 to 1789</td><td align="right">8,318</td></tr>
+<tr><td align="left">From the eastern part of the island, 1764 to 1789</td><td align="right">6,000</td></tr>
+<tr><td align="left">&nbsp; &nbsp; Total</td><td align="right"
+style="border-top:1px black solid;">100,000</td></tr>
+</table>
+
+<p>Humboldt remarks in his "Personal Narrative of Travels to the
+Equinoctial regions of America during the years 1799-1809, "that the
+British West Indies then contained seven hundred thousand negroes and
+mulattoes, free and slave, while the custom-house registers proved that
+from 1680 to 1786 two million one hundred and thirty thousand negroes
+had been imported from Africa, which suggests a rather high mortality.
+In Cuba the annual death rate of the recently imported negroes was seven
+per cent. Hence the current assumption that the African negro was
+particularly adapted for and could stand the climate of Cuba, does not
+seem to be well founded.</p>
+
+<p>About this time the social conscience of mankind seemed to be suddenly
+awakened and philanthropic ideas began to modify the general conception
+of slavery. Nations whose political organization made the government
+dependent upon public opinion, had already begun to yield to the demand
+of abolishing slave trade. The United States had auspiciously
+inaugurated that movement. The state of Virginia had closed her ports to
+the traffic in 1778; Pennsylvania, Connecticut, Rhode Island and
+Massachusetts followed in 1780, 1787 and 1788. The Third Congress of the
+American Republic proclaimed negro traffic as contrary to the
+civilization of Christian peoples and condemned it before the end of the
+eighteenth century. At the same time the Convention of the French
+Republic declared its abolition in the colonies of France, and the
+events in Santo Domingo, like a seismic<a name="page_209" id="page_209"></a> disturbance made all
+slave-owning nations tremble. Stimulated by the example of America and
+stirred by the noble words of her own great humanitarians, Howard and
+Wilberforce, England, too, began from 1787 on to discuss that problem.</p>
+
+<p>In the course of the serious debates that took place in the British
+parliament in May, 1788, it was said that a decree abolishing the
+traffic would in a short time paralyze the commerce carried on by
+British merchants with Africa. In her isolation from the current tides
+of thought in Europe and other countries, Cuba had so far been untouched
+by the humanitarian aspect of the question and looked upon it merely
+from her utilitarian viewpoint. Fearing that the house of Baker &amp;
+Dawson, which had been her main source of supply for negro labor, would
+no longer be able to furnish her the hands she needed in her deserted
+fields, she hastened through her representative in the Ayuntamiento to
+solicit from the king permission to continue the traffic. Hence on the
+twenty-eighth of February, 1788, a royal decree permitted the Spaniards,
+and foreigners in general for the term of two years, to introduce
+negroes, exempt from duties, in Cuba, Santo Domingo and Puerto Rico and
+in the province of Caracas.</p>
+
+<p>Guiteras, in his "Historia de la Isla de Cuba" speaks of the slavery
+problem with a remarkable display of native fervor. He says:</p>
+
+<p>"The slavery question met with political difficulties of an even graver
+character in the rapid progress made by the ideas of the abolitionists,
+which inflamed and inspired those foreign nations who had filled their
+own colonies with slaves. Imprudent exaltation of the republican ideals
+of France finally led the children of Hayti to rise in a horrible
+revolution. A race of men that had come to the coasts of America not in
+royal vessels and clad in<a name="page_210" id="page_210"></a> steel to plant standards with the sign of
+Redemption, but locked up in the stench of a closed hold, the body naked
+and in chains, to irrigate with their sweat and blood the land of
+slavery, rose in defence of the natural laws, demolished the banner at
+the sight of which the most powerful nations of Europe had trembled, and
+conquered the outraged rights of humanity. One should think that the
+beam of light which radiated through all the sea of the Antilles would
+have dissuaded the Cubans and the government from promoting African
+colonization on the island of Cuba; nevertheless a lamentable error,
+though based upon the best intentions, caused Cuba to invite that evil
+and Spain filled the island with African slaves."</p>
+
+<p>It may seem incongruous that a man of D. Francisco de Arango's liberal
+ideas should have been instrumental in securing for Cuba from the court
+at Madrid a privilege which the enlightened humane viewpoint of his time
+began to consider a disgrace. But as pointed out in a previous chapter,
+this measure was resorted to by Arango only as a temporary expediency.
+As soon as the immediate shortage of hands was relieved, he himself
+recommended the substitution of free white labor for negro slavery. For
+the enormous influx of negroes as compared with the very minimum
+increase of white inhabitants began even then to fill with vague
+apprehensions for the future of Cuba's population those most earnestly
+concerned with the welfare of the island. To the Spaniards of Florida
+the great percentage of negroes was repulsive. More than five hundred
+Floridians, who in 1763 had come to Cuba to escape British rule,
+returned to their old home in 1784. When after the reign of terror in
+Santo Domingo French refugees settled in Cuba, they, too, were opponents
+of the slave traffic and their influence contributed no little<a name="page_211" id="page_211"></a> towards
+changing the attitude of the Spaniards towards negro slavery.</p>
+
+<p>One of the disturbing features in this large negro population was the
+small proportion of women. Planters refused to invest in the latter,
+because they considered them unfit for the hard labor required. The
+result was such a surplus of male slaves that in some communities there
+were five hundred men to one negro woman. At first the negro slaves were
+employed mostly in the mines, where the native Indians had proved
+inefficient. Later they entered also domestic service. But with the
+development of agriculture, they began to be largely employed in the
+fields and on the plantations. Edward Gaylord Bourne says in his work on
+"Spain in America," the third volume in the historical series "The
+American Nation," in the chapter on Negro Slaves (p. 272):</p>
+
+<p>"The development of the sugar industry and the growth of slavery were
+dependent upon each other, especially after the mines of the Antilles
+gave out. Each trapiche, or sugar-mill, run by horses or mules, required
+thirty or forty negroes, and each water-mill eight at the least. Had the
+commerce of the islands been reasonably free, plantation slavery on a
+large scale would have rapidly developed, and the history of Hayti and
+the English islands would have been anticipated a century by the
+Spaniards."</p>
+
+<p>While Howard, Wilberforce, Judge Sewall and the Quakers are usually
+considered the pioneers of the abolition of slavery, the first voice
+raised against this institution came from Peru and was that of a Jesuit,
+Alfonso Sandoval, a native of Seville, but a resident of Peru, where his
+father held an important position in the royal administration. Sandoval
+wrote a work on negro slavery<a name="page_212" id="page_212"></a> entitled "De Instauranda Aethiopum
+Salute," which was published in Madrid in 1647 and contains valuable
+data concerning the traffic, frequently quoted by historians. Nor can it
+be denied that the Spaniards knew better how to treat the negroes than
+either the French or the British. Evidences to the contrary suggest that
+whatever may have been the wrongs under which the negro slaves of the
+Spanish colonies suffered, they were not as much due to the cruelty of
+the masters, as to their ignorance and carelessness.</p>
+
+<p>The humane attitude of the Spaniard towards the negro slave made the
+Royal Cedula issued by King Carlos III. in 1789 a unique document. For
+in this royal decree are set forth the rights of the slaves with a
+precision which in an eventual dispute with the masters could admit of
+no doubt. By that decree the Spanish king earned for himself a niche in
+the gallery of human benefactors. For the individual paragraphs as
+compared with the civic code of Spain show little or no discrimination
+between the black and the white elements of the colonial population.
+These laws agreed perfectly with the spirit of the period which had
+produced Howard, Wilberforce, Sewall and others. They were conceived in
+a remarkable spirit of equity, whatever violations and abuses may have
+occurred in individual practice. According to this cedula, a slave, if
+ill-treated, had the right to choose another master, provided he could
+induce this new master to buy him. He could buy his liberty at the
+lowest market-price. He could buy wife and children and marry the wife
+of his choice. If he suffered cruel treatment, he could appeal to the
+courts and in some instances might be set free. If negroes were in doubt
+about the lawfulness of their enslavement, they also had the right to
+bring their case to the notice of the courts. By that same cedula negro<a name="page_213" id="page_213"></a>
+slaves were granted the right to hold property which opened for them
+opportunities for eventual emancipation. Moreover that law declared that
+fugitive slaves who by righteous means had gained their freedom were not
+to be returned to their masters.</p>
+
+<p>In accordance with these humane slave laws, the colored population of
+Cuba enjoyed greater latitude than in many other colonies. Although
+converted to Catholicism, they were known to revert to their heathen
+practices at certain times and to have chanted invocations to the saints
+in the African dialect of their forefathers. Numerous clans existed
+among them, which were supposed to have for their aim the perpetuation
+of their ancestral customs. Among them was the <i>manigo</i>, which was
+frequently the source of grave apprehension on the part of the
+authorities and, surviving in the <i>cabildos</i>, societies, which are both
+religious and social, had in a later period to be suppressed. The rites
+of these organizations were a grotesquely uncanny mixture of Roman
+Catholicism and African paganism. One day in the year the negroes of the
+island had almost unlimited liberty to celebrate in their barbaric
+fashion. It was the sixth of January or All Kings' Day, and was the
+occasion for a spectacle as weirdly fascinating as any carnival. That
+day belonged to the negroes. Dressed in the gaudiest costumes, carrying
+huge poles with mysterious transparencies, they paraded through the
+streets to the beat of drums, shouting and gesticulating, or singing as
+they went along. At the squares they stopped and indulged in a dance.
+Melodious as were their songs, the rhythms betrayed the African origin.
+The dances, too, even after several generations, retained their African
+characteristics. As the day progressed, hilarity became more and more
+boisterous, and the holiday frequently ended in riotous demonstrations<a name="page_214" id="page_214"></a>
+and street brawls. The white population of Havana and other towns, in
+which this day was celebrated by the blacks, remained indoors, and even
+suspended business for fear of disturbances.</p>
+
+<p>There is no doubt that the important service which negro labor performed
+for the agriculture of the country induced the Cubans to allow the
+negroes this great amount of freedom. For without them, as D. Francisco
+de Arango and others knew only too well, the fields and the plantations
+of the island could never have yielded that abundance of products upon
+which depended the wealth of Cuba.<a name="page_215" id="page_215"></a></p>
+
+<h3><a name="CHAPTER_XIII" id="CHAPTER_XIII"></a>CHAPTER XIII</h3>
+
+<p>The prosperity of a new country and the happiness of the people depend
+largely upon a just apportionment of the land of that country and the
+opportunity to exploit the resources of the soil and sell the products
+thereof at the greatest possible profit to the producer. Had this simple
+truth been recognized as the cornerstone of Cuban colonization the
+island would have been spared centuries of hard up-hill struggle for
+healthy economic conditions.</p>
+
+<p>From the standpoint of the agrarian reformer, the land problem was at
+the bottom of all the evils that retarded the development of the colony,
+so richly endowed by nature that it should have been a paradise for
+those who came there to settle. The noble Spanish adventurers of
+Castilian blood, who had accompanied the early explorers and in a spirit
+of romance followed in their wake, were the first to obtain grants of
+land. They returned to Spain, brought with them their families and
+servants and settled upon the land, which became their new home. But
+they were hardly of a type willing to rough it after the first glamor of
+romance and novelty had faded, or able by hard labor to transform the
+wilderness into richly yielding fields and gardens. Stockbreeding was
+very much easier and according to their ideas required no particular
+exertion on their part. They let nature take care of the increase of
+their herds and flocks. A few of them retained the land, made their
+haciendas the home of generations to come, and attained to some rank and
+standing by virtue of these great holdings. Essentially domestic by
+nature, they lived there sometimes two or three<a name="page_216" id="page_216"></a> generations under one
+roof, frugally and contentedly all the year round.</p>
+
+<p>Among the earliest Cuban landholders were nobles, Castilian, Andalusian
+and others, who received great grants of land in recognition of some
+services to the crown. These people, who had not known the spell of
+adventure in strange tropical climes, did not settle permanently on the
+island, but became absentee landlords. They owned perhaps a residence in
+Havana, which they visited briefly during the winter. They had a
+hacienda, which saw them even less frequently and more briefly. The
+traditions and conventions of their caste did not allow them to work,
+even if they had been able and willing; so they left the management of
+their land to an agent, whose paramount concern was to hold his position
+long enough to fill his pockets and who beyond that was no more
+interested in the colony than was his master. Whatever profits the
+latter made on the products of his Cuban estate, did not accrue to the
+benefit of the island; they were spent in the old country. Madrid was
+the place where these absentee landlords of Cuba wasted their wealth in
+extravagance and dissipation, instead of investing it in improvements of
+their estates and works of civic importance and advantage to the island.
+These property-holders looked out only for the revenues they could get
+out of their Cuban estates; but they were not concerned with the problem
+of revenues for the island. They have their counterpart today and not
+only in Cuba, but in other countries where vast tracts were acquired by
+foreigners, some for the hunting they afforded, some for speculative
+purposes, while native citizens had to go without the little plot of
+land that could insure them a home and sometimes even a living.</p>
+
+<p>Thus were the best tracts of land apportioned among or<a name="page_217" id="page_217"></a> pre-empted by
+people having no vital interest in the development of the island's
+resources. When the real workers came, peasants from the Basque
+provinces, from Catalonia and other parts of the Peninsula, they again
+had no capital to invest in the necessary improvements, and being
+obliged to content themselves with a small plot of land and to work it
+with their own hands, soon drifted into a deadly indifference towards
+anything beyond the satisfaction of their most urgent daily needs. Even
+if their land had produced more than they needed for their own
+consumption, they would have been at a loss how to dispose of their
+products, since there were no transportation facilities and since every
+movement of the producer was subject to local customs and other
+restrictions, limiting the possibilities of creating a market and from
+the profits realized to set aside a fund to spend on current
+improvements or to insure their future.</p>
+
+<p>There is little doubt that much of the indolence attributed to the
+climate was gradually developed in the people by the lack of
+opportunities to market their products and to get into touch with the
+outside world. The Cuban settler of that class had in course of time to
+acquire a habitual indifference toward the morrow, which developed into
+shiftlessness. His initiative being paralyzed at the beginning, he never
+could rouse himself to conceive of another life. His children growing up
+about him under these same circumstances, true to the clannishness of
+Spanish family life, remained with the parents and followed in their
+footsteps. This may explain the lack of backbone with which the Cuban
+has been reproached. Official repression, even if founded upon a sort of
+paternal solicitude, is bound to stunt the growth of individuals as of
+nations; and of this repression the people of Cuba were for centuries
+the victims.<a name="page_218" id="page_218"></a></p>
+
+<p>The French traveler and writer quoted before, E. M. Masse, describes the
+life of Cuban rustics at the end of the eighteenth and beginning of the
+nineteenth century. He calls them <i>monteros</i>, which means huntsmen, and
+they were probably the more shiftless descendants of this first class of
+settlers. For he speaks of their simple, frugal and indolent ways; tells
+how satisfied they are just to own a little plot of ground, with a
+bananery beside the hut, or a rice or corn-field, and perhaps a few
+cows. They were happiest when they could afford a slave, who would go
+fishing and hunting for them; for that would allow the master to lie in
+the hammock and smoke cigarettes. It seems natural that the home of such
+a montero was usually a wretched little "cabane," a shack of one room in
+which he dwelt with his family, which was sometimes numerous, and in
+close companionship with a pig, and other domestic animals. Yet this
+same man, preferring to lie in the hammock rather than to exert himself
+in some much needed work, was very fond of lively sports, as
+horseback-riding. Even the women of the monteros were splendid
+horse-women.</p>
+
+<p>The dress of these people was extremely simple. The men wore trousers of
+oiled linen extending to the ankles; shoes of raw leather, a short shirt
+of the same material as the trousers, a kerchief wound tightly about the
+head and a big straw hat with a black ribbon or one of felt with gold
+braid. An indispensable article of accoutrement was the machete,
+cutlass, in his belt. The women wore a calico skirt, a white shirt with
+a bracelet at the elbow to hold the sleeves and a fichu on the head.
+When they went to mass, they dressed their hair, wore a mantilla on
+their head and put on shoes with big silver buckles. At dances they
+donned a round hat woven out of the tissue of plantain leaves, trimmed
+with gay ribbons, or a black<a name="page_219" id="page_219"></a> hat with gold braid. Modest as was the
+montero in his demands upon life, there was one entertainment he could
+not forego: the <i>feria de gallo</i>, cock-fight. Many a one saved up his
+money for months to spend it on that day.</p>
+
+<p>This description by M. Masse, of the montero of Cuba at the end of the
+eighteenth and beginning of the nineteenth century, tallies well with
+the description of the guajiro of today by Forbes Lindsay in "Cuba and
+Her People Today." Lindsay sees in that Cuban rustic a descendant of
+Catalonian and Andalusian settlers:</p>
+
+<p>"Time was when he occasionally owned slaves and a fair extent of land,
+but nowadays he is more often than not a squatter in a little corner of
+that no man's land which seems to be so extensive in the central and
+eastern portions of the Island. In comparatively few instances he has
+title to a few acres, lives in a passably comfortable cabana, possesses
+a yoke of oxen, a good horse, half a dozen pigs, and plenty of poultry.
+Much more often he lives in a ramshackle <i>bohio</i>, the one apartment of
+which affords indifferent shelter to a large family and is fairly shared
+by a lean hog and a few scrawny chickens. There is nothing deserving the
+name of furniture in the house and the clothing of the family is of the
+scantiest. A nag of some sort, usually a sorry specimen of its kind, is
+almost always owned by the guajiro, who loves a horse and rides like the
+gaucho of the Argentine pampas."</p>
+
+<p>That montero of a hundred and more years ago and the guajiro of today
+have so much in common that it seems safe to consider the latter a
+descendant of the former.</p>
+
+<p>The lack of proper facilities for the exchange of commodities between
+city and country caused the fact that Havana up to the beginning of the
+nineteenth century raised almost all her necessities on her own soil.
+The<a name="page_220" id="page_220"></a> economical cassava was still generally used. The ground in the
+environs of the capital, though not the best soil on the island, within
+a short time attained considerable value. The administration of the navy
+yard opposed the cultivation of ground rich in trees that it could use
+for shipbuilding. By this monopoly alone many people were barred from
+owning and cultivating land. The preference of the earlier Spanish
+settlers for stockbreeding also limited the agricultural area. Besides,
+real estate conventions and regulations were as rigid as other customs
+of the country, and were never changed, be the need for a change ever so
+pressing.</p>
+
+<p>From the first days of the colony the circular form of plot had been
+adopted, the extent of a <i>hatos</i> being fixed at two miles and that of
+the <i>corrales</i> at one mile in circumference. This curious system of
+measurement gave rise not only to difficulties in computing the area of
+contiguous properties, but to misunderstandings and disputes which
+caused much litigation. It was difficult to buy a plot of ground that
+was not in some way subject to legal controversy. The great number of
+lawyers on the island had probably a certain reason for existence owing
+to the innumerable boundary and other land disputes. It is evident, too,
+that complicated boundaries and questionable titles were a rich source
+of dubious activity for unscrupulous members of the profession. Land
+cases were wont to drag on from one generation to the other, and while
+the lawyers representing the interests of the clients waxed rich, the
+clients themselves had often to sacrifice the land itself in order to
+settle their claims.</p>
+
+<p>The changes brought on by gradual cultivation of unimproved lands on the
+other hand enriched the owners of such lands quite out of proportion to
+their original value. When pastures were converted into farm plots,<a name="page_221" id="page_221"></a> the
+price was augmented. A hato contained more than sixteen hundred
+caballerias at thirty-three acres per caballeria. The corral contained
+more than four hundred. The caballeria pasture land cost from ten to
+twenty-five pesos; as soon as it was cultivated, its lowest price was
+three hundred pesos. Thus a hato, worth at most forty thousand pesos,
+was in its new state worth more than four hundred and eighty-four
+thousand. Likewise a corral, originally valued at most at ten thousand
+pesos, rose in price to one hundred and twenty thousand. The same was
+true of building lots. A caballeria in the suburbs, divided into
+<i>solares</i>, house plots, could sometimes bring eighty-five thousand
+pesos. A caballeria to the southwest of Havana was worth three thousand
+pesos, one in the neighborhood of Matanzas only five hundred. The
+extraordinary wealth of certain convents, frequently commented upon by
+economists and historians, was due to the gradual and enormous increase
+in the price of the land which had originally been given to them. From
+these early grants and concessions were derived the privileges which
+some private properties and some convents enjoyed; they had for instance
+the right to forbid the building in their neighborhood of houses beyond
+a certain height, a precious privilege in a city where the circulation
+of air had not been overencouraged.</p>
+
+<p>M. Masse comments at length upon these conditions in his book on Havana.
+He says:</p>
+
+<p>"The immense fortunes of certain Havana families are thus explained. The
+sobriety of the Spaniards, the very limited taste and luxury found in
+their residences and their furnishings, a commercial management which
+favored agricultural products, would have ended in concentrating in a
+few hands fortunes rivalling those of kings, had not libertinism, the
+rage of lawsuits and the passion<a name="page_222" id="page_222"></a> for gambling produced that
+instability, which some moralists would have liked to secure by other
+means, though these were not easily found."</p>
+
+<p>The prospect of becoming hopelessly entangled in interminable lawsuits,
+and of having large tracts of land on one's hands without the certainty
+that the products of this land would find a market and bring a price
+commensurate with the amount of money and labor spent upon it, prevented
+many residents of the island from becoming landholders. Only when the
+conflict between the landholders and the monopoly that robbed them of
+their profits became acute, did certain patriots concerned with the
+welfare of Cuba unite to secure a radical reform in the legislation of
+the Indies. The demand for an extension of maritime commerce was the
+first to be urged upon the authorities, and the first to be granted. As
+has been related in a previous chapter, the British occupation of Havana
+opened the eyes of the Spaniards to the benefits of free commerce with
+and among the colonies, and led to a gradual relaxation of the law which
+gave to one or two Spanish ports the monopoly of transatlantic trade.
+When greater freedom of maritime commerce had been secured, and
+agriculture began to be carried on on a larger scale, not only for home
+consumption, but for export, the questions of repartition of land, of
+introducing different standards of measurement, of diminution of taxes
+on the fruits of the country and of duties on articles of importation,
+and lastly of securing the labor needed for these larger enterprises,
+began to occupy the minds of the leaders.</p>
+
+<p>The chief branches of Cuban agriculture were the raising of live stock
+and the cultivation of tobacco and sugar. Until the beginning of the
+eighteenth century the breeding of cattle was the principal occupation
+of the Cuban<a name="page_223" id="page_223"></a> farmer. It suited the taste of the Castilian and
+Andalusian immigrant, for it required comparatively little work and lent
+itself to the acquirement of habits of idleness which the climate of the
+country tended to confirm. Guiteras is right, when he says:</p>
+
+<p>"Had our ganaderos (ranch owners) cultivated the plains for the
+alimentation of the animals and established a regular order in the care
+of breeds and in the management of their haciendas, this branch would
+have made greater progress and served as a powerful stimulus and been of
+great benefit for our agriculture. It would have supplied fertilizer for
+the fields, furnished the markets with meat for consumption by employers
+and laborers, and moreover, would have supplied oxen for our ploughs."</p>
+
+<p>But it seems that the Cuban farmer, as are many in other countries, was
+too short-sighted to perceive the advantages of a well-organized system
+of production, and indulged in a laissez-faire policy which did not much
+advance his interests or those of the community.</p>
+
+<p>The product next in importance was tobacco. The sections of the island
+best adapted for the cultivation of tobacco are the sandy fields west of
+Havana in the district of la Vuelta Baja, a country bathed by the waters
+of the San Sebastian, Richondo and the Consolacion of the south, and the
+Cuyaguateje or Mantua; also those in the palm belt running between
+Sierra Madre and the southern coast which forms a rectangle of
+twenty-eight leagues in length and seven in breadth. Other tobacco belts
+of great value are las Virtudes, between San Cristobal and Guanajas in
+the same Vuelta Baja, and in the east that nearest to Holguin and Cuba.
+The tobacco harvest of the year 1720 was six hundred thousand arrobas.
+But, as the historians say, "a severe system of monopoly, odious<a name="page_224" id="page_224"></a>
+examinations and vexatious regulations and restrictions limited the
+profits, and the excessive cost of indispensable tools and the distance
+of the tobacco fields from the capital, discouraged the production of
+tobacco and visibly diminished the cultivation of this most important
+product of the island." The frequent disputes between the vegueros and
+the factoria, as the royal agency which owned the tobacco monopoly was
+called, abundantly prove the existence of conditions which were not
+likely to benefit the colony.</p>
+
+<p>The most valuable product of the island was sugar; and the cultivation
+of sugar cane was in such a backward state that it reflected upon the
+intelligence and enterprise of the native farmers. It revealed their
+ignorance, habitual indifference and lack of resources most lamentably.
+One of the oldest sugar planters of the island, Captain D. José Nicolas
+Perez Garvey, presented a series of memorials to the Sociedad Economica
+of Santiago de Cuba, which give a fair idea of the processes employed in
+the elaboration of this precious product. Sr. Garvey was a pioneer in
+demonstrating the imperfections of the existing methods and in advising
+the introduction of innovations. But his recommendation of modern
+inventions horrified the majority of the farmers and was violently
+objected to by the laborers.</p>
+
+<p>At first in order to press the juice out of the cane the same means were
+employed as for the grinding of wheat. They were cylinders set in motion
+by mules or oxen, a process in which half of the juice was wasted. At
+the beginning of the eighteenth century a more efficacious process was
+employed in imitation of that which was in use in Hayti. Not until the
+government itself took the initiative and encouraged the use of
+implements and machines that had proved of advantage in other
+sugar-raising<a name="page_225" id="page_225"></a> colonies, was a change gradually effected. The great
+planter and landowner of Havana, D. Nicolas Calvo de la Puerta, was the
+man through whose influence and insistence upon certain innovations the
+sugar production was slowly improved. Finally there was the problem of
+converting the guarapo or fermented cane juice into sugar, which was at
+first also very primitive and slowly yielded to more productive and
+profitable methods. Lastly the sugar production of the island developed
+another product, which was not only popular on the island, but became an
+article of exportation. From 1760 to 1767 Havana, which was the only
+port qualified to export sweetmeats, sent out annually thirteen thousand
+cases of sixteen arrobas each. In the period of five years from 1791 to
+1795 inclusive, the export was 7,572,600 arrobas. White sugar was then
+worth thirty-two reals per arroba, brown sugar twenty-eight. The French
+immigrants from Santo Domingo were an element that contributed to the
+improvement and promotion of the sugar industry.</p>
+
+<p>Though they furnished a far smaller proportion of the island's wealth,
+hides, cane, brandy, refined honey and wax also began to figure in the
+economic records of Cuba. Wax became a valuable product about the year
+1764 when Bishop Morell brought a few swarms of bees from his Florida
+exile. It was exported to the ports of the Gulf of Mexico where it was
+highly esteemed for its superior quality. The indigo plant which was
+introduced during the administration of Governor Las Casas proved in
+time a new source of Cuban wealth. Coffee plantations and cocoa groves
+had also multiplied in number, and were slowly furnishing new products
+for home consumption as for exportation.</p>
+
+<p>The following figures will give a limited but reliable survey of the
+growth of agriculture towards the end of<a name="page_226" id="page_226"></a> the century. Before the year
+1761 there were only between sixty and seventy sugar refineries on the
+island. By the end of the century there were four hundred and eighty.
+Before the year 1796 there were only eight or ten coffee plantations, so
+that the island barely produced enough coffee for its own consumption.
+By the end of the century there were three hundred and twenty-six
+"cafeyeres." At the same time the island had two thousand four hundred
+and thirty-nine vegas, or tobacco fields, and one thousand two hundred
+and twenty-three <i>colmenares</i> or apiaries. The revenues of the island
+from 1793, when they amounted to over one million pesos, rose steadily
+until at the beginning of the century they were about three million
+pesos annually. The sugar plantations yielded great profits, but they
+also required big investments of money and labor. One of the most
+prominent sugar planters on the island, D. José Ignacio Echegoyen,
+calculated that to produce ten thousand arrobas of sugar, an expenditure
+of twelve thousand seven hundred and sixty-seven pesos was needed,
+besides a capital of sixty thousand. He was one of the foremost citizens
+that protested against the tax of one tenth on sugar. Work on the sugar
+plantations was the hardest imaginable; even the negro slaves could not
+stand it longer than ten years. Then their working capacity was
+completely exhausted and they were given their liberty.</p>
+
+<p>Though the importation of negro slaves essentially helped the
+development of agriculture and the industries connected with it, there
+still existed restrictions and regulations which acted as a continual
+check upon the growth of the population, and had a paralyzing effect
+upon the intellectual development of the colonists. A favorable solution
+of these important questions offered great obstacles. Although the
+principles on which Spain founded<a name="page_227" id="page_227"></a> her restrictive system had been
+relaxed, there existed a great number of interests that had been created
+through this system and were unwilling to give up their privileges.
+Derogation of these restrictions would have meant loss and injury to
+some peninsular subjects that had grown rich and powerful through them.</p>
+
+<p>The historian Guiteras elucidates this point when he says that higher
+state reasons, supported by the right that, according to the notions of
+the epoch gave them the international law and the famous bull of
+Alexander VI. and was sustained by a great and expensive war against the
+nations that attempted to colonize America, had influenced the conduct
+of the government for nearly three centuries. The government only agreed
+by force of invincible circumstances to have the British and the French
+establish themselves in and continue in possession of a part of North
+America and a few islands of the Antilles; but it always insisted on
+maintaining the vast possessions that recognized its authority closed to
+the commerce of the allies according to the agreement. With the
+existence of a new and independent nation near these states, whose
+political organization, religious principles and national character were
+diametrically opposed to those of the Spanish government, these
+possessions and dominions of the crown seemed to be in danger. The
+imprudent demonstration in the state of Georgia had already shown the
+spirit of hostility which when the republic of the United States was
+barely established began to manifest itself against the neighboring
+possessions of a country which in her diplomatic relations had from the
+beginning of the Revolution always showed herself friendly. Such
+considerations very likely increased the aversion of the monarch as of
+his court towards Britain and the British race, in whose favor they had
+yielded more than to any other<a name="page_228" id="page_228"></a> power concessions demanded by the
+interests of their subjects in America.</p>
+
+<p>These were some of the great impediments which the champions of progress
+encountered in their valiant endeavors to free the economic development
+of Cuba and to help its much hampered industries. But one of the most
+serious obstacles was the restriction of Spanish and especially foreign
+immigration.</p>
+
+<p>It seems that these restrictions which dated from the accession of
+Philip II. had two definite objects; the first was to preserve the
+purity of the Spanish stock in the West Indies and other possessions of
+Spanish America; the second was to prevent foreigners from learning the
+extent and the resources of Spain's American colonies. Edward Gaylord
+Bourne says in "Spain in America":</p>
+
+<p>"In regard to Spaniards, the policy adopted was one of restriction and
+rigid supervision. No one, either native or foreigner, was allowed to go
+to the Indies without a permit from the crown (or in some cases from the
+Casa de Contracion) under penalty of forfeiting his property. Officers
+of the fleets or vessels were held strictly responsible for infractions
+of this rule. In the code the details of these restrictions are
+amplified in seventy-three laws. The reasons for such strict regulations
+covering emigration was to protect the Indies from being overrun with
+idle and turbulent adventurers anxious only 'to get rich quickly and not
+content with food and clothing, which every moderately industrious man
+was assured of.'"</p>
+
+<p>Another reason for this strict supervision is given in a law enacted in
+the year 1602, which directs the deportation of foreigners from the
+ports of the Indies, because "the ports are not safe in the things of
+our holy Catholic faith, and great care should be taken that no error
+creep<a name="page_229" id="page_229"></a> in among the Indians." An exception to the rule was made twenty
+years later, when expert mechanics were allowed, but traders in the
+cities remained excluded. So rigidly was this policy upheld that
+Humboldt during five years of travel in Spanish America met only one
+German resident.</p>
+
+<p>It is more difficult to understand the object of this policy than to
+realize its effect upon the country's growth and progress. M. Masse says
+in his book "L'Isle de Cuba et la Havane":</p>
+
+<p>"No Spaniard was allowed to sail for America without permission of the
+king, a permission granted only for well-defined business reasons, and
+for a period limited to two years. The agreement to settle there was
+even more difficult to obtain. A special permission was needed even to
+pass from the province first chosen to another. Priests and nuns were
+subject to the same rule."</p>
+
+<p>These restrictions were enforced even at the beginning of the nineteenth
+century. M. Masse continues to say that travelers were detained on board
+several days before they were allowed to land in Havana. They had to
+present a passport, a certificate of birth and baptism and a certificate
+of respectable life and good conduct, all signed by a consul of Spain.</p>
+
+<p>In individual cases these severe requirements may have been evaded&mdash;M.
+Masse mentions the fact that minor functionaries were ready to do the
+foreigners any favor&mdash;for a consideration. But upon the whole it must be
+admitted that their observance tended to keep up a certain moral
+standard in the colonies, which may not have been without some good
+influence in moulding the character of the people. While other powers of
+Europe allowed&mdash;and even encouraged&mdash;their colonies to<a name="page_230" id="page_230"></a> become
+dumping-grounds for human refuse, to populate them with their derelicts
+and those of other nations, until America was spoken of by the Germans
+as the big reformatory, Spain made an attempt at what some centuries
+later, in our scientific age, might have been called "race culture."<a name="page_231" id="page_231"></a></p>
+
+<h3><a name="CHAPTER_XIV" id="CHAPTER_XIV"></a>CHAPTER XIV</h3>
+
+<p>The conditions which we have described did not, however, prevent the
+colony, when prosperity came to her, from succumbing to the evils which
+invariably follow in the wake of new wealth. The historian Blanchet
+reports that there existed in Cuba towards the end of the century a
+strange mixture of immorality and piety. Religious enthusiasm rose to an
+unusual degree of fervor in Villa Clara in the year 1790. Two Capuchin
+missionaries had been there a month, and the church was crowded from
+early morning until late at night with men and women spellbound by their
+words. After the orisons there was a sermon, and at times, immediately
+after the sermon, the women left, the building was closed and darkened
+and the men remained inside. Prayers alternated with flagellations,
+until some individuals were exhausted with pain and the loss of blood.
+In the penitential procession, which took place on some evenings, the
+two missionaries and the priests of the town were followed by a
+multitude in which both sexes were represented. The members of the
+Ayuntamiento took part, bare-legged and bare-foot; some marched with the
+head and face concealed by a white cowl, the body uncovered to the
+waist, and from the waist down wrapped in sack-cloth. Some staggered
+under the weight of a heavy cross; others walked straight and attempted
+to inflict wounds upon themselves with the point of a sword. It seems,
+however, that this religious exaltation was at times carried too far,
+for flagellation assumed such proportions at burials that it had to be
+forbidden.<a name="page_232" id="page_232"></a></p>
+
+<p>In contrast to this religious revival was the wave of frivolity and
+immorality that seemed simultaneously to sweep over the island. The
+streets of the towns resounded with ribald speech and lascivious songs.
+The Bishop was scandalized to see Cuban women discard their veils when
+they went on the street. When they wore décolleté gowns, they did not
+even close the blinds, but openly showed themselves at the windows.
+There is little doubt that increase of overseas traffic in the ports of
+the island contributed to the growing laxity of morals. M. Masse
+considered the navy yard a special source of the corruption which wealth
+had brought. "For the money needed by that enterprise circulated in the
+city at the same time as the vices and the passions of its employees and
+sailors." With a remarkable psychological insight he gives a most
+plausible explanation how the change in the life of the island affected
+the women of Cuba, and especially of Havana.</p>
+
+<p>For these women had so far been brought up in strict conformity to the
+conventions of their female ancestors in Spain. They had been sent to a
+girls' school, always escorted, and had never until they were married
+even talked alone with a man. In the narrow confines of their home,
+either before or after marriage, their beauty was taken for granted and
+passed uncommented. For the Cuban women were always unusually handsome,
+having the same regular features and rich coloring as the Spanish, the
+same large black eyes and bluish black hair, perhaps even accentuated by
+their placid immobility of expression. A strange type, bound to attract
+attention anywhere, they struck the strangers landing in this tropical
+city like rare exotic flowers, and they suddenly found themselves the
+objects of an admiration which manifested itself in ways that were new
+and irresistible.<a name="page_233" id="page_233"></a> The Cuban husband was known not to be as loyal as his
+wife was expected to be; why should they not accept the homage offered
+them? To this host of admirers, ever changing, ever ready to shower them
+with favors, M. Masse, the keen psychologist, attributes the change in
+the attitude of the women and the gradual change in the tone of Cuban,
+especially Havanese, society. As more and more of these industrious
+foreigners, who might have been as good Spaniards as their own
+ancestors, settled on the island, the difference between them and the
+native Cubans manifested itself, not always to the latter's advantage.
+Women began to prefer them as husbands, and there was one more cause for
+antagonism between these scions of a common stock, whom different
+environment and conditions of existence had caused to drift apart, and
+become irreconcilably estranged.</p>
+
+<p>Of Havana that subtle student of life has this to say:</p>
+
+<p>"The need of forgetting the many privations of a prolonged sea voyage,
+with gold always in abundance for those who do not know how to manage
+their affairs and to whom each voyage seems a new adventure, the
+influence of a climate which makes for voluptuousness, all this combines
+to make Havana a new Cythera placed at the port of long journeys even as
+the ancient cradle of pleasure was at that end of the long voyage of
+that time."</p>
+
+<p>Thus Havana, like other capitals of the world, became gradually not only
+the cradle of Cuban culture, but also of that corruption of the simpler
+and purer instincts of human nature which seems to be inseparable from a
+certain degree of material comfort. The man of Havana had in centuries
+of repression and restriction lost the power of initiative; the end of
+the century which gave the colonists of North America their independence
+made<a name="page_234" id="page_234"></a> them free to think and act, and work for themselves, and above
+everything else, to govern themselves, found him still under a rigorous
+paternal supervision by representatives of a king whom he perhaps never
+saw. Centuries of such guardianship had robbed him of all incentive and
+made him drift along the line of least resistance.</p>
+
+<p>Physically and morally a product of the country which was politically
+and economically a victim of that type of government, the Cuban of that
+period had no interests save the quest of comfort and such pleasurable
+excitement as certain entertainments offered. The women divided their
+attention between their church and their home, indulged in deadly
+idleness and senseless extravagance, dressed luxuriantly, but with bad
+taste, and sought distraction in gossip or gambling. The men, who had
+caught faint echoes of Voltaire and ideas of the Revolution and were
+estranged from the church, divided their interests between their
+business and their friends of both sexes, and also sought distraction in
+gambling. There was gambling in the home circle, in the houses of
+friends, in the clubs, even in the convents. It was estimated that ten
+thousand games of cards were annually imported into Havana.</p>
+
+<p>Of places of amusement there was no lack at that time. M. Villiet
+d'Arignon, who visited Havana fifty years before and was bored by the
+provincial monotony of Cuban life, could not have complained of lack of
+entertainment, had he seen Havana at the threshold of the nineteenth
+century, though his fastidious Gallic taste would perhaps not have been
+satisfied with the quality of the attractions the Cuban metropolis
+offered her guests. The native Cuban, and the Spaniard who had settled
+there, did not wish for anything more fascinating and<a name="page_235" id="page_235"></a> more exciting
+than the national fiesta of the bull-fight, the corrida de toros. No
+true Cuban could resist the trumpet call summoning the population to
+that most sumptuous spectacle.</p>
+
+<p>"These costumes of the age of chivalry, those richly harnessed palfreys,
+those banderillos (small darts with a bandorol) or stilets trimmed with
+the colors, with which the neck of the poor beast is seen magnificently
+larded; this martial music, these cheers of the mousquetaires rendering
+homage unto the victors, this most eminent magistrate presiding at the
+feast, this vast arena, this wealth of beautiful women, who have the
+opportunity of hearing the most drastic, disgusting and obscene
+exclamations, into which the vulgarity of spectators and toreadors
+lapses in the heat of the combat. And yet I would not advise the Spanish
+government to attempt to abolish at least in Havana this sort of
+spectacle. A revolt might cause the authorities to repent of their
+temerity."</p>
+
+<p>Thus does the French author quoted before paint the picture of the
+greatest entertainment the Cuban of that time knew. But there were
+others, for instance the caroussel, the circus, the magicians, and there
+was always the cock-pit, offering almost as much excitement as the
+bull-ring. Here, too, the gambling craze of the people asserted itself.
+For not only the prosperous man about town spent his money in betting at
+the cock-fight, as he did at the bull-fight. Every little town had its
+cock-pit and every montero or guajiro sacrificed his wages to taste the
+excitement of that spectacle. Surely Cuba at that century's end had
+already learned what the hosts of strangers needed, when after a long
+and tedious voyage they landed on the island.</p>
+
+<p>One cannot help being reminded of the impressions<a name="page_236" id="page_236"></a> M. Villiet d'Arignon
+carried with him from his visit to Cuba as recorded in Jean Baptiste
+Nougaret's "Voyages interessans," when after a month's sojourn he sailed
+for Vera Cruz on the same vessel that took D. Juan Guemez y Horcasitas
+from the governorship of Cuba to the vice-regency of Mexico. Then
+already was gambling the favorite, and, as the island lacked such places
+of amusement as were established later, probably the only pastime. The
+Frenchman noticed also the total absence of any interest in literature,
+art and music, and the impossibility of finding a circle of people where
+he could enjoy an animated conversation on subjects outside of the
+commonplace and of current local gossip, made him reflect rather
+unfavorably upon West Indian society of that time.</p>
+
+<p>Such reflections must, however, be accepted with some reservation. For
+if the West Indian and especially the Cuban of the eighteenth century
+lacked interest in those things that make for culture, it must be
+remembered that the country in which he was living was still young, and
+that the people's paramount interest had of necessity to be for the
+things material. There has perhaps never been a colony of settlers in a
+foreign and primitive land that has not been so thoroughly absorbed in
+the task of founding a home and making a living, that all other things,
+for the time being, did not seem to matter. All pioneer settlers are
+bound for at least one or two generations to be so engrossed in rude
+manual labor or in plans to establish a trade, that they lose touch with
+the current intellectual life of their mother country and fall behind.
+When those most urgent duties are performed and allow them brief spells
+of leisure, in which they look about and try to pick up the threads they
+had dropped, they find that the mother country has in the<a name="page_237" id="page_237"></a> meantime
+advanced so far beyond them that they are unable to catch up with it.</p>
+
+<p>Spanish America was no exception to this rule. While the sons of Spain
+that had settled in the New World were engaged in cultivating the soil,
+making roads in the rough country and laying the foundations of commerce
+and trade in the cities founded by their fathers or grandfathers, Spain
+had entered upon the heritage of many centuries of European culture,
+which on her soil had a rich admixture of Arabian elements. The
+literature of Spain had given to the world an immortal epic, the story
+of Cervantes, "Don Quixote," the deep significance of which was not
+perhaps grasped at that time, but the human essence and the humor of
+which were not lost upon his generation. It had given to the world a
+drama, which was far in advance of anything the continent had so far
+produced, and was comparable only to the works of that unparalleled
+British genius, Shakespeare. The plays of Lopé de Vega were performed
+all over Europe and found their way even into the seraglio of
+Constantinople; and those of Calderon de la Barca have survived the
+changes of time and taste and are even today occasionally performed.</p>
+
+<p>Of all this the Spaniard of Cuba was hardly aware. Even if he had not
+been so engrossed in his rude task, he could barely have known anything
+about it, because the limited communication with the mother country and
+the restrictions upon travel kept Spanish America in a state of
+isolation, that made for stagnation rather than progress. When the
+period of material prosperity came to Cuba with the relaxation of
+Spain's commercial restrictions, the Cuban awoke to the realization that
+he had lost contact with Spain's intellectual life, and had been left at
+least two centuries behind. Out of this knowledge,<a name="page_238" id="page_238"></a> depressing and
+discouraging as it must have been, grew the attempt to centralize and
+organize a gradual revival of literary and scientific activity on the
+island.</p>
+
+<p>Whether the Sociedad Economica Patriotica which was later called Junta
+di Fomento is identical with the Sociedad de Amigos del Real Pais, is
+not made clear by the historians. The Spaniards' fondness for long and
+sonorous names and titles may have added the second name. However, both
+this organization and a society founded about the same time in Santiago
+for the purpose of organizing the literary activities of that place, and
+similar societies in Sancti Spiritus and Puerto Principe were an
+expression of the earnest desire of at least a part of the people to
+turn their attention towards other things than those material. To
+Governor La Torre, Havana owed the foundation of its first theatre. That
+this establishment was encouraged and effectively patronized by Governor
+Las Casas and other men closely identified with the cultural work of the
+Sociedad, goes without saying.</p>
+
+<p>But it is perfectly natural in view of the long period of indifference
+towards anything like the drama that the classical Spanish dramas, the
+masterpieces of Lopé de Vega and of the inimitable Calderon, did not
+immediately find their way upon the stage of Havana. The audiences had
+gradually to grow up to their standard and the directors of the
+enterprise wisely refrained from forcing them upon a people that had so
+long been ignorant of the strides Spain had made in the interval since
+their ancestors settled in the New World. Hence the repertoire of the
+theatre of Havana towards the end of the century catered to the
+Spaniard's love of music and favored the best comic operas then produced
+in the theatres of Europe. The ballet was very popular, as it<a name="page_239" id="page_239"></a> was
+everywhere at that period. But that subtle observer, M. Masse, was not
+favorably impressed with it.</p>
+
+<p>"The ballet is of that kind which carries far the art of varying the
+most voluptuous attitudes and the expression of the least equivocal
+sentiment."</p>
+
+<p>He suspected the fandango, supposed to be typically Havanese, of being
+originally a negro dance, saying "The difference is in the embroidery,
+which civilization, or if one wishes, corruption, has introduced."</p>
+
+<p>Very popular were at the time little comedies of domestic life, called
+Saynetes, and offering pretty truthful pictures of social customs and
+habits on the island, and especially glimpses of the society of Havana.
+A Cuban writer of the period, D. José Rodriguez, is credited with the
+authorship of a comedy, "El Principe Jardinero," The Prince Gardener,
+which by its complicated plot held the attention of the audience and was
+performed with great success in 1791. A comedian of considerable ability
+and fame, then very popular with the Havanese, D. Francisco Covarrubas,
+was the author of farces, which were very warmly received and drew large
+audiences. The theatre of New Orleans, much older and better equipped
+than that of Havana, sometimes sent its company of actors for a short
+season of more serious drama. Among other plays which this company
+produced was the tragedy "Les Templiers." Although undoubtedly still in
+its beginnings, the theatre of Havana was upon the whole doing good
+work. Anglo-Americans who visited Havana about the century's end are
+said to have admitted that it was superior in building, stage setting,
+acting and music to the American theatres of that period.</p>
+
+<p>The regular company which played in Havana at the time of Governor Las
+Casas was under the direction<a name="page_240" id="page_240"></a> of Sr. Luis Saez. The performances were
+given twice a week, on Sundays and Thursdays, and mostly offered a
+program in which drama and music alternated. If a play of several acts
+was given, these musical numbers came between the acts. The program
+would usually begin with a dramatic composition; in the first
+intermission a short play was acted, in the second a tonadilla (musical
+composition) was played or a few Seguidillas (merry Spanish song or
+dance tunes). At times the pieces between the acts were suppressed and
+the performance ended with a tonadilla or a farce. In the bill of
+January twenty-ninth, 1792, it is announced that "this performance will
+conclude with a new duly censored piece entitled 'Elijir con discrecion
+i amante privilegiado' (The privileged lover chosen with discretion), by
+an inhabitant of this city, D. Miguel Gonzales."</p>
+
+<p class="figcenter">
+<a href="images/pg240x_lg.jpg">
+<img src="images/pg240x_lg.jpg" width="567" height="402" alt="A VOLANTE: AN OLD TIME PLEASURE CARRIAGE" title="A VOLANTE: AN OLD TIME PLEASURE CARRIAGE" /></a>
+
+<br /><span class="caption">A VOLANTE: AN OLD TIME PLEASURE CARRIAGE</span>
+</p>
+
+<p>They did not know then, in Havana, the lyric theatre,<a name="page_241" id="page_241"></a> although the
+Havanese were fond of music and the members of Havana society in their
+gatherings usually provided some musical entertainment by having an
+instrumentalist perform on the piano, guitar or harp. However, there
+seems to have existed an Academy of Music, where concerts were given.
+There is an article in an issue of the Havana paper of that time, the
+<i>Papel Periodico</i>, which refers to a concert given by Senora Maria
+Josefa Castellanos, whose performance on the harpsichord called forth
+not only a tribute in verse, but a glowing description of her "rare
+skill and mastery of which she has given proof in the Academy, with the
+sweetest harmonies of the best composers." This eulogy is contained in
+the Sunday issue of January twenty-second, 1792. Besides Senora
+Castellanos and other skilled amateurs, there was a Senora Doña Maria
+O'Farrell, who distinguished herself by her musical accomplishments, for
+another issue of the <i>Papel Periodico</i> contains a sapphic ode dedicated
+to her by an admirer, who signed the pseudonym Filesimolpos.</p>
+
+<p>It appears that balls as an amusement were not approved of, which seems
+a contradiction in a society which was by no means puritanical. Although
+social evenings in private houses frequently ended in a dance, there
+were few indications that large affairs consisting mainly of dancing
+took place in the public assembly halls. The <i>Papel Periodico</i> of
+December sixteenth, 1792, contains an announcement which for its brevity
+gives room to manifold interpretation. "The gentlemen are informed that
+there will be a dance today" is so laconic, that one is almost induced
+to believe that these dances were given at places known only to the
+initiated. In this particular instance it was subsequently learned that
+this dance of the sixteenth of December, 1792, took<a name="page_242" id="page_242"></a> place at the house
+of a man who was considered "a dangerous reformer of the customs of
+Havana." Did this dangerous reformer perhaps admit to his dance the
+ravishingly beautiful and cultured women that had come from Santo
+Domingo, where they freely moved in society, but were barred in Havana,
+because they had a white father or grandfather and a colored mother or
+grandmother? Foreign visitors to Havana at that period were so warm in
+their praise of these refined unfortunate victims of miscegenation, that
+they may have converted some of the gilded youth of the smart set or the
+Bohemia of Havana to their point of view.</p>
+
+<p>The fine arts were not at first considered in the planning and building
+of the city of Havana. Though much money was spent upon public
+buildings, no artistic effect whatever was aimed at and the impression
+of a crude utilitarianism prevailed. The churches, too, did not possess
+the noble dignity of the great cathedrals of France, Italy and Spain.
+The most ambitious ecclesiastical edifice in Havana, the church of San
+Francisco, was architecturally mediocre in style and barbarously
+overornamented.</p>
+
+<p>In all the churches the sculpture and the wood-carving on the altars
+were over-elaborate and bewildered by their decorative details. Besides
+all these buildings were too low and narrow, and by their endless
+decoration diminished the sense of space and produced one of oppression.
+On special saints' days the decorations were pathetically crude and
+primitive. Angels of paper tissue, artificial flowers, birds, lambs,
+etc., were displayed with a profusion which was distracting, instead of
+adding to the fervor of religious sentiment.</p>
+
+<p class="figcenter">
+<a href="images/pg243x_lg.jpg">
+<img src="images/pg243x_lg.jpg" width="578" height="303" alt="MONTSERRAT GATE IN CITY WALL OF HAVANA, BUILT 1780" title="MONTSERRAT GATE IN CITY WALL OF HAVANA, BUILT 1780" /></a>
+
+<br /><span class="caption">MONTSERRAT GATE IN CITY WALL OF HAVANA, BUILT 1780</span>
+</p>
+
+<p>The Church de la Concepcion, built about 1795, was the only church
+edifice which by a certain classic simplicity<a name="page_243" id="page_243"></a> approached the solemn
+beauty of a Greek temple. The Carmelite Church was interesting for the
+tomb of Bishop Compostele with the epitaph, which expressed his wish to
+be laid to rest "between the lilies of Carmel and the choirs of the
+virgins." None of these churches had pews or chairs, the seating
+capacity being limited to two rows of stalls or benches along the nave.
+This made for an admirable democracy in a society which otherwise
+rigorously segregated the castes for it happened not infrequently that
+men of rank and ladies of position found themselves beside a poor negro.
+Occasionally, however, one could see a lady going to mass with her
+family of children, accompanied by a negro, carrying a rug and a small
+chair; and when such a handsome senora seated herself in the center of
+the rug with her offspring grouped about her, the effect was so
+picturesque as to call for the brush of a Velasquez. But this privilege
+was limited to white ladies of rank only. The music in the churches, on
+the other hand, was exclusively furnished by the musically gifted
+negroes.<a name="page_244" id="page_244"></a> Though it sometimes occurred in Cuba, as in other colonies of
+America, that owing to the lack of printed church music sacred words
+were adopted to secular tunes, and frequently to those of popular comic
+opera, the master works of the old church composers were sometimes heard
+at special occasions.</p>
+
+<p>Among the streets of Havana the most metropolitan was the Calle de la
+Muralla, so called from the muralla or rampart built by Governor Ricla.
+This was the Rue de la Paix for the women of Havana. It was lined with
+"tiendas de ropas," shops displaying all the latest importations of
+dress goods and wearing apparel. At that time, as at the present, the
+fashionable ladies of the Cuban capital insisted upon keeping pace with
+the styles of dress and adornment which prevailed in the great cities of
+Europe, as their pecuniary means, their taste and their natural gifts
+abundantly enabled them to do. Every morning the street was crowded with
+the carriages of ladies engaged in shopping. For no white woman, unless
+she belonged to what in the southern states of North America would have
+been called "poor white trash" was allowed to go on foot during the day,
+unless she was going to mass. Up to the twenties of the new century and
+beyond, this convention was rigidly observed. Those who had to go on
+foot were not seen on the Calle de la Muralla until the evening hours.
+Then it was crowded with as gay and handsome a multitude of women,
+white, black and of all the intervening shades, as ever trod the
+pavement of a southern capital.</p>
+
+<p>At such times the relation between the white and the colored women of
+the city could be observed in little incidents that were an unending
+source of amusement to the student of life. The lithe and willowy form
+of the young girl of Spain, which Montaigne has called "un<a name="page_245" id="page_245"></a> corps bien
+espagnole," was frequently to be found among the Cuban women. The almost
+regal dignity and grace of carriage, for which the Spanish women were
+noted, had also been transmitted to their descendants in the colonies.
+Now it was nothing unusual for any one to follow with his eyes the
+perfect form and the graceful movements of some woman in the crowd of
+such nights, and on coming up and catching a glimpse of the face to find
+a negress. For the imitative faculty of the colored race is
+extraordinary, and the negro maids of the white ladies of Havana copied
+faithfully every detail of the gait and gestures of their mistresses.
+The dress worn by the Havanese on the streets was the national basquina,
+a black skirt, with a waist according to the prevailing fashion, and
+under that basquina was often worn a white petticoat trimmed with lace,
+which most unconcernedly was being dragged through the dust. But the
+most important article of a Cuban woman's dress was the mantilla, also
+often trimmed with the rarest lace, that indispensable covering for head
+and shoulders, which made an effective frame for a face in which shone a
+pair of luminous black eyes. That mantilla, like the fan, was a medium
+of expression and spoke an eloquent language to those that understood.</p>
+
+<p>The cafés, which were sadly missed by M. Villiet d'Arignon in the middle
+of the century, had begun to appear in the streets of Havana, but never
+became as popular as in European capitals. The Cuban did not
+particularly care for coffee as a beverage; he preferred chocolate,
+which he took at home. He did not care to go out, unless it was for a
+game of cards, a feria di gallo, or cock-fight, or the bull-ring. He was
+essentially a domestic creature, though Havana had a smart set the
+masculine members of which furnished ample<a name="page_246" id="page_246"></a> material for gossip of a
+more or less scandalous nature. He spent his time at home smoking; in
+fact, everybody in Cuba smoked, men, women, children, priests, masters
+and slaves. It was not an infrequent sight to see a negro maid about her
+work with a cigar in her mouth or behind her ear. Small favors and
+services were paid in cigars.</p>
+
+<p>Outside of the cultural endeavors of the Sociedad little was done in
+Cuba for the cause of education. As the Countess de Merlin reported in
+her book on Havana, there was only one school in that city in the year
+1791, that taught grammar and orthography, the instructor being the
+mulatto Melendez. The children of the monteros and guajiros in the
+country grew up in almost complete illiteracy. As was mentioned in a
+previous chapter Governor Las Casas devoted from eleven to twelve
+thousand pesos of his private fortune for primary instruction, but it is
+not clear whether this was to be extended throughout the island or
+limited to Havana. At any rate there were at the beginning of his
+administration thirty-nine schools in the city, seven of which were for
+males only, the others for children of both sexes. In many of these
+schools, which were in charge of mulattos or free negroes, only reading
+was taught; in the better schools arithmetic as far as fractions; thus
+prepared young men were expected to enter upon a university course. The
+smallest fee for primary instruction was four reales a month; for higher
+instruction two pesos. To two hundred white and colored children the P.
+P. de Belen (Fathers of Bethlehem) gave lessons free of cost; it is
+reported that their class surpassed in writing. Towards the end of the
+administration of Las Casas there were seventy schools, with about two
+thousand pupils. But they seemed to have a hard fight for their
+existence<a name="page_247" id="page_247"></a> and the number is reported to have been later reduced to
+seven hundred and thirty-one pupils.</p>
+
+<p>The low intellectual standard of the average Havanese woman of that
+period is easily understood by a glance at these data. The education of
+girls even in the cities was considered of such minor importance, that
+as late as 1793 it was not deemed necessary for them to learn to read.
+The daughters of the Havanese patricians were taught accomplishments
+regarded as inseparable from an ideal of refined womanhood, such as
+embroidery and a little music. But as work of any kind was not on the
+program of their lives, serious occupation, even with household duties,
+was unheard of. The matronly senoras, who were frequently held up as
+models of womanhood and especially of motherhood, were woefully ignorant
+of the simplest cooking and other branches of what is today called home
+economics. The orphans and poor children admitted to the Casa de
+Beneficiencia were better prepared for life. They were all taught the
+alphabet, the girls sewing, embroidery and the making of artificial
+flowers, and the boys learned the cigar-makers' trade.</p>
+
+<p>From these premises it can be easily inferred that the standard of
+literary activity in Cuba could not have been very high. That great
+democratic medium for the diffusion of information, the printing press,
+was an institution which in Cuba was also limited by royal decrees.
+According to Sr. La Torre the first printing press was established in
+Havana in 1747; there were printed the decrees and reports and other
+official documents of the government, and sometimes matters of general
+interest were published on loose sheets. Some authorities claim for
+Santiago de Cuba the honor of priority, stating that it had a printing
+press before the year 1700. But Sr.<a name="page_248" id="page_248"></a> Hernandez in his Ensayos literarios
+declares that he could find no foundation for this statement. Nor do
+Valdes, Arrate or Pezuela contain any definite data on that subject.</p>
+
+<p>It is safe to presume that the work of the press established in 1747
+produced some good results in spreading information otherwise withheld
+from the public; for in the year 1776 a royal decree forbade the
+establishment of any other printing press besides that devoted to
+governmental work. It is possible, too, that some speculator had
+attempted to found another printing establishment. For Sr. Saco tells us
+that in the year 1766 there was in Havana a printing concern under the
+name of Computo Ecclesiastico and in 1773 another under the direction of
+D. Blas de los Olivos. But there are no data to show that these concerns
+existed at the time of the royal decree of 1776.</p>
+
+<p>The establishment of a periodical has usually been deferred to the
+administration of Governor Las Casas. But there is reason to believe
+that the note contained in the fourth book of the history of Cuba by
+Valles rests upon fact; it speaks of a "Gaceta de la Habana" as being in
+existence in the year 1782. An issue of that <i>Gaceta</i>, dated May 16,
+1783, was said to contain a report of the festivals with which the Duke
+of Lancaster was honored in Havana. In that issue the publisher said:</p>
+
+<p>"Since in the preceding <i>Gaceta</i> the arrival in this town of the Infante
+William Duke of Lancaster, third son of King George of England, could
+hardly be indicated, we suppressed for one week the circulation of other
+news, in order to offer to our readers the details of his entry into
+Havana."</p>
+
+<p>Besides those printing concerns no other is known to have existed in
+Havana until the opening of that of<a name="page_249" id="page_249"></a> Bolona, in the year 1792, which is
+referred to in an advertisement in the <i>Papel Periodico</i> of Sunday,
+August 26th of that year. This advertisement read:</p>
+
+<p>"Another negress about 20 or 21 years old, good cook and laundress,
+healthy and without defects, for three hundred pesos. He who wants her
+will apply to the printing office of D. Estaven Joseph Bolona, where her
+master will be found."</p>
+
+<p>That this press was not identical with the government printing
+establishment is inferred from the fact that in this number of the
+<i>Papel Periodico</i> as well as other issues are contained many
+advertisements referring to the printing office, where information will
+be given.</p>
+
+<p>The <i>Gaceta de la Habana</i> was a weekly, which probably contained the
+government announcements and news of the most important events of the
+time. The space of the <i>Gaceta</i> was too limited to admit of the
+publication of communications from readers on matters concerning the
+community, hence such effusions, as also the lyrics coming from the pens
+of poetically inclined dilettanti, were published on separate sheets to
+be circulated among their admiring friends. But at the time of Governor
+Las Casas the desire of improving this publication of the government
+made itself felt; the space was enlarged and the old time <i>Gaceta</i> seems
+to have been merged in the <i>Papel Periodico</i>, which began to circulate
+from the twenty-fourth of October, 1790. It appeared once a week and was
+edited by D. Diego de la Barrera.</p>
+
+<p>This publication was the only medium through which those desirous of
+knowing something of the current life of the island at the end of the
+eighteenth and the beginning of the twentieth century could obtain a
+fair picture of the customs and occupations of that time, described by
+the individual contributors with the warmth<a name="page_250" id="page_250"></a> and the florid exuberance
+then in style and occasionally, when coming from a more critical mind,
+with a touch of satire. The following extract from the periodical will
+give an idea of its contents and character. In an issue of the year
+1792, the writer speaks of the lamentable ignorance reigning in the
+country districts of Cuba and hampering the development of agriculture.
+He attacks the current opinion that the climate is the source of the
+Cuban's indifference and indolence, saying that this assumption would
+give ground to deny even the possibility of progress. He says:</p>
+
+<p>"Many opine that the laziness of the inhabitants of this country is the
+effect of the climate. They take it for granted that the lassitude of
+the muscles and tendons is due to the heat and makes the bodies lose
+their tenseness and hence their capacity for exertion. They also give as
+cause the excessive evaporation of elements needed for the growth and
+the strength of the organism, asserting that this loss owing to weak
+constitution of the stomach cannot be repaired by fatty and abundant
+food.</p>
+
+<p>"These reasons founded upon the organic mechanism of our bodies seem
+quite conclusive. There is no doubt that the intense heat which we
+suffer during the greatest part of the year in the countries near the
+equator promotes evaporation too much. But I dare to assert that the
+excess is being insensibly recovered by the bodies through the particles
+produced by perspiration. This does not seem chimerical, when we reflect
+that by our constant respiration the air in which we are living enters
+and is being constantly renewed in our liquids, and that this air is
+impregnated with innumerable corpuscles extracted from the solids. The
+same is true of a fountain, the surplus flows off to fertilize the near
+forest, while at the same time is restored to its bosom through
+different<a name="page_251" id="page_251"></a> means an equal quantity, which incessant infiltration also
+supplies from other water sources."</p>
+
+<p>After comparing the physical and intellectual aptitude of the children
+of the tropics with those of Greenland and the progress made by the
+French of Hayti in science, agriculture and art, which is in diametrical
+contrast to that of the Spanish West Indians, he continues:</p>
+
+<p>"Therefore, as indolence or laziness do not proceed from external
+causes, we must admit that they proceed from ourselves. I find no other
+source. It is a voluntary habit, or speaking more plainly, a vice
+propagated like the pestilence and causing incalculable harm to the
+social structure. But as I propose to combat this enemy, I shall show
+the most visible injuries it produces in those who yield to its
+insidious charm.</p>
+
+<p>"Every living body without movement goes into corruption. This is a well
+established principle and in the hot countries which are usually humid,
+the effect is quickly seen. We have a sad experience in this city, where
+the inhabitants are frequently afflicted with dropsy, internal and
+external tumors, hypochondria, nervous diseases and many other ailments,
+the origin of which is inaction or want of movement and circulation.
+While in this respect indolence conspires against our very existence,
+the injury is no less when it manifests itself in the vices to which
+professional idlers are subject. Incessant gambling, excessive
+sensuality, late hours, unreasonable food and drink and other
+correlative features are the means by which health is ruined, life is
+shortened; and he who succeeds in prolonging it, does so at the cost of
+a variety of aches and pains.</p>
+
+<p>"Prisons and other dismal places are the final abode of idleness. Those
+liable to get there for theft, debt and other offences curse their
+unhappy lot; but they will not<a name="page_252" id="page_252"></a> admit that their laziness is the chief
+source of their misfortunes. Celibacy, depopulation, the languishing of
+commerce, the backwardness of science, art, agriculture, etc., are all
+the results of idleness.</p>
+
+<p>"When I see on this island a city of so large a population, the greater
+part of which is living in ill-concealed poverty, while her fertile and
+beautiful fields around are uncultivated and deserted, painful
+reflections suggest themselves to me. If this oldest and most wholesome
+occupation, agriculture, is an inexhaustible source of wealth even in
+countries less favored for it, how much wealth might not be produced in
+this country. It is evident that the difference in its favor would be as
+great as the superiority of our fields which in fertility are unrivalled
+by those of any other country.</p>
+
+<p>"I therefore conclude by saying that even those living in opulence have
+no excuse for giving themselves up to shameful inaction. When their
+riches exempt them from ordinary occupations, they should devote
+themselves to the cultivation of the mind."</p>
+
+<p>This somewhat predicatory article, published in Nos. 11, 13 and 14 of
+the <i>Papel Periodico</i>, proves how seriously the men at the head of the
+great intellectual revival of the century's end took their task of
+rousing the people from their torpor. Nevertheless there is little
+documentary proof that much was produced by the pens of that generation.</p>
+
+<p>The question of promoting agriculture seems to have preoccupied the
+minds of the readers at that time. In another article the author says:</p>
+
+<p>"I must state that no country can progress unless it produces in
+abundance fruits for exportation; if it confines itself to the amount
+used for home consumption, it will never come out of her poverty. The
+beautiful climate,<a name="page_253" id="page_253"></a> the fertile soil, and the location of our island
+offer much richer resources than any other country; but unfortunately we
+are hampered by various conditions, mainly in the attitude of the people
+themselves. There are those whose notions do not permit them to take a
+great part in the community of laborers; these, again, living in
+poverty, are afraid to change their work, thinking that what they are
+doing is the best for them. What is needed is to remove some of the
+prejudices that prevent people from seeing the advantages that would
+result from their devoting themselves to the cultivation of fruits for
+exportation.</p>
+
+<p>"There is no doubt that there are in this island physical and moral
+causes that hamper the progress of agriculture. The physical are: the
+distribution of the grounds in large portions to individual owners, the
+condition of the roads, almost impassable during the rainy season; the
+lack of bridges, the lack of labor, and lastly the lack of concerted
+action among the inhabitants. The moral reasons are: insufficient
+instruction and education of the laboring people, the contempt for
+farming peculiar to the young, and especially the unmarried landholder;
+the great number of idlers and the small population."</p>
+
+<p>The measures adopted by the supreme government in 1784 had checked the
+progress of Cuba and even diminished the population. In that epoch the
+allowances from Mexico decreased and the authorities of the island found
+themselves without means to perform the every day business of the
+island. The evils produced by these new decrees were set forth in a
+petition to the king and were amply discussed in the paper.</p>
+
+<p>The excitement of the authorities and the population is reflected in
+various articles of the <i>Papel Periodico</i><a name="page_254" id="page_254"></a> which have not only the merit
+of showing the state of the public mind, but also of proving that the
+authorities in Cuba itself favored reforms. They certainly would not
+have been published had they not been approved of by Governor Las Casas.
+There are interesting communications in the paper from foreigners then
+visiting in Havana. One of them signing himself "El Europeo imparcial"
+gives a very appreciative account of the character and customs of the
+Havanese. He praises their religion, their piety, their zeal for divine
+worship and devotion to the saints; their courteous and affable conduct,
+the refinement of their leaders, the magnificence of their festivities
+and assemblies, both sacred and secular, their streets and promenades,
+where multitudes of brilliant carriages are to be seen, and other
+features of public life which in all countries are the first to strike
+the foreign visitor.</p>
+
+<p>A most ambitious and for the time extraordinary work appeared in the
+year 1787. It was a book by D. Antonio Parra on the fish and crustacea
+of the island, illustrated by the Cuban Baez. It was the first
+scientific work written and published in Cuba, and seems for some time
+to have remained the only one. For until the end of the century the
+literature produced had a distinctly dilettante character. The fable,
+epigram and satire occasionally relieved the flood of lyric verse. Most
+of this appeared anonymously; or the writers used pseudonyms or signed
+their names in anagrams. P. José Rodriguez, the author of "The Prince
+Gardener," the comedy popular in Havana at that time, wrote under the
+pen-name "Capucho" a number of gay decimas, poems in the Spanish form of
+ten lines of eight syllables each. But none of these works were of a
+quality to call for serious criticism<a name="page_255" id="page_255"></a> and had no merits that insured
+for them a permanent place in what was ultimately to be known as Cuban
+literature; for this literature dates only from the nineteenth century.<a name="page_256" id="page_256"></a></p>
+
+<h3><a name="CHAPTER_XV" id="CHAPTER_XV"></a>CHAPTER XV</h3>
+
+<p>"Cuba; America: America; Cuba. The two names are inseparable." So we
+said at the beginning of our history of the "Pearl of the Antilles." So
+we must say at the beginning of a new era, the third, in these annals.
+At the beginning the connection was between Cuba and America as a
+whole&mdash;the continents of the western hemisphere. In this second case it
+is between Cuba and America in the more restricted meaning of the United
+States. There was a significant and to some degree influential forecast
+of this relationship in the preceding era, in which Cuba was in contact
+with England and with the rising British power in the New World. For
+what was afterward to become the United States was then a group of
+British colonies, and it was inevitable that relations begun in Colonial
+times should be inherited by the independent nation which succeeded.
+Moreover, Cuba was in those days brought to the attention of the future
+United States in a peculiarly forcible manner by the very important
+participation of Colonial troops, particularly from Connecticut and New
+Jersey, in that British conquest of Havana which we have recorded in
+preceding chapters.</p>
+
+<p>It was nearly half a century, however, after the establishment of
+American independence that any practical interest began to be taken in
+Cuba by the great continental republic at the north. The purchase of the
+Louisiana territory and the opening to unrestrained American commerce of
+that Mississippi River which a former Governor of Cuba had discovered
+and partially<a name="page_257" id="page_257"></a> explored, had greatly increased American interest in the
+Gulf of Mexico and had created some commercial interest in the great
+Island which forms its southern boundary. Later the acquisition of
+Florida called attention acutely to the passing away of Spain's American
+Empire and to the concern which the United States might well feel in the
+disposition of its remaining fragments. Already, in the case of Florida
+in 1811 the United States Government had enunciated the principle that
+it could not permit the transfer of an adjacent colony from one European
+power to another. It will be pertinent to this narrative to recall that
+action in fuller detail. The time was in the later Napoleonic wars, when
+Spain was almost at the mercy of any despoiler. There was imminent
+danger that Spain would transfer Florida to some other power, as she had
+done a few years before with the Louisiana territory, or that it would
+be taken from her. In these circumstances the Congress of the United
+States on January 15, 1811, adopted a joint resolution in these terms:</p>
+
+<p>"Taking into view the peculiar situation of Spain, and of her American
+provinces; and considering the influence which the destiny of the
+territory adjoining the southern border of the United States may have
+upon their security, tranquility and commerce,</p>
+
+<p>"Be it Resolved: That the United States, under the peculiar
+circumstances of the existing crisis, cannot without serious inquietude
+see any part of the said territory pass into the hands of any foreign
+power; and that a due regard for their own safety compels them to
+provide under certain contingencies for the temporary occupation of the
+said territory; they at the same time declaring that the said territory
+shall, in their hands, remain subject to future negotiations."<a name="page_258" id="page_258"></a></p>
+
+<p>Then the same Congress enacted a law authorizing the President to take
+possession of Florida or of any part of it, in case of any attempt of a
+European power other than Spain herself to occupy it, and to use to that
+end the Army and Navy of the United States. Nothing of the sort needed
+to be done at that time, though a little later, during the War of 1812,
+Florida was invaded by a British force and immediately thereafter was
+occupied by an American army.</p>
+
+<p>The enunciation of this principle by Congress marked an epoch in
+American foreign policy, leading directly to the Monroe Doctrine a dozen
+years later. It also marked an epoch in the history of Cuba, especially
+so far as the relations of the Island with the United States were
+concerned. For while this declaration by Congress applied only to
+Florida, because Florida abutted directly upon the United States, the
+logic of events presently compelled it to be extended to Cuba. This was
+done a little more than a dozen years after the declaration concerning
+Florida. By this time Florida had been annexed to the United States and
+Mexico, Central America and South America had revolted against Spain and
+declared their independence. Only the "Ever Faithful Isle," as Cuba then
+began to be called, and Porto Rico remained to Spain of an empire which
+once nominally comprised the entire western hemisphere. Cuba was not
+like Florida geographically, abutting upon the United States. But it lay
+almost within sight from the coast of Florida and commanded the southern
+side of the Florida channel through which all American commerce from the
+Mississippi River and the Gulf of Mexico to the Atlantic Ocean must
+pass, and thus it was invested with peculiar importance to the United
+States. Nor was it lacking in importance to Great Britain and France.
+Those powers<a name="page_259" id="page_259"></a> possessed extensive and valuable holdings in the West
+Indies and they were rivals for the reversionary title to these
+remaining Spanish Islands, Cuba and Porto Rico. Each of them realized
+that whichever of them should secure those two great Islands would, by
+virtue of that circumstance, become the dominant power in the West
+Indies. Moreover they both felt sure that Spain would soon have to
+relinquish her hold upon them. This latter belief prevailed widely also
+in the United States, and was by no means absent from Cuba itself.
+Indeed a party was organized in Cuba in the spring of 1822, for the
+express purpose of seeking annexation to the United States, and in
+September of that year did make direct overtures to that end to the
+American Government. The President of the United States, James Monroe,
+received these overtures in a cautious and non-committal manner. He sent
+a confidential agent to Cuba to examine into conditions there and to
+report upon them, but gave no direct encouragement to the annexation
+movement.</p>
+
+<p>At about this time the direction of the foreign affairs of Great Britain
+came into the hands of George Canning, a statesman of exceptional vision
+and aggressive patriotism, and one specially concerned with the welfare
+of British interests in the New World. He was well aware of the
+condition and trend of affairs in Cuba, and felt that the transfer of
+that Island from Spain to any other power would be unfortunate for
+British interests in the West Indies. When he learned of the Cuban
+overtures for annexation to the United States, therefore, in December,
+1822, he brought the matter to the careful consideration of the British
+Cabinet and suggested to his colleagues that such annexation of Cuba by
+the United States would be a very serious detriment<a name="page_260" id="page_260"></a> to the British
+Empire in the western hemisphere. He made no diplomatic representation
+upon the subject either to Spain or to the United States, but he did
+send a considerable naval force to the coastal waters of Cuba and Porto
+Rico, apparently with the purpose of preventing, if necessary, any such
+change in the sovereignty and occupancy of those Islands.</p>
+
+<div class="figleft">
+<a href="images/pg260x_lg.jpg">
+<img src="images/pg260x_lg.jpg" width="245" height="301" alt="GEORGE CANNING" title="GEORGE CANNING" /></a>
+
+<br /><span class="caption">GEORGE CANNING</span>
+</div>
+
+<p>In this Canning was probably over-anxious, since there is no indication
+whatever that the American Government contemplated any such step or that
+it would have attempted to take possession of Cuba if the Island had
+been left unguarded. On the other hand, this action of Canning's very
+naturally aroused American concern and provoked the suspicion that
+England was planning the seizure or purchase of the Island. The result
+was the formal application to Cuba of the principle which had already
+been enunciated by Congress in respect to Florida. It was the
+legislative branch of the United States Government that took that action
+toward Florida. It was the executive and diplomatic branch which took
+the action toward Cuba. This was done in a memorable state document
+which formed a land-mark in the history of American foreign policy.</p>
+
+<p>The American Secretary of State, John Quincy Adams, on April 28, 1823,
+wrote an official letter to Hugh Nelson, who at the beginning of that
+year had become American minister to Spain. This letter contained
+official instructions to Nelson concerning his conduct in the war which
+was impending between Spain<a name="page_261" id="page_261"></a> and France, because of the latter power's
+intervention in Spanish affairs in behalf of King Ferdinand VII. It then
+turned to the subject of Cuba and continued as follows:</p>
+
+<div class="figright">
+<a href="images/pg261x_lg.jpg">
+<img src="images/pg261x_lg.jpg" width="234" height="277" alt="JOHN QUINCY ADAMS" title="JOHN QUINCY ADAMS" /></a>
+
+<br /><span class="caption">JOHN QUINCY ADAMS</span>
+</div>
+
+<p>"Whatever may be the issue of this war, it may be taken for granted that
+the dominion of Spain upon the American continents, north and south, is
+irrevocably gone. But the islands of Cuba and Porto Rico still remain
+nominally, and so far really, dependent upon her, that she yet possesses
+the power of transferring her own dominion over them, together with the
+possession of them, to others. These islands are natural appendages to
+the North American continent, and one of them almost in sight of our
+shores, from a multitude of considerations has become an object of
+transcendent importance to the commercial and political interests of our
+Union. Its commanding position with reference to the Gulf of Mexico and
+the West Indian seas, its situation midway between our southern coast
+and the island of San Domingo, its safe and capacious harbor of the
+Havana, fronting a long line of our shores destitute of the same
+advantages, the nature of its production and of its wants, furnishing
+the supplies and needing the returns of a commerce immensely profitable
+and mutually beneficial give it an importance in the sum of our national
+interests with which that of no other foreign territory can be compared,
+and little inferior to that which binds the different members of this
+Union together. Such indeed are, between the interests of that<a name="page_262" id="page_262"></a> island
+and of this country, the geographical, commercial, moral and political
+relations formed by nature, gathering in the process of time, and even
+now verging to maturity, that in looking forward to the probable course
+of events for the short period of half a century, it is scarcely
+possible to resist the conviction that the annexation of Cuba to our
+Federal Republic will be indispensable to the continuance and integrity
+of the Union itself.... There are laws of political as well as of
+physical gravitation. And if an apple, severed by the tempest from its
+native tree, cannot choose but to fall to the ground, Cuba, forcibly
+disjoined from its own unnatural connection with Spain, and incapable of
+self-support, can gravitate only toward the North American Union, which,
+by the same law of nature cannot cast her off from her bosom. The
+transfer of Cuba to Great Britain would be an event unpropitious to the
+interests of this Union.... The question both of our right and of our
+power to prevent it, if necessary, by force, already obtrudes itself
+upon our councils, and the Administration is called upon, in the
+performance of its duties to the nation, at least, to use all the means
+within its competency to guard against and forefend it."</p>
+
+<p>That was the beginning of the policy of the United States toward Cuba.
+In making that declaration Adams had general support and little or no
+opposition. A few weeks afterward the ex-President, Thomas Jefferson,
+writing to Monroe, expressed in part the same view, though he coupled it
+with the suggestion of an alliance with Great Britain. He wrote:</p>
+
+<p>"Cuba alone seems at present to hold up a speck of war to us. Its
+possession by Great Britain would indeed be a great calamity to us.
+Could we induce her to<a name="page_263" id="page_263"></a> join us in guaranteeing its independence against
+all the world, except Spain, it would be nearly as valuable as if it
+were our own. But should she take it, I would not immediately go to war
+for it; because the first war on other accounts will give it to us, or
+the island will give herself to us when able to do so."</p>
+
+<p>Two years later, in 1825, Henry Clay, then Secretary of State in the
+Cabinet of President John Quincy Adams, instructed the American
+ministers at the chief European capitals to make it known that the
+United States for itself desired no change in the political condition of
+Cuba; that it was satisfied to have it remain open to American commerce;
+but that it "could not with indifference see it passing from Spain to
+any other European power." A little later he added, referring to Cuba
+and Porto Rico, that "we could not consent to the occupation of those
+islands by any other European power than Spain, under any contingency
+whatever."</p>
+
+<p>This attitude of the American Government was sufficient to accomplish
+the purpose desired. Although the power of Spain continued to decline,
+no attempt was made by either France or England to acquire possession of
+Cuba by either conquest or purchase. But in August, 1825, the British
+Government laid before the American minister in London a proposal that
+the United States should unite with Great Britain and France in a
+tripartite agreement for the protection of Spain in her possession of
+Cuba to the effect that none of the three would take Cuba for itself or
+would acquiesce in the taking of it by either of the others. The
+American minister reported this to the President, who promptly and
+emphatically declined it. It was then that Henry Clay made the
+pronouncement already quoted, that the United States<a name="page_264" id="page_264"></a> could not consent
+to the occupation of Cuba by any other European power than Spain, under
+any contingency whatever.</p>
+
+<p>A little later in the same year American interest in Cuba was again
+appealed to from another source. Several of the former Spanish colonies
+which had declared their independence, particularly Mexico and Colombia,
+expressed much dissatisfaction that Cuba and Porto Rico should remain in
+the possession of Spain. They desired to see the Spanish power entirely
+expelled from the western hemisphere. They therefore began intriguing
+for revolutions in those islands, and failing that prepared themselves
+to take forcible possession of them. These plans encountered the serious
+disapproval of the United States government, and on December 20, 1825,
+Henry Clay wrote to the representatives of the Mexican and Colombian
+governments urgently requesting them to refrain from sending the
+military expeditions to Cuba which were being prepared; a request with
+which they complied, Colombia readily but Mexico more reluctantly. Those
+two countries had been specially moved to their proposed action by the
+declaration of the famous Panama Congress, then in session, in favor of
+"the freeing of the islands of Porto Rico and Cuba from the Spanish
+yoke." It is interesting to recall, too, that in his instructions to the
+United States delegates to that Congress, who unfortunately did not
+arrive in time to participate in its deliberations, Clay declared that
+"even Spain has not such a deep interest in the future fate of Cuba as
+the United States."</p>
+
+<p>Justice requires us, unfortunately, in concluding our consideration of
+this early phase of Cuban-American relations, to confess that the
+motives of the United States were not at that time altogether of the
+highest character.<a name="page_265" id="page_265"></a> To put it very plainly, there was much opposition to
+the extension of Mexican or Colombian influence to Cuba because that
+would have meant the abolition of human slavery in the island, and that
+would have been offensive to the slave states of the southern United
+States. Also some of the earliest movements in the United States toward
+the annexation of Cuba were inspired by the wish to maintain the
+institution of slavery in that island and to add it to the slave holding
+area of the United States. It was on such ground that Senator Hayne and
+others declared in the American Congress that the United States "would
+not permit Mexico or Colombia to take or to revolutionize Cuba." James
+Buchanan declared that under the control of one of those countries Cuba
+would become a dangerous explosive magazine for the southern slave
+States because Mexico and Colombia were free countries and "always
+conquered by proclaiming liberty to the slave."</p>
+
+<p>We have recalled these facts and circumstances in this place somewhat in
+advance of their strict chronological order, by way of introduction to
+the history of Cuba in the Nineteenth Century, because they really
+dominate in spirit the whole story. It will be necessary to recur to
+them again, briefly, in their proper place. But it is essential to bear
+them in mind from the beginning, even through this anticipatory review
+of them. Every page and line and letter of Cuban history in the
+Nineteenth Century is colored by the Declaration of Independence of
+1776, by the fact that the United States of America had arisen as the
+foremost power in the Western Hemisphere. Through the inspiration which
+it gave to the French Revolution, the United States was chiefly
+responsible, as an alien force, for the complete collapse of Spain as a
+great European power. Through<a name="page_266" id="page_266"></a> its example and potential influence as a
+protector it was responsible for the revolt and independence of the
+Spanish colonies in Central and South America. Then through its
+assertion of special interests in Cuba, because of propinquity, and
+through the tangible influence of commercial and social intercourse,
+together with a constantly increasing and formidable, though generally
+concealed, political sway, it determined the future destinies of the
+Queen of the Antilles.<a name="page_267" id="page_267"></a></p>
+
+<h3><a name="CHAPTER_XVI" id="CHAPTER_XVI"></a>CHAPTER XVI</h3>
+
+<p>We must consider, in order rightly to understand the situation of Cuba
+at the beginning of the nineteenth century, and the momentous train of
+incidents in her history which then began, the salient features of the
+history of Spain at that time. The reign of Charles III. had temporarily
+restored Spain to a place in the front rank of European powers, with
+particularly close relations, through the Bourbon crowns of the two
+countries, with France. But that rank was of brief duration. In 1788
+Charles IV. came to the throne, one of the weakest, most vacillating and
+most ignoble of princes, who was content to let his kingdom be governed
+for him by his wife's notorious lover. A few years later the Bourbon
+crown of France was sent to the guillotine, and then came the deluge, in
+which Spain was overwhelmed and entirely wrecked.</p>
+
+<p>The first Treaty of San Ildefonso in 1796 made Spain little better than
+the vassal of France in the latter's war against Great Britain. That was
+the work of Godoy, the "Prince of the Peace" and the paramour of the
+queen. Against him Spain revolted in 1798 and he was forced to retire
+from office, only to be restored to it by Napoleon Bonaparte in 1800.
+Then came the second secret and scandalous Treaty of San Ildefonso, in
+which Spain was the merest tool and dupe of France, or of Napoleon; and
+in 1803 there followed another international compact under which Spain
+agreed to pay France a considerable yearly subsidy. A few years later
+occurred the French<a name="page_268" id="page_268"></a> invasion, the abdication of Charles IV., the
+accession, then merely nominal, of Ferdinand VII., the imposition of
+Joseph Bonaparte, and the Peninsular War.</p>
+
+<p>The effect of these events was two-fold, the two parts strongly
+contrasting. On the one hand, the Spanish national spirit was aroused as
+it had not been for many years. Napoleon's aggressions went too far. His
+ambition overleaped itself. In their resistance and resentment the
+Spanish people "found themselves" and rose to heights of patriotism
+which they had not scaled before. Concurrently they began the
+development of a liberal and progressive spirit of inestimable
+significance. They demanded a constitution and the abolition of old
+abuses which for generations had been stifling the life of the
+Peninsula.</p>
+
+<p>On the other hand, the prestige of Spain in her trans-Atlantic colonies
+was hopelessly impaired, and her physical power to maintain her
+authority in them was destroyed. With French and British armies making
+the Peninsula their fighting ground, Spain had no armies to spare for
+the suppression of Central and South American rebellions. Thus while
+there was an auspicious renascence of national vigor at home, there was
+an ominous decline of imperial authority abroad. The work of Miranda,
+San Martin and Bolivar was thus facilitated and assured of success.</p>
+
+<p>In domestic affairs, Spain showed some progress, even under her worst
+rulers. Godoy, vile as he was, abolished the savagery of bull-fighting
+and promoted the policing of cities and the paving and cleaning of
+streets, some advance was made in popular education, and the
+intellectual life of the nation began to emerge from the eclipse which
+it had been suffering. Possibly the most significant achievement of all
+was the development of<a name="page_269" id="page_269"></a> an approximation to popular government, with an
+attempt to unify Spain and the colonies; which latter came too late. The
+Junta Central in January, 1809, declared that the American colonies were
+an integral part of the Spanish Kingdom, and were not mere appanages of
+the crown. This was revolutionary, but it was insisted upon by the
+Junta, and practical steps were taken to make the principle effective.
+The Junta was driven from Seville by Napoleon, whereupon it fled to
+Cadiz, and there, in superb defiance of the invader and oppressor,
+arranged for the assembling of a Cortes, or National Parliament, in
+which the colonies should be fully represented. This body, a single
+chamber, met in September, 1810, with elected representatives from the
+American colonies, including Cuba. Owing to the difficulty of getting
+deputies from America in time, however, men were selected in Spain to
+represent the colonies at the opening of the session.</p>
+
+<p>A tangled skein of history followed. The Cortes, though far from radical
+in tone, was progressive and was sincerely devoted to the principle of
+popular government, and it insisted upon the adoption of the
+Constitution of 1812, under which the people were made supreme, with the
+crown and the church in subordinate places. All Spaniards, in America as
+well as in Europe, were citizens of the kingdom, and were entitled to
+vote for members of the Cortes and were protected by a bill of rights.
+In many respects it was one of the most liberal and enlightened
+constitutions then existing in the world.</p>
+
+<p>The first act of the wretched Ferdinand VII., however, when Napoleon
+permitted him to return to Spain, was to decree the abrogation of this
+constitution and the establishment of a most repressive and reactionary
+régime which liberals were cruelly persecuted. The result<a name="page_270" id="page_270"></a> of this was
+to promote the revolution which had already begun in America, and to
+provoke a revolution in the Peninsula itself; in the face of which
+latter Ferdinand pretended to yield and to consent to the summoning of
+another Cortes and the reestablishment of the Constitution of 1812.
+These things were effected in 1820. But the false and fickle Ferdinand
+made his appeal to the reactionary sovereigns of the Holy Alliance, with
+the result that in 1823 the French invaded Spain to suppress Liberalism,
+and those preparations were made for the resubjugation of Spain's
+American colonies which were frustrated by the promulgation of the
+Monroe Doctrine in the United States.</p>
+
+<p>Meantime all the Spanish colonies on the American continents had not
+only declared but had actually achieved their independence. There were
+left to Spain in all the Western Hemisphere, therefore, only the islands
+of Cuba and Porto Rico; and they remained intensely loyal. When the
+legitimate King of Spain was deposed in favor of Joseph Bonaparte, Cuba
+made it plain and emphatic that she would not recognize the French
+usurper, but would remain true to Ferdinand VII. Again, when the
+colonies of Central and South America seceded and declared their
+independence, Cuba remained loyal to the kingdom. It was because of
+these two acts that Cuba became known at the Spanish Court as "Our Ever
+Faithful Isle."</p>
+
+<p>For this contrast between Cuba and the rest of Spanish America there
+were three major reasons. One was, the insular position of Cuba, which
+separated her from the other Spanish provinces and their direct
+influence and cooperation, and which thus placed her at an enormous
+disadvantage for any revolutionary undertakings. The second was the
+character of the people. The Spanish<a name="page_271" id="page_271"></a> settlers of Cuba had come chiefly
+from Andalusia and Estremadura, and were the very flower of the Iberian
+race, and from them had descended those who after three centuries were
+entitled to be regarded as the Cuban people. They retained unimpaired
+the finest qualities of the great race that in the sixteenth century had
+made Spain all but the mistress of the world, and they still cherished a
+chivalric loyalty to the spirit and the traditions of that wondrous age.
+In other colonies the settlement was more varied. Men had flocked in
+from Galicia and Catalonia, with a spirit radically different from that
+of Andalusians and Estremadurans. To this day the contrast between
+Cubans and the people of any other Latin-American state is obvious and
+unmistakable.</p>
+
+<p>The third reason was this, that in the years, perhaps a full generation,
+preceding the South and Central American revolt, Spain had manifested
+toward Cuba a disposition and actual practices well calculated to
+confirm that country in its loyalty and in its expectation of enjoying
+liberty and prosperity under the Spanish crown in an age of Spanish
+renascence. With the brief English occupation, indeed, the modern
+history of Cuba began in circumstances of the most auspicious character.
+The English opened Havana to the trade of the world and caused it to
+realize what its possibilities were of future expansion and greatness.
+Then the Spanish government, reestablished throughout the island, for a
+time showed Cuba marked favor. The old-time trade monopoly, which had
+been destroyed by the English, was abandoned in favor of a liberal and
+enlightened policy. Commerce, industry and agriculture were encouraged,
+even with bounties. Cuba was made to feel that there were very practical
+advantages in being a colony of Spain.<a name="page_272" id="page_272"></a></p>
+
+<p>Moreover, the island enjoyed a succession of capable and liberal
+governors, or captains-general; notably Luis de las Casas at the end of
+the eighteenth century, and the Marquis de Someruelos in the first dozen
+years of the nineteenth century. Under benevolent administrators and
+beneficent laws, and with Spain herself adopting the liberal
+constitution of 1812, Cuba had good cause to remain loyal to the Spanish
+connection.</p>
+
+<p>But these very same conditions and circumstances ultimately made Cuba
+supremely resolute in her efforts for independence. The men of
+Andalusian and Estremaduran ancestry had been loyal to Spain, but they
+were just as resolute in their loyalty to Cuba when they were once
+convinced that there must be a breach of relations. The same
+characteristics that made their ancestors the leaders of the Spanish
+race in adventure and in conquest made them now equally ready to be
+leaders in the great adventure of conquering the independence of Cuba
+from Spain. And if the liberal laws and policy of Spain, and the
+Constitution of 1812, had greatly commended Spanish government to them,
+the restored Spanish king's flat repudiation of all those things equally
+condemned that government.</p>
+
+<p>We must therefore reckon the rise of the spirit of Cuban independence
+from the date on which Ferdinand VII. repudiated the constitution which
+he had sworn to defend. From 1812 to 1820 that spirit passed through the
+period of gestation, and in the years following the latter date it was
+born and began to make its vitality manifest. The king's pretended
+repentance and readoption of the Constitution of 1812 in 1820 came too
+late, and when it was followed by several years of alternating weakness
+and violence, and by the French intervention in 1823, the Cuban
+resolution for independence was formed. To that resolution, once formed,
+Cuba clung with a persistence which for the third time entitled her to
+the name of "Ever Faithful Isle." But now it was to herself that she was
+faithful.<a name="page_273" id="page_273"></a></p>
+
+<p class="figcenter">
+<a href="images/espada_lg.jpg">
+<img src="images/espada_sml.jpg" width="362" height="550" alt="JUAN JOSÉ DIAZ ESPADA" title="JUAN JOSÉ DIAZ ESPADA" /></a>
+</p>
+
+<div class="blockill"><p class="c">JUAN JOSÉ DIAZ ESPADA</p>
+
+<p>Born at Arroyave, Spain, on April 20, 1756, and educated at Salamanca,
+Juan José Diaz Espada y Landa entered the priesthood of the Roman
+Catholic Church, and on January 1, 1800, was Bishop of Cuba. Much more
+than a mere churchman, he applied himself with singular ability and
+energy to the promotion of the mental and physical welfare of the people
+as well as to their religious culture. He strongly assisted Dr. Tomas
+Romay in introducing vaccination into the island and in the prosecution
+of other sanitary measures, and was one of the foremost patrons of
+education. He also gave much attention to the correction of abuses which
+had grown up in the ecclesiastical administration. He died on August 13,
+1832, leaving a record for good works second to that of no other
+ecclesiastic in the history of Cuba.</p></div>
+
+<p>Seldom, indeed, has there been an era in the history of the world more
+strongly suited to cause the rise of a revolutionary spirit in such a
+people as the Cubans, than was the early part of the nineteenth century.
+We have already referred to the United States of America and its
+attitude toward Cuba and Cuban affairs. That country had achieved its
+independence in circumstances scarcely more favorable than would be
+those of a Cuban revolt; and it presently waged another war which made
+it formidable among the nations. On the other hand, all Europe was in
+war-ridden chaos, with the rights of peoples to self-determination made
+a sport of autocrats. There was nothing more evident than that
+republicanism was the policy of order, stability and progress. The
+United States had just forced Spain to sell Louisiana to France, and
+then had forced France to sell it to itself. That was an object lesson
+which was not lost upon thoughtful Cubans any more than upon the peoples
+of Central and South America. It demonstrated that the power of Spain
+was waning, and that the dominant power in the western world was that of
+Republicanism. And Cubans, as well as others, were not blind to the
+practical advantages of being on the winning side.</p>
+
+<p>Indeed, before that Cuba had had another great object lesson. At the
+middle of the eighteenth century the English had seized Havana. That in
+itself indicated clearly the decline of Spain and her inability to
+protect or even to hold her own colonies. But the English force which
+achieved that stroke was by no means purely English. It was largely
+composed of Americans, soldiers<a name="page_274" id="page_274"></a> from the British Colonies in North
+America who were, of course, British subjects but who were more and more
+calling themselves Americans; and who in course of time altogether
+rejected British rule and established an independent republic. First,
+then, Spain was beaten by England; and next England was beaten by the
+United States. Obviously the latter was the power to whom to look for
+guidance and support.</p>
+
+<p>There were still other circumstances making toward the same end. We have
+remarked upon the puissant opulence of Spanish intellectuality in the
+first century of her possession of Cuba, and upon, also, the paucity of
+native Cuban achievements in letters. But in the seventeenth century a
+decline of Spanish letters and art began, with ominous progression,
+until at the end of the eighteenth century and the beginning of the
+nineteenth the very nadir of intellectual life had been reached. This
+was the more noteworthy and the more significant because of the contrast
+which the Peninsula thus presented to other lands. Elsewhere throughout
+Europe and in America that was an era of great and splendid intellectual
+activity. In almost every department of letters, science and art fine
+deeds, original and creative, were being done. The colossal military
+operations that convulsed the world from the beginning of the American
+Revolution to the fall of Napoleon sometimes blind our eyes and deaden
+our ears to what was then done in the higher walks of life; but the fact
+is that probably in no other equal space of time in the world's history
+was the mind of man more fecund, in both theory and practice.</p>
+
+<p>In science that era was adorned with the names of Priestly, Jenner,
+Herschel, Montgolfier, Fulton, Whitney, Volta, Pestalozzi, Piazzi, Davy,
+Cuvier, Oersted, Stevenson, Humboldt, Lavoisier, Buffon, Linnaeus. In<a name="page_275" id="page_275"></a>
+music, Gluck, Haydn, Mozart, Beethoven. In literature the annals of
+those days read like a recapitulation of universal genius: Goethe, Kant,
+Herder, Lessing, Diderot, Voltaire, Rousseau, De Stael, Chateaubriand,
+Beranger, Lamartine, Burns, Scott, Goldsmith, Johnson, Adam Smith,
+Keats, Shelley, Byron, Colderidge, Lamb, Alfieri, Richter, Niebuhr,
+Derzhavin. The steamboat and the railroad came into existence. The
+Institute of France, the University of France, and the University of
+Berlin were founded. As on more than one other occasion political and
+military activity, in the direction of liberal revolution, stimulated
+intellectuality and made invention and letters vie with arms.</p>
+
+<p>Amid all this, Spain alone stood singular in her decline. Not one name
+of the first rank adorned her annals. In the two departments of letters
+which perhaps most of all reflect the national mind and spirit, lyrical
+poetry and the drama, she was almost entirely lacking. Most of such
+writers as she had seemed content to copy weakly French examples. And
+even when the Spanish people rose with splendid patriotic energy against
+the tyranny of Napoleon, fought their war of independence, and strove to
+establish their liberal Constitution of 1812 upon the wreck of broken
+Bourbonism, there was scarcely a glimmer of intellectual inspiration
+such as those deeds might have been expected to produce. It was reserved
+for later years, even for our own time, for Spanish letters to regain a
+place of mastery amid the foremost of the world.</p>
+
+<p>Meantime the intellectual life of Cuba was beginning to dawn. As early
+as 1790 a purely literary journal of fine rank, <i>El Papel Periodico</i>,
+was founded in Havana, and during many years contained contributions of
+sterling merit. As these were all unsigned, their authorship<a name="page_276" id="page_276"></a> remains
+chiefly unknown. We know, however, that among them were two poets of
+real note, Manuel Justo de Rubalcava and Manuel de Zequiera y Arango.
+These were not, it is true, native Cubans. They were Spaniards from New
+Granada. But with many others from the South and Central American
+provinces they became fully identified with Cuban life and Cuban
+aspirations. In the third year of the nineteenth century, too, there was
+born of Spanish refugee parents from Santo Domingo, Cuba's greatest poet
+and indeed the greatest poet in Spanish literature in that century, José
+Maria Heredia. True, he called himself a Spaniard, in the spirit of the
+"Ever Faithful Isle," and referred to Spain as his "Alma Mater." He was
+in his youth a passionate partisan of the liberal movement in the
+Peninsula, especially of the revolution led by Riego, and his earliest
+poems were written in support of that ill-fated struggle and in scathing
+denunciation of the French oppressor of Spain and of those unworthy
+Spaniards who consented to the suppression in blood of the rising cause
+of liberty. A little later these very poems were equally applicable to
+the situation in Cuba, when the people of that island began to rise
+against their Spanish oppressors, and when a certain element among them
+consented to oppression. Thereafter his writings were largely the
+literary inspiration of Cuban patriotism; and he himself was doomed by
+Spain to perpetual banishment from the island of his birth.</p>
+
+<p>One other factor in the situation must be recalled. During the period
+which we are now considering Cuba was the asylum for a strangely mingled
+company of both loyalists and revolutionists; with the former probably
+predominating. When Spain lost Santo Domingo to France, many of the
+Spanish inhabitants of that island<a name="page_277" id="page_277"></a> removed to Cuba; and when the island
+under Toussaint rose against Spain, there was a flight of both Spanish
+and French in the same direction. Also, when one after another of the
+Spanish provinces on the continent began to revolt, Cuba was sought as
+an asylum. Spanish loyalists came hither to escape the revolution which
+they did not approve; and it is quite possible that they were in
+sufficient numbers materially to affect the course and determination of
+the island, first in standing by Ferdinand against Napoleon and later in
+declining to join the revolutionists of the American continents. Yet not
+a few of these became in a short time imbued with Cuban patriotism and
+cast in their lot with the natives of the island.</p>
+
+<p>There were also many revolutionary refugees, who sought asylum in Cuba
+when their cause seemed not to be prospering in other lands. As we shall
+see, the first important Cuban revolutionist, Narciso Lopez, came from
+Venezuela; and there were others from that country, and from Guatemala
+and Mexico; sufficient to exert much influence in insular affairs.</p>
+
+<p>It was in these strangely diverse and complex circumstances that Cuba
+entered the third great era of her existence. She was still a Spanish
+colony, and she was still a potential pawn in the international games of
+diplomacy and war. But she had at last gravitated politically toward the
+American rather than the European system, and she had begun to develop a
+spirit of individual nationality which was destined after many years and
+many labors to assure her a place among the sovereign states of the
+Western Hemisphere.<a name="page_278" id="page_278"></a></p>
+
+<h3><a name="CHAPTER_XVII" id="CHAPTER_XVII"></a>CHAPTER XVII</h3>
+
+<p>For a correct understanding of the internal dissensions and uprisings
+which played so large a part in the history of Cuba during the greater
+part of the nineteenth century, it is necessary to have clearly in mind
+an idea of the number, nature and distribution of her population during
+this period.</p>
+
+<p>The first record of anything like a satisfactory enumeration of the
+people of the island is that of the census of 1775. It was known as that
+of the Abbe Raynal, and was taken under the direction and by order of
+the Marquis de la Torre. It was so far from being accurate and complete
+that it can hardly be regarded as much more than a fair estimate.
+Indeed, most authorities are of the opinion that its figures are far
+below the actual facts. It showed a population of 170,370, for the
+entire island, with 75,604 of this number residing in the district of
+Havana.</p>
+
+<p>The population of Cuba at that time was made up almost entirely of two
+races, the whites and the blacks, the native Indians having long ago
+practically disappeared. The following table gives a brief resumé of the
+result of the census of 1775:</p>
+
+<table border="0" cellpadding="2" cellspacing="0" summary=""
+class="sml90">
+<tr><td align="left">&nbsp;</td><td align="right"><i>Men&nbsp; </i></td><td align="right"><i>Women</i></td><td align="right">&nbsp;</td></tr>
+<tr><td align="left">Whites</td><td align="right">54,555</td><td align="right">40,864</td><td align="right">&nbsp;</td></tr>
+<tr><td align="left">Free colored&nbsp; </td><td align="right">15,980</td><td align="right">14,635</td><td align="right">&nbsp;</td></tr>
+<tr><td align="left">Slaves</td><td align="right">28,774</td><td align="right">15,562</td><td align="right">&nbsp;</td></tr>
+<tr><td align="left">&nbsp;</td><td align="right"
+style="border-top:1px solid black;">99,309</td><td align="right"
+style="border-top:1px solid black;">71,061</td></tr>
+<tr><td align="left">Total</td><td align="right">&nbsp;</td><td align="right">&nbsp;</td><td align="right">170,370</td></tr>
+</table>
+
+<p><a name="page_279" id="page_279"></a></p>
+
+<p>The spirit in which this census was taken was admirable. It sought not
+only to present statistics as to the age, race, sex and social condition
+of the population, but also, so far as possible, to indicate something
+of its distribution. It is not difficult to imagine, however, what a
+momentous undertaking such a work must have been with the meagre
+facilities then in the hands of the authorities, and it is not
+astonishing that the results left much to be desired. The failure was
+not one of intent but of the means by which the information might be
+acquired.</p>
+
+<p>In 1791 a second attempt to enumerate and classify the population of
+Cuba was made by order of Don Luis de las Casas. This showed a
+population of 272,141. This apparently great increase, however, is to be
+attributed to a more accurate compilation, rather than to any unusual
+immigration to Cuba during this period. Indeed careful statisticians,
+notably Baron Humboldt, have reached the conclusion that even these
+figures fell far below the truth, and that in reality the population of
+the island at this period numbered at least 362,700 adult persons.
+Humboldt's conclusions merit quotation. He says:</p>
+
+<p>"In 1804 I discussed the census of Don Luis de las Casas with persons
+who possessed great knowledge of the locality. Examining the proportions
+of the numbers omitted in the partial comparisons, it seemed to us that
+the population of the island, in 1791, could not have been less than
+362,700 souls. This has been augmented, during the years between 1791
+and 1804, by the number of African negroes imported, which, according to
+the custom-house returns for that period, amounted to 60,393; by the
+immigration from Europe and St. Domingo (5,000); and by the excess of
+births over deaths, which, in truth, is indeed<a name="page_280" id="page_280"></a> small in a country where
+one-fourth or one-fifth of the entire population is condemned to live in
+celibacy. The result of these three causes of increase was reckoned to
+be 60,000, estimating an annual loss of seven per cent, on the newly
+imported negroes; this gives approximately, for the year 1804, a minimum
+of 432,080 inhabitants. I estimated this number for the year 1804, to
+comprise, whites, 234,000, free-colored, 90,000, slaves, 180,000. I
+estimated the slave population, graduating the production of sugar at 80
+to 100 arrobas for each negro on the sugar plantations, and 82 slaves as
+the mean population of each plantation. There were then, 250 of these.
+In the seven parishes, Guanajay, Managua, Batabano, Guines, Cano,
+Bejucal, and Guanabacoa, there were found, by an exact census, 15,130
+slaves on 183 sugar plantations."</p>
+
+<p>After expatiating on the difficulty of ascertaining with absolute
+accuracy the ratio of the production of sugar to the number of negroes
+employed on the different estates, Humboldt continues:</p>
+
+<p>"The number of whites can be estimated by the rolls of the militia, of
+which, in 1804, there were 2,680 disciplined, and 27,000 rural,
+notwithstanding the great facilities for avoiding the service, and
+innumerable exemptions granted to lawyers, physicians, apothecaries,
+notaries, clergy and church servants, schoolmasters, overseers, traders
+and all who are styled noble."</p>
+
+<p>Accepting, however, for the moment the figures of the census of 1791,
+merely for the sake of future comparison, let us see how the population
+of the island was distributed at this period. Of the 272,141 inhabitants
+shown by the census over half, or 137,800, were in the district of
+Havana, and almost one third of the latter number in the city itself.
+These were divided as follows:<a name="page_281" id="page_281"></a></p>
+
+<table border="0" cellpadding="1" cellspacing="0" summary=""
+class="sml90">
+<tr><td align="left">Whites, both sexes</td><td align="right">73,000</td></tr>
+<tr><td align="left">Free colored, both sexes</td><td align="right">27,600</td></tr>
+<tr><td align="left">Slaves, both sexes</td><td align="right">37,200</td></tr>
+<tr><td align="left">&nbsp;</td><td align="right"
+style="border-top:1px solid black;">137,800</td></tr>
+</table>
+
+<p>One of the best reasons for believing that this 1791 census does not
+tell the whole story is that the proportion of white persons to the
+black slaves is practically two to one, while as a matter of fact the
+most eminent authorities are agreed that during the first half of the
+nineteenth century, and for some years previous, it was about 100 to 83,
+a matter which, as we shall see, was of grave concern to the Spanish
+colonists.</p>
+
+<p>It should be noted in passing that the greediness with which the Spanish
+conquerors regarded their possessions in the New World had marked effect
+on the difficulties of numbering the people. For too well the plantation
+owners had learned that a record of an increase in their possessions, an
+added number of slaves or signs of growing prosperity, meant that the
+long arm of the crown would stretch out to despoil by further taxation,
+added to the already heavy toll. It is no wonder, therefore, that the
+efforts of the census takers were impeded rather than furthered.</p>
+
+<p>In 1811, when the slave trade and the consequent increase of the black
+population was giving great concern to the more intelligent and
+far-seeing of the Cuban patriots, pressure was brought to bear on the
+Spanish government and on March 26 of that year, Señors Alcocer and
+Arguelles made a motion in the Spanish Cortes against the African
+slave-trade and the continuation of slavery in the Spanish colonies. A
+little later in the same year Don Francisco de Arango, an exceedingly
+erudite statesman, also made a remonstrance to the Cortes upon<a name="page_282" id="page_282"></a> the same
+subject. This was in the name of the Ayuntamiento, the Consulado and the
+Patriotic Society of Havana. The text of this representation or
+remonstrance may be found in the "<i>Documents relative to the
+slave-trade, 1814</i>."</p>
+
+<p>Unfortunately in compiling the tables which were published in 1811 no
+new census was taken, and the increases in population from 1791 to 1811
+were merely estimated. These estimates show a population of 600,000&mdash;a
+greater number, it is interesting to note, by many thousands than was
+shown by the census of 1817, with which we shall deal later. This
+population was distributed as follows:</p>
+
+<table border="0" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="4" summary=""
+class="sml90">
+<tr valign="bottom"><td align="center"><i>Western Part of the<br />
+Island</i>.</td>
+<td align="center"><i>Whites</i></td>
+<td align="center"><i>Free<br />
+Colored</i></td>
+<td align="center"><i>Slaves</i></td>
+<td align="center"><i>Total</i></td></tr>
+<tr><td align="left">Surrounding Country</td><td align="right">118,000</td><td align="right">15,000</td><td align="right">119,000</td><td align="right">252,000</td></tr>
+<tr><td align="left">Havana and Suburbs</td><td align="right">43,000</td><td align="right">27,000</td><td align="right">28,000</td><td align="right">98,000</td></tr>
+<tr><td align="left">&nbsp;</td><td align="right"
+style="border-top:1px solid black;">161,000</td><td align="right"
+style="border-top:1px solid black;">42,000</td><td align="right"
+style="border-top:1px solid black;">147,000</td><td align="right"
+style="border-top:1px solid black;">350,000</td></tr>
+<tr><td align="left" colspan="4"><i>Eastern Part of the Island</i>.</td></tr>
+<tr><td align="left">Santiago de Cuba</td><td align="right">40,000</td><td align="right">38,000</td><td align="right">32,000</td><td align="right">110,000</td></tr>
+<tr><td align="left">Puerto Principe</td><td align="right">38,000</td><td align="right">14,000</td><td align="right">18,000</td><td align="right">70,000</td></tr>
+<tr><td align="left">Cinco Villas</td><td align="right">35,000</td><td align="right">20,000</td><td align="right">15,000</td><td align="right">70,000</td></tr>
+<tr><td align="left"></td><td align="right"
+style="border-top:1px solid black;">113,000</td><td align="right"
+style="border-top:1px solid black;">72,000</td><td align="right"
+style="border-top:1px solid black;">65,000</td><td align="right"
+style="border-top:1px solid black;">250,000</td></tr>
+<tr><td align="center">Totals</td><td align="right"
+style="border-top:1px solid black;">274,000</td><td align="right"
+style="border-top:1px solid black;">114,000</td><td align="right"
+style="border-top:1px solid black;">212,000</td><td align="right"
+style="border-top:1px solid black;">600,000</td></tr>
+</table>
+
+<p>From the above we can see that at this time there were only 62,000 more
+white people in Cuba than there were slaves, and if we take into
+consideration the free blacks, then the negroes exceeded the white
+population by 52,000. This was perhaps inevitable when we consider that
+there must be labor to develop the plantations and that that labor was
+almost entirely provided by the slave trade. Nevertheless, the white
+population of Cuba lived in somewhat the same state of subconscious
+terror of the possibilities of a black uprising which tormented the
+planters in portions of the United States. But "that is another story"
+of which we shall hear more later.<a name="page_283" id="page_283"></a></p>
+
+<p>In 1813 the Spanish Cortes passed certain measures, which, together with
+the necessity for as accurate as possible an enumeration of the
+population of the island for the purpose of an equitable establishment
+of electoral juntas of provinces, partidas and parishes, made a new
+census obligatory. This was taken in 1817. The results of this new
+census were as follows:</p>
+
+<table border="0" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="3" summary=""
+class="sml90">
+<tr><td align="center"><i>Districts</i></td>
+<td align="center"><i>White</i></td>
+<td align="center"><i>Free colored</i></td>
+<td align="center"><i>Slaves</i></td></tr>
+<tr><td align="left" colspan="4"><i>Western Department:</i></td></tr>
+<tr><td align="left">&nbsp; Havana</td><td align="right">135,177</td><td align="right">40,419</td><td align="right">112,122</td></tr>
+<tr><td align="left">&nbsp; Matanzas</td><td align="right">10,617</td><td align="right">1,675</td><td align="right">9,594</td></tr>
+<tr><td align="left">&nbsp; Trinidad (with<br />
+&nbsp; &nbsp; Sancti Spiritus,<br />
+&nbsp; &nbsp; Remedios, and<br />
+&nbsp; &nbsp; Villa Clara)</td><td align="right">51,864</td><td align="right">16,411</td><td align="right">14,497</td></tr>
+<tr><td align="left" colspan="4"><i>Eastern Department:</i></td></tr>
+<tr><td valign="top">&nbsp; Santiago (with<br />
+&nbsp; &nbsp; Bayamo, Holguin,<br />
+&nbsp; &nbsp; and Baracoa)</td><td align="right" valign="bottom">33,733</td><td align="right" valign="bottom">50,230</td><td align="right" valign="bottom">46,500</td></tr>
+<tr><td align="left">&nbsp; Puerto Principe</td><td align="right">25,989</td><td align="right">6,955</td><td align="right">16,579</td></tr>
+<tr><td align="left">&nbsp;</td><td align="right"
+style="border-top:1px solid black;">257,380</td><td align="right"
+style="border-top:1px solid black;">115,691</td><td align="right"
+style="border-top:1px solid black;">199,292</td></tr>
+<tr><td align="center">Total</td><td align="right">572,363</td></tr>
+</table>
+
+<p>The census of 1817 was without doubt the most perfect which had up to
+that time been taken; but, for the reasons before given, it was far from
+being an accurate enumeration. To these figures, before transmitting
+them to Spain, the Provincial Deputation added 32,641 transients of
+various kinds, and 25,967 negroes imported during the year in which the
+census was taken. These additions made the report read as follows:</p>
+
+<table border="0" cellpadding="2" cellspacing="0" summary=""
+class="sml90">
+<tr><td>Whites</td><td align="right">290,021</td></tr>
+<tr><td>Free Colored&nbsp; </td><td align="right">115,691</td></tr>
+<tr><td>Slaves</td><td align="right">225,259</td></tr>
+<tr><td>Total</td><td align="right"
+style="border-top:1px solid black;">630,971</td></tr>
+</table>
+
+<p>It would seem that these various censuses and the estimate<a name="page_284" id="page_284"></a> of 1811 show
+great discrepancies, but on this point we have the sage observations of
+no less an authority than Baron Humboldt to guide us. He says:</p>
+
+<p>"We shall not be surprised at the partial contradiction found in the
+tables of population when we taken into consideration all the
+difficulties that have been encountered in the centres of European
+civilization, England and France, whenever the great operation of a
+general census is attempted. No one is ignorant, for example, of the
+fact that the population of Paris, in 1820, was 714,000, and from the
+number of deaths, and supposed proportion of births to the total
+population, it is believed to have been 520,000, at the beginning of the
+eighteenth century; yet during the administration of M. Necker, the
+ascertained population was one-sixth less than this number."</p>
+
+<p>The process of census taking even in this twentieth century is an
+enormous undertaking and not free from error. How much more difficult
+must it have been in a country where it was to the interest of the
+intelligent to suppress the facts, where a large proportion of the
+population was still in slavery, and where means of communication from
+place to place were far from adequate!</p>
+
+<p>Baron Humboldt after very careful calculation estimated the population
+at the close of 1825 to be as follows:</p>
+
+<table border="0" cellpadding="2" cellspacing="0" summary=""
+class="sml90">
+<tr><td>Whites</td><td align="right">325,000</td></tr>
+<tr><td>Free colored&nbsp; </td><td align="right">130,000</td></tr>
+<tr><td>Slaves</td><td align="right">260,000</td></tr>
+<tr><td align="center">Total</td><td align="right"
+style="border-top:1px solid black;">715,000</td></tr>
+</table>
+
+<p>This was nearly equal to that of the British Antilles, and about twice
+that of Jamaica.</p>
+
+<p>During the first half of the nineteenth century three additional
+censuses were taken:<a name="page_285" id="page_285"></a></p>
+
+<table border="0" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="4" summary="Census"
+class="sml90">
+<tr><td align="center" colspan="8">&nbsp;</td></tr>
+<tr><td align="center" colspan="8"><i>Census of 1827</i></td></tr>
+<tr><td align="right">&nbsp;</td>
+<td align="center" colspan="2"><i>Whites</i></td>
+<td align="center" colspan="2"><i>Free Colored</i></td>
+<td align="center" colspan="2"><i>Slaves</i></td>
+<td align="center"><i>Total</i></td></tr>
+
+<tr><td align="right"><i>Department</i></td>
+<td align="center"><i>Male</i></td>
+<td align="center"><i>Female</i></td>
+<td align="center"><i>Male</i></td>
+<td align="center"><i>Female</i></td>
+<td align="center"><i>Male</i></td>
+<td align="center"><i>Female</i></td>
+<td align="right">&nbsp;</td></tr>
+<tr><td>Western</td><td align="right">89,526</td><td align="right">75,532</td><td align="right">21,235</td><td align="right">24,829</td><td align="right">125,388</td><td align="right">72,027</td><td align="right">408,537</td></tr>
+<tr><td>Central</td><td align="right">53,447</td><td align="right">44,776</td><td align="right">13,296</td><td align="right">10,950</td><td align="right">28,398</td><td align="right">13,630</td><td align="right">164,497</td></tr>
+<tr><td>Eastern</td><td align="right">25,680</td><td align="right">22,090</td><td align="right">17,431</td><td align="right">18,753</td><td align="right">29,504</td><td align="right">17,995</td><td align="right">131,353</td></tr>
+<tr><td align="center">Total</td>
+<td align="right"
+style="border-top:1px solid black;">168,653</td>
+<td align="right"
+style="border-top:1px solid black;">142,398</td>
+<td align="right"
+style="border-top:1px solid black;">51,962</td>
+<td align="right"
+style="border-top:1px solid black;">54,532</td>
+<td align="right"
+style="border-top:1px solid black;">183,290</td>
+<td align="right"
+style="border-top:1px solid black;">103,652</td>
+<td align="right"
+style="border-top:1px solid black;">704,487</td></tr>
+<tr><td align="center" colspan="8">&nbsp;</td></tr>
+
+<tr><td align="center" colspan="8"><i>Census of 1841</i></td></tr>
+<tr><td align="right">&nbsp;</td>
+<td align="center" colspan="2"><i>Whites</i></td>
+<td align="center" colspan="2"><i>Free Colored</i></td>
+<td align="center" colspan="2"><i>Slaves</i></td>
+<td align="center"><i>Total</i></td></tr>
+
+<tr><td align="right"><i>Department</i></td>
+<td align="center"><i>Male</i></td>
+<td align="center"><i>Female</i></td>
+<td align="center"><i>Male</i></td>
+<td align="center"><i>Female</i></td>
+<td align="center"><i>Male</i></td>
+<td align="center"><i>Female</i></td>
+<td align="right">&nbsp;</td></tr>
+<tr><td>Western</td><td align="right">135,079</td>
+<td align="right">108,944</td><td align="right">32,726</td><td align="right">33,737</td><td align="right">207,954</td>
+<td align="right">113,320</td><td align="right">631,760</td></tr>
+<tr><td>Central</td><td align="right">60,035</td><td align="right">53,838</td><td align="right">15,525</td><td align="right">16,054</td><td align="right">34,939</td><td align="right">15,217</td><td align="right">195,608</td></tr>
+<tr><td>Eastern</td><td align="right">32,030</td><td align="right">28,365</td><td align="right">27,452</td><td align="right">27,344</td><td align="right">38,357</td><td align="right">25,708</td><td align="right">180,256</td></tr>
+<tr><td align="center">Total</td><td align="right"
+style="border-top:1px solid black;">227,144</td>
+<td align="right"
+style="border-top:1px solid black;">191,147</td>
+<td align="right"
+style="border-top:1px solid black;">75,703</td>
+<td align="right"
+style="border-top:1px solid black;">77,135</td>
+<td align="right"
+style="border-top:1px solid black;">281,250</td>
+<td align="right"
+style="border-top:1px solid black;">155,245</td>
+<td align="right"
+style="border-top:1px solid black;">1,007,624</td></tr>
+<tr><td align="center" colspan="8">&nbsp;</td></tr>
+
+<tr><td align="center" colspan="8"><i>Census for 1846</i></td></tr>
+<tr><td align="right">&nbsp;</td>
+<td align="center" colspan="2"><i>Whites</i></td>
+<td align="center" colspan="2"><i>Free Colored</i></td>
+<td align="center" colspan="2"><i>Slaves</i></td>
+<td align="center"><i>Total</i></td></tr><tr>
+
+<td align="right"><i>Department</i></td>
+<td align="center"><i>Male</i></td>
+<td align="center"><i>Female</i></td>
+<td align="center"><i>Male</i></td>
+<td align="center"><i>Female</i></td>
+<td align="center"><i>Male</i></td>
+<td align="center"><i>Female</i></td>
+<td align="right">&nbsp;</td></tr><tr><td>Western</td><td align="right">133,968</td>
+<td align="right">110,141</td><td align="right">28,964</td><td align="right">32,730</td><td align="right">140,131</td><td align="right">87,682</td><td align="right">533,617</td></tr>
+<tr><td>Central</td><td align="right">62,262</td><td align="right">52,692</td><td align="right">17,041</td><td align="right">17,074</td><td align="right">32,425</td><td align="right">14,560</td><td align="right">196,954</td></tr>
+<tr><td>Eastern</td><td align="right">34,753</td><td align="right">31,951</td><td align="right">26,646</td><td align="right">26,771</td><td align="right">28,455</td><td align="right">20,506</td><td align="right">169,082</td></tr>
+<tr><td align="center">Total</td><td align="right"
+style="border-top:1px solid black;">230,983</td>
+<td align="right"
+style="border-top:1px solid black;">194,784</td><td align="right"
+style="border-top:1px solid black;">72,651</td><td align="right"
+style="border-top:1px solid black;">76,575</td><td align="right"
+style="border-top:1px solid black;">201,011</td><td align="right"
+style="border-top:1px solid black;">122,748</td><td align="right"
+style="border-top:1px solid black;">898,752</td></tr>
+</table>
+
+<p>J. S. Thrasher, translator of Baron Humboldt's admirable work on Cuba,
+and himself an authority of note, offers the following interesting and
+suggestive discussion of the census of 1846:</p>
+
+<p>"The slightest examination leads to the belief that there is some error
+in the figures of the census of 1846; and we are inclined to doubt its
+results, for the following reasons:</p>
+
+<p>"1st&mdash;During the period between 1841 and 1846, no great cause, as
+epidemic, or emigration on a large scale, existed to check the hitherto
+steady increase of the slave population, and cause a decrease of 112,736
+in its numbers, being nearly twenty six per cent. of the returns of
+1841; which apparent decrease and the annihilation of former rate of
+increase (3.7 per cent. yearly), amount together to a loss of 47 per
+cent., in six years.</p>
+
+<p>"2d.&mdash;During this period the material prosperity of the country
+experienced no decrease, except the loss of part of one crop, consequent
+upon the hurricane of 1845.<a name="page_286" id="page_286"></a></p>
+
+<p>"3d.&mdash;During the period from 1842 to 1846, the church returns of
+christenings and interments were as follows:</p>
+
+<table border="0" cellpadding="2" cellspacing="4" summary=""
+class="sml90">
+<tr><td align="right">&nbsp;</td>
+<td align="center"><i>White</i></td>
+<td align="center"><i>Colored</i></td>
+<td align="center"><i>Total</i></td></tr>
+<tr><td>Christenings</td><td align="right">87,049</td><td align="right">74,302</td><td align="right">161,349</td></tr>
+<tr><td>Interments</td><td align="right">51,456</td><td align="right">57,762</td><td align="right">109,218</td></tr>
+<tr><td>Increase</td><td align="right"
+style="border-top:1px solid black;">35,591</td><td align="right"
+style="border-top:1px solid black;">16,540</td><td align="right"
+style="border-top:1px solid black;">52,131</td></tr>
+</table>
+
+<p>"4th.&mdash;And because ... a capitation tax upon house servants was imposed
+in 1844, and a very general fear existed that it would be extended to
+other classes."</p>
+
+<p>Incorrect as we have seen these various censuses to be, they do furnish
+us with very interesting means of analysis. We can see by the foregoing
+tables that the free population (black and white) was nearly two thirds
+of the entire population of the island; and also that, according to the
+last census given above, the blacks on the island exceeded the white
+people by many thousands. The balance of power then lay with the free
+blacks.</p>
+
+<p>But this was not as dangerous as it may seem&mdash;as it often appeared to
+the Cubans. At this stage of his history the negro was not even one
+generation removed from his native jungle. He was imitating the white
+man not so much in his quiet virtues as in his glaring and showy vices.
+The negro is naturally sociable and happy-go-lucky. The island of Cuba
+has not a climate which is conducive to arduous labors.</p>
+
+<p>The natural tendency of the colored freed man was to gravitate away from
+the plantations, into the cities and villages. This made it necessary
+constantly to be importing new slaves to take the place of the freed
+man. Frequently, however, the latter improved in his new surroundings.
+His freedom, his increased obligations, his new sense of self-respect,
+made him desire to throw his fortunes, not with his enslaved black
+brothers but with<a name="page_287" id="page_287"></a> the free born white man. This was the more easy of
+accomplishment because there is no place in the world where people are
+more democratic in matters of race than in Cuba. A free black man who
+improved his opportunities was sure of being received as the equal of
+the white man in the same station of life. This even extended to
+intermarriage with white women. Miscegenation was very common, but
+curiously enough, more common in plantation life, on the same basis that
+the American planter in the southern part of the United States conducted
+his relations with his women slaves. The tendency of the free colored
+man, in spite of his new opportunities, was to marry one of his own
+race.</p>
+
+<p>In 1820 the slave-trade with Africa was legally abolished, and
+undoubtedly if this law had been enforced the negro population would
+have diminished rapidly, because the mortality of the negro race in
+slavery is very high. Even in Cuba, a land where the climate is more
+similar to that of his own country than that of any part of the United
+States, the negro is all too frequently a victim of tuberculosis.
+Indeed, although in the Custom House between 1811 and 1817, 67,000
+negroes were registered as imported, and the real number must have been
+far greater, in 1817 there were only 13,300 more slaves than in 1811.</p>
+
+<p>Another reason, too, would have contributed very quickly to the
+diminishing of the negro population. Spain, always greedy for the main
+chance, never far-seeing in her relations with her American possessions,
+had urged the importation of male slaves in preference to females. Of
+course this meant a preponderance of laborers, but it also militated
+against the increase of the race in Cuba by natural means. There was far
+from being a sufficient number of young women of child-bearing age. On
+the plantations the proportion of women to men was<a name="page_288" id="page_288"></a> one to four; in the
+cities the rate was better, 1 to 1.4; in Havana 1 to 1.2; and in the
+island considered as a whole 1 to 1.7. For a normal and proper birth
+rate there must be a preponderance of women over men.</p>
+
+<p>But, although the laws forbade the slave traffic, by illicit means it
+continued to be carried on. Between 1811 and 1825 no fewer than 185,000
+African negroes were imported into Cuba; 60,000 of these subsequent to
+the passage of the measure of 1820.</p>
+
+<p>The ratio of population to the square league is a very interesting and
+illuminating study. On this point J. S. Thrasher gives us some excellent
+deductions:</p>
+
+<p>"Supposing the population to be 715,000 (which I believe to be within
+the minimum number) the ratio of population in Cuba, in 1825, was 197
+individuals to the square league, and, consequently, nearly twice less
+than that of San Domingo, and four times smaller than that of Jamaica.
+If Cuba were as well cultivated as the latter island, or, more properly
+speaking, if the density of population were the same, it would contain
+3,515 x 974, or 3,159,000 inhabitants."</p>
+
+<p>In 1811, at the time the population was estimated, we find the negroes
+to have been distributed as follows; the figures indicating percentages:</p>
+
+<table border="0" cellpadding="1" cellspacing="3" summary=""
+class="sml90">
+<tr><td><i>&nbsp; Western Department</i></td><td align="right">&nbsp; <i>Free</i></td><td align="right">&nbsp; <i>Slave</i></td><td align="right">&nbsp; <i>Total</i></td></tr>
+<tr><td>In towns</td><td align="right">11</td><td align="right">11&frac12;</td><td align="right">22&frac12;</td></tr>
+<tr><td>In rural districts</td><td align="right">1&frac12;</td><td align="right">34</td><td align="right">35&frac12;</td></tr>
+<tr><td colspan="4"><i>Eastern Department</i></td></tr>
+<tr><td>In towns</td><td align="right">11</td><td align="right">9&frac12;</td><td align="right">20&frac12;</td></tr>
+<tr><td>In rural districts</td><td align="right">11</td><td align="right">10&frac12;</td><td align="right">21&frac12;</td></tr>
+<tr><td>&nbsp;</td><td align="right"
+style="border-top:1px solid black;">34&frac12;</td><td align="right"
+style="border-top:1px solid black;">65&frac12;</td><td align="right"
+style="border-top:1px solid black;">100</td></tr>
+</table>
+
+<p>The foregoing indicates that sixty per cent. of the black population at
+this period lived in the district of Havana, and that there were about
+equal numbers of freedmen and slaves, that the total black population in
+that portion of<a name="page_289" id="page_289"></a> the island was distributed between towns and country in
+the ratio of two to three, while in the eastern part of the island the
+distribution between towns and country was about equal. We shall find
+the foregoing compilations of inestimable value in consideration of the
+problem which was such a source of concern to the white population and
+which played so large a part in this period of the history of Cuba;
+namely, slavery.<a name="page_290" id="page_290"></a></p>
+
+<h3><a name="CHAPTER_XVIII" id="CHAPTER_XVIII"></a>CHAPTER XVIII</h3>
+
+<p>The first records of the slave trade in Cuba&mdash;so far as the eastern part
+of the island is concerned&mdash;were in 1521. Curiously enough it was begun
+by Portuguese rather than Spanish settlers. It was a well recognized
+institution, licensed by the government. The first license was held by
+one Gasper Peralta, and covered the trade with the entire Spanish
+America. Later French traders visited Havana and took tobacco in trade
+for their slaves. The English, during their possession of the island,
+far from frowning on the traffic, encouraged it; yet in the latter part
+of the eighteenth century the number of slaves in Cuba was estimated not
+to exceed 32,000. This was previous to 1790. Of these 32,000, 25,000
+were in the district of Havana.</p>
+
+<p>Baron Humboldt is authority for some interesting figures on the traffic.
+"The number of Africans imported from 1521 to 1763 was probably 60,000,
+whose descendants exist" (he writes in 1856) "among the free mulattoes,
+the greater part of which inhabit the eastern part of the island. From
+1763 to 1790 when the trade in negroes was thrown open, Havana received
+24,875 (by the Tobacco Company, 4,957 from 1763 to 1766; by the contract
+with the Marquis de Casa Enrile, 14,132, from 1773 to 1779; by the
+contract with Baker and Dawson, 5,786 from 1786 to 1789). If we estimate
+the importation of slaves in the eastern part of the island during these
+twenty-seven years (1763 to 1790) at 6,000, we have a total importation
+of 80,875 from the time of the discovery of Cuba, or more properly
+speaking, from 1521 to 1790."<a name="page_291" id="page_291"></a></p>
+
+<p>It was in the period of which we are writing, particularly in the very
+early years of the nineteenth century, that the slave trade most
+flourished in Cuba. It is estimated that more slaves were bought and
+sold from 1790 to 1820 than in all the preceding history of the Spanish
+possession of the island.</p>
+
+<p>England, possibly seeing what an enormous power for developing the
+natural wealth of the island an influx of free labor would give to
+Spain, entered into an arrangement with Ferdinand VII.&mdash;whose sole
+animating motive in dealing with his foreign possessions seems to have
+been to grab the reward in hand and let the future take care of
+itself&mdash;whereby, upon the payment by England to the king of four hundred
+thousand pounds sterling, to compensate for the estimated loss which the
+cessation of the slave trade would mean to the colonies, Ferdinand
+agreed that the slave trade north of the equator should be restricted
+from November 22, 1817, and totally abolished on May 30, 1820. Ferdinand
+accepted the money, but as we have seen he did not fulfil his contract
+and winked at the continuation of the importation of labor from Africa.</p>
+
+<p>The following table shows an importation into the district of Havana
+alone, for a period of 31 years, of 225,574 Africans:</p>
+
+<table border="0" cellpadding="2" cellspacing="0" summary=""
+class="sml90">
+<tr><td align="right">1790</td><td align="right">2,534</td><td align="right">&nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; 1806</td><td align="right">4,395</td></tr>
+<tr><td align="right">1791</td><td align="right">8,498</td><td align="right">1807</td><td align="right">2,565</td></tr>
+<tr><td align="right">1792</td><td align="right">8,528</td><td align="right">1808</td><td align="right">1,607</td></tr>
+<tr><td align="right">1793</td><td align="right">3,777</td><td align="right">1809</td><td align="right">1,152</td></tr>
+<tr><td align="right">1794</td><td align="right">4,164</td><td align="right">1810</td><td align="right">6,672</td></tr>
+<tr><td align="right">1795</td><td align="right">5,832</td><td align="right">1811</td><td align="right">6,349</td></tr>
+<tr><td align="right">1796</td><td align="right">5,711</td><td align="right">1812</td><td align="right">6,081</td></tr>
+<tr><td align="right">1797</td><td align="right">4,552</td><td align="right">1813</td><td align="right">4,770</td></tr>
+<tr><td align="right">1798</td><td align="right">2,001</td><td align="right">1814</td><td align="right">4,321</td></tr>
+<tr><td align="right">1799</td><td align="right">4,919</td><td align="right">1815</td><td align="right">9,111</td></tr>
+<tr><td align="right">1800</td><td align="right">4,145</td><td align="right">1816</td><td align="right">17,737</td></tr>
+<tr><td align="right">1801</td><td align="right">1,659</td><td align="right">1817</td><td align="right">25,841</td></tr>
+<tr><td align="right">1802</td><td align="right">13,832</td><td align="right">1818</td><td align="right">19,902</td></tr>
+<tr><td align="right">1803</td><td align="right">9,671</td><td align="right">1819</td><td align="right">17,194</td></tr>
+<tr><td align="right">1804</td><td align="right">8,923</td><td align="right">1820</td><td align="right">4,122</td></tr>
+<tr><td align="right">1805</td><td align="right">4,999</td>
+<td align="right">&nbsp;</td><td align="right">&nbsp;</td></tr>
+<tr><td align="right">&nbsp;</td><td align="right">&nbsp;</td><td align="right">Total</td><td align="right"
+style="border-top:1px solid black;">225,574</td></tr>
+</table>
+
+<p>But Havana was not the only port through which slaves entered Cuba, and
+the recognized channels were not the only ones through which they came.
+Therefore, to provide for the illicit importations and those made at
+Trinidad and Santiago these figures should be increased by at least one
+fourth to cover the importations for the whole island. This gives us the
+following results:</p>
+
+<table border="0" cellpadding="2" cellspacing="0" summary=""
+class="sml90">
+<tr>
+<td>&nbsp;</td>
+<td>From</td>
+<td align="right">1521 to 1763</td>
+<td align="right">60,000</td></tr>
+<tr><td>&nbsp;</td>
+<td>&nbsp;</td>
+<td align="right">1764 &nbsp;
+&nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; </td>
+<td align="right">33,409</td></tr>
+<tr><td colspan="4">Havana</td></tr>
+<tr><td>&nbsp;</td><td>From</td><td align="right">1791 to 1805</td><td align="right">91,211</td></tr>
+<tr><td>&nbsp;</td><td>&nbsp;</td><td align="right">1806 to 1820</td><td align="right">&nbsp; &nbsp; 131,829</td></tr>
+<tr><td colspan="3">Secret trade and trade in other parts of the island</td><td align="right">56,000</td></tr>
+<tr><td colspan="3">&nbsp;</td><td align="right"
+style="border-top:1px solid black;">372,499</td></tr>
+</table>
+
+<p>As we have seen, the trade did not stop when it was made illegal. We
+have the authority of one of the British commissioners at Havana that in
+1821 twenty-six vessels engaged in the slave trade landed 6,415 slaves;
+and this gentleman also states that only about fifty per cent. of such
+arrivals ever reached the attention of the commissioners, so that to
+this number an equal amount should be added to provide for the slaves
+imported by "underground" methods.<a name="page_293" id="page_293"></a></p>
+
+<p>The yearly reports of these British commissioners furnish some food for
+thought on this subject. They report the following data:</p>
+
+<table border="0" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" summary=""
+class="sml90">
+<tr><td>1822, 10 vessels arrived, bringing&mdash;estimated&mdash;3,000</td><td align="center">slaves</td></tr>
+<tr><td>1823,  &nbsp; 4 vessels arrived, bringing&mdash;estimated&mdash;1,200</td><td align="center">"</td></tr>
+<tr><td>1824, 17 vessels arrived, bringing&mdash;estimated&mdash;5,100</td><td align="center">"</td></tr>
+<tr><td>1825, 14 vessels arrived, bringing&mdash;estimated&mdash;4,200</td><td align="center">"</td></tr>
+<tr><td>1826, 11 vessels arrived, bringing&mdash;estimated&mdash;3,000</td><td align="center">"</td></tr>
+<tr><td>1827, 10 vessels arrived, bringing&mdash;estimated&mdash;3,500</td><td align="center">"</td></tr>
+<tr><td>1828, 28 vessels arrived, bringing&mdash;estimated&mdash;7,000</td><td align="center">"</td></tr>
+<tr><td>&nbsp;</td><td align="right"
+style="border-top:1px solid black;">27,000</td><td align="center">"</td></tr>
+<tr><td>Adding the estimated one half for the number not reported</td><td align="center">&nbsp; &nbsp; 13,500</td><td align="center">"</td></tr>
+<tr><td>&nbsp;</td><td align="right"
+style="border-top:1px solid black;">40,500</td><td align="center">"</td></tr>
+</table>
+
+<p>In 1838, the British consul at Havana reported to the foreign office in
+London, regarding slave importations into Cuba for the previous nine
+years:</p>
+
+<table border="0" cellpadding="2" cellspacing="0" summary=""
+class="sml90">
+<tr><td>1829</td><td align="right">8,600</td></tr>
+<tr><td>1830</td><td align="right">9,800</td></tr>
+<tr><td>1831</td><td align="right">10,400</td></tr>
+<tr><td>1832</td><td align="right">8,200</td></tr>
+<tr><td>1833</td><td align="right">9,000</td></tr>
+<tr><td>1834</td><td align="right">11,400</td></tr>
+<tr><td>1835</td><td align="right">14,800</td></tr>
+<tr><td>1836</td><td align="right">14,200</td></tr>
+<tr><td>1837</td><td align="right">15,200</td></tr>
+<tr><td align="center">Total</td><td align="right"
+style="border-top:1px solid black;">&nbsp; &nbsp; 101,600</td></tr>
+<tr><td>Add 1/5</td><td align="right">20,320</td></tr>
+<tr><td>&nbsp;</td><td align="right"
+style="border-top:1px solid black;">121,920</td></tr>
+</table>
+
+<p>It will be observed that the consulate adds only one fifth to cover the
+secret importations during this period.</p>
+
+<p>From 1838 to 1853 the importations, according to records<a name="page_294" id="page_294"></a> laid before
+the British House of Commons, were as follows:</p>
+
+<table border="0" cellpadding="2" cellspacing="0" summary=""
+class="sml90">
+<tr><td>1838</td><td align="right">10,495</td><td>&nbsp;</td><td>1846</td><td align="right">419</td></tr>
+<tr><td>1839</td><td align="right">10,995</td><td>&nbsp;</td><td>1847</td><td align="right">1,450</td></tr>
+<tr><td>1840</td><td align="right">10,104</td><td>&nbsp;</td><td>1848</td><td align="right">1,500</td></tr>
+<tr><td>1841</td><td align="right">8,893</td><td>&nbsp;</td><td>1849</td><td align="right">8,700</td></tr>
+<tr><td>1842</td><td align="right">3,630</td><td>&nbsp;</td><td>1850</td><td align="right">3,500</td></tr>
+<tr><td>1843</td><td align="right">8,000</td><td>&nbsp;</td><td>1851</td><td align="right">5,000</td></tr>
+<tr><td>1844</td><td align="right">10,000</td><td>&nbsp;</td><td>1852</td><td align="right">7,924</td></tr>
+<tr><td>1845</td><td align="right">1,300</td><td>1st half</td><td>1853</td><td align="right">7,329</td></tr>
+<tr><td colspan="4">&nbsp;</td><td align="right"
+style="border-top:1px solid black;">99,239</td></tr>
+</table>
+
+<p>During the early years of the slave trade, the Spanish masters treated
+their slaves not so well as they treated their work animals. But
+gradually they began to realize that after all it was cheaper to keep
+the slaves that they had in good physical condition than to be
+continually buying new ones, especially when the trade had fallen off
+because of legal restrictions.</p>
+
+<p>A greater number of colored women were imported; the moral condition of
+the negroes, especially as to marriage, became a subject of greater
+interest to the plantation owners; the negroes were encouraged to marry,
+and wives were recruited from among the mulattoes as well as those of
+pure black blood. Some efforts were made for better sanitary conditions
+toward the middle of the century, and persons were employed on the
+estates whose business it was to look after the sick slaves and nurse
+them. In the last analysis, however, the conditions under which the
+slaves lived on each plantation rested entirely&mdash;as it did in the United
+States&mdash;on the kind of overseers under whom they were employed.</p>
+
+<p>There are many touching stories of the devotion of the<a name="page_295" id="page_295"></a> slaves to their
+master. This was quite as great as among the old southern families in
+the United States. The Cuban was naturally a kind master&mdash;we wish the
+Spanish-born planter might always be as well spoken of&mdash;and he inspired
+in his slaves a feeling of real affection. This often developed into a
+single hearted devotion so great that the slave grew to count his
+master's enemies as his own.</p>
+
+<p>This is not extraordinary when we consider that the African, torn from
+his own home and family ties and transported to a strange country, among
+a strange people, took the name of his master and became a part of the
+big household, identified not only with the working life but also with
+the social life of the little community represented by the plantation.
+Fierce as he may have been in his native surroundings, he was naturally
+affectionate and clung eagerly to the one who, holding the slave's whole
+destiny in his hand, yet was kind to him. The women slaves, especially
+those of mixed blood, were bound to their masters often by ties of
+consanguinity. They attended the master's wife when her children were
+born, nursed the babies at their own breasts, and served and waited upon
+the second generation as foster mothers. They were like grown up
+children. The places where they lived, the food that they ate and the
+clothing that they wore were all under the control of the one whom they
+served. When he fell ill, they were devoted nurses, and when he died,
+they buried him, and manifested their grief in their own primitive
+fashion.</p>
+
+<p>The slave owner who treated his slaves well, until other factors began
+to enter the situation, had little to fear from them. But masters were
+not always kindly. There were as many different varieties of human
+disposition in those days as in these. The negro can hate as fiercely as
+he can<a name="page_296" id="page_296"></a> love, and gradually, as he acquired more knowledge and
+understanding, on the estates where kindness was not the law, there grew
+up mutterings of discontent and hatred, and hints of possible uprisings.</p>
+
+<p>It was the excessive mortality among the black population which first,
+perhaps, influenced their owners to favor better laws and more natural
+and healthful conditions for them. Curiously enough, up to the opening
+of the nineteenth century there were "religious scruples" against the
+introduction of female slaves on the plantations, although the colored
+women were much less expensive to purchase than the men. The colored men
+were condemned to celibacy, as Baron Humboldt told us, "under the
+pretext that vicious habits were thus avoided." They were worked in the
+day time, and locked in at night to avoid their having any chance for
+female companionship. And yet, in spite of the fact that these
+"scruples" were "religious," we find the paradoxical situation that the
+Jesuit and Bethlehemite friars were the only planters who encouraged the
+importation of women slaves.</p>
+
+<p>Don Francisco de Arango, being a clear sighted man, endeavored to bring
+about the imposition of a tax upon such plantations as did not have at
+least one third as many women as men among their slaves. He also tried
+to have a duty of $6 levied upon every male negro imported from Africa.
+In both of these efforts he was defeated, but they had the excellent
+effect of stirring public opinion. While the juntas were opposed, as
+always, to enacting any such drastic measures, yet there began to be a
+disposition to encourage the mating of the slaves, to increase the
+number of marriages, to give each negro a little cabin of his own that
+he might call home, and, when children came, to see that they were
+properly cared for. Then, too, efforts were<a name="page_297" id="page_297"></a> made to insure lighter work
+for the women during pregnancy, with a total relief as the time for the
+birth of the coming child grew nearer.</p>
+
+<p>How much of this came about because the slave owners were forced to see
+that a continuation of the early conditions would compass their own
+ruin, and how much because they were naturally inclined to be humane
+when their duty was brought home to them, it is difficult to determine;
+but judging from the Cuban's naturally kindly disposition, we are
+inclined to believe that in many instances the master was glad to treat
+his slaves as well as he could, when he began to realize that after all
+they were not merely property&mdash;cheap labor&mdash;but human beings with
+emotions and longings very much like his own. Under these bettered
+conditions the rate of negro mortality fell as low as from eight to six
+per cent. on the best plantations.</p>
+
+<p>Another element, however, which was not conducive to the betterment of
+the conditions of the negroes was the introduction of thousands of
+Chinese laborers. They contracted to work for a number of years at
+prices far below those usually estimated as fair, on the island. They
+were the very lowest type of Chinese, and brought with them many vicious
+influences and practices. No Chinese women were imported, and the
+Chinese men mingled freely with the negro women. The very worst kind of
+miscegenation was thus promoted, and the effect on the morals of the
+negroes on the estates where these Chinese were employed was very bad
+indeed.</p>
+
+<p>In no other of the foreign colonies in America did the free negro so
+predominate as in Cuba. It was not at all a difficult matter for a black
+to gain freedom, since almost no real obstacles were placed in his way.
+Every slave<a name="page_298" id="page_298"></a> who did not like his "condition of servitude" had a right
+to seek a new master, or to purchase his liberty, on payment only of the
+price paid for him.</p>
+
+<p>Then, too, the religious education of the slaves came to be recognized
+as a matter of great importance. Religion played an important part in
+the life of the Spanish colonies in general. It was therefore only
+natural that they should employ every available means to convert the
+African slave from his "false heathen superstitions" to their own "true
+faith." Besides, it had long been the theory of tyrants that if men were
+imbued with religious fervor and taught self-immolation, they were thus
+rendered more docile under oppression. The slave code accordingly
+required every master to instruct his slaves in religion.</p>
+
+<p>One of the first and most marked results of this encouragement of
+religious feeling was quite different from what had been expected or
+intended. That was, to arouse a strong and increasing repugnance to the
+legal continuance of the institution of slavery. This prevailed among
+the better class of owners as well as among the slaves themselves. More
+and more frequent became the custom of providing by will for the
+emancipation of slaves at the death of their masters. The natural
+affection, also, to which we have referred, which arose between slaves
+who acted as domestic or body servants and the owners who enjoyed such
+faithful service, conduced to the same end. The natural inclination of
+the humane master was to grant such servitors their freedom.</p>
+
+<p>Despite these palliating circumstances, slavery was odious, and
+persistent negro insurrections began to cause serious concern to the
+white population. In hope of checking them by kindness, new laws were
+enacted. Legal restrictions were placed upon the hours of labor.<a name="page_299" id="page_299"></a> It was
+decreed that except under certain stated conditions a master should not
+work his slaves more than nine or ten hours a day. When the exigencies
+of the season required greater efforts, sixteen hours were prescribed as
+the extreme limit, and the master was required to give extra pay for the
+extra time. But these regulations were difficult if not impossible to
+enforce. Indeed, we must assume that they were not meant to be enforced.
+They were for show and nothing more; and they remained practically a
+dead letter.</p>
+
+<p>Religious scruples could not and of course did not prevent the
+performance of much labor on Sundays, and the needs of agriculture often
+made work necessary on holidays. There were routine duties to be
+performed every day. For these, two hours were regarded as sufficient,
+and to such time the code restricted the labor of Sundays and holidays.
+There was also a general provision under which slaves were granted the
+right to labor on their own account, paying a certain part of their
+wages to the masters and retaining the remainder from which they might,
+if they desired, create a fund looking toward their own eventual
+freedom.</p>
+
+<p>One cannot escape the conclusion that during the periods of slavery,
+either in the United States or the Spanish colonies, the African negro
+was never really regarded&mdash;no matter how close and friendly his
+relations with his master&mdash;in the last analysis, as anything more than a
+sort of higher animal or at best a child. Men do not thrash their
+employes for disobedience, when there is any pretence of equality
+between master and servant. Animals are whipped to teach them obedience,
+and a child is chastised when he is naughty. The last was ever the
+corrective which the white master wielded against his disobedient or
+lazy slaves. It is true that nominally the laws<a name="page_300" id="page_300"></a> of Cuba did not permit
+its brutal misuse. The slave code limited the amount of punishment for
+any offense to twenty-five lashes. Any more severe measures, if known,
+were the subject of careful judicial investigation, and the penalty for
+them on conviction was a fine of from $20 to $200. Unfortunately,
+however, these laws were not effective. It is obvious that a strong man
+can do much damage to a human being with 25 lashes. Infractions of the
+law were seldom reported. The frightened African, subject to his master,
+feared the results of reporting a violation of the law. He would have to
+stand trial before a jury, not of his peers but of white men, one of
+whose number was the aggressor. The other slaves&mdash;his witnesses&mdash;were
+far too afraid of what might befall them if they upheld the testimony of
+the complainant. Even the sluggish brain of the slave could picture,
+with dreadful anticipation, the anger of the master, and the subsequent
+retribution, much more severe than the original beating, should by any
+extraordinary chance the slave be triumphant and his master be compelled
+to pay a fine.</p>
+
+<p>And so, in spite of the fact that in none of the colonies was the
+condition of the black freedman better than in Cuba,&mdash;far better than in
+Martinique, where free negroes were prohibited from receiving gifts from
+white people, and where they might be apprehended and returned to
+servitude if they could be convicted of the very natural act of aiding
+any of their less fortunate brothers to escape&mdash;and in spite of the laws
+which might, if not dead letters, have safeguarded the interests of the
+slaves, a feeling of dissatisfaction and unrest among the blacks was
+seething beneath the surface. The more knowledge they gained, and,
+curiously enough, the more concessions there were granted them, the
+stronger it grew, breeding trouble and bad blood between the white
+owners and the blacks, both<a name="page_301" id="page_301"></a> enslaved and free, destroying mutual
+confidence and engendering a spirit of fear and distrust which was
+presently to break forth into open revolt.</p>
+
+<p>The negroes hated the Spanish authorities, too, because they recognized
+them to be cowards and hypocrites, pretending one thing and doing
+another; oppressing the weak for their own gain, and siding with the
+powerful because it served their interests to do so. In such
+circumstances the drift toward slave insurrections was inevitable.<a name="page_302" id="page_302"></a></p>
+
+<h3><a name="CHAPTER_XIX" id="CHAPTER_XIX"></a>CHAPTER XIX</h3>
+
+<p>Perhaps it is a wise Providence that decrees that even government shall
+be subject to that rhythm by which the tides of human affairs rise and
+fall. Who shall say? In 1796, Las Casas, who had tried to do so much for
+Cuba, was succeeded, as Captain-General, by the Conde de Santa Clara.
+The latter was of a different type from Las Casas. In spite of his
+aristocratic birth, he was a man of little education, and indifferent to
+it. The result was, since he had no taste for letters, and social
+elegance did not appeal to him, that the impetus was withdrawn from the
+development of the finer arts in Cuba. His influence was all the more
+deleterious since he was a man of generous, hearty, open-handed nature
+and personally was immensely popular. Naturally, but unhappily, culture
+in Cuba quickly fell from the high standards maintained by his
+predecessor.</p>
+
+<p>Santa Clara's interests were military and he did a great deal to improve
+the forts of Cuba&mdash;a much needed work. Almost all of the new
+fortifications on the island, which aided in its defense during the
+latter part of the nineteenth century, were originated by him, and the
+Bateria de Santa Clara, outside of Havana, was named in recognition of
+his services.</p>
+
+<p>Previous to 1796 there had been a great navy yard on the Bay of Havana,
+and more than a hundred war vessels or convoys for Spanish treasure
+ships had there been built. The same year that Santa Clara became
+Captain-General, the Spanish ship-builders, realizing that they were
+losing the large profits from this work, demanded<a name="page_303" id="page_303"></a> that the navy yard at
+Havana be closed, and that the work be done in Spain. Influence was
+finally brought to bear on the crown, and an order was issued closing
+the Cuban navy yards.</p>
+
+<p>The rule of Santa Clara was, however, a short one; which was well for
+the island. In 1799, the Marquis de Someruelos succeeded him. By Spanish
+law the term of Captain-General was limited to five years. The Conde de
+Santa Clara failed to complete his term, but the Marquis de Someruelos
+served for a much longer period. He remained in Cuba until 1812, and he
+sought by every means in his power to efface the bad effects of the rule
+of Santa Clara and to reestablish the régime of progress which had
+flourished under Las Casas.</p>
+
+<p>In 1802 Havana was visited by a devastating conflagration. As frequently
+happens in such disasters, it was the poorer people who suffered the
+most severely. Over 11,000 of the poorer inhabitants of the suburb of
+Jesus Maria were rendered destitute. The Marquis de Someruelos lent his
+personal efforts to their succor, to excellent effect, and his kindness
+of heart quickly endeared him to rich and poor alike. He tried hard to
+rule impartially, to dispense justice to all classes without
+distinction, and attained a gratifying measure of success.</p>
+
+<p>The improvement of the island from an architectural point of view also
+interested him, and he left behind him two public memorials. The first
+was intended to give an impetus to art. It was a great public theatre;
+perhaps not great for these days, it is true, but an undertaking of note
+for that time. The second showed his interest in sanitary measures. It
+was a public cemetery, a huge burying-ground, 22,000 square yards in
+size, where the dead might be gathered, rather than to permit their
+being buried in small plots on estates or in yards. The walls,<a name="page_304" id="page_304"></a> gateway
+and chapel were good examples of the Cuban architecture of the period,
+and the mortuary chapel contained a beautiful fresco depicting the
+Resurrection.</p>
+
+<p>Early in the nineteenth century, in 1807, the people of the island began
+to manifest a fear, which indeed was well founded, of hostile invasion.
+Both England and France had long cast appraising and jealous eyes on the
+Spanish possessions in America. The Spanish trade was valuable, and
+England was eager to seize as much as possible of it. In view of this
+peril the defenses of Havana were materially strengthened. Troops were
+carefully drilled, and the army was increased by the addition of
+recruits. Several coast towns were attacked and sacked by the English,
+but no large invasion took place and the damage was small.</p>
+
+<p>But the Cubans soon learned that the enemy whom they had real cause to
+fear was not England but France. Spain and France were at war, and the
+French colonists in America stood ready to take up the quarrel. To avert
+this peril "Juntas" or Committees were organized for national defense.
+War was unofficially declared on the unnaturalized Frenchmen on the
+Island, many of whom were killed and their plantations wrecked, while
+6,000 were expelled from the island. Even these drastic measures did not
+prevent a French invasion, although it was rather an opera bouffe
+performance. A motley company of soldiers of fortune, adventurers, and
+refugees from Santo Domingo tried to take Santiago and failed; they did,
+however, effect a landing at Batabano.</p>
+
+<p>The Cuban army hastened to defend the country, but found that the
+invaders were not particularly enthusiastic about fighting. They wanted
+to colonize. They endeavored to "build homes and make their residences
+in uninhabited portions of Cuba, just as they had done in<a name="page_305" id="page_305"></a> Santo
+Domingo. The Cubans, however, realized that this apparently peaceful
+effort might well be a menace in disguise. If the French were allowed to
+settle portions of the island, soon France, who also appreciated the
+value of the Spanish possessions, might endeavor to claim the island, or
+at least a portion of it, as her territory.</p>
+
+<p>The Captain-General was equal to the occasion. He did not resort to
+arms. He plainly but firmly impressed upon the invaders the fact that it
+was unthinkable that they should be allowed to take as their own any
+portion of Cuba. He told them that if they were dissatisfied with Santo
+Domingo, he would see that transportation was furnished them to France.
+On the other hand, if they wanted to return to Santo Domingo, he would
+insure their being taken thither. But on no account could they remain as
+inhabitants of Cuba. His persuasions were partially successful and
+numbers of them peacefully left the country.</p>
+
+<p>For a long time, Spain had paid but meagre attention to her American
+possessions, save to mulct them for revenue. They had no representation,
+and their messages to and requests of the mother country received but
+scanty attention. Spain herself was passing through stormy times. The
+country was in turmoil. Revolution was impending. Napoleon, whose greedy
+glance embraced almost the whole of Europe, had turned his attention to
+the Peninsula. In 1808 the royal family of Spain was abducted, and held
+virtually prisoners by Napoleon, while a new government was set up.</p>
+
+<p>When the news of Napoleon's action reached Cuba, the Cabildo was in
+session. At once, each and every member took a solemn oath to make every
+effort to retain the island "for their lawful sovereign." Don Juan de
+Aguilar arrived in Cuba on the American ship <i>Dispatch</i>, and the<a name="page_306" id="page_306"></a>
+government at once declared war against Napoleon and reaffirmed the
+loyalty of Cuba to Spain. On July 20, 1808, they proclaimed King
+Ferdinand VII as their lawful sovereign. This conduct, so little
+appreciated and so cruelly repaid by the mother country, won for Cuba
+the title of the "Ever-Faithful Isle."</p>
+
+<p>The internal troubles in Spain naturally had a most disastrous effect
+upon the Cuban trade and prosperity. The exports to Spain fell off to an
+alarming degree. The products of the country had, for a time, lost their
+natural market. Only statesmen of vision were able to understand the
+causes of the trouble. The common people looked upon the results only,
+and a strong feeling of unrest was engendered. The colony was
+practically independent of the mother country at this time, so far as
+any guidance or aid was concerned. The King was exiled and Joseph
+Bonaparte held sway in the Spanish capital.</p>
+
+<p>But now a new difficulty showed its head. Not all the French had
+returned to Santo Domingo or France. There were numbers of French
+settlers in the rural districts. The people were discontented, and soon
+a movement arose&mdash;on March 21, 1809, it came to a crisis&mdash;to endeavor to
+persuade the French colonists, who had been so easily disposed of by
+Someruelos, to return. This movement took on almost the aspect of a
+revolution. It seemed as if France, not content with obtaining control
+of Spain, was again stretching out a clutching hand to grab Cuba as
+well.</p>
+
+<p>The heads of the Cuban government were thoroughly aroused. Summary
+measures were taken, and the uprising, which had bid fair to be so
+serious, was subdued in two days. It was due, probably, to the firmness,
+decision and resourcefulness of those at the helm of Cuba at that<a name="page_307" id="page_307"></a> time,
+that Cuba did not then and there become the victim of a movement which
+might have resulted in her becoming subject to France instead of Spain.
+The attitude of the United States toward French aggression also lent
+Cuba moral support, as we shall see.</p>
+
+<p>The encounters which took place in putting down this trouble were
+practically bloodless. Almost no lives were lost, but much property was
+destroyed. A more serious result was that dissatisfied colonists, some
+of them of the most desirable type, to the number of many thousands,
+were driven to seek their fortunes and find new homes away from Cuba.</p>
+
+<p>Napoleon was not satisfied to leave Spain in possession of Cuba, but
+soon instigated another effort to get possession of the island for
+France. In 1810, a young man arrived in Cuba from the United States. He
+was Don Manuel Aleman. His mission was apparently private business of
+his own, but the Cuban government had confidential information to the
+effect that he was an emissary of Napoleon. He was not allowed to land
+unapprehended, but was arrested on the ship on which he had come, and he
+was thrust into a none too pleasant Cuban prison. A council of war was
+assembled, but this was merely a form. Aleman's fate was predetermined.
+On the following morning, July 13, 1810, he was taken to the Campo de la
+Punta and there publicly hanged as a traitor to Spain.</p>
+
+<p>No account of events in Cuba at this time would be complete without some
+record of one whom Las Casas called "a jewel of priceless value to the
+glory of the nation, a protector for Cuba, an accomplished statesman for
+the monarchy," Don Francisco de Arango, the bearer of the "most
+illustrious name in Cuban annals."</p>
+
+<p>Arango, to whom we have previously made reference,<a name="page_308" id="page_308"></a> was born on May 22,
+1765, at Havana. In early boy-hood he was left an orphan, but he managed
+the large estate which had been left him with all the skill and judgment
+of a mature mind. He studied law, and was admitted to practice in Spain,
+and he there acted, for a number of years, as agent for the municipality
+of Cuba. He was thoroughly familiar with the wrongs and needs of his
+country, and it is probable that no one of his time was more suited by
+nature, training and sympathies to act for Cuba. He succeeded in fact in
+obtaining from the crown some very valuable concessions for the island.
+In Cuba itself he worked hard to bring about an increase of staples. He
+exerted his influence among the planters to the end that the fertile
+soil should be worked to its utmost productiveness. It was necessary
+that not only should Cuba be self-supporting, and be able to pay her
+enormous taxes, but that there should be a large surplus to feed the
+royal exchequer. No one realized this more than Arango, whose years at
+the Spanish court had made him familiar with the greed of the Spanish
+government. His work was fruitful, and Cuban production at this period
+came almost up to the wild expectations of the Spanish government, which
+regarded Cuba as a land of inexhaustible riches. Arango was moreover a
+humanitarian at heart. The wrongs of the slaves and the evils of the
+slave trade appealed to his sense of justice. On the other hand, he saw
+very clearly the difficulty of obtaining the proper amount of labor for
+the Cuban plantations if the slave trade was abolished, and so his
+efforts on behalf of the slaves took the form of attempts toward their
+protection by wise laws.</p>
+
+<p>The attitude of Spain toward her colonies was at this time, as indeed
+always, grossly illogical. She wanted to take everything and give
+nothing. She could not foresee<a name="page_309" id="page_309"></a> that a present of constant depletion
+meant a future of want; that in order to produce in quality the proper
+facilities must be provided. Arango, who was a diplomat as well as a
+statesman, by persuasion and by constant but gentle pressure at last won
+some of those in authority at the court to his point of view. If Cuba
+was to be a source of wealth to Spain, she must be endowed with the most
+efficient equipment to produce that wealth. Through Arango's efforts
+machinery was allowed to be imported into the island, free of duty.
+This, of course, furnished the means for industrial expansion. He also
+obtained the removal of the duty on coffee, liquors and cotton, for a
+period of ten years.</p>
+
+<p>But Arango saw as clearly as Las Casas had seen that Cuba to show
+progress must have facilities for uplift, and for the improvement of the
+mental and moral status of the inhabitants. He accordingly started a
+movement which resulted in the formation of the "Junta de Fomento," or
+Society for Improvement, which was long a power for good in the island,
+until later the Spanish Captains-General saw in it a means to further
+their own designs, and it became an instrument for oppression. Its
+object was avowedly to protect and to promote the progress of
+agriculture and commerce. The formation of the Cuban Chamber of Commerce
+was another benefit which Arango conferred upon Cuba. For a long time he
+was the Syndic of the Chamber of Commerce. There were certain
+perquisites of this office which Arango steadily refused to accept, and
+he also declined the salary which the office carried with it. In all his
+long and useful life he never accepted remuneration in any office which
+he held under the Cuban government.</p>
+
+<p>Now the real power at the court of Spain at this time was the infamous
+Godoy, the personal favorite of the<a name="page_310" id="page_310"></a> king and the queen's lover; who
+seemed to be so firmly entrenched that no one would dare to oppose him.
+This creature turned greedy eyes toward Cuba. It was quite the fashion
+of those times for Spanish courtiers to consider Cuba as a source of
+revenue to bolster up their own fortunes. So Godoy claimed to be
+protector of the Chamber of Commerce, and demanded that the receipts of
+the custom house at Havana be turned over to him. He immediately met
+with the opposition of Arango, who bitterly opposed his every move and
+stood firmly against his plans for mulcting Cuba; in which conflict it
+is a pleasure to relate that for once virtue was triumphant. Godoy was
+unable to carry out his designs, and Arango was not only victor but he
+gained a still further point for Cuba, the relinquishment of the royal
+monopoly of tobacco.</p>
+
+<p>There is another curious and interesting phase of this matter, which
+speaks highly for the remarkably forceful personality of Arango.
+Although he at all times stood firmly as the inflexible opponent of any
+schemes which the court at Madrid might father for the oppression of
+Cuba, he was always an object of respect and esteem in high political
+circles in Spain, and he was offered a title of nobility. Possibly he
+looked upon this as a bribe. At any rate he declined it. However, when
+the Cross of the Order of Charles III. was offered him he accepted the
+decoration.</p>
+
+<p>In 1813 Cuba, by the adoption of the constitution of 1812, became
+entitled to representation in the Spanish Cortes, and Arango was
+unanimously chosen for this office. There was no person in Cuban
+politics more fitted for the honor. He proved himself worthy, for, as
+deputy to the Cortes, he achieved the greatest victory of his long fight
+for the good of Cuba, the opening of Cuban ports to<a name="page_311" id="page_311"></a> foreign trade. New
+honors awaited him, for he was awarded the Grand Cross of Isabella, and
+when in 1817 he returned to Cuba, he was accorded the rank of Counsellor
+of State, and Financial Intendente of Cuba. Arango died in 1837, having
+lived seventy-two years, and having faithfully served his country for
+the greater portion of them. He bequeathed a large portion of his
+considerable fortune for public purposes and charitable objects, all for
+the betterment of the land that he loved.</p>
+
+<p>In the darkest hours of tyranny, while suffering wrongs that would have
+inflamed other peoples to rebellion, Cuba remained "The Ever-Faithful
+Isle" for many years, until forced to rebellion. Against the background
+of injustice, as contrasted with the Spanish Captains-General who were
+to follow, and whose sole interest in Cuba was to extract as much as
+they could from her, acting on the principle of "after us the deluge,"
+and caring nothing for her ultimate fate, the figure of Arango, the
+native Cuban, fighting at home and abroad for Cuba, stands out in bold
+and happy relief. It is not a matter for surprise that his name has been
+written on the annals of Cuba, with all the love and respect with which
+the other South American countries revere Bolivar. Here was a man who
+could not be tempted by honors, who refused remuneration for his
+services, and who against the greatest odds stood staunchly for
+everything which would help his travailing country.</p>
+
+<p>Among Spain's other possessions in America unrest was now beginning to
+manifest itself. They were sick of Spanish rule, and the period when
+Spain was occupied with troubles at home seemed to be a good opportunity
+to thrown off the yoke. Revolution was in the air in those days.
+Independence had arisen like a new star on the horizon, and had become
+the object of popular worship.<a name="page_312" id="page_312"></a> It was therefore greatly to the credit
+of Someruelos that in such troublous times he maintained a relatively
+peaceful government. The better class of Cubans recognized his ability.
+They realized that he of all men was best fitted to keep Cuba free from
+disturbances which would hinder her advancement. Consequently when his
+term of office was ended, a petition was sent to the Spanish government,
+requesting that he be retained for a longer period. We have, however,
+only to study the dealings, not only of Spain but of all the European
+nations with the colonies in the New World, to understand that not the
+good of the subject country, but the supposed interests of the mother
+country, were what determined the destiny of the colonies. The very fact
+that Someruelos was so popular in Cuba apparently seemed to those in
+power in Spain an excellent excuse for his removal. They reasoned that
+if he had the interests of Cuba at heart, he might not be loyal to the
+government in Spain. And so, when multitudes of the best citizens of
+Cuba petitioned that he be retained longer in office, not only was the
+petition denied, but the petitioners were severely reprimanded by a
+mandate of the Spanish government.</p>
+
+<p>Hurricanes are not unusual in the southern seas, but now and then one of
+exceptional severity leaves so devastating a trail that it is worthy of
+chronicle even in a country where the elements are always more or less
+to be reckoned with. Such a hurricane visited the western coast of Cuba
+in 1810. Valuable shipping in the harbor of Havana was sunk. Sixty
+merchant vessels and many ships of war were torn from their anchors and
+swallowed up by the sea. Property all along the coast was destroyed, and
+a large number of lives were lost. That same year an uprising occurred
+among the negro population of the island. It bade fair to be far
+reaching in effect and occasioned<a name="page_313" id="page_313"></a> much alarm among the white
+population. The most drastic and even cruel methods were taken to check
+it, and finally it was subdued.</p>
+
+<div class="figright">
+<a href="images/pg313x_lg.jpg">
+<img src="images/pg313x_lg.jpg" width="241" height="284" alt="ALEJANDRO RAMIREZ" title="ALEJANDRO RAMIREZ" /></a>
+
+<br /><span class="caption">ALEJANDRO RAMIREZ</span>
+</div>
+
+<p>On April 14, 1812, Don Juan Ruiz de Apodaca, afterwards the Conde de
+Benadito, assumed the post of Captain-General, in place of the Marquis
+de Someruelos. His assumption of power was marked by the gift of
+additional authority to the office of Captain-General. For the first
+time, the Captain-General was also the commander of the naval forces.
+His initial act was to proclaim the Constitution of Cadiz. This was far
+from popular in Cuba, but the citizens realized the futility of
+resistance. His action created a sensation and caused much talk, but it
+met with no open opposition. De Apodaca's tenure of office was short. He
+retained the office of Captain-General for only two years, when he was
+sent to Mexico by the Spanish government.</p>
+
+<p>Next, Lieutenant-General Don José Cienfuegos was installed at Havana as
+Captain-General, on July 18, 1816. It was under his direction, in 1817,
+that the third census of the island was taken. Cienfuegos was most
+unpopular with the Cubans. He instituted many reforms which did not find
+favor in the eyes of those he governed.</p>
+
+<div class="blockquot"><p class="c">ALEJANDRO RAMIREZ</p>
+
+<p>An economist and statesman of three countries, Alejandro Ramirez
+was born in Spain in 1777. He began his career in Guatemala as an
+agricultural reformer and promoter; thence in 1813 went to Puerto
+Rico as Intendente and saved that island from bankruptcy. In 1816
+he became Intendente of Cuba, where he effected great reforms in
+land-holding and in education. Despite his excellent services he
+was bitterly attacked, and largely because of grief over the
+ungrateful injustice thus shown him he sickened and died on May 20,
+1821.</p></div>
+
+<p>The entire policing forces of Havana were revolutionized and put under
+new rules. We are told that his most unpopular move was to have the
+streets of that city lighted at night, and that this was "thoroughly
+resented." Just why such a move should be resented is not told us, but
+it certainly might be the subject of fruitful and romantic conjecture.
+His action is said to have caused "consternation."</p>
+
+<p>A second measure was even more distasteful to the Cubans, and they
+regarded it as an infringement of personal liberty. Cienfuegos ordered
+that, as soon as the public services in the churches in the evenings
+were over, all public thoroughfares be closed. Now this was the time of
+day when all Cuba was most bent on amusement and enjoyment, and this
+decree of the Captain-General made it impossible for any man to stray
+far from his own door with hope of returning the same night. The
+populace was up in arms with indignation. Cienfuegos had intended the
+command to have a quieting effect, but its result was exactly the
+reverse. It gave rise to the very disturbances which the Captain-General
+was endeavoring to restrain.</p>
+
+<p>It would be hard to conjecture what might have been the result of a
+continuance of Cienfuegos's arbitrary methods. They certainly boded no
+good for the peace of Cuba. Fortunately before he could resort to any
+more of what the Cubans termed "these outrages against liberty," he fell
+ill, and thereupon the administration of the government fell into the
+hands of Don Juan Maria Echeverria, as a temporary substitute. This
+officer had no time to formulate new rules for the government of the
+Cubans, being kept very busy laboring against the troubles caused by his
+predecessor's doings. Then, too, his stay was short, for on August 29,
+1819, the Spanish ship of<a name="page_315" id="page_315"></a> war <i>Sabrina</i> brought Cuba a new
+Captain-General, Don Juan Manuel Cagigal.</p>
+
+<p>In "Cuba and the Cubans," published in 1850, we are told that "The
+political changes adopted in Spain in 1812 and 1820 were productive of
+similar changes in the island: and when in both instances the
+constitution was proclaimed, the perpetual members of the municipalities
+were at once deprived of office, and their successors elected by the
+people. The provincial assembly was called, and held its sessions. The
+militia was organized; the press made entirely free, the verdict of a
+jury deciding actions for its abuses; and the same courts of justice
+were in no instance to decide a case a second time. But if the
+institution of the consulate was very beneficial during Ferdinand's
+absolute sway, the ultra-popular grants of the constitutional system,
+which could hardly be exercised with quiet in Spain, were ill-adapted to
+Cuba, though more advanced in civilization, stained with all those vices
+that are the legitimate curse of a country long under despotic sway.
+That system was so democratic that the king was deprived of all
+political authority. No intermediate house of nobility or senators
+tempered the enactments of a single elective assembly. This sudden
+change from an absolute government, with its usual concomitant, a
+corrupt and debased public sentiment, to the full enjoyment of
+republican privileges, served only to loosen the ties of decency and
+decorum throughout the Spanish community. Infidelity resulted from it;
+and that veil of respect for the religion of their fathers, which had
+covered the deformity of such a state of society, was imprudently thrown
+aside. As the natural consequence of placing the instruments of freedom
+in the hands of an ignorant multitude, their minds were filled with
+visions of that chimerical equality which the world is never to realize.
+The rich<a name="page_316" id="page_316"></a> found themselves deprived of their accustomed influence, and
+felt that there was little chance of obtaining justice from the common
+people (in no place so formidable as in Cuba, from the heterogeneous
+nature of the population), and who were now, in a manner, arrayed
+against them throughout the land. They, of course, eagerly wished the
+return of the old system of absolute rule. But the proprietors only
+asked for the liberal policy which they had enjoyed at the hands of the
+Spanish monarch; not, most surely, that oppressive and nondescript
+government, which, by separating the interest of the country from that
+of her nearest rulers, and destroying all means of redress or complaint,
+thrust the last offspring of Spain into an abyss of bloodshed and ruin,
+during the recent disgusting exercise of military rule, in publishing by
+the most arbitrary and cruel measures, persons suspected of engaging in
+an apprehended servile insurrection."</p>
+
+<p>This not altogether coherent statement gives an idea of how the rule of
+the Spanish Captains-General of this period, and how the so-called
+reforms which were instituted during the early part of the nineteenth
+century, were regarded thirty-five or forty years afterward.</p>
+
+<p>Senor Cagigal was accompanied by troops, ostensibly to supply the local
+garrison, and it would be strange if they were not also imported to fill
+the native hearts with respect for the government and to help in
+quelling any threatened uprisings. History furnishes strange paradoxes,
+and so in 1820 we have the spectacle of Cagigal's own troops rising in
+revolt against him and compelling him to proclaim the constitution of
+1812. It is true that he soon quelled this rebellion, set aside his
+proclamation, and restored the old order, but that does not detract from
+the grim humor of the situation in which he for a time found himself.<a name="page_317" id="page_317"></a></p>
+
+<p>But Cagigal was a diplomat of a high order, and he did make efforts to
+accomplish well the difficult task of governing Cuba. His decisions and
+decrees were generally impartial. He had a charming social manner, and a
+delightfully conciliatory way; always suave, affable and approachable.
+He placated trouble makers, and dispensed justice in an endeavor to give
+universal satisfaction. He was accordingly held in the highest esteem by
+the majority of the Cubans. And Cuba apparently found favor in his eyes.
+He grew to love the beautiful island, and perhaps his heart was touched
+by her patience under the galling Spanish yoke. At any rate, he applied
+to the crown for special permission to spend the rest of his life in
+Cuba. This request was granted and he made for himself a home at
+Guanabacoa, where he lived until his death, some years later.</p>
+
+<p>Cagigal was succeeded in 1821 by Nicholas Mahy, an old man, of a
+distrustful and arbitrary disposition, who was entirely out of sympathy
+with the liberal movement in Cuba. He could see no way of retaining her
+for Spain except by keeping her people in subjection under an absolute
+despotism. He proceeded to carry out his ideas with a high hand, and it
+is a matter of speculation to what lengths he might have gone, had not
+death speedily cut short his career. He ruled for only a single year,
+after which no new Captain-General was sent out from Spain but Sebastian
+Kindelan, Mahy's subordinate, took command. He was a sterner
+disciplinarian than even his former master. His sole object seemed to be
+to reunite the military and civil power in the hands of the
+Captain-General. He was willing to stoop to any means to accomplish his
+purpose, and he was backed up by a large body of troops imported from
+Spain. Feeling ran high between these&mdash;as the Cubans termed
+them&mdash;"interlopers<a name="page_318" id="page_318"></a> and troublemakers" and the local militia, and
+serious trouble was with difficulty avoided. Then in 1823 Ferdinand VII.
+was again in power in Spain; weak, crafty, scheming, malicious, and
+grasping; and it is needless to say that Cuba was visited with new
+oppression.<a name="page_319" id="page_319"></a></p>
+
+<h3><a name="CHAPTER_XX" id="CHAPTER_XX"></a>CHAPTER XX</h3>
+
+<p>It was on May 2, 1823, that Don Francisco Vives, afterward Conde de
+Cuba, arrived in Cuba to take over the office of Captain-General. Let us
+first contemplate the good which he accomplished for Cuba, before
+scanning the darker pages of his high-handed rule.</p>
+
+<p>Vives reorganized the rural militia, and he caused the construction of a
+number of important fortresses and the completion of others already
+begun. He divided the island into three military departments. Under his
+instructions two asylums for the insane, el Departmento de Dementes, and
+the Casa de Beneficencia, were constructed. He made an effort to mark
+the historic spots of the island, and under his auspices a temple was
+built on the spot in the city of Havana where was reputed to have been
+celebrated the first mass. So much for the good done by Vives. Now we
+come to a different story.</p>
+
+<p>This Captain-General was a despot of the most pronounced type, the kind
+dear to the hearts of the rulers in the mother country. He obtained from
+his royal master, in 1825, an order placing Cuba under martial law, and
+giving the Captain-General complete control of her destiny. It reads as
+follows:</p>
+
+<p>"The King, our master, in whose royal mind great confidence has been
+inspired by your excellency's proved fidelity, indefatigable zeal in his
+majesty's service, judicious and well-concerted steps taken since Y. E.
+had charge of the government, in order to keep in quietude his faithful
+inhabitants, confine within the proper limits such<a name="page_320" id="page_320"></a> as would deviate
+from the path of honor, and punish such as forgetting their duty would
+dare commit excesses in opposition to our wise laws; well convinced as
+H. M. feels, that at no time and under no circumstances whatever will
+the principles of rectitude and love toward H. M. royal person be
+weakened which now distinguish Y. E.; and being at the same time
+desirous of preventing the embarrassments which under ordinary
+circumstances might arise a division in the command, and from the
+complicated authority and powers of the different officers of
+government, for the important end of maintaining in that island his
+sovereign authority and the public quiet, it has pleased H. M., in
+conformity with the advice of his council of ministers, to authorize
+your excellency, <i>fully investing you with the whole extent of power
+which by the royal ordinances is granted to the governors of besieged
+towns</i>. In consequence thereof H. M. most amply and unrestrictedly
+authorizes Y. E. <i>not only to remove from that island such persons,
+holding offices from government or not</i>, whatever their occupation,
+rank, class or situation in life may be, whose residence there you may
+believe prejudicial, or whose public or private conduct may appear
+suspicious to you, <i>employing in their stead faithful servants of H. M.
+who shall fully deserve your excellency's confidence; but also to
+suspend the execution of whatever royal orders or general decrees in all
+the different branches of the administration, or in any part of them, as
+Y, E. may think conducive to the royal service</i>; it being in any case
+required that these measures be temporary, and that Y. E. make report of
+them for his majesty's sovereign approval.</p>
+
+<p>"In granting Y. E. this marked proof of his royal esteem, and of the
+high trust your proven loyalty deserves, H. M. expects that in due
+correspondence to the same,<a name="page_321" id="page_321"></a> Y. E. will use the most wakeful prudence
+and reserve, joined to an indefatigable activity and unyielding
+firmness, in the exercise of your excellency's authority, and trusts
+that as your excellency shall by this very pleasure and graciousness of
+H. M. be held to a more strict responsibility, Y. E. will redouble his
+vigilance that the laws be observed, that justice be administered, that
+H. M. faithful vassals be protected and rewarded, and punishment without
+partiality or indulgence inflicted on those who, forgetful of their duty
+and their obligations to the best and most benevolent of monarchs, shall
+oppose those laws, decidedly abetting sinister plots, with infraction of
+them and disregard of the decrees from them issuing. And I therefore, by
+royal order, inform Y. E. of the same for Y. E.'s intelligence,
+satisfaction, and exact observance thereof. God preserve your
+excellency's life. Madrid, 28 May, 1825."</p>
+
+<p>As a marvel of unconscious irony this is a unique document. Evidently
+both the King and his minister lacked a sense of humor. Here is a
+document purporting to be issued "to keep in quietude" "faithful
+inhabitants." Why the "Ever-Faithful" needed a curb or why if such
+measures were necessary the insurgents were referred to as "Faithful,"
+only a stupid king through the mouth of an equally pig-headed minister
+could determine. This royal order, we may relate with satisfaction,
+proved a boomerang. It gave the Captain-General&mdash;just why it is hard to
+decide&mdash;absolute power, not only to govern by military force, but to
+depose from office those who offended him, whether they were the king's
+minions or not. It also made inoperative all royal decrees unless the
+Captain-General chose to sanction them. Now Cuba, at this time, was
+saddled with hosts of fortune seekers, court favorites who were
+temporarily and voluntarily exiles<a name="page_322" id="page_322"></a> from the sunshine of the monarch's
+smiles, that they might line their pockets and return to startle the
+Spanish grandees with their new splendor. Naturally they were seeking
+office and emoluments from the Spanish government. But then came their
+royal master and placed them, their positions, their fortunes, in the
+hands of a man who, should they offend him, could summarily degrade
+them, and force them to return home no richer than when they came. Truly
+the ways of kings are no less inscrutable than those of Providence.
+Naturally this royal order found little favor in Cuba. In vain, however,
+were efforts made to have it suspended, and to prove that it had never
+been intended to be anything but a temporary measure.</p>
+
+<p>The trouble which was brewing for Spain, in Cuba, at this period was
+well forecast and described in an article, primarily on the dangers of
+the slave trade, which was published in a periodical in Havana, in 1832.
+After detailing some facts as to slave importations, it said:</p>
+
+<p>"Thus far we have only considered the power which has its origin in the
+numbers of the colored population that surrounds us. What a picture we
+might draw, if we were to portray this immense body acting under the
+influence of political and moral causes, and presenting a spectacle
+unknown in history! We surely shall not do it. But we should be guilty
+of moral treason to our country, if we were to forget the efforts now
+making to effect a change in the conditions of the African race.
+Philanthropic laws, enacted by some of the European nations,
+associations of distinguished Englishmen, periodicals solely devoted to
+this subject, eloquent parlimentary debates whose echoes are constantly
+repeated on this side of the Atlantic, bold exhortations from the
+pulpits of religious sects, political principles which with lightning
+rapidity<a name="page_323" id="page_323"></a> are spreading in both hemispheres, and <i>very recent commotions
+in several parts of the West Indies, everything is calculated to awaken
+us from our profound slumber and remind us that we must save our
+country</i>. And should this our beloved mother ask us what measures we
+have adopted to extricate her from her danger, what would those who
+boast themselves her dutiful sons, answer? The horrid traffic in human
+blood is carried on in defiance of the laws, and men who assume the name
+of patriots, being no other than parricides, cover the land with
+shackled victims. And as if this were not sufficiently fearful with
+criminal apathy, Africans freed and brought to this country by English
+policy, are permitted to reside in our midst. How different the conduct
+of our neighbors the Americans! Notwithstanding the rapid increase of
+their country; notwithstanding the white has constantly been four fifths
+more numerous than the colored population, and have ten and a half
+millions to offset two millions; notwithstanding the importation of the
+latter is prohibited from one end of the republic to the other, while
+European immigration is immense; notwithstanding the countries lying
+upon their boundaries have no slaves to inspire dread, they organize
+associations, raise funds, purchase lands in Africa, establish colonies,
+favor the emigration of the colored population to them, increasing their
+exertions as the exigency may require, not faltering in their course,
+and leaving no expedient untried which shall prove them friends of
+humanity and their country. Not satisfied with these general measures,
+some states have adopted very thorough and efficient measures. In
+December, 1831, Louisiana passed a law prohibiting importation of slaves
+even from other states of the Union.</p>
+
+<p>"Behold the movement of a great people, who would secure their safety!
+Behold the model you should imitate!<a name="page_324" id="page_324"></a> But we are told 'Your efforts are
+in vain. You cannot justly reproach us. Our plantations need hands and
+if we cannot obtain negroes, what shall we do?' We are far from wishing
+to offend a class equally deserving respect and esteem, including many
+we are happy to call friends. We are habitually indulgent and in no
+sense more so than in that before us. The notions and examples to which
+they have been accustomed justify in a great measure the part they act,
+and an immediate benefit and remote danger authorize in others a course
+of conduct which we wish may never be generally and permanently adopted.
+We would not rudely censure the motives of the planters. Our mission
+requires us only to remark, that it is necessary to adopt some plan,
+since the change in politics is inconsistent with and hostile to the
+much longer continuance of the illicit traffic in slaves. We all know
+that England has, both with selfish and humane motives, made and is
+still making great efforts against it by means of treaties. She is no
+longer the only power thus engaged, since France is also taking her
+share in the enterprise. The United States will soon appear in the field
+to vindicate down-trodden humanity. They will adopt strong measures, and
+perseveringly pursue the pirate negro-dealer. Will he then escape the
+vigilance of enemies so active and powerful? And even should some be
+able to do so, how enormously expensive must their piracy be! It is
+demonstrable that the number of imported negroes being then small, and
+their introduction subject to uncommon risks, their cost would be so
+enhanced as to destroy the motive for preferring slave labor. A proper
+regard to our true interests will lead us to consider henceforth other
+means of supplying our wants, since our present mode will ultimately
+paralyze our resources and be attended with baneful consequences. The<a name="page_325" id="page_325"></a>
+equal distribution of the two sexes in the country, and an improved
+treatment of them, would alone be sufficient, not merely to prevent a
+diminution of their number, but greatly to increase it. But the existing
+disproportion of the sexes forbids our indulging in so pleasing a hope.
+We shall, however, do much to effect our purposes by discontinuing
+certain practices, and adopting a system more consonant to the good
+principles that should be our guide.</p>
+
+<p>"Would it not be advisable to try some experiments that we may be able
+to compare the results of cultivating cane by slaves, with such other
+methods as we may find expedient to adopt?</p>
+
+<p>"If the planters could realize the importance of these propositions to
+their welfare, we should see them striving to promote the introduction
+of white and the exclusion of colored hands. By forming associations,
+raising funds, and in various ways exerting themselves vigorously in a
+cause so eminently patriotic, they would at once overcome the obstacles
+to the introduction of white foreigners, and induce their immigration by
+the guarantees of good laws and thus assure the tranquillity of the
+country.</p>
+
+<p>"We may be told that these are imaginary plans, and never to be
+realized. We answer that they are essays, not difficult or expensive, if
+undertaken, as we suggest, by a whole community. If we are not disposed
+to make the voluntary trial now, the day is at hand when we shall be
+obliged to attempt it, or abandon the cultivation of sugar! The prudent
+mariner on a boisterous ocean prepares betimes for the tempest, and
+defies it. He who recklessly abandons himself to the fury of the
+elements is likely to perish in the rage of the storm.</p>
+
+<p>"'How imprudent,' some may exclaim, 'how imprudent to propose a subject
+which should be forever buried in "lasting oblivion."' Behold the
+general accusation<a name="page_326" id="page_326"></a> raised against him who dares boldly avow new
+opinions respecting these matters. Unfortunately there is among us an
+opinion which insists that 'silence' is the true policy. All feel the
+evils which surround us, are acquainted with the dangers, and wish to
+avoid them. Let a remedy be suggested and a thousand confused voices be
+simultaneously raised; and a significant and imploring 'Hush!&mdash;hush!' is
+heard on every side. Such infatuation resembles his who conceals the
+disease which is hurrying him speedily to death, rather than hear its
+unpleasant history and mode of cure, from his only hope, the physician's
+saving science. Which betrays censurable apathy, he who obstinately
+rushes headlong to the brink of a mighty precipice, or he who gives the
+timely warning to beware? Who would not thus save a whole community
+perhaps from frightful destruction? If we knew most positively that the
+disease were beyond all hopes of cure, the knowledge of the fact would
+not stay the march of death, while it might serve but as a terrifying
+enunciation of his approach. If, however, the sick man is endowed with a
+strong constitution, that with timely prescription promises a probable
+return of health, it would be unpardonable to act the part of a passive
+spectator. We heed not that the selfish condemn, that the self-admiring
+wise censure, or the parricidal accuse us. Reflections of a higher
+nature guide us, and in the spirit of our responsible calling as a
+public writer, we will never cease to cry aloud, '<i>Let us save our
+country&mdash;let us save our country!</i>'"</p>
+
+<p>A subtle document that. Hidden carefully in the denunciation of slavery
+is a call to organization to form societies. We shall see later how
+important and potent those societies were and that their objects were
+something far different from the destruction of slavery. The paper
+closed with a clear cry for freedom for Cuba.<a name="page_327" id="page_327"></a></p>
+
+<p>It cannot be disguised that those who had the real good of the island of
+Cuba at heart, patriots, Cubans who loved their country, men who longed
+to stand upright, to put off the yoke of Spain, and to look the
+inhabitants of free countries in the face as equals, were withdrawing
+their heartfelt allegiance from Spain, and were longing for
+independence. That this desire had been created by Spanish oppression,
+and nurtured by Spanish injustice, is a self-evident fact. The causes
+which led to the insurrections by which Cuba was torn from this time on
+until she obtained her independence, we must leave for another chapter.
+There are two matters most pertinent to this investigation, which we
+must first discuss: The attitude of the United States toward Cuba at
+this period, and the revolt of the other Spanish colonies, led by Simon
+Bolivar, "The Liberator."<a name="page_328" id="page_328"></a></p>
+
+<h3><a name="CHAPTER_XXI" id="CHAPTER_XXI"></a>CHAPTER XXI</h3>
+
+<p>Cuba, so rich and fertile, was an object of desire, not alone to
+America, but at least equally to the countries of Europe. Thus England
+cast covetous eyes at Cuba, and some of the English papers intimated
+that the United States was anxious to acquire the island, and that if
+England wished to save her West Indian trade, she had best look to her
+interests and, if possible, wrest Cuba from Spain. Probably the
+strongest feeling in the United States in the early part of the
+nineteenth century was that Cuba must not pass from the hands of Spain
+into those of any other power, and that if Cuba was to be separated from
+Spain it must be either as an independent country or by annexation to
+the United States. The desire for annexation, <i>per se</i>, did not appear
+to be so strong as the feeling that the United States must not allow
+either France or England to acquire Cuba, and there were, of course,
+strong political and geographical reasons for this decision. In a former
+chapter we have recalled some of the circumstances of that time, and
+have cited some of the authoritative utterances of American statesmen
+concerning Cuba in the first half of the nineteenth century. Let us now
+recur to that part of Cuban history in its chronological order.</p>
+
+<p>Early in 1823, those Cubans who were more or less secretly in favor of
+independence sent an agent named Morales to Washington to try to
+discover what course the United States would pursue in case Cuba should
+declare her independence. It was intimated that in case Spain continued
+her oppressions, and did not grant Cuba a more<a name="page_329" id="page_329"></a> liberal government, Cuba
+would ask for the protection of the United States, possibly for
+admission to the Union; and in case this was refused, she would appeal
+to England. While no definite promises were made to Cubans, it seemed to
+be the sentiment in Washington that, should Cuba thus offer herself, it
+would be tempting fate not to accept the gift. Indeed, a considerable
+portion of the United States was at this time eager for the annexation
+of Cuba. There seems moreover to have been in the American cabinet a
+strong feeling toward urging Cuba to declare her independence, and this
+might have resolved itself into promises if not into decided action, had
+it not been for the counter current of opinion that, should she do so,
+she could not maintain such a status. John Quincy Adams was sure of
+this, and although he felt that the time was not ripe in the United
+States for the adoption of a policy of annexation, yet if Cuba should
+fall to the United States by the mere gravitation of politics, he
+believed it would be folly to refuse to accept the gift, particularly
+since the occupation of Cuba by England would give her a base from which
+to proceed against the United States; and matters between England and
+her former possession were by no means yet settled on a basis of
+enduring friendship. Indeed, Adams believed that the future might make
+the annexation of Cuba almost indispensable to the destiny of the Union;
+as on April 28, 1823, he said in his instructions to the American
+minister at Madrid which we have already quoted.</p>
+
+<p>It was practically certain at this time that France would intervene in
+the affairs of Spain, and would try to overthrow the liberal government
+of that country, and it seemed probable that England would take
+advantage of the opportunity in an endeavor to secure Cuba for herself.
+The island was seething with an undercurrent of revolt,<a name="page_330" id="page_330"></a> and Washington
+was uneasy as to what England might do. Reports had it that orders had
+been sent to British troops to take possession of Cuba, by force if
+necessary, and that Spain, in return for certain secret concessions from
+England, had consented to this course. Adams wisely saw that if the Holy
+Alliance overthrew the Spanish constitution, Spain could not hope to
+retain Cuba, and since the island was believed to be incapable of
+self-government, the natural inference was that it would become a
+dependent of either England or the United States. We may be sure that
+Washington did not intend that this dependence should be upon England.
+About this time, Mr. Miralla, a man of affairs who had been for some ten
+years a resident of Cuba, told Jefferson in a conference in Washington
+that public sentiment in Cuba was against the country becoming an
+English territory, and that the Cubans would rise to resist it. He
+stated that Cuba would prefer to remain as she was rather than to change
+masters&mdash;jump from Scylla to Charybdis, as it were&mdash;and that if any
+change must come she desired independence; that she realized that
+unaided she could not maintain herself a separate nation, but that she
+hoped for the support of the United States or of Mexico, or both, to
+help her to maintain her freedom. Cuba had a secret fear that should she
+seek independence, the turbulent blacks would try to seize the
+government, and of course that would mean ruin.</p>
+
+<p>On December 2, 1823, President Monroe delivered his epochal Doctrine:</p>
+
+<p>"In the wars of European powers in matters relating to themselves, we
+have never taken any part nor does it comport with our policy to do so.
+It is only when our rights are invaded or seriously menaced that we
+resent injuries or make preparations for defense. With the movements<a name="page_331" id="page_331"></a> in
+this hemisphere we are of necessity more immediately connected, and by
+causes which must be obvious to all enlightened and impartial observers.
+The political system of the Allied Powers is essentially different in
+this respect from that of America.... We should consider any attempt on
+their part to extend their system to any portion of this hemisphere as
+dangerous to our peace and safety. With the existing colonies and
+dependencies of any European power we have not interfered and shall not
+interfere. But with the governments who have declared their independence
+and maintained it, and whose independence we have on great consideration
+and on just principles acknowledged, we could not view any interposition
+for the purpose of oppressing them, or controlling in any other manner
+their destiny, in any other light than as the manifestation of an
+unfriendly disposition toward the United States."</p>
+
+<div class="figright">
+<a href="images/pg331x_lg.jpg">
+<img src="images/pg331x_lg.jpg" width="243" height="315" alt="JAMES MONROE" title="JAMES MONROE" /></a>
+
+<br /><span class="caption">JAMES MONROE</span>
+</div>
+
+<p>This message had the desired effect. The Holy Alliance wisely kept its
+hands off from affairs in the southern Americas, including Cuba. But the
+United States naturally sought to cultivate closer relations with its
+neighbor. There were indeed practical reasons why it should do so; even
+for its own peace and comfort. For pirates preyed on United States
+shipping. A blockade was proposed to catch the offenders, but it did not
+find favor with the powers at the United States capital. Landing in
+Cuba, and reprisals on persons and property, were suggested, but it was
+considered unwise for the United States thus to<a name="page_332" id="page_332"></a> take steps which would
+be opposed if any other power should assume a like attitude.</p>
+
+<p>The United States government feared a secret transfer of Cuba by Spain
+and that such action would be taken before Washington could become
+cognizant of it. It therefore sought to be allowed to station consuls at
+Havana, and in Porto Rico, who were, of course, practically to be the
+eyes of the United States government, to detect any incipient plot to
+rid Spain of Cuba. This idea did not find favor at the Spanish court and
+a polite letter of demurrer was sent, stating that such a proposition
+was untenable at the time, owing to the turbulent condition of affairs
+on the island, but that later, when Cuba became more peaceful, it would
+be considered. The real reason for Spain's refusal doubtless was that
+she was still smarting from the United States's recognition of the
+independence of other South American countries, and she did not feel
+justified in allowing anyone who she felt would be a spy to have an
+official position on the island, particularly when that person came from
+a country which, having attained its own liberty, naturally had sympathy
+with those who had theirs yet to gain.</p>
+
+<p>The state of affairs at this time was epigrammatically described by <i>The
+London Courier</i>, when it said: "Cuba is the Turkey of trans-Atlantic
+politics, tottering to its fall, and kept from falling only by the
+struggles of those who contend for the right of catching her in her
+descent."</p>
+
+<p>Spain, always badly in need of money, made in 1838 a proposal to England
+to offer Cuba as security for a loan, which undoubtedly would have meant
+that England would eventually have to take Cuba in payment for the debt.
+The United States Minister at Madrid, hearing of the project, made it so
+clear that such a course would not<a name="page_333" id="page_333"></a> be tolerated by his country, that
+the idea was abandoned. A few years later President Van Buren again
+expressed the American pro-slavery policy toward Cuban independence:</p>
+
+<p>"The Government has always looked with the deepest interest upon the
+fate of these islands, but particularly of Cuba. Its geographical
+position, which places it almost in sight of our southern shores, and,
+as it were, gives it the command of the Gulf of Mexico and the West
+Indian seas, its safe and capacious harbors, its rich productions, the
+exchange of which for our surplus agricultural products and manufactures
+constitutes one of the most extensive and valuable branches of our
+foreign trade, render it of the utmost importance to the United States
+that no change should take place in its condition which might
+injuriously affect our political and commercial standing in that
+quarter. Other considerations connected with a certain class of our
+population made it to the interest of the southern section of the Union
+that no attempt should be made in that island to throw off the yoke of
+Spanish dependence, the first effect of which would be the sudden
+emancipation of a numerous slave population, which result could not but
+be very sensibly felt upon the adjacent shores of the United States."</p>
+
+<p>The United States had a selfish interest in keeping Cuba in a state of
+peace and prosperity. In 1842 it was found that Spain could not pay the
+interest upon her debt to the United States. It was suggested that she
+make it a charge upon the revenues of Cuba, and the next year it was
+arranged that the entire claim be settled by a sum paid to the United
+States annually by the Captain-General of Cuba. Naturally if there were
+constant revolutions and uprisings in Cuba, these revenues would not be<a name="page_334" id="page_334"></a>
+forthcoming. On the other hand, taxation for the purpose of settling
+Spain's debt to America was not looked on with favor among Cuban
+patriots.</p>
+
+<p>From the foregoing it will be seen that while the United States did not
+urge annexation,&mdash;since it was against her avowed policy to do so&mdash;she
+would not have been unwilling to accept Cuba, had that country knocked
+at her door and offered herself as a free gift. It will be equally clear
+that the United States had no intention that Cuba should be transferred
+by Spain to any other country than herself, and that she stood ready to
+combat such a project by force of arms if necessary. It will also be
+seen that some of her statesmen would have smiled upon the idea of Cuba
+as an independent nation, if they had for a moment believed that Cuba
+could maintain her independence, and that surreptitiously the United
+States might have lent her aid to this end, if it could have been done
+without embroiling herself with Spain. However, there was a division of
+opinion in Washington as to the effects on the Southern States of any
+change of condition in Cuba.</p>
+
+<p>It might also be observed that France and England&mdash;particularly the
+latter&mdash;would have been glad to add Cuba to their possessions, but they
+feared war with the United States if they made the attempt. And as for
+Cuba herself, her first choice was freedom, but if it were necessary, in
+order to escape Spanish tyranny, she would have accepted annexation to
+the United States, or at any rate a protectorate from that government.<a name="page_335" id="page_335"></a></p>
+
+<h3><a name="CHAPTER_XXII" id="CHAPTER_XXII"></a>CHAPTER XXII</h3>
+
+<p>The half century from 1776 to 1826 was afire with the spirit of
+revolution and freedom. During this period the United States won her
+independence from England; Belgium sought separation from Holland;
+France was in the throes of revolution; and Greece won her freedom from
+Turkey. This spirit of liberty penetrated to Central and South America
+and set the Spanish colonies there aflame.</p>
+
+<p>A successful revolution must have a competent and daring leader. The
+South American revolt in Venezuela and surrounding countries was led by
+a romantic figure, a man of such tremendous personality, such high
+ideals, and such ability to carry them out, that, although he never set
+foot in Cuba, and never personally figured in her politics, his
+influence reached out from the other colonies and more than any other at
+this period swayed the destiny of the "Pearl of the Antilles." His
+desire for liberty was like a bright light which illumined the whole
+Latin-American atmosphere.</p>
+
+<p>It has been said that "only an aristocrat can be truly democratic," for
+only an aristocrat has everything to lose and nothing to gain by
+espousing the cause of democracy and liberty. It is true that, like
+Washington, Simon Bolivar came of wealthy and aristocratic ancestry. His
+people were among the foremost of the Creoles. His parents died when he
+was still a child, and his passionate, wilful nature was allowed to go
+uncurbed. He developed a violent and hasty temper, but he was also
+openhearted, generous, and quick to sue for pardon. He had a charming<a name="page_336" id="page_336"></a>
+personality, and the ability to make friends and hold them for life. In
+his later years his followers would have died for him. He was absolutely
+fearless, and it is said of him that at one time at a banquet, in the
+presence of the Governor of Venezuela&mdash;Bolivar's native country&mdash;he
+arose and proposed a toast to the "Independence of the Americas."</p>
+
+<div class="figleft">
+<a href="images/pg336x_lg.jpg">
+<img src="images/pg336x_lg.jpg" width="233" height="294" alt="SIMON BOLIVAR" title="SIMON BOLIVAR" /></a>
+
+<br /><span class="caption">SIMON BOLIVAR</span>
+</div>
+
+<p>At an early age he went abroad. When in Spain he became friendly with
+Prince Ferdinand, afterwards King Ferdinand VII. of Spain&mdash;then a boy.
+They were both tennis enthusiasts, and it is told that Bolivar
+constantly beat the young prince on the courts at the royal palace at
+Madrid, just as later his armies prevailed against those of Ferdinand
+VII. He travelled in Italy and contrasted the progressive spirit of that
+country as compared with the turbidity and tendency to disintegration
+which dominated Spain. A sojourn in France made him an eye witness of
+some of the most frightful scenes of the French revolution. On his
+return home, he visited the United States and there beheld the actual,
+peaceful workings of a republic. All this time there was stirring within
+him the eager desire for freedom for his own country, which at last
+impelled him to cast aside the luxury and ease which his position and
+family gave him, and to accept the danger of exile and death, so that he
+might free South America.</p>
+
+<p>The process of revolutionary organization in Venezuela and her sister
+states was much the same as that later adopted in Cuba. Secret societies
+were formed, the members<a name="page_337" id="page_337"></a> of which were pledged to the cause of liberty.
+They grew, and waxed strong and powerful, and at length the fire of
+revolt was kindled. Bolivar's first active step toward the rescue of his
+country from the Spanish rule was an insurrection at Caracas in April,
+1810. The governor was deposed and the freedom of Caracas was
+established without violence. The commerce of Venezuela was opened to
+the world, taxes to the crown were declared abolished, and a republic
+was formed. In recognition of Bolivar's services, he was given a
+commission as Colonel and with Louis Lopez Mendez went to England to try
+to get her aid. Great Britain, however, declined to be drawn into the
+controversy and declared her absolute neutrality.</p>
+
+<p>On July 5, 1811, the flag of the new republic was unfurled to the world.
+But Spain was not inclined to relinquish what she considered her rights
+without a struggle, and Spanish troops were quickly dispatched to
+Venezuela. In a famous speech Bolivar, now returned to his native
+country, voiced the sentiments of the republic. He said:</p>
+
+<p>"Why should we take into account Spain's intentions? What shall we care
+if she chooses to keep us as her slave or sell us to Bonaparte, since we
+have decided to be free? That great projects should be patiently
+weighed, I hear; but are not three hundred years of waiting long enough?
+Let us set without fear the foundation of South American independence.
+To tergiversate is to fail."</p>
+
+<p>With Bolivar to Venezuela came General Francisco Miranda, who had fought
+under Washington for the independence of the United States and under
+Dumouriez for the freedom of the French people. He was an experienced
+and tried soldier and one who loved liberty as he loved his life, but he
+was unfamiliar with conditions in Venezuela, and he was a better fighter
+than an organizer.<a name="page_338" id="page_338"></a> He was made general-in-chief of the Venezuelan army;
+but his campaigns against the Spaniards were unsuccessful and he was
+captured and flung into a dungeon, where he remained for the rest of his
+life. Bolivar escaped and went to Curacao, where he published a
+declaration to the effect that in order to make possible the liberty of
+the continent Venezuela must be again established as a republic; and to
+accomplish this end he called for men. Two hundred responded and with
+this small force he engaged an army ten times the size of his own, and
+fought twenty successive battles in fifteen days. His way led across
+mountains and through passes where death, not only from the foe but as
+the result of a single misstep, was ever imminent, but neither Bolivar
+nor his men were daunted. He was victorious over the Spaniards, took the
+city of Cucuta, and added a million dollars to the treasury. His army
+was constantly increased by volunteers. Over 750 miles were traversed,
+and fifty times the Spaniards were engaged. On August 6, 1813, Bolivar
+entered Caracas in triumph. The most beautiful women of the city crowned
+him with laurels; cries of "Long live our Liberator! Long live New
+Granada! Long live the Savior of Venezuela!" filled the air; the people
+wept for joy, and Bolivar himself, much moved, dismounted from his horse
+and knelt to give thanks to God for the victory which had attended his
+efforts.</p>
+
+<p>But while the patriots were showering honors upon their "Liberator" the
+Spanish were remarshalling their forces. On the plains lived the
+Llaneros, cattle breeders, men of the wildest nature, almost outlaws.
+They were reckless fighters and rode fearlessly. They were won over to
+the Spanish cause by the promise of booty, and soon, under the
+leadership of a Spaniard named Boves, were arrayed against Bolivar's
+little army.<a name="page_339" id="page_339"></a></p>
+
+<p>The days that followed were dark for the patriots, with a long record of
+heart-breaking defeats. But no matter how the tide of battle went
+against them, their souls were unconquered. Rumors against the honor and
+integrity of Bolivar began to be circulated and he lost caste among
+those who had been his staunch supporters. Finally he was denounced as a
+traitor and driven into exile. In this, the darkest hour of his life, he
+made a farewell address to his people:</p>
+
+<p>"I swear to you," he said, "that this title (Liberator) which your
+gratitude bestowed upon me when I broke your chains shall not be in
+vain. I swear to you that Liberator or dead, I shall ever merit the
+honor you have done me; no human power can turn me from my course."</p>
+
+<p>Bolivar went to New Granada, where Camille Torres, the president of that
+Republic, was his staunch friend. He is said to have cried: "So long as
+Bolivar lives, Venezuela is not lost." There Bolivar never ceased to
+work for his country, even though he was unjustly exiled. The cause of
+liberty suffered severe reverses during these days. Ferdinand VII., who
+was once more securely seated on the throne of Spain, sent a great army
+to America, under the command of General Morillo, who had instructions
+to subdue the insurgent colonies even "if no patriot was left alive on
+the continent." New Granada was conquered and all the revolutionists on
+whom the Spanish could lay hands were massacred. Peru, Chili and Buenos
+Aires were also made to bow to the power of Spain, who outdid herself in
+cruel injustice to show the revolutionists that revolt was useless. Of
+the Spanish action in Venezuela, an official report says: "Provinces
+have ceased to exist. Towns inhabited by thousands now number scarcely a
+hundred. Others have been entirely wiped out. Roads are covered<a name="page_340" id="page_340"></a> with
+dying, dead and unburied skeletons. Heaps of ashes mark the sites of
+villages. The trace of cultivated areas is obliterated."</p>
+
+<p>Bolivar next banded his little following together on the island of Santo
+Domingo, and at the close of 1816 landed just off the coast of
+Venezuela, on the island of Margarita. He convened a congress,
+instituted a government, and issued a proclamation abolishing slavery in
+Venezuela; almost fifty years before the famous Emancipation
+Proclamation of Lincoln. Then he entered upon a two years' campaign, of
+fierce and fearless fighting against the huge forces of General Morillo.
+On July 17, 1817, his capture of Angostura marked the turning tide of
+his fortunes. In 1818 his followers were increased by a large number of
+soldiers of fortune who were seeking new employment in the pastime of
+fighting, now that the end of the Napoleonic wars had taken away their
+occupation. These men were an acquisition because they were skilled in
+warfare and used to its hardships.</p>
+
+<p>A congress was convened at Angostura, in February, 1819, and Bolivar, as
+the unanimous choice for President, was given supreme power. He made an
+address which is famous in the annals of history. Among other things he
+said:</p>
+
+<p>"A republican form of government has been, is and ought to be that of
+Venezuela; its basis ought to be the sovereignty of the people, the
+division of power, civil liberty, the prohibition of slavery and the
+abolition of monarchy and privilege&mdash;&mdash; I have been obliged to beg you
+to adopt centralization and the union of all the states in a republic,
+one and indivisible."</p>
+
+<p>On August 7, 1819, the decisive battle of Boyaca was fought, and Bolivar
+entered the capital of New Granada<a name="page_341" id="page_341"></a> again crowned with laurels. Bolivar
+believed that the colonies, to make a strong resistance to Spain, must
+be united. His dream was a confederacy of South American States. This
+was partially realized when he formed a union of Venezuela, New Granada
+and Ecuador, in 1819, as one republic, of which he was made president.
+He was also made commander in chief of the army, with full powers of
+organization of any new conquests which he might add to the union.</p>
+
+<p>Now Spain cried for mercy, and when, in 1820, King Ferdinand was again
+deposed, she asked for a six months truce, which was granted, because
+Bolivar saw in this lull in hostilities a chance further to entrench
+himself and prepare for new conquests. His wisdom was demonstrated by
+the fact that in June, 1821, his army was triumphant at Carabobo, and he
+soon entered Caracas to cries of "El Libertador," his honor vindicated
+and his vow fulfilled. In victory he was generous, for in reviewing his
+army he greeted them with the words, "Salvadores de mi patria." In the
+period from 1821 to 1824, Bolivar fought for the freedom of Ecuador and
+Peru, and accomplished it. He was hailed as the South American
+Liberator, and a separate nation, formed from the territory of Upper
+Peru, became known as Bolivia, in honor of the great South American
+patriot. In 1826 Bolivar was at the height of his power, with his best
+dreams realized. He bore the titles, Perpetual Protector of Bolivia,
+President of Colombia and Dictator of Peru. The territory under his
+control was almost two-thirds the size of all Europe.</p>
+
+<p>History is too often a record of ingratitude. One would think that in
+South America Bolivar would have remained first in the hearts of all the
+people. But jealous seekers after self-aggrandizement plotted against<a name="page_342" id="page_342"></a>
+his rule and even attempted his life. Venezuela, which owed so much to
+him, was the first to withdraw, Ecuador became a separate republic and
+Bolivar was banished. At this his heart and his spirit were broken and
+he died at the age of only 47, on December 17, 1830. His last words
+were: "For my enemies I have only forgiveness. If my death shall
+contribute to the cessation of factions and the consolidation of the
+Union, I can go tranquilly to my grave."</p>
+
+<p>No other single individual has left such a mark on the pages of South
+American history; and though he never even visited the island he greatly
+influenced Cuba as well as the countries in which he lived and struggled
+for freedom.</p>
+
+<p>For the breath of revolt which was scorching the Spanish possessions on
+the main land, was no longer leaving Cuba untouched. It has ever been
+the history of tyranny that sooner or later the oppressed have found a
+leader and have risen against their tormentors, and also&mdash;we have only
+to contemplate French history, or to study the story of Russia under the
+Czars, to find confirmation&mdash;that such opposition was born first in
+secret gatherings, and gained strength under cover of concealment and
+darkness, until it grew strong enough to stand in the daylight.<a name="page_343" id="page_343"></a></p>
+
+<h3><a name="CHAPTER_XXIII" id="CHAPTER_XXIII"></a>CHAPTER XXIII</h3>
+
+<p>Tales of Bolivar's triumphs in South America were not slow to penetrate
+to the knowledge of the Cubans. Liberty, which had seemed only a dream,
+now began to take on the aspect of a possible reality. Men expressed
+their opinions and desires furtively in their own homes, to tried and
+trusted friends. They began to assemble and exchange views. No one dared
+to come out openly at first, and so propaganda was carried on through
+veiled articles, by word of mouth, by the secret clasp or sign of union.
+Under pretext of meeting for amusement and social pleasure clubs whose
+members were all friends of liberty began to be formed, about 1820. The
+Free Masons, whose principles were far from inimical to what now began
+to become the aim of all Cubans who loved their country, organized
+societies, which immediately became hot-beds of revolt, of the fiercest
+kind of protest against Spanish rule, and the rendezvous of those who
+planned to overthrow it.</p>
+
+<p>Other clubs, all of them masking their real purpose under some pretext,
+sprang into existence like magic. The best known of them all was called
+the "Soles de Bolivar" in which the influence of Bolivar had bridged the
+waters which separate Cuba from South America, and was leading the
+Cubans, in the inception of their fight for liberty. What the members of
+these societies most longed for was that the renowned "Liberator" would
+come at the head of an army and overthrow the Spanish rule in Cuba;
+though this was not to be.</p>
+
+<p>Now if the Spanish rule was politically weak and tottering<a name="page_344" id="page_344"></a> at this
+time, the evidence of this fact was strongly repressed, and financially
+the country was flourishing. At the head of the financial department was
+the Count de Villanueva. He made many reformations in the methods of
+collecting taxes&mdash;to enable Spain more readily to lay her hands on her
+spoils. He changed the methods of keeping accounts, and of checking up
+the books of the public treasury. His influence at the Spanish court was
+greater than that of the Captain-General, and so he was able to have him
+deposed as President of the Consulado and himself appointed in his
+stead. He exercised a despotic control over the functions of that body,
+and made them subservient to the improvement and development of Cuba for
+the enrichment of Spain. He saw to it that everything that could be
+taxed paid its share into the public treasury. As agriculture increased,
+its products were more heavily taxed. The plight of the Cuban who
+desired to own property and get on, was similar to that of a pieceworker
+who, when he speeded up productions, found the piece work price cut to
+take care of any surplus. The more the Cuban produced, the more he was
+taxed, and his last state was about the same as his first; the only ones
+who profited were the officials in Spain. Now for the first time taxes
+were imposed without even consulting those taxed, to say nothing of
+obtaining their consent. Villanueva was the friend of the
+Captain-General and his co-conspirator against Cuba's happiness, in
+spite of the fact that he wrested from him certain honors. He was
+naturally most popular with the Spanish court, and was cordially hated
+by all loyal Cubans.</p>
+
+<p>Yet Villanueva did do some things for the improvement of Havana. He had
+many roads in and near the city paved, and devices erected to clear the
+anchorage of<a name="page_345" id="page_345"></a> the harbor of the infiltrations of mud, and to preserve
+the wharves. He had the waters of the Husille brought into the city by
+an excellent method. He established a regular mail packet system between
+Spain and Cuba, and it was under his administration that the Guines
+railroad was built. This road ran from Havana to Guines, a distance of
+forty-five miles, and was built under the direction of an American
+engineer, Mr. Cruger. It was the nucleus of a system which in 1848
+comprised 285 miles of rails in operation, and 85 more in process of
+construction. These lines connected Havana with Guines, Batabano,
+Cardenas and Matanzas; Cardenas with Juacaro, Matanzas with Sabanilla
+and Colisco, Nuevitas with Puerto Principe, and Santiago de Cuba with
+the copper mines. They represented an investment of between five and six
+million dollars.</p>
+
+<p>Villanueva, however, oppressed and robbed the people in order that he
+might make frequent and munificent remittances to the treasury in Spain.
+The more they gave, the more they were urged to give. Spain cared
+nothing for the manner in which the money which she demanded was
+accumulated, only that by fair means or foul it might be forthcoming.
+Villanueva established the Bank of St. Ferdinand, but for all the good
+it did Cuba at this time, it might have remained unestablished. Its
+capital was seized by the crown as fast as it accumulated, and it proved
+to be just a new method for the extortioners. Spain had no more
+unscrupulous agent than her chief of the finance department.</p>
+
+<p>The victims were not quiescent, except in appearance. The rack keys were
+being too tightly turned. In the "Soles de Bolivar" and in other
+assemblies patriots were crying out for vengeance. In vain Vives tried
+to suppress the societies. Known members were arrested and<a name="page_346" id="page_346"></a> thrown into
+prison, and meetings were forbidden; but the movement was like a
+conflagration which has gained start in many parts of a city. When
+stamped out in one place&mdash;when one society was destroyed&mdash;it only made
+its appearance in another. The principal headquarters were at Matanzas.
+Very carefully and in secret the leaders laid their plans for a
+widespread revolt, the date of which was set for August 16, 1823. But
+Vives had secret agents in the societies, and there were traitors as
+there frequently are in such movements. When the day of the revolt
+dawned the leaders were seized and imprisoned. There were many eminent
+Cubans among the patriots, the best known being the greatest of Cuban
+poets, José Maria Heredia. Perhaps some appreciation not so much of this
+man's courage as of his genius influenced the Captain-General. At any
+rate, instead of being condemned to death, he was sent into perpetual
+exile. A few of the members of the society learned of the betrayal
+before they could be taken and made their escape from the island.</p>
+
+<p>Those who were conspiring for the liberation of Cuba were not cowed,
+however, but simply temporarily overcome. One of the first acts of Vives
+under the royal decree of May 25, 1825, was to use every means possible
+to suppress and to annihilate the secret societies, but he simply made
+them more wary. The desire for liberty which had sprung up in the
+breasts of so many Cuban patriots was destined never again to be
+extinguished, and the history of the island from this time down to the
+War of Independence, in the closing decade of the century, is that of
+one long struggle for separation from Spain&mdash;sometimes open, more
+frequently secret but always continuous.</p>
+
+<p>When the uprising of 1823 failed so signally, a number<a name="page_347" id="page_347"></a> of the refugees
+who escaped prosecution fled to Mexico and Colombia. There was a
+settlement of these people in Caracas. They turned to "The Liberator"
+for support, and soon the invasion of Cuba, by a force composed of
+Mexicans and Colombians, either under the personal leadership, or under
+the direction of Bolivar, was planned. The leaders of this movement also
+sought aid in the United States. Now the slaveholders of the South were
+at this time opposed to the separation of Cuba from Spain, because under
+the lead of Bolivar it would mean the doom of the slave trade, the
+abolition of slavery, and such an achievement in Cuba would be inimical
+to their own interests. So the attempt to procure assistance in the
+United States was really the cause of the failure of the proposed
+expedition. Spanish spies were quickly informed of the proposed plan,
+and such strenuous efforts were openly made to make such an attempt
+ineffective, that it was never made. Bolivar had all he could attend to
+in South America, and he was too intelligent a leader to attempt the
+impossible, and at the same time leave his plans for the liberation of
+South America to meet certain defeat in his absence.</p>
+
+<p>But Spain did not easily overlook the conspiracy, and she seized the
+leaders in Cuba who were conspiring with those in Colombia and Mexico.
+Two young men of fine families, Don Francisco de Aguero Velasco and Don
+Bernabe Sanchez, were apprehended by the aides of the Captain-General,
+imprisoned and most cruelly treated, and when their spirit was not
+broken by torture and they refused to divulge the secrets of their
+leaders, they were condemned to die for treason, and paid the penalty of
+their patriotism with their lives.</p>
+
+<p>Still the love of freedom grew and waxed stronger in Cuba. In 1828, a
+secret society known as El Aguila<a name="page_348" id="page_348"></a> Negra (The Black Eagle) was
+inaugurated in Colombia and Mexico, by those patriots who were escaping
+the vengeance of Spain by remaining in exile. This movement was
+splendidly organized. It had branches, not only in Colombia and Mexico,
+but also in the United States, where recruiting offices were openly
+established, and in Cuba where its operations were secret. But the
+organizers of The Black Eagle could not make a move which Spanish spies
+did not report to their master, the Captain-General of Cuba. Every plan
+was known to him as soon as it was formulated. He made no secret of his
+determination to deal summarily with those who were plotting against the
+power of Spain, but he waited in hope that he might be able to seize the
+real brains of the expedition. Besides this, the declaration of Bolivar
+for the freedom of the slaves as one of the principles for which he was
+fighting, and the fact that he was so closely connected with these
+revolutionary movements in Cuba, excited at this time the fears and
+animosity not only of the slave owners in the United States, but also of
+the most selfish, greedy and powerful of this class&mdash;particularly those
+of Spanish birth and sympathies&mdash;in Cuba. Before the expedition could be
+actually started, the leaders were apprehended and a farce of a trial
+followed. The Captain-General was beginning to fear the new spirit which
+was abroad in the land. Perhaps he had discovered that cruelty and
+fierce opposition only fanned the flame. At any rate he commuted the
+sentence of death, and imprisoned the conspirators.</p>
+
+<p>Since Mexico had conspired against the Spanish occupation of Cuba,
+General Vives retaliated by a military expedition against Mexico, in
+1828. A force of three thousand and five hundred men was sent against
+Mexico&mdash;not a large army, but General Vives expected that<a name="page_349" id="page_349"></a> large numbers
+of Mexicans would join his soldiers, once they set foot on Mexican soil.
+A landing was made at Tampico, in August, 1828. Instead of being
+received with acclamations by the people of Mexico, the movement met
+with the most strenuous opposition. The expedition was surrounded by the
+Mexican army, and its members were glad to surrender and to make terms
+with the Mexicans by which they were allowed to return to Havana. In
+March, 1829, the would-be conquerors of Mexico arrived in Havana with
+none of the honors with which it had been planned to crown the victors.</p>
+
+<p>Vives, while a stern governor, did not actually play the part of a
+despot. He held his office until May 15, 1832, when he was succeeded by
+Don Mariana Ricafort, a tyrant of the most pronounced type. His rule
+left one continuous record of oppression and misgovernment. No better
+person to encourage in the hearts of thinking Cubans an eagerness to be
+rid of Spain could have been chosen, for he was thoroughly hated and
+despised. His rule continued two years, and then, in 1834, the reins of
+government were taken into the hands of General Don Miguel Tacon. The
+eastern department of the island was commanded at this time by General
+Lorenzo.</p>
+
+<p>Tacon, one of the most famous of the nineteenth century
+Captains-General, was a man of small mind and great stubbornness,
+shortsighted, narrow and jealous. He was exceedingly vain, grasping for
+power, and a tyrant of the most pronounced type. He took many privileges
+from the wealthy inhabitants of the island, and he seized for himself
+the power, which had theretofore been a municipal function, of naming
+the under-commissaries of police in Havana.</p>
+
+<p>Like all people of extremely arbitrary nature, Tacon was an arrant
+coward at heart. He was perpetually in<a name="page_350" id="page_350"></a> terror of being assassinated,
+and upon the slightest pretext had anyone whom he considered dangerous
+to his rule thrown into prison. The life of no Cuban who happened to
+offend the Captain-General was safe at this time.</p>
+
+<p>In 1836 there occurred in Spain the revolution of La Granja, when the
+progressive triumphed over the moderate party, and the Queen Regent was
+obliged to proclaim the old Constitution of 1812, granting Cuba
+representation in the Spanish Cortes, and to summon deputies from Cuba.
+The news of this triumph reached Santiago de Cuba before it did Havana,
+whereupon General Lorenzo, in command there, immediately proclaimed the
+Code of Cadiz, and ordered an election for deputies to the Cortes. He
+reestablished the constitutional ayuntamiento, declared the press free,
+reorganized the national militia and put his department on the same
+footing that it had been in 1823.</p>
+
+<p>Tacon was furious when knowledge of this action reached him. He had no
+power to compel General Lorenzo to retract, but he summarily cut off all
+communications with his department and laid his plans to invade that
+territory, and by military force to restore his own absolute government
+and do away with representation for Cuba in the Spanish Cortes. Perhaps
+nothing that he could have done could have added more to his
+unpopularity. He was hissed in the streets, and plots were made against
+his life.</p>
+
+<p>For himself, Tacon paid no attention to the royal mandate which
+announced the reestablishment of the Constitution of 1812 and
+foreshadowed orders for election of deputies to the Cortes. Under the
+royal decree of 1825, which was still in force, Tacon had power to set
+aside any instructions which came from Spain, if it<a name="page_351" id="page_351"></a> seemed to him to
+the best interests of Cuba. He did not hesitate to take advantage of
+this authority, which gave him the same rights as a Spanish governor
+over a city in a state of siege, allowed him to suspend any public
+functionary no matter what his rank, and to banish any resident of the
+island who opposed him, without trial, and even without the formal
+preferring of accusations, as well as to suspend any law or regulation
+emanating from Spain, should he see fit.</p>
+
+<p>Under Tacon's orders, a column of soldiers, picked from the Spanish army
+of occupation, and chosen&mdash;much against their will and inclination&mdash;from
+the rural and provincial militia and cavalry, was placed under the
+command of General Gascue, in the town of Guines. Meanwhile, Tacon's
+secret agents were carrying on an active propaganda among the citizens
+of Santiago de Cuba, and endeavoring to seduce public sentiment from
+Lorenzo's to Tacon's side. They did not hesitate to tell the most
+unblushing falsehoods, and to make the most dishonest promises to win
+the people over, and by such means attained some degree of success.</p>
+
+<p>If Tacon had had a different sort of opponent the story would have been
+written along very different lines. A strong commander of the large
+forces at Santiago de Cuba could easily have compelled him to withdraw
+from his position, and could have assured for Cuba greater freedom, and
+this course might in the long run at least have postponed her further
+efforts for separation from Spain. But General Lorenzo though
+well-meaning was fatally weak. Instead of resisting Tacon's tyranny he
+left Cuba for Spain, in an effort to make sure of the support of the
+Spanish crown, leaving Tacon to follow his own will, and to wreak his
+vengeance on those who had opposed him. Tacon was of course delighted<a name="page_352" id="page_352"></a>
+with the success of his strategy. He sent some of the officers of his
+companies to Santiago and established a military commission to try all
+the people of prominence who under General Lorenzo had opposed him.
+Moya, the commandant, was the presiding judge, and Miret, a lawyer and a
+tool of Tacon's, acted as advocate. No greater travesty of justice has
+ever been staged than the proceedings of this precious body.</p>
+
+<p>Now all the Creoles of wealth, education and family had welcomed the
+royal decree, and hastened to obey the commands of General Lorenzo and
+to take oath to uphold a constitution which was so beneficial to their
+interest. Their names were known to Tacon, and he seized not only such
+people, but anyone of whom he had the slightest suspicion. Men of the
+highest rank, or the best reputation for loyalty and honesty, of the
+finest education and standing, were among the number who were summoned
+before Tacon's tribunal. Even the church was not exempt, and several
+clergymen, with liberal leanings, and of known revolutionary sentiments,
+were arrested and imprisoned. This was an excellent time for Tacon to
+find a pretext to separate the sheep from the goats, and to put those
+who seemed likely to oppose him where he thought they belonged. Many of
+these people were confined in dungeons which were as barbarous as those
+of the middle ages, and were left there until they died of disease or of
+starvation. They were cut off from communications with their families
+and friends, and in darkness and filth suffered until death relieved
+them. A few considered themselves fortunate to get off with sentences of
+banishment, and those who had warning were glad to escape to another
+country. Families were separated and homes were broken up. Tacon was
+very thorough in his methods of putting<a name="page_353" id="page_353"></a> down what he considered a
+menace to his government. Even the soldiers under General Lorenzo's
+command were made his victims. They had been guilty of no offence save
+that of obeying their superior officer, but this made no difference to
+Tacon. He decided to make an example of them. Over five hundred of them,
+with ball and chain dragging, were condemned to work on the streets of
+Havana like convicts.</p>
+
+<p>The deputies to the Cortes whom Lorenzo had chosen, or who had been
+chosen under his rule, were among those who escaped from the island.
+They made their way to Spain, and, hoping that the Spanish crown would
+recognize the regularity of their election, and the irregularity of
+Tacon's action, presented their credentials to the Cortes. They were
+referred to a special committee composed of Spaniards whose only
+interest in Cuba was in what might be extracted from her, and who had no
+sympathy with her struggles or concern for her welfare or the good of
+her people. What few ideas they had of the best way to govern Cuba and
+make her pay the highest returns to Spain were derived from such
+intellects as those possessed by men of Tacon's ilk, and they were
+stoutly ranged on Tacon's side of the controversy. The deputies were
+refused seats in the Cortes, and it was decided that the Constitution of
+1812 did not apply to Cuba. Cuba was thus placed under the despotic rule
+of the Captains-General, who were given absolute power, even precedence,
+over the will of the Spanish Cortes. The decree of the Cortes on this
+matter was framed in the following language:</p>
+
+<p>"The Cortes, using the power which is conceded to them by the
+Constitution, have decreed: Not being in a position to apply the
+Constitution which has been adopted for the peninsula and adjacent to
+the ultramarine<a name="page_354" id="page_354"></a> provinces of America and Asia, these shall be ruled and
+administered by special laws appropriate to their respective situations
+and circumstances, and proper to cause their happiness. Consequently,
+the Deputies for the designated provinces are not to take their seats in
+the present Cortes."</p>
+
+<p>Tacon was exultant over this strengthening of his hand, and he began a
+regime even more cruel than his previous record. His agents were
+constantly busy stirring up strife and jealousy between the Spanish
+residents of the island and the native Cubans. He dominated the civil
+courts with his military officers, and justice became a mere chimera of
+fancy. In order to keep the police in line, he insisted that a certain
+number of arrests must be made within a given period. When there were
+not enough real offenders to make up the quota, the police naturally
+wreaked any little personal animosities which they might have against
+private citizens; and it has even been said that frequently they were
+paid by certain revengeful citizens who held grudges to prefer charges
+against men who were absolutely innocent of any offence.</p>
+
+<p>Of course societies, whether political or social, came under the
+governmental ban. Citizens were not encouraged to assemble in groups for
+any purpose, and they feared to do so openly, lest the entire group
+might be apprehended and tried on some trumped up charge. All
+associations for education or personal betterment were discouraged,
+because if people came to know too much, they were harder to handle and
+more apt to revolt. Besides this, any society or institution which did
+not depend on the favor of the Captain-General might find means of
+denouncing his rule, and one could never tell how royal favor might be
+swayed. Tacon well knew<a name="page_355" id="page_355"></a> it to be a very uncertain quantity, and meant
+to keep the wind blowing in his quarter, if possible.</p>
+
+<p>In connection with his management of the police force, the whole
+attitude of justice was changed. No person was presumed innocent until
+his guilt was proved, but on the contrary his guilt was presumed unless
+he could beyond the shadow of a doubt prove his innocence; and if he had
+been unfortunate enough to incur the displeasure of one of the legion of
+sycophants from the court of Spain who hung around the palace of the
+Captain-General, seeking their own aggrandizement, his chances of having
+an opportunity to prove himself innocent were very small. Tacon
+encouraged rather than discouraged his subordinates in acts of
+injustice, and did not care to what lengths they went if they kept the
+people quiet. He roared at his officers, and demanded that they be
+vigilant against his enemies, and they were thoroughly cowed by him. To
+satisfy him, they invented accusations and thrust just men into prison,
+or had them condemned to death. A curious result of this regime, and one
+which shows how some good will often work out of the basest evils, was
+that thieves and banditti were much less active than under any other
+Captain-General. The long arm of Tacon reached out to subdue them, to
+fall upon the guilty as well as the innocent.</p>
+
+<p>Tacon is said to have stated his own position in these words: "I am
+here, not to promote the interests of the people of Cuba, but to serve
+my master, the king." The press was muzzled, and the local ayuntamientos
+were deprived of their rights, and became merely the means for the
+collection and distribution of the funds of the municipalities. The
+prisons were overcrowded with Tacon's victims, and it became necessary
+to lodge some of<a name="page_356" id="page_356"></a> the political prisoners in the dungeons of castles.
+Nearly 600 people, against whom there was no formal accusation, and
+about whom no treason could be proved, were lodged in cells and
+dungeons. No private citizen was safe, and no one had any personal
+liberty.</p>
+
+<p>In spite of the lack of a free press, pamphlets denouncing the rule of
+Tacon were constantly being written, printed and circulated. One,
+entitled "<i>Cuba y su Gobierno,</i>" contained the following assertions:</p>
+
+<p>"With the political passions of Spaniards and Cubans excited; the island
+reduced from an integral part of the monarchy to the conditions 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 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 opinions; 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."</p>
+
+<p>The party in Cuba which was struggling against her oppression decided
+that since they dared not give expression of their views in the local
+press, they would establish organs outside their distressed country. Two
+papers were accordingly issued, one at Paris, called <i>El Correo de
+Ultramar</i>, and one at Madrid called <i>El Observador</i>. These were both
+edited by able Cubans who were in exile. Later, in 1848, <i>La Verdad</i>, a
+paper devoted to Cuban interests, was started in New York and the copies
+given free distribution.<a name="page_357" id="page_357"></a></p>
+
+<p>Tacon, like other despots, sought to cover his misdeeds by public works,
+with which he tried to placate those possible insurgents whom he had not
+imprisoned, and to deceive the Spanish government; for cruel and
+arbitrary as had been the Spanish attitude toward her colonies, it is
+doubtful whether the Spanish Cortes, had all the facts been known, would
+have countenanced some of the brutalities of which Tacon was guilty.
+There is a curious irony, a sort of paradox, about one of the
+improvements which Tacon made on the island. As we have seen, the
+prisons had never before been so full, and there had never before been
+such a demand for places to incarcerate political offenders. Tacon
+consequently caused a prison to be built, which has ever since been
+pointed to as a palliation of some of his misdeeds. It is situated near
+the gate of La Punta, and not far distant from the sea coast. It is well
+ventilated and airy, and open to the sea breezes. One point urged in its
+favor was that "its unfortunate inmates were protected from those
+pestilential fevers rising from crowded and ill-ventilated rooms." In
+other words, they were torn from squalor to well ventilated
+imprisonment. This would have been all very nice, were it not for the
+fact that numbers of the prisoners were from the best homes on the
+island, and had no need of a comfortable boarding house by the sea,
+watched over by an inhuman jailor. The prison had a capacity of five
+thousand prisoners, and very shortly after its erection it sheltered one
+thousand. It was built by the labor of convicts, and poor, unhappy
+political prisoners, and partly with funds which Tacon extracted from
+some of the officers who served under his predecessors, claiming that
+such funds had been by them unlawfully appropriated to their own use.</p>
+
+<p>To give opportunities for "graft" to his followers, and<a name="page_358" id="page_358"></a> work to their
+hangers-on, Tacon constructed a wall, high, level and massive, and for
+what purpose only he knew, right through the widest avenue of Havana.
+The Cubans were taxed to pay for the work, and subsequently were retaxed
+to pay for its removal. Tacon also established a public meat and fish
+market, for which he won popular approbation&mdash;outside of Cuba. It was in
+fact much to the detriment of the public and the public revenue, and
+greatly to his own gain and that of his friends. Even the contract for
+this market was not honestly let, but was given to the highest bidder
+for Tacon's enrichment, while honest bidders were ignored. The grant was
+obtained, whereupon the contractors came into their own, and commenced
+extorting large and valuable fees to which they were not entitled.
+Finally the matter became such a public scandal that even Tacon could
+not avert its being investigated, but when this investigation was
+completed, the record was taken possession of by Tacon, and mysteriously
+never again was discovered. The scandal of Tacon's administration at
+last became too great even for the Spanish court, which was supposed to
+be inclined to stand for anything, and the voice of Don Juan Montalvo y
+Castillo was raised in the Spanish Cortes in expostulation. But Tacon
+wrote artful reports, dodged the real issues, and cheerfully lied, and
+his utterances&mdash;perhaps better fitting the temper of the Cortes&mdash;found
+credence and his rule was continued.</p>
+
+<p>Tacon caused the Governor's palace to be rebuilt, at great profit to
+himself and his favorites in the way of perquisites and bribes; he
+caused a military road to be constructed; and he had a spacious theatre
+erected, cynically saying, that "it would keep the people amused, and
+keep their minds off of matters which did not concern them." He also
+caused a large parade ground to<a name="page_359" id="page_359"></a> be opened just outside the city. But in
+none of his improvements was he free from suspicion of having enriched
+his own purse, and having in some manner pulled the wool over the sadly
+strained eyes of the Cuban patriots.</p>
+
+<p>A story which reads like a romance is told of Tacon's institution of the
+fish market. In those days pirates infested the waters around Cuba, and
+indeed were a menace to American and French vessels, as we have seen.
+The most daring pirate and smuggler of them all was said to be a man
+named Marti, of whom many exciting tales are related. He was a bold
+leader of desperadoes, and since the Isle of Pines was where his band
+most frequently had their headquarters, he was known as the "King of the
+Isle of Pines." Now Tacon was eager to suppress smuggling and piracy,
+probably because they interfered with his own plans. The Spanish ships
+of war lay in the harbors of Cuba at anchor, while the officers indulged
+in dancing on board with Cuban ladies, or took long period of leave on
+shore. This did not please Tacon, and he accordingly issued commands
+that they suppress the smugglers at all costs. But the smugglers carried
+on their operations from small coves and inlets, in little crafts which
+did not draw much water, and the clumsy and half-hearted efforts of the
+Spanish sailors to apprehend them filled their leaders with mirth. There
+are many tales of the impudent daring with which these outlaws operated
+under the very noses of those who were sent out to capture them.</p>
+
+<p>At last Tacon, who had an abounding belief that every man had his price,
+and perhaps had heard enough of the character of the men he was hunting
+to gauge it correctly, offered a reward for anyone who would desert and
+inform the government of the pirates. A much<a name="page_360" id="page_360"></a> larger and more tempting
+sum was offered for the delivery of Marti, dead or alive. These offers
+were posted throughout the country.</p>
+
+<p>For some time nothing happened, and then one dark night, when it was
+raining copiously, a man evaded the sentinels before the main entrance
+to the governor's palace in Havana. He stole through the entrance, and
+hid himself among the pillars in the inner court. Next this man silently
+crept up the staircase to the governor's apartments. Here he met a
+guard, but he saluted, and passed on with such nonchalance that he was
+not challenged, and entering the reception room of the governor, found
+himself in the semi-royal presence. Tacon was alone, busily writing. He
+promptly inquired who his visitor might be, and was informed that he was
+one who had valuable information for the Captain-General.</p>
+
+<p>"I am the Captain-General," said Tacon.</p>
+
+<p>"Your excellency is desirous of apprehending the pirates who infest the
+coasts of the island?"</p>
+
+<p>"You must have been reading the proclamations," jocosely suggested
+Tacon.</p>
+
+<p>"And you wish to take Marti, dead or alive?"</p>
+
+<p>Tacon signified that such was his purpose. His strange visitor then
+exacted the Captain-General's promise that he would be granted a free
+pardon in return for the valuable information which he was about to
+divulge. When this promise was given he said:</p>
+
+<p>"I will lead you to the strongholds of the smugglers."</p>
+
+<p>"You?" cried Tacon. "Who are you?"</p>
+
+<p>"I am Marti!" was the reply.</p>
+
+<p>Marti, who so calmly and unscrupulously betrayed his followers, was of
+course a welcome visitor to the Captain-General, and one worthy of his
+warmest co-operation and friendship. He was placed under surveillance,<a name="page_361" id="page_361"></a>
+and was obliged to remain in the palace for the night, but the
+Captain-General refrained from telling anyone his identity. On the next
+day he acted as pilot for one of the Captain-General's boats, and after
+the course of several weeks he had exposed every hiding place of his
+men. The amount of money and property thus secured and appropriated by
+the Captain-General cannot be estimated, but it was very great. A great
+deal of it never found its way into the treasury. Marti was a scoundrel
+so much to his liking that the Captain-General decided not only to give
+him a free pardon, but an order on the treasury for a large sum of
+money. However, Marti had his own ideas of what he desired. In place of
+the money he chose the absolute right to fish the waters surrounding
+Havana, to the exclusion of all fishermen who were not in his employ. He
+had in his wild career marked for his own all the best fishing grounds
+in the harbor. This concession granted, there must naturally be found a
+market for his fish, and thus the fish market project was born. Then
+fishing made Marti so wealthy that he now had time for more elegant
+occupations, and turned his mind to theatricals. He is said to have
+obtained some sort of monopoly from the government over theatrical
+performances in the island, and then the public theatre idea was formed.</p>
+
+<p>Tacon had as many press agents as an opera singer, albeit they had no
+methods of getting their material into public print and disseminated it
+by word of mouth. His agents told many stories of him to illustrate his
+love of justice, his wonderful generosity, and his many other admirable
+traits, for which he was in reality only negatively to be celebrated.
+The one which follows is merely illustrative of the others.</p>
+
+<p>In the first year of his rule there was a young Creole<a name="page_362" id="page_362"></a> girl, of
+surpassing beauty and modesty, of the name of Miralda Estalez. She was
+an orphan of seventeen, and kept a cigar store, which her beauty and
+grace made very popular with the young men of Havana. Miralda, like all
+proper heroines of fiction or fairy stories, was good as well as
+beautiful, and although many of the young bloods sighed for her, her
+glance fell with favor only on a handsome but, of course, poor and
+deserving young man, of the name of Pedro Mantenez. Pedro was a boatman,
+which is a most romantic and fitting occupation for an impoverished but
+righteous hero. He was more than this. By his wit and sagacity&mdash;which as
+we have seen failed to line his coffers, but if they had done so he
+would have been out of drawing in this affecting picture, since he would
+no longer have been poor but deserving&mdash;he was a leader among the other
+boatmen and beloved by all. The records of his noble and
+self-sacrificing deeds would have filled a volume as large as an
+unabridged dictionary. Miralda loved Pedro, and Pedro loved Miralda, and
+all was going as merry as a marriage bell, when entered the villain, a
+famous roué of the name of Count Almonte, who liked Miralda's cigars and
+cast melting glances at Miralda herself, but all in vain, because, as we
+have said, Miralda was good as well as beautiful. Finding that he would
+have to do something more substantial than make eyes, the worthy count
+offered Miralda a costly present which so affected her that she fainted,
+not with joy, but with horror. Then she ordered the count from her shop,
+but he refused to go and continued to hang around and buy her wares.
+Next the fine count offered her money and lands and rich clothes and
+what not, but the pure-minded young girl righteously spurned his offer.
+Acting quite in character the count then decided to kidnap her. His
+plans<a name="page_363" id="page_363"></a> were ingenious, but in order to gain popularity for Tacon it was
+necessary that not far from this point he should get into the story.</p>
+
+<p>One afternoon, just at twilight, that fine hour for abduction, a
+lieutenant&mdash;probably in Tacon's pay&mdash;stepped into the store and demanded
+that Miralda go with him, by order of the Captain-General; which does
+look like the cloven hoof in the velvet glove, or something of the sort.
+But instead of taking Miralda to the Captain-General she was conveyed to
+the count's country estates, where she was kept a prisoner, although of
+course not harmed&mdash;in fiction the villain never harms the heroine before
+the hero arrives even if he is a bit late at the appointment. Pedro, by
+that wit and sagacity which had made him a master boatman, discovered
+the count's treachery. He disguised himself as a friar and went to the
+count's gate every day and slipped notes through the cracks to Miralda,
+thus cheering her exceedingly. Then entered the most high excellency,
+the Captain-General, that defender of those who loved liberty in Cuba,
+that builder of prisons and master genius in filling them, that
+despoiler of rich and poor alike, and thus the man most likely to help
+defenseless virtue. Pedro's excess of wit and sagacity led him straight
+to the spotless Captain-General. After trying three times to get an
+audience, for governing the island and putting down rebellions kept
+Tacon reasonably busy, Pedro succeeded in getting into the presence of
+the lord of Cuba. When he had told his story, and sworn to his honorable
+intentions toward his fiancee, Tacon sent his soldiers to the count's
+estate to bring him and Miralda into the sacred presence. When the
+Captain-General had demanded to know, and the count had assured him,
+that Miralda was "as pure as when she came beneath my roof," Tacon
+immediately<a name="page_364" id="page_364"></a> produced a priest and married Miralda to the count, much to
+the astonishment and chagrin of the faithful Pedro. But Tacon the Just
+was not through. He was ever on the side of the oppressed, when his own
+interests leaned that way. The count was ordered to return to his own
+plantation, without his bride. While on the way he was shot in the back,
+after Tacon's most pleasant manner and by his orders. In one record it
+is hinted that his estates were pleasant picking for Tacon, but the
+story which is most current leaves out that interesting detail. Tacon's
+version is that he gave the count's estate to the widow; and at any rate
+Pedro and Miralda were married and lived happily ever afterward, and
+Tacon gave them his blessing with the high-sounding pronouncement: "No
+man nor woman on this island is so humble but that they may claim the
+justice of Tacon."</p>
+
+<p>Tacon's rule, one of the worst that the long-suffering Cubans had to
+endure, finally came to an end, on April 16, 1838, when he was succeeded
+by Don Joaquin de Espeleta. The latter had been born in Cuba, and it is
+a mystery why he was ever appointed, for Spain was not wont to accord
+honors to Cubans, or to confer the high rank of Captain-General on one
+who might naturally be expected to have Cuban sympathies. He had been
+for some time connected with the government in a subordinate capacity,
+being inspector-general of the troops, and second cabo-subalterno. From
+all accounts Espeleta was an excellent governor, and must have afforded
+the harassed Cubans a much needed breathing spell after the misrule of
+Tacon. But he was not long allowed to rule Cuba. Spain began to suspect
+that the Cubans were being treated too well, and that trouble might
+follow. Indeed, Espeleta was reported to be conciliating<a name="page_365" id="page_365"></a> the people,
+and holding out hopes of great reforms. This in itself seemed to justify
+his removal, and so, in 1840, he was succeeded by the Prince de Aglona.</p>
+
+<p>During this administration the Royal Pretorial Audience, a high court of
+appeal to which all civil cases might be taken, was established. If this
+had been kept free from deleterious influences, it would have been a
+most beneficial thing for the oppressed Cubans, but the royal favorites
+dominated it, as they did pretty much everything else.<a name="page_366" id="page_366"></a></p>
+
+<h3><a name="CHAPTER_XXIV" id="CHAPTER_XXIV"></a>CHAPTER XXIV</h3>
+
+<p>General Geronimo Valdez, who succeeded the Prince de Aglona as
+Captain-General in 1840, probably endeavored to rule wisely, since he
+was by nature a rather gentle and just man; but he had absolutely no
+chance with the power of Spain against him. It was during his incumbency
+that the first of the alarming slave uprisings occurred, and the Spanish
+officials were so frightened that they counseled the most violent
+methods of subduing the offenders, to which as we shall see General
+Valdez at least shut his eyes. For he was weak and indecisive, and had
+not the power to rule insurgents or to keep his Spanish colleagues
+within bounds.</p>
+
+<p>The British consul, David Turnbull, of whom we shall hear more later,
+was unpopular with the planters, who accused him of inciting their
+slaves to rebellion. Certainly he was an ardent advocate of
+emancipation, and a book which he wrote about this period was filled
+with denunciations of slavery. Valdez tried to placate both him and the
+planters, and between the two promptly fell down and won the enmity of
+both. His numerous grants of freedom to negroes were another cause for
+complaint. The planters combined and caused his downfall, and he yielded
+his office to one better suited to Spanish standards. Some years later
+they secured the recall of Turnbull. It is said of Valdez that he
+departed from Cuba no richer than when he had come, and if this is
+true,&mdash;it sounds almost impossible,&mdash;then he stands unique in an
+assembly of "grafters."<a name="page_367" id="page_367"></a></p>
+
+<p>In 1843 George Leopold O'Donnell took office as Captain-General. No
+despot who had preceded him surpassed him in cruelty. He turned every
+possible happening to his personal advantage, and lined his pockets with
+Cuban money. It was during his tenure of office that the most
+wide-spread and most dangerous of the insurrections among the slaves
+happened. Of the methods used in subduing this we shall write in another
+chapter, but they were the most disgraceful that have blotted the pages
+of the history of any nation. General O'Donnell himself, his wife and
+daughter were said to have profited by the slave trade. The wife of the
+Captain-General, by the way, seems to have had a painfully itching palm.
+It is told of her that she had a number of loaves of bread left after a
+reception, and that she sent for the baker at three o'clock in the
+morning, to require him to take back the surplus. When he demurred, that
+he could only sell it for stale bread, and would thus lose money on it,
+she said: "Oh, I sent for you early because now you can mix it with the
+other bread, and sell it to the masses, and no one will know the
+difference." She is accused of having been engaged in all kinds of
+schemes by which she profited in an illegitimate way. She dabbled in the
+letting of contracts for the cleansing of sewers and for the removal of
+dirt and manure from the city streets, demanding her bonus from the one
+who secured the contract, and these municipal operations stained her
+hands with illgotten gains. It is said that O'Donnell, who had a large
+interest in marble quarries in the Isle of Pines, had his agents select
+able bodied laborers, and trump up charges of treason against them. They
+were then sentenced to deportation to work in the Captain-General's
+stone quarries, and thus solved the problem of low priced labor.<a name="page_368" id="page_368"></a>
+O'Donnell was fertile also in inventing new taxes and new methods of
+extorting money, which of course brought him into high favor at court.
+So pleasing was his rule to his masters and to his aides that he was
+allowed to stay in office longer than usual, and was not succeeded until
+1848.</p>
+
+<p>One of the most ridiculous figures in Cuban history came next, in the
+person of General Frederico Roncali. Some 400 Americans had taken up
+their abode on an island far distant from Cuba. Rumors reached General
+Roncali that they intended to free Cuba from Spanish rule. He promptly
+marched 4,000 picked soldiers to garrisons in Cuba, and promised them
+double pay if they would fight bravely when the enemy landed. Of course,
+the enemy never came, and General Roncali presented a foolish figure.
+But after all there was a portent in this of the fear which the
+Spaniards were beginning to entertain, that the end of their rule in
+Cuba was at hand.</p>
+
+<p>While the slave trade had been made illegal in 1820, it flourished with
+more or less vigor until the end of the Ten Years' War in the latter
+part of the century. Spain officially frowned upon it, but unofficially
+the Spanish crown is said to have been financially interested in the
+slave trading companies, and to have shared largely in their profits. To
+add to this incentive for the continuance of the trade, the
+Captain-General had his own reasons for not suppressing it. He was paid
+a fixed bonus for every slave imported. Indeed, the post of
+Captain-General of Cuba was one not to be despised by any soldier of
+fortune. The perquisites of the office are said to have been&mdash;of course,
+not from the slave trade alone&mdash;close to $500,000 a year. The
+Captain-General is said to have received "half an ounce of gold" for
+every<a name="page_369" id="page_369"></a> "sack of charcoal," as they facetiously dubbed the negro, allowed
+to pass into the country.</p>
+
+<p>Although no excuse of expediency can be urged for the enslavement of
+human beings, no matter what their color or race, it remains a fact that
+the sugar plantations of Cuba required laborers in great numbers for
+their development, and the easiest and most profitable way to obtain
+that labor was through the employment of black slaves. It would probably
+have been impossible to obtain a sufficient number of white men at that
+time to do the work required, especially since when an attempt was made
+to import white men for work on the plantations, the owners who were of
+Spanish birth brought every influence possible to bear on the government
+to make such laws and regulations for that kind of labor that, if it
+could be procured, its retention was well nigh impossible.</p>
+
+<p>The blacks were naturally not satisfied with slavery. In their
+association with their masters they acquired just enough information and
+knowledge to make them dangerous. And at this time the blacks, free and
+slave, were a large majority of the population. The negro race in
+captivity was always difficult to manage. They were affectionate and
+responsive to good treatment but when their rage was aroused by hard and
+unjust treatment they reverted to habits of the jungle. The Spanish
+planters believed that the way to keep the negroes quiet was to keep
+them under with a strong hand and consequently overseers were frequently
+brutal.</p>
+
+<p>There began to be a strong undercurrent of unrest among the negro
+population, and an equally strong fear of them among the whites.
+Sporadic uprisings occurred, which were like the overflowing of a
+boiling caldron, not organized, and not well prepared, and therefore
+easily<a name="page_370" id="page_370"></a> put down by the authorities. A description of a typical uprising
+of this character is contained in a work called "The Slaves in the
+Spanish Colonies" by the Countess Merlin, published about 1840. It
+relates the experiences of one Don Rafael with a mutiny of his slaves.</p>
+
+<p>"The slaves lately imported from Africa were mostly of the Luccommee
+tribe, and therefore excellent workmen, but of a violent and unwieldly
+temper, and always ready to hang themselves at the slightest opposition
+to their way.</p>
+
+<p>"It was just after the bell had struck five, and the dawn of morning was
+scarcely visible. Don Rafael had gone over to another of his estates,
+within half an hour before, leaving behind him, and still in tranquil
+slumbers, his four children and his wife, who was in a state of
+pregnancy. Of a sudden the latter awaked, terrified by hideous cries and
+the sound of hurried steps. She jumped affrighted from her bed, and
+observed that all the negroes of the estate were making their way to the
+house. She was instantly surrounded by her children, weeping and crying
+at her side. Being attended solely by slaves, she thought herself
+inevitably lost; but scarcely had she time to canvass these ideas in her
+distracted mind, when one of her negro girls came in, saying, 'Child,
+your bounty need have no fears; we have fastened all the doors, and
+Michael is gone for the master.' Her companions placed themselves on all
+sides of their female owners, while the rebels advanced, tossing from
+hand to hand among themselves a bloody corpse, with cries as awful as
+the hissing of a serpent. The negro girls exclaimed, 'That's the
+overseer's body!' The rebels were already at the door, when Pepilla
+(this is the name of the lady) saw the carriage of her husband coming at
+full speed. That sweet soul, who, until<a name="page_371" id="page_371"></a> that moment, had valiantly
+awaited death, was now overpowered at the sight of her husband coming
+unarmed toward the infuriated mob, and she fainted. In the mean time,
+Rafael descended from the vehicle, placed himself in front of them, and
+with only one severe look, and a single sign of the hand, designated the
+purging house for them to go to. The slaves suddenly became silent,
+abandoned the dead body of their overseer, and, with downcast faces,
+still holding their field-swords in their hands, they turned round and
+entered where they had been ordered. Well might it be said, that they
+beheld in the man who stood before them the exterminating angel.</p>
+
+<p>"Although the movement had for a moment subsided, Rafael, who was not
+aware of its cause, and feared the results, selected the opportunity to
+hurry his family away from the danger. The <i>quitrin</i> or vehicle of the
+country could not hold more than two persons, and it would have been
+imprudent to wait till more conveyances were in readiness. Pepilla and
+the children were placed in it in the best possible manner; and they
+were on the point of starting, when a man, covered with wounds, with a
+haggard, deathlike look, approached the wheels of the <i>quitrin</i>, as if
+he meant to climb in by them. In his pale face the marks of despair and
+the symptoms of death could be traced, and fear and bitter anguish were
+the feelings which agitated his soul in the last moments of his life. He
+was the white accountant, who had been nearly murdered by the blacks,
+and having escaped from their ferocious hold, was making the last
+efforts to save a mere breath of life. His cries, his prayers, were
+calculated to make the heart faint. Rafael found himself in the cruel
+alternative of being deaf to the request of a dying man, or throwing his
+bloody and expiring corpse<a name="page_372" id="page_372"></a> over his children: his pity conquered; the
+accountant was placed in the carriage as well as might be, and it moved
+away from the spot.</p>
+
+<p>"While this was passing on the estate of Rafael, the Marquis of
+Cardenas, Pepilla's brother, whose plantations were two leagues off, who
+had been apprised through a slave of the danger with which his sister
+was threatened, hastened to her aid. On reaching the spot, he noticed a
+number of rebels who, impelled by a remnant of rage, or fear of
+punishment, were directing their course to the Savannas&mdash;large open
+plains, the last abodes resorted to by runaway slaves. The Marquis of
+Cardenas, whose sense of the danger of his sister had induced him to fly
+to her, had brought with him, in the hurry of the moment, no one to
+guard his person except a single slave. Scarcely had the fugitive band
+perceived a white man, when they went towards him. The marquis stopped
+his course and prepared to meet them; it was useless temerity in him
+against such odds. Turning his master's horse by the bridle, his own
+slave addressed him thus: 'My master, let your bounty get away from
+here; let me come to an understanding with them.' And he then whipped
+his master's horse, which went off at a gallop.</p>
+
+<p>"The valiant José, for his name is worthy of being remembered as that of
+a hero, went on toward the savage mob, so as to gain time for his master
+to fly, and fell a victim to his devotedness, after receiving thirty-six
+sword-blows. This rising, which had not been premediated, had no other
+consequences. It had originated in a severe chastisement inflicted by
+the overseer, which had prompted the rebels to march toward the owner's
+dwelling to expound their complaint. They begged Rafael's pardon, which
+was granted, with the exception<a name="page_373" id="page_373"></a> of two or three, who were delivered
+over to the tribunals."</p>
+
+<p>This specimen of the fine writing of the period has hidden within it two
+truths which stand out in the history of the difficulties between the
+blacks and the whites on the island of Cuba. First, although we must
+discount a bit the Countess's account of Rafael's valor, and the ease
+with which he subdued the uprising, by taking into account the fact that
+he was her cousin, and that therefore she naturally looked at him with
+over-favorable eyes, nevertheless the fact remains that the blacks were
+usually amenable to the commands of their owners, unless aroused to an
+unusual pitch of ferocity, and were, through fear or respect, not
+difficult to reduce to control.</p>
+
+<p>In the second place, it has been the history of the relations between
+the blacks and whites in every country that with anything like fair
+treatment those who worked about the house, or acted as body servants,
+became personally attached to their masters&mdash;to whom it is true there
+was often a tie of consanguinity&mdash;and showed the same spirit of loyalty
+which was displayed by Pepilla's women slaves.</p>
+
+<p>Shortly after this insurrection, reported by the Countess Merlin, there
+was another near Aguacate, which was more formidable and more difficult
+to subdue. Meanwhile, the government was handling the matter of slave
+insurrections in a vacillating manner. Laws were made which granted the
+slaves a right to assemble and to establish societies, even to form
+military bodies for the public defense; actually giving them greater
+rights than white laborers; and this went hand in hand with such cruel
+injustice as public whipping posts. The white population, on the other
+hand, even in localities<a name="page_374" id="page_374"></a> where there was a great preponderance of
+blacks, could not form a militia.</p>
+
+<p>Turnbull, the English consul, fancied that he saw in these slave
+insurrections a chance to advance the interests of his country. It is
+claimed that he also had visions of a republic in which the blacks ruled
+with himself as president. He was <i>persona non grata</i> with the
+aristocracy of the island, and is supposed to have been actuated in part
+by a desire to avenge social slights. He was charged with planning to
+effect a huge black uprising, to seize and execute enough of the white
+population to cow the rest and then to set up his black republic. But it
+is impossible to determine the truth or falsity of these accusations.
+Turnbull had many enemies who were only too glad to charge him with any
+crime.</p>
+
+<p>In 1842 there was an insurrection in Martiaro, and it was with
+difficulty suppressed. Then evidence began to be seen everywhere of a
+systematic propaganda among the slaves on plantations scattered in
+widely separated parts of the island. A negro mason accidentally dropped
+an incendiary proclamation from his pocket, and it finally reached the
+hands of the captain of the district. The negro was tortured, but would
+not divulge the source of the paper. An itinerant monk went through the
+country ostensibly begging alms for the church, but in reality
+prophesying to the blacks that in July, 1842, they would, on St. John's
+Day, rise and obtain their freedom. The wholesale insurrection did not
+occur, but there were uprisings in July in various parts of the island,
+and the slaves of an estate near Bemba murdered their master and a
+neighbor, and were only subdued when the militia had been called. In
+January, 1843, an official of the government was murdered by the blacks.
+A colored<a name="page_375" id="page_375"></a> man secretly gave evidence against the slayers and in some
+manner fell under their suspicion, and soon after was assassinated by
+one of his own people, who afterward was tried for the crime, but
+committed suicide in jail, before he could pay the death penalty. In
+March, 1843, near Bemba five hundred negroes rose against their white
+masters, and it was only after considerable bloodshed that they were
+subdued. No sooner was this trouble quieted than there was another
+uprising on a plantation in the neighborhood, and still a third one the
+same year, the exact details of which are lacking. Then followed, at the
+close of 1843, the most serious trouble of all, when, in November, the
+negroes near Matanzas revolted and went on an orgy of murder and rape,
+ravishing and killing women, and murdering white men. Turnbull was
+accused of being the brains behind these troubles, but it was impossible
+to fix the guilt on him. If he was guilty he was not a good organizer,
+for none of the revolts had any national effect. They were all local in
+character, and all unsuccessful in attaining any lasting results.</p>
+
+<p>After the insurrection of November, 1843, a meeting of planters was
+called in Matanzas, and the government was asked to take steps to make
+further revolts impossible. But in 1844, near Matanzas, occurred another
+serious insurrection, and it was reported that the negroes on all the
+plantations in the neighborhood were organized and were planning a
+wholesale revolt, which would bring about the realizations of Turnbull's
+dreams. It was then that the government decided to act ruthlessly, and
+methods which would have done credit to the old Spanish Inquisition were
+promptly introduced.</p>
+
+<p>In March, 1844, the Captain-General, O'Donnell, addressed a letter to
+General Salas, who was the head of<a name="page_376" id="page_376"></a> the military tribunal, in which he
+counseled drastic and violent measures against any insurgent blacks. He
+suggested that all blacks, slave or free, who were suspected of treason
+to their masters, should be apprehended, and if they refused to give
+information as to the extent of the organization and their associations,
+the knowledge must be wrung from them by torture. The slaves were to be
+tried in the district where they were taken. The officer in charge of
+each district was promptly given full power to apprehend and punish the
+plotters as he saw fit. The Spanish officers were often cruel and brutal
+men, who exercised their authority in the most revolting manner. The hue
+and cry went from hut to cabin and no black man was safe at his own
+hearth. Opportunity was taken in some cases to work out a personal
+grudge and gain freedom from an enemy. No one, not even a white man,
+dared publicly to raise his voice to expostulate, for he was promptly
+dubbed an abolitionist and thrown into prison. If a negro had a little
+money saved to buy his freedom, or, if he was a freedman, to obtain a
+little business, he stood a better chance of his life. He might buy his
+tormentors off, but all too frequently when he had paid, he was murdered
+lest he might tell of the man whom he had bribed.</p>
+
+<p>One tender hearted Spanish judge, Don Ramon Gonzales, is reported to
+have condemned his victims to be taken to a room, the walls of which
+were already dripping with the blood and shredded flesh of previous
+victims. There they were tied head down to a ladder, and flogged by two
+Africans until they were dead. To make their torture the more
+excruciating, the thongs with which they were scourged had on the ends
+small buttons made of fine wire, which bit into the flesh. When several
+freedmen had been executed in this pleasant fashion,<a name="page_377" id="page_377"></a> and when public
+opinion dared feebly to protest at such atrocities, death certificates
+were made out by unscrupulous physicians, reporting death from some
+simple disease, and under this authority the murdered negroes were
+quickly buried.</p>
+
+<p>A second kind judge seized on some pretext a freeborn negro, an old man,
+who was gentle and inoffensive, but who had incurred the judicial
+displeasure, and had him tied to the ladder and flogged on three
+separate occasions, without even going to the trouble to bring an
+indictment against him or divulge the nature of his offense. Another
+free negro was taken by this same official, hung by his hands from the
+ceiling of the torture chamber, and left there all night, while he was
+at intervals whipped. At length this poor victim succumbed to the
+treatment and gave information of a comrade, who was promptly taken out
+and shot without a trial.</p>
+
+<p>Another officer, Don Juan Costa, had a record of ninety-six negroes
+killed by the lash, of whom fifty-four were slaves and forty-two
+freedmen. The record shows the following entries, which gives an inkling
+of the colored man's powers of endurance and of what each must have
+suffered: "Lorenzo Sanchez, imprisoned on the first of April, died on
+the fourth. Joseph Cavallero, imprisoned on the fourth, died on the
+sixth. John Austin Molino, imprisoned on the ninth, died on the
+twelfth." There were similar laconic entries for the whole ninety-six.
+Don José del Piso, a fiscal officer, was responsible for the flogging to
+death of a negro a hundred and ten years of age, too old and infirm to
+be an active conspirator. This was within the walls of the Matanzas
+jail. The poor victim was so lacerated that he was hardly recognizable
+as a human being. This del Piso had a pleasant form of afternoon sport
+which he conducted to<a name="page_378" id="page_378"></a> the great edification of his brother
+inquisitioners. He would have his victims tied to the high limb of a
+tree, and then cut the rope and watch them writhe when they fell. Don
+Ferdinand Percher fell slightly below the record of his colleague, Don
+Juan Costa, for he could boast of only seventy-two deaths to his credit.</p>
+
+<p>Then there occurred to these just men and true a new and exceedingly
+fine way of adding to their revenue. Don Miguel Ballo de la Rore
+extorted from the negroes on a certain estate, in the absence of their
+owners, affidavits accusing their master of treason; and the latter was
+notified through his overseer that unless he paid two hundred ounces of
+gold forthwith he was a condemned man. However, the correspondence fell
+into the hands of General Salas who had the grace to put an end to the
+matter.</p>
+
+<p>But not only the blacks were victims. A white man who had incurred the
+displeasure of the minions of the government was never safe. One Spanish
+officer had a grudge against a young Englishman and accused him of
+inciting the negroes on an estate to poison their master; and the
+Englishman paid the forfeit of his life for a crime of which he was
+entirely guiltless. The fiscal officers ranged the island, looking for
+chances to murder, obtaining false testimony, seizing property, cattle,
+furniture, horses, the property of freed blacks, which they sold,
+converting the proceeds to their own use. This record seems incredible,
+but it is vouched for beyond question. Furthermore, at this time no
+comely colored woman was safe. If she happened to attract the lustful
+eyes of a Spanish general, her husband or father or brothers were
+seized, and she herself was delivered up to be ravished and then slain.
+One of the episodes of this campaign was a largely attended ball, at
+which no white woman was present, and at which all the colored women
+were obliged to appear in the garb of Eve before the Fall.</p>
+
+<p class="figcenter">
+<a href="images/saco_lg.jpg">
+<img src="images/saco_sml.jpg" width="367" height="550" alt="JOSÉ ANTONIO SACO" title="JOSÉ ANTONIO SACO" /></a>
+</p>
+
+<div class="blockill"><p class="c">JOSÉ ANTONIO SACO</p>
+
+<p>One of the greatest of Cuban publicists, José Antonio Saco was born at
+Bayamo on May 7, 1797; studied philosophy and politics, and succeeded
+Varela as Professor of Philosophy at the San Carlos Seminary, Havana. In
+1828 he founded in New York the "Mensajero Quincenal," and four years
+later in Havana became editor of the <i>Revista Bimestre Cubana</i>. Because
+of his defense of the Academy of Literature, Captain-General Tacon
+banished him to the island of Trinidad. In 1836 he represented Cuba in
+the Spanish Cortes, and afterward travelled in Europe. In Paris he
+published a treatise of Cuban annexation to the United States, and after
+the Lopex expedition he wrote again on the political situation in Cuba.
+He was a member of the Junta of Information in 1866, and a Deputy to the
+Cortes from Santiago de Cuba. He died at Barcelona, Spain, on September
+26, 1879, and his body was returned to Cuba for burial. His greatest
+literary work was a monumental "History of Slavery," but he wrote many
+others on political, economical, social and literary subjects.</p></div>
+
+<p><a name="page_379" id="page_379"></a></p>
+
+<p>The fiscal officers were able to carry out these infamies because they
+were at once prosecuting attorney, judge and jury. They obtained
+testimony, apprehended, imprisoned, condemned and executed. The
+testimony which they extorted was taken without witnesses. They
+themselves wrote down the declarations, distorting them to suit their
+own purposes. The blacks seldom knew how to read or write, and they were
+obliged to set their mark to anything which the fiscal officer chose to
+record. Not even the notary who swore the witness was allowed to check
+up the declaration with his knowledge of the statements. The Spanish
+government had for a long time played the most corrupt and petty of
+politics in apportioning the smaller offices on the island. Political
+hangers-on, with little education, no moral sense and no honor, were
+paid for their loyalty to Spain with these positions. The records show
+that during this reign of terror one thousand three hundred and
+forty-six people were victims of the inquisition.</p>
+
+<p>But Spain in her campaigns of cruelty was only laying up trouble for
+herself. She was raising a storm which would never again be completely
+quelled until Cuba was free. The abolitionists and the liberals, or
+those who longed for freedom from Spanish rule, began joining forces.
+The cause of freedom for the slaves, and of separation from Spain, were
+curiously interlaced. The country was worn out with turmoil and eager
+for peace, but there could be no peace, it was believed, while Spain and
+the Spaniards on Cuban soil ruled with such cruel measures.</p>
+
+<p>The problem of how separation might be obtained was<a name="page_380" id="page_380"></a> capable of either
+of two solutions, by annexation to some other country, or by
+independence. The cause of independence had at this time for its leader
+a Cuban of the highest type, José Antonio Saco, who had traveled all
+over the world, and was a man of fine education and great culture. The
+larger proportion of those Cubans who were intelligent, and who were
+thinking out for themselves the problem of the fate of Cuba, accepted
+him as their leader. Of course, it is understood that all organization,
+all plans and almost all conversation, except in whispers behind closed
+doors, or in corners of cafes which seemed safe from surveillance, had
+to be secret. To come out openly for the salvation of Cuba from Spanish
+rule meant banishment or death.</p>
+
+<p>Saco's ideas were well known to the Spanish governor, for in 1834 he had
+been exiled because of them. But he was prudent, and was not disposed to
+do anything that would hurl Cuba into the throes of revolution. He felt
+that a revolution at this time, with the blacks subdued but not
+conquered, might mean a race war which would be the most disastrous
+thing that could happen to the island. He also opposed annexation to any
+other country, particularly to the United States, because he felt that
+Cuba, being in such close proximity to the latter country, would lose
+her individuality, be absorbed and become Anglo-Saxon. In 1845 he wrote
+on this subject, as follows:</p>
+
+<p>"If the slave trade continues, there will be in Cuba neither peace nor
+security. Their risings have occurred at all times; but they have always
+been partial, confined to one or two forms, without plan or political
+result. Very different is the character of the risings which at brief
+intervals have occurred in 1842-43; and the conspiracy last discovered
+is the most frightful which has<a name="page_381" id="page_381"></a> even been planned in Cuba, at once on
+account of its vast ramifications among slaves and free negroes, and on
+account of its origin and purpose. It is not necessary that the negroes
+should rise all at once all over the island; it is not necessary that
+its fields should blaze in conflagration from one end to the other in a
+single day; partial movements repeated here and there are enough to
+destroy faith and confidence. Then emigration will begin, capital will
+flee, agriculture and commerce will rapidly diminish, public revenues
+will lessen, the poverty of these and the fresh demands imposed by a
+continual state of alarm, will cause taxes to rise; and, with expenses
+on the one hand increased, but with receipts diminished, the situation
+of the island will grow more involved until there comes the most
+terrible catastrophe."</p>
+
+<div class="figright">
+<a href="images/pg381x_lg.jpg">
+<img src="images/pg381x_lg.jpg" width="223" height="308" alt="GASPAR BETANCOURT
+CISNEROS" title="GASPAR BETANCOURT CISNEROS" /></a>
+
+<br /><span class="caption">GASPAR BETANCOURT<br />
+CISNEROS</span>
+</div>
+
+<p>Again we find in a letter to a friend, Caspar Betancourt Cisneros,
+written a little later than the former communication:</p>
+
+<div class="blockill"><p class="c">GASPAR BETANCOURT CISNEROS</p>
+
+<p>Scion of a distinguished stock, Gaspar Betancourt Cisneros was born
+in Camaguey in 1803 and was educated in the United States. In 1823
+he went with other Cubans to Colombia to confer with Bolivar on the
+theme of Cuban independence, and remained there for many years. In
+1837 he began a notable series of papers in the Cuban press, on
+familiar economic and educational topics, signing them El Lugareno;
+under which pen name he became famous. He established schools and
+agricultural colonies, and built the second railroad in Cuba. In
+1846 while he was in Europe he was suspected of revolutionary
+conspiracy, and his property was confiscated. He then became a
+teacher in the United States, but returned to Cuba in 1861 and
+became a journalist. He was too ill to accept election to the Junta
+of Information, and died in 1866.</p></div>
+
+<p>"Let there be neither war nor conspiracies of any kind in Cuba. In our
+critical situation either one means the desolation of the country. Let
+us bear the yoke of Spain. But let us bear it so as to leave to our
+children, if not a country of liberty, at least one peaceful and
+hopeful. Let us try with all our energies to put down the infamous
+traffic in slaves; let us diminish without violence or injustice the
+number of these; let us do what we can to increase the white population;
+let us do all which you have always done, giving a good example to our
+own fellow countrymen, and Cuba, our beloved Cuba, shall some day be
+Cuba indeed!"</p>
+
+<p>On the other hand the Annexationists were waging a vigorous though quiet
+campaign. On April 20, 1848, a proclamation urging the Cubans to make
+every effort to add their island to the United States appeared. It was
+signed simply "Unos Cubanos," and urged opposition to Saco and his
+sympathizers and a concerted effort to gain the political and civil
+rights which were enjoyed by Americans. "Amalgamation of the races," ran
+the proclamation, "would not extinguish Cuban nationality, for every
+child born in Cuba would be at once a Cuban and an American. Cuba united
+to this strong and respected nation, whose southern interests would be
+identified with hers, would be assured quiet and future success; her
+wealth would increase, doubling the value of her farms and slaves,
+trebling that of her whole territory; liberty would be given to
+individual action, and the system of hateful and harmful restrictions
+which paralyze commerce and agriculture could be destroyed."</p>
+
+<p>But no matter what the Cubans themselves might dream of or hope for,
+Spain had not the slightest intention of surrendering Cuba without a
+struggle. No country, not even one more altruistic in its policies, and
+more highly civilized than Spain had shown herself to<a name="page_383" id="page_383"></a> be at this time,
+would be eager to relinquish a colony which brought her in a revenue of
+three and a half millions clear, and which in the twenty years from 1830
+to 1850 had poured over $50,000,000 into her coffers. Spain therefore
+cast around for any expedient which would enable her to retain her last
+possession in the new world. Roncali during his term as Captain-General
+very clearly expressed his views as to where the Spanish interests in
+Cuba lay:</p>
+
+<p>"Among the considerable elements of power with which Spain counts in
+this island, ought to be mentioned slavery. Permit me, your excellency,
+to explain my belief in this regard. The interest in preserving their
+fortunes and in developing the rich crops from which they spring causes
+all the wealthy inhabitants of the country to fear the first whisper of
+conflict which may relax the discipline of the slaves, or threaten
+emancipation. From this fact I infer that slavery is the rein which,
+through fear and interest, will keep in submission the great majority of
+the white population. But if the event should arrive of foreign war and
+of inner commotions such as to threaten the dependence of the island,
+what should be the conduct of the Captain-General toward slavery? I, my
+noble lord, state my solemn belief that this terrible weapon which the
+government holds in its hand might in the last extremity prevent the
+loss of the island, and that if the inhabitants are persuaded that it
+will be used they will trouble and renounce every fond illusion rather
+than draw down such an anathema. The chance is remote without doubt, but
+that very fact makes me express myself clearly: the liberty of all the
+slaves in a day of gravest peril, proclaimed by Her Majesty's
+representative in these territories, would re-establish superiority and
+even strengthen our power in a very<a name="page_384" id="page_384"></a> real way, based as it would then be
+on that very class which it seems best today to keep submerged. But if
+that last resort should prove insufficient, or if it did not suit Spain
+afterward to retain her hold, it may always be brought about that the
+conquerors shall acquire Hayti instead of the rich and prosperous Cuba
+and that the bastard sons who have brought down that calamity by their
+rebellion shall meet in their complete ruin, punishment and
+disillusionment. A principle of retributive justice or of harmony with
+the maxims of modern civilization, to which it is so customary now to
+appeal, would also call for general emancipation, at the moment when,
+for whatever reason, Spain should decide to renounce the island.... So
+far this trans-Atlantic province is still strongly attached to the
+mother land, and thanks to the wisdom and material solicitude of Her
+Majesty, I believe that the bonds of union will be still more
+strengthened; but if the fate of nations brings to this land a day
+pregnant with such circumstances as to threaten its loss, their national
+honor and interest alike would demand that every recourse and means be
+exhausted, without saving anything. If, even then, fortune should
+abandon us, we should at least leave it written in history that our
+departure from America corresponded to the heroic story of its
+acquisition."<a name="page_385" id="page_385"></a></p>
+
+<h3><a name="CHAPTER_XXV" id="CHAPTER_XXV"></a>CHAPTER XXV</h3>
+
+<p>The era of Cuban history which embraced part of the seventeenth, the
+eighteenth, and part of the nineteenth centuries, and which we have
+endeavored to review in this volume, presents a striking and almost
+unique contrast to the customary course of human affairs. The normal
+order of civic development begins with the rise and confirmation of
+nationality, and thence proceeds to international relationships and
+cosmopolitan interests and activities. Such was the record of other
+American states which grew up contemporaneously with Cuba. Such was
+notably the course of the United States of North America. In their
+colonial period they were intensely local, parochial, in sentiment and
+spirit. In their revolutionary era they began to manifest a national
+entity. It was not until long after their establishment of national
+independence that they fully realized their international status.</p>
+
+<p>In Cuba the order was reversed. At first, as a colony of triumphant and
+masterful Spain, the island had neither national sentiment nor
+international interests. In the second stage, however, it became a pawn
+in the great international game which was being played between declining
+Spain and her increasingly powerful neighbors, actually for a time
+passing from Spanish to British possession, and often being regarded as
+likely to pass permanently into the hands of some other power than
+Spain.</p>
+
+<p>These circumstances had a marked effect upon the<a name="page_386" id="page_386"></a> whole genius of the
+Cuban people. It gave them international vision before they had learned
+to discern themselves even as a potential nation. It gave them a degree
+of cosmopolitanism such as few comparable colonies have ever known. It
+divorced them in sentiment from the Mother Country to an exceptional
+degree. They were made to feel that Spain meant little or nothing to
+them. She had planted them, it is true. But she had given them little
+cultivation, little protection. She had looked to them for more help for
+herself than she had herself given to them. She was unable to save them
+from the danger of being passed from hand to hand, from owner to owner.</p>
+
+<p>At the north, England had not governed her Thirteen Colonies well. But
+she had at least protected them. There had never been on their part any
+fear that she would abandon them to some other conqueror, or that they
+would be taken from her by force, or sold or traded away. The British
+colonists knew that in the last emergency the whole power of the United
+Kingdom would be exerted for their protection. Yet even so they revolted
+against misgovernment, and declared their independence.</p>
+
+<p>How much more, almost infinitely more, cause had Cubans for alienation
+from Spain! She had given them no such protection. Her policy suggested
+always the possibility of their transfer in some way to some other
+sovereignty. And her misgovernment had been immeasurably worse than that
+of England. If Cuba was more patient than the Thirteen Colonies at the
+north, that was another of the paradoxes of history&mdash;that the impulsive,
+hot-blooded Latin of the south should be more deliberate and
+conservative than the cool and phlegmatic Anglo-Saxon of the north.</p>
+
+<p>This very quality of patience was, indeed, the saving<a name="page_387" id="page_387"></a> virtue of the
+Cuban character. Quijano Otero wrote of Colombia, at the very time of
+her revolt against Spain and the establishment of her independence, that
+she "had lived so fast in her years of glory and great deeds that,
+though still a child, she was already entering a premature decrepitude."
+Not so Cuba. It is true that, as we have seen, she had imbibed enough of
+the spirit of Spain and of other lands to be measurably saturated with
+their customs, even their luxurious vices and follies. Yet she did not
+live fast. She did not grow prematurely old. In so far as she adopted
+the customs of Europe, she adapted them to herself, not herself to them.
+The result was that after three centuries, she still had the
+ingenuousness and spontaneity of youth. She might almost have said, in
+paraphrase of a great captain's epigram, "I have not yet begun to live!"</p>
+
+<p>Half unconsciously, however, she had made an exceptionally complete
+preparation for the life that was to come as a nation. She had already
+become international in the scope of her vision, in the range of her
+sympathies, and in her intellectual and social culture. Many of her sons
+had studied abroad, acquiring the learning of the best European schools.
+If the world at large knew little about Cuba, Cuba knew much about the
+world at large.</p>
+
+<p>Though indeed the world did know something about Cuba, and took a lively
+and intelligent interest in her. This we have endeavored to indicate in
+these pages by our numerous citations of authorities, observers and
+writers of various lands, who found in the Queen of the Antilles a theme
+worthy of their most interested attention. More and more, as the
+unimproved estates of the world were partitioned among the powers, the
+transcendent value of this island was recognized, and more and more
+covetous gaze was fixed upon it by the nations<a name="page_388" id="page_388"></a> which were extending
+their empires instead of losing them.</p>
+
+<p>So at the close of the eighteenth century it was apparent that another
+epoch in Cuban history was at hand. North America had been swept by
+revolution. South America was at the brink of revolution. Europe was
+convulsed with revolution. Amid all these, Cuba was like the calm spot
+at the centre of a whirlpool. Changes had occurred on every side, but
+she had been left unchanged. Yet every one of those changes had, deeply
+and irrevocably, though perhaps imperceptibly, wrought its effect upon
+her.</p>
+
+<p>The potency and the promise of national life were within her. Thus far
+everything that she had accomplished had been accredited to Spain. But
+the time was at hand when she would claim her own. During three
+centuries Cuba had produced the flower of the Spanish race; as indeed
+from time immemorial colonies had been wont to produce stronger men, in
+their comparatively primitive and healthful conditions, than the more
+sophisticated and often decadent Mother Countries. But they had all been
+reckoned Spaniards. Now the time was coming, and was at hand, when
+Cubans would be reckoned Cubans, by all the world as well as by
+themselves.</p>
+
+<p>The errors of Spain were not of Cuba's choosing. The disasters of Spain
+were not of Cuba's inviting. The decadence of Spain was not of Cuba's
+working. If in the downfall of Spanish power Cuba saw the opportunity
+for her own uprising, it was not that she herself had compassed that
+downfall, but only that she chose not needlessly to let herself be
+involved therein. As Spain weakened, Cuba girded and strengthened
+herself, and made herself ready to stand alone.</p>
+
+<p class="c"><small>THE END OF VOLUME TWO</small></p>
+
+<h3><a name="INDEX" id="INDEX"></a>INDEX for Volumes 1 thru 4</h3>
+
+<ul>
+<li>Abarzuza, Sr. proposes reforms for Cuba, IV, 6.</li>
+
+<li>Abreu. Marta and Rosalie, patriotism of, IV, 25.</li>
+
+<li>Academy of Sciences, Havana, picture of, IV, 364.</li>
+
+<li>Adams, John Quincy, enunciates American policy toward Cuba, II, 258;</li>
+<li><span style="margin-left: 1em;">portrait, 259;</span></li>
+<li><span style="margin-left: 1em;">on Cuban annexation, 327.</span></li>
+
+<li>Aglona, Prince de. Governor, II, 363.</li>
+
+<li>Agramonte, Aristide, in yellow fever campaign, IV, 172.</li>
+
+<li>Agramonte, Enrique, in Cuban Junta, IV, 12.</li>
+
+<li>Agramonte, Eugenio Sanchez, sketch and portrait, IV, 362.</li>
+
+<li>Agramonte, Francisco, IV, 41.</li>
+
+<li>Agramonte, Ignacio, portrait, facing. III, 258.</li>
+
+<li>Agriculture, early attention to, I, 173, 224;</li>
+<li><span style="margin-left: 1em;">progress, 234;</span></li>
+<li><span style="margin-left: 1em;">II, 213;</span></li>
+<li><span style="margin-left: 1em;">absentee landlords, 214;</span></li>
+<li><span style="margin-left: 1em;">statistics, 223;</span></li>
+<li><span style="margin-left: 1em;">discussed in periodicals, 250;</span></li>
+<li><span style="margin-left: 1em;">rehabilitation of after War of Independence, IV, 147.</span></li>
+
+<li>Aguayo, Geronimo de, I, 161.</li>
+
+<li>Aguero, Joaquin de, organizes revolution, III, 72;</li>
+<li><span style="margin-left: 1em;">final defeat, 87.</span></li>
+
+<li>Aguiar, Luis de, II, 60.</li>
+
+<li>Aguiera, Jose, I, 295.</li>
+
+<li>Aguila, Negra, II, 346.</li>
+
+<li>Aguilera, Francisco V., sketch and portrait, III, 173.</li>
+
+<li>Aguirre, Jose Maria, filibuster, IV, 55;</li>
+<li><span style="margin-left: 1em;">death, 85.</span></li>
+
+<li>Albemarle, Earl of, expedition against Havana, II, 46;</li>
+<li><span style="margin-left: 1em;">occupies Havana, 78;</span></li>
+<li><span style="margin-left: 1em;">controversy with Bishop Morell, 83.</span></li>
+
+<li>Alcala, Marcos, I, 310.</li>
+
+<li>Aldama, Miguel de, sketch and portrait, III, 204.</li>
+
+<li>Aleman, Manuel, French emissary, II, 305.</li>
+
+<li>Algonquins, I, 7.</li>
+
+<li>Allen, Robert, on "Importance of Havana," II, 81.</li>
+
+<li>Almendares River, tapped for water supply, I, 266;</li>
+<li><span style="margin-left: 1em;">view on, IV, 167.</span></li>
+
+<li>Almendariz, Alfonso Enrique, Bishop, I, 277.</li>
+
+<li>Alquiza, Sancho de, Governor, I, 277.</li>
+
+<li>Altamarino, Governor, I, 105;</li>
+<li><span style="margin-left: 1em;">post mortem trial of Velasquez, 107;</span></li>
+<li><span style="margin-left: 1em;">attacked by the Guzmans, 109;</span></li>
+<li><span style="margin-left: 1em;">removed, 110.</span></li>
+
+<li>Altamirano, Juan C., Bishop, I, 273;</li>
+<li><span style="margin-left: 1em;">seized by brigands, 274.</span></li>
+
+<li>Alvarado, Luis de, I, 147.</li>
+
+<li>Alvarado, Pedro de, in Mexico, I, 86.</li>
+
+<li>Amadeus, King of Spain, III, 260.</li>
+
+<li>America, relation of Cuba to, I, 1;</li>
+<li><span style="margin-left: 1em;">II, 254. See <span class="smcap">United States</span>.</span></li>
+
+<li>American Revolution, effect of upon Spain and her colonies, II, 138.</li>
+
+<li>American Treaty, between Great Britain and Spain, I, 303.</li>
+
+<li>Andrea, Juan de, II, 9.</li>
+
+<li>Angulo, Francisco de, exiled, I, 193.</li>
+
+<li>Angulo, Gonzales Perez de, Governor, I, 161;</li>
+<li><span style="margin-left: 1em;">emancipation proclamation, 163;</span></li>
+<li><span style="margin-left: 1em;">quarrel with Havana Council, 181;</span></li>
+<li><span style="margin-left: 1em;">flight from Sores, 186;</span></li>
+<li><span style="margin-left: 1em;">end of administration, 192.</span></li>
+
+<li>Anners, Jean de Laet de, quoted, I, 353.</li>
+
+<li>Annexation of Cuba to United States, first suggested, II, 257, 326;</li>
+<li><span style="margin-left: 1em;">campaign for, 380;</span></li>
+<li><span style="margin-left: 1em;">sought by United States, III, 132, 135;</span></li>
+<li><span style="margin-left: 1em;">Marcy's policy, 141;</span></li>
+<li><span style="margin-left: 1em;">Ostend Manifesto, 142;</span></li>
+<li><span style="margin-left: 1em;">Buchanan's efforts, 143;</span></li>
+<li><span style="margin-left: 1em;">not considered in War of Independence, IV, 19.</span></li>
+
+<li>Antonelli, Juan Bautista, engineering works in Cuba, I, 261;</li>
+<li><span style="margin-left: 1em;">creates water supply for Havana, 266.</span></li>
+
+<li>Apezteguia. Marquis de, Autonomist leader, IV, 94.</li>
+
+<li>Apodaca, Juan Ruiz, Governor, II, 311.</li>
+
+<li>Arana, Martin de, warns Prado of British approach, II, 53.</li>
+
+<li>Arana, Melchior Sarto de, commander of La Fuerza, I, 237.</li>
+
+<li>Arana, Pedro de, royal accountant, I, 238.</li>
+
+<li>Aranda, Esquival, I, 279.</li>
+
+<li>Arango, Augustin, murder of, III, 188.</li>
+
+<li>Arango, Napoleon, treason of, III, 226.</li>
+
+<li>Arango y Pareño, Francisco, portrait, frontispiece, Vol. II;</li>
+<li><span style="margin-left: 1em;">organizes Society of Progress, II, 178;</span></li>
+<li><span style="margin-left: 1em;">leadership in Cuba, 191;</span></li>
+<li><span style="margin-left: 1em;">attitude toward slavery, 208;</span></li>
+<li><span style="margin-left: 1em;">his illustrious career, 305 et seq.</span></li>
+
+<li>Aranguren, Nestor, revolutionist, IV, 85;</li>
+<li><span style="margin-left: 1em;">death, 92.</span></li>
+
+<li>Araoz, Juan, II, 181.</li>
+
+<li>Arias, A. R., Governor, III, 314.</li>
+
+<li>Arias, Gomez, I, 145.</li>
+
+<li>Arignon, Villiet, quoted, II, 26, 94.</li>
+
+<li>Armona, José de, II, 108.</li>
+
+<li>Army, Cuban, organization of, III, 178;</li>
+<li><span style="margin-left: 1em;">reorganized, 263;</span></li>
+<li><span style="margin-left: 1em;">under Jose Miguel Gomez, IV, 301.</span></li>
+
+<li>Army, Spanish, in Cuba, III, 181, 295.</li>
+
+<li>Aroztegui, Martin de, II, 20.</li>
+
+<li>Arrate, José Martin Felix, historian, II, 17, 179.</li>
+
+<li>Arredondo, Nicolas, Governor at Santiago, II, 165.</li>
+
+<li>Asbert, Gen. Ernesto, amnesty case, IV, 326.</li>
+
+<li>"Assiento" compact on slavery, II, 2.</li>
+
+<li>Assumption, Our Lady of the, I, 61.</li>
+
+<li>Astor, John Jacob, aids War of Independence, IV, 14.</li>
+
+<li>Asylums for Insane, II, 317.</li>
+
+<li>Atares fortress, picture, II, 103.</li>
+
+<li>Atkins, John, book on West Indies, II, 36.</li>
+
+<li>Atrocities, committed by Spanish, III, 250;</li>
+<li><span style="margin-left: 1em;">Cespedes's protest against, 254;</span></li>
+<li><span style="margin-left: 1em;">"Book of Blood," 284;</span></li>
+<li><span style="margin-left: 1em;">Spanish confession of, 286;</span></li>
+<li><span style="margin-left: 1em;">war of destruction,</span></li>
+<li><span style="margin-left: 1em;">295;</span></li>
+<li><span style="margin-left: 1em;">Weyler's "concentration" policy, IV, 85.</span></li>
+
+<li>Attwood's Cay. See <span class="smcap">Guanahani</span>.</li>
+
+<li>Autonomist party, III, 305;</li>
+<li><span style="margin-left: 1em;">IV, 34;</span></li>
+<li><span style="margin-left: 1em;">attitude toward Campos in War of Independence, 59;</span></li>
+<li><span style="margin-left: 1em;">Cabinet under Blanco, 94;</span></li>
+<li><span style="margin-left: 1em;">earnest efforts for peace, 101;</span></li>
+<li><span style="margin-left: 1em;">record of its government, 102.</span></li>
+
+<li>Avellanda, Gertrudis Gomez de, III, 331;</li>
+<li><span style="margin-left: 1em;">portrait, facing, 332.</span></li>
+
+<li>Avila, Alfonso de, I, 154.</li>
+
+<li>Avila, Juan de, Governor, I, 151;</li>
+<li><span style="margin-left: 1em;">marries rich widow, 154;</span></li>
+<li><span style="margin-left: 1em;">charges against him, 157;</span></li>
+<li><span style="margin-left: 1em;">convicted and imprisoned, 158.</span></li>
+
+<li>Avila. See <span class="smcap">Davila</span>.</li>
+
+<li>Aviles, Pedro Menendez de, See <span class="smcap">Menendez</span>.</li>
+
+<li>Ayala, Francisco P. de, I, 291.</li>
+
+<li>Ayilon, Lucas V. de, strives to make peace between Velasquez and Cortez, I, 98.</li>
+
+<li>Azcarata, José Luis, Secretary of Justice, sketch and portrait, IV, 341.</li>
+
+<li>Azcarate, Nicolas, sketch and portrait, III, 251, 332.</li>
+
+<li>Azcarraga, Gen., Spanish Premier, IV, 88.</li>
+
+<li>&nbsp;</li>
+
+<li>"Barbeque" sought by Columbus, I, 18.</li>
+
+<li>Bachiller, Antonio, sketch and portrait, III, 317.</li>
+
+<li>Bacon, Robert, Assistant Secretary of State of U. S., intervenes in revolution, IV, 272.</li>
+
+<li>Bahia Honda, selected as U. S. naval station, IV, 256.</li>
+
+<li>Balboa, Vasco Nuñez de, I, 55, 91.</li>
+
+<li>Bancroft, George, quoted, I, 269;</li>
+<li><span style="margin-left: 1em;">II, 1, 24, 41, 117, 120, 159.</span></li>
+
+<li>Banderas, Quintin, revolutionist, IV, 34;</li>
+<li><span style="margin-left: 1em;">raid, 57;</span></li>
+<li><span style="margin-left: 1em;">death, 84.</span></li>
+
+<li>Baracoa, Columbus at, I, 18;</li>
+<li><span style="margin-left: 1em;">Velasquez at, 60;</span></li>
+<li><span style="margin-left: 1em;">picture, 60;</span></li>
+<li><span style="margin-left: 1em;">first capital of Cuba, 61, 168.</span></li>
+
+<li>Barreda, Baltazar, I, 201.</li>
+
+<li>Barreiro, Juan Bautista, Secretary of Education, IV, 160.</li>
+
+<li>Barrieres, Manuel Garcia, II, 165.</li>
+
+<li>Barrionuevo, Juan Maldonado, Governor, I, 263.</li>
+
+<li>Barsicourt, Juan Procopio. See <span class="smcap">Santa Clara</span>, Conde.</li>
+
+<li>Bayamo, founded by Velasquez, I, 68, 168;</li>
+<li><span style="margin-left: 1em;">Cuban Republic organized there, III, 157.</span></li>
+
+<li>Bayoa, Pedro de, I, 300.</li>
+
+<li>Bay of Cortez, reached by Columbus, I, 25.</li>
+
+<li>Bees, introduced by Bishop Morell, II, 104;</li>
+<li><span style="margin-left: 1em;">increase of industry, 132.</span></li>
+
+<li>"Beggars of the Sea," raid Cuban coasts, I, 208.</li>
+
+<li>Bells, church, controversy over, II, 82.</li>
+
+<li>Bembrilla, Alonzo, I, 111.</li>
+
+<li>Benavides, Juan de, I, 280.</li>
+
+<li>Berrea, Esteban S. de, II, 6.</li>
+
+<li>Betancourt, Pedro, Civil Governor of Matanzas, IV, 179;</li>
+<li><span style="margin-left: 1em;">loyal to Palma, 271.</span></li>
+
+<li>Betancourt. See <span class="smcap">Cisneros</span>.</li>
+
+<li>"Bimini," Island of, I, 139.</li>
+
+<li>Bishops of Roman Catholic Church in Cuba, I, 122.</li>
+
+<li>"Black Eagle," II, 346.</li>
+
+<li><i>Black Warrior</i> affair, III, 138.</li>
+
+<li>Blanchet, Emilio, historian, quoted, II, 9, 15, 24;</li>
+<li><span style="margin-left: 1em;">on siege of Havana, 57, 87.</span></li>
+
+<li>Blanco, Ramon, Governor, IV, 88;</li>
+<li><span style="margin-left: 1em;">undertakes reforms, 89;</span></li>
+<li><span style="margin-left: 1em;">plans Cuban autonomy, 93;</span></li>
+<li><span style="margin-left: 1em;">on destruction of <i>Maine</i>, 99;</span></li>
+<li><span style="margin-left: 1em;">resigns, 121.</span></li>
+
+<li>Blue, Victor, observations at Santiago, IV, 110.</li>
+
+<li>Bobadilla, F. de, I, 54.</li>
+
+<li>Boca de la Yana, I, 18.</li>
+
+<li>"Bohio" sought by Columbus, I, 18.</li>
+
+<li>Bolivar, Simon, II, 333;</li>
+<li><span style="margin-left: 1em;">portrait, 334;</span></li>
+<li><span style="margin-left: 1em;">"Liberator," 334 et seq.;</span></li>
+<li><span style="margin-left: 1em;">influence on Cuba, 341;</span></li>
+<li><span style="margin-left: 1em;">"Soles de Bolivar," 341.</span></li>
+
+<li>Bonel, Juan Bautista, II, 133.</li>
+
+<li>"Book of Blood," III, 284.</li>
+
+<li>Bourne, Edward Gaylord, quoted, on slavery, II, 209;</li>
+<li><span style="margin-left: 1em;">on Spanish in America, 226.</span></li>
+
+<li>Brinas, Felipe, III, 330.</li>
+
+<li>British policy toward Spain and Cuba, I, 270;</li>
+<li><span style="margin-left: 1em;">aggressions in West Indies, 293;</span></li>
+<li><span style="margin-left: 1em;">slave trade, II, 2;</span></li>
+<li><span style="margin-left: 1em;">war of 1639, 22;</span></li>
+<li><span style="margin-left: 1em;">designs upon Cuba, 41;</span></li>
+<li><span style="margin-left: 1em;">expedition against Havana, 1762, 46;</span></li>
+<li><span style="margin-left: 1em;">conquest of Cuba, 78;</span></li>
+<li><span style="margin-left: 1em;">relinquishment to Spain, 92. See <span class="smcap">Great Britain</span>.</span></li>
+
+<li>Broa Bay, I, 22.</li>
+
+<li>Brooke, Gen. John R., receives Spanish surrender of Cuba, IV, 122;</li>
+<li><span style="margin-left: 1em;">proclamation to Cuban people, 145;</span></li>
+<li><span style="margin-left: 1em;">retired, 157.</span></li>
+
+<li>Brooks, Henry, revolutionist, IV, 30.</li>
+
+<li>Buccaneers, origin of, I, 269.</li>
+
+<li>Buccarelli, Antonio Maria, Governor, II, 110;</li>
+<li><span style="margin-left: 1em;">retires, 115.</span></li>
+
+<li>Buchanan, James, on U. S. relations to Cuba, II, 263;</li>
+<li><span style="margin-left: 1em;">III, 135;</span></li>
+<li><span style="margin-left: 1em;">Minister to Great Britain, 142;</span></li>
+<li><span style="margin-left: 1em;">as President seeks annexation of Cuba to U. S., 143.</span></li>
+
+<li>Bull-fighting, II, 233.</li>
+
+<li>Burgos, Juan de, Bishop, I, 225.</li>
+
+<li>Burtnett, Spanish spy against Lopez, III, 65.</li>
+
+<li>Bustamente, Antonio Sanchez de, jurist, sketch and portrait, IV, 165.</li>
+
+<li>&nbsp;</li>
+
+<li>Caballero, José Agustin, sketch and portrait, III, 321.</li>
+
+<li>Caballo, Domingo, II, 173.</li>
+
+<li>Cabanas, defences constructed, II, 58;</li>
+<li><span style="margin-left: 1em;">Laurel Ditch, view, facing, 58.</span></li>
+
+<li>Caballero, Diego de, I, 111.</li>
+
+<li>Cabezas, Bishop, I, 277.</li>
+
+<li>Cabrera, Diego de, I, 206.</li>
+
+<li>Cabrera, Luis, I, 198.</li>
+
+<li>Cabrera, Lorenzo de, Governor, I, 279;</li>
+<li><span style="margin-left: 1em;">removed, 282.</span></li>
+
+<li>Cabrera, Rafael, filibuster, IV, 70.</li>
+
+<li>Cabrera, Raimundo, conspirator in New York, IV, 334;</li>
+<li><span style="margin-left: 1em;">warned, 339.</span></li>
+
+<li>Cadreyta, Marquis de, I, 279.</li>
+
+<li>Cagigal, Juan Manuel de, Governor, II, 154;</li>
+<li><span style="margin-left: 1em;">defence of Havana, 155;</span></li>
+<li><span style="margin-left: 1em;">removed and imprisoned, 157.</span></li>
+
+<li>Cagigal, Juan Manuel, Governor, II, 313;</li>
+<li><span style="margin-left: 1em;">successful administration, 315.</span></li>
+
+<li>Cagigal de la Vega, Francisco, defends Santiago, II, 29;</li>
+<li><span style="margin-left: 1em;">Governor, 32;</span></li>
+<li><span style="margin-left: 1em;">Viceroy of Mexico, 34.</span></li>
+
+<li>Caguax, Cuban chief, I, 63.</li>
+
+<li>Calderon, Gabriel, Bishop, I, 315.</li>
+
+<li>Calderon, Garcia, quoted, II, 164, 172.</li>
+
+<li>Calderon de la Barca, Spanish Minister,</li>
+<li><span style="margin-left: 1em;">on <i>La Verdad</i>, III, 19;</span></li>
+<li><span style="margin-left: 1em;">on colonial status, 21;</span></li>
+<li><span style="margin-left: 1em;">negotiations with Soulé, 140.</span></li>
+
+<li>Calhoun, John C., on Cuba, III, 132.</li>
+
+<li>Calleja y Isisi, Emilio, Governor, III, 313;</li>
+<li><span style="margin-left: 1em;">proclaims martial law, IV, 30;</span></li>
+<li><span style="margin-left: 1em;">resigns, 35.</span></li>
+
+<li>Camaguey. See <span class="smcap">Puerto Principe</span>, I, 168.</li>
+
+<li>Campbell, John, description of Havana, II, 14.</li>
+
+<li>Campillo, Jose de, II, 19.</li>
+
+<li>Campos, Martinez de, Governor, III, 296;</li>
+<li><span style="margin-left: 1em;">proclamations to Cuba, 297, 299;</span></li>
+<li><span style="margin-left: 1em;">makes Treaty of Zanjon and ends Ten Years War, 299;</span></li>
+<li><span style="margin-left: 1em;">in Spanish crisis, IV, 36;</span></li>
+<li><span style="margin-left: 1em;">Governor again, 37;</span></li>
+<li><span style="margin-left: 1em;">establishes Trocha, 44;</span></li>
+<li><span style="margin-left: 1em;">defeated by Maceo, 46;</span></li>
+<li><span style="margin-left: 1em;">conferences with party leaders, 59, 63;</span></li>
+<li><span style="margin-left: 1em;">removed, 63.</span></li>
+
+<li>Cancio, Leopoldo, Secretary of Treasury, IV, 161, 320.</li>
+
+<li>Canizares, Santiago J., Minister of Interior, IV, 48.</li>
+
+<li>Canning, George, policy toward Cuba, II, 257;</li>
+<li><span style="margin-left: 1em;">portrait, 258.</span></li>
+
+<li>Canoe, of Cuban origin, I, 10.</li>
+
+<li>Canon, Rodrigo, I, 111.</li>
+
+<li>Canovas del Castillo, Spanish Premier, IV, 36;</li>
+<li><span style="margin-left: 1em;">assassinated, 88.</span></li>
+
+<li>Cape Cruz, Columbus at, I, 20.</li>
+
+<li>Cape Maysi, I, 4.</li>
+
+<li>Cape of Palms, I, 17.</li>
+
+<li>Capote, Domingo Menendez. Vice-President, IV, 90;</li>
+<li><span style="margin-left: 1em;">Secretary of State, 146;</span></li>
+<li><span style="margin-left: 1em;">President of Constitutional Convention. 189.</span></li>
+
+<li>Carajaval, Lucas, defies Dutch, I, 290.</li>
+
+<li>Cardenas, Lopez lands at, III, 49.</li>
+
+<li>Caribs, I, 8.</li>
+
+<li>Carillo, Francisco, filibuster, IV, 55.</li>
+
+<li>Carleton, Sir Guy, at Havana, II, 47.</li>
+
+<li>Carranza, Domingo Gonzales, book on West Indies, II, 37.</li>
+
+<li>Carrascesa, Alfonso, II, 6.</li>
+
+<li>Carreño, Francisco, Governor, I, 219;</li>
+<li><span style="margin-left: 1em;">conditions at his accession, 228;</span></li>
+<li><span style="margin-left: 1em;">dies in office, 229;</span></li>
+<li><span style="margin-left: 1em;">work in rebuilding Havana, 231.</span></li>
+
+<li>Carroll, James, in yellow fever campaign, IV, 172.</li>
+
+<li>Casa de Beneficienca, founded, I, 335;</li>
+<li><span style="margin-left: 1em;">II, 177.</span></li>
+
+<li>Casa de Resorgiamento, founded, II, 31.</li>
+
+<li>Casares, Alfonso, codifies municipal ordinances, I, 207.</li>
+
+<li>Castellanos, Jovellar, last Spanish Governor of Cuba, IV, 121;</li>
+<li><span style="margin-left: 1em;">surrenders Spanish sovereignty, 123.</span></li>
+
+<li>Castillo, Demetrio, Civil Governor of Oriente, IV, 180.</li>
+
+<li>Castillo, Ignacio Maria del, Governor, III, 314.</li>
+
+<li>Castillo, Loinaz, revolutionist. IV, 269.</li>
+
+<li>Castillo, Pedro del, Bishop, I, 226.</li>
+
+<li>Castro, Hernando de, royal treasurer, I, 115.</li>
+
+<li>Cathcart Lord, expedition to West Indies, II, 28.</li>
+
+<li>Cathedral of Havana, picture, facing I, 36;</li>
+<li><span style="margin-left: 1em;">begun, I, 310.</span></li>
+
+<li>Cat Island. See <span class="smcap">Guanahani</span>.</li>
+
+<li>Cayo, San Juan de los Remedios del, removal of, I, 319.</li>
+
+<li>Cazones, Gulf of, I, 21.</li>
+
+<li>Cemi, Cuban worship of, I, 55.</li>
+
+<li>Census, of Cuba, first taken, by Torre, II, 131;</li>
+<li><span style="margin-left: 1em;">by Las Casas, 176;</span></li>
+<li><span style="margin-left: 1em;">of slaves, 205;</span></li>
+<li><span style="margin-left: 1em;">of 1775, 276;</span></li>
+<li><span style="margin-left: 1em;">of 1791, 277;</span></li>
+<li><span style="margin-left: 1em;">Humboldt on, 277;</span></li>
+<li><span style="margin-left: 1em;">of 1811, 280;</span></li>
+<li><span style="margin-left: 1em;">of 1817, 281;</span></li>
+<li><span style="margin-left: 1em;">of 1827, 283;</span></li>
+<li><span style="margin-left: 1em;">of 1846, 283;</span></li>
+<li><span style="margin-left: 1em;">of 1899, IV, 154;</span></li>
+<li><span style="margin-left: 1em;">of 1907, 287.</span></li>
+
+<li>Cespedes, Carlos Manuel, III, 157;</li>
+<li><span style="margin-left: 1em;">portrait, facing 158;</span></li>
+<li><span style="margin-left: 1em;">in Spain, 158;</span></li>
+<li><span style="margin-left: 1em;">leads Cuban revolution, 158;</span></li>
+<li><span style="margin-left: 1em;">President of Republic, 158;</span></li>
+<li><span style="margin-left: 1em;">proclamation, 168;</span></li>
+<li><span style="margin-left: 1em;">negotiations with Spain, 187;</span></li>
+<li><span style="margin-left: 1em;">removed from office, 275.</span></li>
+
+<li>Cespedes, Carlos Manuel, filibuster, IV, 55.</li>
+
+<li>Cespedes, Enrique, revolutionist, IV, 30.</li>
+
+<li>Cervera, Admiral, brings Spanish fleet to Cuba, IV, 110;</li>
+<li><span style="margin-left: 1em;">portrait, 110;</span></li>
+<li><span style="margin-left: 1em;">surrenders, 114.</span></li>
+
+<li>Chacon, José Bayoma, II, 13.</li>
+
+<li>Chacon, Luis, I, 331, 333.</li>
+
+<li>Chalons, Sr., Secretary of Public Works, IV, 297.</li>
+
+<li>Chamber of Commerce founded, II, 307.</li>
+
+<li>Charles I, King, I, 74;</li>
+<li><span style="margin-left: 1em;">denounces oppression of Indians, 128.</span></li>
+
+<li>Chaves, Antonio, Governor, I, 157;</li>
+<li><span style="margin-left: 1em;">prosecutes Avila, 157;</span></li>
+<li><span style="margin-left: 1em;">ruthless policy toward natives, 159;</span></li>
+<li><span style="margin-left: 1em;">controversy with King, 160;</span></li>
+<li><span style="margin-left: 1em;">dismissed from office, 161.</span></li>
+
+<li>Chaves, Juan Baton de, I, 331.</li>
+
+<li>Chilton, John, describes Havana, I, 349.</li>
+
+<li>Chinchilla, José, Governor, III, 314.</li>
+
+<li>Chinese, colonies in America, I, 7;</li>
+<li><span style="margin-left: 1em;">laborers imported into Cuba, II, 295.</span></li>
+
+<li>Chorrera, expected to be Drake's landing place, I, 248.</li>
+
+<li>Chorrera River, dam built by Antonelli, I, 262.</li>
+
+<li>Christianity, introduced into Cuba by Ojeda, I, 55;</li>
+<li><span style="margin-left: 1em;">urged by King Ferdinand, 73.</span></li>
+
+<li>Church, Roman Catholic, organized and influential in Cuba, I, 122;</li>
+<li><span style="margin-left: 1em;">cathedral removed from Baracoa to Santiago, 123;</span></li>
+<li><span style="margin-left: 1em;">conflict with civil power, 227;</span></li>
+<li><span style="margin-left: 1em;">controversy with British during British occupation, II, 84;</span></li>
+<li><span style="margin-left: 1em;">division of island into two dioceses, 173;</span></li>
+<li><span style="margin-left: 1em;">attitude toward War of Independence, IV, 26;</span></li>
+<li><span style="margin-left: 1em;">controversy over property, 294.</span></li>
+
+<li>Cienfuegos, José, Governor, II, 311.</li>
+
+<li>Cimmarones, "wild Indians," I, 126;</li>
+<li><span style="margin-left: 1em;">revolt against De Soto, 148.</span></li>
+
+<li>Cipango, Cuba identified with, by Columbus, I, 5.</li>
+
+<li>Cisneros, Gaspar Betancourt, sketch and portrait, II, 379.</li>
+
+<li>Cisneros, Pascal Jiminez de, II, 110, 127.</li>
+
+<li>Cisneros, Salvador, III, 167;</li>
+<li><span style="margin-left: 1em;">sketch and portrait, 276;</span></li>
+<li><span style="margin-left: 1em;">President of Cuban Republic, 277;</span></li>
+<li><span style="margin-left: 1em;">President of Council of Ministers, IV, 48;</span></li>
+<li><span style="margin-left: 1em;">in Constitutional Convention, 190.</span></li>
+
+<li>Civil Service, law, IV, 325;</li>
+<li><span style="margin-left: 1em;">respected by President Menocal, 325.</span></li>
+
+<li>Clay, Henry, policy toward Cuba, II, 261.</li>
+
+<li>Clayton, John M., U. S. Secretary of State, issues proclamation against filibustering, III, 42.</li>
+
+<li>Cleaveland, Samuel, controversy over church bells, II, 83.</li>
+
+<li>Cleveland, Grover. President of United States, issues warning against breaches of neutrality, IV, 70;</li>
+<li><span style="margin-left: 1em;">reference to Cuba</span></li>
+<li><span style="margin-left: 1em;">in message of 1896, 79;</span></li>
+<li><span style="margin-left: 1em;">its significance, 80.</span></li>
+
+<li>Coat of Arms of Cuba, picture, IV, 251;</li>
+<li><span style="margin-left: 1em;">significance, 251.</span></li>
+
+<li>Cobre, copper mines, I, 173, 259.</li>
+
+<li>"Cockfighting and Idleness" campaign, IV, 291.</li>
+
+<li>Coffee, cultivation begun, II, 33, 113.</li>
+
+<li>Coinage, reformed, II, 142;</li>
+<li><span style="margin-left: 1em;">statistics of, 158.</span></li>
+
+<li>Collazo, Enrique, filibuster, IV, 55.</li>
+
+<li>Coloma, Antonio Lopez, revolutionist, IV, 30.</li>
+
+<li>Colombia, designs upon Cuba, II, 262;</li>
+<li><span style="margin-left: 1em;">III, 134;</span></li>
+<li><span style="margin-left: 1em;">attitude toward Cuban revolution, 223.</span></li>
+
+<li>Columbus, Bartholomew, recalled to Spain, I, 57.</li>
+
+<li>Columbus, Christopher, portrait, frontispiece, Vol. I;</li>
+<li><span style="margin-left: 1em;">discoverer of America, I;</span></li>
+<li><span style="margin-left: 1em;">i;</span></li>
+<li><span style="margin-left: 1em;">first landing in America, 2;</span></li>
+<li><span style="margin-left: 1em;">monument on Watling's Island, picture, 3;</span></li>
+<li><span style="margin-left: 1em;">arrival in Cuba, 11;</span></li>
+<li><span style="margin-left: 1em;">question as to first landing place, 12;</span></li>
+<li><span style="margin-left: 1em;">first impressions of Cuba and intercourse with natives, 14;</span></li>
+<li><span style="margin-left: 1em;">exploration of north coast, 16;</span></li>
+<li><span style="margin-left: 1em;">end of first visit, 18;</span></li>
+<li><span style="margin-left: 1em;">second visit, 19;</span></li>
+<li><span style="margin-left: 1em;">exploration of south coast, 21;</span></li>
+<li><span style="margin-left: 1em;">at Bay of Cortez, 25;</span></li>
+<li><span style="margin-left: 1em;">turns back from circumnavigation, 26;</span></li>
+<li><span style="margin-left: 1em;">at Isle of Pines, 26;</span></li>
+<li><span style="margin-left: 1em;">final departure from Cuba, 27;</span></li>
+<li><span style="margin-left: 1em;">diary and narrative, 28 et seq.;</span></li>
+<li><span style="margin-left: 1em;">death and burial, 33;</span></li>
+<li><span style="margin-left: 1em;">tomb in Havana cathedral, 34;</span></li>
+<li><span style="margin-left: 1em;">removal to Seville, 36;</span></li>
+<li><span style="margin-left: 1em;">removal from Santo Domingo to Havana, II, 181;</span></li>
+<li><span style="margin-left: 1em;">epitaph, 182.</span></li>
+
+<li>Columbus, Diego, plans exploration and colonization of Cuba, I, 57;</li>
+<li><span style="margin-left: 1em;">attempts mediation between Velasquez and Cortez, 97;</span></li>
+<li><span style="margin-left: 1em;">replaces Velasquez with Zuazo, 100;</span></li>
+<li><span style="margin-left: 1em;">rebuked by King, 100.</span></li>
+
+<li>Comendador, Cacique, I, 55.</li>
+
+<li>Commerce, begun by Velasquez, I, 68;</li>
+<li><span style="margin-left: 1em;">rise of corporations, II, 19;</span></li>
+<li><span style="margin-left: 1em;">after British occupation, 98;</span></li>
+<li><span style="margin-left: 1em;">under Torre, 132;</span></li>
+<li><span style="margin-left: 1em;">reduction of duties, 141;</span></li>
+<li><span style="margin-left: 1em;">extension of trade, 163;</span></li>
+<li><span style="margin-left: 1em;">Tribunal of Commerce founded, 177;</span></li>
+<li><span style="margin-left: 1em;">Real Compania de Havana, 199;</span></li>
+<li><span style="margin-left: 1em;">restrictive measures, 200;</span></li>
+<li><span style="margin-left: 1em;">Chamber of Commerce founded, 307;</span></li>
+<li><span style="margin-left: 1em;">commerce with United States, III, 2;</span></li>
+<li><span style="margin-left: 1em;">during American occupation, IV, 184;</span></li>
+<li><span style="margin-left: 1em;">present, 358.</span></li>
+
+<li>Compostela, Diego E. de, Bishop, I, 318;</li>
+<li><span style="margin-left: 1em;">death, 332.</span></li>
+
+<li>Concepcion, Columbus's landing place, I, 3.</li>
+
+<li>Concessions, forbidden under American occupation, IV, 153.</li>
+
+<li>Concha, José Gutierrez de la, Governor, III, 62, 290.</li>
+
+<li>Conchillos, royal secretary, I, 59.</li>
+
+<li>Congress, Cuban, welcomed by Gen. Wood, IV, 246;</li>
+<li><span style="margin-left: 1em;">turns against Palma, 269;</span></li>
+<li><span style="margin-left: 1em;">friendly to Gomez, 303;</span></li>
+<li><span style="margin-left: 1em;">hostile to Menocal, 323;</span></li>
+<li><span style="margin-left: 1em;">protects the lottery, 324.</span></li>
+
+<li>Constitution: Cuban Republic of 1868, III, 157;</li>
+<li><span style="margin-left: 1em;">of 1895, IV, 47;</span></li>
+<li><span style="margin-left: 1em;">call for Constitutional Convention, 185;</span></li>
+<li><span style="margin-left: 1em;">meeting of Convention, 187;</span></li>
+<li><span style="margin-left: 1em;">draft completed, 192;</span></li>
+<li><span style="margin-left: 1em;">salient provisions, 193;</span></li>
+<li><span style="margin-left: 1em;">Elihu Root's comments, 194;</span></li>
+<li><span style="margin-left: 1em;">Convention discusses relations with United States, 197;</span></li>
+<li><span style="margin-left: 1em;">Platt</span></li>
+<li><span style="margin-left: 1em;">Amendment, 199;</span></li>
+<li><span style="margin-left: 1em;">amendment adopted, 203;</span></li>
+<li><span style="margin-left: 1em;">text of Constitution, 304 et seq.;</span></li>
+<li><span style="margin-left: 1em;">The Nation, 205;</span></li>
+<li><span style="margin-left: 1em;">Cubans, 205;</span></li>
+<li><span style="margin-left: 1em;">Foreigners, 207;</span></li>
+<li><span style="margin-left: 1em;">Individual Rights, 208;</span></li>
+<li><span style="margin-left: 1em;">Suffrage, 211;</span></li>
+<li><span style="margin-left: 1em;">Suspension of Guarantees, 212;</span></li>
+<li><span style="margin-left: 1em;">Sovereignty, 213;</span></li>
+<li><span style="margin-left: 1em;">Legislative Bodies, 214;</span></li>
+<li><span style="margin-left: 1em;">Senate, 214;</span></li>
+<li><span style="margin-left: 1em;">House of Representatives, 216;</span></li>
+<li><span style="margin-left: 1em;">Congress, 218;</span></li>
+<li><span style="margin-left: 1em;">Legislation, 221;</span></li>
+<li><span style="margin-left: 1em;">Executive, 222;</span></li>
+<li><span style="margin-left: 1em;">President, 222;</span></li>
+<li><span style="margin-left: 1em;">Vice-President, 225;</span></li>
+<li><span style="margin-left: 1em;">Secretaries of State, 226;</span></li>
+<li><span style="margin-left: 1em;">Judiciary, 227;</span></li>
+<li><span style="margin-left: 1em;">Supreme Court, 227;</span></li>
+<li><span style="margin-left: 1em;">Administration of Justice, 228;</span></li>
+<li><span style="margin-left: 1em;">Provincial Governments, 229;</span></li>
+<li><span style="margin-left: 1em;">Provincial Councils, 230;</span></li>
+<li><span style="margin-left: 1em;">Provincial Governors, 231;</span></li>
+<li><span style="margin-left: 1em;">Municipal Government, 233;</span></li>
+<li><span style="margin-left: 1em;">Municipal Councils, 233;</span></li>
+<li><span style="margin-left: 1em;">Mayors, 235;</span></li>
+<li><span style="margin-left: 1em;">National Treasury, 235;</span></li>
+<li><span style="margin-left: 1em;">Amendments, 236;</span></li>
+<li><span style="margin-left: 1em;">Transient Provisions, 237;</span></li>
+<li><span style="margin-left: 1em;">Appendix (Platt Amendment), 238.</span></li>
+
+<li>"Constitutional Army," IV, 268.</li>
+
+<li>Contreras, Andres Manso de, I, 288.</li>
+
+<li>Contreras, Damien, I, 278.</li>
+
+<li>Convents, founded, I, 276;</li>
+<li><span style="margin-left: 1em;">Nuns of Santa Clara, 286.</span></li>
+
+<li>Conyedo, Juan de, Bishop, II, 35.</li>
+
+<li>Copper, discovered near Santiago, I, 173;</li>
+<li><span style="margin-left: 1em;">wealth of mines, 259;</span></li>
+<li><span style="margin-left: 1em;">reopened, II, 13;</span></li>
+<li><span style="margin-left: 1em;">exports, III, 3.</span></li>
+
+<li>Corbalon, Francisco R., I, 286.</li>
+
+<li>Cordova de Vega, Diego de, Governor, I, 239.</li>
+
+<li>Cordova, Francisco H., expedition to Yucatan, I, 84.</li>
+
+<li>Cordova Ponce de Leon, José Fernandez, Governor, I, 316.</li>
+
+<li>Coreal, Francois, account of West Indies, quoted, I, 355.</li>
+
+<li>Coronado, Manuel, gift for air planes, IV, 352.</li>
+
+<li>Cortes, Spanish, Cuban representation in, II, 308;</li>
+<li><span style="margin-left: 1em;">excluded, 351;</span></li>
+<li><span style="margin-left: 1em;">lack of representation, III, 3;</span></li>
+<li><span style="margin-left: 1em;">after Ten Years' War, 307.</span></li>
+
+<li>Cortez, Hernando, Alcalde of Santiago de Cuba, I, 72;</li>
+<li><span style="margin-left: 1em;">sent to Mexico by King, 74;</span></li>
+<li><span style="margin-left: 1em;">agent of Velasquez, 86;</span></li>
+<li><span style="margin-left: 1em;">early career, 90;</span></li>
+<li><span style="margin-left: 1em;">portrait, 90;</span></li>
+<li><span style="margin-left: 1em;">quarrel with Velasquez, 91;</span></li>
+<li><span style="margin-left: 1em;">marriage, 92;</span></li>
+<li><span style="margin-left: 1em;">commissioned by Velasquez to explore Mexico, 92;</span></li>
+<li><span style="margin-left: 1em;">sails for Mexico, 94;</span></li>
+<li><span style="margin-left: 1em;">final breach with Velasquez, 96;</span></li>
+<li><span style="margin-left: 1em;">denounced as rebel, 97;</span></li>
+<li><span style="margin-left: 1em;">escapes murder, 99.</span></li>
+
+<li>Cosa, Juan de la, geographer, I, 6, 53.</li>
+
+<li>Councillors, appointed for life, I, 111;</li>
+<li><span style="margin-left: 1em;">conflict with Procurators, 113.</span></li>
+
+<li>Creoles, origin of name, II, 204.</li>
+
+<li>Crittenden, J. J., protests against European intervention in Cuba, III, 129.</li>
+
+<li>Crittenden, William S., with Lopez, III, 96;</li>
+<li><span style="margin-left: 1em;">captured, 101;</span></li>
+<li><span style="margin-left: 1em;">death, 105.</span></li>
+
+<li>Crombet, Flor, revolutionist, IV, 41, 42.</li>
+
+<li>Crooked Island. See <span class="smcap">Isabella</span>.</li>
+
+<li>Crowder, Gen. Enoch H., head of Consulting Board, IV, 284.</li>
+
+<li>Cuba: Relation to America, I, 1;</li>
+<li><span style="margin-left: 1em;">Columbus's first landing, 3;</span></li>
+<li><span style="margin-left: 1em;">identified with Mangi or Cathay, 4;</span></li>
+<li><span style="margin-left: 1em;">with Cipango, 5;</span></li>
+<li><span style="margin-left: 1em;">earliest maps, 6;</span></li>
+<li><span style="margin-left: 1em;">physical history, 7, 37 et seq.;</span></li>
+<li><span style="margin-left: 1em;">Columbus's discovery, 11 et seq.;</span></li>
+<li><span style="margin-left: 1em;">named Juana, 13;</span></li>
+<li><span style="margin-left: 1em;">other names, 14;</span></li>
+<li><span style="margin-left: 1em;">Columbus's account of, 28;</span></li>
+<li><span style="margin-left: 1em;">geological history, 37-42;</span></li>
+<li><span style="margin-left: 1em;">topography, 42-51;</span></li>
+<li><span style="margin-left: 1em;">climate, 51-52;</span></li>
+<li><span style="margin-left: 1em;">first circumnavigation, 54;</span></li>
+<li><span style="margin-left: 1em;">colonization, 54;</span></li>
+<li><span style="margin-left: 1em;">Velasquez at Baracoa, 60;</span></li>
+<li><span style="margin-left: 1em;">commerce begun, 68;</span></li>
+<li><span style="margin-left: 1em;">government organized, 69;</span></li>
+<li><span style="margin-left: 1em;">named Ferdinandina, 73;</span></li>
+<li><span style="margin-left: 1em;">policy of Spain toward, 175;</span></li>
+<li><span style="margin-left: 1em;">slow economic progress, 215;</span></li>
+<li><span style="margin-left: 1em;">land legislation, 232;</span></li>
+<li><span style="margin-left: 1em;">Spanish discrimination against, 266;</span></li>
+<li><span style="margin-left: 1em;">divided into two districts, 275;</span></li>
+<li><span style="margin-left: 1em;">British description in 1665, 306;</span></li>
+<li><span style="margin-left: 1em;">various accounts, 346;</span></li>
+<li><span style="margin-left: 1em;">turning point in history, 363;</span></li>
+<li><span style="margin-left: 1em;">close of first era, 366;</span></li>
+<li><span style="margin-left: 1em;">British conquest, II, 78;</span></li>
+<li><span style="margin-left: 1em;">relinquished to Spain, 92;</span></li>
+<li><span style="margin-left: 1em;">great changes effected, 94;</span></li>
+<li><span style="margin-left: 1em;">economic condition, 98;</span></li>
+<li><span style="margin-left: 1em;">reoccupied by Spain, 102;</span></li>
+<li><span style="margin-left: 1em;">untouched by early revolutions, 165;</span></li>
+<li><span style="margin-left: 1em;">effect of revolution in Santo Domingo, 190;</span></li>
+<li><span style="margin-left: 1em;">first suggestion of annexation to United States, 257;</span></li>
+<li><span style="margin-left: 1em;">"Ever Faithful Isle," 268;</span></li>
+<li><span style="margin-left: 1em;">rise of independence, 268;</span></li>
+<li><span style="margin-left: 1em;">censuses, 276 et seq.;</span></li>
+<li><span style="margin-left: 1em;">representation in Cortes, 308;</span></li>
+<li><span style="margin-left: 1em;">"Soles de Bolivar," 341;</span></li>
+<li><span style="margin-left: 1em;">representatives rejected from Cortes, 351;</span></li>
+<li><span style="margin-left: 1em;">transformation of popular spirit, 383;</span></li>
+<li><span style="margin-left: 1em;">independence proclaimed, III, 145;</span></li>
+<li><span style="margin-left: 1em;">Republic organized, 157;</span></li>
+<li><span style="margin-left: 1em;">War of Independence, IV, 15;</span></li>
+<li><span style="margin-left: 1em;">Spanish elections held during war, 67;</span></li>
+<li><span style="margin-left: 1em;">Blanco's plan of autonomy, 93;</span></li>
+<li><span style="margin-left: 1em;">sovereignty surrendered by Spain, 123;</span></li>
+<li><span style="margin-left: 1em;">list of Spanish Governors, 123. See <span class="smcap">Republic of Cuba</span>.</span></li>
+
+<li>Cuban Aborigines;</li>
+<li><span style="margin-left: 1em;">I, 8;</span></li>
+<li><span style="margin-left: 1em;">manners, customs and religion, 8 et seq.;</span></li>
+<li><span style="margin-left: 1em;">Columbus's first intercourse, 15, 24;</span></li>
+<li><span style="margin-left: 1em;">priest's address to Columbus, 26;</span></li>
+<li><span style="margin-left: 1em;">Columbus's observations of them, 29;</span></li>
+<li><span style="margin-left: 1em;">hostilities begun by Velasquez, 61;</span></li>
+<li><span style="margin-left: 1em;">subjected to Repartimiento system, 70;</span></li>
+<li><span style="margin-left: 1em;">practical slavery, 71;</span></li>
+<li><span style="margin-left: 1em;">Key Indians, 125;</span></li>
+<li><span style="margin-left: 1em;">Cimmarones, 126;</span></li>
+<li><span style="margin-left: 1em;">new laws in their favor, 129;</span></li>
+<li><span style="margin-left: 1em;">Rojas's endeavor to save them, 130;</span></li>
+<li><span style="margin-left: 1em;">final doom, 133;</span></li>
+<li><span style="margin-left: 1em;">efforts at reform, 153;</span></li>
+<li><span style="margin-left: 1em;">oppression by Chaves, 159;</span></li>
+<li><span style="margin-left: 1em;">Angulo's emancipation proclamation, 163.</span></li>
+
+<li>"Cuba-nacan," I, 5.</li>
+
+<li>"Cuba and the Cubans," quoted, II, 313.</li>
+
+<li>"Cuba y Su Gobierno," quoted, II, 354.</li>
+
+<li>Cuellar, Cristobal de, royal accountant, I, 59.</li>
+
+<li>Cushing, Caleb, Minister to Spain, III, 291.</li>
+
+<li>Custom House, first at Havana, I, 231.</li>
+
+<li>&nbsp;</li>
+
+<li>Dady, Michael J., &amp; Co., contract dispute, IV, 169.</li>
+
+<li>Davila, Pedrarias, I, 140.</li>
+
+<li>Davis, Jefferson, declines to join Lopez, III, 38.</li>
+
+<li>Del Casal, Julian, sketch and portrait, IV, 6.</li>
+
+<li>Del Cueta, José A., President of Supreme Court, portrait, IV, 359.</li>
+
+<li>Delgado, Moru, Liberal leader, IV, 267.</li>
+
+<li>Del Monte, Domingo, sketch, portrait, and work, II, 323.</li>
+
+<li>Del Monte, Ricardo, sketch and portrait, IV, 2.</li>
+
+<li>Demobilization of Cuban army, IV, 135.</li>
+
+<li>Desvernine, Pablo, Secretary of Finance, IV, 146.</li>
+
+<li>Diaz, Bernal, at Sancti Spiritus, I, 72;</li>
+<li><span style="margin-left: 1em;">in Mexico, 86.</span></li>
+
+<li>Diaz, Manuel, I, 239.</li>
+
+<li>Diaz, Manuel Luciano, Secretary of Public Works, IV, 254.</li>
+
+<li>Diaz, Modeste, III, 263.</li>
+
+<li>Divino, Sr., Secretary of Justice, IV, 297.</li>
+
+<li>Dockyard at Havana, established, II, 8.</li>
+
+<li>Dolz, Eduardo, in Autonomist Cabinet, IV, 96.</li>
+
+<li>Dominguez, Fermin V., Assistant Secretary of Foreign Affairs, IV, 50.</li>
+
+<li>Dorst, J. H., mission to Pinar del Rio, IV, 107.</li>
+
+<li>"Dragado" deal, IV, 310.</li>
+
+<li>Drake, Sir Francis, menaces Havana, I, 243;</li>
+<li><span style="margin-left: 1em;">in Hispaniola, 246;</span></li>
+<li><span style="margin-left: 1em;">leaves Havana unassailed, 252;</span></li>
+<li><span style="margin-left: 1em;">departs for Virginia, 255.</span></li>
+
+<li>Duany, Joaquin Castillo, in Cuban Junta, IV, 12;</li>
+<li><span style="margin-left: 1em;">Assistant Secretary of Treasury, 50;</span></li>
+<li><span style="margin-left: 1em;">filibuster, 70.</span></li>
+
+<li>Dubois, Carlos, Assistant Secretary of Interior, IV, 50.</li>
+
+<li>Duero, Andres de, I, 93, 115.</li>
+
+<li>Dulce y Garay, Domingo, Governor, III, 190, 194;</li>
+<li><span style="margin-left: 1em;">decree of confiscation, 209;</span></li>
+<li><span style="margin-left: 1em;">recalled, 213.</span></li>
+
+<li>Dupuy de Lome, Sr., Spanish Minister at Washington, IV, 40;</li>
+<li><span style="margin-left: 1em;">writes offensive letter, 98;</span></li>
+<li><span style="margin-left: 1em;">recalled, 98.</span></li>
+
+<li>Duque, Sr., Secretary of Sanitation and Charity, IV, 297.</li>
+
+<li>Durango, Bishop, I, 225.</li>
+
+<li>Dutch hostilities, I, 208, 279;</li>
+<li><span style="margin-left: 1em;">activities in West Indies, 283 et seq.</span></li>
+
+<li>&nbsp;</li>
+
+<li>Earthquakes, in 1765, I, 315;</li>
+<li><span style="margin-left: 1em;">II, 114.</span></li>
+
+<li>Echeverria, Esteban B., Superintendent of Schools, IV, 162.</li>
+
+<li>Echeverria, José, Bishop, II, 113.</li>
+
+<li>Echeverria, José Antonio, III, 324.</li>
+
+<li>Echeverria, Juan Maria, Governor, II, 312.</li>
+
+<li>Education, backward state of, II, 244;</li>
+<li><span style="margin-left: 1em;">progress under American occupation, IV, 156;</span></li>
+<li><span style="margin-left: 1em;">A. E. Frye, Superintendent, 156;</span></li>
+<li><span style="margin-left: 1em;">reorganization of system, 162;</span></li>
+<li><span style="margin-left: 1em;">Harvard University's entertainment of teachers, 163;</span></li>
+<li><span style="margin-left: 1em;">achievements under President Menocal, 357.</span></li>
+
+<li>Elections: for municipal officers under American occupation, IV, 180;</li>
+<li><span style="margin-left: 1em;">law for regulation of, 180;</span></li>
+<li><span style="margin-left: 1em;">result, 181;</span></li>
+<li><span style="margin-left: 1em;">for Constitutional Convention, 186;</span></li>
+<li><span style="margin-left: 1em;">for general officers, 240;</span></li>
+<li><span style="margin-left: 1em;">result, 244;</span></li>
+<li><span style="margin-left: 1em;">Presidential, 1906, 265;</span></li>
+<li><span style="margin-left: 1em;">new law, 287;</span></li>
+<li><span style="margin-left: 1em;">local elections under Second Intervention, 289;</span></li>
+<li><span style="margin-left: 1em;">Presidential, 290;</span></li>
+<li><span style="margin-left: 1em;">for Congress in 1908, 303;</span></li>
+<li><span style="margin-left: 1em;">Presidential, 1912, 309;</span></li>
+<li><span style="margin-left: 1em;">Presidential, 1916, disputed, 330, result confirmed, 341.</span></li>
+
+<li>Enciso, Martin F. de, first Spanish writer about America, I, 54.</li>
+
+<li>Epidemics: putrid fever, 1649, I, 290;</li>
+<li><span style="margin-left: 1em;">vaccination introduced, II, 192;</span></li>
+<li><span style="margin-left: 1em;">small pox and yellow fever, III, 313;</span></li>
+<li><span style="margin-left: 1em;">at Santiago, IV, 142;</span></li>
+<li><span style="margin-left: 1em;">Gen. Wood applies Dr. Finlay's theory of yellow fever, 171;</span></li>
+<li><span style="margin-left: 1em;">success, 176;</span></li>
+<li><span style="margin-left: 1em;">malaria, 177.</span></li>
+
+<li>Escudero, Antonio, de, II, 10.</li>
+
+<li>Espada, Juan José Diaz, portrait, facing II, 272.</li>
+
+<li>Espagnola. See <span class="smcap">Hispaniola</span>.</li>
+
+<li>Espeleta, Joaquin de, Governor, II, 362.</li>
+
+<li>Espinosa, Alonzo de Campos, Governor, I, 316.</li>
+
+<li>Espoleto, José de, Governor, II, 169.</li>
+
+<li>Estenoz, Negro insurgent, IV, 307.</li>
+
+<li>Estevez, Luis, Secretary of Justice, IV, 160;</li>
+<li><span style="margin-left: 1em;">Vice-President, 245.</span></li>
+
+<li>Evangelista. See <span class="smcap">Isle of Pines</span>.</li>
+
+<li>Everett, Edward, policy toward Cuba, III, 130.</li>
+
+<li>"Ever Faithful Isle," II, 268, 304.</li>
+
+<li>Exquemeling, Alexander, author and pirate, I, 302.</li>
+
+<li>&nbsp;</li>
+
+<li>"Family Pact," of Bourbons, effect upon Cuba, II, 42.</li>
+
+<li>Felin, Antonio, Bishop, II, 172.</li>
+
+<li>Fels, Cornelius, defeated by Spanish, I, 288.</li>
+
+<li>Ferdinand, King, policy toward Cuba, I, 56;</li>
+<li><span style="margin-left: 1em;">esteem for Velasquez, 73.</span></li>
+
+<li>Ferdinandina, Columbus's landing place, I, 3;</li>
+<li><span style="margin-left: 1em;">name for Cuba, 73.</span></li>
+
+<li>Ferrara, Orestes, Liberal leader, IV, 260;</li>
+<li><span style="margin-left: 1em;">revolutionist, 269;</span></li>
+<li><span style="margin-left: 1em;">deprecates factional strife, 306;</span></li>
+<li><span style="margin-left: 1em;">revolutionary conspirator in New York, 334;</span></li>
+<li><span style="margin-left: 1em;">warned by U. S. Government, I, 239.</span></li>
+
+<li>Ferrer, Juan de, commander of La Fuerza, I, 239.</li>
+
+<li>Figueroa, Vasco Porcallo de, I, 72;</li>
+<li><span style="margin-left: 1em;">De Soto's lieutenant, 142;</span></li>
+<li><span style="margin-left: 1em;">returns from Florida in disgust, 145.</span></li>
+
+<li>Figuerosa, Rojas de, captures Tortuga, I, 292.</li>
+
+<li>Filarmonia, riot at ball, III, 119.</li>
+
+<li>Filibustering, proclamation of United States against, III, 42;</li>
+<li><span style="margin-left: 1em;">after Ten Years' War, 311, in War of Independence, IV, 20;</span></li>
+<li><span style="margin-left: 1em;">expeditions intercepted, 52;</span></li>
+<li><span style="margin-left: 1em;">many successful expeditions, 69;</span></li>
+<li><span style="margin-left: 1em;">warnings, 70.</span></li>
+
+<li>Fine Arts, II, 240.</li>
+
+<li>Finlay, Carlos G., theory of yellow fever successfully applied under General Wood, IV, 171;</li>
+<li><span style="margin-left: 1em;">portrait, facing, 172.</span></li>
+
+<li>Fish, Hamilton, U. S. Secretary of State, prevents premature recognition of Cuban Republic, III, 203;</li>
+<li><span style="margin-left: 1em;">protests against Rodas's decree, 216;</span></li>
+<li><span style="margin-left: 1em;">on losses in Ten Years' War, 290;</span></li>
+<li><span style="margin-left: 1em;">seeks British support, 292;</span></li>
+<li><span style="margin-left: 1em;">states terms of proposed mediation, 293.</span></li>
+
+<li>Fish market at Havana, founder for pirate, II, 357.</li>
+
+<li>Fiske, John, historian, quoted, I, 270.</li>
+
+<li>Flag, Cuban, first raised, III, 31;</li>
+<li><span style="margin-left: 1em;">replaces American, IV, 249;</span></li>
+<li><span style="margin-left: 1em;">picture, 250;</span></li>
+<li><span style="margin-left: 1em;">history and significance, 250.</span></li>
+
+<li>Flores y Aldama, Rodrigo de, Governor, I, 301.</li>
+
+<li>Florida, attempted colonization by Ponce de Leon, I, 139;</li>
+<li><span style="margin-left: 1em;">De Soto's expedition, 145. See <span class="smcap">Menendez</span>.</span></li>
+
+<li>Fonseca, Juan Rodriguez de, Bishop of Seville, I, 59.</li>
+
+<li>Fonts-Sterling, Ernesto, Secretary of Finance, IV, 90;</li>
+<li><span style="margin-left: 1em;">urges resistance to revolution, 270.</span></li>
+
+<li>Fornaris, José, III, 230.</li>
+
+<li>Forestry, attention paid by Montalvo, I, 223;</li>
+<li><span style="margin-left: 1em;">efforts to check waste, II, 166.</span></li>
+
+<li>Foyo, Sr., Secretary of Agriculture, Commerce and Labor, IV, 297.</li>
+
+<li>France, first foe of Spanish in Cuba, I, 177;</li>
+<li><span style="margin-left: 1em;">"Family Pact," II, 42;</span></li>
+<li><span style="margin-left: 1em;">interest in Cuban revolution, III, 126.</span></li>
+
+<li>Franquinay, pirate, at Santiago, I, 310.</li>
+
+<li>French refugees, in Cuba, II, 189;</li>
+<li><span style="margin-left: 1em;">expelled, 302.</span></li>
+
+<li>French Revolution, effects of, II, 184.</li>
+
+<li>Freyre y Andrade, Fernando, filibuster,</li>
+<li><span style="margin-left: 1em;">IV, 70;</span></li>
+<li><span style="margin-left: 1em;">negotiations with Pino Guerra, 267.</span></li>
+
+<li>Frye, Alexis, Superintendent of Schools, IV, 156;</li>
+<li><span style="margin-left: 1em;">controversy with General Wood, 162.</span></li>
+
+<li>Fuerza, La: picture, facing I, 146;</li>
+<li><span style="margin-left: 1em;">building begun by De Soto, I, 147;</span></li>
+<li><span style="margin-left: 1em;">scene of Lady Isabel's tragic vigil, 147, 179;</span></li>
+<li><span style="margin-left: 1em;">planned and built by Sanchez, 194;</span></li>
+<li><span style="margin-left: 1em;">work by Menendez, and Ribera, 209;</span></li>
+<li><span style="margin-left: 1em;">slave labor sought, 211;</span></li>
+<li><span style="margin-left: 1em;">bad construction, 222;</span></li>
+<li><span style="margin-left: 1em;">Montalvo's recommendations, 223;</span></li>
+<li><span style="margin-left: 1em;">Luzan-Arana quarrel, 237;</span></li>
+<li><span style="margin-left: 1em;">practical completion, 240;</span></li>
+<li><span style="margin-left: 1em;">decorated by Cagigal, II, 33.</span></li>
+
+<li>&nbsp;</li>
+
+<li>Galvano, Antony, historian, quoted, I, 4.</li>
+
+<li>Galvez, Bernardo, seeks Cuban aid for Pensacola, II, 146;</li>
+<li><span style="margin-left: 1em;">Governor, 168;</span></li>
+<li><span style="margin-left: 1em;">death, 170.</span></li>
+
+<li>Galvez, José Maria, head of Autonomist Cabinet, IV, 95.</li>
+
+<li>Garaondo, José, I, 317.</li>
+
+<li>Garay, Francisco de, Governor of Jamaica, I, 102.</li>
+
+<li>Garcia, Calixto, portrait, facing III, 268;</li>
+<li><span style="margin-left: 1em;">President of Cuban Republic, III, 301;</span></li>
+<li><span style="margin-left: 1em;">joins War of Independence, IV, 69;</span></li>
+<li><span style="margin-left: 1em;">his notable career, 76 et seq.;</span></li>
+<li><span style="margin-left: 1em;">joins with Shafter at Santiago, 111;</span></li>
+<li><span style="margin-left: 1em;">death, 241.</span></li>
+
+<li>Garcia, Carlos, revolutionist, IV, 269.</li>
+
+<li>Garcia, Esequiel, Secretary of Education, IV, 320.</li>
+
+<li>Garcia, Marcos, IV, 44.</li>
+
+<li>Garcia, Quintiliano, III, 329.</li>
+
+<li>Garvey, José N. P., II, 222.</li>
+
+<li>Gastaneta, Antonio, II, 9.</li>
+
+<li>Gelder, Francisco, Governor, I, 292.</li>
+
+<li>Gener y Rincon, Miguel, Secretary of Justice, IV, 161.</li>
+
+<li>Geraldini, Felipe, I, 310.</li>
+
+<li>Germany, malicious course of in 1898, IV, 104;</li>
+<li><span style="margin-left: 1em;">Cuba declares war against, 348;</span></li>
+<li><span style="margin-left: 1em;">property in Cuba seized, 349;</span></li>
+<li><span style="margin-left: 1em;">aid to Gomez, 350.</span></li>
+
+<li>Gibson. Hugh S., U. S. Chargé d'Affaires, assaulted, IV, 308.</li>
+
+<li>Giron. Garcia, Governor, I, 279.</li>
+
+<li>Godoy, Captain, arrested at Santiago, and put to death, I, 203.</li>
+
+<li>Godoy, Manuel, II, 172.</li>
+
+<li>Goicouria, Domingo, sketch and portrait, III, 234.</li>
+
+<li>Gold, Columbus's quest for, I, 19;</li>
+<li><span style="margin-left: 1em;">Velasquez's search, 61;</span></li>
+<li><span style="margin-left: 1em;">the "Spaniards' God," 62;</span></li>
+<li><span style="margin-left: 1em;">early mining, 81;</span></li>
+<li><span style="margin-left: 1em;">value of mines, 173.</span></li>
+
+<li>Gomez, José Antonio, II, 18.</li>
+
+<li>Gomez, José Miguel, Civil Governor of Santa Clara, IV, 179;</li>
+<li><span style="margin-left: 1em;">aspires to Presidency, 260, 264;</span></li>
+<li><span style="margin-left: 1em;">turns from Conservative to Liberal party, 265;</span></li>
+<li><span style="margin-left: 1em;">compact with Zayas, 265;</span></li>
+<li><span style="margin-left: 1em;">starts revolution, 269;</span></li>
+<li><span style="margin-left: 1em;">elected President, 290;</span></li>
+<li><span style="margin-left: 1em;">becomes President, 297;</span></li>
+<li><span style="margin-left: 1em;">Cabinet, 297;</span></li>
+<li><span style="margin-left: 1em;">sketch and portrait, 298;</span></li>
+<li><span style="margin-left: 1em;">acts of his administration, 301;</span></li>
+<li><span style="margin-left: 1em;">charged with corruption, 304;</span></li>
+<li><span style="margin-left: 1em;">conflict with Veterans' Association, 304;</span></li>
+<li><span style="margin-left: 1em;">quarrel with Zayas, 306;</span></li>
+<li><span style="margin-left: 1em;">suppresses Negro revolt, 307;</span></li>
+<li><span style="margin-left: 1em;">amnesty bill, 309;</span></li>
+<li><span style="margin-left: 1em;">National Lottery, 310;</span></li>
+<li><span style="margin-left: 1em;">"Dragado" deal, 310;</span></li>
+<li><span style="margin-left: 1em;">railroad deal, 310;</span></li>
+<li><span style="margin-left: 1em;">estimate of his administration, 311;</span></li>
+<li><span style="margin-left: 1em;">double treason in 1916, 332;</span></li>
+<li><span style="margin-left: 1em;">defeated and captured, 337;</span></li>
+<li><span style="margin-left: 1em;">his orders for devastation, 337;</span></li>
+<li><span style="margin-left: 1em;">aided by Germany, 350.</span></li>
+
+<li>Gomez, Juan Gualberto, revolutionist, IV, 30;</li>
+<li><span style="margin-left: 1em;">captured and imprisoned, 52;</span></li>
+<li><span style="margin-left: 1em;">insurgent, 269.</span></li>
+
+<li>Gomez, Maximo, III, 264;</li>
+<li><span style="margin-left: 1em;">succeeds Gen. Agramonte, 275;</span></li>
+<li><span style="margin-left: 1em;">makes Treaty of Zanjon with Campos, 299;</span></li>
+<li><span style="margin-left: 1em;">in War of Independence, IV, 15;</span></li>
+<li><span style="margin-left: 1em;">commander in chief, 16, 43;</span></li>
+<li><span style="margin-left: 1em;">portrait, facing 44;</span></li>
+<li><span style="margin-left: 1em;">plans great campaign of war, 53;</span></li>
+<li><span style="margin-left: 1em;">controversy with Lacret, 84;</span></li>
+<li><span style="margin-left: 1em;">opposed to American invasion, 109;</span></li>
+<li><span style="margin-left: 1em;">appeals to Cubans to accept American occupation, 136;</span></li>
+<li><span style="margin-left: 1em;">impeachment by National Assembly ignored, 137;</span></li>
+<li><span style="margin-left: 1em;">influence during Government of Intervention, 149;</span></li>
+<li><span style="margin-left: 1em;">considered by Constitutional Convention, 191;</span></li>
+<li><span style="margin-left: 1em;">proposed for Presidency, 240;</span></li>
+<li><span style="margin-left: 1em;">declines, 241.</span></li>
+
+<li>Gonzalez, Aurelia Castillo de, author, sketch and portrait, IV, 192.</li>
+
+<li>Gonzales, William E., U. S. Minister to Cuba, IV, 335;</li>
+<li><span style="margin-left: 1em;">watches Gomez's insurrection, 336.</span></li>
+
+<li>Gorgas, William C., work for sanitation, IV, 175.</li>
+
+<li>Government of Cuba: organized by Velasquez, I, 69;</li>
+<li><span style="margin-left: 1em;">developed at Santiago, 81;</span></li>
+<li><span style="margin-left: 1em;">radical changes made, 111;</span></li>
+<li><span style="margin-left: 1em;">revolution in political status of island, 138;</span></li>
+<li><span style="margin-left: 1em;">codification of ordinances, 207;</span></li>
+<li><span style="margin-left: 1em;">Ordinances of 1542, 317;</span></li>
+<li><span style="margin-left: 1em;">land tenure, II, 12;</span></li>
+<li><span style="margin-left: 1em;">reforms by Governor Guemez, 17;</span></li>
+<li><span style="margin-left: 1em;">reorganization after British occupation, 104;</span></li>
+<li><span style="margin-left: 1em;">great reforms by Torre, 132;</span></li>
+<li><span style="margin-left: 1em;">budget and tax reforms, 197;</span></li>
+<li><span style="margin-left: 1em;">authority of Captain-General, III, 11;</span></li>
+<li><span style="margin-left: 1em;">administrative and judicial functions, 13 et seq.;</span></li>
+<li><span style="margin-left: 1em;">military and naval command, 16;</span></li>
+<li><span style="margin-left: 1em;">attempted reforms, 63;</span></li>
+<li><span style="margin-left: 1em;">concessions after Ten Years' War, 310.</span></li>
+
+<li>Governors of Cuba, Spanish, list of, IV, 123.</li>
+
+<li>Govin, Antonio, in Autonomist Cabinet, IV, 95;</li>
+<li><span style="margin-left: 1em;">sketch and portrait, 95.</span></li>
+
+<li>Grammont, buccaneer, I, 311.</li>
+
+<li>Gran Caico, I, 4.</li>
+
+<li>Grand Turk Island. See <span class="smcap">Guanahani</span>.</li>
+
+<li>Grant, U. S., President of United States, III, 200;</li>
+<li><span style="margin-left: 1em;">inclined to recognize Cuban Republic, 202;</span></li>
+<li><span style="margin-left: 1em;">prevented by his Secretary of State, 203;</span></li>
+<li><span style="margin-left: 1em;">comments in messages, 205, 292.</span></li>
+
+<li>Great Britain, interest in Cuban revolution, III, 125;</li>
+<li><span style="margin-left: 1em;">protection sought by Spain, 129;</span></li>
+<li><span style="margin-left: 1em;">declines cooperation with United States, 294;</span></li>
+<li><span style="margin-left: 1em;">requires return of fugitives, 310.</span></li>
+
+<li>Great Exuma. See <span class="smcap">Ferdinandina</span>.</li>
+
+<li>Great Inagua, I, 4.</li>
+
+<li>Great War, Cuba enters, IV, 348;</li>
+<li><span style="margin-left: 1em;">offers 10,000 troops, 348;</span></li>
+<li><span style="margin-left: 1em;">German intrigues and propaganda, 349;</span></li>
+<li><span style="margin-left: 1em;">attitude of Roman Catholic clergy, 349;</span></li>
+<li><span style="margin-left: 1em;">ships seized, 350;</span></li>
+<li><span style="margin-left: 1em;">cooperation with Food Commission, 351;</span></li>
+<li><span style="margin-left: 1em;">military activities, 352;</span></li>
+<li><span style="margin-left: 1em;">liberal subscriptions to loans, 352;</span></li>
+<li><span style="margin-left: 1em;">Red Cross work, 352;</span></li>
+<li><span style="margin-left: 1em;">Señora Menocal's inspiring leadership, 353.</span></li>
+
+<li>Grijalva, Juan de, I, 65;</li>
+<li><span style="margin-left: 1em;">expedition to Mexico, 66;</span></li>
+<li><span style="margin-left: 1em;">names Mexico New Spain, 97;</span></li>
+<li><span style="margin-left: 1em;">unjustly recalled and discredited, 88.</span></li>
+
+<li>Guajaba Island, I, 18.</li>
+
+<li>Guama, Cimmarron chief, I, 127.</li>
+
+<li>Guanabacoa founded, II, 21.</li>
+
+<li>Guanahani, Columbus's landing place, I, 2.</li>
+
+<li>Guanajes Islands, source of slave trade, I, 83.</li>
+
+<li>Guantanamo, Columbus at, I, 19;</li>
+<li><span style="margin-left: 1em;">U. S. Naval Station, IV, 256.</span></li>
+
+<li>Guardia, Cristobal de la, Secretary of Justice, IV, 320.</li>
+
+<li>Guazo, Gregorio, de la Vega, Governor, I, 340;</li>
+<li><span style="margin-left: 1em;">stops tobacco war, 341;</span></li>
+<li><span style="margin-left: 1em;">warnings to Great Britain and France, 342;</span></li>
+<li><span style="margin-left: 1em;">military activity and efficiency, II, 5.</span></li>
+
+<li>Guemez y Horcasitas, Juan F., Governor, II, 17;</li>
+<li><span style="margin-left: 1em;">reforms, 17;</span></li>
+<li><span style="margin-left: 1em;">close of administration, 26.</span></li>
+
+<li>Guerra, Amador, revolutionist, IV, 30.</li>
+
+<li>Guerra, Benjamin, treasurer of Junta, IV, 3.</li>
+
+<li>Guerro, Pino, starts insurrection, IV, 267, 269;</li>
+<li><span style="margin-left: 1em;">commander of Cuban army, 301;</span></li>
+<li><span style="margin-left: 1em;">attempt to assassinate him, 303.</span></li>
+
+<li>Guevara, Francisco, III, 265.</li>
+
+<li>Guiteras, Juan, physician and scientist, sketch and portrait, IV, 321.</li>
+
+<li>Guiteras, Pedro J., quoted, I, 269;</li>
+<li><span style="margin-left: 1em;">II, 6;</span></li>
+<li><span style="margin-left: 1em;">42;</span></li>
+<li><span style="margin-left: 1em;">207.</span></li>
+
+<li>Guzman, Gonzalez de, mission from Velasquez to King Charles I, I, 85;</li>
+<li><span style="margin-left: 1em;">vindicates Velasquez, 108;</span></li>
+<li><span style="margin-left: 1em;">Governor of Cuba, 110;</span></li>
+<li><span style="margin-left: 1em;">marries rich sister-in-law, 116;</span></li>
+<li><span style="margin-left: 1em;">litigation over estate, 117;</span></li>
+<li><span style="margin-left: 1em;">tremendous indictment by Vadillo, 120;</span></li>
+<li><span style="margin-left: 1em;">appeals to King and Council for Indies, 120;</span></li>
+<li><span style="margin-left: 1em;">seeks to oppress natives, 128;</span></li>
+<li><span style="margin-left: 1em;">second time Governor, 137;</span></li>
+<li><span style="margin-left: 1em;">makes more trouble, 148;</span></li>
+<li><span style="margin-left: 1em;">trouble with French privateers, 178.</span></li>
+
+<li>Guzman, Nuñez de, royal treasurer, I, 109;</li>
+<li><span style="margin-left: 1em;">death and fortune, 115.</span></li>
+
+<li>Guzman, Santos, spokesman of Constitutionalists, IV, 59.</li>
+
+<li>&nbsp;</li>
+
+<li>Hammock, of Cuban origin, I, 10.</li>
+
+<li>Hanebanilla, falls of, view, facing III, 110.</li>
+
+<li>Harponville, Viscount Gustave, quoted, II, 189.</li>
+
+<li>Harvard University, entertains Cuban teachers, IV, 163.</li>
+
+<li>Hatuey, Cuban chief, leader against Spaniards, I, 62;</li>
+<li><span style="margin-left: 1em;">death, 63.</span></li>
+
+<li>Havana: founded by Narvaez, I, 69;</li>
+<li><span style="margin-left: 1em;">De Soto's home and capital, 144;</span></li>
+<li><span style="margin-left: 1em;">rise in importance, 166;</span></li>
+<li><span style="margin-left: 1em;">Governor's permanent residence, 180;</span></li>
+<li><span style="margin-left: 1em;">inadequate defences, 183;</span></li>
+<li><span style="margin-left: 1em;">captured by Sores, 186;</span></li>
+<li><span style="margin-left: 1em;">protected by Mazariegos, 194;</span></li>
+<li><span style="margin-left: 1em;">sea wall proposed by Osorio, 202;</span></li>
+<li><span style="margin-left: 1em;">fortified by Menendez, 209;</span></li>
+<li><span style="margin-left: 1em;">"Key of the New World," 210;</span></li>
+<li><span style="margin-left: 1em;">commercial metropolis of West Indies, 216;</span></li>
+<li><span style="margin-left: 1em;">first hospital founded, 226;</span></li>
+<li><span style="margin-left: 1em;">San Francisco church, picture, facing 226;</span></li>
+<li><span style="margin-left: 1em;">building in Carreño's time, 231;</span></li>
+<li><span style="margin-left: 1em;">custom house, 231;</span></li>
+<li><span style="margin-left: 1em;">threatened by Drake, 243;</span></li>
+<li><span style="margin-left: 1em;">preparations for defence, 250;</span></li>
+<li><span style="margin-left: 1em;">officially called "city," 262;</span></li>
+<li><span style="margin-left: 1em;">coat of arms, 202;</span></li>
+<li><span style="margin-left: 1em;">primitive conditions, 264;</span></li>
+<li><span style="margin-left: 1em;">first theatrical performance, 264;</span></li>
+<li><span style="margin-left: 1em;">capital of western district, 275;</span></li>
+<li><span style="margin-left: 1em;">great fire, 277;</span></li>
+<li><span style="margin-left: 1em;">attacked by Pit Hein, 280;</span></li>
+<li><span style="margin-left: 1em;">described by John Chilton, 349;</span></li>
+<li><span style="margin-left: 1em;">first dockyard established, II, 8;</span></li>
+<li><span style="margin-left: 1em;">attacked by British under Admiral</span></li>
+<li><span style="margin-left: 1em;">Hosier, 9;</span></li>
+<li><span style="margin-left: 1em;">University founded, 11;</span></li>
+<li><span style="margin-left: 1em;">described by John Campbell, 14;</span></li>
+<li><span style="margin-left: 1em;">British expedition against in 1762, 46;</span></li>
+<li><span style="margin-left: 1em;">journal of siege, 54;</span></li>
+<li><span style="margin-left: 1em;">American troops engaged, 66;</span></li>
+<li><span style="margin-left: 1em;">surrender, 69;</span></li>
+<li><span style="margin-left: 1em;">terms, 71;</span></li>
+<li><span style="margin-left: 1em;">British occupation, 78;</span></li>
+<li><span style="margin-left: 1em;">great changes, 94;</span></li>
+<li><span style="margin-left: 1em;">description, 94;</span></li>
+<li><span style="margin-left: 1em;">view from Cabanas, facing, 96;</span></li>
+<li><span style="margin-left: 1em;">reoccupied by Spanish, 102;</span></li>
+<li><span style="margin-left: 1em;">hurricane, 115;</span></li>
+<li><span style="margin-left: 1em;">improvements in streets and buildings, 129;</span></li>
+<li><span style="margin-left: 1em;">view in Old Havana, facing 130;</span></li>
+<li><span style="margin-left: 1em;">street cleaning, and market, 169;</span></li>
+<li><span style="margin-left: 1em;">slaughter house removed, 194;</span></li>
+<li><span style="margin-left: 1em;">shopping, 242;</span></li>
+<li><span style="margin-left: 1em;">cafés, 243;</span></li>
+<li><span style="margin-left: 1em;">Tacon's public works, 365;</span></li>
+<li><span style="margin-left: 1em;">view of old Presidential Palace, facing III, 14;</span></li>
+<li><span style="margin-left: 1em;">view of the Prado, facing IV, 16;</span></li>
+<li><span style="margin-left: 1em;">besieged in War of Independence, 62;</span></li>
+<li><span style="margin-left: 1em;">view of bay and harbor, facing, 98;</span></li>
+<li><span style="margin-left: 1em;">old City Wall, picture, 122;</span></li>
+<li><span style="margin-left: 1em;">view of old and new buildings, facing 134;</span></li>
+<li><span style="margin-left: 1em;">General Ludlow's administration, 146;</span></li>
+<li><span style="margin-left: 1em;">Police reorganized, 150;</span></li>
+<li><span style="margin-left: 1em;">view of University, facing 164;</span></li>
+<li><span style="margin-left: 1em;">view of the new capitol, facing 204;</span></li>
+<li><span style="margin-left: 1em;">view of the President's home, facing 268;</span></li>
+<li><span style="margin-left: 1em;">view of the Academy of Arts and Crafts, facing 288;</span></li>
+<li><span style="margin-left: 1em;">new railroad terminal, 311.</span></li>
+
+<li>Hay, John, epigram on revolutions, IV, 343</li>
+
+<li>Hayti. See <span class="smcap">Hispaniola</span>.</li>
+
+<li>Hein, Pit, Dutch raider, I, 279.</li>
+
+<li>Henderson, John, on Lopez's expedition, III, 64.</li>
+
+<li><i>Herald</i>, New York, on Cuban revolution, III, 89.</li>
+
+<li>Heredia, José Maria. II, 274;</li>
+<li><span style="margin-left: 1em;">exiled, 344;</span></li>
+<li><span style="margin-left: 1em;">life and works, III, 318;</span></li>
+<li><span style="margin-left: 1em;">portrait, facing 318.</span></li>
+
+<li>Hernani, Domingo, II, 170.</li>
+
+<li>Herrera, historian, on Columbus's first landing, I, 12;</li>
+<li><span style="margin-left: 1em;">on Hatuey, 62;</span></li>
+<li><span style="margin-left: 1em;">description of West Indies, 345.</span></li>
+
+<li>Herrera, Geronimo Bustamente de, I, 194.</li>
+
+<li>Hevea, Aurelio, Secretary of Interior, IV, 320.</li>
+
+<li>Hispaniola, Columbus at, I, 19;</li>
+<li><span style="margin-left: 1em;">revolution in, II, 173;</span></li>
+<li><span style="margin-left: 1em;">186;</span></li>
+<li><span style="margin-left: 1em;">effect upon Cuba, 189.</span></li>
+
+<li>Hobson, Richmond P., exploit at Santiago, IV, 110.</li>
+
+<li>Holleben, Dr. von, German Ambassador at Washington, intrigues of, IV, 104.</li>
+
+<li>Home Rule, proposed by Spain, IV, 6;</li>
+<li><span style="margin-left: 1em;">adopted, 8.</span></li>
+
+<li>Horses introduced into Cuba, I, 63.</li>
+
+<li>Hosier, Admiral, attacks Havana, I, 312;</li>
+<li><span style="margin-left: 1em;">II, 9.</span></li>
+
+<li>Hospital, first in Havana, I, 226;</li>
+<li><span style="margin-left: 1em;">Belen founded, 318;</span></li>
+<li><span style="margin-left: 1em;">San Paula and San Francisco, 195.</span></li>
+
+<li>"House of Fear," Governor's home, I, 156.</li>
+
+<li>Humboldt, Alexander von, on slavery, II, 206;</li>
+<li><span style="margin-left: 1em;">on census, 277;</span></li>
+<li><span style="margin-left: 1em;">282;</span></li>
+<li><span style="margin-left: 1em;">on slave trade, 288.</span></li>
+
+<li>Hurricanes, II, 115, 176, 310.</li>
+
+<li>Hurtado, Lopez, royal treasurer, I, 116;</li>
+<li><span style="margin-left: 1em;">has Chaves removed, 162.</span></li>
+
+<li>&nbsp;</li>
+
+<li>Ibarra, Carlos, defeats Dutch raiders, I, 288.</li>
+
+<li>Incas, I, 7.</li>
+
+<li>Independence, first conceived, II, 268;</li>
+<li><span style="margin-left: 1em;">326;</span></li>
+<li><span style="margin-left: 1em;">first revolts for, 343;</span></li>
+<li><span style="margin-left: 1em;">sentiment fostered by slave trade, 377;</span></li>
+<li><span style="margin-left: 1em;">proclaimed by Aguero, III, 72;</span></li>
+<li><span style="margin-left: 1em;">proclaimed by Cespedes at Yara, 155;</span></li>
+<li><span style="margin-left: 1em;">proposed by United States to Spain, 217;</span></li>
+<li><span style="margin-left: 1em;">War of Independence, IV, 1;</span></li>
+<li><span style="margin-left: 1em;">recognized by Spain, 119. See <span class="smcap">War of Independence</span>.</span></li>
+
+<li>Intellectual life of Cuba, I, 360;</li>
+<li><span style="margin-left: 1em;">lack of productiveness in Sixteenth Century, 362;</span></li>
+<li><span style="margin-left: 1em;">Cuban backwardness, II, 235;</span></li>
+<li><span style="margin-left: 1em;">first important progress, 273;</span></li>
+<li><span style="margin-left: 1em;">great arising and splendid achievements, III, 317.</span></li>
+
+<li>Insurrections. See <span class="smcap">Revolutions</span>, and <span class="smcap">Slavery</span>.</li>
+
+<li>Intervention, Government of: First, established, IV, 132;</li>
+<li><span style="margin-left: 1em;">organized, 145;</span></li>
+<li><span style="margin-left: 1em;">Cuban Cabinet, 145;</span></li>
+<li><span style="margin-left: 1em;">saves island from famine, 146;</span></li>
+<li><span style="margin-left: 1em;">works of rehabilitation and reform, 148;</span></li>
+<li><span style="margin-left: 1em;">marriage law, 152;</span></li>
+<li><span style="margin-left: 1em;">concessions forbidden, 153;</span></li>
+<li><span style="margin-left: 1em;">census, 154;</span></li>
+<li><span style="margin-left: 1em;">civil governments of provinces, 179;</span></li>
+<li><span style="margin-left: 1em;">municipal elections ordered, 180;</span></li>
+<li><span style="margin-left: 1em;">electoral law 180;</span></li>
+<li><span style="margin-left: 1em;">final transactions, 246;</span></li>
+<li><span style="margin-left: 1em;">Second Government of Intervention, 281;</span></li>
+<li><span style="margin-left: 1em;">C. E. Magoon, Governor, 281;</span></li>
+<li><span style="margin-left: 1em;">Consulting Board, 284;</span></li>
+<li><span style="margin-left: 1em;">elections held, 289, 290;</span></li>
+<li><span style="margin-left: 1em;">commission for revising laws, 294;</span></li>
+<li><span style="margin-left: 1em;">controversy over church property, 294.</span></li>
+
+<li>Intervention sought by Great Britain and France, III, 128;</li>
+<li><span style="margin-left: 1em;">by United States, IV, 106.</span></li>
+
+<li>Iroquois, I, 7.</li>
+
+<li>Irving, Washington, on Columbus's landing place, I, 12.</li>
+
+<li>Isabella, Columbus's landing place, I, 3.</li>
+
+<li>Isabella, Queen, portrait, I, 13.</li>
+
+<li>Isidore of Seville, quoted, I, 4.</li>
+
+<li>Islas de Arena, I, 11.</li>
+
+<li>Isle of Pines, I, 26;</li>
+<li><span style="margin-left: 1em;">recognized as part of Cuba, 224;</span></li>
+<li><span style="margin-left: 1em;">status under Platt Amendment, IV, 255.</span></li>
+
+<li>Italian settlers in Cuba, I, 169.</li>
+
+<li>Ivonnet, Negro insurgent, IV, 307.</li>
+
+<li>&nbsp;</li>
+
+<li>Jamaica, Columbus at, I, 20.</li>
+
+<li>Japan. See <span class="smcap">Cipango</span>.</li>
+
+<li>Jaruco, founded, II, 131.</li>
+
+<li>Jefferson, Thomas, on Cuban annexation, II, 260;</li>
+<li><span style="margin-left: 1em;">III, 132.</span></li>
+
+<li>Jeronimite Order, made guardian of Indians, I, 78;</li>
+<li><span style="margin-left: 1em;">becomes their oppressor, 127.</span></li>
+
+<li>Jesuits, controversy over, II, 86;</li>
+<li><span style="margin-left: 1em;">expulsion of, 111.</span></li>
+
+<li>Jordan, Thomas, joins Cuban revolution, III, 211.</li>
+
+<li>Jorrin, José Silverio, portrait, facing III, 308.</li>
+
+<li>Jovellar, Joachim, Governor, III, 273;</li>
+<li><span style="margin-left: 1em;">proclaims state of siege, 289;</span></li>
+<li><span style="margin-left: 1em;">resigns, 290.</span></li>
+
+<li>Juana, Columbus's first name for Cuba, I, 13.</li>
+
+<li>Juan Luis Keys, I, 21.</li>
+
+<li>Judiciary, reforms in, II, 110;</li>
+<li><span style="margin-left: 1em;">under Navarro, 142;</span></li>
+<li><span style="margin-left: 1em;">under Unzaga, 165;</span></li>
+<li><span style="margin-left: 1em;">under Leonard Wood, IV, 177.</span></li>
+
+<li>Junta, Cuban, in United States, III, 91;</li>
+<li><span style="margin-left: 1em;">New York, IV, 2;</span></li>
+<li><span style="margin-left: 1em;">branches elsewhere, 3;</span></li>
+<li><span style="margin-left: 1em;">policy in enlisting men, 19.</span></li>
+
+<li>Junta de Fomento, II, 178.</li>
+
+<li>Juntas of the Laborers, III, 174.</li>
+
+<li>&nbsp;</li>
+
+<li>Keppel, Gen. See <span class="smcap">Albemarle</span>.</li>
+
+<li>Key Indians, I, 125;</li>
+<li><span style="margin-left: 1em;">expedition against, 126.</span></li>
+
+<li>"Key of the New World and Bulwark of the Indies," I, 210.</li>
+
+<li>Kindelan, Sebastian de, II, 197, 315.</li>
+
+<li>&nbsp;</li>
+
+<li>Lacoste, Perfecto, Secretary of Agriculture, Industry and Commerce, IV, 160.</li>
+
+<li>Land tenure, II, 12;</li>
+<li><span style="margin-left: 1em;">absentee landlords, 214.</span></li>
+
+<li>Lanuza, Gonzalez, Secretary of Justice, IV, 146;</li>
+<li><span style="margin-left: 1em;">portrait, 146.</span></li>
+
+<li>Lares, Amador de, I, 93.</li>
+
+<li>La Salle, in Cuba, I, 73.</li>
+
+<li>Las Casas, Bartholomew, Apostle to the Indies, arrival in Cuba, I, 63;</li>
+<li><span style="margin-left: 1em;">portrait, 64;</span></li>
+<li><span style="margin-left: 1em;">denounces Narvaez, 66;</span></li>
+<li><span style="margin-left: 1em;">begins campaign against slavery, 75;</span></li>
+<li><span style="margin-left: 1em;">mission to Spain, 77;</span></li>
+<li><span style="margin-left: 1em;">before Ximenes, 77.</span></li>
+
+<li>Las Casas, Luis de, Governor, II, 175;</li>
+<li><span style="margin-left: 1em;">portrait, 175;</span></li>
+<li><span style="margin-left: 1em;">death, 182.</span></li>
+
+<li>Lasso de la Vega, Juan, Bishop, II, 17.</li>
+
+<li>Lawton, Gen. Henry W., leads advance against Spanish, IV, 112;</li>
+<li><span style="margin-left: 1em;">Military Governor of Oriente, 139.</span></li>
+
+<li>Lazear, Camp, established, IV, 172.</li>
+
+<li>Lazear, Jesse W., hero and martyr in yellow fever campaign, IV, 172.</li>
+
+<li>Ledesma, Francisco Rodriguez, Governor, I, 310.</li>
+
+<li>Lee, Fitzhugh, Consul General at Havana, IV, 72;</li>
+<li><span style="margin-left: 1em;">reports on "concentration" policy of Weyler, 86;</span></li>
+<li><span style="margin-left: 1em;">asks for warship to protect Americans at Havana, 97;</span></li>
+<li><span style="margin-left: 1em;"><i>Maine</i> sent, 98;</span></li>
+<li><span style="margin-left: 1em;">commands troops at Havana, 121.</span></li>
+
+<li>Lee, Robert Edward, declines to join Lopez, III, 39.</li>
+
+<li>Legrand, Pedro, invades Cuba, I, 302.</li>
+
+<li>Leiva, Lopez, Secretary of Government, IV, 297.</li>
+
+<li>Lemus, Jose Morales, III, 333.</li>
+
+<li>Lendian, Evelio Rodriguez, educator, sketch and portrait, IV, 162.</li>
+
+<li>Liberal Party, III, 306;</li>
+<li><span style="margin-left: 1em;">triumphant through revolution, IV, 285;</span></li>
+<li><span style="margin-left: 1em;">dissensions, 303;</span></li>
+<li><span style="margin-left: 1em;">conspiracy against election, 329.</span></li>
+
+<li>Liberty Loans, Cuban subscriptions to, IV, 352.</li>
+
+<li>Lighthouse service, under Mario G. Menocal, IV, 168.</li>
+
+<li>Linares, Tomas de, first Rector of University of Havana, II, 11.</li>
+
+<li>Lindsay, Forbes, quoted, II, 217.</li>
+
+<li>Linschoten, Jan H. van, historian, quoted, I, 351.</li>
+
+<li>Liquor, intoxicating, prohibited in 1780, II, 150.</li>
+
+<li>Literary periodicals: <i>El Habanero</i>, III, 321;</li>
+<li><span style="margin-left: 1em;"><i>El Plantel</i>, 324;</span></li>
+<li><span style="margin-left: 1em;"><i>Cuban Review</i>, 325;</span></li>
+<li><span style="margin-left: 1em;"><i>Havana Review</i>, 329.</span></li>
+
+<li>Literature, II, 245;</li>
+<li><span style="margin-left: 1em;">early works, 252;</span></li>
+<li><span style="margin-left: 1em;">poets, 274;</span></li>
+<li><span style="margin-left: 1em;">great development of activity, III, 315 et seq.</span></li>
+
+<li>Little Inagua, I, 4.</li>
+
+<li>Llorente, Pedro, in Constitutional Convention, IV, 188, 190.</li>
+
+<li>Lobera, Juan de, commander of La Fuerza, I, 182;</li>
+<li><span style="margin-left: 1em;">desperate defence against Sores, 185.</span></li>
+
+<li>Lolonois, pirate, I, 296.</li>
+
+<li>Long Island. See <span class="smcap">Ferdinandina</span>.</li>
+
+<li>Lopez, Narciso, sketch and portrait, III, 23;</li>
+<li><span style="margin-left: 1em;">in Venezuela, 24;</span></li>
+<li><span style="margin-left: 1em;">joins the Spanish</span></li>
+<li><span style="margin-left: 1em;">army, 26;</span></li>
+<li><span style="margin-left: 1em;">marries and settles in Cuba, 30;</span></li>
+<li><span style="margin-left: 1em;">against the Carlists in Spain, 31;</span></li>
+<li><span style="margin-left: 1em;">friend of Valdez, 31;</span></li>
+<li><span style="margin-left: 1em;">offices and honors, 33;</span></li>
+<li><span style="margin-left: 1em;">plans Cuban revolution, 36;</span></li>
+<li><span style="margin-left: 1em;">betrayed and fugitive, 37;</span></li>
+<li><span style="margin-left: 1em;">consults Jefferson Davis and Robert E. Lee, 38;</span></li>
+<li><span style="margin-left: 1em;">first American expedition, 39;</span></li>
+<li><span style="margin-left: 1em;">members of the party, 40;</span></li>
+<li><span style="margin-left: 1em;">activity in Southern States, 43;</span></li>
+<li><span style="margin-left: 1em;">expedition starts, 45;</span></li>
+<li><span style="margin-left: 1em;">proclamation to his men, 46;</span></li>
+<li><span style="margin-left: 1em;">lands at Cardenas, 49;</span></li>
+<li><span style="margin-left: 1em;">lack of Cuban support, 54;</span></li>
+<li><span style="margin-left: 1em;">reembarks, 56;</span></li>
+<li><span style="margin-left: 1em;">lands at Key West, 58;</span></li>
+<li><span style="margin-left: 1em;">arrested and tried, 60;</span></li>
+<li><span style="margin-left: 1em;">second expedition organized, 65;</span></li>
+<li><span style="margin-left: 1em;">betrayed, 67;</span></li>
+<li><span style="margin-left: 1em;">third expedition, 70;</span></li>
+<li><span style="margin-left: 1em;">final expedition organized, 91;</span></li>
+<li><span style="margin-left: 1em;">lands in Cuba, 98;</span></li>
+<li><span style="margin-left: 1em;">defeated and captured, 112;</span></li>
+<li><span style="margin-left: 1em;">death, 114;</span></li>
+<li><span style="margin-left: 1em;">results of his works, 116.</span></li>
+
+<li>Lorenzo, Gen., Governor at Santiago, II, 347.</li>
+
+<li>Lorraine, Sir Lambton, III, 280.</li>
+
+<li>Los Rios, J. B. A. de, I, 310.</li>
+
+<li>Lottery, National, established by José Miguel Gomez, IV, 310.</li>
+
+<li>Louisiana, Franco-Spanish contest over, II, 117;</li>
+<li><span style="margin-left: 1em;">Ulloa sent from Cuba to take possession, 118;</span></li>
+<li><span style="margin-left: 1em;">O'Reilly sent, 123;</span></li>
+<li><span style="margin-left: 1em;">Uznaga sent, 126.</span></li>
+
+<li>Louverture, Toussaint, II, 186.</li>
+
+<li>Luaces, Joaquin Lorenzo, sketch and portrait, III, 330.</li>
+
+<li>Ludlow, Gen. William, command and work at Havana, IV, 144.</li>
+
+<li>Lugo, Pedro Benitez de, Governor, I, 331.</li>
+
+<li>Luna y Sarmiento, Alvaro de, Governor, I, 290.</li>
+
+<li>Luz y Caballero, José de la, "Father of the Cuban Revolution," III, 322;</li>
+<li><span style="margin-left: 1em;">great work for patriotic education, 323;</span></li>
+<li><span style="margin-left: 1em;">Portrait, frontispiece, Vol III.</span></li>
+
+<li>Luzan, Gabriel de, Governor, I, 236;</li>
+<li><span style="margin-left: 1em;">controversy over La Fuerza, 237;</span></li>
+<li><span style="margin-left: 1em;">feud with Quiñones, 241;</span></li>
+<li><span style="margin-left: 1em;">unites with Quiñones to resist Drake, 243;</span></li>
+<li><span style="margin-left: 1em;">energetic action, 246;</span></li>
+<li><span style="margin-left: 1em;">tenure of office prolonged, 250;</span></li>
+<li><span style="margin-left: 1em;">end of term, 260.</span></li>
+
+<li>&nbsp;</li>
+
+<li>Macaca, province of, I, 20.</li>
+
+<li>Maceo, José Antonio, proclaims Provisional Government, IV, 15;</li>
+<li><span style="margin-left: 1em;">leader in War of Independence, 41;</span></li>
+<li><span style="margin-left: 1em;">commands Division of Oriente, 43;</span></li>
+<li><span style="margin-left: 1em;">defeats Campos, 46;</span></li>
+<li><span style="margin-left: 1em;">plans great campaign, 53;</span></li>
+<li><span style="margin-left: 1em;">invades Pinar del Rio, 61;</span></li>
+<li><span style="margin-left: 1em;">successful campaign, 73;</span></li>
+<li><span style="margin-left: 1em;">death, 74;</span></li>
+<li><span style="margin-left: 1em;">portrait, facing 74.</span></li>
+
+<li>Maceo, José, IV, 41;</li>
+<li><span style="margin-left: 1em;">marches through Cuba, 76.</span></li>
+
+<li>Machado, Eduard, treason of, III, 258.</li>
+
+<li>Machete, used in battle, IV, 57.</li>
+
+<li>Madison, James, on status of Cuba, III, 132.</li>
+
+<li>Madriaga, Juan Ignacio, II, 59.</li>
+
+<li>Magoon, Charles E., Provisional Governor, IV, 281;</li>
+<li><span style="margin-left: 1em;">his administration, 283;</span></li>
+<li><span style="margin-left: 1em;">promotes public works, 286;</span></li>
+<li><span style="margin-left: 1em;">takes census, 287;</span></li>
+<li><span style="margin-left: 1em;">election law, 287;</span></li>
+<li><span style="margin-left: 1em;">retires, 295.</span></li>
+
+<li>Mahy, Nicolas, Governor, II, 315.</li>
+
+<li>Mail service established, II, 107;</li>
+<li><span style="margin-left: 1em;">under American occupation, IV, 168.</span></li>
+
+<li>Maine sent to Havana, IV, 98;</li>
+<li><span style="margin-left: 1em;">destruction of, 98;</span></li>
+<li><span style="margin-left: 1em;">investigation, 100.</span></li>
+
+<li>Maldonado, Diego, I, 146.</li>
+
+<li>Mandeville, Sir John, I, 20.</li>
+
+<li>Mangon, identified with Mangi, I, 20.</li>
+
+<li>Manners and Customs, II, 229 et seq.;</li>
+<li><span style="margin-left: 1em;">balls, 239;</span></li>
+<li><span style="margin-left: 1em;">shopping, 242;</span></li>
+<li><span style="margin-left: 1em;">relations of black and white races, 242;</span></li>
+<li><span style="margin-left: 1em;">cafés, 243;</span></li>
+<li><span style="margin-left: 1em;">early society, 248.</span></li>
+
+<li>Monosca, Juan Saenz, Bishop, I, 301.</li>
+
+<li>Manrique, Diego, Governor, II, 109.</li>
+
+<li>Manzaneda y Salines, Severino de, Governor, I, 320.</li>
+
+<li>Manzanillo, Declaration of Independence issued, III, 155.</li>
+
+<li>Maraveo Ponce de Leon, Gomez de, I, 339.</li>
+
+<li>Marco Polo, I, 4, 20.</li>
+
+<li>Marcy, William L., policy toward Cuba, III, 136.</li>
+
+<li>Mar de la Nuestra Señora, I, 18.</li>
+
+<li>Mariguana. See <span class="smcap">Guanahani</span>.</li>
+
+<li>Marin, Sabas, succeeds Campos in command, IV, 63.</li>
+
+<li>Markham, Sir Clements, on Columbus's first landing, I, 12.</li>
+
+<li>Marmol, Donato, III, 173, 184.</li>
+
+<li>Marquez, Pedro Menendez, I, 206.</li>
+
+<li>Marriage law, reformed under American occupation, IV, 152;</li>
+<li><span style="margin-left: 1em;">controversy over, 153.</span></li>
+
+<li>Marti, José, portrait, frontispiece, Vol IV;</li>
+<li><span style="margin-left: 1em;">leader of War of Independence, IV, 2;</span></li>
+<li><span style="margin-left: 1em;">his career, 9;</span></li>
+<li><span style="margin-left: 1em;">in New York, 11;</span></li>
+<li><span style="margin-left: 1em;">organizes Junta, 11;</span></li>
+<li><span style="margin-left: 1em;">goes to Cuba, 15;</span></li>
+<li><span style="margin-left: 1em;">death, 16;</span></li>
+<li><span style="margin-left: 1em;">his war manifesto, 17;</span></li>
+<li><span style="margin-left: 1em;">fulfilment of his ideals, 355.</span></li>
+
+<li>Marti, José, secretary of War, portrait, IV, 360.</li>
+
+<li>Marti, the pirate, II, 357.</li>
+
+<li>Martinez Campos. See Campos.</li>
+
+<li>Martinez, Dionisio de la Vega, Governor, II, 8;</li>
+<li><span style="margin-left: 1em;">inscription on La Punta, 14.</span></li>
+
+<li>Martinez, Juan, I, 192.</li>
+
+<li>Martyr, Peter, I, 53.</li>
+
+<li>Maso, Bartolome, revolutionist, IV, 34;</li>
+<li><span style="margin-left: 1em;">rebukes Spotorno, 35;</span></li>
+<li><span style="margin-left: 1em;">President of Cuban Republic, 43;</span></li>
+<li><span style="margin-left: 1em;">Vice President of Council, 48;</span></li>
+<li><span style="margin-left: 1em;">President of Republic, 90;</span></li>
+<li><span style="margin-left: 1em;">candidate for Vice President, 242;</span></li>
+<li><span style="margin-left: 1em;">seeks Presidency, 243.</span></li>
+
+<li>Mason, James M., U. S. Minister to France, III, 141.</li>
+
+<li>Masse, E. M., describes slave trade, II, 202;</li>
+<li><span style="margin-left: 1em;">rural life, 216;</span></li>
+<li><span style="margin-left: 1em;">on Spanish policy toward Cuba, 227;</span></li>
+<li><span style="margin-left: 1em;">social morals, 230.</span></li>
+
+<li>Matanzas, founded, I, 321;</li>
+<li><span style="margin-left: 1em;">meaning of name, 321.</span></li>
+
+<li>Maura, Sr., proposes Cuban reforms, IV, 5.</li>
+
+<li>McCullagh, John B., reorganizes Havana Police, IV, 150.</li>
+
+<li>McKinley, William, President of United States, message of 1897 on Cuba, IV, 87;</li>
+<li><span style="margin-left: 1em;">declines European mediation, 103;</span></li>
+<li><span style="margin-left: 1em;">message for war, 104.</span></li>
+
+<li>Maza, Enrique, assaults Hugh S. Gibson, IV, 308.</li>
+
+<li>Mazariegos, Diego de, Governor, I, 191;</li>
+<li><span style="margin-left: 1em;">a scandalous moralist, 193;</span></li>
+<li><span style="margin-left: 1em;">defences against privateering, 193;</span></li>
+<li><span style="margin-left: 1em;">takes charge of La Fuerza, 195;</span></li>
+<li><span style="margin-left: 1em;">controversy with Governor of Florida, 196;</span></li>
+<li><span style="margin-left: 1em;">replaced by Sandoval, 197.</span></li>
+
+<li>Medina, Fernando de, I, 111.</li>
+
+<li>Mendez-Capote, Fernando, Secretary of Sanitation, portrait, IV, 360.</li>
+
+<li>Mendieta, Carlos, candidate for Vice President, IV, 328;</li>
+<li><span style="margin-left: 1em;">rebels, 338.</span></li>
+
+<li>Mendive, Rafael Maria de, III, 328.</li>
+
+<li>Mendoza, Martin de, I, 204.</li>
+
+<li>Menendez, Pedro de Aviles, I, 199;</li>
+<li><span style="margin-left: 1em;">commander of Spanish fleet, 200;</span></li>
+<li><span style="margin-left: 1em;">clash with Osorio, 201;</span></li>
+<li><span style="margin-left: 1em;">Governor of Cuba, 205;</span></li>
+<li><span style="margin-left: 1em;">dealing with increasing enemies, 208;</span></li>
+<li><span style="margin-left: 1em;">fortifies Havana, 209;</span></li>
+<li><span style="margin-left: 1em;">recalled to Spain, 213;</span></li>
+<li><span style="margin-left: 1em;">conflict with Bishop Castillo, 226.</span></li>
+
+<li>Menocal, Aniceto G., portrait, IV, 50.</li>
+
+<li>Menocal, Mario G., Assistant Secretary of War, IV, 49;</li>
+<li><span style="margin-left: 1em;">Chief of Police at Havana, 144, 150;</span></li>
+<li><span style="margin-left: 1em;">in charge of Lighthouse Service, 168;</span></li>
+<li><span style="margin-left: 1em;">candidate for President, 290;</span></li>
+<li><span style="margin-left: 1em;">slandered by Liberals, 291;</span></li>
+<li><span style="margin-left: 1em;">elected President, 312;</span></li>
+<li><span style="margin-left: 1em;">biography, 312;</span></li>
+<li><span style="margin-left: 1em;">portrait, facing 312;</span></li>
+<li><span style="margin-left: 1em;">view of birthplace, 313;</span></li>
+<li><span style="margin-left: 1em;">Cabinet, 320;</span></li>
+<li><span style="margin-left: 1em;">opinion of Cuba's needs, 321;</span></li>
+<li><span style="margin-left: 1em;">first message, 322;</span></li>
+<li><span style="margin-left: 1em;">conflict with Congress, 323;</span></li>
+<li><span style="margin-left: 1em;">important reforms, 324;</span></li>
+<li><span style="margin-left: 1em;">suppresses rebellion, 327;</span></li>
+<li><span style="margin-left: 1em;">candidate for reelection, 328;</span></li>
+<li><span style="margin-left: 1em;">vigorous action against Gomez's rebellion, 335;</span></li>
+<li><span style="margin-left: 1em;">declines American aid, 337;</span></li>
+<li><span style="margin-left: 1em;">escapes assassination, 339;</span></li>
+<li><span style="margin-left: 1em;">reelection confirmed, 341;</span></li>
+<li><span style="margin-left: 1em;">clemency to traitors, 342;</span></li>
+<li><span style="margin-left: 1em;">message on entering Great War, 346;</span></li>
+<li><span style="margin-left: 1em;">fulfilment of Marti's ideals, 355;</span></li>
+<li><span style="margin-left: 1em;">estimate of his administration, 356;</span></li>
+<li><span style="margin-left: 1em;">achievements for education, 357;</span></li>
+<li><span style="margin-left: 1em;">health, 357;</span></li>
+<li><span style="margin-left: 1em;">industry and commerce, 358;</span></li>
+<li><span style="margin-left: 1em;">finance, 359;</span></li>
+<li><span style="margin-left: 1em;">"from Velasquez to Menocal," 365.</span></li>
+
+<li>Menocal, Señora, leadership of Cuban womanhood in Red Cross and other work, IV, 354;</li>
+<li><span style="margin-left: 1em;">portrait, facing 352.</span></li>
+
+<li>Mercedes, Maria de las, quoted, II, 174;</li>
+<li><span style="margin-left: 1em;">on slave insurrection, 368.</span></li>
+
+<li>Merchan, Rafael, III, 174;</li>
+<li><span style="margin-left: 1em;">patriotic works, 335.</span></li>
+
+<li>Merlin, Countess de. See <span class="smcap">Mercedes</span>.</li>
+
+<li><i>Merrimac</i>, sunk at Santiago, IV, 111.</li>
+
+<li>Mesa, Hernando de, first Bishop, I, 122.</li>
+
+<li>Mestre, José Manuel, sketch and portrait, III, 326.</li>
+
+<li>Meza, Sr., Secretary of Public Instruction and Arts, IV, 297.</li>
+
+<li>Mexico, discovered and explored from Cuba, I, 87;</li>
+<li><span style="margin-left: 1em;">designs upon Cuba, II, 262;</span></li>
+<li><span style="margin-left: 1em;">Cuban expedition against, 346;</span></li>
+<li><span style="margin-left: 1em;">warned off by United States, III, 134;</span></li>
+<li><span style="margin-left: 1em;">fall of Maximilian, 150.</span></li>
+
+<li>Milanes, José Jacinto, sketch, portrait and works, III, 324.</li>
+
+<li>Miles, Gen. Nelson A., prepares for invasion of Cuba, IV, 111.</li>
+
+<li>Miranda, Francisco, II, 156;</li>
+<li><span style="margin-left: 1em;">with Bolivar, 335.</span></li>
+
+<li>Miscegenation, II, 204.</li>
+
+<li>Molina, Francisco, I, 290.</li>
+
+<li>Monastic orders, I, 276.</li>
+
+<li>Monroe Doctrine, foreshadowed, II, 256;</li>
+<li><span style="margin-left: 1em;">promulgated, 328.</span></li>
+
+<li>Monroe, James, interest in Cuba, II, 257;</li>
+<li><span style="margin-left: 1em;">promulgates Doctrine, 328;</span></li>
+<li><span style="margin-left: 1em;">portrait, 329.</span></li>
+
+<li>Monserrate Gate, Havana, picture, II, 241.</li>
+
+<li>Montalvo, Gabriel, Governor, I, 215;</li>
+<li><span style="margin-left: 1em;">feud with Rojas family, 218;</span></li>
+<li><span style="margin-left: 1em;">investigated and retired, 219;</span></li>
+<li><span style="margin-left: 1em;">pleads for naval protection for Cuba, 220.</span></li>
+
+<li>Montalvo, Lorenzo, II, 89.</li>
+
+<li>Montalvo, Rafael, Secretary of Public Works, urges resistance to revolutionists, IV, 270.</li>
+
+<li>Montanes, Pedro Garcia, I, 292.</li>
+
+<li>Montano See <span class="smcap">Velasquez</span>, J. M.</li>
+
+<li>Montes, Garcia, Secretary of Treasury, IV, 254.</li>
+
+<li>Montesino, Antonio, I, 78.</li>
+
+<li>Montiel, Vasquez de, naval commander, I, 278.</li>
+
+<li>Montoro, Rafael, Representative in Cortes, III, 308;</li>
+<li><span style="margin-left: 1em;">spokesman of Autonomists, IV, 59;</span></li>
+<li><span style="margin-left: 1em;">in Autonomist Cabinet, 95;</span></li>
+<li><span style="margin-left: 1em;">candidate for Vice President, 290;</span></li>
+<li><span style="margin-left: 1em;">attacked by Liberals, 291;</span></li>
+<li><span style="margin-left: 1em;">biography, 317;</span></li>
+<li><span style="margin-left: 1em;">portrait, facing 320.</span></li>
+
+<li>Morales case, IV, 92.</li>
+
+<li>Morales. Pedro de, commands at Santiago, I, 299.</li>
+
+<li>Morals, strangely mixed with piety and vice, II, 229.</li>
+
+<li>Morell, Pedro Augustino, Bishop, II, 53;</li>
+<li><span style="margin-left: 1em;">controversy with Albemarle, 83;</span></li>
+<li><span style="margin-left: 1em;">exiled, 87;</span></li>
+<li><span style="margin-left: 1em;">death, 113.</span></li>
+
+<li>Moreno, Andres, Secretary of Foreign Affairs, IV, 90.</li>
+
+<li>Moret law, abolishing slavery, III, 243.</li>
+
+<li>Morgan, Henry, plans raid on Havana, I, 297;</li>
+<li><span style="margin-left: 1em;">later career, 303.</span></li>
+
+<li>Morro Castle, Havana, picture, facing I, 180;</li>
+<li><span style="margin-left: 1em;">site of battery, 180;</span></li>
+<li><span style="margin-left: 1em;">tower built by Mazariegos, 196;</span></li>
+<li><span style="margin-left: 1em;">fortified against Drake, 249;</span></li>
+<li><span style="margin-left: 1em;">planned by Antonelli, 261;</span></li>
+<li><span style="margin-left: 1em;">besieged by British, II, 55.</span></li>
+
+<li>Morro Castle, Santiago, built, I, 289;</li>
+<li><span style="margin-left: 1em;">picture, facing 298.</span></li>
+
+<li>Mucaras, I, 11.</li>
+
+<li>Muenster, geographer, I, 6.</li>
+
+<li>Mugeres Islands, I, 84.</li>
+
+<li>Munive, Andres de, I, 317.</li>
+
+<li>Murgina y Mena, A. M., I, 317.</li>
+
+<li>Music, early concerts at Havana, II, 239.</li>
+
+<li>&nbsp;</li>
+
+<li>Nabia, Juan Alfonso de, I, 207.</li>
+
+<li>Nancy Globe, I. 6.</li>
+
+<li>Napoleon's designs upon Cuba, II, 203.</li>
+
+<li>Naranjo, probable landing place of Columbus, I, 12.</li>
+
+<li>Narvaez, Panfilo de, portrait, I, 63;</li>
+<li><span style="margin-left: 1em;">arrival in Cuba, 63;</span></li>
+<li><span style="margin-left: 1em;">campaign against natives, 65;</span></li>
+<li><span style="margin-left: 1em;">explores the island, 67;</span></li>
+<li><span style="margin-left: 1em;">errand to Spain, 77;</span></li>
+<li><span style="margin-left: 1em;">sent to Mexico to oppose Cortez, 98;</span></li>
+<li><span style="margin-left: 1em;">secures appointment of Councillors for life, 111.</span></li>
+
+<li>Naval stations, U. S., in Cuba, IV, 255.</li>
+
+<li>Navarrete, quoted, I, 3, 12.</li>
+
+<li>Navarro, Diego Jose, Governor, II, 141, 150.</li>
+
+<li>Navy, Spanish, in Cuban waters, III, 182, 225.</li>
+
+<li>Negroes, imported as slaves, I, 170;</li>
+<li><span style="margin-left: 1em;">treatment of, 171;</span></li>
+<li><span style="margin-left: 1em;">slaves and free, increasing numbers of, 229. See <span class="smcap">Slavery</span>.</span></li>
+
+<li>New Orleans, anti-Spanish outbreak, III, 126.</li>
+
+<li>New Spain. See <span class="smcap">Mexico</span>.</li>
+
+<li>Newspapers: <i>Gazeta</i>, 1780, II, 157;</li>
+<li><span style="margin-left: 1em;"><i>Papel Periodico</i>, 179;</span></li>
+<li><span style="margin-left: 1em;">246;</span></li>
+<li><span style="margin-left: 1em;">publications in Paris, Madrid and New York, 354;</span></li>
+<li><span style="margin-left: 1em;">El Faro Industrial, III, 18;</span></li>
+<li><span style="margin-left: 1em;">Diario de la Marina, 18;</span></li>
+<li><span style="margin-left: 1em;">La Verdad, 18;</span></li>
+<li><span style="margin-left: 1em;">La Vos de Cuba, 260;</span></li>
+<li><span style="margin-left: 1em;">La Vos del Siglo, 232;</span></li>
+<li><span style="margin-left: 1em;">La Revolucion, 333;</span></li>
+<li><span style="margin-left: 1em;">El Siglo, 334;</span></li>
+<li><span style="margin-left: 1em;">El Laborante, 335.</span></li>
+
+<li>Norsemen, American colonists, I, 7.</li>
+
+<li>Nougaret, Jean Baptiste, quoted, II, 26.</li>
+
+<li>Nuñez, Emilio, in Cuban Junta, IV, 12;</li>
+<li><span style="margin-left: 1em;">in war, 57;</span></li>
+<li><span style="margin-left: 1em;">Civil Governor of Havana, 179;</span></li>
+<li><span style="margin-left: 1em;">head of Veterans' Association, 305;</span></li>
+<li><span style="margin-left: 1em;">Secretary of Agriculture, 320;</span></li>
+<li><span style="margin-left: 1em;">candidate for Vice President, 328;</span></li>
+<li><span style="margin-left: 1em;">election confirmed, 341.</span></li>
+
+<li>Nuñez, Enrique, Secretary of Health and Charities, IV, 320.</li>
+
+<li>&nbsp;</li>
+
+<li>Ocampo, Sebastian de, circumnavigates Cuba, I, 54.</li>
+
+<li>O'Donnell, George Leopold, Governor, II, 365;</li>
+<li><span style="margin-left: 1em;">his wife's sordid intrigues, 365.</span></li>
+
+<li>Oglethorpe, Governor of Georgia, hostile to Spain, II, 24, 30.</li>
+
+<li>O'Hara, Theodore, with Lopez, III, 46.</li>
+
+<li>Ojeda, Alonzo de, I, 54;</li>
+<li><span style="margin-left: 1em;">introduces Christianity to Cuba, 55.</span></li>
+
+<li>Olid, Christopher de, sent to Mexico, I, 88.</li>
+
+<li>Olney, Richard. U. S. Secretary of State, attitude toward War of Independence, IV, 71.</li>
+
+<li>Oquendo, Antonio de, I, 281.</li>
+
+<li>Orejon y Gaston, Francisco Davila de, Governor, I, 301, 310.</li>
+
+<li>O'Reilly, Alexandre, sent to occupy Louisiana, II, 123;</li>
+<li><span style="margin-left: 1em;">ruthless rule, 125.</span></li>
+
+<li>Orellano, Diego de, I, 86.</li>
+
+<li>Ornofay, province of, I, 20.</li>
+
+<li>Ortiz, Bartholomew, alcalde mayor, I, 146;</li>
+<li><span style="margin-left: 1em;">retires, 151.</span></li>
+
+<li>Osorio, Garcia de Sandoval, Governor, I, 197;</li>
+<li><span style="margin-left: 1em;">conflict with Menendez, 199, 201;</span></li>
+<li><span style="margin-left: 1em;">retired, 205;</span></li>
+<li><span style="margin-left: 1em;">tried, 206.</span></li>
+
+<li>Osorio, Sancho Pardo, I, 207.</li>
+
+<li>Ostend Manifesto, III, 142.</li>
+
+<li>Ovando, Alfonso de Caceres, I, 214;</li>
+<li><span style="margin-left: 1em;">revises law system, 233.</span></li>
+
+<li>Ovando, Nicolas de, I, 54.</li>
+
+<li>&nbsp;</li>
+
+<li>Palma, Tomas Estrada, head of Cuban Junta in New York, IV, 3;</li>
+<li><span style="margin-left: 1em;">Provisional President of Cuban Republic, 15;</span></li>
+<li><span style="margin-left: 1em;">Delegate at Large, 43;</span></li>
+<li><span style="margin-left: 1em;">rejects anything short of independence, 71;</span></li>
+<li><span style="margin-left: 1em;">candidate for Presidency, 241;</span></li>
+<li><span style="margin-left: 1em;">his career, 241;</span></li>
+<li><span style="margin-left: 1em;">elected President, 245;</span></li>
+<li><span style="margin-left: 1em;">arrival in Cuba, 247;</span></li>
+<li><span style="margin-left: 1em;">portrait, facing 248;</span></li>
+<li><span style="margin-left: 1em;">receives transfer of government from General Wood, 248;</span></li>
+<li><span style="margin-left: 1em;">Cabinet, 254;</span></li>
+<li><span style="margin-left: 1em;">first message, 254;</span></li>
+<li><span style="margin-left: 1em;">prosperous administration, 259;</span></li>
+<li><span style="margin-left: 1em;">non-partisan at first, 264;</span></li>
+<li><span style="margin-left: 1em;">forced toward Conservative party, 264;</span></li>
+<li><span style="margin-left: 1em;">reelected, 266;</span></li>
+<li><span style="margin-left: 1em;">refuses to believe insurrection impending, 266;</span></li>
+<li><span style="margin-left: 1em;">refuses to submit to blackmail, 268;</span></li>
+<li><span style="margin-left: 1em;">betrayed by Congress, 269;</span></li>
+<li><span style="margin-left: 1em;">acts too late, 270;</span></li>
+<li><span style="margin-left: 1em;">seeks American aid, 271;</span></li>
+<li><span style="margin-left: 1em;">interview with W. H. Taft, 276;</span></li>
+<li><span style="margin-left: 1em;">resigns Presidency, 280;</span></li>
+<li><span style="margin-left: 1em;">estimate of character and work, 282;</span></li>
+<li><span style="margin-left: 1em;">death, 284.</span></li>
+
+<li>Palma y Romay, Ramon, III, 327.</li>
+
+<li>Parra, Antonio, scientist, II, 252.</li>
+
+<li>Parra, Maso, revolutionist, IV, 30.</li>
+
+<li>Parties, political, in Cuba, IV, 59;</li>
+<li><span style="margin-left: 1em;">origin and characteristics of Conservative and Liberal, 181, 261.</span></li>
+
+<li>Pasalodos, Damaso, Secretary to President, IV, 297</li>
+
+<li>Pasamonte, Miguel, intrigues against Columbus, I, 58.</li>
+
+<li>Paz, Doña de, marries Juan de Avila, I, 154.</li>
+
+<li>Paz, Pedro de, I, 109.</li>
+
+<li>Penalosa, Diego de, Governor, II, 31.</li>
+
+<li>Penalver. See <span class="smcap">Penalosa</span>.</li>
+
+<li>Penalver, Luis, Bishop of New Orleans, II, 179.</li>
+
+<li>"Peninsulars," III, 152.</li>
+
+<li>Pensacola, settlement of, I, 328;</li>
+<li><span style="margin-left: 1em;">seized by French, 342;</span></li>
+<li><span style="margin-left: 1em;">recovered by Spanish, II, 7;</span></li>
+<li><span style="margin-left: 1em;">defended by Galvez, 146.</span></li>
+
+<li>Pereda, Gaspar Luis, Governor, I, 276.</li>
+
+<li>Perez, Diego, repels privateers, I, 179.</li>
+
+<li>Perez, Perico, revolutionist, IV, 15, 30, 78.</li>
+
+<li>Perez de Zambrana, Luisa, sketch and portrait, III, 328.</li>
+
+<li>Personal liberty restricted, III, 8.</li>
+
+<li>Peru, good wishes for Cuban revolution, III, 223.</li>
+
+<li>Philip II, King, appreciation of Cuba, I, 260.</li>
+
+<li>Pieltain, Candido, Governor, III, 275.</li>
+
+<li>Pierce, Franklin, President of United States, policy toward Cuba, III, 136.</li>
+
+<li>Pina, Severo, Secretary of Finance, IV, 48.</li>
+
+<li>Pinar del Rio, city founded, II, 131;</li>
+<li><span style="margin-left: 1em;">Maceo invades province, IV, 61;</span></li>
+<li><span style="margin-left: 1em;">war in, 73.</span></li>
+
+<li>Pineyro, Enrique, III, 333;</li>
+<li><span style="margin-left: 1em;">sketch and portrait, 334.</span></li>
+
+<li>Pinto, Ramon, sketch and portrait, III, 62.</li>
+
+<li>"Pirates of America," I, 296.</li>
+
+<li>Pizarro, Francisco de, I, 54, 91.</li>
+
+<li>Platt, Orville H., Senator, on relations of United States and Cuba, IV, 198;</li>
+<li><span style="margin-left: 1em;">Amendment to Cuban Constitution, 199;</span></li>
+<li><span style="margin-left: 1em;">Amendment adopted, 203;</span></li>
+<li><span style="margin-left: 1em;">text of Amendment, 238.</span></li>
+
+<li>Pococke, Sir George, expedition against Havana, II, 46.</li>
+
+<li>Poey, Felipe, sketch and portrait, III, 315.</li>
+
+<li>Point Lucrecia, I, 18.</li>
+
+<li>Polavieja, Gen., Governor, III, 314.</li>
+
+<li>Police, reorganized, II, 312;</li>
+<li><span style="margin-left: 1em;">under American occupation, IV, 150;</span></li>
+<li><span style="margin-left: 1em;">police courts established, 171.</span></li>
+
+<li>Polk, James K., President of the United States, policy toward Cuba, III, 135.</li>
+
+<li>Polo y Bernabe, Spanish Minister at Washington, IV, 98.</li>
+
+<li>Ponce de Leon, in Cuba, I, 73;</li>
+<li><span style="margin-left: 1em;">death, 139.</span></li>
+
+<li>Ponce de Leon, of New York, in Cuban Junta, IV, 13.</li>
+
+<li>Pope, efforts to maintain peace, between United States and Spain, IV, 104.</li>
+
+<li>Porro, Cornelio, treason of, III, 257.</li>
+
+<li>Port Banes, I, 18.</li>
+
+<li>Port Nipe, I, 18.</li>
+
+<li>Port Nuevitas, I, 3.</li>
+
+<li>Portuguese settlers, I, 168.</li>
+
+<li>Portuondo, Rafael, Secretary for Foreign Affairs, IV, 48;</li>
+<li><span style="margin-left: 1em;">filibuster, 70.</span></li>
+
+<li>Prado y Portocasso, Juan, Governor, II, 49;</li>
+<li><span style="margin-left: 1em;">neglect of duty, 52;</span></li>
+<li><span style="margin-left: 1em;">sentenced to degradation, 108.</span></li>
+
+<li>Praga, Francisco de, I, 282.</li>
+
+<li>Presidency, first candidates for, IV, 240;</li>
+<li><span style="margin-left: 1em;">Tomas Estrada Palma elected, 245;</span></li>
+<li><span style="margin-left: 1em;">José Miguel Gomez aspires to, 260;</span></li>
+<li><span style="margin-left: 1em;">candidates in 1906, 265;</span></li>
+<li><span style="margin-left: 1em;">Palma's resignation, 280;</span></li>
+<li><span style="margin-left: 1em;">Jose Miguel Gomez elected, 290;</span></li>
+<li><span style="margin-left: 1em;">fourth campaign, 312;</span></li>
+<li><span style="margin-left: 1em;">Mario G. Menocal elected, 312;</span></li>
+<li><span style="margin-left: 1em;">fifth campaign, 328;</span></li>
+<li><span style="margin-left: 1em;">General Menocal reelected, 341.</span></li>
+
+<li>Prim, Gen., Spanish revolutionist, III, 145.</li>
+
+<li>Printing, first press in Cuba, II, 245.</li>
+
+<li>Privateers, French ravage Cuba, I, 177;</li>
+<li><span style="margin-left: 1em;">Havana and Santiago attacked, 178;</span></li>
+<li><span style="margin-left: 1em;">Havana looted, 179;</span></li>
+<li><span style="margin-left: 1em;">Jacques Sores, 183;</span></li>
+<li><span style="margin-left: 1em;">Havana captured, 186;</span></li>
+<li><span style="margin-left: 1em;">Santiago looted, 193;</span></li>
+<li><span style="margin-left: 1em;">French raids, 220, et seq.</span></li>
+
+<li>Proctor, Redfield, Senator, investigates and reports on condition of Cuba in War of Independence, IV, 87.</li>
+
+<li>Procurators, appointment of, I, 112.</li>
+
+<li>Protectorate, tripartite, refused by United States, II, 261;</li>
+<li><span style="margin-left: 1em;">III, 130, 133.</span></li>
+
+<li>Provincial governments organized, IV, 179, confusion in, 292.</li>
+
+<li>Public Works, promoted by General Wood, IV, 166;</li>
+<li><span style="margin-left: 1em;">by Magoon, 286.</span></li>
+
+<li>Puerto Grande. See <span class="smcap">Guantanamo</span>.</li>
+
+<li>Puerto Principe, I, 18, 167.</li>
+
+<li>Punta, La, first fortification, I, 203;</li>
+<li><span style="margin-left: 1em;">strengthened against Drake, 249;</span></li>
+<li><span style="margin-left: 1em;">fortress planned by Antonelli, 261;</span></li>
+<li><span style="margin-left: 1em;">picture, IV, 33.</span></li>
+
+<li>Punta Lucrecia, I, 3.</li>
+
+<li>Punta Serafina, I, 22.</li>
+
+<li>&nbsp;</li>
+
+<li>Queen's Gardens, I, 20.</li>
+
+<li>Quero, Geronimo, I, 277.</li>
+
+<li>Quesada, Gonzalo de, Secretary of Cuban Junta, IV, 3;</li>
+<li><span style="margin-left: 1em;">Minister to United States, 275.</span></li>
+
+<li>Quesada, Manuel, sketch and portrait, III, 167;</li>
+<li><span style="margin-left: 1em;">proclamation, 169;</span></li>
+<li><span style="margin-left: 1em;">death, 262.</span></li>
+
+<li>Quezo, Juan de, I, 113.</li>
+
+<li>Quilez, J. M., Civil Governor of Pinar del Rio, IV, 179.</li>
+
+<li>Quiñones, Diego Hernandez de, commander of fortifications at Havana, I, 240;</li>
+<li><span style="margin-left: 1em;">feud with Luzan, 241;</span></li>
+<li><span style="margin-left: 1em;">unites with Luzan to resist Drake, 243.</span></li>
+
+<li>Quiñones, Doña Leonora de, I, 117.</li>
+
+<li>&nbsp;</li>
+
+<li>Rabi, Jesus, revolutionist, IV, 34, 42.</li>
+
+<li>Railroads, first in Cuba, II, 343.</li>
+
+<li>Raja, Vicente, Governor, I, 337.</li>
+
+<li>Ramirez, Alejandro, sketch and portrait, II, 311.</li>
+
+<li>Ramirez, Miguel, Bishop, partisan of Guzman, I, 120;</li>
+<li><span style="margin-left: 1em;">political activities and greed, 124.</span></li>
+
+<li>Ramos, Gregorio, I, 274.</li>
+
+<li>Ranzel, Diego, I, 295.</li>
+
+<li>Recio, R. Lopez, Civil Governor of Camaguey, IV, 180.</li>
+
+<li>Recio, Serafin, III, 86.</li>
+
+<li>Reciprocity, secured by Roosevelt for Cuba, IV, 256.</li>
+
+<li>"Reconcentrados," mortality among, IV, 86.</li>
+
+<li>Red Cross, Cuban activities, IV, 353.</li>
+
+<li>Redroban, Pedro de, I, 201.</li>
+
+<li>Reed, Walter, in yellow fever campaign, IV, 172.</li>
+
+<li>Reformists, Spanish, support Blanco's Autonomist policy, IV, 97.</li>
+
+<li>Reggio, Andreas, II, 32.</li>
+
+<li>Reno, George, in War of Independence, IV, 12;</li>
+<li><span style="margin-left: 1em;">running blockade, 21;</span></li>
+<li><span style="margin-left: 1em;">portrait, 21;</span></li>
+<li><span style="margin-left: 1em;">services in Great War, 351.</span></li>
+
+<li>Renteria, Pedro de, partner of Las Casas, I, 75;</li>
+<li><span style="margin-left: 1em;">opposes slavery, 76.</span></li>
+
+<li>Repartimiento, I, 70.</li>
+
+<li>Republic of Cuba: proclaimed and organized, III, 157;</li>
+<li><span style="margin-left: 1em;">first representative Assembly, 161;</span></li>
+<li><span style="margin-left: 1em;">Constitution of 1868, 164;</span></li>
+<li><span style="margin-left: 1em;">first House of Representatives, 176;</span></li>
+<li><span style="margin-left: 1em;">Judiciary, 177;</span></li>
+<li><span style="margin-left: 1em;">legislation, 177;</span></li>
+<li><span style="margin-left: 1em;">army, 178;</span></li>
+<li><span style="margin-left: 1em;">fails to secure recognition, 203;</span></li>
+<li><span style="margin-left: 1em;">Government reorganized, 275;</span></li>
+<li><span style="margin-left: 1em;">after Treaty of Zanjon, 301;</span></li>
+<li><span style="margin-left: 1em;">reorganized in War of Independence, IV, 15;</span></li>
+<li><span style="margin-left: 1em;">Maso chosen President, 43;</span></li>
+<li><span style="margin-left: 1em;">Conventions of Yara and Najasa, 47;</span></li>
+<li><span style="margin-left: 1em;">Constitution adopted, 47;</span></li>
+<li><span style="margin-left: 1em;">Government reorganized, Cisneros President, 48;</span></li>
+<li><span style="margin-left: 1em;">capital at Las Tunas, 56;</span></li>
+<li><span style="margin-left: 1em;">removes to Cubitas, 72;</span></li>
+<li><span style="margin-left: 1em;">exercises functions of government, 72;</span></li>
+<li><span style="margin-left: 1em;">reorganized in 1897, 90;</span></li>
+<li><span style="margin-left: 1em;">after Spanish evacuation of island, 134;</span></li>
+<li><span style="margin-left: 1em;">disbanded, 135;</span></li>
+<li><span style="margin-left: 1em;">Constitutional Convention called, 185;</span></li>
+<li><span style="margin-left: 1em;">Constitution completed, 192;</span></li>
+<li><span style="margin-left: 1em;">relations with United States, 195;</span></li>
+<li><span style="margin-left: 1em;">Platt Amendment, 203;</span></li>
+<li><span style="margin-left: 1em;">enters Great War, 346.</span></li>
+
+<li>Revolutions: Rise of spirit, II, 268;</li>
+<li><span style="margin-left: 1em;">in South America, 333;</span></li>
+<li><span style="margin-left: 1em;">"Soles de Bolivar," 341;</span></li>
+<li><span style="margin-left: 1em;">attempts to revolt, 344;</span></li>
+<li><span style="margin-left: 1em;">"Black Eagle," 346;</span></li>
+<li><span style="margin-left: 1em;">plans of Lopez, III, 36;</span></li>
+<li><span style="margin-left: 1em;">Lopez's first invasion, 49;</span></li>
+<li><span style="margin-left: 1em;">Aguero's insurrection, 72;</span></li>
+<li><span style="margin-left: 1em;">comments of New York <i>Herald</i>, 89;</span></li>
+<li><span style="margin-left: 1em;">Lopez's last expedition, 91;</span></li>
+<li><span style="margin-left: 1em;">results of his work, 116;</span></li>
+<li><span style="margin-left: 1em;">European interest, 125;</span></li>
+<li><span style="margin-left: 1em;">beginning of Ten Years' War. 155;</span></li>
+<li><span style="margin-left: 1em;">end of Ten Years' War, 299;</span></li>
+<li><span style="margin-left: 1em;">insurrection renewed, 308, 318;</span></li>
+<li><span style="margin-left: 1em;">War of Independence, IV, 1;</span></li>
+<li><span style="margin-left: 1em;">Sartorius Brothers, 4;</span></li>
+<li><span style="margin-left: 1em;">end of War of Independence, 116;</span></li>
+<li><span style="margin-left: 1em;">revolt against President Palma, 266;</span></li>
+<li><span style="margin-left: 1em;">ultimatum, 278;</span></li>
+<li><span style="margin-left: 1em;">government overthrown, 280;</span></li>
+<li><span style="margin-left: 1em;">Negro insurrection, 307;</span></li>
+<li><span style="margin-left: 1em;">conspiracy against President Menocal, 327;</span></li>
+<li><span style="margin-left: 1em;">great treason of José Miguel Gomez, 332;</span></li>
+<li><span style="margin-left: 1em;">Gomez captured, 337;</span></li>
+<li><span style="margin-left: 1em;">warnings from United States Government, 338;</span></li>
+<li><span style="margin-left: 1em;">revolutions denounced by United States, 343.</span></li>
+
+<li>Revolutionary party, Cuban, IV, 1, 11.</li>
+
+<li>Rey, Juan F. G., III, 40.</li>
+
+<li>Riano y Gamboa, Francisco, Governor, I, 287.</li>
+
+<li>Ribera, Diego de, I, 206;</li>
+<li><span style="margin-left: 1em;">work on La Fuerza, 209.</span></li>
+
+<li>Ricafort, Mariano, Governor, II, 347.</li>
+
+<li>Ricla, Conde de, Governor, II, 102;</li>
+<li><span style="margin-left: 1em;">retires, 109.</span></li>
+
+<li>Rio de la Luna, I, 16.</li>
+
+<li>Rio de Mares, I, 16.</li>
+
+<li>Riva-Martiz, I, 279.</li>
+
+<li>Rivera, Juan Ruiz, filibuster, IV, 70;</li>
+<li><span style="margin-left: 1em;">succeeds Maceo, 79.</span></li>
+
+<li>Rivera, Ruiz, Secretary of Agriculture, Commerce and Industry, IV, 160.</li>
+
+<li>Roa, feud with Villalobos, I, 323.</li>
+
+<li>Rodas, Caballero de, Governor, III, 213;</li>
+<li><span style="margin-left: 1em;">emancipation decree, 242.</span></li>
+
+<li>Rodney, Sir George, expedition to West Indies, II, 153.</li>
+
+<li>Rodriguez, Alejandro, suppresses revolt, IV, 266.</li>
+
+<li>Rodriguez, Laureano, in Autonomist Cabinet, IV, 95.</li>
+
+<li>Rojas, Alfonso de, I, 181.</li>
+
+<li>Rojas, Gomez de, banished, I, 193;</li>
+<li><span style="margin-left: 1em;">Governor of La Fuerza, 217;</span></li>
+<li><span style="margin-left: 1em;">rebuilds Santiago, 258.</span></li>
+
+<li>Rojas, Hernando de, expedition to Florida, I, 196.</li>
+
+<li>Rojas, Juan Bautista de, royal treasurer, I, 218.</li>
+
+<li>Rojas, Juan de, aid to Lady Isabel de Soto, I, 145;</li>
+<li><span style="margin-left: 1em;">commander at Havana, 183.</span></li>
+
+<li>Rojas, Manuel de, Governor, I, 105;</li>
+<li><span style="margin-left: 1em;">adopts policy of "Cuba for the Cubans," 106;</span></li>
+<li><span style="margin-left: 1em;">second Governorship, 121;</span></li>
+<li><span style="margin-left: 1em;">dealings with Indians, 126;</span></li>
+<li><span style="margin-left: 1em;">noble endeavors frustrated, 130;</span></li>
+<li><span style="margin-left: 1em;">resigns, 135;</span></li>
+<li><span style="margin-left: 1em;">the King's unique tribute to him, 135.</span></li>
+
+<li>Roldan, Francisco Dominguez, Secretary of Public Instruction, sketch and portrait, IV, 357.</li>
+
+<li>Roldan, José Gonzalo, III, 328.</li>
+
+<li>Roloff, Carlos, revolutionist, IV, 45;</li>
+<li><span style="margin-left: 1em;">Secretary of War, 48;</span></li>
+<li><span style="margin-left: 1em;">filibuster, 70.</span></li>
+
+<li>Romano Key, I, 18.</li>
+
+<li>Romay, Tomas, introduces vaccination, II, 192;</li>
+<li><span style="margin-left: 1em;">portrait, facing 192.</span></li>
+
+<li>Roncali, Federico, Governor, II, 366;</li>
+<li><span style="margin-left: 1em;">on Spanish interests in Cuba, 381.</span></li>
+
+<li>Roosevelt, Theodore, at San Juan Hill, IV, 113;</li>
+<li><span style="margin-left: 1em;">portrait, 113;</span></li>
+<li><span style="margin-left: 1em;">President of United States, on relations with Cuba, 245;</span></li>
+<li><span style="margin-left: 1em;">estimate of General Wood's work in Cuba, 251;</span></li>
+<li><span style="margin-left: 1em;">fight with Congress for Cuban reciprocity, 256;</span></li>
+<li><span style="margin-left: 1em;">seeks to aid President Palma against revolutionists, 275;</span></li>
+<li><span style="margin-left: 1em;">letter to Quesada, 275.</span></li>
+
+<li>Root, Elihu, Secretary of War, on Cuban Constitution, IV, 194;</li>
+<li><span style="margin-left: 1em;">on Cuban relations with United States, 197;</span></li>
+<li><span style="margin-left: 1em;">explains Platt Amendment, 201.</span></li>
+
+<li>Rowan, A. S., messenger to Oriente, IV. 107.</li>
+
+<li>Rubalcava, Manuel Justo, II, 274.</li>
+
+<li>Rubens, Horatio, Counsel of Cuban Junta, IV, 3.</li>
+
+<li>Rubios, Palacios, I, 78.</li>
+
+<li>Ruiz, Joaquin, spy, IV, 91;</li>
+<li><span style="margin-left: 1em;">death, 92. See <span class="smcap">Aranguren</span>.</span></li>
+
+<li>Ruiz, Juan Fernandez, filibuster, IV, 70.</li>
+
+<li>Rum Cay. See <span class="smcap">Conception</span>.</li>
+
+<li>Rural Guards, organized by General Wood, IV, 144;</li>
+<li><span style="margin-left: 1em;">efficiency of, 301.</span></li>
+
+<li>Ruysch, geographer, I, 6.</li>
+
+<li>&nbsp;</li>
+
+<li>Saavedra, Juan Esquiro, I, 278.</li>
+
+<li>Sabinal Key, I, 18.</li>
+
+<li>Saco, José Antonio, pioneer of Independence, II, 378;</li>
+<li><span style="margin-left: 1em;">portrait, facing 378;</span></li>
+<li><span style="margin-left: 1em;">literary and patriotic work, III, 325, 327.</span></li>
+
+<li>Sagasta, Praxedes, Spanish Premier, proposes Cuban reforms, IV, 6;</li>
+<li><span style="margin-left: 1em;">resigns, 36.</span></li>
+
+<li>Saint Augustine, expedition against, I, 332.</li>
+
+<li>Saint Mery, M. de, search for tomb of Columbus, I, 34.</li>
+
+<li>Salamanca, Juan de, Governor, I, 295;</li>
+<li><span style="margin-left: 1em;">promotes industries, 300.</span></li>
+
+<li>Salamanca y Negrete, Manuel, Governor, III, 314.</li>
+
+<li>Salaries, some early, I, 263.</li>
+
+<li>Salas, Indalacio, IV, 21.</li>
+
+<li>Salazar. See <span class="smcap">Someruelos</span>.</li>
+
+<li>Salcedo, Bishop, controversy with Governor Tejada, I, 262.</li>
+
+<li>Sama Point, I, 4.</li>
+
+<li>Samana. See <span class="smcap">Guanahani</span>.</li>
+
+<li>Sampson, William T., Admiral, in Spanish-American War, IV, 110;</li>
+<li><span style="margin-left: 1em;">at Santiago, 114;</span></li>
+<li><span style="margin-left: 1em;">portrait, 115.</span></li>
+
+<li>Sanchez, Bartolome, makes plans for La</li>
+<li><span style="margin-left: 1em;">Fuerza, I, 194;</span></li>
+<li><span style="margin-left: 1em;">begins building, 195;</span></li>
+<li><span style="margin-left: 1em;">feud with Mazariegos, 197.</span></li>
+
+<li>Sanchez, Bernabe, II, 345.</li>
+
+<li>Sancti Spiritus, founded by Velasquez, I, 68, 168.</li>
+
+<li>Sandoval, Garcia Osorio, Governor, I, 197. See <span class="smcap">Osario</span>.</li>
+
+<li>Sanitation, undertaken by Guemez, II, 18;</li>
+<li><span style="margin-left: 1em;">vaccination introduced by Dr. Romay. 192;</span></li>
+<li><span style="margin-left: 1em;">bad conditions, III, 313;</span></li>
+<li><span style="margin-left: 1em;">General Wood at Santiago, IV, 142;</span></li>
+<li><span style="margin-left: 1em;">achievements under President Menocal, 357.</span></li>
+
+<li>Sanguilly, Julio, falls in leading revolution, IV, 29, 55.</li>
+
+<li>Sanguilly, Manuel, in Constitutional Convention, IV, 190.</li>
+
+<li>San Lazaro watchtower, picture, I, 155;</li>
+<li><span style="margin-left: 1em;">fortified against Drake, 248.</span></li>
+
+<li>San Salvador. See <span class="smcap">Guanahani</span>.</li>
+
+<li>Santa Clara, Conde de, Governor, II, 194, 300.</li>
+
+<li>Santa Crux del Sur, I, 20.</li>
+
+<li>Santa Cruz, Francisco, I, 111.</li>
+
+<li>Santiago de Cuba, Columbus at, I, 19;</li>
+<li><span style="margin-left: 1em;">founded by Velasquez, 68;</span></li>
+<li><span style="margin-left: 1em;">second capital of island, 69;</span></li>
+<li><span style="margin-left: 1em;">seat of gold refining, 80;</span></li>
+<li><span style="margin-left: 1em;">site of cathedral, 123;</span></li>
+<li><span style="margin-left: 1em;">condition in Angulo's time, 166;</span></li>
+<li><span style="margin-left: 1em;">looted by privateers, 193;</span></li>
+<li><span style="margin-left: 1em;">fortified by Menendez, 203;</span></li>
+<li><span style="margin-left: 1em;">raided and destroyed by French, 256;</span></li>
+<li><span style="margin-left: 1em;">rebuilt by Gomez de Rojas, 258;</span></li>
+<li><span style="margin-left: 1em;">capital of Eastern District, 275;</span></li>
+<li><span style="margin-left: 1em;">Morro Castle built, 289;</span></li>
+<li><span style="margin-left: 1em;">captured by British, 299;</span></li>
+<li><span style="margin-left: 1em;">attacked by Franquinay, 310;</span></li>
+<li><span style="margin-left: 1em;">attacked by Admiral Vernon, II, 29;</span></li>
+<li><span style="margin-left: 1em;">literary activities, 169;</span></li>
+<li><span style="margin-left: 1em;">great improvements made, 180;</span></li>
+<li><span style="margin-left: 1em;">battles near in War of Independence, IV, 112;</span></li>
+<li><span style="margin-left: 1em;">naval battle, 114;</span></li>
+<li><span style="margin-left: 1em;">General Wood's administration, 135;</span></li>
+<li><span style="margin-left: 1em;">great work for sanitation, 142.</span></li>
+
+<li>Santiago, battle of, IV, 114.</li>
+
+<li>Santiago, sunset scene, facing III, 280.</li>
+
+<li>Santillan, Diego, Governor, I, 205.</li>
+
+<li>Santo Domingo See <span class="smcap">Hispaniola</span>.</li>
+
+<li>Sanudo, Luis, Governor, I, 336.</li>
+
+<li>Sarmiento. Diego de, Bishop, makes trouble, I, 149, 152.</li>
+
+<li>Saunders, Romulus M., sounds Spain on purchase of Cuba, III, 135.</li>
+
+<li>Sartorius, Manuel and Ricardo, revolutionists, IV, 4.</li>
+
+<li>Savine, Albert, on British designs on Cuba, II, 40.</li>
+
+<li>Schley, Winfield S., Admiral, in Spanish-American War, IV, 110;</li>
+<li><span style="margin-left: 1em;">portrait, 110;</span></li>
+<li><span style="margin-left: 1em;">at Santiago, 114.</span></li>
+
+<li>Schoener's globe, I, 5.</li>
+
+<li>Schools, backward condition of, II, 174, 244, 312. See <span class="smcap">Education</span>.</li>
+
+<li>Shafter, W. R., General, leads American army into Cuba, IV, 111.</li>
+
+<li>Shipbuilding at Havana, II, 8, 33, 113, 300.</li>
+
+<li>Sickles, Daniel E., Minister to Spain, offers mediation, III, 217.</li>
+
+<li>Silva, Manuel, Secretary of Interior, IV, 90.</li>
+
+<li>Slave Insurrection, II, 13;</li>
+<li><span style="margin-left: 1em;">III, 367, et seq.</span></li>
+
+<li>Slavery, begun in Repartimiento system, I, 70;</li>
+<li><span style="margin-left: 1em;">not sanctioned by King, 82;</span></li>
+<li><span style="margin-left: 1em;">slave trading begun, 83;</span></li>
+<li><span style="margin-left: 1em;">growth and regulation, 170;</span></li>
+<li><span style="margin-left: 1em;">oppressive policy of Spain, 266;</span></li>
+<li><span style="margin-left: 1em;">the "Assiento," II, 2;</span></li>
+<li><span style="margin-left: 1em;">great growth</span></li>
+<li><span style="margin-left: 1em;">of trade, 22;</span></li>
+<li><span style="margin-left: 1em;">gross abuses, 202;</span></li>
+<li><span style="margin-left: 1em;">described by Masse, 202;</span></li>
+<li><span style="margin-left: 1em;">census of slaves, 204;</span></li>
+<li><span style="margin-left: 1em;">rise of emancipation movement, 206;</span></li>
+<li><span style="margin-left: 1em;">rights of slaves defined by King, 210;</span></li>
+<li><span style="margin-left: 1em;">African trade forbidden, 285;</span></li>
+<li><span style="margin-left: 1em;">Negro census, 286;</span></li>
+<li><span style="margin-left: 1em;">early records of trade, 288;</span></li>
+<li><span style="margin-left: 1em;">Humboldt on, 288;</span></li>
+<li><span style="margin-left: 1em;">statistics of trade, 289 et seq.;</span></li>
+<li><span style="margin-left: 1em;">domestic relations of slaves, 292;</span></li>
+<li><span style="margin-left: 1em;">dangers of system denounced, 320;</span></li>
+<li><span style="margin-left: 1em;">official complicity in illegal trade, 366;</span></li>
+<li><span style="margin-left: 1em;">slave insurrection, 367;</span></li>
+<li><span style="margin-left: 1em;">inhuman suppression by government, 374 et seq.;</span></li>
+<li><span style="margin-left: 1em;">emancipation by revolution of 1868, 159;</span></li>
+<li><span style="margin-left: 1em;">United States urges Spain to abolish slavery, 242;</span></li>
+<li><span style="margin-left: 1em;">Rodas's decrees, 242;</span></li>
+<li><span style="margin-left: 1em;">Moret law, 243.</span></li>
+
+<li>Smith, Caleb. publishes book on West Indies, II, 37.</li>
+
+<li>Smuggling, II, 133.</li>
+
+<li>"Sociedad de Amigos," II, 169.</li>
+
+<li>"Sociedad Patriotica," II, 166.</li>
+
+<li>"Sociedad Patriotica y Economica," II, 178.</li>
+
+<li>Society of Progress, II, 78.</li>
+
+<li>Solano, José de, naval commander, II, 147.</li>
+
+<li>"Soles de Bolivar," II, 341;</li>
+<li><span style="margin-left: 1em;">attempts to suppress, 343.</span></li>
+
+<li>Solorzano, Juan del Hoya, I, 337;</li>
+<li><span style="margin-left: 1em;">II, 10.</span></li>
+
+<li>Someruelos, Marquis of, Governor, II, 196, 301.</li>
+
+<li>Sores, Jacques, French raider, II, 183;</li>
+<li><span style="margin-left: 1em;">attacks Havana, 184;</span></li>
+<li><span style="margin-left: 1em;">captures city, 186.</span></li>
+
+<li>Soto, Antonio de, I, 292.</li>
+
+<li>Soto, Diego de, I, 109, 217.</li>
+
+<li>Soto, Hernando de, Governor and Adelantado, I, 140;</li>
+<li><span style="margin-left: 1em;">portrait, 140;</span></li>
+<li><span style="margin-left: 1em;">arrival in Cuba, 141;</span></li>
+<li><span style="margin-left: 1em;">tour of island, 142;</span></li>
+<li><span style="margin-left: 1em;">makes Havana his home, 144;</span></li>
+<li><span style="margin-left: 1em;">chiefly interested in Florida, 144;</span></li>
+<li><span style="margin-left: 1em;">sails for Florida, 145;</span></li>
+<li><span style="margin-left: 1em;">his fate in Mississippi, 147;</span></li>
+<li><span style="margin-left: 1em;">trouble with Indians, 148.</span></li>
+
+<li>Soto, Lady Isabel de, I, 141;</li>
+<li><span style="margin-left: 1em;">her vigil at La Fuerza, 147;</span></li>
+<li><span style="margin-left: 1em;">death, 149.</span></li>
+
+<li>Soto, Luis de, I, 141.</li>
+
+<li>Soulé, Pierre, Minister to Spain, III, 137;</li>
+<li><span style="margin-left: 1em;">Indiscretions, 138;</span></li>
+<li><span style="margin-left: 1em;">Ostend Manifesto, 142.</span></li>
+
+<li>South Sea Company, II, 21, 201.</li>
+
+<li>Spain: Fiscal policy toward Cuba, I, 175;</li>
+<li><span style="margin-left: 1em;">wars with France, 177;</span></li>
+<li><span style="margin-left: 1em;">discriminations against Cuba, 266, 267;</span></li>
+<li><span style="margin-left: 1em;">protests against South Sea Company, II, 22;</span></li>
+<li><span style="margin-left: 1em;">course in American Revolution, 143;</span></li>
+<li><span style="margin-left: 1em;">war with Great Britain, 151;</span></li>
+<li><span style="margin-left: 1em;">attitude toward America, 159;</span></li>
+<li><span style="margin-left: 1em;">peace with Great Britain, 162;</span></li>
+<li><span style="margin-left: 1em;">restrictive laws, 224;</span></li>
+<li><span style="margin-left: 1em;">policy under Godoy, 265;</span></li>
+<li><span style="margin-left: 1em;">decline of power, 273;</span></li>
+<li><span style="margin-left: 1em;">seeks to pawn Cuba to Great Britain for loan, 330;</span></li>
+<li><span style="margin-left: 1em;">protests to United States against Lopez's expedition, III, 59;</span></li>
+<li><span style="margin-left: 1em;">seeks British protection, 129;</span></li>
+<li><span style="margin-left: 1em;">refuses to sell Cuba, 135;</span></li>
+<li><span style="margin-left: 1em;">revolution against Bourbon dynasty, 145 et seq.;</span></li>
+<li><span style="margin-left: 1em;">rejects suggestion of American mediation in Cuba, 219;</span></li>
+<li><span style="margin-left: 1em;">seeks American mediation, 293;</span></li>
+<li><span style="margin-left: 1em;">strives to placate Cuba, IV, 5;</span></li>
+<li><span style="margin-left: 1em;">crisis over Cuban affairs, 35;</span></li>
+<li><span style="margin-left: 1em;">attitude toward War of Independence, 40;</span></li>
+<li><span style="margin-left: 1em;">considers Autonomy, 71;</span></li>
+<li><span style="margin-left: 1em;">Cabinet crisis of 1897, 88;</span></li>
+<li><span style="margin-left: 1em;">proposes joint investigation of Maine disaster, 100;</span></li>
+<li><span style="margin-left: 1em;">at war with United States, 106;</span></li>
+<li><span style="margin-left: 1em;">makes Treaty of Paris, relinquishing Cuba, 118.</span></li>
+
+<li>Spanish-American War: causes of, IV, 105;</li>
+<li><span style="margin-left: 1em;">declared, 106;</span></li>
+<li><span style="margin-left: 1em;">blockade of Cuban coast, 110;</span></li>
+<li><span style="margin-left: 1em;">landing of American army in Cuba, 111;</span></li>
+<li><span style="margin-left: 1em;">fighting near Santiago, 112;</span></li>
+<li><span style="margin-left: 1em;">fort at El Caney, picture, 112;</span></li>
+<li><span style="margin-left: 1em;">San Juan Hill, battle, 113;</span></li>
+<li><span style="margin-left: 1em;">San Juan Hill, picture of monument, 114;</span></li>
+<li><span style="margin-left: 1em;">naval battle of Santiago, 115;</span></li>
+<li><span style="margin-left: 1em;">peace negotiations, 116;</span></li>
+<li><span style="margin-left: 1em;">"Peace Tree," picture, 116;</span></li>
+<li><span style="margin-left: 1em;">treaty of peace, 118.</span></li>
+
+<li>Spanish literature in XVI century, I, 360.</li>
+
+<li>Spotorno, Juan Bautista, seeks peace, rebuked by Maso, IV, 35.</li>
+
+<li>Steinhart, Frank, American consul, advises President Palma to ask for American aid, IV, 271;</li>
+<li><span style="margin-left: 1em;">correspondence with State Department, 272.</span></li>
+
+<li>Stock raising, early attention to, I, 173, 224;</li>
+<li><span style="margin-left: 1em;">development of, 220.</span></li>
+
+<li>Stokes, W. E. D., aids War of Independence, IV, 14.</li>
+
+<li>Students, murder of by Volunteers, III, 260.</li>
+
+<li>Suarez y Romero, Anselmo, III, 326.</li>
+
+<li>Sugar, Industry begun under Velasquez, I, 175, 224;</li>
+<li><span style="margin-left: 1em;">growth of industry, 265;</span></li>
+<li><span style="margin-left: 1em;">primitive methods, II, 222;</span></li>
+<li><span style="margin-left: 1em;">growth, III, 3;</span></li>
+<li><span style="margin-left: 1em;">great development under President Menocal, IV, 358.</span></li>
+
+<li>"Suma de Geografia," of Enciso, I, 54.</li>
+
+<li>Sumana, Diego de, I, 111.</li>
+
+<li>&nbsp;</li>
+
+<li>Tacon, Miguel, Governor, II, 347;</li>
+<li><span style="margin-left: 1em;">despotic fury, 348;</span></li>
+<li><span style="margin-left: 1em;">conflict with Lorenzo, 349;</span></li>
+<li><span style="margin-left: 1em;">public works, 355;</span></li>
+<li><span style="margin-left: 1em;">fish market, 357;</span></li>
+<li><span style="margin-left: 1em;">melodramatic administration of justice, 359.</span></li>
+
+<li>Taft, William H., Secretary of War of United States, intervenes in revolution, IV, 272;</li>
+<li><span style="margin-left: 1em;">arrives at Havana, 275;</span></li>
+<li><span style="margin-left: 1em;">negotiates with President Palma and the revolutionists, 276;</span></li>
+<li><span style="margin-left: 1em;">portrait, 276;</span></li>
+<li><span style="margin-left: 1em;">conveys ultimatum of revolutionists to President Palma, 279;</span></li>
+<li><span style="margin-left: 1em;">accepts President Palma's resignation, 280;</span></li>
+<li><span style="margin-left: 1em;">pardons revolutionists, 280;</span></li>
+<li><span style="margin-left: 1em;">unfortunate policy, 283.</span></li>
+
+<li>Tainan, Antillan stock, I, 8.</li>
+
+<li>Tamayo, Diego, Secretary of State, IV, 159;</li>
+<li><span style="margin-left: 1em;">Secretary of Government, 254.</span></li>
+
+<li>Tamayo, Rodrigo de, I, 126.</li>
+
+<li>Tariff, after British occupation, II, 106;</li>
+<li><span style="margin-left: 1em;">reduction, 141;</span></li>
+<li><span style="margin-left: 1em;">oppressive duties. III, 5;</span></li>
+<li><span style="margin-left: 1em;">under American occupation, IV, 183.</span></li>
+
+<li>Taxation, revolt against, II, 197;</li>
+<li><span style="margin-left: 1em;">"reforms," 342;</span></li>
+<li><span style="margin-left: 1em;">oppressive burdens, III, 6;</span></li>
+<li><span style="margin-left: 1em;">increase in Ten Years' War, 207;</span></li>
+<li><span style="margin-left: 1em;">evasion of, 312;</span></li>
+<li><span style="margin-left: 1em;">under American intervention, IV, 151.</span></li>
+
+<li>Taylor, Hannis, American Minister at Madrid, IV, 33.</li>
+
+<li>Tejada, Juan de, Governor, I, 261;</li>
+<li><span style="margin-left: 1em;">great works for Cuba, 262;</span></li>
+<li><span style="margin-left: 1em;">resigns, 263.</span></li>
+
+<li>Teneza, Dr. Francisco, Protomedico, I, 336.</li>
+
+<li>Ten Years' War, III, 155 et seq.;</li>
+<li><span style="margin-left: 1em;">first battles, 184;</span></li>
+<li><span style="margin-left: 1em;">aid from United States, 211;</span></li>
+<li><span style="margin-left: 1em;">offers of American mediation, 217;</span></li>
+<li><span style="margin-left: 1em;">rejected, 219;</span></li>
+<li><span style="margin-left: 1em;">campaigns of destruction, 222;</span></li>
+<li><span style="margin-left: 1em;">losses reported, 290;</span></li>
+<li><span style="margin-left: 1em;">end in Treaty of Zanjon, 299;</span></li>
+<li><span style="margin-left: 1em;">losses, 304.</span></li>
+
+<li>Terry, Emilio, Secretary of Agriculture, IV, 254.</li>
+
+<li>Theatres, first performance in Cuba, I, 264;</li>
+<li><span style="margin-left: 1em;">first theatre built, II, 130, 236.</span></li>
+
+<li>Thrasher, J. S., on census, II, 283.</li>
+
+<li>Tines y Fuertes, Juan Antonio, Governor, II, 31.</li>
+
+<li>Tobacco, early use, I, 9;</li>
+<li><span style="margin-left: 1em;">culture promoted, 300;</span></li>
+<li><span style="margin-left: 1em;">monopoly, 334;</span></li>
+<li><span style="margin-left: 1em;">"Tobacco War," 338;</span></li>
+<li><span style="margin-left: 1em;">effects of monopoly, II, 221.</span></li>
+
+<li>Tobar, Nuñez, I, 141, 143.</li>
+
+<li>Tolon, Miguel de, III, 330.</li>
+
+<li>Toltecs, I, 7.</li>
+
+<li>Tomayo, Esteban, revolutionist, IV, 34.</li>
+
+<li>Torquemada, Garcia de, I, 239;</li>
+<li><span style="margin-left: 1em;">investigates Luzan, 241.</span></li>
+
+<li>Torre, Marquis de la, Governor, II, 127;</li>
+<li><span style="margin-left: 1em;">work for Havana, 129;</span></li>
+<li><span style="margin-left: 1em;">death, 133.</span></li>
+
+<li>Torres Ayala, Laureano de, Governor, I, 334;</li>
+<li><span style="margin-left: 1em;">reappointed, 337.</span></li>
+
+<li>Torres, Gaspar de, Governor, I, 234;</li>
+<li><span style="margin-left: 1em;">conflict with Rojas family, 235;</span></li>
+<li><span style="margin-left: 1em;">absconds, 235.</span></li>
+
+<li>Torres, Rodrigo de, naval commander, II, 34.</li>
+
+<li>Torriente, Cosimo de la, Secretary of Government, IV, 320.</li>
+
+<li>Toscanelli, I, 4.</li>
+
+<li>Treaty of Paris, IV, 118.</li>
+
+<li>Tres Palacios, Felipe Jose de, Bishop, II, 174.</li>
+
+<li>Tribune, New York, describes revolutionary leaders, III, 173.</li>
+
+<li>Trinidad, founded by Velasquez, I, 68, 168;</li>
+<li><span style="margin-left: 1em;">great fire, II, 177.</span></li>
+
+<li>Trocha, begun by Campos, IV, 44;</li>
+<li><span style="margin-left: 1em;">Weyler's, 73.</span></li>
+
+<li>Troncoso, Bernardo, Governor, II, 168.</li>
+
+<li>Turnbull, David, British consul, II, 364;</li>
+<li><span style="margin-left: 1em;">complicity in slave insurrection, 372.</span></li>
+
+<li>&nbsp;</li>
+
+<li>Ubite, Juan de, Bishop, I, 123.</li>
+
+<li>Ulloa, Antonio de, sent to take possession of Louisiana, II, 118;</li>
+<li><span style="margin-left: 1em;">arbitrary conduct, 120.</span></li>
+
+<li>Union Constitutionalists, III, 306.</li>
+
+<li>United States, early relations with Cuba, II, 254;</li>
+<li><span style="margin-left: 1em;">first suggestion of annexation, 257;</span></li>
+<li><span style="margin-left: 1em;">John Quincy Adams's policy, 258;</span></li>
+<li><span style="margin-left: 1em;">Jefferson's policy, 260;</span></li>
+<li><span style="margin-left: 1em;">Clay's policy, 261;</span></li>
+<li><span style="margin-left: 1em;">representations to Colombia and Mexico, 262;</span></li>
+<li><span style="margin-left: 1em;">Buchanan's policy, 263;</span></li>
+<li><span style="margin-left: 1em;">Monroe Doctrine, 328;</span></li>
+<li><span style="margin-left: 1em;">consuls not admitted to Cuba, 330;</span></li>
+<li><span style="margin-left: 1em;">Van Buren's policy, 331;</span></li>
+<li><span style="margin-left: 1em;">growth of commerce with Cuba, III, 22;</span></li>
+<li><span style="margin-left: 1em;">President Taylor's proclamation against filibustering, 41;</span></li>
+<li><span style="margin-left: 1em;">course toward Lopez, 60;</span></li>
+<li><span style="margin-left: 1em;">attitude toward Cuban revolutionists, 123;</span></li>
+<li><span style="margin-left: 1em;">division of sentiment between North and South, 124;</span></li>
+<li><span style="margin-left: 1em;">policy of Edward Everett, 130;</span></li>
+<li><span style="margin-left: 1em;">overtures for purchase of Cuba, 135;</span></li>
+<li><span style="margin-left: 1em;">end of Civil War, 151;</span></li>
+<li><span style="margin-left: 1em;">new policy toward Cuba, 151;</span></li>
+<li><span style="margin-left: 1em;">recognition denied to revolution, 172;</span></li>
+<li><span style="margin-left: 1em;">aid and sympathy given secretly, 195;</span></li>
+<li><span style="margin-left: 1em;">Cuban appeals for recognition, 200;</span></li>
+<li><span style="margin-left: 1em;">recognition denied, 203;</span></li>
+<li><span style="margin-left: 1em;">protests against Rodas's decrees, 216;</span></li>
+<li><span style="margin-left: 1em;">offers of mediation, 217;</span></li>
+<li><span style="margin-left: 1em;">rejected by Spain, 219;</span></li>
+<li><span style="margin-left: 1em;">increasing interest and sympathy with revolutionists, 273;</span></li>
+<li><span style="margin-left: 1em;">warning to Spanish Government, 291;</span></li>
+<li><span style="margin-left: 1em;">effect of reciprocity upon Cuba, 313;</span></li>
+<li><span style="margin-left: 1em;">attitude toward War of Independence, IV, 27, 70;</span></li>
+<li><span style="margin-left: 1em;">Congress favors recognition, 70;</span></li>
+<li><span style="margin-left: 1em;">tender of good offices, 71;</span></li>
+<li><span style="margin-left: 1em;">President Cleveland's message of 1896, 79;</span></li>
+<li><span style="margin-left: 1em;">appropriation for relief of victims of "concentration" policy, 86;</span></li>
+<li><span style="margin-left: 1em;">President McKinley's message of 1897, 87;</span></li>
+<li><span style="margin-left: 1em;">sensation at destruction of <i>Maine</i>, 99;</span></li>
+<li><span style="margin-left: 1em;">declaration of war against Spain, 106;</span></li>
+<li><span style="margin-left: 1em;">Treaty of Paris, 118;</span></li>
+<li><span style="margin-left: 1em;">establishment of first Government of Intervention, 132;</span></li>
+<li><span style="margin-left: 1em;">relations with Republic of Cuba, 195;</span></li>
+<li><span style="margin-left: 1em;">protectorate to be retained, 196;</span></li>
+<li><span style="margin-left: 1em;">Platt Amendment, 199;</span></li>
+<li><span style="margin-left: 1em;">mischief-making intrigues, 200;</span></li>
+<li><span style="margin-left: 1em;">naval stations in Cuba, 255;</span></li>
+<li><span style="margin-left: 1em;">reciprocity, 256;</span></li>
+<li><span style="margin-left: 1em;">second Intervention, 281;</span></li>
+<li><span style="margin-left: 1em;">warning to José Miguel Gomez, 305;</span></li>
+<li><span style="margin-left: 1em;">asks settlement of claims, 308;</span></li>
+<li><span style="margin-left: 1em;">Chargé d'Affaires assaulted, 308;</span></li>
+<li><span style="margin-left: 1em;">supervision of Cuban legislation, 326;</span></li>
+<li><span style="margin-left: 1em;">warning to revolutionists, 339;</span></li>
+<li><span style="margin-left: 1em;">attitude toward Gomez revolution, 343.</span></li>
+
+<li>University of Havana, founded, II, 11.</li>
+
+<li>Unzaga, Luis de, Governor, II, 157.</li>
+
+<li>Urrutia, historian, quoted, I, 300.</li>
+
+<li>Urrutia, Sancho de, I, 111.</li>
+
+<li>Utrecht, Treaty of, I, 326;</li>
+<li><span style="margin-left: 1em;">begins new era, II, 1.</span></li>
+
+<li>Uznaga, Luis de, sent to rule Louisiana, II, 126;</li>
+<li><span style="margin-left: 1em;">reforms, 165.</span></li>
+
+<li>&nbsp;</li>
+
+<li>Vaca, Cabeza de, I, 140.</li>
+
+<li>Vadillo, Juan, declines to investigate Guzman, I, 118;</li>
+<li><span style="margin-left: 1em;">temporary Governor, 119;</span></li>
+<li><span style="margin-left: 1em;">tremendous indictment of Guzman, 120;</span></li>
+<li><span style="margin-left: 1em;">retires after good work, 121;</span></li>
+<li><span style="margin-left: 1em;">clash with Bishop Ramirez, 124.</span></li>
+
+<li>Valdes, historian, quoted, II, 175.</li>
+
+<li>Valdes, Gabriel de la Conception, III, 325.</li>
+
+<li>Valdes, Jeronimo, Bishop, I, 335.</li>
+
+<li>Valdes, Pedro de, Governor, I, 202, 272;</li>
+<li><span style="margin-left: 1em;">retires, 276.</span></li>
+
+<li>Valdes, Geronimo, Governor, II, 364.</li>
+
+<li>Valdueza, Marquis de, I, 281.</li>
+
+<li>Valiente, José Pablo, II, 170, 180.</li>
+
+<li>Valiente, Juan Bautista, Governor of Santiago, II, 180.</li>
+
+<li>Vallizo, Diego, I, 277.</li>
+
+<li>Valmaseda, Count, Governor, proclamation against revolution, III, 171, 270;</li>
+<li><span style="margin-left: 1em;">recalled for barbarities, 273.</span></li>
+
+<li>Van Buren, Martin, on United States and Cuba, II, 331.</li>
+
+<li>Vandeval, Nicolas C., I, 331, 333.</li>
+
+<li>Varela, Felix, sketch and portrait, III, 320;</li>
+<li><span style="margin-left: 1em;">works, 321.</span></li>
+
+<li>Varnhagen, F. A. de, quoted, I, 2.</li>
+
+<li>Varona, Bernabe de, sketch and portrait, III, 178.</li>
+
+<li>Varona, José Enrique, Secretary of Treasury, IV, 159;</li>
+<li><span style="margin-left: 1em;">Vice President, 312;</span></li>
+<li><span style="margin-left: 1em;">biography, 316;</span></li>
+<li><span style="margin-left: 1em;">portrait, facing 316.</span></li>
+
+<li>Varona, Pepe Jerez, chief of secret service, IV, 268.</li>
+
+<li>Vasquez, Juan, I, 330.</li>
+
+<li>Vedado, view in, IV, 176.</li>
+
+<li>Vega, Pedro Guerra de la, I, 243;</li>
+<li><span style="margin-left: 1em;">asks fugitives to aid in defence against Drake, 248.</span></li>
+
+<li>Velasco, Francisco de Aguero, II, 345.</li>
+
+<li>Velasco, Luis Vicente, defender of Morro against British, II, 58;</li>
+<li><span style="margin-left: 1em;">signal valor, 61;</span></li>
+<li><span style="margin-left: 1em;">death, 67.</span></li>
+
+<li>Velasquez, Antonio, errand to Spain, I, 77</li>
+
+<li>Velasquez, Bernardino, I, 115.</li>
+
+<li>Velasquez, Diego, first Governor of Cuba, I, 59;</li>
+<li><span style="margin-left: 1em;">portrait, 59;</span></li>
+<li><span style="margin-left: 1em;">colonizes Cuba, 60;</span></li>
+<li><span style="margin-left: 1em;">hostilities with natives, 61, explores the island, 67;</span></li>
+<li><span style="margin-left: 1em;">marriage and bereavement, 68;</span></li>
+<li><span style="margin-left: 1em;">founds various towns, 68;</span></li>
+<li><span style="margin-left: 1em;">begins Cuban commerce, 68;</span></li>
+<li><span style="margin-left: 1em;">organizes government, 69;</span></li>
+<li><span style="margin-left: 1em;">favored by King Ferdinand, 73;</span></li>
+<li><span style="margin-left: 1em;">appointed Adelantado, 74;</span></li>
+<li><span style="margin-left: 1em;">seeks to rule Yucatan and Mexico, 85;</span></li>
+<li><span style="margin-left: 1em;">recalls Grijalva, 88;</span></li>
+<li><span style="margin-left: 1em;">quarrels with Cortez, 91;</span></li>
+<li><span style="margin-left: 1em;">sends Cortez to explore Mexico, 92, 94;</span></li>
+<li><span style="margin-left: 1em;">seeks to intercept and recall Cortez, 97;</span></li>
+<li><span style="margin-left: 1em;">sends Narvaez to Mexico, 98;</span></li>
+<li><span style="margin-left: 1em;">removed from office by Diego Columbus, 100;</span></li>
+<li><span style="margin-left: 1em;">restored by King, 102;</span></li>
+<li><span style="margin-left: 1em;">death and epitaph, 103;</span></li>
+<li><span style="margin-left: 1em;">posthumous arraignment by Altamarino, 107;</span></li>
+<li><span style="margin-left: 1em;">convicted and condemned, 108.</span></li>
+
+<li>Velasquez, Juan Montano, Governor, I, 293.</li>
+
+<li>Velez Garcia, Secretary of State, IV, 297.</li>
+
+<li>Velez y Herrera, Ramon, III, 324.</li>
+
+<li>Venegas, Francisco, Governor, I, 278.</li>
+
+<li>Vernon, Edward, Admiral, expedition to Darien, II 27;</li>
+<li><span style="margin-left: 1em;">Invasion of Cuba, 29.</span></li>
+
+<li>Viamonte, Bitrian, Governor, I, 286.</li>
+
+<li>Viana y Hinojosa, Diego de, Governor, I, 317.</li>
+
+<li>Victory loan, Cuban subscriptions to, IV, 353.</li>
+
+<li>Villa Clara, founded, I, 321.</li>
+
+<li>Villafana, attempts to assassinate Cortez, I, 99.</li>
+
+<li>Villafana, Angelo de, Governor of Florida, controversy with Mazariegos, I, 196.</li>
+
+<li>Villalba y Toledo, Diego de, Governor, I, 290.</li>
+
+<li>Villalobos, Governor, feud with Roa, I, 323.</li>
+
+<li>Villalon, José Ramon, in Cuban Junta, IV, 13;</li>
+<li><span style="margin-left: 1em;">Secretary of Public Works, 160, 330.</span></li>
+
+<li>Villalon Park, scene in, IV, 247.</li>
+
+<li>Villanueva, Count de, II, 342.</li>
+
+<li>Villapando, Bernardino de, Bishop, I, 225.</li>
+
+<li>Villarin, Pedro Alvarez de, Governor, I, 333.</li>
+
+<li>Villaverde, Cirillo, III, 327.</li>
+
+<li>Villaverde, Juan de, Governor of Santiago, I, 276.</li>
+
+<li>Villegas, Diaz de, Secretary of Treasury, IV, 297;</li>
+<li><span style="margin-left: 1em;">resigns, 302.</span></li>
+
+<li>Villuendas, Enrique, in Constitutional Convention, IV, 188;</li>
+<li><span style="margin-left: 1em;">secretary, 189.</span></li>
+
+<li>Virginius, capture of, III, 277;</li>
+<li><span style="margin-left: 1em;">butchery of officers and crew, 278 et seq.;</span></li>
+<li><span style="margin-left: 1em;">British intervention, 280;</span></li>
+<li><span style="margin-left: 1em;">list of passengers, 281;</span></li>
+<li><span style="margin-left: 1em;">diplomatic negotiations over, 283.</span></li>
+
+<li>Vives, Francisco, Governor, II, 317;</li>
+<li><span style="margin-left: 1em;">despotism, 317;</span></li>
+<li><span style="margin-left: 1em;">expedition against Mexico, 346.</span></li>
+
+<li>Viyuri, Luis, II, 197.</li>
+
+<li>Volunteers, organized, III, 152;</li>
+<li><span style="margin-left: 1em;">murder Arango, 188;</span></li>
+<li><span style="margin-left: 1em;">have Dulce recalled, 213;</span></li>
+<li><span style="margin-left: 1em;">cause murder of Zenea, 252;</span></li>
+<li><span style="margin-left: 1em;">increased activities, 260;</span></li>
+<li><span style="margin-left: 1em;">murder of students, 261.</span></li>
+
+<li>&nbsp;</li>
+
+<li>War of Independence, IV, i, 8;</li>
+<li><span style="margin-left: 1em;">circumstances of beginning, 9;</span></li>
+<li><span style="margin-left: 1em;">finances, 14;</span></li>
+<li><span style="margin-left: 1em;">Republic of Cuba proclaimed, 15;</span></li>
+<li><span style="margin-left: 1em;">attitude of Cuban people, 22;</span></li>
+<li><span style="margin-left: 1em;">actual outbreak, 29;</span></li>
+<li><span style="margin-left: 1em;">martial law proclaimed, 30;</span></li>
+<li><span style="margin-left: 1em;">Spanish forces in Cuba, 31;</span></li>
+<li><span style="margin-left: 1em;">arrival and policy of Martinez Campos, 38;</span></li>
+<li><span style="margin-left: 1em;">Gomez and Maceo begin great campaign, 53;</span></li>
+<li><span style="margin-left: 1em;">Spanish defeated, and reenforced, 55;</span></li>
+<li><span style="margin-left: 1em;">campaign of devastation, 60;</span></li>
+<li><span style="margin-left: 1em;">entire island involved, 61;</span></li>
+<li><span style="margin-left: 1em;">fall of Campos, 63;</span></li>
+<li><span style="margin-left: 1em;">Weyler in command, 66;</span></li>
+<li><span style="margin-left: 1em;">destruction by both sides, 68;</span></li>
+<li><span style="margin-left: 1em;">losses, 90;</span></li>
+<li><span style="margin-left: 1em;">entry of United States, 107;</span></li>
+<li><span style="margin-left: 1em;">attitude of Cubans toward American intervention, 108;</span></li>
+<li><span style="margin-left: 1em;">end of war, 116.</span></li>
+
+<li>Watling's Island. See <span class="smcap">Guanahani</span>.</li>
+
+<li>Wax, development of Industry, II, 132.</li>
+
+<li>Webster, Daniel, negotiations with Spain, III, 126.</li>
+
+<li>Weyler y Nicolau, Valeriano, Governor, IV, 65;</li>
+<li><span style="margin-left: 1em;">portrait, 66;</span></li>
+<li><span style="margin-left: 1em;">harsh decree, 66;</span></li>
+<li><span style="margin-left: 1em;">conquers Pinar del Rio. 83;</span></li>
+<li><span style="margin-left: 1em;">"concentration" policy, 85;</span></li>
+<li><span style="margin-left: 1em;">recalled, 88.</span></li>
+
+<li>Wheeler, Gen. Joseph, at Santiago, IV, 113, 115.</li>
+
+<li>White, Col. G. W., with Lopez, III, 40.</li>
+
+<li>Whitney, Henry, messenger to Gomez, IV, 107.</li>
+
+<li>Williams, Ramon O., United States consul at Havana, IV, 32;</li>
+<li><span style="margin-left: 1em;">acts in behalf of Americans in Cuba, 72;</span></li>
+<li><span style="margin-left: 1em;">opposes sending <i>Maine</i> to Havana, 100.</span></li>
+
+<li>Wittemeyer, Major, reports on Gomez revolution to Washington government, IV, 336;</li>
+<li><span style="margin-left: 1em;">offers President Menocal aid of United States, 337.</span></li>
+
+<li>Wood, General Leonard, at San Juan Hill, IV, 113;</li>
+<li><span style="margin-left: 1em;">Military Governor of Santiago, 135;</span></li>
+<li><span style="margin-left: 1em;">his previous career, 140;</span></li>
+<li><span style="margin-left: 1em;">unique responsibility and power, 141;</span></li>
+<li><span style="margin-left: 1em;">dealing with pestilence, 142;</span></li>
+<li><span style="margin-left: 1em;">organizes Rural Guards, 144;</span></li>
+<li><span style="margin-left: 1em;">portrait, facing 158;</span></li>
+<li><span style="margin-left: 1em;">Military Governor of Cuba, 158;</span></li>
+<li><span style="margin-left: 1em;">well received by Cubans, 158;</span></li>
+<li><span style="margin-left: 1em;">estimate of <i>La Lucha</i>, 158;</span></li>
+<li><span style="margin-left: 1em;">his Cabinet, 159;</span></li>
+<li><span style="margin-left: 1em;">comments on his appointments, 160;</span></li>
+<li><span style="margin-left: 1em;">reorganization of school system, 161;</span></li>
+<li><span style="margin-left: 1em;">promotes public works, 166;</span></li>
+<li><span style="margin-left: 1em;">Dady contract dispute, 171;</span></li>
+<li><span style="margin-left: 1em;">applies Finlay's yellow fever theory with great success, 171;</span></li>
+<li><span style="margin-left: 1em;">reform of jurisprudence, 177;</span></li>
+<li><span style="margin-left: 1em;">organizes Provincial governments, 179;</span></li>
+<li><span style="margin-left: 1em;">holds municipal elections, 180;</span></li>
+<li><span style="margin-left: 1em;">promulgates election law, 181;</span></li>
+<li><span style="margin-left: 1em;">calls Constitutional Convention, 185;</span></li>
+<li><span style="margin-left: 1em;">calls for general election, 240;</span></li>
+<li><span style="margin-left: 1em;">his comments on election, 245;</span></li>
+<li><span style="margin-left: 1em;">announces end of American occupation, 246;</span></li>
+<li><span style="margin-left: 1em;">surrenders government of Cuba to</span></li>
+<li><span style="margin-left: 1em;">Cubans, 249;</span></li>
+<li><span style="margin-left: 1em;">President Roosevelt's estimate of his work, 251;</span></li>
+<li><span style="margin-left: 1em;">view of one of his mountain roads, facing 358.</span></li>
+
+<li>Woodford, Stewart L., United States Minister to Spain, IV, 103;</li>
+<li><span style="margin-left: 1em;">presents ultimatum and departs, 106.</span></li>
+
+<li>&nbsp;</li>
+
+<li>Xagua, Gulf of, I, 21.</li>
+
+<li>Ximenes, Cardinal and Regent, gives Las Casas hearing on Cuba, I, 77.</li>
+
+<li>&nbsp;</li>
+
+<li>Yanez, Adolfo Saenz, Secretary of Agriculture and Public Works, IV, 146.</li>
+
+<li>Yellow Fever, first invasion, II, 51;</li>
+<li><span style="margin-left: 1em;">Dr. Finlay's theory applied by General Wood, IV, 171;</span></li>
+<li><span style="margin-left: 1em;">disease eliminated from island, 176.</span></li>
+
+<li>Yero, Eduardo, Secretary of Public Instruction, IV, 254.</li>
+
+<li>Ynestrosa, Juan de, I, 207.</li>
+
+<li>Yniguez, Bernardino, I, 111.</li>
+
+<li>Yucatan, islands source of slave trade, I, 83;</li>
+<li><span style="margin-left: 1em;">explored by Cordova, 84.</span></li>
+
+<li>Yznaga, Jose Sanchez, III, 37.</li>
+
+<li>&nbsp;</li>
+
+<li>Zaldo, Carlos, Secretary of State, IV, 254.</li>
+
+<li>Zambrana, Ramon, III, 328.</li>
+
+<li>Zanjon, Treaty of, III, 299.</li>
+
+<li>Zapata, Peninsula of, visited by Columbus, I, 22.</li>
+
+<li>Zarraga, Julian, filibuster, IV, 70.</li>
+
+<li>Zayas, Alfredo, secretary of Constitutional Convention, IV, 189;</li>
+<li><span style="margin-left: 1em;">compact with José Miguel Gomez, 265;</span></li>
+<li><span style="margin-left: 1em;">spokesman of revolutionists against President Palma, 277;</span></li>
+<li><span style="margin-left: 1em;">elected Vice President, 290;</span></li>
+<li><span style="margin-left: 1em;">becomes Vice President, 297;</span></li>
+<li><span style="margin-left: 1em;">sketch and portrait, 300;</span></li>
+<li><span style="margin-left: 1em;">quarrel with Gomez, 306;</span></li>
+<li><span style="margin-left: 1em;">candidate for President, 328;</span></li>
+<li><span style="margin-left: 1em;">hints at revolution, 330.</span></li>
+
+<li>Zayas, Francisco, Lieutenant Governor, I, 205;</li>
+<li><span style="margin-left: 1em;">resigns, 206.</span></li>
+
+<li>Zayas, Francisco, in Autonomist Cabinet, IV, 95.</li>
+
+<li>Zayas, Juan B., killed in battle, IV, 78.</li>
+
+<li>Zayas, Lincoln de, in Cuban Junta, IV, 12;</li>
+<li><span style="margin-left: 1em;">Superintendent of Schools, 162.</span></li>
+
+<li>Zenea, Juan Clemente, sketch and portrait, III, 252;</li>
+<li><span style="margin-left: 1em;">murdered, 253;</span></li>
+<li><span style="margin-left: 1em;">his works, 332.</span></li>
+
+<li>Zequiera y Arango, Manuel, II, 274.</li>
+
+<li>Zipangu. See <span class="smcap">Cipanoo</span>.</li>
+
+<li>Zuazo, Alfonso de, appointed second Governor of Cuba, I, 100;</li>
+<li><span style="margin-left: 1em;">dismissed by King, 102.</span></li>
+</ul>
+
+<hr class="full" />
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+<pre>
+
+
+
+
+
+End of the Project Gutenberg EBook of The History of Cuba, vol. 2, by
+Willis Fletcher Johnson
+
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+Project Gutenberg's The History of Cuba, vol. 2, by Willis Fletcher Johnson
+
+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: The History of Cuba, vol. 2
+
+Author: Willis Fletcher Johnson
+
+Release Date: October 9, 2011 [EBook #37676]
+
+Language: English
+
+Character set encoding: ASCII
+
+*** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK THE HISTORY OF CUBA, VOL. 2 ***
+
+
+
+
+Produced by Chuck Greif, Broward County Library and the
+Online Distributed Proofreading Team at http://www.pgdp.net
+
+
+
+
+Etext transcriber's note:
+
+Obvious typographical errors have been corrected; the original
+orthography, including variation in the spelling of names, has been
+retained.
+
+The Index included at the end of this etext (which includes volumes 1
+thru 4) appears at the end of volume four of The History of Cuba. It is
+provided here for the convenience of the reader.
+
+
+
+
+
+
+[Illustration: FRANCISCO DE ARANGO
+
+One of the noblest names in Cuban history of a century and more ago is
+that of Francisco de Arango y Parreno, advocate, economist and
+statesman. He came of a family of noble lineage, and was born in Havana
+on May 22, 1765. Among the great men of his day in Cuba, who were many,
+he was one of the foremost, as the detailed story of his labors and
+achievements in the chapters of this History abundantly attests. He
+worked for the reform of the economic system of the island, for the
+development of agriculture on an enlightened basis, for the extension of
+popular education, and for the promotion of commerce. He urged upon King
+Charles III plans for averting the evil influences of the French
+Revolution, while securing the good results; and he set an example in
+educational matters by himself founding an important school. Recognized
+and honored the world over for his character, talents and achievements,
+he died on March 21, 1837.]
+
+
+
+
+THE
+HISTORY OF CUBA
+
+BY
+WILLIS FLETCHER JOHNSON
+A.M., L.H.D.
+
+Author of "A Century of Expansion," "Four Centuries of
+the Panama Canal," "America's Foreign Relations"
+
+Honorary Professor of the History of American Foreign
+Relations in New York University
+
+_WITH ILLUSTRATIONS_
+
+VOLUME TWO
+
+[Illustration]
+
+NEW YORK
+B. F. BUCK & COMPANY, INC.
+156 FIFTH AVENUE
+1920
+
+Copyright, 1920,
+BY CENTURY HISTORY CO.
+
+_All rights reserved_
+
+ENTERED AT STATIONERS HALL
+LONDON, ENGLAND.
+
+PRINTED IN U. S. A.
+
+
+
+
+CONTENTS
+
+
+                                               PAGE
+
+CHAPTER I                                                              1
+
+Entering a New Era--The Freedom of the Seas--Progress of the
+Slave Trade--Clandestine Commercial Operations and Political
+Intrigues--The Genius of Governor Guazo--Attacking the
+British and French--Close of a Notable Administration--Shipyards
+at Havana--Havana Threatened by the British--Rivalries
+in Cuban Politics--Foundation of the University of Cuba--Change
+in Land Tenure--Copper Mining--Insurrections of the
+Slaves--Glimpses of Social Life in Cuba.
+
+CHAPTER II                                                            18
+
+The Administration of Guemez--Introduction of Reforms--Sanitation--Economic
+and Fiscal Reforms--Monopolies in Trade--Further
+Fortifications--Controversies Over the Slave Trade--Disputes
+with Great Britain--Declaration of War--Conflicts in
+Florida--Two British Expeditions--Admiral Vernon in the West
+Indies--Attack upon Santiago--The War in Florida--Governorship
+of Cagigal--Peace of Aix-la-Chapelle--Accession of Charles III--British
+Plans for the Conquest of Spanish America--Some
+Interesting Literature.
+
+CHAPTER III                                                           41
+
+Some European Alliances--A Period of Peace for Spain--Reasons
+for the British Attacks upon Cuba--The Family Pact Between
+France and Spain--Spain's Break with Great Britain--Declaration
+of War by George III--Havana Chosen as the Point
+of Attack--The Albemarle-Pococke Expedition--Preparations at
+Martinique--The Advance upon Havana.
+
+CHAPTER IV                                                            53
+
+First Appearance of Yellow Fever in Cuba--Preparations to Resist
+the British Attack--Divided Counsels--Arrival of the British
+Fleet--Consternation of the Inhabitants--Velasco Chosen
+as Commander of the Defense of Havana--Beginning of the Attack--Heroism
+of the Spanish Commander--British Accounts of
+the Fighting--Raids and Counter-Raids--British Reinforcements
+from the American Colonies--British Tributes to Spanish Valor--Surrender
+of the City--The Articles of Capitulation.
+
+CHAPTER V                                                             80
+
+British Occupation of Havana--Attitude of the Cubans Toward
+the British Conquerors--Departure of the Spanish Forces--British
+Views of the Conquest of Cuba--A Controversy Over
+Church Bells--Difficulties with the Spanish Clergy--Character of
+Lord Albemarle's Administration--Troubles Over Taxation--Plots
+Against British Rule--Corruption in Colonial Government--Political
+Disturbances in England--The Making of Peace--Restoration
+of Cuba to Spain.
+
+CHAPTER VI                                                            96
+
+Far-Reaching Effects of British Rule in Cuba--A French Picture
+of Life in Havana--A British Tribute to the City--Character
+of the People--Economic Changes in the Island--The Commerce
+of Havana--Defenses of the City--Not an Impregnable
+Fortress.
+
+CHAPTER VII                                                          104
+
+Departure of the British and Re-entry of the Spanish--The
+New Spanish Governor--Antagonisms Between British and Spanish--A
+Period of Reconstruction--Reclassification of Revenues--Military
+Reorganization of Havana--New Provincial Administration--Establishment
+of a Mail Service--End of a Noteworthy
+Administration--Reform in Police Regulations--Expulsion of
+Religious Orders--Suppressing Contraband Trading--Destruction
+by Earthquakes--A Disastrous Hurricane--An Administration
+Void of Complaints.
+
+CHAPTER VIII                                                         119
+
+An Era of Peace in Cuba--Tribulations in Spanish Louisiana--Spain
+Still Lagging Behind Other Colonial Powers--Fear of a
+Republic--O'Reilly's Expedition from Cuba to Louisiana--His
+Success--Effects of His Severity--The Tragic Prelude to Spanish
+Rule--Louisiana an Appanage of Cuba.
+
+CHAPTER IX                                                           129
+
+Administration of the Marquis de la Torre--One of Cuba's Best
+Governors--Cleansing and Paving the Streets of Havana--New
+Public Buildings--Harbor Improvements--The First Theatre--Trinidad,
+Santiago and Puerto Principe also Renovated--Founding
+of Pinar del Rio and Other Towns--Reforms in Government--Havana
+a Beautiful and Prosperous City--Turgot's Warning
+to Spain Unheeded--Interest in the North American Revolution--Tariff
+Reform--The Currency--Jurisprudence.
+
+CHAPTER X                                                            145
+
+Rise of the United States--Spanish Interests Involved--Negotiations
+Over Florida--Alliance Between France and Spain--Cuba's
+Intense Interest in the War Against Great Britain--Disaster
+to an Expedition from Havana--Operations at Mobile--Cuban
+Reconquest of Pensacola and Florida--An Early Prohibition
+Decree.
+
+CHAPTER XI                                                           153
+
+An Ill-Managed Armada--Neutrality Violated in Warfare upon
+Commerce--An Orgy of Privateering--Rodney's Exploits--Cagigal's
+Expedition to the Bahamas--Rodney's Menace to Havana--The
+First Newspaper in Havana--Negotiating for General
+Peace--Spanish Chagrin at American Independence--More
+Liberal Trade Laws for Cuba--Insurrection in Peru--Peace and
+Prosperity in Cuba--Wasteful Forestry--Visit of an English
+Prince--Improvements and Reforms in Havana--Foundation of
+the Sociedad de Amigos--Reign of Charles IV--Godoy, "Prince
+of the Peace"--Ecclesiastical Changes in Cuba--Economic
+Ills--Administration of Las Casas--A New Census--Disastrous
+Hurricane--The Society of Progress--Advance in Commerce,
+Agriculture, Literature and Education--Work of Francisco de
+Arango--The Tomb of Columbus.
+
+CHAPTER XII                                                          186
+
+Influence of the French Revolution in Spain--Toussaint Louverture--Cession
+of Santo Domingo to France--The Peace of
+Basle--Panic and Chaos in Spain--Advantages Gained by Cuba--A
+Civic Awakening in the Island--Dr. Romay's Introduction
+of Vaccination--Defense Against the Slave Revolt of Santo
+Domingo--The Work of Santa Clara--British Capture of Trinidad--Fears
+for the Safety of Cuba--Administration of Someruelos--Founding
+of the Intendencia--Expansion of Commerce--The
+Slave Trade--Extent and Conditions of Slavery--Rise of
+the Emancipation Movement--Importance of Negro Labor to
+Cuba.
+
+CHAPTER XIII                                                         215
+
+The Land Problem in Cuba--Lands Withheld from the Real
+Workers--Indolence Induced by Lack of Opportunity--Manners
+and Customs of the Cuban People at the End of the
+Eighteenth Century--Lawyers and Land Titles--Prices of Land--Live
+Stock, Sugar and Tobacco--Primitive Sugar Factories--Progress
+of Agriculture--Obstacles to Economic Progress--Restrictions
+upon Commerce and Travel.
+
+CHAPTER XIV                                                          231
+
+Conditions Accompanying the Rise of Wealth--Strange Mixture
+of Immorality and Religion--Seclusion of Cuban Women--Amusements
+and Entertainments--The Bull Ring--The Cock
+Pit--The Beginning of Literary Activity and Intellectual Life--The
+Drama in Cuba--Musical Culture--Dancing--Architecture--Home
+Life--Backward State of Education--Printing and
+Publishing--Suggestive Articles in the Press--The Beginning of
+Cuban Literature.
+
+CHAPTER XV                                                           256
+
+Rise of Relations Between Cuba and the United States--Early
+Interest of the United States in Cuba--Action of Congress
+in 1811--"The Ever Faithful Isle"--First Overtures for Annexation--George
+Canning and British Policy Toward Cuba--Policy
+of John Quincy Adams--Utterances of Jefferson and Clay--American
+Attitude Toward British and French Designs--Mexico
+and Colombia Restrained from Conquest.
+
+CHAPTER XVI                                                          267
+
+Spain in Her Decline--The Napoleonic Wars--The Constitution
+of 1812--Revolt of Spain's South and Central American
+Colonies--Cuba the "Ever Faithful Isle"--Reasons for Her Loyalty
+to Spain--Origin of the Cuban Spirit of Independence--An
+Age of Intellectual Activity--The Rise of Cuban Literature and
+Scholarship--Refugees in Cuba.
+
+CHAPTER XVII                                                         278
+
+The First Cuban Census--The Second Census and Humboldt's
+Comments Thereon--Distribution of the Population by Races--Effects
+of the Slave Trade on Population--The Census of 1817--Subsequent
+Enumerations--Discrepancies in Statistics--Character
+of the Negroes of Cuba--The Birth Rate.
+
+CHAPTER XVIII                                                        290
+
+Early Records of the Slave Trade--Participation by the Portuguese,
+French and British--Statistics of Slave Importations--Illegality
+No Bar--Relations Between Masters and Slaves--Efforts
+to Ameliorate the Conditions of Slaves--Introduction of
+Chinese Labor--Free Negroes--Religious Training of Slaves--Punishments
+of Slaves--Fear of Servile Insurrections.
+
+CHAPTER XIX                                                          302
+
+The Administration of Santa Clara--Someruelos--Great Fire
+in Havana--Architectural Progress--Fear of Invasion--A French
+Fiasco--Hostility to Napoleon--Loyalty to an Unworthy King--Napoleon's
+Designs upon Cuba--The Aleman Episode--Arango
+and the Chamber of Commerce--Conflict with Godoy--Arango in
+the Cortes--Arbitrary Administration of Cienfuegos--Opposition
+to Street Lighting--Political Changes--Cagigal's Diplomatic
+Administration--Mahy the Reactionary.
+
+CHAPTER XX                                                           319
+
+Good and Bad Deeds of Vives--A Royal Decree that Proved
+a Boomerang--Dangers of the Slave Trade Perceived--Apprehension
+of Intervention by Other Powers--A Subtle Appeal for
+Patriotic Organization--Progress of the Spirit of Independence.
+
+CHAPTER XXI                                                          328
+
+British Designs upon Cuba--Cuban Negotiations with the
+United States--The Mission of Morales--Annexation Sentiment--Attitude
+of the United States Government--Issuance of the Monroe
+Doctrine--Its Effect in Europe and America--United States
+Consuls to Cuba Rejected--Cuba Offered to England in Pawn--American
+Objections to the Scheme--Increase of American Interest
+in Cuba.
+
+CHAPTER XXII                                                         335
+
+An Era of Revolution--Career of Simon Bolivar--His Observation
+of the French Revolution--Liberation of Venezuela--Miranda
+and His Work--Bolivar in Exile--Final Success of the Liberator--Influence
+of His Career upon Cuba.
+
+CHAPTER XXIII                                                        343
+
+The "Soles de Bolivar" in Cuba--Administration of Villanueva--Oppression
+of the People--Vain Attempts to Suppress Patriotic
+Societies--Conspiracies for Freedom--Early Martyrs to
+Patriotism--The Black Eagle--Trouble with Mexico--The
+Tyranny of Tacon--His Conflict with Lorenzo--Victims of Spanish
+Despotism--Cuban Deputies Excluded from the Cortes--Manipulation
+of the Police--Propaganda of Freedom by Cubans
+in Exile--Tacon's Public Works--Dealing with Pirates and
+Smugglers--Origin of the Havana Fish Market--Tacon as the
+Champion of Virtue in Distress--End of a Bad Reign.
+
+CHAPTER XXIV                                                         366
+
+Beginning of Slave Insurrections--David Turnbull's Pernicious
+Activities--O'Donnell the Despot--Roncali the Ridiculous--Causes
+of Slave Unrest--Story of One Uprising--Vacillating
+Course of the Government--Systematic Propaganda Among the
+Slaves--Some Serious Outbreaks--Savage Methods of Repression--A
+Reign of Torture and Slaughter--White Victims as Well as
+Black--An Appalling Record--Saco's Advocacy of Independence--Some
+Advocates of Annexation to the United States--Spain's
+Determination to Hold Cuba Fast.
+
+Chapter XXV                                                          385
+
+Review of an Era in Cuban History--Progress in Inverse Order
+from International to National Interests--Alienation from Spain--Contrasts
+Between Cuba and Other Colonies, Spanish and English--Unconscious
+Preparation for Independent Statehood--Cuban
+Interest in the World and the World's Interest in Cuba--On the
+Verge of a New Era--The Promise of Cuban Nationality.
+
+
+
+
+ILLUSTRATIONS
+
+
+FULL PAGE PLATES:
+
+Francisco de Arango                                        _Frontispiece_
+
+                                                                  FACING
+                                                                    PAGE
+
+Laurel Ditch, Cabanas Fortress                                        58
+
+Havana, from Cabanas                                                  96
+
+In Old Havana                                                        130
+
+Tomas Romay                                                          192
+
+Juan Jose Diaz Espada                                                272
+
+Jose Antonio Saco                                                    378
+
+
+TEXT EMBELLISHMENTS:
+                                                                    PAGE
+
+Old Espada Cemetery, Havana                                           52
+
+Atares Fortress, 1763                                                103
+
+Don Luis de las Casas                                                175
+
+A Volante, Old-Time Pleasure Carriage                                238
+
+Monserrate Gate, Havana                                              244
+
+George Canning                                                       258
+
+John Quincy Adams                                                    259
+
+Alejandro Ramirez                                                    311
+
+James Monroe                                                         329
+
+Simon Bolivar                                                        334
+
+Gaspar Betancourt Cisneros                                           380
+
+
+
+
+THE HISTORY OF CUBA
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER I
+
+
+When the Treaty of Utrecht was signed on the eleventh of April, 1713,
+the Spanish colonies in America felt as if they were entering upon a new
+era, an era of peace and unhindered growth and prosperity. They did not
+realize until the first elation over the establishment of peace had
+spent itself, that this treaty contained the seeds of future wars which
+were bound to be quickened by the powerful spirit of commercial rivalry,
+which had been awakened in the European nations and was alarmingly
+dimming the justice and righteousness of their policies. By losing the
+European possessions, the population of Spain had been so seriously
+diminished that it was entirely out of proportion to the area of her
+over-seas dominion. While the Bourbon king had nothing more to fear from
+France, even her pirates having palpably decreased their operations
+against the Spanish colonies in America, he had in England a rival and
+enemy whose power he had reason to dread. For all the maritime and
+commercial agreements of the treaty favored England.
+
+George Bancroft justly characterizes the spirit of the period in the
+second volume of his "History of the United States" when he says
+(Chapter XXXV, p. 388):
+
+     "The world had entered on the period of mercantile privilege.
+     Instead of establishing equal justice, England sought commercial
+     advantages; and, as the mercantile system was identified with the
+     colonial system of the great maritime powers of Europe, the
+     political interest, which could alone kindle universal war, was to
+     be sought in the colonies. Hitherto, the colonies were subordinate
+     to European politics; henceforth, the question of trade on our
+     borders, of territory on our frontier, involved an interest which
+     could excite the world to arms. For about two centuries, the wars
+     of religion had prevailed; the wars for commercial advantages were
+     now prepared. The interests of commerce, under the narrow point of
+     view of privilege and of profit, regulated diplomacy, swayed
+     legislation, and marshalled revolutions."
+
+Concerning the mooted problem of the freedom of the seas, discussed as
+ardently and widely then as at the present time, Bancroft had this to
+say in the same chapter (p. 389):
+
+     "To the Tory ministry of Queen Anne belongs the honor of having
+     inserted in the treaties of peace a principle which, but for
+     England, would in that generation have wanted a vindicator. But
+     truth, once elicited, never dies. As it descends through time, it
+     may be transmitted from state to state, from monarch to
+     commonwealth; but its light is never extinguished, and never
+     permitted to fall to the ground. A great truth, if no existing
+     nation would assume its guardianship, has power--such is God's
+     providence--to call a nation into being, and live by the life it
+     imparts."
+
+The great principle first formulated by the illustrious Dutch historian
+and statesman Hugo Grotius was touched upon in the treaty of Utrecht in
+the passage saying,--"Free ships shall also give a freedom to goods."
+The meaning of contraband was strictly defined; the right of a nation to
+blockade another's ports was rigorously restricted. As to the rights of
+sailors, they were protected by the flag under which they sailed.
+
+But whatever credit belongs to England for her upholding of this
+principle was obscured by her exploitation of a monopoly, created by a
+special agreement of the same treaty. The "assiento," which established
+that most ignominious traffic in negro slaves, was to have disastrous
+effects, political, economic and racial, upon the American colonies,
+whether British, French or Spanish. The agreement had been specially
+demanded by the British representatives and had been approved by Louis
+XIV, who saw in its acceptance not only an advantage for England, but
+justly hoped his own colonies on the Gulf of Mexico to profit by it. It
+was worded simply as follows:
+
+     "Her Britannic Majesty did offer and undertake by persons whom she
+     shall appoint, to bring into the West Indies of America belonging
+     to his Catholic Majesty, in the space of thirty years, one hundred
+     and forty-four thousand negroes, at the rate of four thousand eight
+     hundred in each of the said thirty years."
+
+The duty on four thousand of these negroes was to be thirty-three and a
+third pesos. But the assientists were entitled to introduce besides that
+number as many more as they needed at the minor rate of sixteen and two
+third pesos a head. However, no Frenchman or Spaniard or any individual
+of another nation could import a negro slave into Spanish America.
+
+This trade in human flesh was duly organized and carried on by a stock
+company which promised enormous profits. King Philip V., sorely in need
+of money with which to execute all his plans for the reconstruction of
+his kingdom, anticipated great gains from such an investment and bought
+one quarter of the stock. Queen Anne was the owner of another quarter
+and the remainder was sold among her loyal subjects. Thus the sovereigns
+of these two kingdoms became the leading slave-merchants in the world
+and by the provisions of the agreement "her Britannic Majesty" enjoyed
+the somewhat dubious distinction of being for the Spanish colonies in
+the Gulf of Mexico, on the Atlantic and along the Pacific coasts, the
+exclusive slave-trader.
+
+No trade required as little outlay in capital as the slave-trade.
+Trifles, trinkets and refuse stock of every possible kind of merchandise
+including discarded weapons, were exchanged for the human cargoes on
+the African coast; who, crowded into vessels, crossed the seas, and upon
+their arrival in the New World were sold to the colonists who wanted
+cheap labor and a cheaper service. A fever of speculation which had in
+it no little touch of adventure, seemed to sweep over England and to
+delude the people with visions of wealth to be acquired by a conquest of
+the Spanish possessions from Florida south, including Mexico and Peru.
+Wild schemes of colonization promised to open Golcondas on the fields of
+sugar-cane and tobacco, and in the mines holding inestimable treasures
+of gold and silver. For the realization of those plans negro labor was
+needed. Even in the West Indies it was welcomed especially by those
+settlements engaged in the raising of sugar cane.
+
+That the Assiento opened the door to all sorts of clandestine commercial
+operations, as also to insidious political intrigue was soon to become
+evident. Agents of the Assiento had the right to enter any Spanish port
+in America and from there send other agents to inland settlements; they
+had the right to establish warehouses for their supplies, safe against
+search unless proof of fraudulent operations, that is importations, was
+incontestable. They could send every year a ship of five hundred tons
+with a cargo of merchandise to the West Indies and without paying any
+duty sell these goods at the annual fair. On the return trip this ship
+was allowed to carry products of the country, including gold and silver,
+directly to Europe. The assientists urged the American colonies to
+furnish them supplies in small vessels. Now it was known that such
+vessels were particularly favored by the smuggling trade. Hence British
+trade in negro slaves was indirectly used to encourage smuggling and
+thus undermine Spanish commerce.
+
+To estimate the extent of the smuggling trade directly traceable to the
+loop-holes which the Assiento offered, was impossible. Jamaica, the
+stronghold of British power in the West Indies, and ever a hotbed of
+political and commercial intrigue against the Spanish neighbors, became
+a beehive of smuggling activities. In places formerly used as bases of
+buccaneer operations a lively business was carried on with contraband
+goods. The danger to legitimate commerce in and with the West Indies
+became so great that the Cuban authorities were forced towards the end
+of Governor Guazo's administration to adopt strenuous methods in dealing
+with such offenders. D. Benito Manzano, Andrez Gonzales and other
+mariners and soldiers of experience and known valor were sent out
+against them and made important seizures in this service. The governor
+was authorized to organize cuadrillos (patrols) of custom officers and
+equip custom house cutters that watched for and descended upon all
+vessels found without proper clearance papers or that had failed to
+register their cargoes in conformity to the laws of the island. The
+smugglers were tried and condemned to suffer various penalties, ranging
+from loss of property, hard labor and imprisonment, to death.
+
+Governor Guazo's reorganization of the military forces gave proof of his
+extraordinary foresight and his executive power. He formed a battalion
+of infantry composed of seven companies of one hundred men and besides
+two other companies, one of artillery, the other of light cavalry, which
+was later changed to mounted dragoons. Two more companies of seventy men
+each were added some years later by order of the king. For the lodgment
+of these troops Governor Guazo ordered built the rastrille (gateway of a
+palisade), which became later part of the fortress and the quarters that
+run along the southern part.
+
+Governor Guazo was a man of action and enterprise, besides being endowed
+with no little military genius. Never once during his administration did
+he lapse into that passive attitude which was in a large degree
+responsible for the slow pace at which the Spanish colonies progressed.
+One of his first aims was to inflict an exemplary punishment upon the
+outlaws of the seas that rendered insecure the coasts of the Spanish
+island colonies, and interfered seriously with commerce in the Gulf of
+Mexico. The militia of Havana had on previous occasions, when called
+into service on the sea, proved its mettle and displayed so much bravery
+and perseverance in the pursuit of its tasks that he had unlimited
+confidence in its ability to do the work he planned. He conferred with
+the governor of Florida, and they agreed upon concerted action against
+the English colony of St. George in the Carolinas. He made it known that
+he intended to dislodge the pirates on the island of the Bahamas called
+New Providence and for some time settled by the British. For that
+purpose he fitted out fourteen light vessels, ten bilanders (small
+one-mast ships, one of them of fourteen pieces), two brigantines
+(two-masted vessels with square sails) and other smaller ships with
+munitions and sufficient stores. Then he gathered a force of one
+thousand volunteers, one hundred veteran soldiers and a few of the
+prominent residents of the city to whom he entrusted the command of some
+of the ships. As head of the expedition he named D. Alfonso Carrascesa,
+a dependable official, and as his assistant D. Esteban Severino de
+Berrea, a native of Havana and the oldest captain of the white militia.
+
+The story of this enterprise as related by Guiteras gives a somewhat
+different version of the struggles between the French and the Spaniards
+for the possession of Pensacola as that contained in the preceding
+chapter. According to Guiteras the armada organized in Havana and placed
+under command of Carrascesa sailed on the fourth of July, 1719. But it
+had barely left the harbor, when it sighted two French warships. They
+were coming from Pensacola, which the French had just captured, and had
+on board as prisoners the governor and the whole garrison. Carrascesa
+did not for a moment lose his calm assurance at this unexpected
+intermezzo. He stopped the French when they turned to flee, and they
+were in turn captured. With the rescued Spaniards from Pensacola he
+returned to Havana, considering this easy victory of happy augury for
+the expedition upon which he had set out. But Governor Guazo persuaded
+him that the reconquest of Pensacola was of paramount importance.
+Carrascesa yielded to Guazo's arguments and the entreaties of the
+governor of Florida's stronghold and started upon his new task. He
+succeeded in recovering Pensacola and reinstalling the Spanish governor
+with his garrison. Of the ultimate defeat of the expedition Guiteras has
+nothing to say.
+
+Carrascesa, too, was a man of untiring activity and did not rest upon
+the laurels of his victory over the French. He made several expeditions
+to the ports of Masacra, Mobile and other places, laying waste rice
+fields and sugar plantations. He captured a number of transports
+carrying army provisions, and also took many negroes that had been
+brought over by the company carrying on slave trade, prisoners. So
+encouraged was he by his successes, that he planned another attack upon
+Masacra, which was defended by four batteries mounted on the coast and
+had a garrison of about two thousand Frenchmen and Canadians. But he
+realized that his forces were numerically far inferior and he desisted
+from carrying out this enterprise. He contented himself with turning
+his attention to the improvement of the fortifications of Pensacola and
+built a fort at the point of Siguenza for the defense of the canal.
+While engaged upon this work he was surprised by the arrival of a French
+squadron under the command of the Count de Champmeslin. There were six
+vessels in all well equipped with artillery far superior in quality to
+that of the Spaniards. A fierce and stubborn combat ensued, in which the
+volunteers from Havana distinguished themselves by their valor, but the
+French admiral succeeded in forcing the passage of Siguenza and
+compelled Carrascesa to surrender. Pensacola fell for the second time
+into the hands of the French, who, however, gave credit to the Cubans
+for unusual bravery and declared that, had it not been for their
+inferior numbers, and the inferior equipment of their ships and their
+troops, they never would have been defeated. This is the story of the
+fights for Pensacola as related by the Spanish historian Guiteras.
+
+Governor Guazo's administration covered one of the most important
+periods in the history of Cuba. One of his last acts was the
+proclamation in Havana in March, 1724, of the ascension of King Luis I.
+to the throne of Spain, his father, King Philip V., having abdicated.
+But King Luis died on the thirty-first of August and King Philip V.
+resumed the scepter. In the following month Governor Guazo retired from
+office and on the twenty-ninth of September was succeeded by the
+Brigadier D. Dionisio Martinez de la Vega. One of the first acts of
+Governor Martinez was to raise the garrison to the number of two hundred
+and fifty men. By decree of the court he also superintended the
+construction of the arsenal which was to contribute much to the
+improvement of the rather poorly equipped fleet. In order effectively to
+pursue his predecessor's policy of prosecuting the smuggler bands, the
+number of which was alarmingly multiplying on and about the island,
+Governor Martinez suggested to the Minister of the Treasury the erection
+of a shipbuilding plant to turn out vessels especially designed for that
+purpose. He obtained the consent of the Minister and within a short time
+the plan was realized.
+
+This dockyard for the construction of ships primarily intended for
+revenue service, was at first erected between the fort of la Fuerza and
+la Contaduria (office of the accountant or auditor of the exchequer),
+because that location offered great facilities to lower the vessels
+directly from the rocks to the sea. But as soon as the superiority of
+the ships built in Havana over those produced in Spain became manifest,
+owing to the excellent quality of the timber used, it was at once
+decided to extend the dockyard and it was moved to the extreme southern
+part of the city where it occupied a space of one-fourth of a league,
+near the walls with the batements and buttresses, which added much to
+its solidity and beauty. There within a few years were built all kinds
+of ships, from revenue cutters to warships intended to strengthen the
+Armada. In time the plant turned out large numbers of vessels. According
+to Valdes there were built between the years 1724 and 1796 forty-nine
+ships, twenty-two frigates, seven paquebots, nine brigantines, fourteen
+schooners, four ganguiles (barges used in the coasting-trade, lighters)
+and four pontones (pontoons or mud-scows, flat bottomed boats, furnished
+with pulleys and implements to clean harbors); in all one hundred and
+nine vessels.
+
+This shipyard and the fortifications which were being steadily improved
+were found of invaluable service in the year 1726, when a break between
+Spain and England occurred and a British fleet appeared in the Antilles.
+So alarmed was King Philip V. by the news of the danger of British
+invasion which threatened Cuba, that he immediately ordered D. Gregorio
+Guazo, who had in the meantime been entrusted with the superior military
+government of the Antilles and Central America, to adopt measures of
+safety. Guazo accordingly sent the squadron of D. Antonio Gastaneta with
+a force of one thousand men to assist in the defense of Cuba. The
+historians Alcazar and Blanchet report that D. Guazo himself accompanied
+the squadron, fell sick upon his arrival in Havana and died the same
+month. But Valdes records that he died on the thirteenth of August of
+that year in his native town of Ossuna. However, D. Juan de Andrea
+Marshall of Villahemosa seems to have been appointed his successor.
+
+The precautions taken were to be well rewarded. On the twenty-seventh of
+April, 1727, the English squadron under the command of Admiral Hossier
+came in sight and approached the entrance to the harbor of Havana. But
+the population had so effectively prepared the defense of the city, that
+the attack of the British failed. Besides seeing himself defeated by the
+enemy, the Admiral saw with dismay that his crews were decimated by
+fever. Gastaneta was at that time in Vera Cruz and Martinez alone
+carried off the victory over the British forces which after a blockade
+of a month had to retire. Admiral Hossier was so overcome with his
+failure and the loss of his men that he himself died of grief shortly
+after.
+
+The following two years of the governorship of D. Martinez were
+turbulent with the discord of rivals and their factions. The immediate
+cause of these regrettable disturbances was Hoyo Solorzana, the governor
+of Santiago de Cuba. He had some time before taken a prominent part in
+the removal of the treasures lost in el Palmer de Aiz. The charge was
+raised against him that he had appropriated a certain portion of these
+treasures and he was suspended and proceedings were begun against him.
+The case was pending when the accused, who enjoyed great popularity with
+the people, suddenly without the knowledge of the Captain-General or the
+Dominican Audiencia, took possession of the government office in which
+he had formerly exercised his official functions. The authorities were
+indignant and sent a complaint to his Majesty in Madrid. When the reply
+arrived a few months later, it ordered his immediate removal from
+office, annulled his earlier appointment and demanded that he be sent to
+Madrid. The commander-in-chief took steps for his removal, but the
+municipal government claimed that the cause could not be pursued as long
+as an appeal was pending. Governor Martinez, too, waited with the
+execution of the royal decree in order to learn what decision the
+Ayuntamento of Havana would take. But the latter was kindly disposed to
+Hoyo Solorzano, remembering the undeniable services he had rendered the
+city.
+
+Both sides held stubbornly to their opinions and the lawyers also could
+not be swayed by any arguments. Suddenly there appeared in the harbor of
+Santiago de Cuba a few galleons under command of the chief of the
+squadron, Barlavente, and acting under orders of Fra D. Antonio de
+Escudero. They were to apprehend the governor and his supporters, and
+take them as prisoners to Vera Cruz on the Admiral's ship. True to his
+character and antecedents, Solorzano bravely defended himself and with
+the help of his adherents managed to elude his pursuers and to escape to
+the country. After visiting places where many of his friends lived, he
+ventured into Puerto Principe, whose inhabitants were such loyal
+partisans of his that they decided upon protecting him arms in hand. A
+detachment of troops had been sent from Havana and surrounded the house
+in which Solorzano was staying. They succeeded in crushing the riotous
+demonstrations in his favor and seized him. Manacled and chained he was
+taken to el Morro and imprisoned. Although he was evidently the victim
+of misaimed ambition, the court that tried his case condemned him to
+death.
+
+While these unpleasant events were agitating the official circles of the
+island, the people saw in the year 1728 one of the most ardent desires
+of the ambitious youth of Cuba attain fulfillment. This was the
+foundation of the University. Hitherto, it was necessary for young men
+desiring a superior and especially a scientific education to attend the
+universities of Mexico, Santo Domingo or Seville. With the opening of
+this institution of learning in the metropolis of the island, Havana,
+the intellectual life received a strong impulse. The credit for having
+secured the permission to open this university is due to the Dominican
+order which was mainly instrumental in promoting the cause of education
+in Latin America and especially the West Indies. The University was
+opened in the convent of Havana by virtue of a bull issued by Pope
+Innocent XIII. and in accord with the royal order of March fourteenth,
+1732. The event was celebrated by brilliant decoration and illumination
+of the principal thoroughfares and buildings of the city and by festive
+gatherings and banquets, as also by dignified and solemn ceremonies in
+the building itself.
+
+The first rector of the University was Fra Tomas de Linares. According
+to the custom of the period and the country the rector, vice-rector and
+assistants were all selected from the clergy. The curriculum comprised
+courses in grammar, rhetoric, mathematics, philosophy, theology, canons
+of economic laws, jurisprudence and medicine. But it seems strange that
+for a number of years no professor could be found to occupy the chair of
+mathematics. The peripatetic system prevailed. After two years of
+existence the university won such hearty approbation from the king that
+it was granted by royal decree of the twenty-seventh of June, 1734, the
+same concessions and prerogatives as were accorded to the University of
+Alcala. In the year 1733 Cuba lost her most revered and beloved
+spiritual leader, Bishop Valdes, who expired on the twenty-ninth of
+March. He lived in the memory of many generations that followed not only
+by the many parishes which he had founded in the smaller towns and rural
+districts, and by the seminary of San Baulie el Magne, which he had
+called into being, but also by his many personal virtues that had
+endeared him to his people.
+
+An important innovation was made at this period concerning land tenure.
+The Ayuntamentos or municipal corporations started to rent lands, that
+is to give them in usufructu for the pasturing of cattle, to swine
+herds, for labor or as ground plots. The person receiving such a grant
+paid to the propios (estates or lands belonging to the city or civic
+corporation) six ducats annually for the first, four for the second, and
+two for the others. The land-surveyor, D. Luis de la Pena, resolved to
+give a plot of land in the radius of two leagues to the haciendas that
+raised black cattle, called hatos, and to the raisers of hogs, cordos or
+corroles (enclosures within which cattle is held). But there was such a
+lack of precision in determining the boundaries of the lands covered by
+these concessions, that one overlapped the others and caused innumerable
+heated lawsuits. The abuses committed by the corporation concerned in
+these land deals, finally caused the king to strip these bodies of the
+power of renting the lands. This important royal decree was according
+to the historian Pezuela dated 1727, according to La Torre 1729.
+
+The copper-mines of Cuba which had during the second half of the
+seventeenth century been totally abandoned, but had been reopened in the
+year 1705 under the direction of D. Sabastian de Arancibia and D.
+Francisco Delgado, once more disappointed those interested in that
+investment and yielding little profit were closed. The result was very
+disastrous for the men that had been employed in the mines. For when
+they found themselves without work, they began to lead a sort of
+unrestrained life, which caused unrest and disturbances. In the year
+1731, the governor of Santiago de Cuba, D. Pedro Jiminez, decided to put
+an end to this idleness and without warning imposed upon them hard
+labor. This the men resented and rebelled. After considerable
+difficulty, the gentle exhortations of the Canonicus Morrell of Santa
+Cruz prevailed and succeeded in appeasing the men, who took up other
+work.
+
+In other parts of the island there occurred about this time uprisings of
+the slaves, which required the use of force and led to no little
+bloodshed before they could be suppressed. One of these revolts on the
+plantation Quiebra Hache and some on other neighboring haciendas led to
+the foundation of Santa Maria del Rosario. It was D. Jose Bayona Chacon,
+Conde de Casa-Bayona, who conceived the idea that the existence of a
+white population in the heart of the mutinous district might help to
+keep the negroes submissive. He asked the king's permission to establish
+a town on the land of said plantation and of the Jiaraco corral, which
+were all his property, and asked for manorial grants, civil and criminal
+jurisdiction, that is the right to appoint alcaldes (ordinary judges),
+eight aldermen and as many other officials of the court as were needed.
+King Philip, remembering the services D. Bayona Chacon had rendered the
+island, granted this request in the year 1732, and D. Bayona or Conde
+(count) Casa-Bayona settled thirty families on the place, which was
+henceforth called Santa Maria del Rosario.
+
+The last years of the governorship of D. Martinez were undisturbed by
+strife either from within or without, and Cuba prospered during that
+brief spell of peace and quiet. But he did not delude himself by
+imagining Cuba safe from further disturbances, either of her internal
+conditions or her relations to her enemies. Like his predecessors he
+continued to add to the fortifications, as is proved by an inscription
+on the gate of la Punta, which reads:
+
+     Reinando en Espana Don Felipe V. El Animoso y Siendo Gobernador y
+     Captan General de Esta Plaza E Isla de Cuba El Brigadier Don
+     Dionisio Martinez de la Vega, se Hiciron Estas Bovedas, Almacenes,
+     Terraplenes, Y Muralla Hasta San Telmo; Se Acabo La Murella Y
+     Baluartes Desde El Angel Hasta El Colateral De La Puerta de Tierra
+     Y Desde El Anguilo De la Tonaza Hasta El Otro Colatoral; Se Puso En
+     Estado y con Respeto La Artilleria; Se Hizo La Caldaza, Y En El
+     Real Artillero Navios De Guerra Y Tres Paquebotos, Con Otras Obras
+     Menores; Y Lo Gueda Continua do Por Marzo de 1731 Con 220 Esclavos
+     De S. M. Que Con Su Arbotrio Ha Puesto En Las Reales Fabrica.
+
+     (While King Philip V. the Brave reigned in Spain and the Brigadier
+     Don Dioniosio Martinez de la Vega was Governor of this place and
+     the island of Cuba, there were built three vaults, stores, terraces
+     and a wall as far as Telma, were finished the wall and bastions
+     from El Angel unto the Colateral of the Gate of Tierra, and from
+     the corner of the tenaillo unto the other collateral; was set up in
+     good condition the artillery; was constructed the high road and
+     were built in the royal dockyard war vessels and three packet-boats
+     and minor ships; and this was continued in March, 1730, with 200
+     slaves of his Majesty, who deigned to have them placed in the royal
+     shops.)
+
+Accounts of foreigners that traveled in the West Indies and visited Cuba
+during this period give glimpses of the cities and the life therein
+which are interesting reading. John Campbell, the author of "The
+Spanish Empire in America" and "A Concise History of Spanish America,"
+published in London in the year 1747, says in the latter book, in the
+description of Havana:
+
+     "The Buildings are fair, but not high, built of Stone and make a
+     very good appearance, though it is said they are but meanly
+     furnished. There are eleven Churches and Monasteries and two
+     handsome hospitals. The Churches are rich and magnificent; that
+     dedicated to St. Clara having seven Altars, all adorned with Plate
+     to a great Value; And the Monastery adjoining contains a hundred
+     Nuns with their Servants, all habited in Blue. It is not, as some
+     have reported, a Bishop's see, though the Bishop generally resides
+     there. But the Cathedral is at St. Jago, and the Revenue of this
+     Prelate not less than fifty thousand Pieces of Eight per Annum.
+     Authors differ exceedingly as to the Number of Inhabitants in this
+     City. A Spanish Writer, who was there in 1700 and who had Reason to
+     be well acquainted with the Place, computed them at twenty-six
+     thousand, and we may well suppose that they are increased since.
+     They are a more polite and sociable People than the Inhabitants of
+     any of the Ports on the Continent, and of late imitate the French
+     both in their Dress and their Manner."
+
+The Spanish historian, Emilio Blanchet, also limns a picture of life in
+Havana about this time. Always inclined to express their feelings of joy
+or of sorrow in a rather demonstrative manner, every national event of
+some importance gave occasion for festivities that lasted sometimes
+several days, and in one instance almost a whole month. This
+extraordinary example of Cuban delight in great public celebrations
+occurred in the year 1735 in Villaclara. The recent victories of Spain
+in Italy and the ascension of Carlos to the Neapolitan crown were
+celebrated in that town from the first to the twenty-second of February.
+Of course, the national sport of bull-fights figured largely in the
+program of this month of festivities; but there were also equestrian
+contests, military games, processions and cavalcades, and for the first
+time in Cuban history, dramatic performances. Besides such unusual
+occasions as the celebration of a victory, the numerous church festivals
+also encouraged the people's love of more or less ceremonial display and
+solemn public functions. The eyes of the people loved to feast upon the
+processions on foot or on horseback which took place on various saints'
+days, especially on the days of St. John, St. Peter, St. James and St.
+Anna.
+
+The British writer quoted above was right in saying that the Cubans
+emulated the example and followed the models of the French in the dress
+of the period. For Blanchet gives a description of the dress of the
+Cuban women of that time, which evokes before the reader visions of the
+elaborate costumes inseparable from the period of Louis XIV. The Spanish
+historian dwells at some detail upon the gorgeous dresses of the wealthy
+women of Cuba. There were gowns with long, sweeping trains, the material
+of which was mostly a heavy brocade silk, interwoven with threads of
+gold or silver, trimmed with taffeta in sky blue or crimson. Other
+material was trimmed with gold or silver braids. The belt generally of
+rose taffeta joined the waist to the skirt. The hair was adorned with a
+large silver or gold pin which held the folds of a richly trimmed
+mantilla, also either of brocade or some lighter tissue, gracefully
+falling back over the shoulders. The undergarments were of silk taffeta,
+all of these materials being flowered or checkered and interwoven with
+threads of gold. Velvet was also used in the fashioning of vestees and
+jackets. Cloaks, capes and redingotes were either of camelot or barocan,
+or of some other fine cloth. Pink was the favorite color. Laces and
+embroideries were used on the dress of both men and women. No cavalier
+was without a frill. The use of powder for the face and hair was quite
+common, and the powdered queue was as indispensable to the costume of a
+cavalier as the buckled shoe.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER II
+
+
+When Governor Martinez de la Vega was promoted to the post of President
+and Captain-General of Panama, there was appointed in his place, as the
+thirty-sixth governor of Cuba, Fieldmarshal D. Juan Francisco Guemez y
+Horcasitas, a native of Oviedo and son of Baron de Guemez. Valdes
+remarks that during his administration was born his son D. Juan, who
+seems to have been also actively engaged in public life. Guemez was
+governor of Cuba long enough to occupy a prominent place in the
+chronicles of the island. He was inaugurated on the eighteenth of March,
+1734, and continued in office until the twenty-eighth of April, 1746.
+Guemez entered upon the political and military administration
+simultaneously with the Franciscan padre D. Juan Lasso de la Vega, who
+assumed the spiritual leadership of the people as successor to Bishop
+Valdez. During his governorship, the Municipio of Havana was organized,
+and Santiago de Cuba being for the first time subordinated to his
+authority, Havana became virtually the capital of the island, and one of
+the most important of Spanish America. In that civic corporation, a very
+prominent member was the Habanero D. Jose Martin Felix de Arrate, who
+wrote a valuable history of Havana under the title "Llave del Nuevo
+Mundo, Antemural de las Indias Occidentales, la Habana descriptiva:
+Noticias de su fundacion, aumentos y Estado."
+
+Governor Guemez introduced some measures of reform which tended to
+appease the discontent occasioned by previous abuses of municipal power.
+One of these was the rigid enforcement of the royal decree which forbade
+the ayuntamentos to trade in land. He also improved the functioning of
+the primary courts called Justicias ordinarias; for a great deal of
+disorder was caused by the fact that their decisions were rarely
+promptly obeyed. He associated with them the tenentes a guerra, military
+lieutenants, whose authority was more likely to be respected. One of
+these, the Captain of militia D. Jose Antonio Gomez, was sent to the
+salt works of Punta Hicacos and Cayo Sal, where much confusion had
+reigned, to regulate the salt production, and insure an efficient
+functioning of the organization concerned in it. He became later known
+as a famous guerillero, a civilian serving in guerilla warfare, and was
+familiarly called by the people Pepe Antonio.
+
+During this administration some very important work was done towards
+sanitation. Guemez succeeded in having the harbor thoroughly dredged; by
+urgent appeals to the residents he secured the removal from the streets
+of all encumbrances of traffic and insisted upon having them regularly
+cleaned. It can be justly said that, if the standard of public health in
+Cuba was raised at this period, it was undoubtedly due to his efforts.
+Nor was he indifferent to the extortion practiced upon the poorer
+inhabitants by unscrupulous landlords and shopkeepers, one of his
+ordinances to that effect regulating the prices at which provisions were
+to be sold by the grocers and thus insuring a proper and sufficient
+supply of these necessities to the population which otherwise would have
+been underfed. He was also the first governor of Cuba who paid attention
+to the island's forests and curbed the operations of the thieves that
+ravaged them. Of course such measures were bound to be resented by those
+elements who had previously profited from the freedom with which they
+could carry on their trade regardless of human equity and public
+welfare; and although the administration of Guemez was one of great
+material prosperity for the people, he did not escape the fate that
+befell so many of his predecessors, that of being made the target of
+slanderous accusations. But the government had profited from previous
+experiences of this character, that of the Marquis de Casa-Torres being
+still remembered; it was no longer inclined to lend so ready an ear to
+charges raised against the governors, and paid no attention to the
+attempts made by his enemies to discredit Guemez in Madrid.
+
+The colonial government was then in charge of D. Jose del Campillo, an
+official of great knowledge and sagacity and of wide experience in
+economic and financial affairs. Many of the improvements that had been
+introduced in Spain by Minister Ori were through D. Campillo's efforts
+now applied to the colonies in America. Among these valuable innovations
+were the regulation of the revenues, the reduction of import and export
+duties, and the distribution of the realenzes or royal patrimonies. But
+equally important was the creation of royal commissions to inquire into
+the state, the resources and needs of the provinces, and to organize
+industry and commerce upon a sound and equitable basis.
+
+On the other hand it cannot be denied that powerful influences were at
+work to secure privileges for private corporations, which in a measure
+threatened to undo what those commissions attained. The organization
+which came into being in Havana in the year 1740 under the name Real
+Compania de Comercio under the patronage of the Virgin del Rosario, was
+such a corporation and it seems doubtful whether the privileges it
+enjoyed and the profits that accrued from them did not outweigh the
+advantages which were promised to the colony. The company was given a
+general monopoly, including the exclusive right of exportation of
+tobacco and sugar; it had the right of importation of articles of
+consumption in the island without paying custom on goods imported into
+the interior. Of course, it pledged itself on its part to render the
+community certain services which should not be underestimated. It was to
+build in its dockyards vessels of war and of trade; to supply the
+warships anchored in the harbor with provisions for their crews; to
+furnish ten armed vessels for the persecution of contraband; and for the
+transportation of the country's products to the port of Cadiz; to bring
+from Spain the ammunition needed in Cuba; to provision the garrison of
+Florida; and to furnish articles of equipment to the weather-side fleet.
+
+The Captain-General himself was given the office of Juez conservador
+(judge conservator). The first president of the company was D. Martin de
+Aroztegui. The organizers had at first counted upon a capital of one
+million pesos, but it barely exceeded nine hundred thousand. Each share
+was valued at five hundred duros (dollars) and eight shares were
+required to entitle the holder to a vote in the general conventions.
+There were at first five directors in all, but they were gradually
+reduced to two only. Some historians had warm praise for the work of the
+company, among them Arrate, who with many others was preoccupied by the
+economic interests and the commercial progress of the community. But
+there is no doubt that at the end it did not bring about the results
+that had been expected. During twenty years of its existence Cuba
+derived no tangible benefit. The importation of goods from Spain did not
+amount to more than three vessels annually. The exports amounted to less
+than twenty-one thousand arrobas of sugar (a weight of twenty-five
+pounds of sixteen ounces each).
+
+Governor Guemez was not oblivious to the dangers forever menacing the
+security and the peace of the island. He made great improvements on the
+batteries of el Morro; he had parts of the city walls, which ran from la
+Tenaze to Paula, demolished, and rebuilt of better material; he had the
+walls on the inland side re-enforced so as to offer greater resistance
+in case of attack by enemies. To all these improvements the citizens of
+Havana contributed generously; they furnished ten thousand peons
+(day-laborers) and as many beasts of burden to do the work. Guemez also
+built factories in the parish of El Jaguey on the other side of the bay
+and established the first powder magazine on the coast. During the
+latter part of his administration, in the year 1743, the town of
+Guanabacoa received its charter. The following year, 1744, is memorable
+in the history of Cuba as the year when the first postal service was
+organized. Thus the governorship of D. Guemez proved for the island a
+period of great civic and material progress and prosperity. The peace it
+enjoyed during the earlier years was, however, to be seriously disturbed
+later on.
+
+For even towards the end of the administration of D. Martinez de la Vega
+clouds had arisen upon the political horizon of Europe which had begun
+to cast their shadows over the colonies. The slave-trade sanctioned by
+the famous Assiento agreement gave rise to more and more serious tension
+between the governments of England and of Spain. In order to execute
+that part of the Treaty of Utrecht which related to the importation of
+negro slaves into Spanish America, the British government had encouraged
+the formation of a company, the Compania de la Mar del Sud, or South Sea
+Company, which was to act as agent of the assientists. It consisted of
+men holding the large national debt of Great Britain and had received a
+grant for the exclusive trade of the South Seas. But since Spain was in
+possession of a great proportion of the coast in that part of the world
+and had so far enjoyed a monopoly of its trade, the South Sea Company
+derived no benefit from that grant, unless the commercial activity of
+Spanish America could be paralyzed. The slave-trade with its clandestine
+opportunities for contraband, offered the South Sea Company
+possibilities to undermine Spanish trade. The slavers, as the
+slave-carrying vessels were called, being protected by passports issued
+by their contractors, were not slow in getting into communication with
+those elements in the Spanish colonies that placed their personal profit
+above their duty to the country under the protection of which they
+lived, and had no difficulty in delivering cargoes of divers merchandise
+while they unloaded their human freight. Moreover they never returned to
+Europe in ballast, but carried a correspondingly large cargo of West
+Indian goods of which they disposed in European ports.
+
+Spain had repeatedly entered complaints against these scandalously
+dishonest operations upon the coasts of Spanish America, but Great
+Britain was then not in the mood to concern herself with problems of
+international ethics. The enormous profits that the trade in negro
+slaves had brought to investors in that enterprise had dimmed their
+sense of honor. Queen Anne herself had in a speech to the parliament
+boasted of having secured to the British a new market for slaves in
+Spanish America. A considerable part of the population of Jamaica lived
+exclusively on the profits of this traffic between the Spanish-American
+harbors. The vessel which the British according to the Assiento were
+allowed to send annually to Portobello was soon followed at a certain
+distance by a fleet of smaller ships that approached the harbor at night
+and replaced the cargo that had been unloaded by day. Frequently the
+slavers would appeal to the human feelings of the officials in
+Spanish-American ports and with stories of shipwreck and damages
+sustained in hurricanes induce them to desist from the customary
+inspection of every foreign vessel. The effect of these manoeuvers was
+the complete extinction of Spanish commerce. While the tonnage of the
+fleet of Cadiz had formerly reached sixteen thousand, it was reduced at
+the beginning of the eighteenth century to two thousand.
+
+But the reclamations of Spain were not heeded. Great Britain, then in a
+mad fever for the acquisition of wealth, was intoxicated with the rich
+profits it was deriving from the operations in the West Indies and other
+parts of Spanish America. It not only wished to continue these, but it
+also tried to bring about war between the two countries. As Guiteras
+says, and Bancroft expresses the same ideas in his second volume of his
+"History of the United States," the war which was on the point of
+breaking out was not about the right to cut the timber of Campeche in
+the Bay of Honduras, nor because of the difference between the King of
+Spain and the South Sea Company, nor about the disputed frontiers of
+Florida. All these questions could have been easily settled. The sole
+aim and end was to compel Spain to renounce her right of inspecting or
+examining suspected merchant vessels that cruised in the Antilles, in
+order that Great Britain might extend her insidious operations.
+
+After much deliberation on both sides, an instrument was drawn up and
+signed, in which the mutual claims for damages sustained in the overseas
+commerce were balanced and settled. The king of Spain demanded from the
+South Sea Company sixty-eight thousand pounds as his share of their
+profits, in the slave-trade; on the other hand he paid to the British
+merchants as indemnity for losses caused by unwarranted seizures the
+sum of ninety-five pounds. The question with regard to the boundaries of
+Florida was also disposed of; it was agreed that both nations were to
+retain the land then in their possession, until a duly appointed
+commission should determine the exact boundaries, which meant that Great
+Britain would hold jurisdiction over the country to the mouth of St.
+Mary's River.
+
+The discussion about this agreement in the British parliament did not
+add to the glory of the United Kingdom. Walpole spoke in favor of its
+acceptance, saying "It requires no great abilities in a minister to
+pursue such measures as make a war unavoidable. But how many ministers
+have known the art of avoiding war by making a safe and honorable
+peace?" The Duke of Newcastle, not credited with too much intelligence,
+opposed the measure. William Pitt, Pulteny and others sided with him.
+The opposition finally triumphed. Bancroft says of this disgraceful
+termination of a conference intended to seek equitable solution of a
+most harassing international problem:
+
+     "In an ill hour for herself, in a happy one for America, England,
+     on the twenty-third of October, 1639, declared war against Spain.
+     If the rightfulness of the European colonial system be conceded,
+     the declaration was a wanton invasion of it for immediate selfish
+     purposes; but, in endeavoring to open the ports of Spanish America
+     to the mercantile enterprise of her own people, she was beginning a
+     war on colonial monopoly, which could not end till American
+     colonies of her own, as well as of Spain, should obtain
+     independence."
+
+Even before this official break between the two countries, the British
+had become guilty of movements that violated Spanish territory.
+
+There is not much said by Spanish historians about the difficulties
+between Florida and the newly planned British colony of Georgia. But
+the dispute about the boundary of Florida ripened into an armed
+conflict, in which Cuban forces assisted those of St. Augustine.
+Oglethorpe, the founder of Georgia, had in the year 1736 endeavored to
+vindicate British rights to territory previously claimed by the
+Spaniards and the opposition of the latter when the British approached
+more and more closely was easily understood. Oglethorpe dispatched
+messengers to St. Augustine and, claiming the St. John's River as the
+southern boundary of the British colony, built Ft. George for defense of
+the British frontier. The messengers were for a time held in St.
+Augustine as prisoners, but eventually released. The dispute was
+temporarily settled by negotiation. But though the British abandoned Ft.
+George, they kept St. Andrew's at the mouth of St. Mary's, which was
+bound to be a perpetual source of irritation to the Spaniards. Two years
+later, according to Blanchet, hostile movements of British ships were
+observed in Cuban waters. He speaks of the _Commodore Brown_ as having,
+by the effective defense which Guemez had prepared, been prevented from
+landing in Bacuranao, Bahia-Honda and other places. With the beginning
+of the war, Guemez was called upon to secure the aprovionamento, the
+provisioning of the island and to insure its security. He received
+efficient assistance from some of his privateers, among them D. Jose
+Cordero and D. Pedro Garaicochea, who valorously fought some British
+vessels and obtained advantages over the British fleets commanded by the
+admirals Bermon and Oglethorpe. D. Jose Hurriaza, too, won some
+victories over the British with his three ships, of the kind called at
+that time guipuzcoanos. He sank one British vessel, captured another and
+anchored safely with his booty in the harbor of San Juan of Puerto
+Rico.
+
+The British war party made capital out of the news of these encounters.
+Exaggerated reports about the cruelty practiced upon British prisoners
+were sent to London. The authorities did not hesitate to call as
+witnesses of victims of such outrages, characters whose words would not
+have received credence at other times. Bancroft quotes the case of a
+notorious smuggler by the name of Jenkins, who accused the enemy of
+having cut off one of his ears, and Pulteny, in order to precipitate the
+issue, exclaimed in parliament: "We have no need of allies to enable us
+to command justice; the story of Jenkins will raise volunteers."
+
+Not only politicians and the ever ready pamphleteers lent their voice to
+the "cause," but even the poets joined the ignoble chorus. Alexander
+Pope wrote in his customary mordant manner:
+
+    "And own the Spaniard did the waggish thing
+    Who cropped our ears, and sent them to the king";
+
+and even Samuel Johnson burst out into the cry:
+
+    "Has Heaven reserved, in pity to the poor,
+    No pathless waste or undiscovered shore,
+    No secret island in the boundless main,
+    No peaceful desert yet unclaimed by Spain?"
+
+Thus was the mood of the moment prepared in the multitude and mass
+psychology did the rest, as it always does in such crises.
+
+About this time occurred an incident, in which Guemez showed his mettle
+as a man, regardless of his official capacity. It is the historian
+Blanchet who has recorded this remarkable example of noble generosity.
+It seems that the British frigate _Elizabeth_, under the command of a
+Captain Edwards, had been caught in a terrible tempest off the coast of
+Cuba and threatened with inevitable shipwreck, sought the protection of
+the harbor. According to the laws of warfare, the Captain surrendered as
+prisoner of war. But Guemez, as acting Captain General, refused to take
+advantage of his misfortune, and not only permitted the vessel to careen
+and take on much-needed supplies, but gave Captain Edwards letters of
+safe-conduct allowing him to continue on his way as far as Bermuda. The
+rivals and enemies of Guemez, who had previously attempted to lodge
+complaints against him with the Consejo de Indias, renewed their
+intrigues and cabals, aimed at robbing him of the good name he enjoyed
+in Cuba as in Madrid, and accused him of all sorts of misdemeanors and
+abuses. But they failed in ruining his career. He was made
+lieutenant-general and on his retirement from the governorship was given
+the rank and title of Conde (count) de Revillagigedo and appointed
+Viceroy of New Spain. He died in Madrid as commander-in-chief of the
+army at the ripe old age of eighty-six years.
+
+However great were the services rendered by D. Guemez y Horcasitas to
+Cuba, the conflicting rumors attacking his character must have had some
+foundation. Perhaps the impression the governor made upon a French
+traveler, who visited Havana at this time and was on board the vessel
+which took him to Mexico, may add some traits to his portrait. M.
+Villiet d'Arignon is quoted in Pierre Jean Baptiste Nougaret's "Voyages
+interessans" as saying:
+
+     "D. Juan Orcazita had been appointed to this important post on
+     account of the sums he had lavishly spent at the court of Madrid.
+     One could say that he bought it. The immense fortune he made during
+     his governorship soon enabled him to turn his eyes to a higher
+     goal. Everything depended upon contributions. So he in a short time
+     amassed considerable sums, which from a simple civilian raised him
+     to the highest rank ambition could aspire to. We shall see that he
+     continued the same tactics in Mexico and profited even more, the
+     country being wealthier. Orcazita was a man of some height, rather
+     handsome, but of a mediocre intelligence, and had no ambition
+     except for spoils. This was the viceroy given to Mexico, whither
+     his reputation had preceded him. For the inhabitants soon made fun
+     of his, and circulated this uncomplimentary nickname which sounds
+     better in Spanish than in French: 'Non es Conde, ni Marquis, Juan
+     es,' which means that he was neither count, nor Marquis, but simply
+     'Juan.' In fact he was not a man of birth, and he owed all he had
+     to his money."
+
+In the meantime Great Britain's preparations for the war resulted in the
+sending over to Spanish America of two fleets. The one under Edward
+Vernon was commanded to make an attack upon Chagres, east of the Isthmus
+of Darien; the other one, considerably smaller, under the command of
+Commodore Anson, was to begin operations in the Pacific. But a series of
+unfortunate accidents made it impossible for him to cooperate with
+Vernon, as he was expected to do. He encountered terrible gales, which
+disabled and scattered his ships, one by one, and after many romantic
+adventures which were set forth by a member of the expedition in a very
+readable book, he returned to England with a single vessel, but one
+richly laden with spoils acquired in pirate fashion. Edward Vernon,
+whose experiences have also been recorded in a volume, giving
+interesting details of his expedition, arrived at Portobello in
+November, 1739. He had under his command six war ships and a
+well-equipped force of trained men, and on the twenty-second of the
+month launched an attack. The garrison was so small and poorly prepared
+that he forced it to capitulate on the very next day. The British lost
+only seven men in the engagement and found themselves in the possession
+of the place. Vernon dismantled the fortifications and returned to
+Jamaica with a booty of ten thousand pesos. Expecting to be joined by
+Anson, he went to Chagres early in January, succeeded in forcing that
+port, too, to surrender, and after having demolished it, returned to
+Jamaica, and rested from his easily won victory, which the party
+opposing Walpole celebrated in London as a most heroic exploit.
+
+The greatest armed force that had yet been seen in West Indian waters
+had in the mean time sailed from England to join the expedition of
+Vernon. It consisted not only of British troops, but had been reenforced
+by recruits from the colonies north of Carolina. Its commander was Lord
+Cathcart, who, when they stopped to take on fresh water in Dominica, was
+taken violently ill with a malignant fever and succumbed. His death was
+a disastrous blow to the British, for it destroyed the unity of command
+which is indispensable for the success of military operations.
+Cathcart's successor was Wentworth, who not only lacked experience and
+firmness, but was a political opponent of the impulsive, irritable
+Vernon. Thus the enterprise seemed to be at the outset doomed to failure
+owing to the rivalry and the discord of the leaders. The fleet under
+their command consisted of twenty-nine line ships, eighty smaller
+vessels with a crew of fifteen thousand sailors and a land force of
+twelve thousand men.
+
+The expedition set sail from Jamaica without having agreed upon any
+definite plan of attack. Havana was the nearest point at which
+operations should be directed and besides her conquest would have given
+Great Britain supremacy over the Gulf. But Admiral Vernon saw everything
+only in the light of his own advantages and decided to go in search of
+the French and Spanish squadrons, without taking trouble to inform
+himself whether they had not already left. Finally a war council was
+held and it was decided to make an assault upon the tower of Cartagena.
+The squadron appeared before the city on the fourth of March and after
+a siege of twenty-two days succeeded in capturing the fort of Bocachica
+at the entrance of the harbor. Admiral Wentworth then made preparations
+to take the fort of San Lazare, which dominated the city. He planned to
+attack it with a force of two thousand men, but half of them,
+misunderstanding his directions, remained in camp. The squadron, too,
+failed to come to his assistance in time, and after a complete defeat he
+was forced to retire. Before the British had a chance to recover from
+the effects of this disaster, caused mainly by the lack of harmonious
+cooperation between their commanders, the rainy season set in. With it
+came the usual epidemic of tropical fever and alarmingly decimated the
+forces of the British. The blockade was for the time being abandoned and
+the survivors of the expedition returned to Jamaica.
+
+Admiral Vernon resumed the plan in July, 1741, and arrived in the bay of
+Guantanamo on the coast of Cuba with a force of three thousand men and
+about one thousand negroes. He landed and then moved to Santiago with
+the purpose of taking that city. There the governor Colonel Francisco
+Cagigal prepared for him an unexpectedly hot reception. He divided his
+people into small detachment of trained troops, militia and armed
+inhabitants, and placed himself at their head. His example and the care
+with which he had calculated the defense inspired the people with the
+will to win and they plunged with zest into the fight with the invaders.
+Never for a moment stopping in their furious assaults upon the British,
+the forces of Admiral Vernon were decimated in the endless series of
+attacks and counter attacks. The climate, too, was against the British,
+and they were forced to retire. Vernon left the island with the
+remainder of his men and abandoned large stores of provisions and
+ammunition, which Governor Cagigal appropriated amid the enthusiastic
+acclamation of the brave citizens.
+
+Thus ended according to the reports of Guiteras and other Spanish
+historians the British expedition which had started out with the
+intention of conquering not only the Spanish West Indies, but Mexico and
+Peru as well. British arrogance and greed had for the moment received a
+well-earned lesson. The fleet retired to Jamaica towards the end of
+November. When a survey of the state of both the naval and military
+forces was made, it was found that the British had lost some twenty
+thousand men. During all the time that these fights took place, commerce
+with the Spanish colonies had of necessity been suspended. The
+importation of negroes had ceased. Smuggling had considerably decreased.
+Spanish privateers lay in wait and intercepted the British merchant
+vessels, whose cargoes were triumphantly brought to Spanish ports. Great
+Britain, on the contrary, had not conquered a single Spanish possession
+and the damage caused to her commerce was far greater than that which
+Spanish America had suffered.
+
+In the meantime, the undaunted Oglethorpe had once more decided to
+challenge the Spanish neighbor in Florida, and encouraged by the British
+authorities marched upon St. Augustine. He had six hundred regular
+troops, four hundred militia from Carolina and two hundred Indians, and
+set out on his expedition in January, 1740. But the garrison of the old
+town, under the command of the able Monteaco, was prepared and had also
+secured reenforcements. Five weeks lasted the siege; the troops of
+Oglethorpe lost patience and courage, failure staring them in the face.
+When they threatened to abandon him, he retired without even being
+pursued by the enemy. After this provocation the Spanish authorities
+felt forced to retaliate and decided upon an invasion of Georgia. A
+large fleet with troops from Cuba joined the forces of the Florida
+settlement. They arrived at the mouth of St. Mary's, where Oglethorpe
+had built Ft. William, in the first days of July. But Oglethorpe
+succeeded in retaining his hold upon that place, though his forces had
+to retire. The Spanish took possession of their abandoned camps, but on
+the seventh of July, when they were attempting to advance towards the
+town on a road which skirted a swamp on one side and a dense wood of
+brush-oak on the other, they were surprised by Oglethorpe and the fight
+which ensued was so fierce, and caused such a great loss of life, that
+the spot has ever since been known as Bloody Marsh. Another attack was
+made upon Fort William, but being again repulsed, the Spanish forces
+retired, abandoning a quantity of ammunition.
+
+When Guemez of Cuba was promoted to the vice-regency of New Spain, he
+had been succeeded by Field Marshal D. Juan Antonio Tines y Fuertes, who
+was inaugurated on the twenty-second of April, 1746, but died on the
+twenty-first of July of the same year. In spite of his very brief term
+of service, he is remembered according to Valdes for having been the
+first governor to whom it occurred to do something for the confinement
+and possible reform of dissolute women. He is said to have founded for
+that purpose the Casa de Resorgimento, which seems to have been both a
+home and a reform school. He was temporarily replaced by Colonel D.
+Diego de Penalosa. About the name and exact date of his interim
+administration there seems to exist some confusion, some historians
+placing him immediately after Martinez de la Vega. Valdes says he was
+Tenente-Rey in 1738, assumed the functions of provisional governorship
+at the death of Fuentes, and upon the arrival of the newly appointed
+governor, was sent to Vera Cruz as Brigadier General. Blanchet, too,
+calls him Penalosa; but Alcazar gives his name as Penalver. However,
+Penalosa or Penalver enjoyed during his brief administration the
+privilege of proclaiming the ascension of Fernando VI. to the throne of
+Spain.
+
+King Philip V., who had so reluctantly been dragged into the war with
+England, did not live long after the victory of Santiago had temporarily
+checked the designs of Great Britain. He had died on the ninth of July,
+1746, and his crown descended to his son Fernando, an amiable and
+virtuous prince. King Fernando VI. was also inclined to follow a
+peaceful policy. He promptly settled the foreign questions that called
+for attention at this time, and tried his best to enter into and
+maintain friendly relations with all foreign powers. He aimed at the
+preservation of Spanish neutrality in the European wars of the period,
+being most deeply concerned with developing the national wealth. The
+brilliant festivities with which Cuba celebrated Fernando's coronation
+gave proof of the love his subjects even in Spanish America had
+conceived for him before he ascended the throne.
+
+After the brief administrations of Fuentes and Penalosa, a new governor
+was appointed in Madrid and the choice fell upon D. Francisco Cagigal de
+la Vega, Knight of the order of Santiago. The brave defender of his town
+against the attack of Admiral Vernon had since that experience
+ingratiated himself with his people by other equally commendable
+exploits. With the cooperation of his valiant seamen Regio Espinela and
+D. Vicenzo Lopez, he had repulsed many an aggressive manoeuver of the
+British fleet in Cuban waters, until the signing of the peace of
+Aix-la-Chapelle. Cagigal was a personality of quite different calibre
+from Guemez. While the latter had been singularly open and sincere for a
+man in an official position, Cagigal was endowed with a suavity of
+manner which concealed his keen shrewdness. He had after the defeat of
+Admiral Vernon been created Field Marshal and was certainly the right
+man for his place.
+
+His inauguration occurred on the ninth of June, 1747, and from that day
+Cagigal entered upon his duties with the energy and perseverance that
+had characterized his previous career. Seriously concerned with the
+defenses of Havana, he had the battery of la Pastora finished, which had
+been begun long before him, and upon his urgent request the king ordered
+a citadel to be built on the mountain-side of la Cabana. He also had the
+Barlovento (weather-side) fleet removed from the port of Vera Cruz to
+that of Havana. The activity of the ship-building plant of Havana was
+remarkable during his administration. In the thirteen years of his
+governorship it turned out seven line ships, one frigate, one brig and
+one packet-boat and kept in steady work a great number of laborers.
+Cagigal improved the fort of la Fuerza by having a reception hall built
+on the seaward side, which was surrounded by a row of balconies. The
+interior was sumptuously decorated with medallions and escutcheons in
+bas-relief. He was much interested in the work of the Commercial Company
+which had been organized during the administration of Guemez; its
+capital at this time was nine hundred thousand pesos, with shares of one
+hundred pesos each, and there was declared in 1760 a dividend of thirty
+per cent. on each share.
+
+Before the signing of the peace of Aix-la-Chapelle became known in
+America there was a serious engagement between the British fleet and the
+Spanish on the twelfth of October, 1747, a league off Havana. There
+were six vessels on each side, the Spanish under the command of General
+Andreas Reggio, the British under that of Admiral Knowles. The Spanish
+opened fire at three o'clock in the afternoon and a furious battle took
+place which lasted for full six hours. The forces of both sustained
+heavy losses, computed approximately at one thousand men on each side,
+and when the firing ceased, neither could claim a decisive victory. The
+British fleet retired and the Spanish returned to Havana.
+
+The efficient management of the island's affairs during the
+administrations of Guemez and Cagigal greatly stimulated the initiative
+and enterprise of the Cubans. The first coffee-trees were set out on a
+plantation in the province of Waja by D. Jose Gelabert. Brandy and other
+spirits were distilled. The armory of Vera Cruz having been removed to
+Havana, there was great activity in military circles, and D. Rodrigo de
+Torres was appointed as the first commander of the navy of Cuba.
+
+King Fernando VI. succeeded during the thirteen years of his reign in
+keeping out of the general European war of 1756, in which England and
+Prussia had ranged themselves against Austria, France, Russia, Sweden
+and Poland. He was intent upon building up the resources of the kingdom
+which had been drained by the wars waged by his predecessors and devoted
+his attention to promoting the agriculture, industry and commerce of
+Spain. He was fortunate in the choice of an intelligent wife and of two
+ministers whose wise counsel he could ever depend upon. The Marquis de
+Ensenada, who had risen from a peasant to a banker, financier and
+finally minister of marine, war and finance, enjoyed at first the
+unlimited confidence of the sovereign and the people, but later fell
+into disgrace, because it was discovered that he had sent out secret
+orders to the West Indies to attack the British logwood colony on the
+Mosquito Coast. The other adviser of Fernando VI., D. Jose de Carvajal,
+was a man of quite different stamp, endowed with common sense, sound
+judgment, pure of morals and as just as he was incorruptible. But
+Fernando died without direct heir to the throne in the year 1759, and
+his brother, D. Carlos III., succeeded him.
+
+The solemn proclamation of King Carlos III. in the cities of Cuba was
+one of the last acts of the administration of Governor Cagigal. In the
+year 1760, he was promoted to the post of viceroy of Mexico and left the
+affairs of the government in charge of the Tenente-Rey, the King's
+Lieutenant, D. Pedro Alonso. During this provisional government there
+was erected a new sentry-house at the gate of Tierra, as is commemorated
+in the following inscription:
+
+     Reynando La Magesdad de Carlos III Y Siendo Gobernador Y Capitan
+     General de Esta Ciudad E Isla El Coronel D. Pedro Alonso Se
+     Construyo Esta Garita. Ano de 1760.
+
+     In the reign of his Majesty Charles III. and when Colonel D. Pedro
+     Alonzo was Governor and Commander-in-Chief of this town and island
+     was built this sentry-box. In the year 1760.
+
+During this administration died the venerable Cuban prelate D. Juan de
+Conyedo, who as spiritual adviser to individuals and as counselor to
+prominent officials had won the love and esteem of the population as did
+the Bishop Compostela and later the popular Bishop Valdes. Conyedo's
+services to Cuba in the interest of religion, charity and education were
+invaluable. He was especially identified with the growth of Villa Clara,
+where in the year 1712 he had founded a free school for children of both
+sexes and had himself taken charge of the classes. Before he opened this
+school, the people knew absolutely nothing besides the Christian
+doctrine, and the rudiments of reading and writing.
+
+The propaganda of the British war party favoring the conquest of Spanish
+America was in the meantime going on without interruption. When the
+greed of acquisition of territory is once roused in a nation, it is
+difficult to appease it. It enlists in the cause all ranks and
+professions, it employs all means, whether they answer the test of
+international justice and human equity, or not. Art, literature, science
+are harnessed in its service. It is needless to remind of a recent
+example of national mentality and morality gone astray through
+misapplied ambition. The utterances of Pope and Johnson were tame in
+comparison to the hymns of hate following the declaration of the World's
+war, still fresh in our memory.
+
+But, there was another side to this literary activity. It did not always
+appeal to the emotions and stir up feelings. It was also of an
+instructive kind. Just as the Dutch at the time when their attention was
+fixed upon the Spanish possessions of America wrote book upon book
+describing the coveted islands and the coasts of the continent supposed
+to hold inexhaustible riches, so did the British during the eighteenth
+century suddenly conceive an interest in Spanish America which led to
+magazine articles, pamphlets and books dealing with those lands. That
+this literature with its endless descriptions of ports and products was
+intended for the use of mariners venturing forth on legitimate or
+illegitimate business, was evident. All these writers did not fail to
+remark that Havana was the richest town in America, that it had
+magnificent churches and public buildings and that the streets were
+narrow, but clean. But their main concern was to describe the exact
+location of every bay and every harbor: Matanzas, Nipe, Puerto del
+Principe, Santiago, Baracoa, Guantanamo, etc., and their next concern
+was to dwell upon the several products of the country, as tobacco,
+sugar, and others.
+
+One of the most curious books of this kind was "A Voyage to Guinea,
+Brazil and the West Indies," published in London in the year 1735. Its
+author was John Atkins, surgeon of the Royal Navy, and though it
+contained an account of a trip made by him, it very plainly revealed an
+interest in the commerce of the countries visited and in the
+possibilities they offered, which, while natural in a business man, was
+quite surprising in a member of the medical fraternity. After devoting
+considerable space to the products of these southern lands, hurricanes,
+etc., he also discourses at length upon the slave-trade and gives
+interesting glimpses of the manner in which it was conducted. "To give
+dispatch," says he, "cajole the traders with Brandy," and continues:
+"Giving way to the ridiculous Humours and Gestures of the trading
+Negroes is no small artifice for success. If you look strange and are
+niggardly of your Drams, you frighten him. Sambo is gone, he never cares
+to treat with dry lips, and as the Expenses is in English Spirits of two
+Shillings a Gallon, brought partly for this purpose, the good Humour it
+brings them into, is found discounted in the sale of goods." Speaking of
+Cuba, he calls it a very pleasant and flourishing island, the Spanish
+building and improving for posterity without dreaming, as the English
+planters do, of any other homes. But he does not fail to add, "They make
+the best Sugars in the world."
+
+Another publication aiming more directly at the mariners and merchants
+of Great Britain is by one Caleb Smith, called on the title page, the
+inventor of the "New Sea Quadrant." It was printed in 1740 and was a
+translation of Domingo Gonzales Carranza's description of the coasts,
+harbors and sea-ports of the Spanish West Indies. In the curious preface
+he says:
+
+     "The original was brought to England by a Sympathetic prisoner who
+     had been in Havana where he procured it in manuscript and presented
+     it to the Editor as a Testimony of his friendship and respect,"
+
+and the dedication is addressed "to the Merchants of Great Britain, the
+Commanders of Ships, and others who were pleased to subscribe for this
+Treatise."
+
+Thus was the mind of the people perpetually stimulated to look beyond
+the Atlantic for lands and seas which waited to be conquered by British
+prowess; and the defeat of Vernon in Santiago was hardly heeded. In the
+meantime negotiations had been going on between the European powers and
+a convention of their representatives had met at Aix-la-Chapelle to
+settle certain disputes and sign a treaty of peace. England and Spain on
+the one and England and France on the other hand had gained nothing by
+eight years of mutual fighting, but an immense national debt. As at
+other conferences for the establishment of the world's peace much was
+said and after all little was done. For when the document known since as
+the Treaty of Aix-la-Chapelle was signed in 1748, it left some of the
+most harassing problems unsolved. Among them was the frontier of Florida
+and the right of Spanish ships to search British vessels suspected of
+smuggling. The assiente agreement, which had been found so profitable,
+was continued for four more years. In the light of later events the
+treaty was found to be only a makeshift for the moment, and did not
+prevent the outbreak of new hostilities between Great Britain and Spain
+when the ink with which the treaty was signed had barely dried on that
+document.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER III
+
+
+The alliances among the powers of Europe in the middle of the
+seventeenth century and the unsatisfactory settlements of some of the
+most harassing questions in dispute produced a state of unrest and
+tension throughout the world which the clever pourparlers and the
+fascinating fencing bouts of European diplomacy failed to relieve, and
+of which Cuba was destined to feel the effects. In spite of her insular
+isolation Great Britain was closely concerned with the intrigues that
+were being spun at the courts of the continent and were bound sooner or
+later to involve Europe in a new bloody conflict. She had on the one
+hand allied herself with Austria, bribing even some of the South German
+principalities to insure the election of Joseph II. to the throne of the
+Holy Roman Empire, and on the other hand with Russia, which was then a
+newcomer not yet vitally interested in the issues at stake. Both allies
+failed to keep their pledge; Austria turned away to enter into a
+confederacy with France, while Russia passed from one camp to the other.
+The growing ascendancy of Prussia under Frederick II. had long been
+watched with distrust by the immediate neighbors, but by this time even
+those whose territories seemed safe from his acquisitive aggressiveness
+were roused to the realization of the danger it foreboded.
+
+When Saxony and some other German states, Austria, Hungary, Sweden,
+Russia and France combined to check the Prussian's ambitious designs,
+Great Britain, Hanover, Hesse-Cassel and Brunswick became the allies of
+Frederick. Spain with remarkable firmness decided to keep out of the
+general war which broke out in 1756 and, lasting until 1763, was to be
+known in history as The Seven Years' War. Even when Pitt, who was the
+ally of Frederick of Prussia, offered the conditional return of
+Gibraltar and the abandonment of the British settlements on the Mosquito
+Coast and in the Bay of Honduras, Fernando VI. resolutely refused to
+participate.
+
+By this wise policy of non-interference this king secured for Spain a
+period of peace which brought with it a prosperity it had long lacked.
+The country recovered from the losses occasioned by previous wars, and
+when Carlos III. succeeded his father, he found fifteen millions of
+dollars in the treasury. He, too, was determined to keep peace, but the
+stubborn resistance of Great Britain to any equitable settlement of the
+question in dispute between the two countries, and the continual
+violation of international justice by her mariners were hard to bear and
+sorely tried the patience of the people. Bancroft says in his history of
+the United States (Vol. III, p. 264):
+
+"The restitution of the merchant ships, which the English had seized
+before the war, was justly demanded. They were afloat on the ocean,
+under every guarantee of safety; they were the property of private
+citizens, who knew nothing, and could know nothing, of the diplomatic
+disputes of the two countries. The capture was unjustifiable by every
+reason of equity and public law. 'The cannon,' said Pitt, 'has settled
+the question in our favor; and, in the absence of a tribunal, this
+decision is a sentence.'"
+
+It is meet in this place to call attention to the literature called
+forth by Britain's colonial ambitions. Albert Savine, a French writer,
+during the Spanish-American war, wrote an interesting article in the
+_Revue Brittanique_ of Paris (1898, Vol. III, pp. 167 etc.), entitled:
+"Les Anglais dans l'ile de Cuba au dix-huitieme siecle," in which he
+refers to a History of Jamaica by Hans Sloane, published in 1740 and
+translated into French in 1751. This writer brought out the importance
+of Cuba very clearly, saying that no vessel could go to the continent
+without passing that island, that Havana was the general rendezvous of
+the fleet and that for the British to be really lords of the seas
+surrounding them, nothing was needed but Havana. Savine in discussing
+Britain's designs upon Havana, continued:
+
+"The reason for their attack upon Cuba was, as is seen, the commercial
+and military importance of the island, which was at that epoch
+considered a necessary stopping place, a rallying point for the vessels
+going from Spain to America and from America to Spain. To be master of
+Cuba, thought they, was to be master of the road which the Spanish
+galleons followed. This role of port of supply and repairs for the
+damages sustained on the sea had made of Havana since the middle of the
+sixteenth century an important arsenal and dockyard, where there were
+continually in process of construction enormous ships destined for
+travel to Spain or South America. From 1747 to 1760 they fitted out
+seven ships of line, a frigate, a brigantine, and a packet-boat. The
+vessels which at the side of our fleet at Trafalgar fought those of
+Nelson had almost all come from the yards of Havana, which used the
+excellent timber of the island, commerce in which has somewhat
+diminished in our century."
+
+The notes and dispatches exchanged between France and Spain on the one,
+and Britain on the other side, prove how the two were slowly forced into
+an alliance against the latter. On the fifteenth of May, France
+presented a memorial asking that England give no help to the king of
+Prussia and simultaneously a paper was presented from Spain, demanding
+indemnity for seizure of ships, the right to fish at Newfoundland and
+the abandonment of the settlements in the Bay of Honduras. On the
+twenty-ninth, England demanded Canada, the fisheries, granting to the
+French a limited concession, unlikely to be of any use, the reduction of
+Dunkirk, half of the neutral islands; Senegal and Goree, which was
+equivalent to a monopoly of the slave trade; Minorca; freedom to give
+help to the king of Prussia; and British supremacy in East India. On the
+fifteenth of August, the French minister Choiseul concluded with Spain
+what was called a family compact, rallying all the Bourbons to check the
+arrogance of Britain. On the same day a special agreement was reached
+between France and Spain, empowering the latter, unless peace were
+concluded between France and England before the first of May, 1762, to
+declare war against England.
+
+Guiteras in his "Historia de la Isla de Cuba" has set forth the position
+of Spain at this time and her relation to France, which led to the
+famous alliance known as the Family Pact. He says justly, that the
+general interests of the nation demanded from Carlos III. the
+continuation of the strict neutrality which his brother had pursued in
+this war; for by that neutrality the commerce and general welfare of
+Spain had derived great benefits. But personal motives of resentment
+against England and of esteem and gratitude for Louis XV. predominated
+in his mind against the serious reasons of state and the advantages to
+his subjects, and the voluminous correspondence carried on between him
+and the king of France made him deeply share the humiliation of the
+principal branch of his family under the triumph of British arms. These
+sentiments and other motives finally gave birth to the treaty which was
+concluded between the two sovereigns on the fifteenth of August, 1761,
+and which was a defensive and offensive alliance of the two countries
+with the object of creating between them firm and lasting bonds for the
+mutual protection of their interests, and thus to secure on a solid
+basis the internal prosperity of the two kingdoms and the predominance
+of the house of Bourbon among the princes of Europe.
+
+It was agreed to consider henceforth as a common enemy any government
+that would declare war against either of the two kingdoms and
+reciprocally to guarantee the dominions they possessed at the conclusion
+of the war, in which France saw herself involved; to lend each other aid
+at sea and on land, and not to listen to or enter into any settlement
+with the enemies of both crowns unless so done with common accord. For
+as much in peace as in war they had to consider the identified interests
+of the two nations, compensate their losses and divide their respective
+acquisitions and operate as though the two peoples were one, by granting
+to the subjects of both kingdoms in their European dominions the
+enjoyment of the same privileges as those of their native subjects; and,
+finally, to admit to participation in this treaty only such countries as
+were ruled by sovereigns of the House of Bourbon.
+
+As Spain was by this treaty compelled to break with Great Britain, they
+awaited only the arrival of the galleons from South America in order to
+provide for the security of their commerce and territory, and that of
+their distant possessions. Then would be the moment to make known the
+consummation of this alliance and to begin hostilities against the
+common enemy. But somehow Britain anticipated the designs of Spain, for
+the French with their characteristic impatience had divulged the secret
+in their communications to foreign courts, and a lively correspondence
+ensued between the countries, soon to be arrayed against each other in
+the war Carlos III. had so zealously wished to avoid. But there was no
+doubt in the minds of the Spanish king and his cabinet, that the British
+policy was one solely of conquest, that Britain recognized no other law
+than the aggrandizement of her power on land and her universal despotism
+on the ocean. Nor could it be doubted by any impartial onlooker that
+Britain had long cast covetous eyes upon the Spanish possessions in
+America, and had for a long time given Spain sufficient cause for
+grievance. The audacity of her privateers and pirates in their attacks
+upon the West Indies had not been forgotten; the colonies especially had
+reason to remember the numerous and criminal outrages to which they had
+been subjected at the hands of men openly or covertly breaking treaties
+that had been made and accepted by the two nations for the mutual
+protection of their merchantmen at sea. The leniency of Britain in
+dealing with the most notorious pirate of all, the scoundrel Morgan,
+whom she allowed to settle under the protection of her flag in Jamaica,
+to rise to social prominence, to be appointed to public offices of
+importance, and whom her king had finally distinguished by conferring
+upon him knighthood, had always been felt as acts of defiance.
+
+In the rapid exchange of notes during the period when the rupture
+between the two powers was daily coming nearer the suavity of diplomatic
+language was sometimes discarded for rather plain speech. When Britain
+proposed some regulations of the privileges of the British to cut
+logwood in Campeche, the king of Spain, through his minister, Wall,
+replied in a dispatch:
+
+"The evacuation of the logwood establishment is offered, if his Catholic
+majesty will assure to the English the logwood! He who avows that he has
+entered another man's house to seize his jewels says, 'I will go out of
+your house, if you will first give me what I am come to seize!'"
+
+This drastic comparison enraged Pitt and he decided upon even more
+stringent measures to humiliate Spain and crush her power in America.
+But in the meantime the party in parliament that had steadily opposed
+him succeeded in its propaganda against him, and he was forced to
+retire. However, the feelings had run too high, the hostility on both
+sides had assumed such proportions that war was inevitable. The British
+were more than ever bent upon pursuing their acquisitions in America,
+regardless of France and Spain; and the Spanish were unanimous in their
+hatred of the aggressor.
+
+The year 1762 opened for the powers concerned in this conflict with the
+declaration of war upon Spain by King George III. on the fourth of
+January. This was promptly followed on the sixteenth of the same month
+by a declaration of war upon Britain by King Carlos III. Thus was the
+die cast, and both governments at once set about to make extensive
+preparations for military and naval action. Fortune seemed to favor the
+British; for George Rodney, the gifted naval officer, who was to
+distinguish himself during the war between Britain and her colonies by
+his daring and successful operations against the French and Spanish
+fleets in the West Indian waters, was at that time in the neighborhood
+of what was to be the scene of action. He had with a fleet of sixteen
+ships of line and thirteen frigates, carrying an army of twelve thousand
+men under Monckton, arrived at Martinique and laid siege to the colony
+which France cherished most among her island possessions in America.
+After five weeks, it was forced to surrender. A number of other islands
+followed, until all the outer Caribbeans from St. Domingo towards the
+continent of South America were in the possession of the British.
+
+Naturally the attention of the British government was immediately fixed
+upon Havana. This being the most important military post of New Spain,
+its conquest promised to close the passage of the ocean to the Spanish
+ships carrying away from America its inexhaustible treasures for the
+sole enrichment of the crown of Spain. It meant also opening that and
+other ports of the Spanish West Indies to British navigation, and lastly
+it was to be only the beginning of operations which ultimately were to
+include the conquest of other possessions of Spain in that part of the
+world. The honor of conceiving the project has been conceded to Admiral
+Knowles, who had submitted his plan to the Duke of Cumberland; but
+although the latter recommended it to the ministry, the plan of the
+invasion, which had been simultaneously submitted by Lord Anson, chief
+of the board of Admiralty, and which was almost identical with that of
+Knowles, was the one finally adopted. In order to divert the attention
+of the enemy from the true object of the expedition, a rumor was
+circulated that the forces were destined for Santo Domingo, which seemed
+quite plausible, this island being nearer to Martinique than to Cuba,
+and one half of it belonging to France, the other to Spain. _The London
+Gazette_ of January ninth corroborated this statement by the
+announcement that the English army was bound for the Antilles.
+
+George III. entrusted the Duke of Cumberland with the task of selecting
+the chiefs who were to be placed at the head of the enterprise, and his
+choice fell upon the following: Lieutenant-General Keppel, Earl of
+Albemarle, for general-in-chief of the land forces, and Admiral Sir
+George Pococke for the command of the squadron. The latter and a
+division of four thousand men gathered in Portsmouth and orders were
+given to General Monckton to hold the forces which had gone to the
+conquest of Martinique and Guadeloupe ready for the arrival of Admiral
+Pococke. The authorities in Jamaica and the British colonies of North
+America were ordered to prepare two divisions, the first of two thousand
+men, the latter of four thousand. The British command staked everything
+upon a surprise attack. Fear that information of the rupture between the
+two countries might have reached Cuba, caused no little anxiety to Lord
+Albemarle and Admiral Pococke. The expedition narrowly escaped an
+encounter with the squadron of M. de Blenac, who had left Brest in aid
+of Martinique with seven vessels and four frigates and a sufficient
+force to have saved that colony, had he come in time. Unfortunately he
+arrived in sight of Martinique only after the surrender of Fort Royal,
+and on hearing that the island was in possession of the British, he
+altered his course and turned towards Cape France, leaving the passage
+free for Admiral Pococke and his fleet.
+
+Upon his arrival in Martinique, Lord Albemarle took command of all the
+forces assembled on the island and found that his army consisted of
+twelve thousand men. He divided them into five brigades and formed
+besides them two bodies, one of four companies of light infantry brought
+from England, and one battalion of grenadiers under the command of
+Colonel Guy Carleton, and placed two other battalions of grenadiers
+under the command of William Howe. He also ordered the purchase of four
+thousand negroes in Martinique and other islands, who were incorporated
+into a company with six thousand negroes of Jamaica. When all these
+preparations had been made, the forces that were to take part in the
+siege of Havana were under orders of the following commanders:
+
+Lord Albemarle, Commander-in-chief.
+
+Lieutenant-General George August Eliot, second chief.
+
+Field Marshals: John Lafanfille and the Hon. William Keppel.
+
+Brigadiers: William Haviland, Francis Grant, John Reid, Andrew Lord
+Rollo and Hunt Walsh.
+
+Adjutant-General: Hon. Col. William Howe; second;--Lieutenant-Colonel
+Dudley Ackland.
+
+Quartermaster General: Col. Guy Carleton; sub-delegate:--Major Nevinson
+Poole.
+
+Secretary of the general-in-chief: Lieutenant-Colonel John Hale.
+
+Engineer-chief: Lieutenant-Colonel Patrick MacKellar.
+
+Chief of the Military Health Board and of the medical corps: Sir Clifton
+Wintringham; sub-delegate: Richard Hunck and a staff of three
+physicians, four surgeons, four druggists and forty-four attendants.
+
+A month passed in concluding the details of this well-elaborated plan.
+Finally on the sixth of May Admiral Pococke started from Martinique in
+the direction of the Paso de la Mano, where he was joined on the eighth
+by the division of Captain Hervey, who was blocking the squadron of
+Admiral de Blenac at Cape France; on the seventeenth they arrived at
+Cape Nicolas and on the twenty-third they met the Jamaica fleet under
+command of Sir James Douglas. The British naval forces, including these
+two divisions and the one that later arrived from North America,
+consisted of fifty-three warships of various kinds with a crew of ten
+thousand eight hundred men, and a great number of transports, among them
+two hundred vessels carrying provisions, hospital supplies, ammunition,
+etc. When the manner of conducting the expedition was at last decided
+upon, the fleet ordered to take part in the siege of Havana was
+composed of the following vessels:
+
+The Admiral ship _Namur_ of fifty cannons; _Cambridge_ of eighty;
+_Valiant_; _Culloden_; _Temerare_; _Dragon_; _Centaur_; and _Dublin_ of
+seventy-four; _Marlborough_ and _Temple_ of seventy; _Oxford_ and
+_Devonshire_ of sixty-six; _Belleisle_; _Edgar_; _Alcide_; _Hampton
+Court_; and _Sterling Castle_ of sixty-four; _Pembroke_; _Rippon_;
+_Nottingham_; _Defense_; and _Intrepid_ of sixty; _Centurion_;
+_Depford_; _Sutherland_; and _Hampshire_ of fifty; the frigates
+_Penzance_, _Dover_ and _Enterprise_ of forty; _Richmond_ and _Alarm_ of
+thirty-two; _Echo_, _Lizard_, _Trent_, _Cerberus_ and _Boreas_ of
+twenty-eight; _Mercury_ of twenty-four; _Rose_, _Portmahon_, _Forvey_
+and _Glasgow_ of twenty; _Bonetta_, _Cygnet_ and _Merle_ of sixteen; the
+schooner _Porcupine_ of sixteen, _Barbadoes_, _Viper_, _Port Royal_,
+_Lurcher_ and _Ferret_ of fourteen, and the bomb-vessels _Thunder_,
+_Grenade_ and _Basilisk_, each of eight cannons.
+
+Of such formidable dimensions were, according to Guiteras, the
+preparations made by Britain for the attack upon Havana. Little is heard
+of corresponding steps taken by her opponents. France was too exhausted
+to indulge in great expenditures of money or men. Spain was curiously
+unconcerned. The possibility of an attack upon Havana was discussed in
+Madrid, but the Spanish minister Grimaldi could not be made to believe
+that it might be successful. Cuba, too, little suspected what was in
+store for her. The new governor appointed to take the place of Cagigal,
+when the latter was promoted to the vice-regency of Mexico, was the
+Field Marshal D. Juan Prado y Portocasso. Before the consummation of the
+Family Pact, in March, 1670, King Carlos III. had told Prado of the
+menacing attitude of Britain and had warned him of the possibility of a
+rupture. He counted upon him to reorganize the island from a military
+point of view. Nevertheless Prado did not immediately after his
+appointment sail for Cuba, but lingered six more months in Spain, and,
+when he arrived on the island, wasted another month in a visit to his
+friend Madriaga, the governor of Santiago. He did not arrive in Havana
+until January, 1761. Valdes gives July as the month of his inauguration
+which seems improbable.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER IV
+
+
+When Prado took charge of the governorship, he immediately proceeded to
+build quarters for the reenforcement of dragoons which were to be sent
+over from Spain, and for that purpose engaged sixty galley-slaves from
+Vera Cruz. He also began work on the fortifications of Cabanas under the
+direction of the excellent engineer Francois Ribaut de Tirgale. But a
+second consignment of galley-slaves in June brought to Havana the
+"vomito negro," the yellow fever, of which Siam had made a gift to
+Mexico in 1713 and which so far had been unknown in Cuba. Physicians
+being unfamiliar with the terrible scourge, all remedies proved of no
+avail. Within three months eighteen hundred men of the garrison and the
+fleet succumbed to the disease. The hospitals were filled with the sick,
+and work on the important public constructions was suspended. Engineer
+Tirgale was one of the first stricken. He was succeeded by his brother
+Balthazar, but he himself was sick and had such insufficient and
+inadequate help that he was much handicapped in his work. New
+difficulties having arisen with the vigueros, or tobacco-planters, Prado
+convoked the Junta which agreed to fix the process, the quantity and the
+brands of tobacco which the General Factory was to receive from the
+planters.
+
+[Illustration: THE OLD ESPADA CEMETERY, HAVANA, 1750]
+
+Thus was the whole year 1761 wasted, while the signs of the impending
+outbreak multiplied and the danger of the dreaded invasion came nearer
+and nearer. On the sixteenth of January, war was declared and only on
+the twenty-sixth of February did the news reach Prado, for the vessel
+carrying the dispatches of the Spanish government had been captured by
+the tender of the _Dublin_. He called at once a meeting of the council
+and asked for one thousand veterans to replace the losses which the
+troops had sustained through the epidemic. He also demanded that he be
+furnished four thousand rounds of powder. The army that he could muster
+in the eventuality of an invasion did not number at that time more than
+four thousand six hundred men. Yet Prado could not be roused from a
+curious apathy that possessed him and that made him again lapse into the
+indolence of Creole life. It seemed impossible for him to realize that
+anybody would dare to attempt what neither Hossier, nor Vernon, nor
+Knowles had dared. M. de Blenac, who commanded a French fleet charged
+with the protection of Santo Domingo, and Prado's friend Madriaga were
+equally unsuspecting. Had the former come to an understanding with the
+commander of the Royal Spanish transports, they might have surprised
+the British in the straits of Bahama and averted the disaster.
+
+On the twenty first of May, a business man from Santiago, Martin de
+Arana, who had been on an errand to Kingston and in his patriotic
+anxiety perceived the armaments and supplies that were being collected
+there, came to Havana to inform the government. Reluctantly Governor
+Prado consented to an interview with this man who had braved the sea
+voyage and suffered privations to save his country from the menacing
+attack. The attitude of the people as soon as the news spread was
+commendable. The sugar-planters promised their negroes freedom if they
+joined the troops of defense and the clergy went about rousing the
+spirit of the people to action. Bishop Pedro Agustino Morell of Santa
+Cruz did admirable work. He had during the expedition of Edward Vernon
+traversed the country on horseback, and stirred the people to resist the
+invaders. Beloved by his parishioners, whom he inspired with his zeal,
+he had for twenty years preached the holy war against the enemies of his
+native soil. His generosity and his self-denial knew no bounds. The word
+of such a man at such a moment had weight and the people were ready to
+go to any length of sacrifice; but the man at the head of the government
+seemed oblivious to the gravity of the situation and did nothing
+efficiently to prepare the defense of the city. Prado presided at the
+meetings of the War Junta which failed to suit the action of the word
+and wasted time in heated discussions. This War Council consisted of the
+"Marques" of the Royal Transports, the honorary marine quartermaster, D.
+Juan Montalvo, Col. del Rio D. Alejandro Arroyo, the engineer D.
+Balthasar Ricaut, and the captains of the vessels anchored in the bay.
+Later it was joined by the Lieutenant-General D. Jose Manso de Velasco,
+the former viceroy of Peru, the Field Marshal D. Diego Tabares,
+ex-governor of Cartagena, and the Lieutenant-General Conde de Superanda,
+then visiting Havana. The council did not heed the warning of D. Martin
+de Arana, the Santiago trader, any more than did Governor Prado.
+
+In the meantime the British fleet was approaching through the straits of
+Bahama, clear of purpose, strong of will, and bent upon conquest. An
+interesting document of that event is "An Authentic Journal of the Siege
+of the Havana By an Officer. Printed in London MDCCLXII. Reprinted in
+Dublin, by Boulton Grierson, Printer to the King's Most Excellent
+Majesty." That record of the expedition had evidently for its author a
+man of sound judgment and is imbued throughout with a rare sense of
+justice towards British and Spanish alike. Spanish authorities, among
+them Blanchet, give the number of line ships in the fleet as twenty-six,
+fifteen frigates and an infinite number of smaller vessels, and about
+twenty thousand combatants. The author of the journal reports nineteen
+ships of the line, about eighteen frigates, sloops, and other vessels
+and one hundred and fifty transports with ten thousand troops. The
+commander of the fleet was Sir George Pococke, Knight of the Bath,
+Admiral of the Blue, etc., and the commander of the troops,
+Lieutenant-General Earl of Albemarle. The witness writes that they left
+Cape Nicolas, northwest of Hispaniola, on the twenty-seventh of May and
+sailed in seven divisions through the old straits of Bahama--"an
+undertaking far superior to anything we know in our times, or read of in
+the past, as few ships care to go through this passage at any time, much
+less such a fleet, destitute of pilots that professed any knowledge of
+it and almost of any information of the passage that could be relied
+on." He goes on to say that "frigates, smaller vessels and even the
+great ships' boats were sent ahead and so distributed on both shores,
+with such proper and well adapted signals for day and night, that not
+only reconciled every one to the dangers and risk of so hazardous an
+undertaking, but almost ensured our success. We were often in sight of
+the keys or shoals on each side."
+
+In the first days of June some of the British ships engaged in a fight
+with and took a Spanish frigate of twenty-four guns and a smaller vessel
+of eighteen guns, a brig and a schooner, all of which had sailed ten
+days before from Havana for timber. Through the crews of these vessels,
+the British learned that at the time of their sailing the people of
+Havana had not yet been informed of the declaration of war. On the fifth
+of June the fleet cleared the straits and the next day was off Puerto de
+Terrara, about thirty-six miles windward of Havana. Colonel Carleton and
+Colonel Howe went to reconnoitre the coast for landing. The siege of
+Morro Castle was left to Commodore Keppel. "The Admiral went himself
+with the rest of the fleet off the harbor, to block up the enemy's ships
+and in order to more effectually draw the attention of the enemy that
+way, took with him all the victualling ships, store ships and
+transports, whose troops had over night been put in those men-of-war
+appointed for securing the landing." By daylight the troops were in the
+flat and other boats, and Captain Hervey gave the signal for descent on
+the sandy beach between Boconao and Cojimar. The enemy had thrown up
+small breastworks near the old tower commanding the mouth of Boconao and
+attempted a defense, but was soon dispersed by fire from two ships
+anchored close to shore. At three o'clock in the afternoon the army was
+on shore and began to advance toward the Morro, five miles away, along a
+road which had a thick wood to the left and the sea to the right. The
+ten guns of the old stone fort of Cojimar were soon silenced by the
+_Dragon_, anchored close by. Two and a half miles from the Morro the
+British lay down for the night upon their arms in a heavy rain.
+
+While the British were continuing their advance upon Havana, the
+authorities of the Cuban metropolis were deliberating in the sessions of
+the War Junta, and the Governor was still unconvinced of the serious
+intention of the British, this time determined not to rest until Havana
+was in their possession. Valdes reports that this state of affairs
+lasted until on the sixth of June there appeared on the weather-side
+about two hundred and fifty vessels. Everybody but Governor Prado was
+convinced that they had come ready to fight. He supposed them to be a
+flotilla come from Jamaica to discharge their cargo. Nevertheless he
+went that morning to the Morro to observe the movements of the armada.
+He found the garrison under arms by order of the royal lieutenant D.
+Dionisio Soler. Much vexed by what he considered exaggerated fear and
+suspicion, he rescinded the order and commanded the soldiers to return
+to their quarters. That afternoon, however, the report came from the
+Morro, that the fleet had arrived and was preparing to land troops.
+
+[Illustration: LAUREL DITCH, CABANAS FORTRESS
+
+The Cabanas fortress stands near the Morro Castle, at the eastern side
+of the entrance to the harbor of Havana, and ranks with the Morro and La
+Punta, on the western headland, as one of the historic fortifications of
+the capital. Like the Morro Castle, it was used by the Spaniards as a
+prison, and the Laurel Ditch, under its landward walls, was the scene of
+many a martyrdom of Cuban patriots. Here men and boys innumerable,
+during the years of Cuba's struggles to be free, were lined up to be
+shot, until the massive wall was thickly pitted with the marks of
+bullets fired not at the foes but at the friends of Cuba.]
+
+The consternation of the inhabitants can be imagined when suddenly the
+bells began to ring and the cannons to thunder. The people rushed out of
+their houses. Some were armed; but the greater part had no weapons and
+hurried to the Sala Real, where fifteen hundred guns were stored away
+with some old carabines, swords, bayonets, and other weapons, mostly out
+of order and too old to be of any use. They were quickly distributed
+among the people. The war council assembled. The governor, the Royal
+Lieutenant, the General of the Navy, the Marques of the Royal
+Transports, the Commissary D. Lorenzo Montalvo and the distinguished
+visitors, the Commander-in-Chief Conde de Superanda and Field Marshal D.
+Diego Tabares were present. It was decided to charge Colonel D. Carlos
+Caro with the task of opposing and preventing the enemy's debarkation at
+Cojimar and Boconao, and to collect the cavalry of that place, a few
+companies of infantry, militia and lancers, in all about three thousand
+men, at this point. La Cabanas was rapidly supplied with artillery. But
+in the meantime the enemy, according to the testimony of a British
+officer's journal, had already landed troops and overcome the resistance
+of the very places to the support of which these forces were sent!
+
+The military defense of Havana, as described by Blanchet, presented a
+sorry spectacle. It consisted of eight hundred and ten cavalry, three
+thousand five hundred infantry, three hundred artillery, nine thousand
+marines and fourteen thousand militia. The armament of these troops was
+insufficient in quantity and inferior in quality. Twelve vessels were
+anchored in the port. The entrance was protected by the Morro with
+fourteen cannons, the battery of the Doce Apostoles with twelve guns,
+that of the Divina Pastora with fourteen guns and the fort of la Punta.
+In the city there were the twenty two guns of la Fuerza, the residence
+of the Captain-General, and the depository of the royal estates. The
+condition of the walls was unsatisfactory. The town was dominated by
+fortified heights, which, however, were very accessible. It is not
+difficult to imagine the state of the people when the news reached the
+town that Cojimar and Boconao had fallen. When on the following day
+General Eliot defeated D. Luis Rasave and took Guanabacoa, Colonel Caro,
+who had been little more than a spectator, retired to Havana. The
+population was in a panic.
+
+The war council then entrusted the defense of the Morro to D. Luis
+Vicente Velasco, a native of Villa de Noja in Santander and commander of
+the vessel _La Reina_. Defenses were hurriedly put up at Chorrera and
+Cabanas. All residents unable to bear arms were advised to leave the
+city. Soon a procession of women and children and members of the
+religious orders of both sexes, with here and there the calash of some
+wealthy family, were seen to proceed along the roads radiating from the
+city towards the suburbs and the more remote haciendas, under the
+protection of a detachment of troops. It was a heartrending picture to
+see these crowds, trudging along on foot in the cruel heat of the
+tropical sun, on roads almost impassable from recent rains. Many
+succumbed to the hardships of this exodus. Others were dumb with terror
+as they realized that they might never again see their fathers, brothers
+and husbands. Again others gave vent to their high-strung emotions by
+loud wails. About the time this evacuation took place, fire was set to
+the suburbs outside of the city walls and unspeakable was the distress
+of innumerable unfortunate families, who in the face of foreign invasion
+saw their homes reduced to ashes.
+
+A part of the British fleet was seen sailing at this time towards the
+leeward part of the island with the manifest intention of making another
+landing. The population was dazed. Some men rushed out to defend their
+homes and their women, but the greater number was so overcome by the
+calamity confronting them, that their wills seemed paralyzed and they
+dumbly awaited the blow that was coming. The next day the work of
+fortifying la Cabanas began in such an exposed place on the border of
+the city that rifle bullets could reach the Plaza de los Armas. The
+construction of a trench was also begun. It was intended to hold one
+hundred cannon, but after nine or ten had been mounted, the war council
+changed its plan, ordered the destruction of the trench and had the
+artillery brought down. This was done in the night of the ninth of June
+and fire was set to some houses on the hill. The people were startled by
+this surprising procedure and began not only to grumble, but to talk of
+treason.
+
+As the British fleet was then menacing the port, the three vessels,
+_Neptune_, _Europa_ and _Asia_, were concentrated in the canal of the
+entrance. With the huge iron beams that closed it and the artillery of
+the harbor, they acted like forts securing its safety. It seemed as if
+these land batteries could prevent the landing of any enemy vessel. But
+the war council wanted to improve upon this measure and decided to sink
+_Neptune_ and _Europa_, during the hurried execution of which order two
+sailors were drowned. Still bent upon what seemed an improvement, two
+days later the _Asia_, too, was sunk. The British, supposing the port to
+be closed, anchored along the coast, landed five thousand men and after
+defeating the land forces, the fleet entered the canal without
+encountering serious obstacles. But the Spanish authorities continued to
+commit more blunders. Appointing as commanders of the land-forces
+officers of the fleet, the army of course resented this as an insult.
+The task of mobilizing the troops was entrusted to D. Juan Ignacio de
+Madriaga; the defense of el Morro had been given to D. Luis Vicente de
+Velasco, whose second was D. Bartolome Montes, and that of la Punta to
+D. Manuel Briseno, who was soon relieved by D. Fernando de Lortia.
+Almost all the army posts were occupied by officers of the fleet. The
+reasons for these measures which seemed absolutely senseless in view of
+the critical situation, were hotly discussed and some malicious tongues
+asserted that the object of this curious disposition was to prevent the
+fleet from making its escape.
+
+On the tenth of June a British division moved from the leeward part of
+the fort of Chorrera, a short distance from the port, with the object of
+landing troops. They met with greater resistance than they had reason to
+expect; for the defense was here aided by the loyal executor D. Luis de
+Aguiar, who had been appointed Colonel of the militia. All day his men
+fought bravely; they consisted of whites and negroes. They expected a
+supply of powder and ammunition from an official of Guadeloupe, but he
+by mistake had delivered them at la Caleta. Finally their stock gave
+out, and, obeying the order of a superior officer, Aguiar withdrew his
+troops with little loss. The British then advanced about three thousand
+men strong, until they reached the hill of San Lazaro, where they dug
+trenches and prepared a new encampment. They also occupied and fortified
+the height of the caves, called Taganana, where they mounted three
+cannon and two large mortars. With two vessels, armed with bombs, in the
+small bay, the fire they kept up helped the camp on the weather-side, at
+which the chief force was concentrated. They then proceeded to erect
+batteries on the height of la Cabanas and were at first much molested
+during their work by Aguiar, Chacon and the guerilla Pepe Antonio, who
+had collected a force at that point. A detachment of militia under the
+command of Captain D. Pedro de Morales was sent to reenforce them, but
+on the next day he was surprised by the British, who thus came into
+possession of this important place.
+
+In the meantime, the British expedition was beginning to suffer much
+from incessant rains, alternating with excessive heat. Their work was
+retarded as much by the weather as by the physical condition of their
+forces, which began to suffer from the climate and fatigue. The
+resistance of the Cubans was increasing in proportion as the enemy drew
+near. During the last days of June, Colonel D. Alejandro de Arroyo
+landed a body of six hundred men at Pastora battery. Simultaneously the
+naval lieutenant D. Francisco de Corral placed three hundred men at
+Norno de Barba. The plan was to spike up the enemy's artillery. But
+laudable as was the ambition of the commanders, their ability of
+achievement was not in proportion. Their forces, too, were sadly
+inferior in number to those of the British. The Captain of the infantry
+of the fleet, D. Manuel de Frias, was made prisoner, three hundred of
+his troops were killed and forty men wounded. The force of Col. Arroyo
+also sustained heavy losses, especially the grenadiers of Arrajon.
+
+A council held at el Morro resulted in the election by the commanders of
+D. Luis Vicente de Velasco as their head and chief. No man was more able
+or worthy to fill this responsible position. Untiring in his efforts to
+defend the fortress, Velasco resolutely and capably endeavored to foil
+the enemy's designs. But he was out-numbered and the danger grew daily
+nearer. Though at a great loss to their forces, the British forged ahead
+and surrounded Velasco with a continuous fire. With the port closed to
+the Cuban squadron they were free to place their cannon as they went
+along. The rain of bullets, bombs and grenades was incessant and the
+breakdown of the bastions inevitable. The garrison seemed to be doomed.
+The commander declared that it would not be possible to maintain his
+position without some aid from the camp, but while the walls were being
+gradually destroyed by the enemy, he did not venture a well organized
+sortie. On the first of July el Morro was attacked by the batteries
+which the British had planted on el Cabanas and the fire from three
+vessels, among them the _Cambridge_ and the _Dragon_. The valor of
+Velasco inspired his troops, pathetically small in comparison with those
+of the British. After seven hours of the hottest fire, the _Cambridge_
+and the _Dragon_ were so badly battered that they were forced to the
+rear. The British lost three hundred men, among them Captain Goostree of
+the _Cambridge_. So fierce had been the resistance offered by Velasco
+and the few cannon at his disposal, that the British camp, which had
+been pouring a rain of bombs on el Morro, finally ceased firing. So the
+honor of this day belonged to the Spanish commander.
+
+It is interesting at this point to revert to the journal of the British
+officer, who took part in this memorable siege of Havana. After
+reporting under date of July third that their great battery had caught
+fire, he continues on the following day:
+
+"The Morro was now found to be tougher work and the Spaniards more
+resolute than was at first imagined. Our people grew fatigued by the
+heat and hard labour and the want of water near them was a sensible
+distress, and the disappointment of the Morro's not being reduced so
+speedily as at first they were made to hope, helped to depress the
+spirits of the weak and low minds; but we found every want relieved and
+amply made up for by the Admiral's attention, not only to supply every
+article that could be asked, but by his own sagacity, foreseeing and his
+precaution providing everything we could want."
+
+During the following days the British seem to have suffered much from
+the climate. The writer of the journal records that the men in general
+"fall down with fevers and fluxes, but few are carried off by them."
+Admiral Keppel was much weakened by illness and fatigue, but this
+discouraging entry is followed immediately by a cheerier note, dated
+July 8th and 9th:
+
+"Every one was exerting himself in his different station and with such
+zeal as gave fresh hopes to our undertaking, notwithstanding the
+melancholy scene of the infinite number of sick and the apprehension of
+the approaching hurricane season."
+
+The British had begun to realize the failure of the naval attempt to
+reduce el Morro. They tried to fortify themselves in the harbor and
+established the lee-shore camp on the slope of Aroztegui, the same on
+which El Principe was situated. From this point they undertook many
+movements, but were always driven back. In spite of these temporary and
+local successes the Cuban authorities now fully realized that their
+situation was almost hopeless and devised various measures to stay the
+progress of the enemy. The magistrates D. Luis de Aguiar and D. Laureane
+Chacon were made colonels of the militia. They decided to stop the
+forays and attacks from that encampment, and D. Aguiar established
+himself in the Horon and tried to dislodge the enemy from various points
+to which they had penetrated. His undertaking was successful, as was
+proved by the number of prisoners taken. The hostile forces at Taganana,
+however, did much mischief and he resolved to attack them on the night
+of the eighteenth of July. His troops consisted of peasants and negro
+slaves and fought so effectively, that he was able to send to the
+fortress eighteen prisoners, including an officer and many trophies. The
+governor was so elated by this success that he gave one hundred and four
+negro slaves, that had taken part, their liberty.
+
+The British officer in his journal alludes in the entries of these days
+to the heavy losses sustained by the British, but dwells more upon the
+ravages caused by disease. The sick list increasing, the guards had to
+be reduced. The necessity of having a supply of fresh meat for the
+invalids and convalescents worried them much. They had counted upon
+getting it from Santiago and Bejucal, where the rich plantations and
+pastures were, and a monastery that promised rich loot. But D. Laureane
+Chacon anticipated their movements in that direction. He concentrated
+some troops four leagues leeward from Wajay, and thus not only checked
+their progress, but by his persistent opposition weakened their forces.
+
+Many of the smaller actions that were undertaken against the British by
+the Cubans were by volunteer forces recruited by veteran fighters, who
+had not been associated with the army proper, and their manner of waging
+war was of the kind called guerrilla warfare. Nevertheless they did
+active and efficient work and had they not been hindered and restrained
+by orders from the regulars, they might have accomplished much more. The
+Lieutenant Diego Ruiz lost his life in such an enterprise. Another
+famous guerrilla, the valiant fighter known as Pepe Antonio, had won the
+esteem of the whole army by his courage. He had collected a force of
+three hundred men and was planning an ambitious assault upon the enemy,
+when he was called to report to Colonel Caro, who commanded the
+encampment at Jesus del Monte and San Juan. Colonel Caro, who had not
+during the siege distinguished himself by any extraordinary
+achievements, not only censured Pepe Antonio severely, but discharged
+him. The valiant patriot hero of many daring exploits was so grieved by
+this injustice that he died within five days.
+
+Among these side plays of the great siege an expedition led by Colonel
+Gutierrez had some successful encounters with the British. D. Luis de
+Aguiar and D. Laureane Chacon, too, who had gathered under their command
+the brave youths of the country side, were untiring in their efforts to
+weaken the British. They prevented them from establishing a cordon and
+cutting communication with the fort and were themselves enabled
+uninterruptedly to secure provisions and supplies with which to carry on
+their operations. Less fortunate was the attack upon Cabanas by D. Juan
+Benito Lujan with a thousand militia men from the interior of the
+island. At daybreak, on the twenty-second of July, according to the
+British officer, the Spanish at el Morro, having been enforced by twelve
+hundred men from the town, furiously attacked the British. But Brigadier
+Carleton directed so fierce a fire against them that their forces were
+driven into the water. He describes them as having consisted mainly of
+militia, some seamen, mulattoes and negroes. They lost four hundred
+dead, many wounded and seventy prisoners. A violent cannonade followed,
+during which Carleton was wounded.
+
+While the British troops were encamped from La Cabanas to Cojimar they
+made many looting raids in the neighborhood, extending their incursions
+as far as San Miguel and Santa Maria del Rosario. They not only
+ransacked the churches for their treasures, but also private estates,
+and took away whatever they could carry. They had approached el Morro by
+the bulwark of Pina and a body of forty to fifty men in the shelter of
+some rocks maintained an incessant gunfire. The garrison of the fort,
+which was being steadily reduced by the rain of bombs and grenades,
+wanted to make a sortie into the open country, hoping there to be
+reenforced. Remaining in el Morro was becoming more and more perilous,
+because the enemy had undermined the fortress. D. Luis de Velasco,
+broken down by the strain and overwork received a blow on the shoulder,
+which temporarily disabled him. His aide, Mentes, was likewise wounded,
+and the two were replaced by D. Francisco Medina and D. Manuel de
+Cordova. During their absence nothing was done, for the peasantry, fond
+as they were of Velasco, were reluctant to fight and perhaps die under
+the command of another. Mentes returned on the third day, appointed
+Lieutenant-Colonel, and, joined by D. Juan Benito Lujan, who commanded
+one thousand men of Tierradentro and some colored troops from the fort,
+attempted a sally. But the British on the heights threw themselves upon
+the Cubans and overpowered them. The loss on both sides was so great,
+however, that the enemy had to ask for a truce to bury their dead. As
+the British said, the Spanish were valiant, but they had no head. If
+there had been at their head a man of foresight, and if unity of command
+had been insured at the beginning, the disaster might have been avoided.
+
+The British forces were at this time beginning to suffer painfully for
+want of water and lack of fresh provisions. Five thousand men, and a
+great proportion of officers among them, were unfit for duty. But the
+arrival of North American troops under convoy of the _Intrepid_ of
+sixty-four guns, revived the spirit of the expedition. The North
+Americans had lost a ship of forty guns and six transports in the old
+straits of Bahama, but the people were saved and encamped upon the
+shores, and the British Admiral sent frigates for them. One thousand and
+four hundred men under Brigadier Burton reenforced Col. Howe on the west
+side. The Cuban defense was also encouraged in these days, for Velasco,
+who had been wounded on the sixteenth of July, with second, Mentes,
+forced to seek medical care in the city, returned to his post at el
+Morro on the twenty-fourth. During the siege the Spanish vessels, with
+the exception of the frigate _Perla_, which was sunk by the foe, were
+singularly inactive. The critical and decisive moment of the siege came
+on the thirteenth of July, when at two o'clock in the afternoon the
+British sprung their mines. Through the breach they rapidly entered and
+captured the battery of San Nicolas. Although the garrison was so
+terrified that not a few soldiers had fled, the remaining offered a
+brave opposition to the invaders. D. Fernando Parrayo and thirteen men,
+supported by two cannon, fought heroically, while the British forces
+poured into the port. The British officer gives due credit to the Cuban
+commanders who desperately tried to save the honor of their country. He
+writes:
+
+"The Marquis de Gonzales, commander of a man of war, etc., second in
+command of the fort, fell bravely endeavoring to animate and rally his
+people. Don Luis de Velasco, also Captain of the _Reina_ man-of-war,
+soon after shared the same fate endeavoring to defend the colours of the
+fort, round which he had made a breastwork and had collected about 100
+men, who soon fled and left him to that stroke he seemed to invite and
+wait for; for being shot through the breast he fell, offering his sword
+to the conquerors. Confusion and fright ensued, and as much slaughter;
+for near 400 of the enemy fell by the sword; as many more taken
+prisoners to whom the soldiers had generously given quarters, though no
+ways obliged by the rules of war. English colours were soon flying on
+the fort, that were welcomed by the loud huzzas of all the rejoiced army
+and navy. A parley ensued, and D. Luis de Velasco (not yet dead) was at
+his own request sent to breathe out his last at the Havana, where he
+expired a day after, leaving a name behind and a character that justly
+merited admiration and esteem from his opposites as respect and love
+from his confederates."
+
+The historian Blanchet also reports that the British showed due
+reverence to the dead leader and that hostilities were for that reason
+suspended during the following day. They received a reenforcement of
+troops from New York on the second of August; but they had fallen in
+with three French men-of-war and some frigates on their passage, who
+took five or six transports with about five hundred men. Their forces
+were being decimated by the climate and the hardships. The British
+witness writes that finishing the batteries on Cabanas cost the lives of
+many poor seamen who were obliged to be day and night filling vessels
+with water for the men at work. Some men-of-war were sent down with
+transports to Mariel, for want of men made it unsafe for them to remain
+any longer on this most open and frightful coast, where the Spaniards as
+well as West Indians expressed their surprise and dread at seeing such a
+fleet ride so long in such a season.
+
+When the British entered el Morro, they found only one hundred and two
+bronze cannon of various calibres, two hundred iron cannon, nine bronze
+mortars, two iron mortars, four thousand one hundred and fifty-seven
+rifles, five hundred hand grenades, four hundred and seventy empty
+grenades of various quality, seventeen thousand four hundred and four
+cannon balls, thirty quintals of rifle balls, one hundred and
+twenty-five thousand cartridges and five hundred quintals of powder. The
+sorrow at being forced to give up el Morro was great. Supported by the
+vessel _Aquilon_ the quick fire from la Punta and the bulwarks of the
+place promptly demolished the fort. The Cuban vessels retired to the
+interior of the bay, fearing the bombs from la Cabanas. The commanders
+for the same reason sought shelter in the hospiteum of St. Isidore,
+which was situated at the point farthest away from the fire. Yet the
+determination to continue to resist the invaders prevailed and a battery
+was formed on the elevation of Soto, where the fort of Attares was
+located, and fortifications were continued to be strengthened wherever
+it was possible.
+
+The batteries of the British were completed on August tenth, and Lord
+Albemarle summoned the city to surrender. But Governor Prado relied upon
+reenforcements promised him by the governor of Santiago de Cuba and
+hoped also for the possible arrival of a French squadron, so he refused.
+The people, too, were opposed to surrender, for they had within the last
+six days received reenforcements from several sides; two hundred and
+twelve rifles and ammunition from the town of Cuba, five hundred more
+from Jagua and fifteen hundred on the very last day. However, the fierce
+fire which the British opened against Havana at daybreak on the eleventh
+of August, induced the commander of the Cuban forces to give up the last
+hope. About noon the Spanish ceased firing and at three o'clock in the
+afternoon flags of truce appeared everywhere. The governor sent word
+that Havana was ready to capitulate.
+
+According to the British officer's journal the victors took possession
+of the town and port of Havana on the next day; they also became the
+owners of nine ships of the line, of seventy four and sixty four guns,
+two very large ones on the stocks, nearly completed, about twenty-five
+loaded merchant ships; nearly three million dollars belonging to the
+King and the Royal Company; about six hundred pieces of cannon, and
+great magazines of stores and merchandise of all kinds. He continues:
+
+"But the most grateful at the time was, that it furnished us with fresh
+provisions, rest and shelter for the many thousands poor sick wretches
+we had in our camp and hospital ships, all mouldering away for want of
+nourishment when their disorders had left them. Our battalion is so weak
+that we have not above one hundred and fifty men fit for duty. I am told
+the navy is badly off. Our loss of killed and wounded is very trifling
+in comparison to that of the enemy. Theirs amounts to upwards of six
+thousand killed and dead of their wounds since, and of sickness."
+
+The following day the governor ordered all weapons to be surrendered by
+military bodies as private individuals and Mayor D. Antonio Ramirez de
+Estenez was authorized to accord the articles of capitulation.
+
+
+ARTICLES OF CAPITULATION
+
+ARTICLE I
+
+The garrison will leave by the puerta de Tierra on the twenty-eighth of
+the present month, if there should not arrive before sufficient help to
+raise the siege, with all military honors, the soldiers with arms,
+hoisted flags, six field cannon, and the regiments will also remove the
+military cases with their contents, and besides six carriages of the
+Governor.
+
+
+ARTICLE II
+
+Said garrison will be permitted to remove from the town all luggage and
+money, and transport them to another place of the island.
+
+
+ARTICLE III
+
+That the ship crews of the port that had served on land shall in their
+departure enjoy the same honors as the garrison and be brought back to
+their vessels. They may sail to any other place of Spanish domination,
+on the condition that on their voyage until their arrival at their
+destination they shall not attack any vessel of H. British Majesty, of
+his allies, or any vessel of his subjects.
+
+
+ARTICLE IV
+
+That of all the artillery, arms, ammunition and provisions belonging to
+his Catholic Majesty, excepting those that particularly correspond with
+said fleet, an exact inventory shall be taken, with the assistance of
+four subjects of the king of Spain, who will be appointed by the
+governor, and four subjects of H. British Majesty, chosen by H. Ex Count
+Albemarle, who will take possession of all until both sovereigns agree
+otherwise.
+
+
+ARTICLE V
+
+That in this capitulation shall be comprised H. Ex Conde de Superanda,
+Lieutenant-General of the armies of H. Catholic Majesty, and former
+Viceroy of Peru, as well as Don Diego Tabares, Fieldmarshal of the same
+royal arms, and former Governor of Cartagena, who happens to be in that
+town on their way to Spain, together with their families. They shall be
+left in the possession of their baggage and their sailing to Spain shall
+be facilitated.
+
+
+ARTICLE VI
+
+That the Catholic Apostolic Roman religion shall be maintained, and
+conserved, as before exercised under H. Catholic Majesty, and that not
+the least impediment shall be placed in the public acts in regard to the
+rites exercised and with the churches, and the observation of religious
+feasts, and all priests, convents, monasteries, hospitals, societies,
+universities, colleges shall remain in the free enjoyment of their
+privileges and rights, as to their property and income, and furnitures,
+as they had enjoyed before.
+
+
+ARTICLE VII
+
+That the Bishop of Cuba shall likewise conserve his rights, privileges
+and prerogatives, which are required for the direction and spiritual
+nourishment of the faithful of the Catholic religion, or nomination of
+priests and ecclesiastical ministers necessary, and exercise his
+accustomed jurisdiction. (Note: Conceded with the reserve that the
+nomination of priests and other employes be subject to the approval of
+the Governor of H. British Majesty sent to the place.)
+
+
+ARTICLE VIII
+
+That in the cloisters and nunneries the internal government hitherto
+prevailing shall be followed with subordination to their legitimate
+superiors, according to the statutes of the particular institutions.
+("Conceded.")
+
+
+ARTICLE IX
+
+That the funds in the town belonging to H. Catholic Majesty shall be
+embarked on the vessels of the fleet that happen to be in port to be
+shipped to Spain, likewise all the tobacco belonging to H. Catholic
+Majesty; that even in war time the same Sovereign shall be permitted to
+buy tobacco from the island, in the district subject to the King of
+Great Britain at current prices, and to transport it to Spain in their
+own foreign vessels. ("Refused.")
+
+
+ARTICLE X
+
+That in consideration of the fact that this port is so conveniently
+situated for those navigating in these parts of America, be they Spanish
+or English, it shall be available to the subjects of H. Catholic Majesty
+as a neutral port and they shall be permitted to enter and leave freely,
+taken the food they require and repair their vessels, paying for
+everything at current prices, and that they cannot be insulted or
+disturbed in their navigation by the ships of H. British Majesty, nor
+the ships of his subjects and allies, from the promontory of Celoche on
+the coast of Campeche and St. Antonio in the West, and from the sound of
+la Tortuga to this port, and thence to the latitude 33 deg. North, until
+their two Majesties agree otherwise. ("Refused.")
+
+
+ARTICLE XI
+
+That all permanent inhabitants of the city and neighborhood remain in
+the free use and possession of their political offices and employments,
+and in that of their funds and other property, i.e. household stuff of
+whatever origin, quality, or in whatever condition they be, without
+being obliged to contribute in other terms than those made by H.
+Catholic Majesty. (Conceded, and they will be permitted to continue in
+the enjoyment of their property so long as their conduct does not give
+cause for denying them.)
+
+
+ARTICLE XII
+
+That these same should retain and have guaranteed the rights and
+privileges which they hitherto enjoyed, and that they will be governed
+in the name of H. British Majesty under the same conditions as they have
+been under Spanish domination, naming their judges and agents of justice
+according to usages and customs. (Answered in the preceding.)
+
+
+ARTICLE XIII
+
+That whoever of said inhabitants is unwilling to stay in this city, be
+permitted freely to remove his property and wealth in the manner most
+convenient to him, to sell them or leave them to be administrated, and
+to go away with them to the dominions of H. Catholic Majesty, he may
+choose, granting them a space of four years and giving them bought or
+chartered vessels for conveyance, with the passports and necessary
+protection of safety, and the power to arm them in the cruise against
+the Moors and Turks, with the express condition not to use them against
+subjects of H. British Majesty or his allies, nor to be ill-treated or
+molested by them. (Reply: The inhabitants will be permitted to sell and
+remove their effects to any place of Spanish dominions, in vessels at
+its coast, for which purpose they will be given passports; and it is to
+be understood that officials who have property in the island will enjoy
+the same benefits as conceded to the other inhabitants.)
+
+
+ARTICLE XIV
+
+That these will not be in the least molested for having in their loyalty
+taken up arms, and enlisted their militia for the war; nor shall the
+English troops be permitted to plunder or any other abuse, and that, to
+the contrary, they shall completely enjoy the other rights, exemptions
+and prerogatives as the other subjects of H. British Majesty, the
+families that had left the town on account of the present invasion to
+return without any obstacle or difficulty from the country to the city
+with all their provisions and funds, and it is to be understood that
+neither the one nor the others will be inconvenienced by the stationing
+of troops in their houses, unless it be in quarters as were used during
+Spanish dominion. (Reply: Conceded, excepting that in case it becomes
+necessary to quarter the troops, it must be left to the direction of the
+Governor. All the slaves of the King will be delivered to the persons
+that will be named to receive them.)
+
+
+ARTICLE XV
+
+That holders of stocks found in this town and belonging to merchants of
+Cadiz and in which all nations of Europe are interested, be facilitated
+to depart freely with them, to remit them with the protocols without
+being insulted in their voyage.
+
+
+ARTICLE XVI
+
+That the ministers in charge of the administration and distribution of
+the Exchequer or any other business of H. Catholic Majesty be left in
+the free use of all those documents that are in their guard, with the
+power to remit or bring them to Spain for safety, and the same to hold
+also good with regard to the Royal Company established in this town, and
+its clerks. All public papers will be delivered for revision to the
+secretaries of the Admiral, and will be restored to the ministers of H.
+Catholic Majesty, unless they be found necessary for the Government of
+the island.
+
+
+ARTICLE XVII
+
+That the public archives remain in the power of the Ministers in whose
+charge they are, without being permitted the least irregularity in
+regard to these papers and the instruments they contain, because of the
+grave mischief that would result from it to the rights of the community
+and to private individuals. (Replied in the preceding articles.)
+
+
+ARTICLE XVIII
+
+That the officials and soldiers who are in the hospitals be treated in
+the same way as the garrison, and after having recovered, they should be
+helped in obtaining beasts of burden or vessels for their transportation
+to where the rest of the garrison happens to be, as well as everything
+necessary for their safety and subsistence during the voyage, and among
+others they should be given the provisions and medicines asked for by
+the directors and surgeons of said hospitals. (Conceded: The governor
+having competent commissaries to assist them with provisions, surgeons
+and the necessary medicines at the cost of H. Catholic Majesty.)
+
+
+ARTICLE XIX
+
+That the prisoners of either party taken by the other since the sixth of
+June when the English fleet appeared before this port, be reciprocally
+restituted without any ransom whatever in the course of two months.
+(This article cannot be concluded before the British prisoners are
+returned.)
+
+
+ARTICLE XX
+
+Upon the granting of the articles of this capitulation, and the giving
+of hostages by either party, the gate of Tierra will be delivered to the
+troops of H. British Majesty, for placing there a guard, together with
+another provided by the garrison of the place until the evacuation is
+carried out, and His Ex Conde de Albemarle will send a few soldiers for
+the protection of the churches, convents, the houses of the generals and
+other officials. (Conceded.)
+
+
+ARTICLE XXI
+
+That the governor and commander of the fleet be permitted to dispatch to
+H. Catholic Majesty and to other parties information by the vessels, to
+which passports for their voyage shall be given. (Since the troops are
+to be sent to Spain, the information is useless.)
+
+
+ARTICLE XXII
+
+That in consideration of the vigorous defense made by the Fort of la
+Punta, it shall be included in this capitulation and its garrison shall
+enjoy the same honors as that of the fortress, and it shall leave
+through one of the most suitable breaches made in the ramparts.
+(Conceded.)
+
+
+ARTICLE XXIII
+
+This capitulation to be observed punctually and literally. (Conceded.)
+
+Headquarters in Habana, August 12, 1762.
+
+    (Signed) G. Pococke,
+                Albemarle,
+                Marques of the Royal Fleet,
+                Juan de Prado.
+
+What is contained in these articles in regard to the squadron, its
+officials, crew and garrisons, has been done with my intervention, and I
+propose them as their Comendante General, and in consequence of what has
+been accorded in the Junta of yesterday.
+
+Habana, August 12, 1762--El Marques of the Royal Transports.
+
+We agree with these articles, which are a true copy of the originals,
+according to the translation made from the English into Spanish by D.
+Miguel Brito, public interpreter of this town for H. Catholic Majesty.
+
+Habana, August 12, 1762--El Marques of the Royal Transports--Juan de
+Prado.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER V
+
+
+With the solemn signing of the foregoing articles of capitulation on the
+twelfth of August, 1762, began the occupation of Havana by the British,
+who thus seemed to have attained the goal of their covetous aspirations.
+It was a great day for them; it was a day of mourning for the Cubans.
+
+While these articles of capitulation were in themselves not unjust,
+differing in no essentials from those usually exacted by the victors
+from the vanquished, the people of Havana found it difficult to obey all
+these injunctions coming to them from a foreign authority. History
+furnishes abundant proofs that it is comparatively easy to conquer a
+country by numerical superiority or clever strategy, but that it is
+infinitely more difficult to conquer the hearts of its people. The
+Spanish historian Alcazar records an incident belonging to the history
+of the capture of Havana which illustrates this point.
+
+As soon as the British were masters of the city Lord Albemarle called an
+extraordinary meeting in which he declared to the Municipio that, being
+masters of the city by force of arms of King George III. of England,
+they had to insist upon obedience and allegiance to him as sovereign.
+The Alcalde D. Pedro Santa Cruz at once rose to say that subjects of Don
+Carlos III. of Spain could not without committing perjury swear
+allegiance to any other monarch. He added: "The capitulation compels us
+to passive obedience. Count on this, but never on our dishonor." It
+seems that these noble words found an echo in the heart of the British
+commander who henceforth let the people choose whether to take the oath
+or not.
+
+This story is symptomatic of the attitude of the population of Cuba
+towards the conquerors. When the morning of the thirteenth of August,
+1762, dawned, the British were in possession of the town and port of
+Havana with one hundred and eighty miles to the east and all that tract
+of land to the west which terminates the island on that side. They took
+without resistance Managuas, Bejucal, Santiago, Mariel and Matanzas. The
+commander of the fort of San Severine in Matanzas, D. Felipe Garcia
+Solis, had stored up a large amount of provisions and supplies of all
+kinds in view of an eventual attack. But when he heard of the
+capitulation of Havana, he blew up the fort and retired with part of the
+garrison to Santiago. The governor of that city, D. Lorenzo Madriaga,
+was recognized as the authority to be obeyed by the people in that part
+of the island not taken by the British. Perhaps the British had gauged
+the sentiment of the population; perhaps they felt that their forces
+were too much weakened by the hardships of the siege. They made no
+attempts at further extending their conquest.
+
+According to the agreement between Admiral George Pococke and Lord
+Albemarle on the one side and the Marques of the Royal Transports and D.
+Juan de Prado on the other side, the Spanish garrison was to retire with
+military honors; artillery arms and munitions were to be delivered to
+the British; the Spanish troops were to be sent back on British
+transports; but the British were to respect the Catholic religion, its
+ministers, and churches, hospitals, and colleges; and the population was
+not to be disturbed in the exercise of wonted occupations and
+employments; and the laws of Spain were to remain in force. On the
+thirteenth of August, the gates of Tierra were opened to the British
+and on the following day they entered with two pieces of artillery and
+planted their flags on the forts. The following day the Spanish vessels
+were delivered to them: _Tigre_, _Reina_, _Soberano_, _Infante_,
+_Aquilon_, _America_, _Conquistader_, _San Antonio_ and _San Genero_.
+Many merchant vessels in the bay were also taken. The value of their
+booty was estimated at fourteen million pesos. But according to Valdes
+their losses during the first twenty four days of the siege had been
+seven thousand men, some killed in combat, some deserters, but the
+greater part victims of the Cuban climate. Hence in spite of
+reenforcements from Jamaica and North America, they had only three
+thousand men of infantry when Havana was taken.
+
+The departure of the Spanish troops was scheduled for the twenty-fourth
+of August. The British held ready for them three transports which on the
+thirtieth sailed through the gate of la Punta. One of them carried the
+Governor and his family. On his arrival in Madrid he was tried by a war
+council, which for his lack of foresight and energy in preparing the
+defense of Havana, condemned him to exile. But the king commuted the
+sentence to imprisonment for life. The British commanders, no longer
+needed in Havana, worn out with fatigue and weakened by the climate,
+also hurried to leave. Brigadier Burton returned to North America,
+Admiral Keppel to Jamaica, Pococke to England. He met with terrible
+tempests, lost one ship of line, and twelve transports. But the greeting
+he received on his arrival in England was most enthusiastic. Though the
+parliament was divided on the question of extending British conquests in
+Spanish America, there was still the party representing commercial
+interests to be reckoned with.
+
+With a promptness quite unusual at that time a book was published
+shortly after the capture of Havana, which outlined the course to be
+pursued in order to reap the benefits of the South Sea trade, which so
+far had been in the hands of the French and Spanish. It was entitled
+"The Great Importance of the Havana" set forth in an "Essay on the
+Nature and Methods of Carrying on a Trade to the South Sea and the West
+Indies, by Robert Allen, Esq., who resided some years in the Kingdom of
+Peru, London, printed for J. Hinxman in Paternoster Row and D. Wilson in
+the Strand, in 1762. Dedicated to the most Hon. Thomas Harley, Esq., M.
+P. and Merchant of London." The author begins with reference to an old
+tradition that a Prince of Wales had made an expedition to the coast of
+Mexico in 1190 and died there. Upon this tradition and the assertion
+that the Mexican language abounds in Welsh words, he seems to base the
+right of British priority to Spanish America.
+
+Mr. Allen was evidently much concerned with the activity of the French
+in West Indian waters. He says: "As to the slave-trade, it is too well
+known that the French are now under contract with the Spanish Assiento
+to supply them with four or five thousand negroes yearly and the greater
+profits and advantages which they reap from this trade has encouraged
+them to send many strong ships yearly to the coast of Africa which have
+not only taken many of our own ships on that coast, but also destroyed
+several of our many forts and settlements and likewise made several new
+settlements of their own, all which has been frequently represented both
+in the governing and legislative bodies of Britain, and no effectual
+reconciling remedy taken yet." He continues, that the channel of Spanish
+trade is quite altered from Jamaica "and the French, a nation whom we
+least suspected in trade, have of late years engrossed much of the
+greatest part thereof to themselves." He tries to rouse the British to
+the need of regaining the Spanish market in America, which was slowly
+slipping away from them, by a strenuous appeal to his Majesty to
+encourage such commerce by underselling the French. After giving a list
+of commodities and manufactures proper for this trade, he adds the
+postscript:
+
+"If Queen Anne, at the treaty of Utrecht, obtained so valuable a branch
+of trade as the Assiento contract by the success of the Duke of Marlboro
+alone, which according to stipulation was for two millions in shares
+annually, but doubly augmented under that contract in other goods (tho'
+given up by the treaty of Aix-la-Chapelle with our right of logwood) how
+much more ought we to insist on valuable terms since the reduction of
+Cuba, the key to the South Sea trade?"
+
+While the British people, like all people under a mass suggestion, were
+giving themselves up to jubilating and celebrating, the politicians in
+Parliament and elsewhere to controversies on technical questions, the
+business world of London and the great industrial and manufacturing
+centers of the country were considering investments in West Indian trade
+and calculating the profits to be made thereby. After all human nature
+is very much alike the world over. That the British as victors were also
+not different from other conquerors by force of arms and exacted
+requisitions and even without any formalities and ceremonies
+appropriated the treasures that seemed worth taking possession of, is
+evident from many data in the chronicles of those days. Not only were
+the royal chests taken, but also the property of private corporations,
+and individuals. Some documents relating to the "right of bells" have
+been presented and are interesting reading. Lieutenant Colonel Samuel
+Cleaveland, Artillery Commander of the island, addressed the following
+communication to Bishop Senor D. Pedro Agustino Morell of Santa Cruz,
+and to other priests:
+
+"According to the rules and customs of war observed by all official
+commanders of artillery in all European countries when a besieged town
+surrenders by capitulation:
+
+"I command that the city of Havana and the neighboring towns, where the
+army was situated, give account of all the bells found in all the
+churches, convents and monasteries, as well as in the sugar-plantations,
+and of other metals similar to bells, in order that said point shall be
+put into effect.
+
+    "Havana, 19 August, 1762.
+
+         "SAMUEL CLEAVELAND,
+
+             "Lieutenant-Colonel of Artillery."
+
+The bishop addressed a letter of inquiry concerning this "Derecho de
+companes" to Lord Albemarle and received the reply, that the war custom
+was well known, that the chiefs of artillery receive a gratification
+from any besieged and captured town or city, and that the
+Lieutenant-Colonel insisted upon compliance with his demand, adding,
+however, that it would not be disproportionate. Cleaveland was offered
+one thousand pesos in place of the coveted bells, but the British
+considered this amount too small, and the bishop received another letter
+from Lord Albemarle, which reads:
+
+"Illustrious Sir:
+
+"The compensation offered to the Commandant of Artillery of His British
+Majesty for the bells of the city is so low as to compel me to express
+my indignation. In order to have the matter settled, I say, that your
+Reverence can give the said official for all the churches ten thousand
+pesos and I am in the hope that this letter will deserve your immediate
+attention.
+
+    "Your obedient servant,
+
+             "ALBEMARLE.
+
+    "Havana, 27 August, 1762."
+
+The Bishop tried to obtain the sum demanded by alms and collections
+among his parishioners. But at a meeting on the thirty-first of August
+it was seen that the collection amounted only to one hundred pesos and
+four reales, which together with the previous one thousand pesos did not
+nearly approach the sum required. This was communicated to the British
+General with the remark that it would be impossible to raise more. This
+communication received no reply and the Commander of Artillery came to
+ask for the delivery of the bells, although this was not to take place
+until September fourth. He did not receive the bells, for the ten
+thousand pesos were got together by a loan, and the money was paid to
+Cleaveland on the sixth of that month.
+
+Difficulties between the British authorities and the Spanish clergy
+increased as time went on. On the twentieth of August the Junta of
+priests and prelates had a meeting at which was discussed the demand of
+the British Lieutenant-General, the local governor of the place, for a
+church in which the Anglican worship was to be instituted. The Bishop
+decided at once to send the communication to said governor, explaining
+to him that this demand was not contained in the articles of
+capitulation and if his Excellency had some other basis to justify his
+claim, he should communicate it. In reply the Bishop received on the
+thirtieth of August the following letter:
+
+    "Havana, Aug. 30, 1762.
+
+"Rev. Sir:
+
+"I wish and ask that your Reverence provide for the British troops a
+church for their divine worship, or that an alternative be arranged with
+the Catholics for such hours in the morning or evening, in which they
+don't use their church.
+
+"I request at the same time that an account be given me of all churches,
+convents, monasteries of every denomination, that are comprised in the
+jurisdiction of the Bishop of Cuba, as well as of Superiors and public
+officers associated with them.
+
+    "Very respectfully, etc.,
+
+        "ALBEMARLE."
+
+In a long letter dated September second, 1762, the Bishop replied, that
+he had to consult with the government of his Spanish Majesty and briefly
+avoided complying with the demand. Thereupon he received a caustic
+communication from Albemarle saying:
+
+"Sir:
+
+"I received your very large letter, but which is no answer to mine. I do
+not know having read a particular Capitulation made with the Church, but
+I am sure that there is none that can exclude the Subjects of H. British
+Majesty of their public worship in churches; and for that reason, if you
+do not assign me a church I shall take one that suits me best, and
+please remember that all Ecclesiastical employes or dignitaries have to
+receive my approbation, and also that you better comply with my demand,
+and cease writing such long Epistles.
+
+    "ALBEMARLE.
+
+"Havana, September 4, 1762."
+
+After a consultation with the other prelates the bishop informed
+Albemarle that since he was so decided, he should choose any church that
+he liked best. Albemarle selected the Church of San Francisco. But he
+insisted upon his other claims, as can be seen from the following letter
+dated September 25:
+
+"Some time ago I asked for a list of all Ecclesiastical Benefices (to
+which is associated a curacy) of the Donation of Your Honor; and once
+more I repeat my wish to be complied with without loss of time.
+
+"I learn that the Jesuit college received in their order an English
+official dismissed from the Royal Service on account of his bad
+proceedings; I can hardly believe that such a thing has been done
+without my license. That order has even in Spain a bad reputation, and
+in Portugal and France they have been expelled. If they are not entirely
+under your jurisdiction, send to me their Rector, etc.
+
+    "ALBEMARLE."
+
+The Bishop replied that the story about the admission of the discredited
+Englishman into the Jesuit seminary was altogether untrue, since the
+authorities of that college could not admit anybody, this being a
+special privilege of the Provincial residing in Mexico. A somewhat
+amusing incident of these disputes between the British authorities and
+the Spanish clergy of Havana is recorded in the following letter of the
+Bishop dated October twenty-second. It reads:
+
+"Your Excellency:
+
+"Yesterday between 4 and 5 o'clock in the afternoon, there called on me
+on your part a person whose name and nationality I do not know. All I
+know is that he speaks Spanish, though with a foreign accent and wears
+golden earrings as is customary with women. He addressed me with
+'Usted.' I informed him in the conversation that in speaking to me he
+had to use a more dignified title. He replied that he would always use
+'Usted.' It then occurred to me that this obstinacy might be justified
+by his higher rank. I asked him and he said that he had no other rank
+but that of a bomb-thrower in his Majesty's name. He continued in his
+way of speaking to me with a loud voice, and since in all his conduct he
+was wanting of the respect due to my dignity, I deem it fair that it
+should be corrected and that your excellency give me satisfaction."
+
+Lord Albemarle seems to have paid no attention to this letter. But on
+the same day the Bishop received another urgent order in which Lord
+Albemarle, as Governor and Captain-General of the island, insisted in
+his demand to receive a list of all ecclesiastical orders and benefices,
+in order to know and be the "competent judge" of the persons appointed
+by the Bishop and be able to consent to their appointment. The Bishop in
+his reply referred to his previous letter, stating that the Governor
+could neither before nor after the appointment be a competent judge of
+the appointees, since ecclesiastics, according to all rights, were
+exempt of protests by the laity, and their privileges were inviolate.
+
+According to the historian Blanchet, Bishop Morrell was at the end
+exiled to Florida for having refused to obey certain orders given by the
+British authorities.
+
+Although Albemarle cannot be said to have governed with the tyranny that
+characterized the German governors of occupied territories in the recent
+war, he failed to win the people. Those residents of Havana who were
+able to leave the place, moved into the country or to towns like
+Villa-Clara. The peasants of the neighborhood, who had carried on a
+profitable trade with the city in garden and dairy products, fowl,
+venison, etc., preferred to renounce these profits rather than go to the
+market and have the British buy what their soil had raised and their
+hands had tended. The spirit of the people was unanimous in the hatred
+of the enemy conquerors. Their intemperance, their customs, and even
+their language irritated them. Altercations that terminated in bloodshed
+became more and more numerous as time went on. Any act of violence
+against the British was severely punished, and not a few Cuban "rebels"
+were executed; the atmosphere of Havana was soon charged with invisible
+mines that a spark could set off.
+
+Complying with the orders of the British government, Albemarle had to
+exact the payment of certain sums from the population, including the
+clergy and the religious organizations, and found great difficulty in
+enforcing these orders. On the other hand, it cannot be denied that the
+feelings of the population were being deliberately hurt, especially by
+the disregard of the British authorities for the institutions maintained
+by the clergy. Thus a wave of indignation swept over the city, when the
+beggars and the sick were ejected from the convent of San Juan de Dios,
+which was turned into a hospital for the British. Without remuneration
+they occupied almost one-third of the buildings subject to an
+ecclesiastical tax, they transformed private residences into jails; they
+seized merchandise and funds that were owned by the Real Compania de
+Comercio and when these were claimed as private property, they were
+returned only after payment of one hundred and seventy-five pesos. As
+the tension grew crimes committed from vindictiveness increased among
+the population. M. Savine, the French writer referred to previously,
+reports that the Guajiros of the mountains poisoned the milk furnished
+to the garrison. A Cuban "rebel" who had escaped from the jail went
+about in the part of the island not occupied by the British and preached
+a "holy war" against the invaders of the island. Conditions were such
+that Havana might have become at any moment the scene of a new Sicilian
+Vespers.
+
+It was at this time that the Commissary D. Lorenzo de Montalvo wrote to
+the Minister of War at Madrid under date of October eighteenth, 1762:
+
+"The extraordinary mortality of the British troops has reduced them to
+the state which Your Excellency will see from the included papers. If at
+this moment eight or ten vessels arrived with two or three thousand men
+to debark, it would not be forty eight hours before they would
+capitulate."
+
+There was indeed a movement on foot in the unoccupied part of Cuba to
+collect a force, march against Havana and deliver it from the British
+conquerors. A force of guerilleros was ready for action under command of
+the intrepid Aguiar. He was only waiting for enforcement promised him by
+Governor Madriaga of Santiago, who had three hundred and fifty men with
+two thousand and five hundred guns, collected at Yaguas and Villa-Clara.
+But he lingered at Yaguas and it was supposed that he was afraid of
+losing his position if the British should decide upon moving against
+Santiago. Madriaga was however associated with Aguiar, D. Lorenzo
+Montalvo, D. Nicolas Rapua, D. Pedro Calvo de la Puerta, D. Augustin de
+Cardenas and other prominent citizens and patriots of Cuba in a pact to
+reconquer Havana at an opportune moment, and action may have been
+delayed only because rumors were afloat that peace was about to be
+signed.
+
+In Spain itself feeling ran high. The provinces of Murcia, Granada,
+Aragon, Valencia and Catalonia sent an address to King Charles III.
+asking to defend the colonies. It said among other things:
+
+"Sir:
+
+"Now is the moment to hold high the glory of the nation; let us
+humiliate under your auspices ambitious England which in her folly
+proposes nothing less than the ruin of all Europe. As her only aim is
+commerce, that is sordid gain, she wages a regrettable war upon a
+warlike nation that does not know meanness and has no other sentiments
+than the love of her king and her country. Money may be needed in
+London, as once in Carthage; but virtue, constancy and heroism we shall
+never lack, as they never failed the ancient Romans."
+
+But there is no record that this address elicited anything more than an
+appreciative reply from the government at Madrid. For the diplomatic and
+political world of Spain as of Great Britain was indeed occupied in
+considering a settlement of the Spanish-British problem.
+
+Nevertheless there were Spaniards, who even at that trying time must
+have viewed the state of things dispassionately, for the historian
+Pezuela gives the British much credit for the moderation and
+conciliatory tendency of their policy during the occupation. He records
+that they did not materially alter the general regime of the city, nor
+even make any radical changes in the municipal government. On taking
+possession of the town, Albemarle named for civil lieutenant-governor
+the Alderman D. Sebastian Penalver, a prominent lawyer; for the latter's
+Suplente or alternate, the alferez real or chief ensign D. Gonzale
+Oquendo, and for common civil judge D. Pedro Calvo de la Puerta, a
+high-constable and property holder highly esteemed by his fellow
+citizens. These three officials by their wisdom, unselfishness and
+impartiality lightened the burden of the foreign yoke.
+
+Both Albemarle and Keppel had soon recognized some of the greatest evils
+of the colonial administration, among them the corruption of the lower
+courts and the amazing amount of bribery going on even in the higher
+departments of the government. They tried to check the malpractice of
+lawyers, and in a decree dated the fourth of November, 1762, prohibited
+the making of gifts or presents of any kind to the principal governor
+and to the inferior authorities, considering such practice as means to
+promote dishonesty. However, the attitude of the great majority was and
+remained hostile to the British and it needed all the prudence and tact
+of men like Oquendo, Penalver and Puerta to avoid conflicts between the
+citizens and the foreign authorities. Nor should the Intendant Montalvo
+be forgotten, whose services were highly appreciated by Albemarle.
+
+In the British parliament there existed at that time a state of turmoil.
+The Earl of Bute, friend and adviser of George III., did not care for
+further extension of Britain's colonial possessions in America, saying
+that it was much greater importance "to bring the old colonies in order
+than to plant new ones." Others favored the return of Havana to Spain in
+exchange for Porto Rico and Florida. On the twenty-sixth of October,
+1762, the British King expressed his approval of the latter proposal and
+urged the diplomats engaged in deliberating upon the subject speedily to
+draft a treaty. He wrote to Bedford, as quoted by Bancroft in his
+"History of the United States," Vol. III., p. 298:
+
+"The best despatch I can receive from you will be those preliminaries
+signed. May Providence, in compassion to human misery, give you the
+means of executing this great and noble work."
+
+The terms proposed to the French according to the same authority were
+severe and even humiliating, and Choiseul is reported as having said:
+
+"But what can we do? The English are furiously imperious; they are drunk
+with success; and, unfortunately, we are not in a condition to abase
+their pride."
+
+The preliminaries of a peace which was to bring a certain stability to
+the colonies in America and permanently settle the claims of the three
+nations that had for three centuries been striving for supremacy in the
+New World, were signed on the third of November, 1762. They contained
+the following stipulations: England was to receive the Floridas and some
+islands in the West Indies, but abandon Havana; it was to have Louisiana
+to the Mississippi, but without the island of New Orleans; it was
+likewise to have all Canada, Acadia, Cape Breton and its independent
+islands, Newfoundland, except a share of France in the fisheries, with
+the two islands of St. Pierre and Miquelon as shelter for their
+fishermen. In Africa England was to have Senegal, which insured for it
+the monopoly of the slave-trade. In the East Indies, too, France
+recovered only what she possessed on the first of January, 1749, the
+rest going to England and assuring its sway over that territory. France,
+on the other hand, to indemnify Spain for the loss of Florida, ceded to
+Spain New Orleans and all Louisiana west of the Mississippi. There is no
+doubt that France came off worst in this settlement; but, as her
+minister Choiseul said, it was at the time helpless. In England, which
+by this settlement laid the foundations of her great power, there was a
+great display of flamboyant oratory. The king was reported to have
+said:
+
+"England never signed such a peace before, nor, I believe, any other
+power in Europe."
+
+Granville, then, on his deathbed, exclaimed:
+
+"The country never saw so glorious a war or so honorable a peace," and
+Bute, roused to defend it against some opponents in Parliament, uttered
+these words significant of the high esteem in which he held himself and
+whatever services he rendered England as favorite of the king:
+
+"I wish no better inscription on my tomb than that I was its author."
+
+It is needless to say that the effect of this document upon Spain was of
+quite a different nature. For it practically checked for all time her
+ambitions for maintaining supremacy in the world her discoverers and
+explorers had once claimed under her colors. Cuba, of course, rejoiced
+at the prospect of the restitution of Havana. Lord Albemarle, suffering
+from the strain of the siege and the climate, as no less from the
+realization that he would never be able to reconcile the Cubans to a
+recognition of his authority, had left early in the year 1762 and Sir
+William Keppel occupied his post. The peace was ratified at Paris on the
+tenth of February, 1763, and the people began to look forward with
+impatience to the arrival of a new governor from Madrid and to the
+debarkation of the British. In spite of the harassing situation which
+they had endured during the rule of the enemy they had not been idle,
+but planned many improvements and reforms which they promised themselves
+to execute as soon as the British domination would end. They had
+learned, too, to appreciate the advantages of free trade; for during the
+British occupation no less than nine hundred merchant vessels entered
+the harbor and not a few cargoes of negroes were landed.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER VI
+
+
+The changes which the island underwent during this time were
+far-reaching. The British occupation had established a direct contact
+with the world outside of Spain, which was bound to broaden the narrowly
+provincial viewpoint of the residents of the colony. For the nobles to
+whom large tracts of land had been granted in the earlier days of the
+colony had never permanently resided there but only came over for a
+short time to occupy their winter residence in Havana and for another
+brief season to show themselves in all their old-world aristocratic
+splendor on their haciendas. The great majority of the people,
+descendants of the adventurers and the poor immigrants of the pioneer
+period, had acquired the habits of country people so engrossed in their
+fields, their live stock and the daily labors required to make these
+possessions profitable, that they had lost any desire to seek the
+stimulating influence of city life. The cities themselves, Havana not
+excepted, had a provincial aspect and offered little attraction to the
+foreign traveler who did not come there exclusively on business.
+Nevertheless they left a pleasant memory with many a casual visitor. A
+Frenchman, who spent some time in Havana about the year 1745, set down
+his impressions, which with other letters and memoirs of travel were
+edited by Pierre Jean Baptiste Nougaret and published in Paris in 1783
+under the title: "Voyages interessans dans differentes Colonies
+francaises, espagnoles, anglaises, etc." In these reminiscences of
+Havana some twenty years before the British occupation, he draws a
+picture of the city, which it is interesting to compare with what other
+writers have to say of the Havana of 1762. He writes:
+
+[Illustration: HAVANA, FROM CABANAS
+
+"Beautiful for situation" indeed is the Cuban capital, whether it be
+used as a point from which to view the sea and land, or be itself looked
+upon from some neighboring or distant height. This view, from the
+grounds of the great Cabanas fortress, shows the central portion of the
+city, with the notable public buildings clearly discernible, and nearer
+at hand the waters of the inner harbor, where occurred in 1898 the
+memorable and mysterious tragedy of the _Maine_.]
+
+"It is a very spacious city, well enough built and among the best
+fortified in America. In size it compares about with la Rochelle, but it
+is far more populated. It is graced with a large number of public
+buildings, churches, convents and you see there usually more negro
+slaves than in any other city of Spanish domination. Its harbor
+especially is one of the largest and most beautiful in America, and they
+build there warships for the construction of which the king of Spain
+employs a prodigious number of laborers, an arsenal and an immense
+workshop. It is the Catholic king's custom to pay one thousand piastres
+a cannon; so a vessel of eight cannon costs him eight thousand piastres.
+There are always on the docks five or six vessels at once; it is a
+company called the Company of Biscay which attends to the business.
+Havana is rather regular in plan; the streets are surveyed by the line,
+although some of them are not absolutely straight; all houses are of two
+or three floors, built of masonry and have balconies mostly of wood; the
+lower part of most houses is terrace-like as in European Spain and
+altogether they make a respectable impression.
+
+"The city is protected by a numerous garrison of about four thousand
+regular troops, extremely well kept, who make Havana impregnable in a
+country where one cannot attack, except with considerable forces. The
+city which is one of the best located seems an oval; the entrance to her
+port is advantageously protected by different forts, of which one, the
+first, is called Morro or port of entrance; the second is opposite; a
+third has been erected toward the side of the city; it is so large that
+it seems rather a citadel than a fort. There is besides before the
+principal section of the city before the palace of the governor which is
+magnificent, a battery of big guns and of considerable calibre; so one
+can say that Havana is the best defended of all places in America, the
+vessels that want to enter being obliged to pass so close to the forts
+that it would be easy to sink them.
+
+"The customs of the Spanish are here about the same as in Spain,
+differing from other colonies of the nation, where frankness,
+righteousness and probity seem to have been exiled. The Havanese are
+quite frank, extremely gay, more so than suits the ordinary Spanish
+gravity which is probably due to the great number of strangers which
+come there from all parts. The climate is rather good; the sex very
+handsome and enjoying much more liberty than in the rest of Spanish
+America.
+
+"Armed cruisers are entertained to keep away strangers from the coast,
+which does not prevent all the fraudulent operations in which the
+commandant often shares. Nevertheless life is agreeable for the rich,
+everything being abundant in Havana; and the residents are far more
+neatly habited than elsewhere. One does not drink but cistern water,
+much superior to that of the only fountain which is in the center of a
+large square; and which serves only as watering trough for animals. You
+see in Havana many rolling chairs, most of which are rented, which gives
+the city an air resembling European towns."
+
+Appreciative as this description sounds, which had for its author a M.
+Sr. Villiet d'Arignon, the Havana of the time of the British calls forth
+even more appreciative language from the Spanish historians of Cuba.
+They dwell much on the beauty of its location and of the city itself
+say:
+
+The streets were not large or well leveled, especially those running
+from north to south, which caused the town to be so great in length;
+over three thousand houses occupied an expanse of nine hundred fathoms
+in length and five hundred in width; they were of hewn stone, of
+graceful form and as a whole afforded a very beautiful appearance. To
+the beauty of the city contributed eleven churches and convents and two
+large hospitals; the churches were rich and magnificent, especially
+those of Recoletos, Santa Clara, San Agustino and San Juan de Dios.
+Their interior was adorned with altars, lamps and candelabra of gold and
+silver of an exquisite taste. There were three principal squares: The
+Plaza des Armas, which still retains its name, encompassed by houses of
+uniform frontage with the metropolitan church. A magnificent aspect was
+added to this square by the castille de la Fuerza, where resided the
+Captain-Generals, and the pyramid encompassed by three luxuriant
+five-leaved silk cotton trees planted there in memory of the tradition,
+that the first mass and town meeting were held in the shadow of a robust
+tree of that kind; that of San Francisco adorned with two fountains was
+considered the best place in the city and on it were the houses of the
+Ayuntamento and the public jail, whose two-story facade with arched
+entrance contrasted with the severe architecture of the convent after
+which the square is named; and there was still another, the new square,
+because it had been opened after the former, with a fountain in the
+center and all encompassed with porticos for the convenience of the
+public, serving also as market-place, where the inhabitants, according
+to Arrate, provided themselves "copiously" with all they wanted.
+
+Native writers also dwell upon the good manners of the Havanese, calling
+them the most polite and social people of Spanish America, much given
+to imitating the French customs and manners, which were then in vogue at
+the Spanish court of Madrid, both in their dress and their conversation,
+as also in the furnishings of their houses and the good table they set
+their guests. These descriptions of Cuba and Cuban life tally well with
+those of the foreigners quoted by the author, and indicate the progress
+made by the island, and especially by Havana, in the sixth and seventh
+decades of the century.
+
+The economic conditions of the island underwent a great change during
+the sixth decade of the century. Up to this time, the majority of the
+people had been engaged in agriculture and led a more or less simple,
+rustic life. The products of her soil were consumed on the spot. Her
+mines were neglected because the gold and silver which had been
+discovered in the earlier part of Cuba's history and which had roused
+the jealousy of other countries were not sufficient in quantity to
+justify the labor needed for working them. With the increasing number of
+negro slaves, the possibilities of exploiting all the rich natural
+resources of the island were multiplied. Among the products that came
+into prominence was sugar. Not ordinarily consumed, it brought forty
+three cents a pound. John Atkins, the British surgeon and author of that
+interesting book of travel in Spanish America referred to in a previous
+chapter, had declared the sugar of Cuba the best in the world; and it
+was indeed so considered in the market. It became soon one of the most
+important articles of Cuba's commerce. The cheapened labor encouraged
+enterprises which the Spanish would have been physically unable to carry
+through.
+
+The commerce of Havana had in this epoch increased considerably and the
+greatest part of it came from the ports of the island itself. Besides
+supplying with goods the towns of the interior and the littoral, Havana
+exported great amounts of hides, much esteemed for their excellent
+quality, and also sugar, tobacco and other articles. The trade was
+carried on by vessels registered from Cadiz and the Canaries besides
+those of Spanish merchants who were allowed to trade with the
+Spanish-American continent. Especially favored were those that returned
+to Spain from Cartagena, Porto Bello and Vera Cruz and entered Havana to
+renew their supply of provisions and water, and enjoy the advantage of
+going out with the convoy which in the month of September returned to
+the Peninsula with galleons loaded with the riches of Peru and Chile,
+and the fleet freighted with the treasures of New Spain. This periodical
+assembly of a great number of merchant and war vessels in Havana had
+introduced the custom of holding fairs, during which great animation
+prevailed in the city. For while they facilitated commercial
+transactions, they also furnished diversion and entertainment to the
+sailors and others who were waiting for the sailing of the convoy. At
+that time an order was published prohibiting on penalty of death any
+person belonging to the squadron to remain on land over night, and all
+had to retire on board at the report of a gun. Provisions were then, as
+also M. d'Arignon reported at his time, very dear. The monopoly which
+was exercised by the company had unreasonably raised the cost of living.
+The flour brought from foreign smugglers at five or six piasters a
+barrel, was sold at his time at thirty-five and more! Besides the
+ordinary wages of men hired by the day every male slave day-laborer was
+paid in excess four pesos a day and every female two pesos.
+
+The description of the defenses of the city during the British invasion
+suggest that the surrender to the enemy may after all not have been
+entirely the fault of the procrastination and unconcern of the Cuban
+governor, as some zealous patriots alleged at the time. The entrance of
+the port was in the eastern part, defended by the strong fort of el
+Morro, situated upon an elevated rock of irregular, somewhat triangular
+form, in the walls and bulwarks of which were forty mounted cannon. It
+was protected also by the battery of Doce Apostoles, so called for
+having a dozen mounted cannon, situated toward the interior of the port
+in the lower parts of the Morro bulwark, which looked to the southeast
+and were almost at sea-level. There was also the Divina Pastora with
+fourteen cannon, on a level with the sea at a point a little higher than
+the former facing the gate of la Punta. Toward the west in the same
+entrance of the port and about two hundred yards from it with four
+bulwarks well-mounted with artillery, was la Fuerza with twenty-two
+cannon. Although not of as solid construction as the others, it served
+as storehouse for the treasures of the King and was also the residence
+of the governor. Between these fortresses there were erected along the
+bay a number of other bulwarks well supplied with artillery. The walls
+from la Punta to the arsenal were protected by bulwarks with parapets
+and a ditch. From the first to the second gate there was considerable
+territory converted at that time into gardens, and pasture land, and
+covered with palmettos. In front of the Punta de Tierra was a ravelin.
+
+Nevertheless those fortifications had serious defects of position,
+because the city as well as the forts were dominated by many hills easy
+of access. East of the port was Cabanas, where there was a citadel built
+later, dominating a great part of el Morro and the northeastern part of
+the city. West of the town was a suburb, called Guadeloupe, the church
+of which was situated on an eminence half a mile from the gate of
+Tierra, and on the same level with it, the highest of all fortifications
+in that direction. From the northern side of this elevation the gate of
+Punta could be flanked and from the southeast the shipyard was
+dominated. The zanja real, or royal trench, in the northern part,
+descended not far from the Punta de Tierra and then ran into the
+shipyard where its water was employed in running a mill. Half a mile
+from said church was the Chavez bridge, built over a rivulet flowing
+into the bay, which served to unite the central road of the island with
+that of Baracoa; and from the bridge to the Lazareto was a stretch of
+two miles with an intermediate hill. A trench between these two points
+could easily cut the communication of Havana with the rest of the
+island. From this close description it can be seen that in spite of the
+imposing impression its fortifications made upon foreigners, Havana was
+by no means an impregnable fortress at the time of the British invasion,
+which was brought out at the trial of Governor Prado. But whatever may
+have been the cause of its capitulation to the British, the period of
+their occupation at the end benefited Cuba, for it opened the eyes of
+the government to the needs of the island, and prepared a new era,
+political, social and economic.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER VII
+
+
+By the terms of the treaty signed at Versailles on the tenth of
+February, 1763, Britain was to give back to Spain the city and territory
+of Havana in the condition in which the British had found it and Spain
+was to grant the British a term of eighteen months, so that those who
+had established themselves upon the island could insure their interests
+by transferring their property. To administrate the political and
+military affairs of Cuba and carry out these stipulations, a new
+governor was appointed in the person of the Lieutenant-General Conde de
+Ricla, a relative of the famous Minister Aranda. Ricla arrived in Havana
+on the thirteenth of June and prepared to enter upon his duties, while
+the British authorities made preparations to wind up their affairs and
+to embark. Spanish love of festive demonstrations of joy must have
+culminated in a frenzy of exultation on the day when Admiral Keppel
+solemnly and formally gave up Havana to the Tenente Rey, the King's
+Lieutenant, who took possession of all military posts. It was the sixth
+of July, 1763, ever since remembered as the glorious day when Cuba was
+delivered from the British yoke. The new governor entered through one of
+the iron gates of the city, driven in an open coach, and acclaimed by
+the enthusiastic vivas of the population. On the same day the British
+authorities set sail, and the city entered upon a celebration of the
+event which lasted nine days. The Spanish colors fluttered from every
+roof, the houses were draped in them, the doors were garlanded in green,
+and when the evening came, lights shone in every window and sky rockets
+were set off on every street corner, turning the tropical night into
+day.
+
+[Illustration: ATARES FORTRESS--(ERECTED 1763)]
+
+The new governor was a man of rare character and was endowed by the
+royal government with more power than any of his predecessors had
+enjoyed. He received a salary of eighteen thousand pesos annually. The
+task before him was one of reorganization and reconstruction. He was
+charged and expected to inaugurate a new era in the administration of
+the colony, to employ the most judicious means to prevent errors
+committed by his predecessors and to insure a prompt and efficient
+enforcement of the principles of colonial policy which the time
+demanded. He was also to repair all the fortifications and defenses of
+the island, rebuild whatever had been destroyed and add to them whatever
+was needed as rapidly as possible, so they would be proof against any
+possible coup-de-main on the part of any enemy. The reconstruction of
+the Morro and of the arsenal destroyed by the British, and the erection
+of the forts of Cabanas and Atares was entrusted to the able engineers
+D. Silvestro Abarca and D. Agostino Crame, who later drew the plan for
+that of Puerto Principe, intended to protect that place and prevent any
+landing by la Chorrera. The records of the period show that six million
+pesos were spent on those fortifications. New hospitals and other public
+buildings were also erected. The work was greatly facilitated by the
+number of negroes that had been added to the population since the
+British domination of the city. The great activity of the building
+trades stimulated the circulation of gold and gave a new impetus to all
+business life.
+
+That the antagonism between the Spanish and British was not confined to
+Havana, which had suffered British occupation, is proved by the influx
+of immigrants from Florida, when this province was ceded to England.
+Unwilling to live under British dominion, many French and Spanish
+families of that colony left their old homes for new ones in Cuba. A
+great number of them settled in Matanzas and its environs, on land which
+belonged to the famous Marquis Justiz de Santa Anna. The generosity of
+this man in gratuitously ceding that land endeared him to these
+immigrants. Their love for the place they came from induced them to give
+to the towns into which their settlements were formed, names that
+suggested the old home, as San Augustin de la Nueva Florida proves. As
+soon as the enemy had left, the residents of Havana who had retired to
+the interior of the island returned to the city and resumed their
+occupations. Bishop Morell, who had been exiled to Florida by the
+British, also returned. He brought with him the white-wax bee, which in
+time became a new source of wealth for the island.
+
+It was a period of reconstruction and readjustment during which not only
+were old business relations renewed and reaffirmed, but many new steps
+taken to insure the welfare of the community. Those elements of the
+population which were particularly concerned with the honest and
+efficient management of its affairs, had during the British occupation
+become aware of some malpractices that had escaped their attention or to
+which they had become so accustomed that they did not make any effort to
+check them. There were always on the island rumors of corruption in this
+or that department. Occasionally a fraudulent functionary was tried and
+convicted, but the great majority of these dishonest officials escaped
+without ever being brought to trial. The frequent change of governors
+with the inevitable periods of interim administration gave unscrupulous
+men ample opportunity to fill their pockets at the expense of the
+government. Nor can it be doubted, that the governors sent over by the
+Spanish court were invested with a farther reaching authority than was
+advantageous for the colony. For they enjoyed not only a political power
+almost absolute, but directed the economic affairs of the colony.
+
+The governors of Cuba had in former times authority to handle the
+revenues and in accord with the municipal councils were wont to elect
+delegates to discharge these duties. In 1551 they had begun to exercise
+these functions as ministers de capa y espada, which means literally of
+cloak and sword. There were two of them for the island; they enjoyed
+seat and vote in the town corporations and were considered royal
+officials. They supervised the work of the Auditor and Treasurer and
+together with the Governor were judges in cases of contraband. Later
+there were appointed tenientes (lieutenants), one for each of the
+following communities, Bayamo, Puerto Principe, Trinidad, Matanzas, San
+Juan de los Remedios, Sancti Spiritus, and Guanabacoa, and two for
+Santiago de Cuba. The new ministers of the Tribunal de Cuentes
+(Exchequer) were provisionally endowed and the whole department hitherto
+in charge of the royal officers was reorganized and managed under a new
+system by the newly appointed Intendant. To him was probably due the new
+classification of the revenue rates, which was as follows:
+
+      (1) Duties on imports and exports,
+      (2) of the fleet,
+      (3) of the armadilla,
+      (4) of the royal Fifths (i.e. a duty of 20% on prizes,
+    etc., paid to the Spanish government),
+      (5) the duty on anchoring,
+      (6) the duty on frucanga, i.e. beverages made of water
+    and molasses, which at a later time, when the use of wine,
+    beer, etc., became more general, went into oblivion.
+
+These duties were from twenty-one to two and one half per cent.
+according to the articles, the time and the place they came from. There
+were also two per cent. duties on importations, on fruits of the country
+brought to Havana in smaller vessels; on the gold and copper of the
+mines of Jaguas, Holguin, etc., and there was also what was called the
+extraordinario del Morro, which consisted in collecting four pesos for
+each vessel sent to Spain and the American continent. The enforcement of
+these custom regulations was entrusted to the Intendant referred to
+above, who in October of the year 1764 was given the right to use a
+special building for the offices of this department.
+
+For the military reorganization of Havana had been appointed Marshal
+Senor Conde D. Alexandre O'Reilly, who as Inspector-General devoted
+himself to the organization of line troops and militia and was
+materially assisted in his work by Aguiar. O'Reilly succeeded in getting
+the veteran troops and militia of the island into good condition. By
+studying the city, dividing it into districts, naming the
+streets--simple requirements which according to Valdes had at that late
+date not yet been established in Havana--O'Reilly learned that the city
+alone could raise a battalion of disciplined militia of white men. After
+organizing two such battalions in Havana and Guanabacoa, he realized
+that this force was insufficient for the protection of the capital and
+he raised two more battalions, composed of colored men. When on
+examining the polls or registers of tax-payers he found that owing to
+the poverty and also the ignorance of the majority of the people he
+could not proceed with the draft system without including the married
+and other classes, he decided to resort to conscription.
+
+In 1764 there was created by royal decree a military and provincial
+administration for Cuba in the manner of the peninsulas. D. Miguel de
+Altavilla took charge of it in February, 1765. He established in Havana
+an accountant's (auditor's) office, a treasury and custom-houses at
+various points, subject to the department. This organization required
+many employees, and increased the expenses of the administration. The
+salaries of the officials amounted to one million two hundred thousand
+pesos, while until the year 1761 they had been only four hundred and
+fifty thousand pesos annually. As the Mexican assistant of the director
+never arrived in time to help with the accounts, the Royal Hacienda, as
+it was called, was not a sinecure. The revenues rose within a short time
+to one million two hundred and fifty thousand pesos, but whether this
+was due to the high duties or to the wise administration of the
+Intendencia does not appear.
+
+The tentative effort at establishing a mail service during a previous
+administration was taken up in 1765, when the tax administrator D. Jose
+de Armona established the internal and external mail service of the
+island. It was found that every fortnight there was sent from Havana to
+Santiago de Cuba the mail, touching at Villa-Clara, Sancti Spiritus,
+Puerto Principe and Bayamo. According to royal decree of 1718 there
+should have been sent annually to Spain eight avisos or ships of one
+hundred tons, carrying letters from the Philippines and America, four of
+them stopping for provisions and supplies at Havana. These avisos
+(advice-boats, light vessels for carrying dispatches) sailed at the
+beginning of January, the end of March, the middle of June, and the
+first days of November. Most of the letters at that time were carried by
+smugglers. Armona succeeded in establishing a weekly postal
+communication between the towns mentioned above and also engaged
+postillions to carry mail sacks of San Juan de los Remedies, Trinidad
+and other towns not included in the other line. Every month except
+September, _la Coruna_, a vessel with the mail of Cuba and Spanish
+America, sailed from Havana for Spain. The work of Armona was
+extraordinary in face of the great difficulties which he had to
+overcome, both in regard to the lack of sufficient funds and to the lack
+of efficient and reliable officials. When he retired from the department
+the mail service of Cuba was neglected and even the line established
+between Havana and other towns of the island reduced its operation to
+one mail a month.
+
+In the meantime the tragedy of the siege of Havana was being discussed
+in Spain before the tribunal charged with the investigation of the
+conduct of the men then at the head of the government in Havana and
+supposed to be responsible for its defeat by the British. After many
+months of tedious conferences, the Military Council, according to
+Alcazar, condemned Ex-Governor Prado to degradation of rank and
+banishment, Conde de Superanda and Tavares likewise, and the colonel of
+engineers Ricaut to ten years' suspension from office. The Teniente-Rey
+Soler, the colonels Caro and Arroyo and the artillery-commander Crel de
+la Hoz escaped with severe admonitions. Thus was the curtain rung down
+upon the epilogue to the tragedy of that siege.
+
+After two years, during which he administered the affairs of the
+government with great sagacity and introduced many valuable reforms,
+Conde de Ricla asked permission to retire from his office and return to
+Spain. The Court accepted his resignation and appointed as his successor
+the Field Marshal D. Diego Manrique, who took charge of the government
+on the thirtieth of June, 1765. But he was almost immediately taken sick
+of yellow fever and died on the thirteenth of July, a few days after his
+inauguration. The Municipio of Havana urgently requested Ricla to resume
+the duties of governor, but he firmly refused and embarked for Spain.
+There may have been reasons for his determination not to continue in
+office, that are not mentioned by Valdes and Alcazar. For Blanchet
+remarks that the Conde de Ricla, though a man of action and efficiency,
+seems in the awarding of privileges and assignment of punishments not to
+have conducted himself quite properly. Ricla is described as having been
+a man of small stature, and grave but not unpleasant manner. He died in
+1780 as minister of war in Spain.
+
+There is a memorial to his services in carrying through the extensive
+work on the fortifications of Havana in the chapel of Cabana, where on a
+block is found this inscription:
+
+"During the reign in Spain of His Catholic Majesty Senor D. Carlos III.
+and the government in this island of the Count de Ricla, Grandee of
+Spain and Lieutenant-General of the Royal Armies, was begun, in the year
+1763, this fort of San Carlos, that of Atares in the Loma de Sota and
+the rebuilding and enlargement of el Morro. The works of this fort were
+continued and those of el Morro and Atares were finished during the
+government of the Lieutenant-General of the Royal Army Senor Baylio D.
+Antonio Maria Buccarelli, etc."
+
+The provisional governorship of the Teniente de Rey, the King's
+Lieutenant, D. Pascal Jiminez de Cisneros, lasted from the thirteenth of
+July, 1765, to the nineteenth of March, 1766. He conscientiously
+endeavored to continue to rule in the spirit of his predecessor and to
+carry out the instructions given him by Ricla before he left for Spain.
+Some disturbances took place during that time, caused by the
+tobacco-planters and by the soldiers. The former began to object to
+selling their entire harvest to the factory. The latter had become
+dissatisfied on account of the irregularity with which they were paid.
+
+The new governor appointed by the court of Madrid for Cuba was the Field
+Marshal Senor Baylio D. Antonio Maria Buccarelli, a native of Sevilla.
+He entered upon his office on the nineteenth of March, 1766, and was
+evidently determined to continue and if possible improve upon the many
+reforms and improvements that had been introduced by Ricla. Among them
+were certain police regulations which tended to insure the safety of the
+residents, as well as order and cleanliness on the streets. He also
+resolved to abolish the abuses of the bar, by putting a stop to the
+extortions practised by unscrupulous lawyers on ignorant clients. This
+decidedly new departure from any precedent was outlined in a
+proclamation of good government, which he published according to Valdes
+on the seventh, according to Alcazar on the twelfth of April, 1766. In
+this memorable address to the people, he announced that he would devote
+two hours daily to giving hearing to complainants; at this hearing were
+to be present attorneys and clerks to take down the depositions and
+render advice, and the judgments there delivered were to be signed
+without delay, except on holidays. By these verbal audiences he
+succeeded in clearing up many cases before they went to the regular
+courts, thus protecting the people against exploitation by the numerous
+officials attached to the lower courts and avoiding expensive lawsuits.
+This new reform in the judicial department of the island especially
+benefited the slaves, whose rights he endeavored to protect and insure.
+The extraordinary discretion with which he performed this function of
+his office, preserving his dignity and affability in the most trying
+situations, endeared him to the people.
+
+The most difficult task before him, and one calling for unusual prudence
+and tact, was the execution of the royal decree concerning the expulsion
+of certain religious orders against whom drastic measures had been taken
+in Europe. The movement began in Portugal in 1759, when the Jesuits were
+expelled from that country. Two years later the society was dissolved
+and its members banished from France. Then the opposition to them made
+itself felt in Spain. King Carlos III. had always been their zealous
+protector, but he suddenly turned against them after the curious
+Sombrero-and-Manta revolution in Madrid in 1766. His favorite, the
+Marquis Squilaci, a Neapolitan, had tried to inaugurate various reforms
+in the city, among them the cleaning of the streets, which were in an
+unspeakable state of filth, the regulation of the prices of food and the
+installment of a lighting system. Simple and reasonable as were these
+innovations, they met with furious opposition on the part of certain
+classes of the people. This opposition was fanned into open revolt by
+another ordinance which he issued. It was directed against the enormous
+sombreros and voluminous mantas (cape cloaks) worn with preference by
+individuals who could thus easily disguise themselves, hide their
+identity and carry dangerous weapons which played a dismal part in the
+numerous assassinations that had shocked the authorities. An organized
+revolt against these measures took place in Madrid and led to
+considerable bloodshed. The king was made to believe that the Jesuits
+were the prime agents in that insurrection, and at midnight of the
+seventeenth of February, 1767, Carlos III. signed a decree ordering
+their immediate expulsion from Spain. In this decree, the execution of
+which was entrusted to Count Aranda, the king gave as reason for this
+step, the necessity to maintain among his subjects order, obedience,
+quiet and justice. At the same time he ordered the temporal property of
+the society of Jesuits in the dominions of Spain to be adjudged to the
+treasury. The order was executed with a promptness and a quiet deserving
+especial comment. On the same day were sent to all judges, governors,
+regents and viceroys a secret message, accompanied by a circular letter
+saying that the message containing royal instructions to be obeyed by
+every one should not be opened before April 1. Those officials were
+moreover warned not to communicate the contents of the message to any
+one, and should the public by some chance obtain such knowledge, those
+responsible were to be treated as though they had violated the secret
+and were guilty of opposition to the Sovereign's orders. This measure
+was so effectively executed that the padres of the order were taken by
+surprise, and were speedily sent on their way out of the country without
+the slightest disorder. On the day of this expulsion the king had
+affixed a "pragmatica" on the doors of the palace and public buildings
+in the principal streets, in which it was said among other things, that
+the individual priests would be given seventy-two pesos annually for
+their means of subsistence, and the lay brothers sixty-five, that their
+pensions would be paid out of the property of the Society, and that it
+was prohibited in the whole monarchy to receive any individual of the
+Society in particular, or to admit them into any community, or any court
+or tribunal, or to appeal in their behalf. It was also prohibited to
+write or influence the minds of the people for or against this
+pragmatica or to enter into any correspondence with the members of the
+expelled order. This royal decree was carried into effect in all the
+colonies of Spanish America, and in Cuba it was Buccarelli to whom
+credit was due for the tact displayed in performing this extremely
+difficult duty. The proceeds of the property of the Society, which
+reverted to the state, were devoted by Buccarelli to the endowment of
+three professorships at the university, two for law and one for
+mathematics. The decision of the King met with no open opposition among
+the residents, although the Jesuit College, since then called the
+Seminario de San Carlos, and their church, actually the Cathedral, had
+been a center of interest to the society of Havana, and the much
+esteemed and beloved Senor D. Pedro Agostine Morell was reported to have
+been responsible for the coming of the order to Havana. Senor Morell
+died on the twenty-ninth of December, 1769, and was succeeded in his
+diocese by D. Jose Echeverria.
+
+Governor Buccarelli made strenuous efforts to abolish contraband trading
+in the island. He tried also to promote coffee culture in Cuba, which
+had so far yielded so little as to be not even sufficient for home
+consumption. His Majesty granted an extension of customs for five years
+at that time. A new step for the improvement of the maritime department
+was taken in the year 1766, when the Apostadero was created a military
+and naval station. To the administration of this office was appointed D.
+Juan Antonio de la Colina, who during the siege of Havana in 1762 had
+ordered the sinking of the three vessels for the purpose of closing to
+the British the entry of the port. Colina was invested with the same
+powers possessed in Spain by the Captain-General of the naval
+department. In the shipyard of Havana there were built at this time
+vessels of various sizes and purposes, among them the _Santissima
+Trinidad_, a vessel of one hundred and twelve guns, and three smaller
+but excellent ships. The _Santissima Trinidad_ was destined some years
+later to be destroyed in the battle of Trafalgar.
+
+Two great calamities caused much distress and loss of lives and property
+during Buccarelli's administration. In July and August, 1766,
+earthquakes destroyed a great portion of Santiago de Cuba. It was
+estimated that more than one hundred persons perished. Among them was
+the governor, Marquis de Casa-Cagigal, who was removed from the ruins of
+his residence. The disaster called for such great funds for the
+alleviation of the suffering and the hardships occasioned by this
+catastrophe, that the Royal Treasury had to retard the payment of the
+salaries to the officials of the island. The civilian population
+contributed generously to the relief funds collected in the principal
+towns of the island. Governor Buccarelli himself sent contributions to
+two hundred presidarios and to two engineers that had been stricken in
+the performance of their duties.
+
+The losses and the sorrow caused by this calamity had barely been
+repaired and mitigated, when another disaster called for sympathy and
+active assistance on the part of those that were spared. This was the
+tremendous hurricane which swept over Havana on the fifteenth of
+October, 1768, and left the city a scene of desolation. The vessels in
+the harbor were torn from their anchorage, and drifted into the sea
+lashed into fury by the tempest; the trees in the orchards were
+uprooted, the fields appeared as if they had been churned. Buildings
+were carried away from their foundations and deposited in remote places.
+It was difficult to estimate the damage done in the city and its
+neighborhood. Again a call for relief was sounded and responded to
+readily. To assist the sufferers a great sum came from the proceeds of
+the Jesuit properties recently seized, which according to the valuation
+of experts amounted to several million pesos.
+
+Buccarelli was appointed Viceroy of Mexico, and retired on the fourth of
+August, 1771. He had proved a worthy successor of the much esteemed
+Count Ricla and left behind him an excellent reputation. It was said of
+him that he had never once lacked that political prudence which should
+ever guide the actions of an official in such a responsible position as
+was the governorship of Cuba. He was praised for his cautious inquiries
+into legal abuses and his judicious settlement of cases, some of which
+had for forty years occupied the time of the courts and filled the
+pockets of greedy attorneys. He was reported under the most exasperating
+circumstances to have always conserved his affable disposition and to
+have never lost his temper, however great may have been the provocation.
+Upon the whole, he was looked upon as a man of rare nobility of
+character and Cuba was loath to part with him. He was one of the few
+governors that had never given cause for any complaint. This was
+attested by the Minister of the Indies, then Baylio Knight Julian de
+Arriaga, who wrote to him by order of His Majesty that not the slightest
+complaint of his government had come to the court.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER VIII
+
+
+While Cuba was enjoying the peace and prosperity which had followed its
+return to Spain, Louisiana, which by the Treaty of Paris had been ceded
+to Spain by Louis XV. of France, to indemnify her for the Floridas and
+the government of which was annexed to that of Cuba, was going through a
+most harassing period of anxiety. For this agreement, which transferred
+the French inhabitants of Louisiana to Spain, was a violation of that
+human right which at this very time was beginning to dawn in the
+awakening political consciousness of mankind, and was to be a source of
+serious conflicts between the French of Louisiana and the authorities
+that came to establish upon her soil the rule of the king of Spain.
+
+Bancroft gives an interesting account of the events that occurred. He
+writes in his "History of the United States" (Vol. IV, p. 122):
+
+"The Treaty of Paris left two European powers sole sovereigns of the
+continent of North America. Spain, accepting Louisiana without
+hesitation, lost France as her bulwark, and assumed new expenses and
+dangers, to keep the territory from England. Its inhabitants loved the
+land of their ancestry; by every law of nature and human freedom, they
+had the right to protest against the transfer of their allegiance."
+
+The spirit which found ultimate expression in the formula: "no
+government without the consent of the governed" had been awakened in the
+people of the North American continent. As soon as the news reached
+Louisiana, that the territory was to be transferred under the rule of
+the Spanish king, the call for an assembly was issued and every parish
+in the colony sent representatives to voice their protest and deliberate
+upon measures preventing the execution of that transfer. Under the
+leadership of Lafreniere the people unanimously decided to address a
+petition to the king of France, entreating him not to abandon them to
+foreign rule. The loyalty with which the colony had so far adhered to
+the kings of the mother country seemed to call for redress of the wrong
+which was about to be inflicted upon them.
+
+The wealthiest merchant of New Orleans, Jean Milhet, went to Paris as
+the spokesman of the colony. He met Bienville, the pioneer founder of
+the city which enjoyed at that time the reputation of being an American
+Paris, and the octogenarian lent his aid in an attempt to appeal to the
+French minister, Choiseul. But Choiseul gave them no encouragement. His
+answer was, briefly: "It cannot be; France cannot bear the charge of
+supporting the colony's precarious existence." On the tenth of July,
+1765, the Brigadier D. Antonio de Ulloa, who was appointed by Governor
+Buccarelli of Cuba to take possession of the territory ceded to Spain,
+sent a letter from Havana to the superior council of the colony at New
+Orleans announcing that he had orders to take possession of that city
+for the Catholic king. But the French authorities did not remove the
+flag of France and Acadian exiles continued to pour into the colony from
+the north. Ulloa finally sailed from Havana and on the fifth of March,
+1766, he arrived in the bay.
+
+The very elements of nature seem to have conspired to lend gloom to his
+arrival. A terrible thunderstorm and violent downpour of rain was a
+feature of the landing. He was accompanied by some civil officers, three
+Capuchin monks and eighty soldiers. The people, resentful of being
+forced to submit to foreign rule, received him coldly and sullenly. He
+had brought with him orders to redeem the seven million livres of French
+paper money which had been a heavy burden upon a population of not more
+than six thousand souls. He saw at once that the population was
+unwilling to give up its nationality and to change its allegiance from
+France to Spain. He learned that the French garrison peremptorily
+refused to serve under Spanish commanders. So he was forced to leave the
+government, which he was supposed to administer with the aid of the
+Spanish officials that he had brought with him, in the hands of the
+former French functionaries.
+
+When in September of that year an ordinance was introduced by Ulloa
+forcing French vessels having special permits to accept the paper
+currency in payment for their cargoes at an unreasonable tariff, the
+merchants of the colony protested vigorously. They declared stoutly:
+
+"The extension and freedom of trade, far from injuring states and
+colonies, are their strength and support."
+
+Reports circulating about the disorders caused by this conflict between
+the French population and the Spanish authorities frightened the owners
+of merchant vessels that had been in the habit of trading at the colony
+and its commerce with them was for the time being almost suspended. The
+ordinance was rescinded, and Ulloa retired from New Orleans to the
+Balise. He had to be contented to establish Spanish rule at that spot
+and opposite Natchez at the river Iberville. Perhaps a man of different
+disposition would have been able to reconcile the colonists to the
+foreign regime. But Ulloa did not possess the amiable qualities that
+characterized the Governor of Cuba, Buccarelli. He had to learn, as did
+Lord Albemarle during his brief administration of Havana, that it was
+not an easy task to conquer the hearts of a people and win them over to
+the rule of foreign authorities.
+
+According to Bancroft this irritating state of things continued for more
+than two years. He writes (p. 123):
+
+"But the arbitrary and passionate conduct of Ulloa, the depreciation of
+the currency with the prospect of its becoming an almost total loss, the
+disputes respecting the expenses incurred since the cession of 1762, the
+interruption of commerce, a captious ordinance which made a private
+monopoly of the traffic with the Indians, uncertainty of jurisdiction
+and allegiance, agitated the colony from one end to the other. It was
+proposed to make of New Orleans a republic, like Amsterdam or Venice,
+with a legislative body of forty men, and a single executive. The people
+of the country parishes crowded in a mass into the city; joined those of
+New Orleans; and formed a numerous assembly, in which Lafreniere, John
+Milhet, Joseph Milhet, and the lawyer Doucet were conspicuous. 'Why,'
+said they, 'should the two sovereigns form agreements which can have no
+result but our misery, without advantage to either?' On the twenty-fifth
+of October, they adopted an address to the superior council, written by
+Lafreniere and Caresse, rehearsing their griefs; and in their petition
+of rights, they claimed freedom of commerce with the ports of France and
+America, and the expulsion of Ulloa from the colony."
+
+This address was signed by upwards of five hundred persons and at the
+meeting of the council on the very next day it was, contrary to the
+warnings of Aubry, accepted. The excitement of the people, when they
+heard this good news, was indescribable. The French colors appeared in
+the public square and veteran pioneers of the colony, women and children
+crowded around to kiss the cherished flag of the much beloved mother
+country. Nine hundred men pressed around the flag pole when it was
+about to be raised, eager to lend a hand in what was to them a sacred
+function, and men, women and children began to cry: "Vive le roi de
+France! Nul autre que lui pour nous!" This clamorous demonstration
+manifested to Ulloa the will of the people; and when they proceeded to
+elect their town officials, he abandoned the attempt of establishing
+Spanish rule in Louisiana. He set sail for Havana, and through his
+representatives sent the news of these events to Spain. That incident
+was so significant of the spirit of the times that Du Chatelet wrote to
+Choiseul:
+
+"The success of the people of New Orleans in driving away the Spaniards
+is a good example for the English colonies; may they set about following
+it."
+
+For at this very time the British colonies of America were entering upon
+their struggle for deliverance from restrictions upon trade as
+symbolized in the stamp act and the atmosphere upon the continent was
+rife with revolution. While the statesmen of France and even some of
+England were inclined to grant greater freedom of commerce, Spain still
+lagged behind. She had been the champion of the protective system for
+centuries, and though it had not added to her wealth, on the contrary,
+had helped to impoverish her, she was unwilling to depart from the
+time-honored policy. Grimaldi, the Spanish minister, thus set forth the
+stand which Spain was to take in this question:
+
+"Besides, the position and strength of the countries occupied by the
+Americans excite a just alarm for the rich Spanish possessions on their
+borders. Their interlopers have already introduced their grain and rice
+into our colonies. If this should be legalized and extended to other
+objects, it would increase the prosperity of a neighbor already too
+formidable. Moreover, this neighbor, if it should separate from the
+metropolis, would assume the republican form of government; and a
+republic is a government dangerous from the wisdom, the consistency, and
+the solidity of the measures which it would adopt for executing such
+projects of conquests as it would naturally form."
+
+This fear of a republic in Louisiana haunted the king of Spain and his
+cabinet and after discussing the question of returning it to France, it
+was almost unanimously agreed that Louisiana was needed "as a granary
+for Havana and Puerto Rico, a precaution against French contraband trade
+and a barrier to keep off the English encroachments." The Duke of Alva
+said, in a spirit true to his namesake of two centuries before:
+
+"The world, and especially America, must see that the king can and will
+crush even an intention of disrespect."
+
+Masones de Lima expressed himself briefly:
+
+"If France should recover Louisiana, she would annex it to the English
+colonies or would establish its independence."
+
+Minister de Aranda began cautiously:
+
+"A republic in Louisiana would be independent of the European powers,
+who would all cultivate her friendship and support her existence. She
+would increase her population, enlarge her limits, and grow into a rich,
+flourishing and free state, contrasting with our exhausted provinces."
+
+He continued in this vein, dwelling at length upon the consequences such
+an example might bring in its wake, and advised to keep New Orleans in
+such insignificance as to tempt no attack.
+
+The deliberations in the French cabinet were of quite a different
+nature. Du Chatelet, as quoted by Bancroft (p. 151), declared:
+
+"Spain can never derive benefit from Louisiana. She neither will nor
+can take effective measures for its colonization and culture. She has
+not inhabitants enough to furnish emigrants; and the religious and
+political principles of her government will always keep away foreigners,
+and even Frenchmen. Under Spanish dominion, the vast extent of territory
+ceded by France to Spain on the banks of the Mississippi will soon
+become a desert.
+
+"The expense of colonies is required only by commerce; and the commerce
+of Louisiana, under the rigor of the Spanish prohibitive laws, will
+every day become more and more a nullity. Spain then will make an
+excellent bargain, if she accords liberty to the inhabitants of
+Louisiana, and permits them to form themselves into a republic. Nothing
+can so surely keep them from falling under English rule as making them
+cherish the protection of Spain and the sweetness of independence."
+
+But the king of Spain had no thought save that of upholding the Spanish
+traditions, and, accepting the advice of the Duke de Alva, decided to
+crush the rebellion of Louisiana. He chose as his instrument the Conde
+Alexandre O'Reilly, who had gone to Cuba with de Ricla and had
+reorganized the army and militia of the island. Buccarelli was informed
+of the royal decision and assisted O'Reilly in fitting out an expedition
+which was to enable him to enforce Spanish rule and eradicate all traces
+of republican leanings in the French colony. The people of New Orleans
+had in the meantime once more sent a petition to France in the attempt
+to enlist the sympathy and aid of the mother country in their endeavor
+to remain French citizens. They also sent an appeal to the British at
+Pensacola but the governor was not inclined to offend any powers with
+which his king was at peace. So great was the dread of the Louisianans
+of being forced to bow to Spanish rule, that they spoke seriously of
+burning New Orleans rather than giving it up to the hated foreign
+authorities.
+
+O'Reilly set sail from Havana with a squadron of twenty-four vessels,
+with three thousand well-trained troops on board. He arrived at the
+Balise at the end of July. For a time panic reigned in the city. Aubry
+tried to quiet the people, and advised them to submit and trust in the
+clemency of the king of Spain. A committee of three, Lafreniere, as
+representative of the council, Marquis of the colonists, and Milhet of
+the merchants, presented themselves at the Balise to pay their respects
+to the Spanish general and to appeal to his mercy. O'Reilly entertained
+them at dinner and they left assured of perfect amnesty. On the eighth
+of August the Spanish squadron anchored before the city itself, and the
+authorities took possession in the name of his Majesty, Carlos III. of
+Spain. The Spanish colors replaced those of France and it seemed as if
+with this ceremony and the installment of Spanish officials in the
+different departments of the colony's government the mission of O'Reilly
+was ended. But there was still the punishment to be meted out to the
+rebels who had dared to defy the authority of the Spanish king and had
+sworn unchanging allegiance to the sovereign of France. After having
+received from Aubry, who seemed to play traitor to his compatriots, a
+list of those who had taken part in the recent insurrection and had
+prepared the foundation of a republic with a protector and an elective
+council of forty, O'Reilly on the twenty-first of August invited to his
+home the most prominent citizens and asked the representatives of the
+people's council to pass, one by one, into his private apartment. In
+their unsuspecting innocence, they accepted this invitation as a mark of
+distinction, but they were sadly disillusioned, when O'Reilly entered
+with Aubry and three Spanish officers, and arrested them in the name of
+his Majesty the King of Spain.
+
+According to Bancroft two months were spent in collecting evidence
+against the men. The defense asserted that they could not be tried and
+condemned by Spanish officials for acts done before the proper
+establishment of Spanish rule in the colony. The citizens begged for
+time to send a petition to the Spanish sovereign. But all attempts to
+divert O'Reilly from his purpose summarily to punish the men who had
+dared to defy Ulloa, as the representative of Spain, were futile. Twelve
+of the richest men of the colony had to see their estates confiscated;
+from the proceeds were paid the officers employed in the trial. Six
+others were sentenced to various terms of imprisonment, from six years
+to life. The five who had been most conspicuous in the revolt,
+Lafreniere, Marquis, Milhet, Caresse and Noyau, were sentenced to death.
+According to Bancroft they were shot in presence of the troops and the
+people on the twenty-fifth of October, 1769. According to Spanish
+historians they were hanged.
+
+Whatever the fate of these French champions of the newly awakened desire
+for liberty may have been, the effects of O'Reilly's cruelty were felt
+far beyond the still ill defined boundaries of the colony. Though the
+king of Spain was reported to have expressed his approval of O'Reilly's
+summary procedure, even in Spain voices rose to condemn it. A pall
+spread over Louisiana. Business life was for a time paralyzed. Commerce
+came to an absolute standstill. In the country parishes of the colony,
+the Spanish authority was accepted with sullen silence. Many of the
+wealthy families, long identified with the history of the colony,
+abandoned their homes and emigrated to other parts of the continent. The
+government of the colony was reorganized on the pattern of all Spanish
+colonies. The restrictions which were placed upon commerce robbed the
+people of whatever initiative and enterprise they had possessed. A
+period of stagnation set in, contrasting sharply with the activity and
+the animation that had previously reigned in the city which claimed and
+was reported by travelers of that time to have been fairly well started
+on the road of becoming the Paris of America. It was an inauspicious
+beginning for the Spanish regime in Louisiana. But the successor of
+O'Reilly, D. Luis de Uznaga, made up for his predecessor's mistake by
+showing so much discretion and exercising his authority with such
+mildness, that he gradually succeeded in reconciling a part of the
+population to the Spanish rule. Only the families of the victims that
+had paid for their loyalty to France with their lives remained the
+implacable enemies of Spain, as long as the colony remained under her
+rule. Aubry, who immediately after the tragedy of the twenty-fifth of
+October had set sail for France, suffered shipwreck on his voyage and
+perished. The six men who had been committed to the dungeons of Havana
+were, according to Bancroft, later set free by the aid of France.
+
+This tragic prelude to the Spanish rule in Louisiana, little as it has
+to do with Cuba, with which colony it was but loosely connected in an
+administrative way, was the herald of a new epoch dawning upon the
+horizon of the New World. The establishment of the little republic at
+the mouth of the Mississippi had been frustrated. But the establishment
+of the greater republic on the continent, under the protection of which
+Cuba was to come some centuries later, was even at this time approaching
+consummation.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER IX
+
+
+While the new Spanish possession annexed to Cuba by virtue of the Treaty
+of Paris, Louisiana, was passing through that painful state of
+transition which always follows the transfer of a nation belonging to a
+certain race speaking a certain language and cherishing customs deeply
+rooted in the national consciousness, to the rule of another nation, of
+a different race, speaking a different language and practising widely
+different customs, Cuba was enjoying a period of peace, prosperity and
+progress. When Buccarelli was appointed Viceroy of Mexico, D. Pascal
+Jiminez de Cisneros once more exercised superior authority as
+provisional governor of the island. But in November, 1771, the newly
+appointed governor arrived from Spain, the Captain-General D. Felipe
+Fons de Viela, Marquis de la Torre. He was a valiant soldier who in the
+wars of Spain with Italy and Portugal had distinguished himself by his
+conduct and his ability, and had risen to his high rank at the cost of
+his blood. He was a native of Zaragoza, a Knight of the military order
+of Santiago and Alderman in perpetuity, or prefect-governor of his
+native city. He came to Cuba with the reputation of an exceptionally
+worthy official and in the five years of his administration not only
+justified but far surpassed the hopes that his arrival awakened in the
+population of the colony. He entered upon his duties on the eighteenth
+of November, 1771.
+
+Marquis de la Torre was without doubt one of the most efficient and
+successful governors that Cuba ever had. Havana was at that time
+growing in population and extent, and entering upon a new era in her
+economic development, due largely to the foresight of King Carlos III.,
+who had granted her an exemption from certain taxes. The city had,
+however, suffered so much in previous times, first from the perpetual
+unrest arising from the fear of invasion by pirates, then from the
+siege, and lastly from the hurricane of 1768, that it needed a man,
+clear of purpose and strong of will, to inaugurate the many innovations
+which he introduced, in order to make the place worthy of being the
+metropolis of Spain's richest island-possession in America. While Ricla
+and Buccarelli, entering upon their governorships immediately after the
+occupation of Havana by the British, had of necessity devoted most of
+their energy towards insuring the safety of the place from a repetition
+of the events of 1762, and had therefore been primarily concerned with
+the fortifications and the military reorganization of the place, la
+Torre was able to direct his attention to improvements, which made for a
+higher standard of public health, and paved the way for a culture, which
+in spite of the wealth of the population, was still only in its
+beginnings. Coming as he did from the Spain of Carlos III., who during
+his long peaceful reign did so much for the cultural progress of his
+country by introducing measures of sanitation and other improvements
+unknown to his predecessors, it was the ambition of la Torre to make
+Havana worthy of comparison with the large cities of the mother country.
+
+[Illustration: IN OLD HAVANA
+
+Havana is at once one of the oldest and of the newest of the great
+cities of the western world, and the architecture of its streets
+exhibits samples of the work of five centuries. This scene, showing the
+side wall of the great Cathedral, is typical of the older portions of
+the city, with comparatively narrow streets and characteristic Spanish
+houses.]
+
+It seems almost unbelievable that Havana had up to this time lacked
+proper pavements; that it had no public promenade, such as every
+European city far inferior in size and population possessed, that the
+streets were disfigured by unsightly and unsanitary out-houses and that
+even the government buildings had been put up with little regard
+for appearance, not to mention beauty. Moreover it is almost incredible
+that a city, the population of which belonged to the race that had
+produced some of the greatest dramatists of the world, Calderon and Lope
+de la Vega, had after an existence of some centuries not yet erected a
+playhouse, providing wholesome entertainment for her residents there to
+enjoy the works of their master poets and be for the time of the
+performance lifted above the purely material pursuits of their daily
+life. This was the state in which la Torre found Havana and he
+immediately set to work to study the city's most urgent needs and to
+raise it as rapidly as possible to the high standard he intended to
+apply.
+
+The first task that claimed his attention was the improvement of the
+streets. When the plan to have them paved was about to be realized it
+was found that there was not a sufficient quantity of cobblestones
+available for that purpose. So the contractors had to employ timber
+soaked in tar, which had proved to be extremely durable, little affected
+by atmospheric conditions, and offered only the one disadvantage of
+making a very slippery surface in the rainy season. The next step
+towards raising Havana out of its village state to urban cleanliness and
+dignity was the abolition of the ugly and unsanitary out-houses, a
+measure which seemed so radical and revolutionary to the conservative
+elements of the population that it met with no little opposition. Then
+la Torre deliberated upon plans for public promenades, and those of
+Paula and Almadea Nueva were laid out, followed by the Mall in the
+interior of the city and the Nueva Prado outside of the city walls.
+Great was the delight of the residents, who slowly began to wake up to
+the benefits and the pleasures to be derived by these attempts at
+improvement and embellishment of their town. Among the ordinances
+insuring the health, the beauty and the safety of the city, was one
+prohibiting the roofing of houses with guano, which had long been the
+source of dangerous conflagrations, aside from its unsanitary features
+and its being an eyesore. Modest as these demands may seem to twentieth
+century readers, la Torre had no little difficulty in carrying them
+through. But thanks to his energy, perseverance and executive power the
+streets of Havana with their neat pavements, and the public promenades
+with their gravel walks not only improved the appearance of the city,
+but stimulated the dormant esthetic sense of the inhabitants to an
+appreciation of civic beauty.
+
+The next step undertaken by la Torre for the improvement of Havana was
+the erection of more suitable public buildings, especially one for the
+governor himself and for the Ayuntamento, which, strange enough, was to
+be under the same roof as the public jail. Under his order were rebuilt
+seven of the old barracks for the soldiers and a new one was erected for
+the veterans. A great number of bridges was built, that of the Santa Fe
+passage over the Cojimar river, that of las Vegas on the road of Santa
+Maria del Rosario; the bridge of Arroyo Hondo, under the leeside of that
+town; the Enriquez and the Carrillo, and others. All these bridges had
+shields of arms and inscriptions on their pillars and with their many
+arches presented a beautiful sight. The harbor was thoroughly dredged
+with the aid of twelve pontoons and barges manned by a crew of
+presidarios (criminals condemned to hard labor) and slaves. The wharves
+of Carpineti, Cabana and Marimilena were constructed. Finally there was
+erected the first theatre, which was in its way as important an addition
+to the cultural life of the city as had been the foundation of the
+university some time before. For the wealthy and intellectually
+ambitious part of the population had keenly felt the lack of dignified
+entertainment and not a few individuals had made an annual pilgrimage to
+Madrid to enjoy a season in drama and music and keep in touch with the
+progress of the arts. The value of all the public edifices and
+reconstruction was appraised by D. Simon de Ayala as amounting to two
+hundred and fourteen thousand eight hundred seventy-three and one half
+reals; in the light of more recent days a very small amount in
+proportion to the number and the importance of the buildings
+constructed.
+
+Nor were the efforts of la Torre by any means limited to the improvement
+of the capital. Trinidad, Santiago and Puerto Principe benefited largely
+from the earnest desire for improvement that actuated Governor la Torre
+to undertake these many works. He was instrumental in the founding of
+the towns of Jaruco and of Nueva Filipina, which was later called Pinar
+del Rio. He inspired new life into all the towns that he visited during
+his administration and turned the colony into one of the richest and
+most beautiful, by applying to its improvement the most advanced ideas
+in civic management that were known in his time. From the census which
+la Torre ordered to be taken it appears that there were on the island
+three hundred and thirty-nine corrales or well defined farms, seven
+thousand eight hundred and fourteen farms for horse-breeding, estancias
+for cattle pasture and vegas for tobacco culture and four hundred and
+seventy-eight sugar plantations. There were twenty-nine thousand five
+hundred and eighty casas (buildings, private or public), ninety churches
+and fifty-two parochial chapels. The population of the island numbered
+one hundred and seventy-two thousand inhabitants; of which ninety-six
+thousand four hundred and thirty were whites, forty-five thousand six
+hundred and thirty-three slaves; that of Havana seventy-five thousand;
+Santiago nineteen thousand; Bayamo twelve thousand; Santa Clara eight
+thousand two hundred; Sancti Spiritus eight thousand, Guanabacoa seven
+thousand nine hundred; Trinidad five thousand six hundred, Matanzas
+three thousand two hundred and San Juan de los Remedios three thousand.
+
+The reforms which la Torre inaugurated in the government itself were
+also remarkable. In the proclamation published on the fourth of April,
+1772, he repeated the ordinances issued by his predecessors to insure
+order and quiet in the communities; but he added some important
+innovations. He delivered the people from the exploitation they had
+suffered at the hands of annually appointed visitadores de partido
+(party judges), whose legal malpractices had been a source of great
+grievance to the citizens, and he compelled the members of the inferior
+courts of justice to reside in their respective districts. Commerce had
+after its transient extension during the British dominion once more
+begun to suffer from the restrictions imposed by the government of
+Spain. But about the year 1771, it was revived, for the export duties on
+sugar, honey, cane brandy, hides and wax were lowered and cotton could
+be exported free of duty. In order to stimulate the wax industry, the
+growth of which was remarkably rapid and added largely to the wealth of
+the island, la Torre published in form of a decree measures for its
+protection and promotion. Among them he prohibited the cutting of trees
+on which there were hives. In the year 1770 there were exported to Vera
+Cruz more than five arrobas of wax. At the end of the same year Cuba
+exported to Spain and various points in America twelve thousand five
+hundred and forty-six and in the following year twenty-one thousand one
+hundred and eighty-seven arrobas. The Captain-General was authorized in
+certain cases to import provisions from abroad. But contraband
+prevailed and flourished as ever. Governor Torre engaged in an active
+campaign against the smugglers and was the cause of their suffering
+heavy losses; but he was unable to exterminate the evil. This was mainly
+due to the arrogance and arbitrary attitude of Governor D. Antonio Ayanz
+de Ureta, who favored the smugglers that carried on a lively trade in
+the eastern part of the island with Jamaica and the foreign Antilles.
+
+Much as General la Torre ingratiated himself with the citizens by his
+gentle disposition as well as his sound judgment and impeccable honesty,
+he was not to be spared disagreeable experiences with other officials.
+One of these was with the commandant of the Apostadero or naval station,
+D. Juan Bautista Bonel, to whom credit is due for having enriched the
+shipyard by some magnificent structures. The dispute between them
+concerned some civilians who were implicated in a case against
+individuals belonging to the navy, and whom la Torre asked to be given
+over to his jurisdiction. Another unpleasantness was caused by
+conflicting orders given by la Torre and the commandant-general of the
+army. The latter had opened the new gateway that ran as far as the
+suburb of Jesus Maria in the neighborhood of the arsenal, and it was
+said the governor ordered that of la Tenaza to be closed, because the
+commandant opposed its running to that suburb and thus running through
+the arsenal. But upon the complaints that were entered at Madrid by
+Ureta as well as the other gentlemen, that caused these dissensions, his
+Majesty always upheld the side of la Torre and dismissed the
+accusations. Governor la Torre retired on the twelfth of June, 1776, and
+died in Madrid as Lieutenant-General on the sixth of July, 1784. His
+term of administration was the first during which the revenues exceeded
+a million of pesos, which augured an era of prosperity for Cuba.
+
+That Governor Torre left Havana a healthier and more beautiful city to
+live in, than it had been before, is an achievement which gives his
+administration a place of its own among those that were especially
+concerned with the welfare of the population. Visitors to Cuba that had
+marked the difference between the Havana of 1745 and that of 1762, would
+have been even more impressed with the appearance of the city after
+Torre had left upon it the seal of his improvements. The residents began
+to take a pride in the capital of the island; a civic spirit arose and
+began to weld the inhabitants more closely by the bond of interests,
+which at last began to surpass those associated with their purely
+material welfare. Visitors coming from the old centers of European
+culture had formerly commented upon the absence in the colonies of
+places where men and women could gather for social intercourse and
+intelligent entertainment. The French visitor quoted in a previous
+chapter, after his visit to Cuba and Santo Domingo, wrote rather
+dejectedly:
+
+"Life offers no attraction here for anybody who is not in commerce.
+Dependent on one's self, there is no relaxation for anyone who has lived
+in France and there played a certain role. One must not expect theaters,
+nor cafes, nor public promenades, and still less societies. One does not
+know how to spend the time and this is a real annoyance to a man of
+leisure. The carnival, especially where there are French, offers the
+only opportunity to banish in a degree the dryness of the entertainments
+in these countries--and what entertainments! One would never dream of
+seeking them, if one were not so far from Europe. The residents in
+comfortable circumstances come to town, you play a game of cards in some
+house, in others you drink abundantly, and in most you are bored. The
+country has hardly more attraction for any one having no residence; but
+besides the restraint which is banished there, you can at least enjoy a
+morning and an evening walk; and if you are so lucky as to come across
+some wealthy resident of the better class, you may in rare instances
+find yourself in agreeable company. But there are parts of the country
+where neighbors hardly visit one another once a year."
+
+This is a true glimpse of life in the colonies before the British
+occupation. Had the distinguished foreigner who made these observations
+come to Cuba after the administration of la Torre, he would have found
+the theatre and the promenades, and perhaps even the cafes he had
+previously missed. For the prosperity which set in for the island after
+King Carlos III. began to relax the unreasonable restrictions upon her
+trade and navigation, brought with it to the wealthier classes that
+leisure which calls for higher forms of social life and leads to the
+appreciation of such entertainment as the arts of music and drama offer.
+The theatre of Havana became the meeting place of Cuba's intellectuals
+and the center from which began to radiate the modest beginnings of a
+Cuban culture, which a century later was to produce poets that took
+their place beside those of the mother country. With closer commercial
+relations and increasing facilities of travel even the inhabitants of
+the country living on their haciendas a beautiful domestic life, but one
+making for a certain clannishness, gradually came out of their
+isolation, and benefiting by the progress of their urban neighbors, were
+stimulated to participate in enterprises which a few decades before they
+would have spurned. The constantly growing intercourse with the Old
+World, bringing them into touch with contemporary thought, was another
+leaven that began to work in the minds of the Cubans, and to encourage
+activities and interests held as being entirely without the range of a
+people whose chief pursuits for some centuries had been agriculture.
+Thus Cuba entered upon her first period of progress.
+
+This was due in no little measure to the peace and prosperity of Spain
+during the long reign of King Carlos III. For the overseas colonies of
+the European powers were so closely associated with and dependent upon
+the mother countries, that their healthy progress as a rule indicated
+healthy political and economic conditions of the latter. If there was at
+this time any unrest and anxiety at the courts and in the diplomatic
+circles of Europe this was due to events that were happening in North
+America and were beginning to shake the foundations of the old order. On
+the nineteenth of April, 1775, there had been fired the first shot in
+the struggle upon which the thirteen British colonies had entered in
+order to secure their freedom from the unbearable restrictions which
+Britain had imposed upon them. That shot sounded an alarm which was
+heard all over the world and sent a thrill through millions of hearts.
+The spirit that had dictated the works of the French encyclopedists and
+had worked like a leaven of liberty in millions of minds, had become
+incarnate in the British colonists and was clamoring for consummation of
+its ultimate aims. Monarchs and ministers convened in solemn conferences
+and deliberated seriously upon the possible effects of the action taken
+by the rebels against British overrule.
+
+Spain and France, sharing with Britain colonial possessions in America,
+were profoundly disturbed. They had been allies in the recent war
+against Britain, and they still depended upon each other for mutual
+counsel and consolation. The king of France, Louis XVI., an autocrat if
+ever there was, had an excellent minister of finance in Turgot, a man of
+extraordinary foresight, of liberal judgment and of rare administrative
+ability. After Vergennes, the minister of foreign affairs, who favored
+the emancipation of America, had forwarded to the king a cautiously
+worded report upon the situation, Turgot was asked to give his opinion,
+and did so in a memorial which very succinctly stated the position of
+both France and Spain, and contained the following significant passages:
+
+"The yearly cost of colonies in peace, the enormous expenditures for
+their defence in war, lead to the conclusion that it is more
+advantageous for us to grant them entire independence, without waiting
+for the moment when events will compel us to give them up. This view
+would, not long since, have been scorned as a paradox, and rejected with
+indignation. At present we may be the less revolted at it, and perhaps
+it may not be without utility to prepare consolation for inevitable
+events. Wise and happy will be that nation which shall first know how to
+bend to the new circumstances, and consent to see in its colonies,
+allies and not subjects. When the total separation of America shall have
+healed the European nations of jealousy of commerce, there will exist
+among men one great cause of war the less, and it is very difficult not
+to desire an event which is to accomplish this good for the human race.
+In our colonies we shall save many millions, and, if we acquire the
+liberty of commerce and navigation with all the northern continent, we
+shall be amply compensated.
+
+"The position of Spain with regard to its American possessions will be
+more embarassing. Unhappily she has less facility than any other power
+to quit the route she has followed for two centuries, and conform to a
+new order of things. Thus far she has directed her policy to
+maintaining the multiplied prohibitions with which she has embarrassed
+her commerce. She has made no preparations to substitute for empire over
+her American provinces a fraternal connection founded on identity of
+origin, language, and manners, without the opposition of interests; to
+offer them liberty as a gift, instead of yielding it to force. Nothing
+is more worthy of the wisdom of the king of Spain and his council, than
+from this present time to fix their attention on the possibility of this
+forced separation, and on the measures to be taken to prepare for it."
+
+Alas! the warning of Turgot was not heeded by the government of Spain
+and a whole century had to elapse and many lives had to be sacrificed
+before the Spanish colonies in America were to gain their independence!
+Both the French and the Spanish king were opposed to taking sides in the
+war which Britain was waging with her colonies; but they were quite
+ready secretly to help those colonies, knowing that their success meant
+the weakening of British power! Bancroft reports in his "History of the
+United States" (Vol. V., p. 321):
+
+"After a year's hesitation and resistance, the king of France, early in
+May, informed the king of Spain that he had resolved, under the name of
+a commercial house, to advance a million of French livres, about two
+hundred thousand dollars, towards the supply of the wants of the
+Americans."
+
+His example was followed by the king of Spain, who, a few weeks later,
+without the knowledge of any of his advisers except Grimaldi, sent a
+draft for a million livres more, as his contribution!
+
+Such had been the effect of the first shot fired in the struggle for
+American independence. When the news of the official declaration of this
+independence on July fourth, 1776, reached Paris and Madrid, the worst
+fears of the upholders of the old regime and the most exalted dreams of
+the champions of the new political ideal were realized. But neither
+France nor Spain dared openly to take sides against Britain, both having
+ample reason to avoid being involved in new wars. As Turgot intimated in
+his message, Spain was far more directly interested in the step taken by
+the British colonies and the possible effects it might have upon her own
+possessions. Hence France decided to do nothing without the agreement of
+Spain. Again it is Bancroft who gives the clearest statement of the
+economic position of Spain and her reasons for avoiding a break with
+Britain. He writes in his "History of the United States" (Vol. V., p.
+535):
+
+"Equal to Great Britain in the number of her inhabitants, greatly
+surpassing that island in the extent of her home territory and her
+colonies, she did not love to confess or to perceive her inferiority in
+wealth and power. Her colonies brought her no opulence, for their
+commerce, which was soon to be extended to seven ports, then to twelve,
+and then to nearly all, was still confined to Cadiz; the annual exports
+to Spanish America had thus far fallen short of four millions of dollars
+in value, and the imports were less than the exports. Campomanes was
+urging through the press the abolition of restriction on trade; but for
+the time the delusion of mercantile monopoly held the ministers fast
+bound. The serious strife with Portugal had for its purpose the
+occupation of both banks of the river La Plata, that so the mighty
+stream might be sealed up against all the world but Cadiz. As a
+necessary consequence, Spanish shipping received no development; and,
+though the king constructed ships of the line and frigates, he could
+have no efficient navy, for want of proper nurseries of seamen. The war
+department was in the hands of an indolent chief, so that its business
+devolved on O'Reilly, whose character is known to us from his career in
+Louisiana, and whose arrogance and harshness were revolting to the
+Spanish nation. The revenue of the kingdom fell short of twenty-one
+millions of dollars, and there was a notorious want of probity in the
+management of the finances. In such a state of its navy, army, and
+treasury, how could it make war on England?"
+
+Nobody realized these facts better than King Carlos III. His new
+ministers, D. Jose Monino, Count de Florida Blanca, who had succeeded
+Grimaldi, and Galvez, the minister for the Indies, agreed with the
+sovereign; and when Arthur Lee, emissary of the new republic, appeared
+in Europe and sought an audience with the authorities in Madrid, he was
+detained at Burgos to confer with Grimaldi, who was then on his way to
+his native Italy. Lee found little encouragement and satisfaction in
+this interview; he was told that the Americans would find at New Orleans
+three thousand barrels of powder and some store of clothing, and that
+Spain would perhaps send them a cargo of goods from Bilbao, but he was
+urged to hurry back to Paris. Florida Blanca, too, very decidedly
+expressed his aversion to the new republic and was reported to have said
+"that the independence of America would be the worst example to other
+colonies, and would make the Americans in every respect the worst
+neighbors that the Spanish colonies could have." Thus the constant fear
+that the close proximity of an independent state might rouse the spirit
+of independence in her own colonies, determined the policy of Spain
+toward the War of American Independence.
+
+Yet her colonies in America gave Spain little trouble at that time,
+being contented with their lot and working out the problem of their
+existence as well as their loyalty to Spanish institutions would
+permit. Cuba, especially, was at that time absorbed in living up to the
+high standards set her by the three excellent governors that had
+followed the British domination: Ricla, Buccarelli and la Torre. Their
+successor was the Field Marshal D. Diego Jose Navarro, a native of
+Badajoz. He entered upon the duties of his administration on the twelfth
+of July, 1777, at a time when the war being waged between Britain and
+her American colonies had created an atmosphere of apprehension and once
+more brought near the possibility of a conflict with the old enemy. The
+repeated protests of her economic experts against her trade restrictions
+had induced the government of Spain to issue the royal "Ordenanza para
+el libre comercio con las colonias," a decree due to the constant
+efforts of the Minister of the Indies, D. Jose de Galvez, whose
+experience in the colonies had given his voice sufficient weight to
+convince his Majesty of the urgent necessity of this reform. During two
+and a half centuries Spain had traded with America only, through the
+ports of Cadiz and Sevilla; this ordinance opened all the ports of the
+peninsula to traffic with all those of Spanish America.
+
+At the same time was ordered a reduction in the duties and the
+permission of importing foreign goods, though they always had to be
+carried in Spanish boats. These duties were henceforth three per cent.
+on Spanish products, and seven per cent. on foreign products. When the
+value of the goods was greater than their bulk, a duty was levied,
+called estranjeria (foreign custom). As a result of this reform, the
+revenues of Cuba which in 1764 had amounted to not more than three
+hundred and sixteen thousand pesos, rose in the year 1777 to one million
+twenty seven thousand two hundred and thirteen pesos. Contraband which
+had been one of the worst evils that the Cuban authorities had to
+contend with for two centuries, visibly declined and was soon limited to
+articles of luxury. At the same time there was also ordered by royal
+decree the unification of the coinage, and the macuquino, a coin with
+the milled edges cut off, was replaced by one of silver with a corded
+edge. All these reforms were received by the people with unbounded
+enthusiasm. In all parts of the island the inhabitants spontaneously
+gave vent to their joy in brilliant festivals and in a display of
+oratory, which acclaimed the beginning of the new era for Cuba.
+
+Like Buccarelli, Governor Navarro was much concerned with the legal
+malpractice that had long existed in the courts. The bar was composed of
+many men who with insidious cunning stirred up and prolonged innumerable
+lawsuits. Their machinations not only violated the sense of justice, but
+directly disgraced their profession and the judicial administration of
+the island. So many families had been ruined by such legal procedures,
+that Governor Navarro was determined to check the operations of these
+sharks. He ordered that no one but a duly appointed notary should be
+permitted to draft legal documents and perform judicial acts and he
+reduced the number of these men to thirty-four for the whole island. He
+also appointed an appraiser to adjust the costs of legal proceedings and
+ordered that lawyers who had been convicted of malpractice should be
+deprived of the right to plead. The Audiencia of Santo Domingo protested
+against some of these decisions of Navarro, but he succeeded in
+convincing the court of the justice of his acts.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER X
+
+
+In the mean time events in North America continued to agitate the
+diplomatic world of Europe and to stir up trouble. As Great Britain had
+begun to interfere with the commerce and navigation of France, the
+relations between the two countries grew daily more strained. France had
+come to an understanding with Spain, that by the beginning of the year
+1778, the two powers would have to combine to make war on Britain, but
+Carlos III., getting old and more and more conservative, did not want to
+depart from his policy of neutrality and wanted to end his days in
+peace. When on the thirteenth of March, the British secretary of state
+received from the French ambassador a note, saying that France and the
+United States of North America had signed a treaty of friendship and
+commerce without any definite advantage to France, but that the king was
+determined to protect the lawful commerce of his subjects, a state of
+war was established between the two kingdoms. Efforts to change the
+decision of Spain were repeated; the return of Florida to Spain was
+offered with the consent of the United States. But Florida had by this
+time lost all charm for the conservative court of Spain, so awed by the
+fact that a republic was to be the neighbor of her American possessions
+that it was bound not to do anything that might help the insurgents, and
+sooner or later kindle the desire for independence in their own
+colonies. Only the prospect of recovering Gibraltar might at that moment
+have swayed the decision of Spain. But that seemed beyond reasonable
+possibility.
+
+The king was in an embarrassing position. The compact entered into by
+the two countries when the Bourbons ascended the Spanish throne, a
+certain respect for the senior branch of the family and the grudge which
+he bore Britain, tempted him many a time to revise his decision. His
+ministers, too, were by no means unanimous in approving Spain's
+neutrality. While some held that to assist rebels in their fight upon
+their mother country was morally wrong and politically imprudent,
+others, impatient of the passive inactivity to which they were reduced,
+modestly expressed their disapproval. One of them, Florida Blanca, more
+ambitious for himself than for his country, eager at any moment to
+embrace an opportunity of making a name for himself, continued to
+negotiate with the statesmen of France and secretly hoped that somehow
+he would have a hand in the return of Gibraltar to Spain. In this vague
+hope he quietly worked to enlarge and improve both the army and the
+fleet of his country; he collected a large number of battering cannon at
+Seville, and the port of Cadiz soon held a greater number of well-built
+vessels than it had seen since the golden age of Spanish maritime power.
+Cunningly holding out the prospect of a final alliance against the
+common enemy to France, while at the same time offering Britain to
+become a mediator in the bloody conflict, he succeeded in delaying any
+decisive action on the part of France. The French became irritable.
+Finally the diplomats of the two powers came to an agreement and on the
+twelfth of April, 1779, a treaty of alliance was signed.
+
+The terms of this treaty were as follows: France was to invade Great
+Britain or Ireland; if she succeeded in wresting from the British
+Newfoundland, she pledged herself to share the fisheries exclusively
+with Spain; she also pledged herself to secure for Spain the return of
+Minorca, Pensacola and Mobile, the Bay of Honduras and the coast of
+Campeche. Moreover, the two powers pledged themselves to continue the
+war on Britain, until that country agreed to return Gibraltar to Spain.
+From the United States Spain expected as reward of her services the
+basin of the St. Lawrence and the lakes, the unrestricted navigation of
+the Mississippi and all the territory lying between that river and the
+Alleghany mountains. The United States were by this treaty to be free to
+make peace with Britain, as soon as their independence was recognized,
+but were not in any way expected to continue war until Gibraltar was
+returned to Spain.
+
+The Spanish colonies in America proved at this time that the distance
+which separated them from the mother country, and the greater sense of
+space and elbowroom which they enjoyed and in which several generations
+of their people had been born, was beginning to differentiate the
+Spanish Americans from their kinsmen in old Spain. Unable in the varying
+aspects of rough pioneer life to preserve the old traditions and
+conventions, the character of the people themselves had changed. They
+were not to be bound by the numerous considerations that entered into
+every step European nations took. They were not slow in taking action,
+when there was cause and opportunity for such. The news of the alliance
+between France and Spain against Britain was received in Cuba and
+Louisiana with intense interest. Within a few days both colonies were
+swayed by the desire to avenge wrongs formerly suffered at the hands of
+the British, and with a remarkable promptness framed measures to this
+effect. Governor Navarro immediately issued privateering patents to
+Spanish ships and they as promptly set out on their quest and captured a
+number of British vessels. The coasts of Cuba were closely watched for
+the possible arrival of a hostile fleet, and the garrison of el Morro
+was keenly on the alert.
+
+In Louisiana the feeling against the British ripened into the plan of
+reconquering Pensacola. D. Bernardo de Galvez, who had settled in that
+colony in 1776, had in 1779 been elected Governor and invested with full
+rights, proprietary and otherwise. The official council of the colony
+was of the opinion that Louisiana should assume a passive defensive,
+until advices and perhaps reenforcements were received from Havana. But
+Galvez, enterprising and energetic in all his undertakings, and a
+fighter whose valor had been tried before, was determined to attack the
+British without delay. He collected a force of only seven hundred men,
+according to Valdes, fourteen hundred according to Blanchet, among them
+many veterans and militia men, and marched towards Fort Manchac. It was
+a perilous and trying expedition through a country then little more than
+a wilderness. But he arrived at his goal and surprised the garrison,
+taking the British prisoners. Encouraged by this success, he left the
+captured fort under guard of a part of his force and turned towards
+Baton Rouge. There he found the enemy much stronger; the British under
+command of Lieutenant-Colonel Dickson opposed his attacks so
+strenuously, that his forces had to entrench themselves in anticipation
+of a prolonged siege. But after nine days, on the twenty first of
+September, Dickson surrendered and his garrison, too, were made
+prisoners. Point Thompson and Point Smith, British establishments on the
+eastern bank of the Mississippi, followed, and leaving General de Camp
+in charge of the conquered territory, Galvez hurried to Cuba to secure
+reenforcements for his attack on Mobile and Pensacola.
+
+In Havana he found everything in readiness to engage in or furnish an
+expedition against the British possessions. He had in the meantime been
+raised to the rank of Field Marshal and everything seemed to favor his
+plan. During the preparations there arrived in the port the squadron of
+D. Jose Solano, consisting of eight thousand men under the command of
+the Lieutenant-General D. Victorio Navia. Receiving a valuable addition
+to his troops from Solano, Galvez prepared to embark with five
+regiments, a small squadron of dragoons, two companies of artillery and
+forty pieces of ordnance. The expedition was abundantly supplied with
+ammunition and provisions. On the sixteenth of October, 1780, they set
+sail with fifty transports, escorted by Solano, seven ships, five
+frigates and three brigantines. But on the following day a terrible
+hurricane surprised them out at sea, seriously damaging some of the
+ships and dispersing the others. Galvez was obliged to return to the
+sailing port without even knowing the fate of some of his vessels. A
+number of them on escaping from the storm drifted towards Campeche,
+others to the mouth of the Mississippi, still others to unknown ports
+and one was known to have been wrecked.
+
+News coming to Havana, that the forces at Mobile, which had in the
+meantime been taken by General de Campo, were in need of food and
+threatened with an attack by the British, a council of generals was held
+and ordered two ships, capable of transporting five hundred men and
+carry a sufficient amount of provisions, to be immediately prepared and
+sent on their way. The convoy sailed on the sixth of December under the
+command of the Captain of the frigate, D. Jose de Rada. On arriving at
+the mouth of the Mobile, he did not dare to enter, having found some
+variation in the channel, and sailed directly for the Balize of the
+Mississippi. He left his cargo at the entrance and returned to Havana.
+Two days later two British frigates penetrated the very Bay of Mobile
+and the detachment of the village was reported to be attacked. D.
+Bernardo de Galvez urged that, although the state of things did not
+permit a repetition of the expedition that had sailed from Havana in
+October, some troops be given him with which to reenforce the garrisons
+of Louisiana and Mobile. There, as soon as a favorable opportunity
+presented itself, he would pledge the inhabitants to a further effort
+and attack Pensacola. The plan was approved by the council, thirteen
+hundred and fifteen men were organized, including five companies of
+grenadiers, five vessels were equipped as transports and the war-ship
+_San Ramon_, under command of D. Jose Calvo, the frigate _Santa Clara_,
+commanded by Captain D. Miguel Alderato, the _Santa Cecilia_, commanded
+by Captain D. Miguel de Goicochoa, the tender _Caiman_, commanded by
+Captain D. Jose Serrato, and the packet _San Gil_ under Captain D. Jose
+Maria Chacon, were designated as escorts. The whole fleet was placed
+under the command of D. Bernardo de Galvez, who now bore the title of
+General.
+
+A communication sent by the General of the Marine to D. Jose Calvo shows
+in what esteem Galvez was held and how eager were the Spanish
+authorities to help him with his attack on Pensacola:
+
+"To the question contained in your paper of yesterday, that I manifest
+to you the terms under which you must subordinate to and obey the orders
+of the Field Marshal of the Royal armies, D. Bernardo de Galvez, I beg
+to advise that your honor shall put in practice with all your well-known
+and notorious diligence those that the expressed Don Bernardo shall give
+your Honor relative to the conquest of Pensacola, without separating
+yourself in other things from what the Royal Ordinances of the Armada
+provide, endeavoring that the strictest discipline be observed in all
+the ships under your orders as provided therein. May our Lord keep you
+many years.
+
+    "JUAN BAUTISTA BONET,
+
+            "Sr. D. Jose Calvo.
+
+"Havana, 6th of February, 1781."
+
+Galvez embarked on the thirteenth of February, the troops followed on
+the fourteenth and the convoy sailed on the twenty-eighth. The General
+had previously sent Captain D. Emiliano Maxent in a schooner to New
+Orleans with orders to the Commandant of Arms, so that the troops which
+D. Jose Rada had left and those that had arrived there on account of the
+October hurricane should set out to meet the convoy. He had ordered them
+to be ready to sail at the first signal. On the first of March the
+General sent D. Miguel de Herrera of the Regiment of Spain to Mobile by
+schooner with letters for D. Jose Espeleta, directing him to proceed to
+the east of Santa Rose island, fronting the port of Pensacola. He
+advised him to march by land to form a union with the troops of his
+command. Such were the extensive and well calculated preparations made
+by the Spaniards for the recapture of Pensacola. After Galvez had
+effected the junction of his troops with those of Mobile and New
+Orleans, he proceeded towards the place which was well fortified and
+garrisoned.
+
+The progress of the blockade was at first very slow. Colonel Campbell,
+who commanded the British, offered a stubborn resistance to the attacks
+of the Spanish troops. But Galvez was equally persistent and undaunted
+continued in his operations. Very much smaller in number than the
+Spanish forces, the British seemed from the first to be doomed to
+defeat. But the decisions of the siege hung a long time in the balance.
+After a brave struggle against odds, the British began to relax in their
+firing, while the Spaniards seemed ever to bring into the firing line
+new batteries. Finally the powder magazine was blown up and demolished
+some of the advance works, and on the ninth of May, 1781, the British
+garrison surrendered with honors. The conquest of Pensacola decided the
+fate of Florida, which returned to Spanish dominion. As a reward for his
+valor the king promoted D. Galvez to the rank of Lieutenant-General and
+gave him the title Conde de Galvez. The British garrison had to pledge
+themselves not to serve during the war against Spain or her allies, but
+were left free to do so against the United States.
+
+During the administration of Governor Navarro, which was soon to come to
+an end, there was one measure enacted, which anticipated our modern
+prohibition. It was promulgated by means of a proclamation of the year
+1780, which prohibited, except for medicinal uses, the sale of liquor.
+So disastrous and wide-spread were the ravages caused by an immoderate
+consumption of distilled spirits, brandy, wine, etc., in the population
+of the island, and especially among the soldiers, that heavy fines were
+imposed upon the offenders; the first offence was punished by a fine of
+fifty pesos, the second by one of one hundred pesos and the third by
+banishment and a fine. The fear that the British would invade Havana or
+Puerto Rico caused a revival of all military activities and the building
+of additions and improvements of the fortifications. In the year 1781
+Governor Navarro, being old and sickly, resigned his office and retired
+to Spain, where the king rewarded his services with the
+Captain-Generalship of Estramadura.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XI
+
+
+Washington's warning of entangling alliances comes to one's mind on
+reading the curious results of the concerted action against Britain
+decided upon by France and Spain in Europe, while the United States were
+fighting the British in North America, and the Spanish colonies of Cuba
+and Louisiana were attempting to wrest from them the Gulf coast. The
+lure of Gibraltar had led to a state of blockade; but this was far from
+satisfying to the insatiable ambition of the Spanish prime minister,
+Florida Blanca, still bent upon making the world ring with the sonority
+of his name. Ignoring all arguments to the contrary presented by the
+French statesman Vergennes, and even by some of the Spanish authorities
+familiar with the situation, he began to insist upon an immediate attack
+on Britain and gradually persuaded the French allies. An expedition was
+fitted out and in June, 1779, the fleet consisting of thirty-one French
+ships of line and twenty Spanish warships sailed for the Channel.
+
+It was the largest and best equipped force that had been seen on the
+Atlantic in many years; for the Spanish shipbuilders had been busy
+during the past years of unrest and threatening war clouds and had
+turned out vessels far superior in construction to those of Britain. The
+French were not over hopeful; even light-hearted Marie Antoinette was
+conscious of the importance of the enterprise and the great risk it
+involved; for she wrote in a private letter: "Everything depends on the
+present moment. Our fleets being united, we have a great superiority.
+They are in the Channel; and I cannot think without a shudder that,
+from one moment to the next, our destiny will be decided." The French
+staked their hope upon the reputation of the Spanish as fighters on sea.
+Montmorin said: "I hope the Spanish marine will fight well; but I should
+like it better if the British, frightened at their number, would retreat
+to their own harbors without fighting." King Carlos alone was
+optimistic; he imagined a rapid invasion, a prompt victory and the
+humiliation of Britain, which he had so long wished for.
+
+The unexpected was to happen for both French and Spaniards. The fleet
+appeared at Plymouth on the sixteenth of August, but, without even an
+attempt at attacking the town, for some unexplained reason was idle for
+two whole days. Then a storm came up and drove it westward. When the
+weather became more favorable, the vessels returned and the British
+retired before them. There was no action to speak of; there was nothing
+lost and nothing gained, and realizing the futility of the undertaking,
+the chiefs decided to abandon it. The French returned to Brest, and the
+Spanish to Cadiz. To the onlooking world the actions of the expedition
+appeared nothing less than quixotic. The reasons for this
+incomprehensible performance gradually became known; the expedition had
+sailed under many chiefs, but it lacked the one chief, whose will and
+word was to prevail and insure unity of purpose. Unable to agree upon
+any one plan of action, they decided upon no action whatever. The
+Spanish admiral, who had been fired with the spirit of Florida Blanca
+and been eager to display the famous military prowess of his nation in a
+big fight with the enemy, was so furious, that he vowed on his honor
+after this experience rather to serve against France than Britain. Marie
+Antoinette wrote to her mother: "The doing of nothing at all will have
+cost us a great deal of money."
+
+But while a legitimate engagement between the French and Spanish vessels
+on the one and the British on the other side was for the time being
+avoided, the three countries did not disdain to stoop to smaller means
+to inflict damage upon the commerce and the navigation of one another.
+Nor did they hesitate to attack the vessels of neutral countries, if
+they suspected them of lending aid to the belligerent they were
+opposing; and as this spirit began to spread, it led to a state of
+anarchy upon the seas, which recalled the golden age of piracy. British
+privateers and other vessels cruised about the ocean in quest of booty
+and attacked and robbed indiscriminately whatever ships they suspected;
+and very frequently this suspicion was only a pretext. Dutch commerce
+and navigation especially suffered from these depredations, and as
+French and Spanish vessels began to vie with the British in these
+violations of neutrality, the council chambers of the European powers,
+from Lisbon to Petrograd and from Naples to Christiania began to ring
+with vociferous protests against these disgraceful conditions. When
+Spain issued an order that all ships found by her vessels to be carrying
+provisions and to be bound for Mediterranean ports, should be brought
+into the harbor of Cadiz and their cargoes sold to the highest bidder,
+even Britain was alarmed and indignant.
+
+That was the moment which brought into prominence Sir George Rodney, the
+British commander, whose naval exploits soon were to worry the Spanish
+colonies, as did once those of British freebooters. Rodney sailed with
+his squadron on the twenty-ninth of December, 1779, and by the eighth of
+January had captured seven warships and fifteen merchantmen. At Cape St.
+Vincent, where he arrived on the sixteenth, he destroyed a part of the
+Spanish squadron under command of D. Languara. In the spring of the same
+year he had several encounters with the French fleet, under command of
+Admiral Guichen, with results so favorable for him that Britain soon
+resounded with his praise. His progress had so far been almost
+unobstructed, but in the summer it was temporarily checked, when the
+Spanish squadron, commanded by D. Solano, joined that of the French.
+However, the curious disparity of French and Spanish temperament once
+more manifested itself in a manner which disastrously affected their
+work. Unable to agree on important questions of action, their
+cooperation threatened to come to naught. In the mean time an epidemic
+of fever broke out in both fleets and D. Solano returned with his ships
+to Havana, while Admiral Guichen sailed for France.
+
+The new governor, who had succeeded Navarro in the administration of
+Cuba, was Lieutenant-General D. Juan Manuel de Cagigal. Alcazar calls
+his governorship a provisional one; Blanchet asserts that he received
+his appointment in reward for the valuable services he had rendered
+during the recent conquest of Pensacola, he having been the first to
+enter through the breach which the Spanish had made in the
+fortifications. Cagigal was a native of Cuba; he entered upon his office
+on the twenty-ninth of May, 1781, and remained until December of the
+same year. He contributed largely to the efficiency of the expedition
+which was fitted out under the command of D. Solano, the General of the
+Spanish fleet, consisting of twelve vessels with one thousand men on
+board, and was to join the French fleet at Guarico. The object of the
+expedition was to capture the island of Providence and eventually take
+other island possessions of the British in the contiguous seas.
+According to Alcazar, Providence was taken, but the defeat of the French
+squadron by Rodney made the position of Cagigal critical and attention
+had to be concentrated upon the defense of Havana.
+
+According to Blanchet this joint expedition of the French and Spanish
+forces, which had for its ultimate object the capture of Jamaica, had
+elected for its chief D. Jose de Galvez, giving him for the duration of
+the campaign authority over the Captain-General of Cuba and the
+president of Santo Domingo. By order of Galvez, Cagigal had set out from
+Havana in April, 1782, with forty-eight transports and two thousand men
+to possess himself of the British island of Bahama, and in particular of
+Providence. During his absence D. Jose Dahan exercised the authority of
+the governor. Cagigal was not aware that a week before his sailing
+Admiral Rodney had defeated the French squadron of Count de Grasse,
+which he was to join in the attack on Jamaica. However, Providence was
+taken and a sufficient garrison left there to make the conquest secure.
+Blanchet indulges in some criticism of Cagigal that he had left Havana,
+and taken all the troops with him at such a critical time. For when he
+reached Matanzas after a heavy gale which had dispersed his ships, he
+found the authorities no little alarmed since a British fleet had been
+sighted.
+
+Cagigal immediately hurried to the capital, fortified the approaches,
+employing one thousand negroes in the work, and formed an intrenched
+camp. He armed the militia, which was reenforced by many civilians,
+eager to fight the enemy, and when on the fifth of August el Morro gave
+notice of the presence of the British, everybody was prepared for the
+defence. Sir George Rodney, now Admiral, had calculated upon taking
+Havana by surprise. He brought with him a squadron composed of
+twenty-six ships of the line, and carrying a large number of troops.
+When he arrived and began to reconnoiter, he perceived the formidable
+preparations that had been made for the defence of the place, and
+deciding that it was imprudent to attack Havana by land, planned to
+approach it from Jarico. In the meantime Cagigal had received
+reenforcements which seemed to assure the safety of the capital. Daring
+as was the gallant Britisher, he was not inclined to waste his material
+in an enterprise so doubtful of success, and to the great relief of the
+Cubans he sailed away.
+
+In his administration Cagigal did not prove as efficient as in his
+military operations. He was a born soldier. He had followed the military
+profession in Portugal, Oran and at Gibraltar; he had participated in
+the unfortunate expedition against Argel, had fought in Florida and had
+been with D. Pedro Caballero at Buenos Aires. He disliked the atmosphere
+of official bureaus and the complicated machinery of government. This
+lack of interest in the indispensable functions of his office brought
+him into serious trouble. He had counselors or asesores attend to
+matters which did not immediately require his intervention, and as such
+had employed the Venezuelan D. Francisco Miranda, who eventually became
+prominent in the history of his own country. When Miranda returned from
+a commission in Jamaica, he disembarked some contraband in Batabano. The
+Intendente Urriza, who was informed of the matter, at once sent a
+complaint to Cagigal, who, either from indifference or indolence, never
+even stopped to examine the case, but simply resolved to suppress it. He
+had, however, not taken into account the presence of the functionaries
+of the royal Hacienda or Treasury, who communicated the incident to the
+proper authorities in Spain. An urgent order for Cagigal's removal from
+office was the result; and the Captain-General of Caracas, D. Luis de
+Unzaga, was sent to take his place as governor of Cuba. Miranda fled.
+Cagigal was sent to Guarico and later dispatched by D. Jose de Galvez to
+Cadiz, where he was for four years a prisoner in Fort Santa Catalina.
+During the proceedings against him it was found that he was in no way
+implicated in the smuggling operation of Miranda. He was rehabilitated
+during the reign of King Carlos IV. and in the war with the French
+Republic had once more an opportunity to prove his military abilities.
+He died as Captain General of Valencia.
+
+The strong impulse towards progress which had been given to Cuba in that
+period of peace when the administrations of Buccarelli and la Torre
+devoted their main energies to internal improvements and to modest
+attempts at laying the foundations of Cuban culture, had of course
+subsided during the recent unrest and the predominance of military
+interests. Nevertheless, there is evidence that the spark kindled a few
+years before was not quite dead. A long-felt want had been the absence
+of any periodical publication that would give the people of Cuba
+information upon the current political events and also be a medium for
+advertising purposes. According to some historians the first periodical
+of this kind, the _Gazeta_, published under the direction of D. Diego de
+la Barrera, made its appearance in the year 1780; others give as the
+date of its foundation the year 1782.
+
+Whatever the date of its publication may have been, the _Gazeta de la
+Habana_ became a medium through which the people were kept informed of
+the doings of the various administrative departments. The issue dated
+April eleventh, 1783, contains some statistics concerning the silver
+coins with milled edges cut away, which had been recently withdrawn from
+circulation, which is of interest as it suggests the relative financial
+rank of the different localities mentioned.
+
+    In the Treasury of the General   Silver Reales
+        Administration:             with milled edges   Weight
+                                        cut away       in ounces
+    Havana                               311,625        23,340  10
+    Guanabacoa                             2,808           151
+    Santa Maria del Rosario               21,870         1,117  12
+    Arroyo Arenas                          7,049           380  14
+    Santa Clara                          237,665        12,558
+    San Juan de Los Remedios              68,153         3,848
+    Trinidad                              40,137         2,145
+    Sancti Spiritus                      197,905        11,670  14
+    Puerto Principe                       73,792         3,207
+    Bayamo                                94,499         4,615   7
+    Holguin                               31,013         1,701
+    Baracoa                                6,396         1,465
+                                        --------        ------
+                                       1,092,940        66,231   5
+
+The _Gazeta_ added to this report: "There have been collected from the
+public over two million pesos (cut away), and in their exchange they
+yielded a little over eighty thousand pesos fuertes (efficacious), and
+although the loss is excessive as a whole it must be stated, that in
+particular it was not very grave, the money being distributed in small
+amounts among the public."
+
+This was a critical period in the conflict which had gradually involved
+the principal countries and was watched with apprehension by all the
+sovereigns of Europe. Up to this date Florida Blanca, who, from a simple
+lawyer in the provinces had risen to be prime minister of Spain, had not
+attained the goal of his ambition and secured for Spain victories, the
+glory of which should cast a halo about his name. On the contrary,
+circumstances began so to complicate the task which he had imagined to
+be comparatively easy, that he was puzzled and began to lose some of his
+extraordinary self-assurance. Bancroft gives in his "History of the
+United States" (Vol. VI. p. 441) a very interesting review of the
+situation and of the relation of Spain to the Revolutionary War, which
+was drawing towards its close. He says:
+
+"The hatred of America as a self-existent state became every day more
+intense in Spain from the desperate weakness of her authority in her
+trans-atlantic possessions. Her rule was dreaded in them all; and, as
+even her allies confessed, with good reason. The seeds of rebellion were
+already sown in the vice-royalties of Buenes Ayres and Peru; and a union
+of Creoles and Indians might prove at any moment fatal to metropolitan
+dominion. French statesmen were of the opinion that England, by
+emancipating South America, might indemnify itself for all loss from the
+independence of a part of its own colonial empire; and they foresaw in
+such a revolution the greatest benefit to the commerce of their own
+country. Immense naval preparations had been made by the Bourbons for
+the conquest of Jamaica; but now, from the fear of spreading the love of
+change Florida Blanca suppressed every wish to acquire that nest of
+hated contraband trade. When the French ambassador reported to him the
+proposal of Vergennes to constitute its inhabitants an independent
+republic, he seemed to hear the tocsin of insurrection sounding from the
+La Plata to San Francisco, and from that time had nothing to propose for
+the employment of the allied fleets in the West Indies. He was perplexed
+beyond the power of extrication. One hope only remained. Minorca having
+been wrested from the English, he concentrated all the force of Spain in
+Europe on the one great object of recovering Gibraltar, and held France
+to her promise not to make peace until that fortress should be given
+up."
+
+From that time began a series of secret manoeuvres in favor of a general
+peace, and rumors of the signing of treaties that had then not even been
+drafted, began to float across the ocean and agitate the colonies of
+Spanish America. But naval operations in the waters of the West Indies
+continued almost without cessation. The French fleet under de Grasse had
+before its return to France restored to the Dutch St. Eustatius. It had
+captured St. Christopher, Nevis and Montserrat. When in February, 1782,
+Admiral Rodney appeared at Barbados with twelve new ships of line in
+addition to his fleet, and was towards the end of the month joined by
+the squadron under command of Hood at Antigua, it became necessary for
+the French to look for a junction with the Spanish fleet. For this
+purpose de Grasse left Port Royal to Martinique on the eighth of April
+and hurriedly sailed for Hispaniola. After a small engagement at
+Dominica, Admiral Rodney by a skillful ruse brought on a battle with the
+French between Guadeloupe, Saintes and Marie Galante. The British had on
+their side superiority in number and quality, having thirty six vessels,
+all in good repair and manned by well-trained and disciplined sailors.
+The French ships were better constructed, but inferior in number, and
+their mariners were known to be less efficient and experienced. The
+combat raged for eleven hours. Four of de Grasse's ships were captured,
+one sunk. The British lost about one thousand men in killed and wounded,
+the French about three times as many. This defeat of their ally tended
+to depress the spirits of the Spanish people, both in the mother country
+and the colonies, for they saw Britain once more exercising almost
+undisputed authority over the seas.
+
+By this time the belligerents were all becoming tired of the war and
+were seriously hoping for peace. The situation in France had after this
+new defeat become specially precarious. Her coffers had been depleted by
+participating in a war in which she had nothing to gain. Hence her
+statesmen were particularly anxious to end a conflict the ideal aim of
+which had been attained by the recognition of the independence of the
+United States from Britain. But she was bound by the alliance with
+Spain; and Spain was inflexible in refusing to acknowledge that
+independence and in insisting upon her demands, among them above all
+others, in Europe, the return of Gibraltar, in America the territory
+east of the Mississippi, including the right of navigation on that
+river. Conferences between John Jay and Benjamin Franklin, the special
+American emissaries, and the French minister Vergennes and his able
+assistant Rayneval were constantly taking place. Couriers were speeding
+back and forth between Paris and London. Rayneval attempted to bring the
+subject of Gibraltar to the attention of the Earl of Shelburne, saying:
+"Gibraltar is as dear to the king of Spain as his life," but he was told
+that it was out of the question even to propose to the government to
+cede it to Spain. He pleaded for Spain's claim of the Mississippi and
+its eastern valley, and received an ambiguous reply, implying that
+Britain might be induced to cede Jamaica. But the indirect offer was
+ignored, just as had been that of Porto Rico some time before. The more
+the negotiations progressed, the more did Spain, persisting in her
+traditional conservatism, prove a stumbling block to peace. For as late
+as September, 1782, in a meeting between Lafayette, Jay and Aranda, did
+the latter, as representative of King Carlos III., refuse to
+acknowledge the independence of the new republic.
+
+In the mean time Spain was clamoring for action against Gibraltar, and
+the French and Spanish fleets united in an attempt to reduce the fort
+under the command of the Duke of Crillon. But three years of blockade,
+with intervals of famine and privation, had not broken the spirit of the
+British garrison. While the first question of the king of Spain on
+awakening every morning was: "Is Gibraltar taken?" the British continued
+to defend it with a stubbornness which threatened to prolong the
+struggle interminably. Receiving constant supplies from the British
+fleet under Lord Howe, General Eliot was able to hold his own and the
+futility of this expedition soon became apparent. When the Spanish
+batteries were blown up and General Eliot made his audacious sortie, the
+hope of this victory had to be abandoned.
+
+Spain at last realized the necessity of yielding to the inevitable. Her
+debt had been increased by twenty millions sterling, her navy had been
+almost annihilated and she had gained nothing but an island or two. King
+Carlos III., who had so long withheld his recognition of the United
+States and blocked the negotiations for peace, because the American
+envoys justly demanded that recognition before they could deal with the
+representatives of Spain, finally yielded to the pressure of the moment
+and the preliminaries of peace were signed on the thirtieth of November,
+1782. By the separate articles of this treaty, the claim of the United
+States to all the country from the St. Croix to the southwestern
+Mississippi, from the Lake of the Woods to the St. Mary's, was verified.
+By a separate article the line of north boundary between West Florida
+and the United States was defined, in case Great Britain at the
+conclusion of the war should recover that province.
+
+Thus was the republic, the consummation of which King Carlos III. had in
+his loyalty to the old tradition of sovereignty so zealously tried to
+prevent, established upon the very continent, which Columbus had
+discovered, and to the greater part of which Spain had laid claim. If
+the Spanish king and his cabinet were at all conscious of the analogy
+presented by comparison of the commercial and other restrictions placed
+upon both colonies by the kingdoms from which they had sprung, they had
+reason to be filled with vague apprehensions at the rise of this new and
+free power among the countries of the world. They could not help seeing
+in the republic which by a long and tenacious fight had won her
+independence from the mother country, a neighbor whose example offered a
+dangerous precedent.
+
+Perhaps it was with the intention of forestalling the development of
+such events in Cuba, as had led to the Declaration of Independence by
+the colonies to the north, that the Spanish King had some years before
+begun to remove the restrictions which had for two centuries and more
+hampered the growth of Cuban commerce and retarded her general
+development. It was a proof of his own growth towards a more liberal
+conception of the relations between a country and her colonies, that the
+removal of these restrictions was effected within so short a time. He
+opened the trade of Cuba and the other islands of his possessions in
+America in 1765, and that of Louisiana in 1768 to eight Spanish ports
+besides Cadiz; he gradually permitted direct trade from the Spanish
+ports to his dependencies in South and Central America; and in 1782 even
+allowed New Orleans and Pensacola to trade with French ports that had
+Spanish consuls.
+
+The breath of freedom which seemed to sweep across the world during
+these last decades of the eighteenth century, might well have filled the
+sovereigns of Europe with fear for their possessions and prerogatives.
+Although Carlos III. was the most liberal monarch that Spain had had in
+a long time, he still clung to a rigorous paternal regime in the
+relations of the court to the colonies, the population of which began to
+resent the rule of officials sent to them from Madrid, and rarely
+concerned with their welfare. He had had more cause than other European
+sovereigns to dread the consequences which the American Revolution might
+bring in its wake. For an insurrection, headed by Tupac-Amaru, who
+called himself an Inca, had broken out in Peru, and was directed against
+the exactions of the corregidores; and though it was suppressed by the
+year 1782, incipient revolt seemed everywhere to be ready to break out.
+As Garcia Calderon says of that period in his book on Latin America:
+
+"The revolution was not merely an economic pretext; it nourished
+concrete social ambitions. An equalizing movement, it aimed at
+destruction of privileges, of the arbitrary Spanish hierarchy, and
+finally, when its levelling instinct was aroused and irritated, the
+destruction of authority to the profit of anarchy. The Creoles, deprived
+of all political function, revolted; in matters of economics they
+condemned excessive taxation and monopoly; in matters of politics they
+attacked slavery, the Inquisition, and moral tutelage. Charles III. had
+recognized, in 1783, in spite of the counsels of his minister Aranda,
+the independence of the United States, which were to serve his own
+colonies as precedent, and he expelled the Jesuits from America, the
+defense of the Indians against the oppression of Spanish governors. The
+corruption of the courts, the sale of offices, and the tyranny of the
+viceroys, all added to the causes of discontent, disturbance and
+poverty."
+
+The insurrection in Peru was but the tocsin sounding the alarm. It was
+to be followed by a number of revolts that shook the very foundations of
+Spain's colonial empire in America.
+
+Cuba for some time to come remained untouched by the high tide of
+insurrection. It enjoyed a period of peace, which promoted the welfare
+of the people and insured their content. D. Luis de Unzaga, who entered
+upon his office as governor of the island in December, 1783,
+distinguished himself by his strenuous prosecution of officials, whose
+honesty he had reason to doubt. One of these was the administrator of
+the Factoria or tobacco factory, D. Manuel Garcia Barrieres, whose
+disposal and trial he ordered. This factory, which monopolized the
+tobacco crop of the island for the benefit of the royal government,
+received a subvention from Spain which at this time was increased to
+fifty thousand pesos annually. Unzaga also took steps to limit the
+number of inexperienced and unscrupulous lawyers, against whom some of
+his predecessors had already inaugurated a campaign, by refusing to
+issue new diplomas to barristers, there being at that time two hundred
+practicing in the island. A royal decree of the year 1784 was directed
+towards the same evil, but lawyers still remained too numerous in
+proportion to the population for in 1792 the island had one hundred and
+six, and Havana seventy two. Governor Unzaga had also some trouble with
+the governor of Santiago de Cuba, D. Nicolas Arredondo. D. Arredondo,
+who is remembered in history of the island as the founder of the first
+"Sociedad Patriotica," in which he had such fellow-members as D.
+Francisco Lozo de la Torre, D. Pedro Valiente, and D. Francisco Grinan,
+was accused of participating in contraband trade and was temporarily
+deposed. Ultimately it was discovered that the real offenders were two
+aldermen, the brothers Creaght. After a protracted trial the innocence
+of Arredondo was established and he was reinstated in office.
+
+The greater the natural wealth of a country, the more are its
+inhabitants inclined to indulge in thoughtless or deliberate waste of
+resources which would be carefully husbanded in country less favored by
+nature. Cuba was wasteful of her forest wealth. The governors of the
+island had so far paid little or no heed to the wanton destruction of
+the forests by people who exploited them for their timber. In a
+proclamation issued soon after he was inaugurated, Governor Unzaga made
+a serious attempt at checking this criminal waste of the island's
+wealth. He prohibited the use of cedar for building purposes; he
+designated the land where the people could procure their supply of that
+valuable wood, and ordered that for each log cut the arsenal should
+receive two "knees." The state had for years looked with indifference
+upon the devastation of the forests, and, conceding to private
+individuals the absolute dominion over those that shaded favored
+territory, wanted to monopolize them for the use of the Navy. Not only
+the sugar refineries were using unreasonable quantities of that wood,
+but especially the shipyard. This enterprise, which received an annual
+subvention from the Spanish government of seven hundred thousand pesos,
+and was more active than those of the mother country, because negro
+labor was cheaper than white, used enormous quantities of cedar.
+
+Thus the order of Governor Unzaga, while ultimately benefiting the
+island, caused for the moment no little heated discussion and unpleasant
+tension.
+
+Among the foreigners of high rank that visited Cuba immediately after
+peace had been signed was the son of George III., William of Lancaster,
+who had served as midshipman in Rodney's squadron. According to Alcazar,
+he was most graciously received, being sumptuously lodged by Governor
+Unzaga, who in honor of his presence arranged many brilliant
+festivities, in which the aristocracy of the island had opportunity to
+show itself resplendent in all its wealth. So pleased seemed the prince
+with his stay that he might have prolonged it, had not the admiral
+reprimanded him, and insisting upon his immediate return on board,
+threatened to leave without him. Knowing Rodney's severity, the prince
+obeyed, although it must have been difficult for him to tear away from
+that gay life. The visit cost the Cubans great sums of money, officials
+and civilians having vied with one another in offering entertainment.
+The mess at which the General of the Marine, D. Solano, had treated him,
+is reported by Valdes to have cost four thousand pesos. A gold peso
+being about the value of three dollars, it was a handsome sum to spend
+on the son of the king who had been Spain's enemy in the war just
+concluded.
+
+One of the most serious mistakes which Spain had always made in the
+administration of her American colonies was the appointment of men who
+were mostly natives of the mother country and not as familiar with the
+conditions and the needs of the territory they governed as those who had
+been born in the colonies. The short period of some administrations also
+greatly hindered a well-ordered systematic management of the different
+departments of the government. Earlier periods of the history of Cuba
+had such frequent changes of governorship; and the latter part of the
+eighteenth century was to undergo the same experience. When Unzaga
+retired on the eighth of February, 1785, he was succeeded by a man whose
+previous career had given him a reputation which recommended him to the
+Cubans; D. Bernardo Galvez, who had distinguished himself in the last
+expedition against Pensacola, and as former governor of Louisiana was
+thoroughly in touch with colonial life in Spanish America. Galvez was a
+native of Malaga, Knight Commander of the order of Calatrava and endowed
+with the title of Conde de Galvez. But the hopes of the island were much
+disappointed when only two months later he was transferred to the
+vice-regency of Mexico and was on the fifth of April temporarily
+replaced by the King's Lieutenant-teniente de Rey, and Field Marshal D.
+Bernardo Troncoso. He had been governor of Guatemala, and when he had
+barely become acquainted with Cuban conditions, was appointed governor
+of Vera Cruz. But during his brief administration he showed no little
+initiative and firmness of purpose and among other things succeeded in
+repressing the bakers' guild which had become very troublesome.
+
+At this time the Spanish colonies of the continent, Louisiana and
+Florida, became aware of the hostility with which they were regarded by
+certain elements of the United States, that tried to foment disturbances
+along their northern boundaries. In June of that year Troncoso received
+news from Louisiana that a corps of two thousand three hundred Americans
+were organizing in the state of Georgia for the purpose of taking the
+fortifications of Natchez, which they alleged were on ground of their
+demarcation. Troncoso accordingly dispatched from Havana a few pickets
+of infantry and a company of dragoons, with the aid of which the
+governor of Louisiana could mobilize a column of twelve hundred regular
+troops to check the project.
+
+With the inauguration of Brigadier D. Jose de Espoleto on the first of
+December, 1785, a little more stability came into the government of the
+island. One of the first official acts was the formation of the Regiment
+of Cuba, in which he was ably assisted by the Inspector D. Domingo
+Cabello. Espoleto entered upon the functions of his office in the spirit
+of the Marques de la Torre, to whose wise administration Havana was
+indebted for all the improvements and reforms that made her worthy of
+being the metropolis of the Spanish West Indies. Espoleto continued the
+work on the piers, hastened the completion of the buildings for the
+government and the Intendencia, inaugurated a system of water supply and
+street cleaning and established a public market for the convenience of
+the producers in the outlying districts and the city dwellers relying
+upon them for their supplies in dairy and garden products. He also
+introduced some reforms in the police department of Havana. But what was
+most important for that commonwealth was his settling upon it of a sum
+which was to be devoted to the permanent lighting of the city.
+
+In his administration Santiago de Cuba took a significant step towards
+the more effective concentration of the literary activities of the
+island. This was the foundation of the first Sociedad de Amigos, which
+was approved of by the king and on the thirteenth of September, 1787,
+received a royal grant. In his colonial administration Espoleto tried to
+follow the example of Ricla and Buccarelli, ordering the publication of
+the decrees which they had enacted and which in the course of time had
+been forgotten, and did his best to enforce them. In this by no means
+easy task he was backed by D. Jose Pablo Valiente, an oidor of the
+Audiencia or judge of the Supreme Court, who had come to Havana in 1787
+to start an inquiry into the disbursement of certain funds. By order of
+the king he had to investigate how the enormous sums, which the
+expeditions of the gallant Galvez had cost, had been invested; had to
+examine the state of the royal revenues and suggest needed reforms,
+watch the administration of justice and propose measures to raise the
+standard of the bar. One of the high officials who had given a previous
+administration trouble and was probably guilty of irregularities,
+Urriza, was so resentful of this investigation of his office, which D.
+Valiente was ordered to undertake, that he speedily resigned. He was
+succeeded by D. Domingo Hernani.
+
+Death reaped a rich harvest between 1786 and 1788, in removing men so
+closely identified with the fate of the colonies and the mother country
+that they were not soon to be adequately replaced. On the thirtieth of
+November, 1786, D. Bernardo de Galvez died in Mexico, where he had
+reigned as viceroy since he left Havana eleven months before. By his
+rare executive talent and his extensive knowledge he had become one of
+the most efficient colonial governors that Spanish America had known,
+and to him was in a great measure due their progress and prosperity. A
+few days later died in Madrid his uncle D. Jose de Galvez, the noted
+minister of the Indies, whose name is also identified with colonial
+reforms. But the greatest loss to the colonies and to Spain was the
+death on the twenty-eighth of December, 1788, of King Carlos III. The
+kind and prudent sovereign had in a reign of almost thirty years,
+handicapped as he was by the Spanish tradition of absolutism, tried his
+best to further the growth and the welfare of his country and its
+dependencies, and inaugurated policies more liberal than any his
+predecessors had followed. He had endeared himself to his people and was
+sincerely mourned.
+
+The accession of Carlos IV. to the throne of Spain was not calculated to
+advance Spain and her colonies beyond the degree of development they had
+attained during the long reign of his father. He was forty years of age
+and by stature and physiognomy was singularly fitted to represent so
+important a kingdom as Spain. But he was as unintelligent as ignorant,
+and allowed himself to be guided by his wife, Maria Louise, princess of
+Parma, who was as clever and scheming as he was dull and indolent. She
+was an autocrat, who suffered nobody to share the reins with her, and
+imperceptibly they slipped into her hands, until she was absolute
+sovereign of the kingdom. Two years after the death of Carlos III.
+Florida Blanca was forced to resign. Count Cabarrus, an ardent champion
+of reform, and a man of considerable executive power, was arrested. D.
+Gaspar Melchior de Jovellanos, one of the most profound thinkers and
+noblest patriots that Spain could claim in the eighteenth century, was
+removed from the important position he held in Madrid and exiled.
+Campomanes, too, fell into "disgrace" in 1791. All these men,
+distinguished for their character and their ability, were replaced by
+some feeble creatures with no idea or will of their own, puppets in the
+hands of the queen, who transformed the court of Madrid into a den of
+corruption.
+
+The policies pursued by Spain during this time culminated in so much
+confusion that Florida Blanca was recalled in 1792 and set about to make
+an attempt at restoring order in a thoroughly disorganized government.
+But he was deposed the same year, having been unable to obtain the favor
+of the queen. Aranda, who during the previous reign had been the
+representative of progress, peace and the liberal ideas that came to
+Spain from France, followed him with no better luck. For he too was
+dismissed within a year and his place was taken by the queen's favorite,
+Manuel Godoy, who some years later was to turn up in Cuba. Godoy was a
+handsome young officer; she made him a grandee of the first class with
+the title of Duke of Alcudia, and entrusted him with the ministry of
+foreign affairs. The proud old aristocracy of Spain grumbled at the rise
+of the upstart; but it succumbed to the spirit of servility which
+pervaded the atmosphere of the court, and sought the favorite's favor.
+
+Such was the condition of the country which was exercising a paternal
+authority over Spanish America. It was not calculated to tighten the
+bonds existing between the mother country and the colonies. As
+transportation increased and news began to spread more rapidly and to
+circulate more freely, the eyes of the colonists were opened to the
+iniquities they suffered, and they began to question institutions and
+laws which they had formerly unconditionally accepted. The glamor of the
+period of conquistadores had long faded; the excitement of the age of
+piracy was slowly being forgotten. Cuba, like all Latin America, had
+entered upon that period, which President Poincare in his preface to
+Garcia Calderon's book on "Latin America" calls "the colonial phase with
+its disappointments, its illusions, its abuses and errors; the
+domination of an oppressive theocracy, of crushing monopolies; the
+insolence of privileged castes, and the indignities of Peninsular
+agents." It needed strong and noble men to guide her through the period
+of unrest which even at that moment was culminating in the French
+Revolution.
+
+The immediate echoes of this Revolution were heard in 1791 in
+Hispaniola, where at the very first risings of the people in France, the
+slaves had revolted, killing their masters and burning their property.
+It was only the prelude to the greater insurrection, which broke out
+later and in which Cuba became involved. In the mean time, this island
+had come under another interim governorship, and was drifting along on
+the tide of progress in some directions, while in others it had come to
+a standstill, if it had not retrograded. The provisional government of
+D. Domingo Caballo which began on the twentieth of April, 1789, and
+ended on the eighth of July, 1790, was not noteworthy for any important
+measures, unless it be another attempt at restricting the number and the
+activities of lawyers. The royal decree of the nineteenth of November,
+1789, which prohibited the admission of any more professors of
+jurisprudence, native or foreign, to the bar of the island, was modified
+to read thus: "To the profession of lawyer, only those shall be admitted
+who studied in the greater universities of their countries and had
+practiced in some of their capitals, where there existed a superior
+tribunal certifying that they had practiced six years at the superior
+courts of Spain."
+
+During Caballo's interim rule there occurred the ecclesiastical division
+of the island. The archbishopric of Santo Domingo was divided into two
+suffragan dioceses, both the bishopric of Santiago de Cuba which had
+existed since 1518 and the new bishopric of Havana being subject to the
+metropolitan mitre of Santo Domingo. To the bishopric of Santiago was
+appointed D. Antonio Feliu, a man of great piety and gentle
+disposition, who rapidly won the esteem of the community and the love of
+his flock. That of Havana, which also comprised Louisiana and Florida,
+was entrusted to D. Felipe Jose de Tres Palacios.
+
+In spite of the apparent prosperity, the island was still suffering from
+centuries of restriction which had paralyzed the initiative of its
+population. Maria de las Mercedes (Jaruco), Countess de Merlin, says of
+that period in her work, "La Havana" (Paris, 1844):
+
+"Owing to the long tyranny which had weighed upon the island, Cuba
+needed hands to cultivate her fields. The products were devoured by a
+monopoly; territorial property did not exist; for the proprietor could
+not even cut a tree in his woods without the permission of the royal
+marine; the population was reduced to 170,370 souls; the sugar
+production had become so inferior in quality, that no more than 50,000
+barrels of sugar annually left the port of Havana; finally, the island
+was involved in debts and Mexico was obliged to aid it in the necessary
+expenses of the administration and agriculture."
+
+The author, a niece of the Conde de Casa Montalvo, who was identified
+with the great revival of civic spirit during the administration of
+Governor Las Casas, also limns a rather discouraging picture of the
+state of education in the island, saying that in the year 1792, Havana
+had only one grammar school, of which the mulatto Melendez was the
+teacher, and that up to the year 1793 girls were forbidden to learn to
+read. So thoroughly familiar was the author with the political and
+economic conditions of Cuba, and closely associated with the men, whose
+energy, integrity and patriotic ambition ushered in that wonderful era
+of progress, that the three volumes of her work, consisting of letters
+to Chateaubriand, George Sand, Baron Rothschild, and others are full of
+valuable information presented in a most fascinating manner.
+
+[Illustration: DON LUIS DE LAS CASAS]
+
+The historian Valdes is not far from right, when he calls the history of
+Cuba, as compared with that of other countries, _nuestra pequena
+historia_--our little history. But that little history contains more
+than one great epoch and its biography more than one figure that stands
+out with something like sovereign impressiveness from the many names
+which it records. The administration of D. Luis de Las Casas is such an
+epoch, and he is such a man. Born in the village of Sapuerta in Viscaya,
+his was a picturesque career. He had embraced the military profession
+and been on the battlefields of Villaflor and Almeida; in Portugal he
+attracted the attention of Count O'Reilly, who took him on the
+expedition to Louisiana, where he was sergeant-mayor of New Orleans. On
+his return to Spain, he solicited permission to go to Russia and served
+under the flag of Marshal Romanzow, distinguishing himself in the
+campaign waged by the empress. Then he studied the science of government
+in Paris; but as soon as Spain was once more engaged in war, he joined
+the expedition of O'Reilly against Argel. His conduct at the capture of
+Minorca earned for him the title of Field Marshal and Commandant-General
+of Oran. He also took a gallant part in the unfortunate attempt to
+recover Gibraltar. On being appointed to the governorship of Cuba, he
+arrived in Havana the eighth of July, 1796, and on the following day
+took charge of his office.
+
+One of his first official measures was to have a new census taken, for
+when the results of the one taken by la Torre were published, many
+questioned the correctness of the figures. It was said, not without some
+justice, that, if the population of the island in the year of the
+British invasion, 1762, was one hundred and forty thousand, it should
+have been more in 1775 than one hundred and seventy-one thousand six
+hundred and twenty, since the number of negroes that had been added to
+the population was in itself enormous, and there were also the
+immigrants from Florida that had settled on the island. Profiting by the
+criticism of his predecessor's work, Las Casas took great pains so to
+systematize the work of the census takers, that their investigations
+would be unexceptionally thorough and conclusive. When the result became
+known two years later, the population of the island was found to be two
+hundred and seventy-two thousand five hundred and one inhabitants.
+
+In the second year of his administration, Governor Las Casas had an
+opportunity to show his generosity and his executive ability when Cuba
+was visited by another typical West Indian hurricane. It broke upon the
+island on the twenty-first of June and lasted fully twenty-four hours.
+The terrible windstorm was accompanied by a deluge of rain, which caused
+the overflow of the Almendares and its tributaries, uprooted the trees
+in orchards and nurseries, inundated plantations and damaged houses to
+such an extent, that great numbers of residents in the districts of
+Wajay, San Antonio, Managua and others were rendered homeless and
+reduced to poverty. The governor not only effectively organized the work
+of relief, but spent freely of his private funds to alleviate the
+suffering of the people. He showed the same spirit a year later, when
+Trinidad was visited by a conflagration which consumed property valued
+at six hundred thousand pesos. The establishment of the Real Casa de
+Beneficiencia was another work that proved his sincere concern for the
+welfare of the people, and especially those unfortunates who were
+dependent upon public charity. The founding of this asylum for destitute
+orphans of both sexes, including a school, in which they were to be
+taught a trade to make them self-supporting on reaching maturity, was
+first proposed by him in a meeting of citizens on the twenty-second of
+March, 1792. So warm and rousing was his appeal, that large
+subscriptions to defray its expenses were immediately signed. A royal
+patent of the fifteenth of December conferred upon the plan official
+approval. There was connected with the asylum a hospital, and both were
+temporarily organized and began their work in a provisional building,
+until on the eighth of December they were transferred to the structure
+erected for them.
+
+Cuba's commerce, though still laboring under difficulties due to
+unreasonable trade laws of Spain, was gradually becoming so extensive
+that it needed some central organization to protect and promote its
+interests. The citizens had so far let things take their course as they
+might; lack of initiative was perhaps natural with a people under the
+strict paternal supervision which Spain exercised over colonies.
+Governor Las Casas roused their latent energies and induced them to
+organize for mutual profit and for the general progress of the island's
+commerce. For this purpose was established the Tribunal of Commerce or
+Consulado, which was also to act as a court of justice for mercantile
+litigants and bankrupts. The Consulado was founded on the sixth of
+June, 1795, and within a short time settled more than three hundred and
+twenty such cases.
+
+But the most important step towards the internal reform and improvement
+of the island was taken by Las Casas when on the second of January,
+1793, he presided at the foundation of the "Real Sociedad Patriotica o
+Economica," which later changed its name to Junta de Fomento, or Society
+of Progress. Among his associates in this most significant enterprise
+were the marquises de Casa Calvo, Casa Penalver and San Felipe, the
+counts de Casa Bayona, Lagunillas, Buenavista, O'Farrel and Jaurequi,
+distinguished citizens like Romany, Sequeira and Caballero, and that
+greatest patriot among them all, Sr. D. Francisco Arango y Pareno, to
+whom credit is due for the inception of this organization. The different
+sections, into which this society was divided, devoted themselves to the
+development of agriculture, stockbreeding, industry, commerce, science
+and art, and were of inestimable service to the people. Reports of the
+meeting held on the twenty-first of December, 1796, showed a clearness
+and seriousness of purpose which commanded respect and augured well for
+the future of the undertaking.
+
+In those first four years of its existence it was the medium through
+which were established some much needed improvements for the
+facilitation of traffic. Within a few months after its foundation it
+invested some of its funds in the highway of Horcon which cost about
+thirty thousand seven hundred pesos. Then it built the Guadalupe road
+and finished the principal pier of that place. To introduce indigo
+culture on the island, it lent to the administration three thousand five
+hundred pesos without interest. When the royal professor of botany, D.
+Martin Sese, suggested to take with him a young native of Havana to
+study that science in its application to agriculture, the society again
+defrayed the expenses. There was hardly a work of public utility that
+was not materially assisted by this corporation.
+
+Its efforts at promoting the cultural progress of the population were no
+less remarkable. A number of its members united in editing the _Papel
+Periodico_, which was published every Thursday and Sunday at a cost of
+fourteen reales per month and was of the size of a half sheet of Spanish
+paper. As the work of the society expanded, it gave to the press its
+"Memorias," a collection of original writing and translations by the
+members, covering a variety of subjects, among them contributions to
+Cuban history which contain valuable data. Some forty years after its
+foundation, it published at its expense the history of D. Jose Martin
+Felix de Arrate, which is one of the earliest works on the history of
+Cuba. But even more important were the constant and vigorous efforts of
+the Society to reform and improve public education. It founded many
+establishments of free instruction and offered special inducements to
+teachers, who could show a certain number of children with a more solid
+knowledge of grammar and the four fundamental principles of arithmetic
+than the schools had so far produced. The university, too, was
+encouraged in its work; the textbooks were improved and the curriculum
+was enlarged so as to include courses in geography, physics, history and
+Spanish literature.
+
+The first director of the Society was Sr. D. Luis Penalver, bishop of
+New Orleans, and later archbishop of Guatemala, a man who was closely
+identified with the work of the Casa de la Benficiencia and other
+institutions. But, although all members were men distinguished for their
+gifts and their achievements, the soul and moving spirit was D.
+Francisco Arango, of whom we shall hear much more in our later
+narrative.
+
+A worthy fellow-worker of Arango was D. Jose Pablo Valiente, who as
+Intendente organized the Royal Exchequer, and with no little risk to
+himself, permitted and encouraged commerce with neutral and friendly
+nations, regardless of still existing restrictions. He assisted in the
+establishment of the Consulado and the Sociedad Economica, made a gift
+of seven thousand pesos to the Casa de Beneficencia, encouraged the
+progress of public instruction and in many lawsuits brought before the
+Consulado played the role of a noble conciliator. With such men as these
+to assist him, the administration of Las Casas was soon regarded as the
+most glorious in the history of the island. For though Havana was the
+principal scene of the activities of these men, Las Casas did not fail
+to extend the blessing of his reforms and improvements to other
+communities. The towns of Santa Maria del Rosario, Santiago de las Vegas
+and others soon showed considerable growth; in the districts of
+Guanajey, Alquiza, Quivican, Managua and others, the territory under
+cultivation was steadily expanding; the village of Casa Blanca and the
+town of Manzanillo were founded, and the port of Nuevitas essentially
+improved. An excellent cooperator of Governor Las Casas was D. Juan
+Bautista Valiente, governor of Santiago de Cuba, who protected
+agriculture, founded primary and Latin schools, introduced a system of
+lighting in his city, started to pave its streets, and invested his
+savings in an edifice, which served to house the Ayuntamiento, the
+governor's and other offices and also contained the jail.
+
+The first revolution in Santo Domingo in 1791 had warned Las Casas and
+brought home to the administration of Cuba the necessity of looking once
+more after the defences of the island. He was aided in this task by the
+chief of the navy yard, D. Juan Araoz, who hastened the work of naval
+constructions, and in a short time turned out six war vessels, four
+frigates and a number of boats of lesser tonnage. They proved of great
+usefulness in the operations against Santo Domingo and Guarico during
+the second uprising when in order to protect Spanish interests and
+inhabitants there were sent from Havana the regiment bearing the name of
+the city and from Cuba a piquet of artillery. That revolt is so closely
+associated with the problem of slavery, which had become the cause of
+grave apprehension to the government that it will be referred to in the
+following chapter. The massacre of French and other colonists in that
+unfortunate island brought a multitude of refugees to Cuba and
+materially increased its population.
+
+An event in the last year of the administration of Las Casas gave rise
+to festivities of a memorable character. When the war between Spain and
+the French Republic broke out, General D. Gabriel Aristizabal, who
+operated in Hayti, did not want the ashes of Columbus to be lost during
+the ensuing disturbances. It seemed more appropriate, too, that they
+should not remain in the place where he had been slandered and
+persecuted and where the villain Bobadilla had put him in fetters, but
+in the island that had always smiled upon him. On the fifteenth of
+January, 1796, there entered into the port of Havana the warship _San
+Lorenzo_, carrying the casket. It was received by Governor Las Casas and
+General Araoz, the bishops Penalver and Tres Palacios, and between two
+lines of soldiers was carried to the cathedral, where it was deposited
+in a humble niche. Though the first city of the island did not then
+raise a monument to Columbus it was done by a much smaller town,
+Cardenas, which for this act alone deserves to be mentioned.
+
+The inscription upon the stone, under which the remains of Columbus
+found rest, reads:
+
+                    D. O. M.
+        Clares      Heros.      Ligustin.
+      CHRISTOPHORUS COLUMBUS
+        A Se, Rei Nautic. Scient. Insign.
+                Niv.  Orb.  Detect.
+        Araque Castell. Et Legin. Regib. Subject.
+                      Vallice. Occub.
+              XIII Kal.    Jun.  A.M.  DVI
+      Cartusianor.  Hispal.  Cadav.  Custod.  Tradit.
+              Transfer. Nam.   Ipse Praescrips.
+        IN HISPANIOLAE METROP. ECC.
+        Hinc Pace Sancit. Galliae Reipub. Cess
+    In Hanc V. Mar. Concept. Imm. Cath. Ossa Trans.
+        Maxim. Om. Frequent. Sepult. Mand.
+        XIV. Kal. Feb. A. Md. C. C. X. C. V. I.
+              HAVAN.   CIVIT
+        Tant. Vir. Meritor. In Se Non Immen.
+          Pretros. Exux. In Optat Diem Tuitur.
+                  Hocce Monum. Erex.
+        Praesul. Ill. D. D. Philippo Iph Trespalacios
+          Civic AC Militar. Rei. Gen. Praef. Exme
+              D.D. LUDOVICO DE LAS CASAS
+
+When the administration of Las Casas came to an end, the municipality of
+Havana called a testimonial meeting for the sixteenth of December, 1796,
+which gave proof of the high esteem in which the extraordinary man was
+held by the people. Four years after his retirement, on the nineteenth
+of November, 1800, he died of poison. He had not escaped criticism by
+those who saw in his enforcement of forgotten laws and in many of his
+new ordinances the manifestation of an arbitrary spirit; but it was
+universally conceded that during his government Cuba reached a
+high-water mark in her development. Though the corruption and
+degradation of the court at Madrid had a baneful influence upon the
+Spanish colonies, the island which had enjoyed the blessings of his rule
+and caught a breath of the spirit of such men as Arango and Montalvo
+could never again be contented unquestioningly to accept the dictates of
+that court. The flood of new liberal ideas which, coming from France,
+swept over the whole world, could not be turned back at el Morro. They
+found their way into the hearts and the minds of the people and slowly
+but surely taught them to see where their ultimate salvation lay.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XII
+
+
+The French Revolution set the pace for the world's movements in the last
+decade of the eighteenth century and spread the seeds of many more in
+the century to come. Pamphlets, books and proclamations coming to Spain
+from France opened the eyes of the people to evils, which in their
+loyalty to the throne and to the traditions of the country they had
+never dared to perceive. The corruption of her court, the ruin of her
+finances, the incompetency of her statesmen and her generals were
+revealed to the population and stirred sullen resentment. Demoralization
+seemed to have set in and threatened to dismember the once all-powerful
+kingdom. To the profligate Godoy was in a great measure attributed the
+degradation of the country and an atmosphere of conspiracy pervaded even
+the royal palace, from which patriotic plotters, resentful of Spain's
+humiliation, hoped soon to chase the favorite of the queen, who with
+supreme unconcern continued to fill his pockets from the royal treasury
+and to live in his wonted extravagance and dissipation. The forces of
+the French Republic had occupied the frontier forts and seemed to find
+little or no resistance. The fate of the royal Bourbons of France struck
+terror in the souls of the royal Bourbons of Spain, and the flight of
+the king and his family from Madrid was daily expected.
+
+Even to the overseas possessions of France and Spain had the influence
+of the liberating movement extended and awakened the indolent and
+indifferent creoles to the realization of wrongs they had suffered at
+the hands of their mother countries. Moreover, the gospel of Liberty,
+Equality and Fraternity had reached the ears of those who had for
+centuries silently borne oppression and had been made to believe that
+serfdom was to be their fate forever. Already in 1791 the news of the
+outbreak of the Revolution had been acclaimed by the slaves in Santo
+Domingo and followed by revolt and violence against the life and the
+property of their masters. When in 1794 the Convention declared the
+abolition of slavery in the colonies of the Republic, the floodgates of
+insurrection were opened. For Old Hispaniola, divided between two
+foreign powers, populated by races antagonistic to one another, was a
+fertile soil for any revolutionary propaganda. As early as 1762 there
+were three negroes to one Frenchman in the northern part of the island;
+and these negroes whom a Jesuit priest of the time declared to be fit
+only for slavery, hated all other races and castes: the whites, the free
+negroes and the mulattoes.
+
+But even among this ignorant and superstitious race there were
+individuals that rose far above the average in intelligence and had by
+association with the more advanced and privileged castes and races
+acquired certain achievements. They were men who had done some thinking
+of their own and perhaps by their relation of servant to master learned
+to know the faults and weaknesses of the latter far better than they
+knew their own. When these men caught the ring of the magic three words,
+a world of possibilities opened before them, and they embraced the
+message they conveyed with the eagerness of people desperate from and
+resentful of iniquities, real and imaginary. Their brains were afire
+with hatred and revenge and it needed only a great leader to organize
+this powerful army of malcontents into a horde of fiends. That leader
+came to them in the person of the ex-coachman, Toussaint L'Ouverture, a
+man of exceptional gifts and abilities, who with the one-track mind of
+the idealist-fanatic had but one aim and pursued but one goal: the
+liberation of his race.
+
+The war between the French republic and Spain had naturally called forth
+hostilities between the two parts of the island inhabited on one side by
+French, on the other by Spaniards. The negro insurgents saw their
+opportunity and did not let it go by without exploiting it for their
+purposes. The unfortunate jealousies between the President and
+Captain-General of Santo Domingo and the General of the Navy,
+Aristizabel, who had captured Bayaja, had weakened the Spanish forces,
+and when they attempted to take Guarico, they had to retire at Yazique
+before a force of five hundred undisciplined negroes. This encouraged
+the negro commanders and in quick succession they captured San Rafael
+and Las Caobas, and had the satisfaction to see San Miguel, Bonica and
+Incha evacuated before they even reached these places. Bayaja was
+strongly fortified and garrisoned; but the climate of that place being
+very unhealthy, the Spanish troops were decimated by sickness, until
+they numbered only about four hundred men. The negro general Juan
+Francisco on the other hand could increase his troops at will. In order
+to enforce the Spanish it was proposed to send them a regiment of white
+Frenchmen. Seven legions of these men arrived at Bayaja on the morning
+of the seventh of July, 1794. But Juan Francisco surprised the place
+half an hour before, and placing artillery in the principal streets and
+squares, informed the commandant that all white Frenchmen were to leave
+Bayaja before three o'clock that afternoon. When the commandant
+remonstrated saying that the time was too short to provide barges for
+their transportation, the negro leader left the government house and
+gave the signal for the massacre of all Frenchmen in the place. The
+terrible slaughter lasted until far into the afternoon, when the
+governor and the venerable priest of the place so urgently implored the
+negro troops to have mercy, that they moderated their savage rage.
+
+While this wholesale murder, which cost the lives of seven hundred and
+forty-two Frenchmen, not counting those who were drowned in flight, was
+going on in the streets, military conferences were held at which, after
+some irresolute wrangling, it was decided to withdraw to Fuerte Dolfin,
+about five hundred varas (rods) distant from Bayaja, in order to save
+the garrison from being at the mercy of a negro mob, intoxicated with
+the victory won over their adversaries. They succeeded in holding Fuerte
+Dolfin, until Bayaja itself was evacuated by Juan Francisco on the
+thirteenth of July. The loss of the Spanish troops, including deserters
+and those that died from privations, was about three thousand men. The
+national treasury suffered during the revolt a defalcation of some fifty
+thousand pesos. The negroes were at first charged with the embezzlement
+of that sum, but there were rumors to the contrary, which in view of the
+only too well-known turpitude of many colonial officials, were quite
+plausible.
+
+The peace concluded between Spain and the French republic at Basilea
+(Basle) on the twenty-second of July, 1795, and published in Madrid on
+the sixth of November, terminated Spanish rule on the island, Spain
+ceding her part of Santo Domingo to the French Republic. The people of
+Spain welcomed this peace, as they would have hailed any other. To the
+part played in the negotiations by Manuel Godoy was due his title
+"Prince of Peace." In the elation of the moment the court even
+remembered Aranda, Florida Blanca, Cabarrus and Jovellanos, the able
+statesmen and faithful patriots who had been imprisoned or exiled, and
+granted them full amnesty. Yet this treaty of Basilea was the official
+admission of the decline of Spain's power. It heralded the gradual
+disintegration of her colonial possessions, where, as some authorities
+assert, British intrigue sowed the seeds of discord and discontent. When
+two years later, in February, 1797, the Spanish fleet, although superior
+in vessels and artillery, was defeated by the British in the battle of
+Cape St. Vincent off the south point of Portugal, the ruin of the
+kingdom was complete. The total income between 1793 and 1796 was
+twenty-four hundred and forty-five millions of reals; the total
+expenses, thirty-seven hundred and fourteen millions; the debt amounted
+to more than twelve hundred millions. The annual deficit was eight
+hundred millions. The paper money in circulation amounted to nineteen
+hundred and eighty millions. Such was the financial status of the royal
+bankrupt.
+
+If the peace of Basilea had temporarily brought satisfaction and
+lightened the burden of anxiety, the defeat at Cape St. Vincent sufficed
+once more to cloud the horizon. The capture of Rome by the French in
+1798 and the proclamation of a republic in place of the papal
+sovereignty, plunged Spain into a state of panic. Cabinet ministers
+succeeded one another with bewildering rapidity. Even Jovellanos, who
+had been recalled to restore order in the disorganized department of
+justice, was unable to cope with the chaotic situation. Enormous sums
+were being continually wasted. Of eighteen hundred and thirty-three
+millions spent in 1799, the royal court alone had used one hundred and
+five, the department of war nine hundred and thirty-five, finance four
+hundred and twenty-eight, foreign affairs forty-six, and the department
+of justice only seven! Every branch of the administration was filled
+with the minions of Godoy, who was now related to the royal house,
+having espoused the daughter of the Infante Don Luis. His annual
+revenues amounted to one million reals. The elements themselves seemed
+to be in conspiracy against what had once been the greatest power in
+Europe. The failure of crops, famine, epidemics and earthquakes filled
+the minds of the superstitious with vague terrors.
+
+Cuba was at that time too much engrossed in the attempt to continue on
+the path of progress to be seriously affected by the fate of Spain. The
+insurrection of Santo Domingo had brought the eventuality of internal
+trouble so close to her door, that she did not dare to look across the
+ocean for more sources of apprehension. Yet the revolt of the
+neighboring island had also its advantages for Cuba. At the first
+outbreak of hostilities against the French, many French refugees had
+fled to Cuba. They were followed by others and after the massacre of
+Bayaja even by Spaniards and by colored women. This French element which
+settled in Santiago and Havana became a valuable factor in the
+population of the island. A French traveler and writer, Vicomte Gustave
+d'Hespel d'Harponville, says about it in his book "La Reine des
+Antilles":
+
+"They brought to Cuba the remnants of their wealth, some slaves, but
+especially their knowledge, their experience and their activity. From
+that moment the two great Antilles changed roles: San Domingo lapsed
+into barbarism, Cuba placed her foot in the chariot of fortune."
+
+The French settlers were industrious laborers and skilled artisans and
+as such were highly valued by economists who had been anxious to
+increase Cuba's insufficient labor supply by the introduction of white
+labor. Even the women among them were workers, in strange contrast to
+the Cuban women, who were given to tropical indolence. Many of these
+French "Dominicans" established themselves as nurses, laundresses and
+seamstresses. In education, too, these newcomers were far above the
+average Havanese; a difference which foreign travelers were quick to
+detect and to comment upon. The French settlements southeast of Havana,
+in the environs of Matanzas, Santiago and Baracoa, became such centers
+of activity, industrial and otherwise, that the Spanish, who had
+persisted in their habitual indolence and indifference, became jealous,
+which in time resulted in some friction and unpleasant disturbances.
+
+The definite loss of Santo Domingo to Spain caused also a great change
+in ecclesiastical affairs. The archbishopric was removed to Santiago de
+Cuba. Havana and Puerto Rico remained "suffragans," i.e. subject to the
+other. About that time there was established a territorial tribunal in
+Puerto Principe.
+
+[Illustration: TOMAS ROMAY
+
+One of the foremost figures in the great Cuban awakening at the close of
+the eighteenth century was Dr. Tomas Romay, physician and scientist, who
+was born in Havana on December 21, 1764, and died on March 30, 1849. He
+greatly aided the two good Governors, Las Casas and Someruelos, in their
+labors for the betterment of Cuba; with the help of Bishop Espada he
+introduced vaccination into the island; he was prominent in the Society
+of Friends of Peace, and did much for education, agriculture, and other
+interests of the Cuban people. Among his writings was a monograph on
+yellow fever which attracted world-wide attention. His earnest
+patriotism involved him in violent controversies in the troublous times
+of 1820-1823, from which he emerged in triumph and in universal honor.]
+
+Everything seemed to combine at that period to promote the growth and
+assure the future welfare of Cuba. The government of Las Casas, with its
+wonderful awakening among the citizens of a sense of civic
+responsibility and opportunity, was one of those epochs which seem to
+form a pivot around which past and future revolve. It was impossible to
+consider it in its full value and significance without comparing it with
+the past out of which it had developed, and taking note of the progress
+it signalized. Nor was it possible to forecast the future, without
+projecting into it the lines of evolution along which the work of Las
+Casas and his associates seemed to have prepared the progress of the
+island. Compared with the passive inertia which had all through the
+history of the Spanish West Indies retarded individual and communal
+advancement, it was like a sudden birth of aspirations and endeavors all
+directed towards a lofty goal, perhaps still vague to the multitude, but
+clearly and strongly defined in the minds of the men who with a singular
+unity of purpose, forgetting for once all the petty jealousies that had
+clouded so many big issues in previous periods, combined for concerted
+action for the common good.
+
+They were men who had at heart the interests of the island, who had
+inquired into the causes for its backwardness and who had thought deeply
+about the measures that might provide a means to rouse the whole
+population to the realization of the gigantic task before them. They
+were men of extraordinary intelligence, of thorough knowledge, of
+unblemished character and of wide experience. Never before had Cuba been
+able at any one period to point to such a galaxy of names as Las Casas,
+Arango, Romay, Montalvo, Pedro Espinola, Caballero, and others. Never
+before had it at any one time a like number of men combining all the
+qualifications that seemed to destine them to be the leaders in a great
+movement of revival and reconstruction. For the task they accomplished
+was not only that of rousing the inhabitants, who had lingered for
+several generations in apathy and indolence, but to reconstruct the
+whole decadent edifice of provincial management, in order to start anew
+on a solid foundation.
+
+Individually considered almost every one of those men stood for some
+achievement, some work the benefits of which the future was to reap.
+Towering above them all, Arango seemed to combine all these efforts,
+seemed to be the center from which radiated all the plans that had for
+their ultimate aim the happiness of all. As one looks back upon that
+brilliant epoch, this man of noble birth, of rare gifts and of
+considerable means, seemed to dominate them all. Surely no other could
+have accomplished what he did; for his youth, his affability, his
+distinguished manners, these invaluable social qualities impressed and
+attracted those in the highest positions at the Spanish court and won
+for him a hearing, which would have been refused to many others. Once
+this was gained, his general learning, and his special knowledge of the
+economic and financial problems of his native island, backed by an array
+of conclusive statistics and conveyed to his listeners with forcible
+logic and convincing oratory, compelled the attention even of the most
+recalcitrant conservatives that had steadily opposed reforms in the
+colonies. By this rare combination of qualities Arango had succeeded in
+obtaining from the royal government greater concessions for Cuba than it
+had ever made to any of her colonial possessions. The effect of Arango's
+work, though at intervals clouded by periodical relapses of the
+government into the old evil ways, was felt during more than a
+generation, and his name remained identified in the memory of the people
+with the great strides that the island was henceforth to make in
+agriculture, industry and commerce, as no less in matters of education.
+
+Among his associates, the name of Dr. D. Thomas Romay was to be
+remembered by future generations for the great blessing which his
+medical skill and foresight secured for the island. He had been
+identified with many measures promoting public health, when Dr. Maria
+Bustamente of la Aguadilla, Puerto Rico, brought to Havana the first
+consignment of vaccine. Following the example of Dr. Bustamente, who had
+vaccinated his little son and two mulatto servants, Dr. Romay at once
+introduced vaccination in Havana and gradually checked the ravages
+which small-pox epidemics had caused. The Count de Montalvo was forever
+to be remembered for his wise and humane adjustment of judicial
+conflicts in connection with the tribunal of commerce. Pedro Espinola's
+memory was to be cherished by all those concerned with the cause of
+education. Nicolas Calvo's efforts at introducing timely innovations in
+the sugar industry could never be forgotten in the island. Lastly there
+was Governor Las Casas himself, who, had he been a man of smaller
+calibre, could have clogged the wheels of progress by administrative red
+tape and obfuscated the larger issues of his time by petty official
+considerations. But, unlike some of his predecessors, who did not suffer
+any citizens in the community to rise to such eminence as to rival them,
+he had appreciated the spirit of those men and to further their aims had
+brought to bear all the weight of his official position.
+
+Rarely in the history of any country did so many fortuitous
+circumstances combine at one and the same period to call out what was
+best in the latent forces of the population, as in Cuba during the
+administration of Governor Las Casas. The future never seemed to smile
+so brightly upon that island, so richly endowed by nature and so long
+indifferently treated by men. Setbacks and even relapses into previous
+errors might occur, but it seemed unthinkable that the work accomplished
+by Las Casas and his associates, individually and collectively, could
+ever be undone.
+
+Such periods of extraordinary growth are infallibly followed by a
+standstill during which individuals as communities seem to gather
+strength for new efforts. Nor is it likely that a country will
+successively produce men of such marked individuality and forceful
+character. The governor that followed Las Casas could not reasonably be
+expected to come up to the high standard of his predecessor. The
+Lieutenant-Governor Conde de Santa Clara, who was inaugurated on the
+sixteenth of December, 1796, was a man of generous character and
+agreeable manners towards all classes of society, but he was not a man
+of that broad culture which distinguished Las Casas and his associates
+in the famous Sociedad. D. Juan Procopio Barsicourt de Santa Clara was a
+native of Barcelona, and had come to Havana at a critical moment. The
+colonies of the West Indies and the Gulf coast were deeply worried about
+the slave revolt of Santo Domingo. The Cuban forces that had taken part
+in the attempt to quell the uprising, and the French and Spanish
+immigrants that had fled to Cuba from the terrors of the insurrection
+had brought with them tales of the doings of the insurgents which filled
+with vague apprehensions all territories that contained a numerous slave
+population. Moreover, the favorite of the queen of Spain, Manuel Godoy,
+had by his blunders involved Spain in a new war with Great Britain, and
+Spanish America was once more threatened by her old enemy.
+
+This menace forced the new Governor to turn his attention first towards
+the defenses of the island. He constructed between San Lazaro and la
+Chorrera the battery known as Santa Clara, and took other measures for
+the protection of Havana as well as Santiago. Among the municipal
+improvements which he effected the most important for Havana was his
+removal of the principal matadero (slaughterhouse), from the city to a
+place outside of its walls. The existence of this establishment had long
+been considered a public nuisance; for the foul smells which it spread
+in the neighborhood and which the wind sometimes carried over the whole
+town were a menace to the health of the inhabitants, and the frequent
+commotion caused by bulls that escaped from the enclosures was also a
+feature that made a most unfavorable impression. Both the suburb of
+Jesus Maria and el Horcon being without any direct water supply, Santa
+Clara had a fountain constructed in each place.
+
+Santa Clara was a man of generous instincts. The Casa del Beneficencia,
+the fortunes of which had been declining, owed him many a rich supply of
+provisions and some large donations. Both he and his wife, who was said
+to be a perfect model of womanly virtues, were interested in the
+hospital of San Paula. They also gave material aid to the hospital of
+San Francisco, which had progressed very slowly since its foundation.
+Within one year after Santa Clara's arrival, the number of beds was
+raised from thirty-two to seventy-eight. The governor's lady also
+succeeded in enlisting the cooperation of the clergy and many other
+wealthy and influential people in the San Antonio Hospital, which was
+increased to a capacity of one hundred and nine beds. Though the more
+ambitious cultural work which had been begun under the previous
+administration was not promoted by him, Santa Clara proved himself
+possessed of no little executive power and tact.
+
+This last quality was especially needed at the time when Havana was
+honored by the visit of three French notables, the Dukes of Orleans and
+Montpensier, and Count de Beaujolais. Santa Clara received them most
+courteously and an opulent lady of Havana, Dona Leonor Herrera de
+Contreras, gave up to them her home, placed at their disposal her
+servants and defrayed all their expenses. Refugees from their country,
+which was suffering from the terrors of the Revolution, they remained in
+Havana and enjoyed this sumptuous hospitality for almost four months,
+when even the famous "Prince of Peace," Godoy, in order to avoid
+further disagreements with the French Republic, indicated to them the
+propriety of removing to other dominions.
+
+In the meantime the British had declared war and made an auspicious
+beginning by the capture of Trinidad. They had demanded the surrender of
+the vessels commanded by D. Sebastian Ruiz de Apodoca, a high-spirited
+mariner, but he preferred reducing them to ashes before giving them up
+to the enemy. This first loss was, however, amply retrieved at San Juan
+of Porto Rico. The city had been attacked by over ten thousand trained
+soldiers under the command of Gen. Abercrombie, but the attack was
+repulsed and the British lost over one thousand men and two thousand
+prisoners, besides a stock of provisions and equipment. At Santa Cruz de
+Teneriffe the Spaniards defeated even the celebrated Nelson and seized a
+number of vessels that tried to take other points. But there was more
+trouble in sight for the Spanish colonies. For the South American
+revolutionist Miranda who had emigrated to London by clever intrigues
+induced the British government to stir up insurrections in the
+Spanish-American possessions. These intrigues resulted in revolts that
+broke out in Puerto Cabello, Caracas, Panama and Maracaibo. Their prompt
+suppression was due to the firmness and energy of the Captain-General of
+Caracas, D. Manuel de Guevara y Basconcelos.
+
+These disquieting occurrences made the Spanish government fear for the
+safety of Cuba and decided the court to give the island a governor more
+capable of coping with the eventuality of invasion. The Field Marshal D.
+Salvador de Muro y Salazar, Marques de Someruelos was appointed on the
+second of March, 1799, and ordered secretly and immediately to repair to
+the place of his destination. Accordingly there appeared in Havana on
+the thirteenth of May a distinguished stranger who delivered to the
+governor important messages from the court and proved to be no less than
+the new governor. Santa Clara immediately retired in favor of his
+successor and Someruelos entered upon the functions of his office. The
+Intendente Valiente was promoted to the position of Counselor of the
+Indies and his place was taken by D. Luis Viyuri. Colonel D. Sebastian
+de Kindelan was appointed to the governorship of Santiago.
+
+The administration of Someruelos beginning on the threshold of a new
+century, it seems meet to cast a backward look upon the condition of the
+island and the great changes which had taken place during the hundred
+years just closing. The great need for reform was urged upon the
+government immediately after the British occupation of Havana, which had
+opened the eyes of the authorities to mistakes made not only in the
+political and military, but especially in the economic management of the
+colony. Revenues had to be created in order to meet the increased
+expenses of the administration and defray the cost of much needed
+improvements. Hence upon the proposal of Count Ricla the king had
+ordered a thorough reorganization of the administration and especially
+of the treasury department. In the attempt of solving the problem of
+taxation, Spain had followed a suggestion of M. Choiseul, minister of
+foreign affairs in France, which was conceived with little knowledge of
+colonial conditions and legislation and hastily accepted by the supreme
+government. This change in the tax system then in force in the Indies
+produced great commotion in the island of Cuba and other Spanish
+possessions in America.
+
+Guiteras reports that many real estate owners of Puerto Principe and the
+southern territory designated in the island by the name of la Vuelta de
+Abajo were especially bitter in complaining against the innovation, but
+neither the intendant nor the Brigadier Cisneros could modify
+dispositions decreed by the supreme government. Discontent increased and
+some men were so exasperated that they preferred to destroy their own
+products rather than pay the tax which was to go to the public treasury.
+By the influence of D. Pedro Calvo de la Puerta, D. Penalver and other
+land-owners, some of the people were pacified, before disorder ensued.
+But others rose in open revolt and had to be dispersed by the militia
+hastily mobilized for their repression. Although hardly any blood was
+shed, the opposition which the authorities had met gave them cause for
+anxiety, and upon their urgent appeal the supreme government renounced
+the enforcement of the new taxes.
+
+After the establishment of the Intendencia and the creation of a weekly
+Junta, D. Juan de Alda drew up a budget of expenditure for the year
+1768, which amounted to 1,681,452 pesos. Of this sum the army consumed
+only 665,655 pesos. Approved by the supreme government and taken as a
+basis for figuring the annual expenditure, 1,200,000 pesos were
+consigned to the treasury of Mexico with the assumption that the public
+revenues would cover the eventual difference. According to Ramon de la
+Sagra, the general revenues of the island from 1764 to 1794 amounted to
+20,286,173 pesos, and the sums which besides came to the treasury under
+the name of situados (duties assigned upon certain goods or effects) and
+other classifications amounted from 1766 to 1788 to 101,735,350 pesos.
+The revenues of the island for the same period were, according to
+Alcazar, 50,000,000 pesos, but he adds that the decree of the
+seventeenth of August, 1790, by which farmers and merchants were allowed
+to pay with promissory notes, resulted in some loss to the import
+duties. On the other hand, the system of tax collection was open to
+dishonest practices, which were checked during the administration of
+Someruelos.
+
+The objections which had been raised against the new taxation having
+chiefly come from people engaged in agriculture, the government found on
+investigation that the existing commercial laws were at fault. Inclined
+as was the court of Spain during the rule of Carlos III. to yield in
+favor of the people, the new measures only mitigated but did not remove
+the evils complained of, which were founded on institutions and
+ordinances so thoroughly antiquated as no longer to be of any benefit to
+the population. The commerce of Cuba had since the year 1740 been
+carried on by the Real Compania of Havana. Although its institution was
+based upon the old and faulty principle of monopoly and privilege, and
+discriminated against foreign goods that came to Cuba via Spanish ports,
+the exportations of the island which at the beginning of the eighteenth
+century were confined to timber, hides and a small amount of cattle,
+soon began to include other products, such as sugar, honey, brandy and
+wax.
+
+After the founding of the Intendencia there was opened by way of
+experiment a small commerce with the principal ports of Spain; but the
+regulations required the collection in the Peninsula of two custom
+duties on manufactures embarked at Cuba and destined for Spain, one
+being called entry, the other exit duty, to which was later added a
+consumer's duty. These extraordinary charges destroyed the profits hoped
+for by the extension of commerce, and were the source of more
+discontent, until in the year 1767 the king authorized the abolition of
+the Compania of Havana "in case of urgent necessity for Cuba" and at the
+same time inaugurated some franchises which tended to relieve the much
+restricted commerce of the island. As has been recorded at the time, it
+was not until the twelfth of October, 1778, that the king issued an
+order calling for free commerce and abolishing the monopolies of the
+larger ports.
+
+The effects of this measure made themselves felt in a sudden revival of
+commercial activities which led to such an expansion of Cuba's commerce,
+that the island was forced to ask concessions and obtained from the
+court more favors than any other of Spain's American possessions. When
+the War of Independence paralyzed the commerce of the British colonies
+with the island, the king granted still greater franchises and a new
+decree opened the entry of the Port of Havana to the flags of all
+nations, provided their ships introduced provisions only. But while
+these new decrees favored the commerce of the colony, they reacted
+unfavorably upon the commerce of Spain, the merchant navy of which had
+been annihilated during the many wars, until there were not enough
+vessels to transport the goods the colonies needed. The imports of
+foreign products which the monopoly permitted Spain to make were in
+value superior to the exports from America. Direct commerce with
+friendly nations was more convenient inasmuch as the foreigners could in
+turn export all the fruits of the country. The only remedy for the evils
+confronting Spanish commerce would have been the reestablishment of the
+merchant fleet; but in their short-sightedness Spanish merchants turned
+back to the old monopoly and at the foot of the throne begged for return
+to the old system. Under such pressure were exacted from the king the
+decrees of the twentieth of January and the fifteenth of April, 1784,
+which once more closed the ports of Spanish America to the friendly
+nations, carrying the prohibition to the extreme of denying merchant
+vessels entry, even if they were foundering!
+
+Owing to this confusing and irritating condition of commercial
+legislation the growth and progress of the colonies received another
+setback, and probably caused the decrease in population which the
+Countess de Merlin mentions. It also seriously affected the agriculture
+of the island. For Spain had not enough inhabitants on her own soil to
+colonize her vast overseas territories; and even if her legislation in
+respect to commerce had been more liberal, her constant opposition to
+the admittance of foreigners to her provinces discouraged white
+immigration. Even during the reign of Carlos III., which seemed to
+inaugurate a new and more enlightened era, the distrust of the
+government towards foreigners is manifested in the new and abridged
+version of the law of the Indies, published in the year 1778, which
+decrees that in no port nor part of the West Indies, either the islands
+or the continent to the north and south, shall any kind of traffic with
+foreigners be admitted, even by way of barter or any other mode of
+commerce, those violating this order being liable to forfeit life and
+property.
+
+The slave trade was therefore the means Cuba was forced to adopt to
+supply the lack of white laborers and artisans. It was subject to the
+same restrictions as all maritime commerce, with the important
+difference that it could not be carried on without a special permission
+from the king, which usually fixed the number of years in which a
+certain number of slaves should be granted certain individuals,
+companies or corporations. These permissions were called licenses, later
+assientos, and finally contracts and privileges, until in the year 1789
+they entirely ceased to exist. A British concern, called the South Sea
+Company, had been the first to receive such a privilege, when in 1713 it
+was allowed to introduce into the colonies of Latin America, with
+absolute exclusion of Spaniards and foreigners, four thousand eight
+hundred negroes in the course of thirty years. Next came the permiso
+obtained by the Compania Mercantil of Havana in the year 1740, of which
+use was made until 1766. Then came the contract concluded with the
+Marquis de Casa Enrile, which lasted from 1773 to 1779; and finally the
+permission granted in the year 1780 on account of the war with England,
+that most Spaniards in America could have recourse to the French
+colonies for their supply of slaves.
+
+The manner in which this trade in human flesh was carried on reflects
+sadly upon those engaged in this traffic. Loaded into vessels that were
+hardly considered fit for carrying freight, thousands were known to have
+perished in shipwrecks. Crowded into the dark, unventilated holds of
+these rotten hulks, more thousands succumbed to disease and were thrown
+overboard. Of the trades associated with cruel exploitation and inhuman
+abuses, that of the slavetrader ranked first, for the sufferings to
+which the poor victims were subjected in the transit from their native
+home to the foreign land defied description. There were captains of
+slave ships who loathed their task. One is quoted in a book by the
+Jesuit Sandeval as confessing his misgivings about the business; he had
+just suffered a shipwreck in which only thirty out of nine hundred on
+board escaped!
+
+On their arrival in Cuba the poor wretches who survived the ordeal began
+to fare better. E. M. Masse, a French traveler and writer, in his work
+"L'Isle de Cuba et la Havane" describes the quarters in which they were
+lodged. They were the _baracones_, the famous barracks originally
+destined for the troops which were to take Pensacola, and that had cost
+four million pesos, though they could have been put up for a few
+thousand. At the time of his visit to Havana, some of the contractors
+who had made this handsome profit on the buildings were still in jail.
+He goes on to say that immediately on landing the negroes were taken to
+these barracks, waiting to be sold. They contained one immense room,
+covered with straw and divided into three compartments. The first was
+for the employees or jailers; the second for the women slaves, the third
+for the men. There was a spacious court or yard with a kitchen in one
+corner. In this yard they spent their days, shielded from the sun and
+the rain by tents. They were permitted to bathe in the sea. The writer
+looked at the spectacle with an artist's eye. For he remarks that he had
+always considered the pose of the Venus of Milo unnatural, until by
+observing these women slaves at their bath in the surf, he found that
+the identical pose was frequently assumed by them, and hence must have
+been natural. The only garment obligatory as long as a slave was not
+sold, was a kerchief; if somebody made them a gift of another kerchief,
+they made of it a turban or wore it like a sash.
+
+The freedom which they enjoyed in this brief interval between landing in
+Havana and being sold, may in the lives of the majority have been the
+only freedom they were to know. Being merchandise, it was of course in
+the interest of the slave traders to have them appear well when put on
+the market. Hence the food they received was wholesome. They were also
+encouraged to indulge in their wonted amusements and could be seen
+marching or dancing around in the yard, as they raised their voices in
+song. The African who had just arrived and spoke only his native tongue,
+was called _bosale_; the slave who was born in Africa, but spoke
+Spanish and knew the trade he was destined for, was called _ladino_.
+Children of African or European origin born in Spanish America, were
+called _criolles_, from which the French derived the term in use today:
+creole.
+
+Miscegenation was not favored in Cuba. When the immigration from Santo
+Domingo brought into the island a great number of mulattoes, quadroons
+and octoroons, the color line was severely drawn. A woman of colored
+origin with a perfectly white and very beautiful daughter was known to
+have denied her child in order to make it possible for her to marry a
+Havanese. Many of these women were far better educated than the native
+Cubans; M. Masse says that the art of conversation, unknown in Havana
+society, flourished only in their homes. But they were rigidly barred
+from the drawing-rooms of the wealthy Havanese.
+
+According to the data available, the number of slaves introduced into
+the island from the beginning of its colonization until the year 1789
+was probably not below 100,000. It is estimated that in the two hundred
+years between 1550 and 1750 the annual importations of the assientists
+into Spanish America averaged at least three thousand a year. In the
+census taken by Governor la Torre about 1772 Cuba was found to have
+45,633 slaves. In 1775 their number had risen to forty-six thousand and
+that of free colored people to about thirty thousand. The relaxation of
+the commercial restrictions gave a strong impulse to all sorts of
+enterprises, mercantile and otherwise, and especially to building, and
+the laboring forces employed on all the new constructions were mostly
+slaves. By the year 1775 their proportion to the free colored population
+was four and sixth tenths to three. As the value of slave labor began to
+be recognized in that period of internal improvements and general
+progress, the number of slave importations steadily increased. According
+to Blanchet, Cuba acquired in the years 1783 and 1784 one thousand and
+five hundred negroes through contracts between the government and
+various French and Spanish firms, as also the British house of Baker and
+Dawson and the private shipowners D. Vicente Espon and Col. D. Gonzalo
+O'Farrel. Armas y Cespedes gives the number of slaves for the year 1774
+as 44,333; for the year 1792 as 84,590. In the enormous number of
+negroes imported between 1791 and 1816 there were counted 132,000
+imported legitimately, 168,000 by contraband means.
+
+A more systematized and conclusive estimate of the number of negroes
+gradually introduced in Cuba was made by D. Francisco de Arango, the
+high-minded patriot of the period of Governor Las Casas. It covers the
+time from the beginning of the sixteenth to the middle of the eighteenth
+century. D. Jose Antonio Saco, author of "Collecion de papeles
+cientifices, historicos, politicos y de etros ramos sobre la isle de
+Cuba, ya publicados ya ineditos," and "Historia de la Esclavitud," did
+the same for the eastern part of the island from 1764 to 1789. These
+estimates furnish the following figures:
+
+    Imported on the whole island from 1523 to 1763   60,000
+    By the Compania de la Habana in 1764, 1765,
+        1766                                          4,957
+    By the Marquis de Casa Enrile from 1773 to
+        1779                                         14,132
+    By the permiso of 1780 authorizing the supply
+        of negroes from French colonies during the
+        war ending 1783                               6,593
+    By the house of Baker & Dawson from 1786 to
+        1789                                          8,318
+    From the eastern part of the island, 1764 to
+        1789                                          6,000
+                                                    -------
+    Total                                           100,000
+
+Humboldt remarks in his "Personal Narrative of Travels to the
+Equinoctial regions of America during the years 1799-1809, "that the
+British West Indies then contained seven hundred thousand negroes and
+mulattoes, free and slave, while the custom-house registers proved that
+from 1680 to 1786 two million one hundred and thirty thousand negroes
+had been imported from Africa, which suggests a rather high mortality.
+In Cuba the annual death rate of the recently imported negroes was seven
+per cent. Hence the current assumption that the African negro was
+particularly adapted for and could stand the climate of Cuba, does not
+seem to be well founded.
+
+About this time the social conscience of mankind seemed to be suddenly
+awakened and philanthropic ideas began to modify the general conception
+of slavery. Nations whose political organization made the government
+dependent upon public opinion, had already begun to yield to the demand
+of abolishing slave trade. The United States had auspiciously
+inaugurated that movement. The state of Virginia had closed her ports to
+the traffic in 1778; Pennsylvania, Connecticut, Rhode Island and
+Massachusetts followed in 1780, 1787 and 1788. The Third Congress of the
+American Republic proclaimed negro traffic as contrary to the
+civilization of Christian peoples and condemned it before the end of the
+eighteenth century. At the same time the Convention of the French
+Republic declared its abolition in the colonies of France, and the
+events in Santo Domingo, like a seismic disturbance made all
+slave-owning nations tremble. Stimulated by the example of America and
+stirred by the noble words of her own great humanitarians, Howard and
+Wilberforce, England, too, began from 1787 on to discuss that problem.
+
+In the course of the serious debates that took place in the British
+parliament in May, 1788, it was said that a decree abolishing the
+traffic would in a short time paralyze the commerce carried on by
+British merchants with Africa. In her isolation from the current tides
+of thought in Europe and other countries, Cuba had so far been untouched
+by the humanitarian aspect of the question and looked upon it merely
+from her utilitarian viewpoint. Fearing that the house of Baker &
+Dawson, which had been her main source of supply for negro labor, would
+no longer be able to furnish her the hands she needed in her deserted
+fields, she hastened through her representative in the Ayuntamiento to
+solicit from the king permission to continue the traffic. Hence on the
+twenty-eighth of February, 1788, a royal decree permitted the Spaniards,
+and foreigners in general for the term of two years, to introduce
+negroes, exempt from duties, in Cuba, Santo Domingo and Puerto Rico and
+in the province of Caracas.
+
+Guiteras, in his "Historia de la Isla de Cuba" speaks of the slavery
+problem with a remarkable display of native fervor. He says:
+
+"The slavery question met with political difficulties of an even graver
+character in the rapid progress made by the ideas of the abolitionists,
+which inflamed and inspired those foreign nations who had filled their
+own colonies with slaves. Imprudent exaltation of the republican ideals
+of France finally led the children of Hayti to rise in a horrible
+revolution. A race of men that had come to the coasts of America not in
+royal vessels and clad in steel to plant standards with the sign of
+Redemption, but locked up in the stench of a closed hold, the body naked
+and in chains, to irrigate with their sweat and blood the land of
+slavery, rose in defence of the natural laws, demolished the banner at
+the sight of which the most powerful nations of Europe had trembled, and
+conquered the outraged rights of humanity. One should think that the
+beam of light which radiated through all the sea of the Antilles would
+have dissuaded the Cubans and the government from promoting African
+colonization on the island of Cuba; nevertheless a lamentable error,
+though based upon the best intentions, caused Cuba to invite that evil
+and Spain filled the island with African slaves."
+
+It may seem incongruous that a man of D. Francisco de Arango's liberal
+ideas should have been instrumental in securing for Cuba from the court
+at Madrid a privilege which the enlightened humane viewpoint of his time
+began to consider a disgrace. But as pointed out in a previous chapter,
+this measure was resorted to by Arango only as a temporary expediency.
+As soon as the immediate shortage of hands was relieved, he himself
+recommended the substitution of free white labor for negro slavery. For
+the enormous influx of negroes as compared with the very minimum
+increase of white inhabitants began even then to fill with vague
+apprehensions for the future of Cuba's population those most earnestly
+concerned with the welfare of the island. To the Spaniards of Florida
+the great percentage of negroes was repulsive. More than five hundred
+Floridians, who in 1763 had come to Cuba to escape British rule,
+returned to their old home in 1784. When after the reign of terror in
+Santo Domingo French refugees settled in Cuba, they, too, were opponents
+of the slave traffic and their influence contributed no little towards
+changing the attitude of the Spaniards towards negro slavery.
+
+One of the disturbing features in this large negro population was the
+small proportion of women. Planters refused to invest in the latter,
+because they considered them unfit for the hard labor required. The
+result was such a surplus of male slaves that in some communities there
+were five hundred men to one negro woman. At first the negro slaves were
+employed mostly in the mines, where the native Indians had proved
+inefficient. Later they entered also domestic service. But with the
+development of agriculture, they began to be largely employed in the
+fields and on the plantations. Edward Gaylord Bourne says in his work on
+"Spain in America," the third volume in the historical series "The
+American Nation," in the chapter on Negro Slaves (p. 272):
+
+"The development of the sugar industry and the growth of slavery were
+dependent upon each other, especially after the mines of the Antilles
+gave out. Each trapiche, or sugar-mill, run by horses or mules, required
+thirty or forty negroes, and each water-mill eight at the least. Had the
+commerce of the islands been reasonably free, plantation slavery on a
+large scale would have rapidly developed, and the history of Hayti and
+the English islands would have been anticipated a century by the
+Spaniards."
+
+While Howard, Wilberforce, Judge Sewall and the Quakers are usually
+considered the pioneers of the abolition of slavery, the first voice
+raised against this institution came from Peru and was that of a Jesuit,
+Alfonso Sandoval, a native of Seville, but a resident of Peru, where his
+father held an important position in the royal administration. Sandoval
+wrote a work on negro slavery entitled "De Instauranda Aethiopum
+Salute," which was published in Madrid in 1647 and contains valuable
+data concerning the traffic, frequently quoted by historians. Nor can it
+be denied that the Spaniards knew better how to treat the negroes than
+either the French or the British. Evidences to the contrary suggest that
+whatever may have been the wrongs under which the negro slaves of the
+Spanish colonies suffered, they were not as much due to the cruelty of
+the masters, as to their ignorance and carelessness.
+
+The humane attitude of the Spaniard towards the negro slave made the
+Royal Cedula issued by King Carlos III. in 1789 a unique document. For
+in this royal decree are set forth the rights of the slaves with a
+precision which in an eventual dispute with the masters could admit of
+no doubt. By that decree the Spanish king earned for himself a niche in
+the gallery of human benefactors. For the individual paragraphs as
+compared with the civic code of Spain show little or no discrimination
+between the black and the white elements of the colonial population.
+These laws agreed perfectly with the spirit of the period which had
+produced Howard, Wilberforce, Sewall and others. They were conceived in
+a remarkable spirit of equity, whatever violations and abuses may have
+occurred in individual practice. According to this cedula, a slave, if
+ill-treated, had the right to choose another master, provided he could
+induce this new master to buy him. He could buy his liberty at the
+lowest market-price. He could buy wife and children and marry the wife
+of his choice. If he suffered cruel treatment, he could appeal to the
+courts and in some instances might be set free. If negroes were in doubt
+about the lawfulness of their enslavement, they also had the right to
+bring their case to the notice of the courts. By that same cedula negro
+slaves were granted the right to hold property which opened for them
+opportunities for eventual emancipation. Moreover that law declared that
+fugitive slaves who by righteous means had gained their freedom were not
+to be returned to their masters.
+
+In accordance with these humane slave laws, the colored population of
+Cuba enjoyed greater latitude than in many other colonies. Although
+converted to Catholicism, they were known to revert to their heathen
+practices at certain times and to have chanted invocations to the saints
+in the African dialect of their forefathers. Numerous clans existed
+among them, which were supposed to have for their aim the perpetuation
+of their ancestral customs. Among them was the _manigo_, which was
+frequently the source of grave apprehension on the part of the
+authorities and, surviving in the _cabildos_, societies, which are both
+religious and social, had in a later period to be suppressed. The rites
+of these organizations were a grotesquely uncanny mixture of Roman
+Catholicism and African paganism. One day in the year the negroes of the
+island had almost unlimited liberty to celebrate in their barbaric
+fashion. It was the sixth of January or All Kings' Day, and was the
+occasion for a spectacle as weirdly fascinating as any carnival. That
+day belonged to the negroes. Dressed in the gaudiest costumes, carrying
+huge poles with mysterious transparencies, they paraded through the
+streets to the beat of drums, shouting and gesticulating, or singing as
+they went along. At the squares they stopped and indulged in a dance.
+Melodious as were their songs, the rhythms betrayed the African origin.
+The dances, too, even after several generations, retained their African
+characteristics. As the day progressed, hilarity became more and more
+boisterous, and the holiday frequently ended in riotous demonstrations
+and street brawls. The white population of Havana and other towns, in
+which this day was celebrated by the blacks, remained indoors, and even
+suspended business for fear of disturbances.
+
+There is no doubt that the important service which negro labor performed
+for the agriculture of the country induced the Cubans to allow the
+negroes this great amount of freedom. For without them, as D. Francisco
+de Arango and others knew only too well, the fields and the plantations
+of the island could never have yielded that abundance of products upon
+which depended the wealth of Cuba.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XIII
+
+
+The prosperity of a new country and the happiness of the people depend
+largely upon a just apportionment of the land of that country and the
+opportunity to exploit the resources of the soil and sell the products
+thereof at the greatest possible profit to the producer. Had this simple
+truth been recognized as the cornerstone of Cuban colonization the
+island would have been spared centuries of hard up-hill struggle for
+healthy economic conditions.
+
+From the standpoint of the agrarian reformer, the land problem was at
+the bottom of all the evils that retarded the development of the colony,
+so richly endowed by nature that it should have been a paradise for
+those who came there to settle. The noble Spanish adventurers of
+Castilian blood, who had accompanied the early explorers and in a spirit
+of romance followed in their wake, were the first to obtain grants of
+land. They returned to Spain, brought with them their families and
+servants and settled upon the land, which became their new home. But
+they were hardly of a type willing to rough it after the first glamor of
+romance and novelty had faded, or able by hard labor to transform the
+wilderness into richly yielding fields and gardens. Stockbreeding was
+very much easier and according to their ideas required no particular
+exertion on their part. They let nature take care of the increase of
+their herds and flocks. A few of them retained the land, made their
+haciendas the home of generations to come, and attained to some rank and
+standing by virtue of these great holdings. Essentially domestic by
+nature, they lived there sometimes two or three generations under one
+roof, frugally and contentedly all the year round.
+
+Among the earliest Cuban landholders were nobles, Castilian, Andalusian
+and others, who received great grants of land in recognition of some
+services to the crown. These people, who had not known the spell of
+adventure in strange tropical climes, did not settle permanently on the
+island, but became absentee landlords. They owned perhaps a residence in
+Havana, which they visited briefly during the winter. They had a
+hacienda, which saw them even less frequently and more briefly. The
+traditions and conventions of their caste did not allow them to work,
+even if they had been able and willing; so they left the management of
+their land to an agent, whose paramount concern was to hold his position
+long enough to fill his pockets and who beyond that was no more
+interested in the colony than was his master. Whatever profits the
+latter made on the products of his Cuban estate, did not accrue to the
+benefit of the island; they were spent in the old country. Madrid was
+the place where these absentee landlords of Cuba wasted their wealth in
+extravagance and dissipation, instead of investing it in improvements of
+their estates and works of civic importance and advantage to the island.
+These property-holders looked out only for the revenues they could get
+out of their Cuban estates; but they were not concerned with the problem
+of revenues for the island. They have their counterpart today and not
+only in Cuba, but in other countries where vast tracts were acquired by
+foreigners, some for the hunting they afforded, some for speculative
+purposes, while native citizens had to go without the little plot of
+land that could insure them a home and sometimes even a living.
+
+Thus were the best tracts of land apportioned among or pre-empted by
+people having no vital interest in the development of the island's
+resources. When the real workers came, peasants from the Basque
+provinces, from Catalonia and other parts of the Peninsula, they again
+had no capital to invest in the necessary improvements, and being
+obliged to content themselves with a small plot of land and to work it
+with their own hands, soon drifted into a deadly indifference towards
+anything beyond the satisfaction of their most urgent daily needs. Even
+if their land had produced more than they needed for their own
+consumption, they would have been at a loss how to dispose of their
+products, since there were no transportation facilities and since every
+movement of the producer was subject to local customs and other
+restrictions, limiting the possibilities of creating a market and from
+the profits realized to set aside a fund to spend on current
+improvements or to insure their future.
+
+There is little doubt that much of the indolence attributed to the
+climate was gradually developed in the people by the lack of
+opportunities to market their products and to get into touch with the
+outside world. The Cuban settler of that class had in course of time to
+acquire a habitual indifference toward the morrow, which developed into
+shiftlessness. His initiative being paralyzed at the beginning, he never
+could rouse himself to conceive of another life. His children growing up
+about him under these same circumstances, true to the clannishness of
+Spanish family life, remained with the parents and followed in their
+footsteps. This may explain the lack of backbone with which the Cuban
+has been reproached. Official repression, even if founded upon a sort of
+paternal solicitude, is bound to stunt the growth of individuals as of
+nations; and of this repression the people of Cuba were for centuries
+the victims.
+
+The French traveler and writer quoted before, E. M. Masse, describes the
+life of Cuban rustics at the end of the eighteenth and beginning of the
+nineteenth century. He calls them _monteros_, which means huntsmen, and
+they were probably the more shiftless descendants of this first class of
+settlers. For he speaks of their simple, frugal and indolent ways; tells
+how satisfied they are just to own a little plot of ground, with a
+bananery beside the hut, or a rice or corn-field, and perhaps a few
+cows. They were happiest when they could afford a slave, who would go
+fishing and hunting for them; for that would allow the master to lie in
+the hammock and smoke cigarettes. It seems natural that the home of such
+a montero was usually a wretched little "cabane," a shack of one room in
+which he dwelt with his family, which was sometimes numerous, and in
+close companionship with a pig, and other domestic animals. Yet this
+same man, preferring to lie in the hammock rather than to exert himself
+in some much needed work, was very fond of lively sports, as
+horseback-riding. Even the women of the monteros were splendid
+horse-women.
+
+The dress of these people was extremely simple. The men wore trousers of
+oiled linen extending to the ankles; shoes of raw leather, a short shirt
+of the same material as the trousers, a kerchief wound tightly about the
+head and a big straw hat with a black ribbon or one of felt with gold
+braid. An indispensable article of accoutrement was the machete,
+cutlass, in his belt. The women wore a calico skirt, a white shirt with
+a bracelet at the elbow to hold the sleeves and a fichu on the head.
+When they went to mass, they dressed their hair, wore a mantilla on
+their head and put on shoes with big silver buckles. At dances they
+donned a round hat woven out of the tissue of plantain leaves, trimmed
+with gay ribbons, or a black hat with gold braid. Modest as was the
+montero in his demands upon life, there was one entertainment he could
+not forego: the _feria de gallo_, cock-fight. Many a one saved up his
+money for months to spend it on that day.
+
+This description by M. Masse, of the montero of Cuba at the end of the
+eighteenth and beginning of the nineteenth century, tallies well with
+the description of the guajiro of today by Forbes Lindsay in "Cuba and
+Her People Today." Lindsay sees in that Cuban rustic a descendant of
+Catalonian and Andalusian settlers:
+
+"Time was when he occasionally owned slaves and a fair extent of land,
+but nowadays he is more often than not a squatter in a little corner of
+that no man's land which seems to be so extensive in the central and
+eastern portions of the Island. In comparatively few instances he has
+title to a few acres, lives in a passably comfortable cabana, possesses
+a yoke of oxen, a good horse, half a dozen pigs, and plenty of poultry.
+Much more often he lives in a ramshackle _bohio_, the one apartment of
+which affords indifferent shelter to a large family and is fairly shared
+by a lean hog and a few scrawny chickens. There is nothing deserving the
+name of furniture in the house and the clothing of the family is of the
+scantiest. A nag of some sort, usually a sorry specimen of its kind, is
+almost always owned by the guajiro, who loves a horse and rides like the
+gaucho of the Argentine pampas."
+
+That montero of a hundred and more years ago and the guajiro of today
+have so much in common that it seems safe to consider the latter a
+descendant of the former.
+
+The lack of proper facilities for the exchange of commodities between
+city and country caused the fact that Havana up to the beginning of the
+nineteenth century raised almost all her necessities on her own soil.
+The economical cassava was still generally used. The ground in the
+environs of the capital, though not the best soil on the island, within
+a short time attained considerable value. The administration of the navy
+yard opposed the cultivation of ground rich in trees that it could use
+for shipbuilding. By this monopoly alone many people were barred from
+owning and cultivating land. The preference of the earlier Spanish
+settlers for stockbreeding also limited the agricultural area. Besides,
+real estate conventions and regulations were as rigid as other customs
+of the country, and were never changed, be the need for a change ever so
+pressing.
+
+From the first days of the colony the circular form of plot had been
+adopted, the extent of a _hatos_ being fixed at two miles and that of
+the _corrales_ at one mile in circumference. This curious system of
+measurement gave rise not only to difficulties in computing the area of
+contiguous properties, but to misunderstandings and disputes which
+caused much litigation. It was difficult to buy a plot of ground that
+was not in some way subject to legal controversy. The great number of
+lawyers on the island had probably a certain reason for existence owing
+to the innumerable boundary and other land disputes. It is evident, too,
+that complicated boundaries and questionable titles were a rich source
+of dubious activity for unscrupulous members of the profession. Land
+cases were wont to drag on from one generation to the other, and while
+the lawyers representing the interests of the clients waxed rich, the
+clients themselves had often to sacrifice the land itself in order to
+settle their claims.
+
+The changes brought on by gradual cultivation of unimproved lands on the
+other hand enriched the owners of such lands quite out of proportion to
+their original value. When pastures were converted into farm plots, the
+price was augmented. A hato contained more than sixteen hundred
+caballerias at thirty-three acres per caballeria. The corral contained
+more than four hundred. The caballeria pasture land cost from ten to
+twenty-five pesos; as soon as it was cultivated, its lowest price was
+three hundred pesos. Thus a hato, worth at most forty thousand pesos,
+was in its new state worth more than four hundred and eighty-four
+thousand. Likewise a corral, originally valued at most at ten thousand
+pesos, rose in price to one hundred and twenty thousand. The same was
+true of building lots. A caballeria in the suburbs, divided into
+_solares_, house plots, could sometimes bring eighty-five thousand
+pesos. A caballeria to the southwest of Havana was worth three thousand
+pesos, one in the neighborhood of Matanzas only five hundred. The
+extraordinary wealth of certain convents, frequently commented upon by
+economists and historians, was due to the gradual and enormous increase
+in the price of the land which had originally been given to them. From
+these early grants and concessions were derived the privileges which
+some private properties and some convents enjoyed; they had for instance
+the right to forbid the building in their neighborhood of houses beyond
+a certain height, a precious privilege in a city where the circulation
+of air had not been overencouraged.
+
+M. Masse comments at length upon these conditions in his book on Havana.
+He says:
+
+"The immense fortunes of certain Havana families are thus explained. The
+sobriety of the Spaniards, the very limited taste and luxury found in
+their residences and their furnishings, a commercial management which
+favored agricultural products, would have ended in concentrating in a
+few hands fortunes rivalling those of kings, had not libertinism, the
+rage of lawsuits and the passion for gambling produced that
+instability, which some moralists would have liked to secure by other
+means, though these were not easily found."
+
+The prospect of becoming hopelessly entangled in interminable lawsuits,
+and of having large tracts of land on one's hands without the certainty
+that the products of this land would find a market and bring a price
+commensurate with the amount of money and labor spent upon it, prevented
+many residents of the island from becoming landholders. Only when the
+conflict between the landholders and the monopoly that robbed them of
+their profits became acute, did certain patriots concerned with the
+welfare of Cuba unite to secure a radical reform in the legislation of
+the Indies. The demand for an extension of maritime commerce was the
+first to be urged upon the authorities, and the first to be granted. As
+has been related in a previous chapter, the British occupation of Havana
+opened the eyes of the Spaniards to the benefits of free commerce with
+and among the colonies, and led to a gradual relaxation of the law which
+gave to one or two Spanish ports the monopoly of transatlantic trade.
+When greater freedom of maritime commerce had been secured, and
+agriculture began to be carried on on a larger scale, not only for home
+consumption, but for export, the questions of repartition of land, of
+introducing different standards of measurement, of diminution of taxes
+on the fruits of the country and of duties on articles of importation,
+and lastly of securing the labor needed for these larger enterprises,
+began to occupy the minds of the leaders.
+
+The chief branches of Cuban agriculture were the raising of live stock
+and the cultivation of tobacco and sugar. Until the beginning of the
+eighteenth century the breeding of cattle was the principal occupation
+of the Cuban farmer. It suited the taste of the Castilian and
+Andalusian immigrant, for it required comparatively little work and lent
+itself to the acquirement of habits of idleness which the climate of the
+country tended to confirm. Guiteras is right, when he says:
+
+"Had our ganaderos (ranch owners) cultivated the plains for the
+alimentation of the animals and established a regular order in the care
+of breeds and in the management of their haciendas, this branch would
+have made greater progress and served as a powerful stimulus and been of
+great benefit for our agriculture. It would have supplied fertilizer for
+the fields, furnished the markets with meat for consumption by employers
+and laborers, and moreover, would have supplied oxen for our ploughs."
+
+But it seems that the Cuban farmer, as are many in other countries, was
+too short-sighted to perceive the advantages of a well-organized system
+of production, and indulged in a laissez-faire policy which did not much
+advance his interests or those of the community.
+
+The product next in importance was tobacco. The sections of the island
+best adapted for the cultivation of tobacco are the sandy fields west of
+Havana in the district of la Vuelta Baja, a country bathed by the waters
+of the San Sebastian, Richondo and the Consolacion of the south, and the
+Cuyaguateje or Mantua; also those in the palm belt running between
+Sierra Madre and the southern coast which forms a rectangle of
+twenty-eight leagues in length and seven in breadth. Other tobacco belts
+of great value are las Virtudes, between San Cristobal and Guanajas in
+the same Vuelta Baja, and in the east that nearest to Holguin and Cuba.
+The tobacco harvest of the year 1720 was six hundred thousand arrobas.
+But, as the historians say, "a severe system of monopoly, odious
+examinations and vexatious regulations and restrictions limited the
+profits, and the excessive cost of indispensable tools and the distance
+of the tobacco fields from the capital, discouraged the production of
+tobacco and visibly diminished the cultivation of this most important
+product of the island." The frequent disputes between the vegueros and
+the factoria, as the royal agency which owned the tobacco monopoly was
+called, abundantly prove the existence of conditions which were not
+likely to benefit the colony.
+
+The most valuable product of the island was sugar; and the cultivation
+of sugar cane was in such a backward state that it reflected upon the
+intelligence and enterprise of the native farmers. It revealed their
+ignorance, habitual indifference and lack of resources most lamentably.
+One of the oldest sugar planters of the island, Captain D. Jose Nicolas
+Perez Garvey, presented a series of memorials to the Sociedad Economica
+of Santiago de Cuba, which give a fair idea of the processes employed in
+the elaboration of this precious product. Sr. Garvey was a pioneer in
+demonstrating the imperfections of the existing methods and in advising
+the introduction of innovations. But his recommendation of modern
+inventions horrified the majority of the farmers and was violently
+objected to by the laborers.
+
+At first in order to press the juice out of the cane the same means were
+employed as for the grinding of wheat. They were cylinders set in motion
+by mules or oxen, a process in which half of the juice was wasted. At
+the beginning of the eighteenth century a more efficacious process was
+employed in imitation of that which was in use in Hayti. Not until the
+government itself took the initiative and encouraged the use of
+implements and machines that had proved of advantage in other
+sugar-raising colonies, was a change gradually effected. The great
+planter and landowner of Havana, D. Nicolas Calvo de la Puerta, was the
+man through whose influence and insistence upon certain innovations the
+sugar production was slowly improved. Finally there was the problem of
+converting the guarapo or fermented cane juice into sugar, which was at
+first also very primitive and slowly yielded to more productive and
+profitable methods. Lastly the sugar production of the island developed
+another product, which was not only popular on the island, but became an
+article of exportation. From 1760 to 1767 Havana, which was the only
+port qualified to export sweetmeats, sent out annually thirteen thousand
+cases of sixteen arrobas each. In the period of five years from 1791 to
+1795 inclusive, the export was 7,572,600 arrobas. White sugar was then
+worth thirty-two reals per arroba, brown sugar twenty-eight. The French
+immigrants from Santo Domingo were an element that contributed to the
+improvement and promotion of the sugar industry.
+
+Though they furnished a far smaller proportion of the island's wealth,
+hides, cane, brandy, refined honey and wax also began to figure in the
+economic records of Cuba. Wax became a valuable product about the year
+1764 when Bishop Morell brought a few swarms of bees from his Florida
+exile. It was exported to the ports of the Gulf of Mexico where it was
+highly esteemed for its superior quality. The indigo plant which was
+introduced during the administration of Governor Las Casas proved in
+time a new source of Cuban wealth. Coffee plantations and cocoa groves
+had also multiplied in number, and were slowly furnishing new products
+for home consumption as for exportation.
+
+The following figures will give a limited but reliable survey of the
+growth of agriculture towards the end of the century. Before the year
+1761 there were only between sixty and seventy sugar refineries on the
+island. By the end of the century there were four hundred and eighty.
+Before the year 1796 there were only eight or ten coffee plantations, so
+that the island barely produced enough coffee for its own consumption.
+By the end of the century there were three hundred and twenty-six
+"cafeyeres." At the same time the island had two thousand four hundred
+and thirty-nine vegas, or tobacco fields, and one thousand two hundred
+and twenty-three _colmenares_ or apiaries. The revenues of the island
+from 1793, when they amounted to over one million pesos, rose steadily
+until at the beginning of the century they were about three million
+pesos annually. The sugar plantations yielded great profits, but they
+also required big investments of money and labor. One of the most
+prominent sugar planters on the island, D. Jose Ignacio Echegoyen,
+calculated that to produce ten thousand arrobas of sugar, an expenditure
+of twelve thousand seven hundred and sixty-seven pesos was needed,
+besides a capital of sixty thousand. He was one of the foremost citizens
+that protested against the tax of one tenth on sugar. Work on the sugar
+plantations was the hardest imaginable; even the negro slaves could not
+stand it longer than ten years. Then their working capacity was
+completely exhausted and they were given their liberty.
+
+Though the importation of negro slaves essentially helped the
+development of agriculture and the industries connected with it, there
+still existed restrictions and regulations which acted as a continual
+check upon the growth of the population, and had a paralyzing effect
+upon the intellectual development of the colonists. A favorable solution
+of these important questions offered great obstacles. Although the
+principles on which Spain founded her restrictive system had been
+relaxed, there existed a great number of interests that had been created
+through this system and were unwilling to give up their privileges.
+Derogation of these restrictions would have meant loss and injury to
+some peninsular subjects that had grown rich and powerful through them.
+
+The historian Guiteras elucidates this point when he says that higher
+state reasons, supported by the right that, according to the notions of
+the epoch gave them the international law and the famous bull of
+Alexander VI. and was sustained by a great and expensive war against the
+nations that attempted to colonize America, had influenced the conduct
+of the government for nearly three centuries. The government only agreed
+by force of invincible circumstances to have the British and the French
+establish themselves in and continue in possession of a part of North
+America and a few islands of the Antilles; but it always insisted on
+maintaining the vast possessions that recognized its authority closed to
+the commerce of the allies according to the agreement. With the
+existence of a new and independent nation near these states, whose
+political organization, religious principles and national character were
+diametrically opposed to those of the Spanish government, these
+possessions and dominions of the crown seemed to be in danger. The
+imprudent demonstration in the state of Georgia had already shown the
+spirit of hostility which when the republic of the United States was
+barely established began to manifest itself against the neighboring
+possessions of a country which in her diplomatic relations had from the
+beginning of the Revolution always showed herself friendly. Such
+considerations very likely increased the aversion of the monarch as of
+his court towards Britain and the British race, in whose favor they had
+yielded more than to any other power concessions demanded by the
+interests of their subjects in America.
+
+These were some of the great impediments which the champions of progress
+encountered in their valiant endeavors to free the economic development
+of Cuba and to help its much hampered industries. But one of the most
+serious obstacles was the restriction of Spanish and especially foreign
+immigration.
+
+It seems that these restrictions which dated from the accession of
+Philip II. had two definite objects; the first was to preserve the
+purity of the Spanish stock in the West Indies and other possessions of
+Spanish America; the second was to prevent foreigners from learning the
+extent and the resources of Spain's American colonies. Edward Gaylord
+Bourne says in "Spain in America":
+
+"In regard to Spaniards, the policy adopted was one of restriction and
+rigid supervision. No one, either native or foreigner, was allowed to go
+to the Indies without a permit from the crown (or in some cases from the
+Casa de Contracion) under penalty of forfeiting his property. Officers
+of the fleets or vessels were held strictly responsible for infractions
+of this rule. In the code the details of these restrictions are
+amplified in seventy-three laws. The reasons for such strict regulations
+covering emigration was to protect the Indies from being overrun with
+idle and turbulent adventurers anxious only 'to get rich quickly and not
+content with food and clothing, which every moderately industrious man
+was assured of.'"
+
+Another reason for this strict supervision is given in a law enacted in
+the year 1602, which directs the deportation of foreigners from the
+ports of the Indies, because "the ports are not safe in the things of
+our holy Catholic faith, and great care should be taken that no error
+creep in among the Indians." An exception to the rule was made twenty
+years later, when expert mechanics were allowed, but traders in the
+cities remained excluded. So rigidly was this policy upheld that
+Humboldt during five years of travel in Spanish America met only one
+German resident.
+
+It is more difficult to understand the object of this policy than to
+realize its effect upon the country's growth and progress. M. Masse says
+in his book "L'Isle de Cuba et la Havane":
+
+"No Spaniard was allowed to sail for America without permission of the
+king, a permission granted only for well-defined business reasons, and
+for a period limited to two years. The agreement to settle there was
+even more difficult to obtain. A special permission was needed even to
+pass from the province first chosen to another. Priests and nuns were
+subject to the same rule."
+
+These restrictions were enforced even at the beginning of the nineteenth
+century. M. Masse continues to say that travelers were detained on board
+several days before they were allowed to land in Havana. They had to
+present a passport, a certificate of birth and baptism and a certificate
+of respectable life and good conduct, all signed by a consul of Spain.
+
+In individual cases these severe requirements may have been evaded--M.
+Masse mentions the fact that minor functionaries were ready to do the
+foreigners any favor--for a consideration. But upon the whole it must be
+admitted that their observance tended to keep up a certain moral
+standard in the colonies, which may not have been without some good
+influence in moulding the character of the people. While other powers of
+Europe allowed--and even encouraged--their colonies to become
+dumping-grounds for human refuse, to populate them with their derelicts
+and those of other nations, until America was spoken of by the Germans
+as the big reformatory, Spain made an attempt at what some centuries
+later, in our scientific age, might have been called "race culture."
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XIV
+
+
+The conditions which we have described did not, however, prevent the
+colony, when prosperity came to her, from succumbing to the evils which
+invariably follow in the wake of new wealth. The historian Blanchet
+reports that there existed in Cuba towards the end of the century a
+strange mixture of immorality and piety. Religious enthusiasm rose to an
+unusual degree of fervor in Villa Clara in the year 1790. Two Capuchin
+missionaries had been there a month, and the church was crowded from
+early morning until late at night with men and women spellbound by their
+words. After the orisons there was a sermon, and at times, immediately
+after the sermon, the women left, the building was closed and darkened
+and the men remained inside. Prayers alternated with flagellations,
+until some individuals were exhausted with pain and the loss of blood.
+In the penitential procession, which took place on some evenings, the
+two missionaries and the priests of the town were followed by a
+multitude in which both sexes were represented. The members of the
+Ayuntamiento took part, bare-legged and bare-foot; some marched with the
+head and face concealed by a white cowl, the body uncovered to the
+waist, and from the waist down wrapped in sack-cloth. Some staggered
+under the weight of a heavy cross; others walked straight and attempted
+to inflict wounds upon themselves with the point of a sword. It seems,
+however, that this religious exaltation was at times carried too far,
+for flagellation assumed such proportions at burials that it had to be
+forbidden.
+
+In contrast to this religious revival was the wave of frivolity and
+immorality that seemed simultaneously to sweep over the island. The
+streets of the towns resounded with ribald speech and lascivious songs.
+The Bishop was scandalized to see Cuban women discard their veils when
+they went on the street. When they wore decollete gowns, they did not
+even close the blinds, but openly showed themselves at the windows.
+There is little doubt that increase of overseas traffic in the ports of
+the island contributed to the growing laxity of morals. M. Masse
+considered the navy yard a special source of the corruption which wealth
+had brought. "For the money needed by that enterprise circulated in the
+city at the same time as the vices and the passions of its employees and
+sailors." With a remarkable psychological insight he gives a most
+plausible explanation how the change in the life of the island affected
+the women of Cuba, and especially of Havana.
+
+For these women had so far been brought up in strict conformity to the
+conventions of their female ancestors in Spain. They had been sent to a
+girls' school, always escorted, and had never until they were married
+even talked alone with a man. In the narrow confines of their home,
+either before or after marriage, their beauty was taken for granted and
+passed uncommented. For the Cuban women were always unusually handsome,
+having the same regular features and rich coloring as the Spanish, the
+same large black eyes and bluish black hair, perhaps even accentuated by
+their placid immobility of expression. A strange type, bound to attract
+attention anywhere, they struck the strangers landing in this tropical
+city like rare exotic flowers, and they suddenly found themselves the
+objects of an admiration which manifested itself in ways that were new
+and irresistible. The Cuban husband was known not to be as loyal as his
+wife was expected to be; why should they not accept the homage offered
+them? To this host of admirers, ever changing, ever ready to shower them
+with favors, M. Masse, the keen psychologist, attributes the change in
+the attitude of the women and the gradual change in the tone of Cuban,
+especially Havanese, society. As more and more of these industrious
+foreigners, who might have been as good Spaniards as their own
+ancestors, settled on the island, the difference between them and the
+native Cubans manifested itself, not always to the latter's advantage.
+Women began to prefer them as husbands, and there was one more cause for
+antagonism between these scions of a common stock, whom different
+environment and conditions of existence had caused to drift apart, and
+become irreconcilably estranged.
+
+Of Havana that subtle student of life has this to say:
+
+"The need of forgetting the many privations of a prolonged sea voyage,
+with gold always in abundance for those who do not know how to manage
+their affairs and to whom each voyage seems a new adventure, the
+influence of a climate which makes for voluptuousness, all this combines
+to make Havana a new Cythera placed at the port of long journeys even as
+the ancient cradle of pleasure was at that end of the long voyage of
+that time."
+
+Thus Havana, like other capitals of the world, became gradually not only
+the cradle of Cuban culture, but also of that corruption of the simpler
+and purer instincts of human nature which seems to be inseparable from a
+certain degree of material comfort. The man of Havana had in centuries
+of repression and restriction lost the power of initiative; the end of
+the century which gave the colonists of North America their independence
+made them free to think and act, and work for themselves, and above
+everything else, to govern themselves, found him still under a rigorous
+paternal supervision by representatives of a king whom he perhaps never
+saw. Centuries of such guardianship had robbed him of all incentive and
+made him drift along the line of least resistance.
+
+Physically and morally a product of the country which was politically
+and economically a victim of that type of government, the Cuban of that
+period had no interests save the quest of comfort and such pleasurable
+excitement as certain entertainments offered. The women divided their
+attention between their church and their home, indulged in deadly
+idleness and senseless extravagance, dressed luxuriantly, but with bad
+taste, and sought distraction in gossip or gambling. The men, who had
+caught faint echoes of Voltaire and ideas of the Revolution and were
+estranged from the church, divided their interests between their
+business and their friends of both sexes, and also sought distraction in
+gambling. There was gambling in the home circle, in the houses of
+friends, in the clubs, even in the convents. It was estimated that ten
+thousand games of cards were annually imported into Havana.
+
+Of places of amusement there was no lack at that time. M. Villiet
+d'Arignon, who visited Havana fifty years before and was bored by the
+provincial monotony of Cuban life, could not have complained of lack of
+entertainment, had he seen Havana at the threshold of the nineteenth
+century, though his fastidious Gallic taste would perhaps not have been
+satisfied with the quality of the attractions the Cuban metropolis
+offered her guests. The native Cuban, and the Spaniard who had settled
+there, did not wish for anything more fascinating and more exciting
+than the national fiesta of the bull-fight, the corrida de toros. No
+true Cuban could resist the trumpet call summoning the population to
+that most sumptuous spectacle.
+
+"These costumes of the age of chivalry, those richly harnessed palfreys,
+those banderillos (small darts with a bandorol) or stilets trimmed with
+the colors, with which the neck of the poor beast is seen magnificently
+larded; this martial music, these cheers of the mousquetaires rendering
+homage unto the victors, this most eminent magistrate presiding at the
+feast, this vast arena, this wealth of beautiful women, who have the
+opportunity of hearing the most drastic, disgusting and obscene
+exclamations, into which the vulgarity of spectators and toreadors
+lapses in the heat of the combat. And yet I would not advise the Spanish
+government to attempt to abolish at least in Havana this sort of
+spectacle. A revolt might cause the authorities to repent of their
+temerity."
+
+Thus does the French author quoted before paint the picture of the
+greatest entertainment the Cuban of that time knew. But there were
+others, for instance the caroussel, the circus, the magicians, and there
+was always the cock-pit, offering almost as much excitement as the
+bull-ring. Here, too, the gambling craze of the people asserted itself.
+For not only the prosperous man about town spent his money in betting at
+the cock-fight, as he did at the bull-fight. Every little town had its
+cock-pit and every montero or guajiro sacrificed his wages to taste the
+excitement of that spectacle. Surely Cuba at that century's end had
+already learned what the hosts of strangers needed, when after a long
+and tedious voyage they landed on the island.
+
+One cannot help being reminded of the impressions M. Villiet d'Arignon
+carried with him from his visit to Cuba as recorded in Jean Baptiste
+Nougaret's "Voyages interessans," when after a month's sojourn he sailed
+for Vera Cruz on the same vessel that took D. Juan Guemez y Horcasitas
+from the governorship of Cuba to the vice-regency of Mexico. Then
+already was gambling the favorite, and, as the island lacked such places
+of amusement as were established later, probably the only pastime. The
+Frenchman noticed also the total absence of any interest in literature,
+art and music, and the impossibility of finding a circle of people where
+he could enjoy an animated conversation on subjects outside of the
+commonplace and of current local gossip, made him reflect rather
+unfavorably upon West Indian society of that time.
+
+Such reflections must, however, be accepted with some reservation. For
+if the West Indian and especially the Cuban of the eighteenth century
+lacked interest in those things that make for culture, it must be
+remembered that the country in which he was living was still young, and
+that the people's paramount interest had of necessity to be for the
+things material. There has perhaps never been a colony of settlers in a
+foreign and primitive land that has not been so thoroughly absorbed in
+the task of founding a home and making a living, that all other things,
+for the time being, did not seem to matter. All pioneer settlers are
+bound for at least one or two generations to be so engrossed in rude
+manual labor or in plans to establish a trade, that they lose touch with
+the current intellectual life of their mother country and fall behind.
+When those most urgent duties are performed and allow them brief spells
+of leisure, in which they look about and try to pick up the threads they
+had dropped, they find that the mother country has in the meantime
+advanced so far beyond them that they are unable to catch up with it.
+
+Spanish America was no exception to this rule. While the sons of Spain
+that had settled in the New World were engaged in cultivating the soil,
+making roads in the rough country and laying the foundations of commerce
+and trade in the cities founded by their fathers or grandfathers, Spain
+had entered upon the heritage of many centuries of European culture,
+which on her soil had a rich admixture of Arabian elements. The
+literature of Spain had given to the world an immortal epic, the story
+of Cervantes, "Don Quixote," the deep significance of which was not
+perhaps grasped at that time, but the human essence and the humor of
+which were not lost upon his generation. It had given to the world a
+drama, which was far in advance of anything the continent had so far
+produced, and was comparable only to the works of that unparalleled
+British genius, Shakespeare. The plays of Lope de Vega were performed
+all over Europe and found their way even into the seraglio of
+Constantinople; and those of Calderon de la Barca have survived the
+changes of time and taste and are even today occasionally performed.
+
+Of all this the Spaniard of Cuba was hardly aware. Even if he had not
+been so engrossed in his rude task, he could barely have known anything
+about it, because the limited communication with the mother country and
+the restrictions upon travel kept Spanish America in a state of
+isolation, that made for stagnation rather than progress. When the
+period of material prosperity came to Cuba with the relaxation of
+Spain's commercial restrictions, the Cuban awoke to the realization that
+he had lost contact with Spain's intellectual life, and had been left at
+least two centuries behind. Out of this knowledge, depressing and
+discouraging as it must have been, grew the attempt to centralize and
+organize a gradual revival of literary and scientific activity on the
+island.
+
+Whether the Sociedad Economica Patriotica which was later called Junta
+di Fomento is identical with the Sociedad de Amigos del Real Pais, is
+not made clear by the historians. The Spaniards' fondness for long and
+sonorous names and titles may have added the second name. However, both
+this organization and a society founded about the same time in Santiago
+for the purpose of organizing the literary activities of that place, and
+similar societies in Sancti Spiritus and Puerto Principe were an
+expression of the earnest desire of at least a part of the people to
+turn their attention towards other things than those material. To
+Governor La Torre, Havana owed the foundation of its first theatre. That
+this establishment was encouraged and effectively patronized by Governor
+Las Casas and other men closely identified with the cultural work of the
+Sociedad, goes without saying.
+
+But it is perfectly natural in view of the long period of indifference
+towards anything like the drama that the classical Spanish dramas, the
+masterpieces of Lope de Vega and of the inimitable Calderon, did not
+immediately find their way upon the stage of Havana. The audiences had
+gradually to grow up to their standard and the directors of the
+enterprise wisely refrained from forcing them upon a people that had so
+long been ignorant of the strides Spain had made in the interval since
+their ancestors settled in the New World. Hence the repertoire of the
+theatre of Havana towards the end of the century catered to the
+Spaniard's love of music and favored the best comic operas then produced
+in the theatres of Europe. The ballet was very popular, as it was
+everywhere at that period. But that subtle observer, M. Masse, was not
+favorably impressed with it.
+
+"The ballet is of that kind which carries far the art of varying the
+most voluptuous attitudes and the expression of the least equivocal
+sentiment."
+
+He suspected the fandango, supposed to be typically Havanese, of being
+originally a negro dance, saying "The difference is in the embroidery,
+which civilization, or if one wishes, corruption, has introduced."
+
+Very popular were at the time little comedies of domestic life, called
+Saynetes, and offering pretty truthful pictures of social customs and
+habits on the island, and especially glimpses of the society of Havana.
+A Cuban writer of the period, D. Jose Rodriguez, is credited with the
+authorship of a comedy, "El Principe Jardinero," The Prince Gardener,
+which by its complicated plot held the attention of the audience and was
+performed with great success in 1791. A comedian of considerable ability
+and fame, then very popular with the Havanese, D. Francisco Covarrubas,
+was the author of farces, which were very warmly received and drew large
+audiences. The theatre of New Orleans, much older and better equipped
+than that of Havana, sometimes sent its company of actors for a short
+season of more serious drama. Among other plays which this company
+produced was the tragedy "Les Templiers." Although undoubtedly still in
+its beginnings, the theatre of Havana was upon the whole doing good
+work. Anglo-Americans who visited Havana about the century's end are
+said to have admitted that it was superior in building, stage setting,
+acting and music to the American theatres of that period.
+
+The regular company which played in Havana at the time of Governor Las
+Casas was under the direction of Sr. Luis Saez. The performances were
+given twice a week, on Sundays and Thursdays, and mostly offered a
+program in which drama and music alternated. If a play of several acts
+was given, these musical numbers came between the acts. The program
+would usually begin with a dramatic composition; in the first
+intermission a short play was acted, in the second a tonadilla (musical
+composition) was played or a few Seguidillas (merry Spanish song or
+dance tunes). At times the pieces between the acts were suppressed and
+the performance ended with a tonadilla or a farce. In the bill of
+January twenty-ninth, 1792, it is announced that "this performance will
+conclude with a new duly censored piece entitled 'Elijir con discrecion
+i amante privilegiado' (The privileged lover chosen with discretion), by
+an inhabitant of this city, D. Miguel Gonzales."
+
+[Illustration: A VOLANTE: AN OLD TIME PLEASURE CARRIAGE]
+
+They did not know then, in Havana, the lyric theatre, although the
+Havanese were fond of music and the members of Havana society in their
+gatherings usually provided some musical entertainment by having an
+instrumentalist perform on the piano, guitar or harp. However, there
+seems to have existed an Academy of Music, where concerts were given.
+There is an article in an issue of the Havana paper of that time, the
+_Papel Periodico_, which refers to a concert given by Senora Maria
+Josefa Castellanos, whose performance on the harpsichord called forth
+not only a tribute in verse, but a glowing description of her "rare
+skill and mastery of which she has given proof in the Academy, with the
+sweetest harmonies of the best composers." This eulogy is contained in
+the Sunday issue of January twenty-second, 1792. Besides Senora
+Castellanos and other skilled amateurs, there was a Senora Dona Maria
+O'Farrell, who distinguished herself by her musical accomplishments, for
+another issue of the _Papel Periodico_ contains a sapphic ode dedicated
+to her by an admirer, who signed the pseudonym Filesimolpos.
+
+It appears that balls as an amusement were not approved of, which seems
+a contradiction in a society which was by no means puritanical. Although
+social evenings in private houses frequently ended in a dance, there
+were few indications that large affairs consisting mainly of dancing
+took place in the public assembly halls. The _Papel Periodico_ of
+December sixteenth, 1792, contains an announcement which for its brevity
+gives room to manifold interpretation. "The gentlemen are informed that
+there will be a dance today" is so laconic, that one is almost induced
+to believe that these dances were given at places known only to the
+initiated. In this particular instance it was subsequently learned that
+this dance of the sixteenth of December, 1792, took place at the house
+of a man who was considered "a dangerous reformer of the customs of
+Havana." Did this dangerous reformer perhaps admit to his dance the
+ravishingly beautiful and cultured women that had come from Santo
+Domingo, where they freely moved in society, but were barred in Havana,
+because they had a white father or grandfather and a colored mother or
+grandmother? Foreign visitors to Havana at that period were so warm in
+their praise of these refined unfortunate victims of miscegenation, that
+they may have converted some of the gilded youth of the smart set or the
+Bohemia of Havana to their point of view.
+
+The fine arts were not at first considered in the planning and building
+of the city of Havana. Though much money was spent upon public
+buildings, no artistic effect whatever was aimed at and the impression
+of a crude utilitarianism prevailed. The churches, too, did not possess
+the noble dignity of the great cathedrals of France, Italy and Spain.
+The most ambitious ecclesiastical edifice in Havana, the church of San
+Francisco, was architecturally mediocre in style and barbarously
+overornamented.
+
+In all the churches the sculpture and the wood-carving on the altars
+were over-elaborate and bewildered by their decorative details. Besides
+all these buildings were too low and narrow, and by their endless
+decoration diminished the sense of space and produced one of oppression.
+On special saints' days the decorations were pathetically crude and
+primitive. Angels of paper tissue, artificial flowers, birds, lambs,
+etc., were displayed with a profusion which was distracting, instead of
+adding to the fervor of religious sentiment.
+
+[Illustration: MONTSERRAT GATE IN CITY WALL OF HAVANA, BUILT 1780]
+
+The Church de la Concepcion, built about 1795, was the only church
+edifice which by a certain classic simplicity approached the solemn
+beauty of a Greek temple. The Carmelite Church was interesting for the
+tomb of Bishop Compostele with the epitaph, which expressed his wish to
+be laid to rest "between the lilies of Carmel and the choirs of the
+virgins." None of these churches had pews or chairs, the seating
+capacity being limited to two rows of stalls or benches along the nave.
+This made for an admirable democracy in a society which otherwise
+rigorously segregated the castes for it happened not infrequently that
+men of rank and ladies of position found themselves beside a poor negro.
+Occasionally, however, one could see a lady going to mass with her
+family of children, accompanied by a negro, carrying a rug and a small
+chair; and when such a handsome senora seated herself in the center of
+the rug with her offspring grouped about her, the effect was so
+picturesque as to call for the brush of a Velasquez. But this privilege
+was limited to white ladies of rank only. The music in the churches, on
+the other hand, was exclusively furnished by the musically gifted
+negroes. Though it sometimes occurred in Cuba, as in other colonies of
+America, that owing to the lack of printed church music sacred words
+were adopted to secular tunes, and frequently to those of popular comic
+opera, the master works of the old church composers were sometimes heard
+at special occasions.
+
+Among the streets of Havana the most metropolitan was the Calle de la
+Muralla, so called from the muralla or rampart built by Governor Ricla.
+This was the Rue de la Paix for the women of Havana. It was lined with
+"tiendas de ropas," shops displaying all the latest importations of
+dress goods and wearing apparel. At that time, as at the present, the
+fashionable ladies of the Cuban capital insisted upon keeping pace with
+the styles of dress and adornment which prevailed in the great cities of
+Europe, as their pecuniary means, their taste and their natural gifts
+abundantly enabled them to do. Every morning the street was crowded with
+the carriages of ladies engaged in shopping. For no white woman, unless
+she belonged to what in the southern states of North America would have
+been called "poor white trash" was allowed to go on foot during the day,
+unless she was going to mass. Up to the twenties of the new century and
+beyond, this convention was rigidly observed. Those who had to go on
+foot were not seen on the Calle de la Muralla until the evening hours.
+Then it was crowded with as gay and handsome a multitude of women,
+white, black and of all the intervening shades, as ever trod the
+pavement of a southern capital.
+
+At such times the relation between the white and the colored women of
+the city could be observed in little incidents that were an unending
+source of amusement to the student of life. The lithe and willowy form
+of the young girl of Spain, which Montaigne has called "un corps bien
+espagnole," was frequently to be found among the Cuban women. The almost
+regal dignity and grace of carriage, for which the Spanish women were
+noted, had also been transmitted to their descendants in the colonies.
+Now it was nothing unusual for any one to follow with his eyes the
+perfect form and the graceful movements of some woman in the crowd of
+such nights, and on coming up and catching a glimpse of the face to find
+a negress. For the imitative faculty of the colored race is
+extraordinary, and the negro maids of the white ladies of Havana copied
+faithfully every detail of the gait and gestures of their mistresses.
+The dress worn by the Havanese on the streets was the national basquina,
+a black skirt, with a waist according to the prevailing fashion, and
+under that basquina was often worn a white petticoat trimmed with lace,
+which most unconcernedly was being dragged through the dust. But the
+most important article of a Cuban woman's dress was the mantilla, also
+often trimmed with the rarest lace, that indispensable covering for head
+and shoulders, which made an effective frame for a face in which shone a
+pair of luminous black eyes. That mantilla, like the fan, was a medium
+of expression and spoke an eloquent language to those that understood.
+
+The cafes, which were sadly missed by M. Villiet d'Arignon in the middle
+of the century, had begun to appear in the streets of Havana, but never
+became as popular as in European capitals. The Cuban did not
+particularly care for coffee as a beverage; he preferred chocolate,
+which he took at home. He did not care to go out, unless it was for a
+game of cards, a feria di gallo, or cock-fight, or the bull-ring. He was
+essentially a domestic creature, though Havana had a smart set the
+masculine members of which furnished ample material for gossip of a
+more or less scandalous nature. He spent his time at home smoking; in
+fact, everybody in Cuba smoked, men, women, children, priests, masters
+and slaves. It was not an infrequent sight to see a negro maid about her
+work with a cigar in her mouth or behind her ear. Small favors and
+services were paid in cigars.
+
+Outside of the cultural endeavors of the Sociedad little was done in
+Cuba for the cause of education. As the Countess de Merlin reported in
+her book on Havana, there was only one school in that city in the year
+1791, that taught grammar and orthography, the instructor being the
+mulatto Melendez. The children of the monteros and guajiros in the
+country grew up in almost complete illiteracy. As was mentioned in a
+previous chapter Governor Las Casas devoted from eleven to twelve
+thousand pesos of his private fortune for primary instruction, but it is
+not clear whether this was to be extended throughout the island or
+limited to Havana. At any rate there were at the beginning of his
+administration thirty-nine schools in the city, seven of which were for
+males only, the others for children of both sexes. In many of these
+schools, which were in charge of mulattos or free negroes, only reading
+was taught; in the better schools arithmetic as far as fractions; thus
+prepared young men were expected to enter upon a university course. The
+smallest fee for primary instruction was four reales a month; for higher
+instruction two pesos. To two hundred white and colored children the P.
+P. de Belen (Fathers of Bethlehem) gave lessons free of cost; it is
+reported that their class surpassed in writing. Towards the end of the
+administration of Las Casas there were seventy schools, with about two
+thousand pupils. But they seemed to have a hard fight for their
+existence and the number is reported to have been later reduced to
+seven hundred and thirty-one pupils.
+
+The low intellectual standard of the average Havanese woman of that
+period is easily understood by a glance at these data. The education of
+girls even in the cities was considered of such minor importance, that
+as late as 1793 it was not deemed necessary for them to learn to read.
+The daughters of the Havanese patricians were taught accomplishments
+regarded as inseparable from an ideal of refined womanhood, such as
+embroidery and a little music. But as work of any kind was not on the
+program of their lives, serious occupation, even with household duties,
+was unheard of. The matronly senoras, who were frequently held up as
+models of womanhood and especially of motherhood, were woefully ignorant
+of the simplest cooking and other branches of what is today called home
+economics. The orphans and poor children admitted to the Casa de
+Beneficiencia were better prepared for life. They were all taught the
+alphabet, the girls sewing, embroidery and the making of artificial
+flowers, and the boys learned the cigar-makers' trade.
+
+From these premises it can be easily inferred that the standard of
+literary activity in Cuba could not have been very high. That great
+democratic medium for the diffusion of information, the printing press,
+was an institution which in Cuba was also limited by royal decrees.
+According to Sr. La Torre the first printing press was established in
+Havana in 1747; there were printed the decrees and reports and other
+official documents of the government, and sometimes matters of general
+interest were published on loose sheets. Some authorities claim for
+Santiago de Cuba the honor of priority, stating that it had a printing
+press before the year 1700. But Sr. Hernandez in his Ensayos literarios
+declares that he could find no foundation for this statement. Nor do
+Valdes, Arrate or Pezuela contain any definite data on that subject.
+
+It is safe to presume that the work of the press established in 1747
+produced some good results in spreading information otherwise withheld
+from the public; for in the year 1776 a royal decree forbade the
+establishment of any other printing press besides that devoted to
+governmental work. It is possible, too, that some speculator had
+attempted to found another printing establishment. For Sr. Saco tells us
+that in the year 1766 there was in Havana a printing concern under the
+name of Computo Ecclesiastico and in 1773 another under the direction of
+D. Blas de los Olivos. But there are no data to show that these concerns
+existed at the time of the royal decree of 1776.
+
+The establishment of a periodical has usually been deferred to the
+administration of Governor Las Casas. But there is reason to believe
+that the note contained in the fourth book of the history of Cuba by
+Valles rests upon fact; it speaks of a "Gaceta de la Habana" as being in
+existence in the year 1782. An issue of that _Gaceta_, dated May 16,
+1783, was said to contain a report of the festivals with which the Duke
+of Lancaster was honored in Havana. In that issue the publisher said:
+
+"Since in the preceding _Gaceta_ the arrival in this town of the Infante
+William Duke of Lancaster, third son of King George of England, could
+hardly be indicated, we suppressed for one week the circulation of other
+news, in order to offer to our readers the details of his entry into
+Havana."
+
+Besides those printing concerns no other is known to have existed in
+Havana until the opening of that of Bolona, in the year 1792, which is
+referred to in an advertisement in the _Papel Periodico_ of Sunday,
+August 26th of that year. This advertisement read:
+
+"Another negress about 20 or 21 years old, good cook and laundress,
+healthy and without defects, for three hundred pesos. He who wants her
+will apply to the printing office of D. Estaven Joseph Bolona, where her
+master will be found."
+
+That this press was not identical with the government printing
+establishment is inferred from the fact that in this number of the
+_Papel Periodico_ as well as other issues are contained many
+advertisements referring to the printing office, where information will
+be given.
+
+The _Gaceta de la Habana_ was a weekly, which probably contained the
+government announcements and news of the most important events of the
+time. The space of the _Gaceta_ was too limited to admit of the
+publication of communications from readers on matters concerning the
+community, hence such effusions, as also the lyrics coming from the pens
+of poetically inclined dilettanti, were published on separate sheets to
+be circulated among their admiring friends. But at the time of Governor
+Las Casas the desire of improving this publication of the government
+made itself felt; the space was enlarged and the old time _Gaceta_ seems
+to have been merged in the _Papel Periodico_, which began to circulate
+from the twenty-fourth of October, 1790. It appeared once a week and was
+edited by D. Diego de la Barrera.
+
+This publication was the only medium through which those desirous of
+knowing something of the current life of the island at the end of the
+eighteenth and the beginning of the twentieth century could obtain a
+fair picture of the customs and occupations of that time, described by
+the individual contributors with the warmth and the florid exuberance
+then in style and occasionally, when coming from a more critical mind,
+with a touch of satire. The following extract from the periodical will
+give an idea of its contents and character. In an issue of the year
+1792, the writer speaks of the lamentable ignorance reigning in the
+country districts of Cuba and hampering the development of agriculture.
+He attacks the current opinion that the climate is the source of the
+Cuban's indifference and indolence, saying that this assumption would
+give ground to deny even the possibility of progress. He says:
+
+"Many opine that the laziness of the inhabitants of this country is the
+effect of the climate. They take it for granted that the lassitude of
+the muscles and tendons is due to the heat and makes the bodies lose
+their tenseness and hence their capacity for exertion. They also give as
+cause the excessive evaporation of elements needed for the growth and
+the strength of the organism, asserting that this loss owing to weak
+constitution of the stomach cannot be repaired by fatty and abundant
+food.
+
+"These reasons founded upon the organic mechanism of our bodies seem
+quite conclusive. There is no doubt that the intense heat which we
+suffer during the greatest part of the year in the countries near the
+equator promotes evaporation too much. But I dare to assert that the
+excess is being insensibly recovered by the bodies through the particles
+produced by perspiration. This does not seem chimerical, when we reflect
+that by our constant respiration the air in which we are living enters
+and is being constantly renewed in our liquids, and that this air is
+impregnated with innumerable corpuscles extracted from the solids. The
+same is true of a fountain, the surplus flows off to fertilize the near
+forest, while at the same time is restored to its bosom through
+different means an equal quantity, which incessant infiltration also
+supplies from other water sources."
+
+After comparing the physical and intellectual aptitude of the children
+of the tropics with those of Greenland and the progress made by the
+French of Hayti in science, agriculture and art, which is in diametrical
+contrast to that of the Spanish West Indians, he continues:
+
+"Therefore, as indolence or laziness do not proceed from external
+causes, we must admit that they proceed from ourselves. I find no other
+source. It is a voluntary habit, or speaking more plainly, a vice
+propagated like the pestilence and causing incalculable harm to the
+social structure. But as I propose to combat this enemy, I shall show
+the most visible injuries it produces in those who yield to its
+insidious charm.
+
+"Every living body without movement goes into corruption. This is a well
+established principle and in the hot countries which are usually humid,
+the effect is quickly seen. We have a sad experience in this city, where
+the inhabitants are frequently afflicted with dropsy, internal and
+external tumors, hypochondria, nervous diseases and many other ailments,
+the origin of which is inaction or want of movement and circulation.
+While in this respect indolence conspires against our very existence,
+the injury is no less when it manifests itself in the vices to which
+professional idlers are subject. Incessant gambling, excessive
+sensuality, late hours, unreasonable food and drink and other
+correlative features are the means by which health is ruined, life is
+shortened; and he who succeeds in prolonging it, does so at the cost of
+a variety of aches and pains.
+
+"Prisons and other dismal places are the final abode of idleness. Those
+liable to get there for theft, debt and other offences curse their
+unhappy lot; but they will not admit that their laziness is the chief
+source of their misfortunes. Celibacy, depopulation, the languishing of
+commerce, the backwardness of science, art, agriculture, etc., are all
+the results of idleness.
+
+"When I see on this island a city of so large a population, the greater
+part of which is living in ill-concealed poverty, while her fertile and
+beautiful fields around are uncultivated and deserted, painful
+reflections suggest themselves to me. If this oldest and most wholesome
+occupation, agriculture, is an inexhaustible source of wealth even in
+countries less favored for it, how much wealth might not be produced in
+this country. It is evident that the difference in its favor would be as
+great as the superiority of our fields which in fertility are unrivalled
+by those of any other country.
+
+"I therefore conclude by saying that even those living in opulence have
+no excuse for giving themselves up to shameful inaction. When their
+riches exempt them from ordinary occupations, they should devote
+themselves to the cultivation of the mind."
+
+This somewhat predicatory article, published in Nos. 11, 13 and 14 of
+the _Papel Periodico_, proves how seriously the men at the head of the
+great intellectual revival of the century's end took their task of
+rousing the people from their torpor. Nevertheless there is little
+documentary proof that much was produced by the pens of that generation.
+
+The question of promoting agriculture seems to have preoccupied the
+minds of the readers at that time. In another article the author says:
+
+"I must state that no country can progress unless it produces in
+abundance fruits for exportation; if it confines itself to the amount
+used for home consumption, it will never come out of her poverty. The
+beautiful climate, the fertile soil, and the location of our island
+offer much richer resources than any other country; but unfortunately we
+are hampered by various conditions, mainly in the attitude of the people
+themselves. There are those whose notions do not permit them to take a
+great part in the community of laborers; these, again, living in
+poverty, are afraid to change their work, thinking that what they are
+doing is the best for them. What is needed is to remove some of the
+prejudices that prevent people from seeing the advantages that would
+result from their devoting themselves to the cultivation of fruits for
+exportation.
+
+"There is no doubt that there are in this island physical and moral
+causes that hamper the progress of agriculture. The physical are: the
+distribution of the grounds in large portions to individual owners, the
+condition of the roads, almost impassable during the rainy season; the
+lack of bridges, the lack of labor, and lastly the lack of concerted
+action among the inhabitants. The moral reasons are: insufficient
+instruction and education of the laboring people, the contempt for
+farming peculiar to the young, and especially the unmarried landholder;
+the great number of idlers and the small population."
+
+The measures adopted by the supreme government in 1784 had checked the
+progress of Cuba and even diminished the population. In that epoch the
+allowances from Mexico decreased and the authorities of the island found
+themselves without means to perform the every day business of the
+island. The evils produced by these new decrees were set forth in a
+petition to the king and were amply discussed in the paper.
+
+The excitement of the authorities and the population is reflected in
+various articles of the _Papel Periodico_ which have not only the merit
+of showing the state of the public mind, but also of proving that the
+authorities in Cuba itself favored reforms. They certainly would not
+have been published had they not been approved of by Governor Las Casas.
+There are interesting communications in the paper from foreigners then
+visiting in Havana. One of them signing himself "El Europeo imparcial"
+gives a very appreciative account of the character and customs of the
+Havanese. He praises their religion, their piety, their zeal for divine
+worship and devotion to the saints; their courteous and affable conduct,
+the refinement of their leaders, the magnificence of their festivities
+and assemblies, both sacred and secular, their streets and promenades,
+where multitudes of brilliant carriages are to be seen, and other
+features of public life which in all countries are the first to strike
+the foreign visitor.
+
+A most ambitious and for the time extraordinary work appeared in the
+year 1787. It was a book by D. Antonio Parra on the fish and crustacea
+of the island, illustrated by the Cuban Baez. It was the first
+scientific work written and published in Cuba, and seems for some time
+to have remained the only one. For until the end of the century the
+literature produced had a distinctly dilettante character. The fable,
+epigram and satire occasionally relieved the flood of lyric verse. Most
+of this appeared anonymously; or the writers used pseudonyms or signed
+their names in anagrams. P. Jose Rodriguez, the author of "The Prince
+Gardener," the comedy popular in Havana at that time, wrote under the
+pen-name "Capucho" a number of gay decimas, poems in the Spanish form of
+ten lines of eight syllables each. But none of these works were of a
+quality to call for serious criticism and had no merits that insured
+for them a permanent place in what was ultimately to be known as Cuban
+literature; for this literature dates only from the nineteenth century.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XV
+
+
+"Cuba; America: America; Cuba. The two names are inseparable." So we
+said at the beginning of our history of the "Pearl of the Antilles." So
+we must say at the beginning of a new era, the third, in these annals.
+At the beginning the connection was between Cuba and America as a
+whole--the continents of the western hemisphere. In this second case it
+is between Cuba and America in the more restricted meaning of the United
+States. There was a significant and to some degree influential forecast
+of this relationship in the preceding era, in which Cuba was in contact
+with England and with the rising British power in the New World. For
+what was afterward to become the United States was then a group of
+British colonies, and it was inevitable that relations begun in Colonial
+times should be inherited by the independent nation which succeeded.
+Moreover, Cuba was in those days brought to the attention of the future
+United States in a peculiarly forcible manner by the very important
+participation of Colonial troops, particularly from Connecticut and New
+Jersey, in that British conquest of Havana which we have recorded in
+preceding chapters.
+
+It was nearly half a century, however, after the establishment of
+American independence that any practical interest began to be taken in
+Cuba by the great continental republic at the north. The purchase of the
+Louisiana territory and the opening to unrestrained American commerce of
+that Mississippi River which a former Governor of Cuba had discovered
+and partially explored, had greatly increased American interest in the
+Gulf of Mexico and had created some commercial interest in the great
+Island which forms its southern boundary. Later the acquisition of
+Florida called attention acutely to the passing away of Spain's American
+Empire and to the concern which the United States might well feel in the
+disposition of its remaining fragments. Already, in the case of Florida
+in 1811 the United States Government had enunciated the principle that
+it could not permit the transfer of an adjacent colony from one European
+power to another. It will be pertinent to this narrative to recall that
+action in fuller detail. The time was in the later Napoleonic wars, when
+Spain was almost at the mercy of any despoiler. There was imminent
+danger that Spain would transfer Florida to some other power, as she had
+done a few years before with the Louisiana territory, or that it would
+be taken from her. In these circumstances the Congress of the United
+States on January 15, 1811, adopted a joint resolution in these terms:
+
+"Taking into view the peculiar situation of Spain, and of her American
+provinces; and considering the influence which the destiny of the
+territory adjoining the southern border of the United States may have
+upon their security, tranquility and commerce,
+
+"Be it Resolved: That the United States, under the peculiar
+circumstances of the existing crisis, cannot without serious inquietude
+see any part of the said territory pass into the hands of any foreign
+power; and that a due regard for their own safety compels them to
+provide under certain contingencies for the temporary occupation of the
+said territory; they at the same time declaring that the said territory
+shall, in their hands, remain subject to future negotiations."
+
+Then the same Congress enacted a law authorizing the President to take
+possession of Florida or of any part of it, in case of any attempt of a
+European power other than Spain herself to occupy it, and to use to that
+end the Army and Navy of the United States. Nothing of the sort needed
+to be done at that time, though a little later, during the War of 1812,
+Florida was invaded by a British force and immediately thereafter was
+occupied by an American army.
+
+The enunciation of this principle by Congress marked an epoch in
+American foreign policy, leading directly to the Monroe Doctrine a dozen
+years later. It also marked an epoch in the history of Cuba, especially
+so far as the relations of the Island with the United States were
+concerned. For while this declaration by Congress applied only to
+Florida, because Florida abutted directly upon the United States, the
+logic of events presently compelled it to be extended to Cuba. This was
+done a little more than a dozen years after the declaration concerning
+Florida. By this time Florida had been annexed to the United States and
+Mexico, Central America and South America had revolted against Spain and
+declared their independence. Only the "Ever Faithful Isle," as Cuba then
+began to be called, and Porto Rico remained to Spain of an empire which
+once nominally comprised the entire western hemisphere. Cuba was not
+like Florida geographically, abutting upon the United States. But it lay
+almost within sight from the coast of Florida and commanded the southern
+side of the Florida channel through which all American commerce from the
+Mississippi River and the Gulf of Mexico to the Atlantic Ocean must
+pass, and thus it was invested with peculiar importance to the United
+States. Nor was it lacking in importance to Great Britain and France.
+Those powers possessed extensive and valuable holdings in the West
+Indies and they were rivals for the reversionary title to these
+remaining Spanish Islands, Cuba and Porto Rico. Each of them realized
+that whichever of them should secure those two great Islands would, by
+virtue of that circumstance, become the dominant power in the West
+Indies. Moreover they both felt sure that Spain would soon have to
+relinquish her hold upon them. This latter belief prevailed widely also
+in the United States, and was by no means absent from Cuba itself.
+Indeed a party was organized in Cuba in the spring of 1822, for the
+express purpose of seeking annexation to the United States, and in
+September of that year did make direct overtures to that end to the
+American Government. The President of the United States, James Monroe,
+received these overtures in a cautious and non-committal manner. He sent
+a confidential agent to Cuba to examine into conditions there and to
+report upon them, but gave no direct encouragement to the annexation
+movement.
+
+At about this time the direction of the foreign affairs of Great Britain
+came into the hands of George Canning, a statesman of exceptional vision
+and aggressive patriotism, and one specially concerned with the welfare
+of British interests in the New World. He was well aware of the
+condition and trend of affairs in Cuba, and felt that the transfer of
+that Island from Spain to any other power would be unfortunate for
+British interests in the West Indies. When he learned of the Cuban
+overtures for annexation to the United States, therefore, in December,
+1822, he brought the matter to the careful consideration of the British
+Cabinet and suggested to his colleagues that such annexation of Cuba by
+the United States would be a very serious detriment to the British
+Empire in the western hemisphere. He made no diplomatic representation
+upon the subject either to Spain or to the United States, but he did
+send a considerable naval force to the coastal waters of Cuba and Porto
+Rico, apparently with the purpose of preventing, if necessary, any such
+change in the sovereignty and occupancy of those Islands.
+
+[Illustration: GEORGE CANNING]
+
+In this Canning was probably over-anxious, since there is no indication
+whatever that the American Government contemplated any such step or that
+it would have attempted to take possession of Cuba if the Island had
+been left unguarded. On the other hand, this action of Canning's very
+naturally aroused American concern and provoked the suspicion that
+England was planning the seizure or purchase of the Island. The result
+was the formal application to Cuba of the principle which had already
+been enunciated by Congress in respect to Florida. It was the
+legislative branch of the United States Government that took that action
+toward Florida. It was the executive and diplomatic branch which took
+the action toward Cuba. This was done in a memorable state document
+which formed a land-mark in the history of American foreign policy.
+
+The American Secretary of State, John Quincy Adams, on April 28, 1823,
+wrote an official letter to Hugh Nelson, who at the beginning of that
+year had become American minister to Spain. This letter contained
+official instructions to Nelson concerning his conduct in the war which
+was impending between Spain and France, because of the latter power's
+intervention in Spanish affairs in behalf of King Ferdinand VII. It then
+turned to the subject of Cuba and continued as follows:
+
+[Illustration: JOHN QUINCY ADAMS]
+
+"Whatever may be the issue of this war, it may be taken for granted that
+the dominion of Spain upon the American continents, north and south, is
+irrevocably gone. But the islands of Cuba and Porto Rico still remain
+nominally, and so far really, dependent upon her, that she yet possesses
+the power of transferring her own dominion over them, together with the
+possession of them, to others. These islands are natural appendages to
+the North American continent, and one of them almost in sight of our
+shores, from a multitude of considerations has become an object of
+transcendent importance to the commercial and political interests of our
+Union. Its commanding position with reference to the Gulf of Mexico and
+the West Indian seas, its situation midway between our southern coast
+and the island of San Domingo, its safe and capacious harbor of the
+Havana, fronting a long line of our shores destitute of the same
+advantages, the nature of its production and of its wants, furnishing
+the supplies and needing the returns of a commerce immensely profitable
+and mutually beneficial give it an importance in the sum of our national
+interests with which that of no other foreign territory can be compared,
+and little inferior to that which binds the different members of this
+Union together. Such indeed are, between the interests of that island
+and of this country, the geographical, commercial, moral and political
+relations formed by nature, gathering in the process of time, and even
+now verging to maturity, that in looking forward to the probable course
+of events for the short period of half a century, it is scarcely
+possible to resist the conviction that the annexation of Cuba to our
+Federal Republic will be indispensable to the continuance and integrity
+of the Union itself.... There are laws of political as well as of
+physical gravitation. And if an apple, severed by the tempest from its
+native tree, cannot choose but to fall to the ground, Cuba, forcibly
+disjoined from its own unnatural connection with Spain, and incapable of
+self-support, can gravitate only toward the North American Union, which,
+by the same law of nature cannot cast her off from her bosom. The
+transfer of Cuba to Great Britain would be an event unpropitious to the
+interests of this Union.... The question both of our right and of our
+power to prevent it, if necessary, by force, already obtrudes itself
+upon our councils, and the Administration is called upon, in the
+performance of its duties to the nation, at least, to use all the means
+within its competency to guard against and forefend it."
+
+That was the beginning of the policy of the United States toward Cuba.
+In making that declaration Adams had general support and little or no
+opposition. A few weeks afterward the ex-President, Thomas Jefferson,
+writing to Monroe, expressed in part the same view, though he coupled it
+with the suggestion of an alliance with Great Britain. He wrote:
+
+"Cuba alone seems at present to hold up a speck of war to us. Its
+possession by Great Britain would indeed be a great calamity to us.
+Could we induce her to join us in guaranteeing its independence against
+all the world, except Spain, it would be nearly as valuable as if it
+were our own. But should she take it, I would not immediately go to war
+for it; because the first war on other accounts will give it to us, or
+the island will give herself to us when able to do so."
+
+Two years later, in 1825, Henry Clay, then Secretary of State in the
+Cabinet of President John Quincy Adams, instructed the American
+ministers at the chief European capitals to make it known that the
+United States for itself desired no change in the political condition of
+Cuba; that it was satisfied to have it remain open to American commerce;
+but that it "could not with indifference see it passing from Spain to
+any other European power." A little later he added, referring to Cuba
+and Porto Rico, that "we could not consent to the occupation of those
+islands by any other European power than Spain, under any contingency
+whatever."
+
+This attitude of the American Government was sufficient to accomplish
+the purpose desired. Although the power of Spain continued to decline,
+no attempt was made by either France or England to acquire possession of
+Cuba by either conquest or purchase. But in August, 1825, the British
+Government laid before the American minister in London a proposal that
+the United States should unite with Great Britain and France in a
+tripartite agreement for the protection of Spain in her possession of
+Cuba to the effect that none of the three would take Cuba for itself or
+would acquiesce in the taking of it by either of the others. The
+American minister reported this to the President, who promptly and
+emphatically declined it. It was then that Henry Clay made the
+pronouncement already quoted, that the United States could not consent
+to the occupation of Cuba by any other European power than Spain, under
+any contingency whatever.
+
+A little later in the same year American interest in Cuba was again
+appealed to from another source. Several of the former Spanish colonies
+which had declared their independence, particularly Mexico and Colombia,
+expressed much dissatisfaction that Cuba and Porto Rico should remain in
+the possession of Spain. They desired to see the Spanish power entirely
+expelled from the western hemisphere. They therefore began intriguing
+for revolutions in those islands, and failing that prepared themselves
+to take forcible possession of them. These plans encountered the serious
+disapproval of the United States government, and on December 20, 1825,
+Henry Clay wrote to the representatives of the Mexican and Colombian
+governments urgently requesting them to refrain from sending the
+military expeditions to Cuba which were being prepared; a request with
+which they complied, Colombia readily but Mexico more reluctantly. Those
+two countries had been specially moved to their proposed action by the
+declaration of the famous Panama Congress, then in session, in favor of
+"the freeing of the islands of Porto Rico and Cuba from the Spanish
+yoke." It is interesting to recall, too, that in his instructions to the
+United States delegates to that Congress, who unfortunately did not
+arrive in time to participate in its deliberations, Clay declared that
+"even Spain has not such a deep interest in the future fate of Cuba as
+the United States."
+
+Justice requires us, unfortunately, in concluding our consideration of
+this early phase of Cuban-American relations, to confess that the
+motives of the United States were not at that time altogether of the
+highest character. To put it very plainly, there was much opposition to
+the extension of Mexican or Colombian influence to Cuba because that
+would have meant the abolition of human slavery in the island, and that
+would have been offensive to the slave states of the southern United
+States. Also some of the earliest movements in the United States toward
+the annexation of Cuba were inspired by the wish to maintain the
+institution of slavery in that island and to add it to the slave holding
+area of the United States. It was on such ground that Senator Hayne and
+others declared in the American Congress that the United States "would
+not permit Mexico or Colombia to take or to revolutionize Cuba." James
+Buchanan declared that under the control of one of those countries Cuba
+would become a dangerous explosive magazine for the southern slave
+States because Mexico and Colombia were free countries and "always
+conquered by proclaiming liberty to the slave."
+
+We have recalled these facts and circumstances in this place somewhat in
+advance of their strict chronological order, by way of introduction to
+the history of Cuba in the Nineteenth Century, because they really
+dominate in spirit the whole story. It will be necessary to recur to
+them again, briefly, in their proper place. But it is essential to bear
+them in mind from the beginning, even through this anticipatory review
+of them. Every page and line and letter of Cuban history in the
+Nineteenth Century is colored by the Declaration of Independence of
+1776, by the fact that the United States of America had arisen as the
+foremost power in the Western Hemisphere. Through the inspiration which
+it gave to the French Revolution, the United States was chiefly
+responsible, as an alien force, for the complete collapse of Spain as a
+great European power. Through its example and potential influence as a
+protector it was responsible for the revolt and independence of the
+Spanish colonies in Central and South America. Then through its
+assertion of special interests in Cuba, because of propinquity, and
+through the tangible influence of commercial and social intercourse,
+together with a constantly increasing and formidable, though generally
+concealed, political sway, it determined the future destinies of the
+Queen of the Antilles.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XVI
+
+
+We must consider, in order rightly to understand the situation of Cuba
+at the beginning of the nineteenth century, and the momentous train of
+incidents in her history which then began, the salient features of the
+history of Spain at that time. The reign of Charles III. had temporarily
+restored Spain to a place in the front rank of European powers, with
+particularly close relations, through the Bourbon crowns of the two
+countries, with France. But that rank was of brief duration. In 1788
+Charles IV. came to the throne, one of the weakest, most vacillating and
+most ignoble of princes, who was content to let his kingdom be governed
+for him by his wife's notorious lover. A few years later the Bourbon
+crown of France was sent to the guillotine, and then came the deluge, in
+which Spain was overwhelmed and entirely wrecked.
+
+The first Treaty of San Ildefonso in 1796 made Spain little better than
+the vassal of France in the latter's war against Great Britain. That was
+the work of Godoy, the "Prince of the Peace" and the paramour of the
+queen. Against him Spain revolted in 1798 and he was forced to retire
+from office, only to be restored to it by Napoleon Bonaparte in 1800.
+Then came the second secret and scandalous Treaty of San Ildefonso, in
+which Spain was the merest tool and dupe of France, or of Napoleon; and
+in 1803 there followed another international compact under which Spain
+agreed to pay France a considerable yearly subsidy. A few years later
+occurred the French invasion, the abdication of Charles IV., the
+accession, then merely nominal, of Ferdinand VII., the imposition of
+Joseph Bonaparte, and the Peninsular War.
+
+The effect of these events was two-fold, the two parts strongly
+contrasting. On the one hand, the Spanish national spirit was aroused as
+it had not been for many years. Napoleon's aggressions went too far. His
+ambition overleaped itself. In their resistance and resentment the
+Spanish people "found themselves" and rose to heights of patriotism
+which they had not scaled before. Concurrently they began the
+development of a liberal and progressive spirit of inestimable
+significance. They demanded a constitution and the abolition of old
+abuses which for generations had been stifling the life of the
+Peninsula.
+
+On the other hand, the prestige of Spain in her trans-Atlantic colonies
+was hopelessly impaired, and her physical power to maintain her
+authority in them was destroyed. With French and British armies making
+the Peninsula their fighting ground, Spain had no armies to spare for
+the suppression of Central and South American rebellions. Thus while
+there was an auspicious renascence of national vigor at home, there was
+an ominous decline of imperial authority abroad. The work of Miranda,
+San Martin and Bolivar was thus facilitated and assured of success.
+
+In domestic affairs, Spain showed some progress, even under her worst
+rulers. Godoy, vile as he was, abolished the savagery of bull-fighting
+and promoted the policing of cities and the paving and cleaning of
+streets, some advance was made in popular education, and the
+intellectual life of the nation began to emerge from the eclipse which
+it had been suffering. Possibly the most significant achievement of all
+was the development of an approximation to popular government, with an
+attempt to unify Spain and the colonies; which latter came too late. The
+Junta Central in January, 1809, declared that the American colonies were
+an integral part of the Spanish Kingdom, and were not mere appanages of
+the crown. This was revolutionary, but it was insisted upon by the
+Junta, and practical steps were taken to make the principle effective.
+The Junta was driven from Seville by Napoleon, whereupon it fled to
+Cadiz, and there, in superb defiance of the invader and oppressor,
+arranged for the assembling of a Cortes, or National Parliament, in
+which the colonies should be fully represented. This body, a single
+chamber, met in September, 1810, with elected representatives from the
+American colonies, including Cuba. Owing to the difficulty of getting
+deputies from America in time, however, men were selected in Spain to
+represent the colonies at the opening of the session.
+
+A tangled skein of history followed. The Cortes, though far from radical
+in tone, was progressive and was sincerely devoted to the principle of
+popular government, and it insisted upon the adoption of the
+Constitution of 1812, under which the people were made supreme, with the
+crown and the church in subordinate places. All Spaniards, in America as
+well as in Europe, were citizens of the kingdom, and were entitled to
+vote for members of the Cortes and were protected by a bill of rights.
+In many respects it was one of the most liberal and enlightened
+constitutions then existing in the world.
+
+The first act of the wretched Ferdinand VII., however, when Napoleon
+permitted him to return to Spain, was to decree the abrogation of this
+constitution and the establishment of a most repressive and reactionary
+regime which liberals were cruelly persecuted. The result of this was
+to promote the revolution which had already begun in America, and to
+provoke a revolution in the Peninsula itself; in the face of which
+latter Ferdinand pretended to yield and to consent to the summoning of
+another Cortes and the reestablishment of the Constitution of 1812.
+These things were effected in 1820. But the false and fickle Ferdinand
+made his appeal to the reactionary sovereigns of the Holy Alliance, with
+the result that in 1823 the French invaded Spain to suppress Liberalism,
+and those preparations were made for the resubjugation of Spain's
+American colonies which were frustrated by the promulgation of the
+Monroe Doctrine in the United States.
+
+Meantime all the Spanish colonies on the American continents had not
+only declared but had actually achieved their independence. There were
+left to Spain in all the Western Hemisphere, therefore, only the islands
+of Cuba and Porto Rico; and they remained intensely loyal. When the
+legitimate King of Spain was deposed in favor of Joseph Bonaparte, Cuba
+made it plain and emphatic that she would not recognize the French
+usurper, but would remain true to Ferdinand VII. Again, when the
+colonies of Central and South America seceded and declared their
+independence, Cuba remained loyal to the kingdom. It was because of
+these two acts that Cuba became known at the Spanish Court as "Our Ever
+Faithful Isle."
+
+For this contrast between Cuba and the rest of Spanish America there
+were three major reasons. One was, the insular position of Cuba, which
+separated her from the other Spanish provinces and their direct
+influence and cooperation, and which thus placed her at an enormous
+disadvantage for any revolutionary undertakings. The second was the
+character of the people. The Spanish settlers of Cuba had come chiefly
+from Andalusia and Estremadura, and were the very flower of the Iberian
+race, and from them had descended those who after three centuries were
+entitled to be regarded as the Cuban people. They retained unimpaired
+the finest qualities of the great race that in the sixteenth century had
+made Spain all but the mistress of the world, and they still cherished a
+chivalric loyalty to the spirit and the traditions of that wondrous age.
+In other colonies the settlement was more varied. Men had flocked in
+from Galicia and Catalonia, with a spirit radically different from that
+of Andalusians and Estremadurans. To this day the contrast between
+Cubans and the people of any other Latin-American state is obvious and
+unmistakable.
+
+The third reason was this, that in the years, perhaps a full generation,
+preceding the South and Central American revolt, Spain had manifested
+toward Cuba a disposition and actual practices well calculated to
+confirm that country in its loyalty and in its expectation of enjoying
+liberty and prosperity under the Spanish crown in an age of Spanish
+renascence. With the brief English occupation, indeed, the modern
+history of Cuba began in circumstances of the most auspicious character.
+The English opened Havana to the trade of the world and caused it to
+realize what its possibilities were of future expansion and greatness.
+Then the Spanish government, reestablished throughout the island, for a
+time showed Cuba marked favor. The old-time trade monopoly, which had
+been destroyed by the English, was abandoned in favor of a liberal and
+enlightened policy. Commerce, industry and agriculture were encouraged,
+even with bounties. Cuba was made to feel that there were very practical
+advantages in being a colony of Spain.
+
+Moreover, the island enjoyed a succession of capable and liberal
+governors, or captains-general; notably Luis de las Casas at the end of
+the eighteenth century, and the Marquis de Someruelos in the first dozen
+years of the nineteenth century. Under benevolent administrators and
+beneficent laws, and with Spain herself adopting the liberal
+constitution of 1812, Cuba had good cause to remain loyal to the Spanish
+connection.
+
+But these very same conditions and circumstances ultimately made Cuba
+supremely resolute in her efforts for independence. The men of
+Andalusian and Estremaduran ancestry had been loyal to Spain, but they
+were just as resolute in their loyalty to Cuba when they were once
+convinced that there must be a breach of relations. The same
+characteristics that made their ancestors the leaders of the Spanish
+race in adventure and in conquest made them now equally ready to be
+leaders in the great adventure of conquering the independence of Cuba
+from Spain. And if the liberal laws and policy of Spain, and the
+Constitution of 1812, had greatly commended Spanish government to them,
+the restored Spanish king's flat repudiation of all those things equally
+condemned that government.
+
+We must therefore reckon the rise of the spirit of Cuban independence
+from the date on which Ferdinand VII. repudiated the constitution which
+he had sworn to defend. From 1812 to 1820 that spirit passed through the
+period of gestation, and in the years following the latter date it was
+born and began to make its vitality manifest. The king's pretended
+repentance and readoption of the Constitution of 1812 in 1820 came too
+late, and when it was followed by several years of alternating weakness
+and violence, and by the French intervention in 1823, the Cuban
+resolution for independence was formed. To that resolution, once formed,
+Cuba clung with a persistence which for the third time entitled her to
+the name of "Ever Faithful Isle." But now it was to herself that she was
+faithful.
+
+[Illustration: JUAN JOSE DIAZ ESPADA
+
+Born at Arroyave, Spain, on April 20, 1756, and educated at Salamanca,
+Juan Jose Diaz Espada y Landa entered the priesthood of the Roman
+Catholic Church, and on January 1, 1800, was Bishop of Cuba. Much more
+than a mere churchman, he applied himself with singular ability and
+energy to the promotion of the mental and physical welfare of the people
+as well as to their religious culture. He strongly assisted Dr. Tomas
+Romay in introducing vaccination into the island and in the prosecution
+of other sanitary measures, and was one of the foremost patrons of
+education. He also gave much attention to the correction of abuses which
+had grown up in the ecclesiastical administration. He died on August 13,
+1832, leaving a record for good works second to that of no other
+ecclesiastic in the history of Cuba.]
+
+Seldom, indeed, has there been an era in the history of the world more
+strongly suited to cause the rise of a revolutionary spirit in such a
+people as the Cubans, than was the early part of the nineteenth century.
+We have already referred to the United States of America and its
+attitude toward Cuba and Cuban affairs. That country had achieved its
+independence in circumstances scarcely more favorable than would be
+those of a Cuban revolt; and it presently waged another war which made
+it formidable among the nations. On the other hand, all Europe was in
+war-ridden chaos, with the rights of peoples to self-determination made
+a sport of autocrats. There was nothing more evident than that
+republicanism was the policy of order, stability and progress. The
+United States had just forced Spain to sell Louisiana to France, and
+then had forced France to sell it to itself. That was an object lesson
+which was not lost upon thoughtful Cubans any more than upon the peoples
+of Central and South America. It demonstrated that the power of Spain
+was waning, and that the dominant power in the western world was that of
+Republicanism. And Cubans, as well as others, were not blind to the
+practical advantages of being on the winning side.
+
+Indeed, before that Cuba had had another great object lesson. At the
+middle of the eighteenth century the English had seized Havana. That in
+itself indicated clearly the decline of Spain and her inability to
+protect or even to hold her own colonies. But the English force which
+achieved that stroke was by no means purely English. It was largely
+composed of Americans, soldiers from the British Colonies in North
+America who were, of course, British subjects but who were more and more
+calling themselves Americans; and who in course of time altogether
+rejected British rule and established an independent republic. First,
+then, Spain was beaten by England; and next England was beaten by the
+United States. Obviously the latter was the power to whom to look for
+guidance and support.
+
+There were still other circumstances making toward the same end. We have
+remarked upon the puissant opulence of Spanish intellectuality in the
+first century of her possession of Cuba, and upon, also, the paucity of
+native Cuban achievements in letters. But in the seventeenth century a
+decline of Spanish letters and art began, with ominous progression,
+until at the end of the eighteenth century and the beginning of the
+nineteenth the very nadir of intellectual life had been reached. This
+was the more noteworthy and the more significant because of the contrast
+which the Peninsula thus presented to other lands. Elsewhere throughout
+Europe and in America that was an era of great and splendid intellectual
+activity. In almost every department of letters, science and art fine
+deeds, original and creative, were being done. The colossal military
+operations that convulsed the world from the beginning of the American
+Revolution to the fall of Napoleon sometimes blind our eyes and deaden
+our ears to what was then done in the higher walks of life; but the fact
+is that probably in no other equal space of time in the world's history
+was the mind of man more fecund, in both theory and practice.
+
+In science that era was adorned with the names of Priestly, Jenner,
+Herschel, Montgolfier, Fulton, Whitney, Volta, Pestalozzi, Piazzi, Davy,
+Cuvier, Oersted, Stevenson, Humboldt, Lavoisier, Buffon, Linnaeus. In
+music, Gluck, Haydn, Mozart, Beethoven. In literature the annals of
+those days read like a recapitulation of universal genius: Goethe, Kant,
+Herder, Lessing, Diderot, Voltaire, Rousseau, De Stael, Chateaubriand,
+Beranger, Lamartine, Burns, Scott, Goldsmith, Johnson, Adam Smith,
+Keats, Shelley, Byron, Colderidge, Lamb, Alfieri, Richter, Niebuhr,
+Derzhavin. The steamboat and the railroad came into existence. The
+Institute of France, the University of France, and the University of
+Berlin were founded. As on more than one other occasion political and
+military activity, in the direction of liberal revolution, stimulated
+intellectuality and made invention and letters vie with arms.
+
+Amid all this, Spain alone stood singular in her decline. Not one name
+of the first rank adorned her annals. In the two departments of letters
+which perhaps most of all reflect the national mind and spirit, lyrical
+poetry and the drama, she was almost entirely lacking. Most of such
+writers as she had seemed content to copy weakly French examples. And
+even when the Spanish people rose with splendid patriotic energy against
+the tyranny of Napoleon, fought their war of independence, and strove to
+establish their liberal Constitution of 1812 upon the wreck of broken
+Bourbonism, there was scarcely a glimmer of intellectual inspiration
+such as those deeds might have been expected to produce. It was reserved
+for later years, even for our own time, for Spanish letters to regain a
+place of mastery amid the foremost of the world.
+
+Meantime the intellectual life of Cuba was beginning to dawn. As early
+as 1790 a purely literary journal of fine rank, _El Papel Periodico_,
+was founded in Havana, and during many years contained contributions of
+sterling merit. As these were all unsigned, their authorship remains
+chiefly unknown. We know, however, that among them were two poets of
+real note, Manuel Justo de Rubalcava and Manuel de Zequiera y Arango.
+These were not, it is true, native Cubans. They were Spaniards from New
+Granada. But with many others from the South and Central American
+provinces they became fully identified with Cuban life and Cuban
+aspirations. In the third year of the nineteenth century, too, there was
+born of Spanish refugee parents from Santo Domingo, Cuba's greatest poet
+and indeed the greatest poet in Spanish literature in that century, Jose
+Maria Heredia. True, he called himself a Spaniard, in the spirit of the
+"Ever Faithful Isle," and referred to Spain as his "Alma Mater." He was
+in his youth a passionate partisan of the liberal movement in the
+Peninsula, especially of the revolution led by Riego, and his earliest
+poems were written in support of that ill-fated struggle and in scathing
+denunciation of the French oppressor of Spain and of those unworthy
+Spaniards who consented to the suppression in blood of the rising cause
+of liberty. A little later these very poems were equally applicable to
+the situation in Cuba, when the people of that island began to rise
+against their Spanish oppressors, and when a certain element among them
+consented to oppression. Thereafter his writings were largely the
+literary inspiration of Cuban patriotism; and he himself was doomed by
+Spain to perpetual banishment from the island of his birth.
+
+One other factor in the situation must be recalled. During the period
+which we are now considering Cuba was the asylum for a strangely mingled
+company of both loyalists and revolutionists; with the former probably
+predominating. When Spain lost Santo Domingo to France, many of the
+Spanish inhabitants of that island removed to Cuba; and when the island
+under Toussaint rose against Spain, there was a flight of both Spanish
+and French in the same direction. Also, when one after another of the
+Spanish provinces on the continent began to revolt, Cuba was sought as
+an asylum. Spanish loyalists came hither to escape the revolution which
+they did not approve; and it is quite possible that they were in
+sufficient numbers materially to affect the course and determination of
+the island, first in standing by Ferdinand against Napoleon and later in
+declining to join the revolutionists of the American continents. Yet not
+a few of these became in a short time imbued with Cuban patriotism and
+cast in their lot with the natives of the island.
+
+There were also many revolutionary refugees, who sought asylum in Cuba
+when their cause seemed not to be prospering in other lands. As we shall
+see, the first important Cuban revolutionist, Narciso Lopez, came from
+Venezuela; and there were others from that country, and from Guatemala
+and Mexico; sufficient to exert much influence in insular affairs.
+
+It was in these strangely diverse and complex circumstances that Cuba
+entered the third great era of her existence. She was still a Spanish
+colony, and she was still a potential pawn in the international games of
+diplomacy and war. But she had at last gravitated politically toward the
+American rather than the European system, and she had begun to develop a
+spirit of individual nationality which was destined after many years and
+many labors to assure her a place among the sovereign states of the
+Western Hemisphere.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XVII
+
+
+For a correct understanding of the internal dissensions and uprisings
+which played so large a part in the history of Cuba during the greater
+part of the nineteenth century, it is necessary to have clearly in mind
+an idea of the number, nature and distribution of her population during
+this period.
+
+The first record of anything like a satisfactory enumeration of the
+people of the island is that of the census of 1775. It was known as that
+of the Abbe Raynal, and was taken under the direction and by order of
+the Marquis de la Torre. It was so far from being accurate and complete
+that it can hardly be regarded as much more than a fair estimate.
+Indeed, most authorities are of the opinion that its figures are far
+below the actual facts. It showed a population of 170,370, for the
+entire island, with 75,604 of this number residing in the district of
+Havana.
+
+The population of Cuba at that time was made up almost entirely of two
+races, the whites and the blacks, the native Indians having long ago
+practically disappeared. The following table gives a brief resume of the
+result of the census of 1775:
+
+                           _Men_     _Women_
+    Whites                  54,555   40,864
+    Free colored            15,980   14,635
+    Slaves                  28,774   15,562
+                          --------  -------
+                            99,309   71,061
+        Total                                 170,370
+
+The spirit in which this census was taken was admirable. It sought not
+only to present statistics as to the age, race, sex and social condition
+of the population, but also, so far as possible, to indicate something
+of its distribution. It is not difficult to imagine, however, what a
+momentous undertaking such a work must have been with the meagre
+facilities then in the hands of the authorities, and it is not
+astonishing that the results left much to be desired. The failure was
+not one of intent but of the means by which the information might be
+acquired.
+
+In 1791 a second attempt to enumerate and classify the population of
+Cuba was made by order of Don Luis de las Casas. This showed a
+population of 272,141. This apparently great increase, however, is to be
+attributed to a more accurate compilation, rather than to any unusual
+immigration to Cuba during this period. Indeed careful statisticians,
+notably Baron Humboldt, have reached the conclusion that even these
+figures fell far below the truth, and that in reality the population of
+the island at this period numbered at least 362,700 adult persons.
+Humboldt's conclusions merit quotation. He says:
+
+"In 1804 I discussed the census of Don Luis de las Casas with persons
+who possessed great knowledge of the locality. Examining the proportions
+of the numbers omitted in the partial comparisons, it seemed to us that
+the population of the island, in 1791, could not have been less than
+362,700 souls. This has been augmented, during the years between 1791
+and 1804, by the number of African negroes imported, which, according to
+the custom-house returns for that period, amounted to 60,393; by the
+immigration from Europe and St. Domingo (5,000); and by the excess of
+births over deaths, which, in truth, is indeed small in a country where
+one-fourth or one-fifth of the entire population is condemned to live in
+celibacy. The result of these three causes of increase was reckoned to
+be 60,000, estimating an annual loss of seven per cent, on the newly
+imported negroes; this gives approximately, for the year 1804, a minimum
+of 432,080 inhabitants. I estimated this number for the year 1804, to
+comprise, whites, 234,000, free-colored, 90,000, slaves, 180,000. I
+estimated the slave population, graduating the production of sugar at 80
+to 100 arrobas for each negro on the sugar plantations, and 82 slaves as
+the mean population of each plantation. There were then, 250 of these.
+In the seven parishes, Guanajay, Managua, Batabano, Guines, Cano,
+Bejucal, and Guanabacoa, there were found, by an exact census, 15,130
+slaves on 183 sugar plantations."
+
+After expatiating on the difficulty of ascertaining with absolute
+accuracy the ratio of the production of sugar to the number of negroes
+employed on the different estates, Humboldt continues:
+
+"The number of whites can be estimated by the rolls of the militia, of
+which, in 1804, there were 2,680 disciplined, and 27,000 rural,
+notwithstanding the great facilities for avoiding the service, and
+innumerable exemptions granted to lawyers, physicians, apothecaries,
+notaries, clergy and church servants, schoolmasters, overseers, traders
+and all who are styled noble."
+
+Accepting, however, for the moment the figures of the census of 1791,
+merely for the sake of future comparison, let us see how the population
+of the island was distributed at this period. Of the 272,141 inhabitants
+shown by the census over half, or 137,800, were in the district of
+Havana, and almost one third of the latter number in the city itself.
+These were divided as follows:
+
+    Whites, both sexes             73,000
+    Free colored, both sexes       27,600
+    Slaves, both sexes             37,200
+                                  -------
+                                  137,800
+
+One of the best reasons for believing that this 1791 census does not
+tell the whole story is that the proportion of white persons to the
+black slaves is practically two to one, while as a matter of fact the
+most eminent authorities are agreed that during the first half of the
+nineteenth century, and for some years previous, it was about 100 to 83,
+a matter which, as we shall see, was of grave concern to the Spanish
+colonists.
+
+It should be noted in passing that the greediness with which the Spanish
+conquerors regarded their possessions in the New World had marked effect
+on the difficulties of numbering the people. For too well the plantation
+owners had learned that a record of an increase in their possessions, an
+added number of slaves or signs of growing prosperity, meant that the
+long arm of the crown would stretch out to despoil by further taxation,
+added to the already heavy toll. It is no wonder, therefore, that the
+efforts of the census takers were impeded rather than furthered.
+
+In 1811, when the slave trade and the consequent increase of the black
+population was giving great concern to the more intelligent and
+far-seeing of the Cuban patriots, pressure was brought to bear on the
+Spanish government and on March 26 of that year, Senors Alcocer and
+Arguelles made a motion in the Spanish Cortes against the African
+slave-trade and the continuation of slavery in the Spanish colonies. A
+little later in the same year Don Francisco de Arango, an exceedingly
+erudite statesman, also made a remonstrance to the Cortes upon the same
+subject. This was in the name of the Ayuntamiento, the Consulado and the
+Patriotic Society of Havana. The text of this representation or
+remonstrance may be found in the "_Documents relative to the
+slave-trade, 1814_."
+
+Unfortunately in compiling the tables which were published in 1811 no
+new census was taken, and the increases in population from 1791 to 1811
+were merely estimated. These estimates show a population of 600,000--a
+greater number, it is interesting to note, by many thousands than was
+shown by the census of 1817, with which we shall deal later. This
+population was distributed as follows:
+
+    _Western Part of the_           _Free_
+        _Island_.         _Whites_ _Colored_ _Slaves_ _Total_
+    Surrounding Country    118,000   15,000  119,000  252,000
+    Havana and Suburbs      43,000   27,000   28,000   98,000
+                           -------   ------  -------  -------
+                           161,000   42,000  147,000  350,000
+
+    _Eastern Part of the Island_.
+    Santiago de Cuba        40,000   38,000   32,000  110,000
+    Puerto Principe         38,000   14,000   18,000   70,000
+    Cinco Villas            35,000   20,000   15,000   70,000
+                           -------   ------   ------  -------
+                           113,000   72,000   65,000  250,000
+                           -------  -------  -------  -------
+        Totals             274,000  114,000  212,000  600,000
+
+From the above we can see that at this time there were only 62,000 more
+white people in Cuba than there were slaves, and if we take into
+consideration the free blacks, then the negroes exceeded the white
+population by 52,000. This was perhaps inevitable when we consider that
+there must be labor to develop the plantations and that that labor was
+almost entirely provided by the slave trade. Nevertheless, the white
+population of Cuba lived in somewhat the same state of subconscious
+terror of the possibilities of a black uprising which tormented the
+planters in portions of the United States. But "that is another story"
+of which we shall hear more later.
+
+In 1813 the Spanish Cortes passed certain measures, which, together with
+the necessity for as accurate as possible an enumeration of the
+population of the island for the purpose of an equitable establishment
+of electoral juntas of provinces, partidas and parishes, made a new
+census obligatory. This was taken in 1817. The results of this new
+census were as follows:
+
+            _Districts_   _White_   _Free colored_   _Slaves_
+    _Western Department:_
+        Havana             135,177     40,419      112,122
+        Matanzas            10,617      1,675        9,594
+        Trinidad (with
+          Sancti Spiritus,
+          Remedios, and
+          Villa Clara)      51,864     16,411       14,497
+    _Eastern Department:_
+        Santiago  (with
+          Bayamo,  Holguin,
+          and Baracoa)      33,733     50,230       46,500
+    Puerto Principe         25,989      6,955       16,579
+                           -------    -------      -------
+                           257,380    115,691      199,292
+    Total                  572,363
+
+The census of 1817 was without doubt the most perfect which had up to
+that time been taken; but, for the reasons before given, it was far from
+being an accurate enumeration. To these figures, before transmitting
+them to Spain, the Provincial Deputation added 32,641 transients of
+various kinds, and 25,967 negroes imported during the year in which the
+census was taken. These additions made the report read as follows:
+
+    Whites                  290,021
+    Free Colored            115,691
+    Slaves                  225,259
+                            -------
+            Total           630,971
+
+It would seem that these various censuses and the estimate of 1811 show
+great discrepancies, but on this point we have the sage observations of
+no less an authority than Baron Humboldt to guide us. He says:
+
+"We shall not be surprised at the partial contradiction found in the
+tables of population when we taken into consideration all the
+difficulties that have been encountered in the centres of European
+civilization, England and France, whenever the great operation of a
+general census is attempted. No one is ignorant, for example, of the
+fact that the population of Paris, in 1820, was 714,000, and from the
+number of deaths, and supposed proportion of births to the total
+population, it is believed to have been 520,000, at the beginning of the
+eighteenth century; yet during the administration of M. Necker, the
+ascertained population was one-sixth less than this number."
+
+The process of census taking even in this twentieth century is an
+enormous undertaking and not free from error. How much more difficult
+must it have been in a country where it was to the interest of the
+intelligent to suppress the facts, where a large proportion of the
+population was still in slavery, and where means of communication from
+place to place were far from adequate!
+
+Baron Humboldt after very careful calculation estimated the population
+at the close of 1825 to be as follows:
+
+    Whites                  325,000
+    Free colored            130,000
+    Slaves                  260,000
+                            -------
+        Total               715,000
+
+This was nearly equal to that of the British Antilles, and about twice
+that of Jamaica.
+
+During the first half of the nineteenth century three additional
+censuses were taken:
+
+                         _Census of 1827_
+
+                 _Whites_      _Free Colored_     _Slaves_       _Total_
+ _Department_ _Male_ _Female_  _Male_ _Female_  _Male_  _Female_
+  Western     89,526  75,532   21,235  24,829  125,388  72,027   408,537
+  Central     53,447  44,776   13,296  10,950   28,398  13,630   164,497
+  Eastern     25,680  22,090   17,431  18,753   29,504  17,995   131,353
+             ------- -------   ------  ------  ------- -------   -------
+    Total    168,653 142,398   51,962  54,532  183,290 103,652   704,487
+
+                         _Census of 1841_
+
+                 _Whites_      _Free Colored_     _Slaves_       _Total_
+ _Department_ _Male_ _Female_  _Male_ _Female_  _Male_  _Female_
+  Western    135,079 108,944   32,726  33,737  207,954 113,320   631,760
+  Central     60,035  53,838   15,525  16,054   34,939  15,217   195,608
+  Eastern     32,030  28,365   27,452  27,344   38,357  25,708   180,256
+             ------- -------   ------  ------  ------- ------- ---------
+    Total    227,144 191,147   75,703  77,135  281,250 155,245 1,007,624
+
+                        _Census for 1846_
+
+                 _Whites_      _Free Colored_     _Slaves_       _Total_
+ _Department_ _Male_ _Female_  _Male_ _Female_  _Male_  _Female_
+  Western   133,968 110,141  28,964  32,730  140,131   87,682    533,617
+  Central    62,262  52,692  17,041  17,074   32,425   14,560    196,954
+  Eastern    34,753  31,951  26,646  26,771   28,455   20,506    169,082
+            ------- -------  ------  ------  -------  -------    -------
+    Total   230,983 194,784  72,651  76,575  201,011  122,748    898,752
+
+J. S. Thrasher, translator of Baron Humboldt's admirable work on Cuba,
+and himself an authority of note, offers the following interesting and
+suggestive discussion of the census of 1846:
+
+"The slightest examination leads to the belief that there is some error
+in the figures of the census of 1846; and we are inclined to doubt its
+results, for the following reasons:
+
+"1st--During the period between 1841 and 1846, no great cause, as
+epidemic, or emigration on a large scale, existed to check the hitherto
+steady increase of the slave population, and cause a decrease of 112,736
+in its numbers, being nearly twenty six per cent. of the returns of
+1841; which apparent decrease and the annihilation of former rate of
+increase (3.7 per cent. yearly), amount together to a loss of 47 per
+cent., in six years.
+
+"2d.--During this period the material prosperity of the country
+experienced no decrease, except the loss of part of one crop, consequent
+upon the hurricane of 1845.
+
+"3d.--During the period from 1842 to 1846, the church returns of
+christenings and interments were as follows:
+
+                 _White_   _Colored_ _Total_
+    Christenings  87,049    74,302   161,349
+    Interments    51,456    57,762   109,218
+                  ------    ------   -------
+    Increase      35,591    16,540    52,131
+
+"4th.--And because ... a capitation tax upon house servants was imposed
+in 1844, and a very general fear existed that it would be extended to
+other classes."
+
+Incorrect as we have seen these various censuses to be, they do furnish
+us with very interesting means of analysis. We can see by the foregoing
+tables that the free population (black and white) was nearly two thirds
+of the entire population of the island; and also that, according to the
+last census given above, the blacks on the island exceeded the white
+people by many thousands. The balance of power then lay with the free
+blacks.
+
+But this was not as dangerous as it may seem--as it often appeared to
+the Cubans. At this stage of his history the negro was not even one
+generation removed from his native jungle. He was imitating the white
+man not so much in his quiet virtues as in his glaring and showy vices.
+The negro is naturally sociable and happy-go-lucky. The island of Cuba
+has not a climate which is conducive to arduous labors.
+
+The natural tendency of the colored freed man was to gravitate away from
+the plantations, into the cities and villages. This made it necessary
+constantly to be importing new slaves to take the place of the freed
+man. Frequently, however, the latter improved in his new surroundings.
+His freedom, his increased obligations, his new sense of self-respect,
+made him desire to throw his fortunes, not with his enslaved black
+brothers but with the free born white man. This was the more easy of
+accomplishment because there is no place in the world where people are
+more democratic in matters of race than in Cuba. A free black man who
+improved his opportunities was sure of being received as the equal of
+the white man in the same station of life. This even extended to
+intermarriage with white women. Miscegenation was very common, but
+curiously enough, more common in plantation life, on the same basis that
+the American planter in the southern part of the United States conducted
+his relations with his women slaves. The tendency of the free colored
+man, in spite of his new opportunities, was to marry one of his own
+race.
+
+In 1820 the slave-trade with Africa was legally abolished, and
+undoubtedly if this law had been enforced the negro population would
+have diminished rapidly, because the mortality of the negro race in
+slavery is very high. Even in Cuba, a land where the climate is more
+similar to that of his own country than that of any part of the United
+States, the negro is all too frequently a victim of tuberculosis.
+Indeed, although in the Custom House between 1811 and 1817, 67,000
+negroes were registered as imported, and the real number must have been
+far greater, in 1817 there were only 13,300 more slaves than in 1811.
+
+Another reason, too, would have contributed very quickly to the
+diminishing of the negro population. Spain, always greedy for the main
+chance, never far-seeing in her relations with her American possessions,
+had urged the importation of male slaves in preference to females. Of
+course this meant a preponderance of laborers, but it also militated
+against the increase of the race in Cuba by natural means. There was far
+from being a sufficient number of young women of child-bearing age. On
+the plantations the proportion of women to men was one to four; in the
+cities the rate was better, 1 to 1.4; in Havana 1 to 1.2; and in the
+island considered as a whole 1 to 1.7. For a normal and proper birth
+rate there must be a preponderance of women over men.
+
+But, although the laws forbade the slave traffic, by illicit means it
+continued to be carried on. Between 1811 and 1825 no fewer than 185,000
+African negroes were imported into Cuba; 60,000 of these subsequent to
+the passage of the measure of 1820.
+
+The ratio of population to the square league is a very interesting and
+illuminating study. On this point J. S. Thrasher gives us some excellent
+deductions:
+
+"Supposing the population to be 715,000 (which I believe to be within
+the minimum number) the ratio of population in Cuba, in 1825, was 197
+individuals to the square league, and, consequently, nearly twice less
+than that of San Domingo, and four times smaller than that of Jamaica.
+If Cuba were as well cultivated as the latter island, or, more properly
+speaking, if the density of population were the same, it would contain
+3,515 x 974, or 3,159,000 inhabitants."
+
+In 1811, at the time the population was estimated, we find the negroes
+to have been distributed as follows; the figures indicating percentages:
+
+    _Western Department_ _Free_   _Slave_    _Total_
+    In towns              11       11-1/2     22-1/2
+    In rural districts     1-1/2   34         35-1/2
+    _Eastern Department_
+    In towns              11        9-1/2     20-1/2
+    In rural districts    11       10-1/2     21-1/2
+                         --------  --------  --------
+                          34-1/2   65-1/2    100
+
+The foregoing indicates that sixty per cent. of the black population at
+this period lived in the district of Havana, and that there were about
+equal numbers of freedmen and slaves, that the total black population in
+that portion of the island was distributed between towns and country in
+the ratio of two to three, while in the eastern part of the island the
+distribution between towns and country was about equal. We shall find
+the foregoing compilations of inestimable value in consideration of the
+problem which was such a source of concern to the white population and
+which played so large a part in this period of the history of Cuba;
+namely, slavery.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XVIII
+
+
+The first records of the slave trade in Cuba--so far as the eastern part
+of the island is concerned--were in 1521. Curiously enough it was begun
+by Portuguese rather than Spanish settlers. It was a well recognized
+institution, licensed by the government. The first license was held by
+one Gasper Peralta, and covered the trade with the entire Spanish
+America. Later French traders visited Havana and took tobacco in trade
+for their slaves. The English, during their possession of the island,
+far from frowning on the traffic, encouraged it; yet in the latter part
+of the eighteenth century the number of slaves in Cuba was estimated not
+to exceed 32,000. This was previous to 1790. Of these 32,000, 25,000
+were in the district of Havana.
+
+Baron Humboldt is authority for some interesting figures on the traffic.
+"The number of Africans imported from 1521 to 1763 was probably 60,000,
+whose descendants exist" (he writes in 1856) "among the free mulattoes,
+the greater part of which inhabit the eastern part of the island. From
+1763 to 1790 when the trade in negroes was thrown open, Havana received
+24,875 (by the Tobacco Company, 4,957 from 1763 to 1766; by the contract
+with the Marquis de Casa Enrile, 14,132, from 1773 to 1779; by the
+contract with Baker and Dawson, 5,786 from 1786 to 1789). If we estimate
+the importation of slaves in the eastern part of the island during these
+twenty-seven years (1763 to 1790) at 6,000, we have a total importation
+of 80,875 from the time of the discovery of Cuba, or more properly
+speaking, from 1521 to 1790."
+
+It was in the period of which we are writing, particularly in the very
+early years of the nineteenth century, that the slave trade most
+flourished in Cuba. It is estimated that more slaves were bought and
+sold from 1790 to 1820 than in all the preceding history of the Spanish
+possession of the island.
+
+England, possibly seeing what an enormous power for developing the
+natural wealth of the island an influx of free labor would give to
+Spain, entered into an arrangement with Ferdinand VII.--whose sole
+animating motive in dealing with his foreign possessions seems to have
+been to grab the reward in hand and let the future take care of
+itself--whereby, upon the payment by England to the king of four hundred
+thousand pounds sterling, to compensate for the estimated loss which the
+cessation of the slave trade would mean to the colonies, Ferdinand
+agreed that the slave trade north of the equator should be restricted
+from November 22, 1817, and totally abolished on May 30, 1820. Ferdinand
+accepted the money, but as we have seen he did not fulfil his contract
+and winked at the continuation of the importation of labor from Africa.
+
+The following table shows an importation into the district of Havana
+alone, for a period of 31 years, of 225,574 Africans:
+
+    1790      2,534          1806      4,395
+    1791      8,498          1807      2,565
+    1792      8,528          1808      1,607
+    1793      3,777          1809      1,152
+    1794      4,164          1810      6,672
+    1795      5,832          1811      6,349
+    1796      5,711          1812      6,081
+    1797      4,552          1813      4,770
+    1798      2,001          1814      4,321
+    1799      4,919          1815      9,111
+    1800      4,145          1816     17,737
+    1801      1,659          1817     25,841
+    1802     13,832          1818     19,902
+    1803      9,671          1819     17,194
+    1804      8,923          1820      4,122
+    1805      4,999                  -------
+                            Total    225,574
+
+But Havana was not the only port through which slaves entered Cuba, and
+the recognized channels were not the only ones through which they came.
+Therefore, to provide for the illicit importations and those made at
+Trinidad and Santiago these figures should be increased by at least one
+fourth to cover the importations for the whole island. This gives us the
+following results:
+
+        From 1521 to 1763                                60,000
+             1764                                        33,409
+    Havana
+        From 1791 to 1805                                91,211
+             1806 to 1820                               131,829
+    Secret trade and trade in other parts of the island  56,000
+                                                        -------
+                                                        372,499
+
+As we have seen, the trade did not stop when it was made illegal. We
+have the authority of one of the British commissioners at Havana that in
+1821 twenty-six vessels engaged in the slave trade landed 6,415 slaves;
+and this gentleman also states that only about fifty per cent. of such
+arrivals ever reached the attention of the commissioners, so that to
+this number an equal amount should be added to provide for the slaves
+imported by "underground" methods.
+
+The yearly reports of these British commissioners furnish some food for
+thought on this subject. They report the following data:
+
+    1822, 10 vessels arrived, bringing--estimated--3,000 slaves
+    1823,  4 vessels arrived, bringing--estimated--1,200   "
+    1824, 17 vessels arrived, bringing--estimated--5,100   "
+    1825, 14 vessels arrived, bringing--estimated--4,200   "
+    1826, 11 vessels arrived, bringing--estimated--3,000   "
+    1827, 10 vessels arrived, bringing--estimated--3,500   "
+    1828, 28 vessels arrived, bringing--estimated--7,000   "
+                                                --------
+                                                  27,000   "
+      Adding the estimated one half for the number
+        not reported                              13,500   "
+                                                 -------
+                                                  40,500   "
+
+In 1838, the British consul at Havana reported to the foreign office in
+London, regarding slave importations into Cuba for the previous nine
+years:
+
+    1829                 8,600
+    1830                 9,800
+    1831                10,400
+    1832                 8,200
+    1833                 9,000
+    1834                11,400
+    1835                14,800
+    1836                14,200
+    1837                15,200
+                       -------
+      Total            101,600
+    Add 1/5             20,320
+                       -------
+                       121,920
+
+It will be observed that the consulate adds only one fifth to cover the
+secret importations during this period.
+
+From 1838 to 1853 the importations, according to records laid before
+the British House of Commons, were as follows:
+
+    1838        10,495            1846          419
+    1839        10,995            1847        1,450
+    1840        10,104            1848        1,500
+    1841         8,893            1849        8,700
+    1842         3,630            1850        3,500
+    1843         8,000            1851        5,000
+    1844        10,000            1852        7,924
+    1845         1,300   1st half 1853        7,329
+                                             ------
+                                             99,239
+
+During the early years of the slave trade, the Spanish masters treated
+their slaves not so well as they treated their work animals. But
+gradually they began to realize that after all it was cheaper to keep
+the slaves that they had in good physical condition than to be
+continually buying new ones, especially when the trade had fallen off
+because of legal restrictions.
+
+A greater number of colored women were imported; the moral condition of
+the negroes, especially as to marriage, became a subject of greater
+interest to the plantation owners; the negroes were encouraged to marry,
+and wives were recruited from among the mulattoes as well as those of
+pure black blood. Some efforts were made for better sanitary conditions
+toward the middle of the century, and persons were employed on the
+estates whose business it was to look after the sick slaves and nurse
+them. In the last analysis, however, the conditions under which the
+slaves lived on each plantation rested entirely--as it did in the United
+States--on the kind of overseers under whom they were employed.
+
+There are many touching stories of the devotion of the slaves to their
+master. This was quite as great as among the old southern families in
+the United States. The Cuban was naturally a kind master--we wish the
+Spanish-born planter might always be as well spoken of--and he inspired
+in his slaves a feeling of real affection. This often developed into a
+single hearted devotion so great that the slave grew to count his
+master's enemies as his own.
+
+This is not extraordinary when we consider that the African, torn from
+his own home and family ties and transported to a strange country, among
+a strange people, took the name of his master and became a part of the
+big household, identified not only with the working life but also with
+the social life of the little community represented by the plantation.
+Fierce as he may have been in his native surroundings, he was naturally
+affectionate and clung eagerly to the one who, holding the slave's whole
+destiny in his hand, yet was kind to him. The women slaves, especially
+those of mixed blood, were bound to their masters often by ties of
+consanguinity. They attended the master's wife when her children were
+born, nursed the babies at their own breasts, and served and waited upon
+the second generation as foster mothers. They were like grown up
+children. The places where they lived, the food that they ate and the
+clothing that they wore were all under the control of the one whom they
+served. When he fell ill, they were devoted nurses, and when he died,
+they buried him, and manifested their grief in their own primitive
+fashion.
+
+The slave owner who treated his slaves well, until other factors began
+to enter the situation, had little to fear from them. But masters were
+not always kindly. There were as many different varieties of human
+disposition in those days as in these. The negro can hate as fiercely as
+he can love, and gradually, as he acquired more knowledge and
+understanding, on the estates where kindness was not the law, there grew
+up mutterings of discontent and hatred, and hints of possible uprisings.
+
+It was the excessive mortality among the black population which first,
+perhaps, influenced their owners to favor better laws and more natural
+and healthful conditions for them. Curiously enough, up to the opening
+of the nineteenth century there were "religious scruples" against the
+introduction of female slaves on the plantations, although the colored
+women were much less expensive to purchase than the men. The colored men
+were condemned to celibacy, as Baron Humboldt told us, "under the
+pretext that vicious habits were thus avoided." They were worked in the
+day time, and locked in at night to avoid their having any chance for
+female companionship. And yet, in spite of the fact that these
+"scruples" were "religious," we find the paradoxical situation that the
+Jesuit and Bethlehemite friars were the only planters who encouraged the
+importation of women slaves.
+
+Don Francisco de Arango, being a clear sighted man, endeavored to bring
+about the imposition of a tax upon such plantations as did not have at
+least one third as many women as men among their slaves. He also tried
+to have a duty of $6 levied upon every male negro imported from Africa.
+In both of these efforts he was defeated, but they had the excellent
+effect of stirring public opinion. While the juntas were opposed, as
+always, to enacting any such drastic measures, yet there began to be a
+disposition to encourage the mating of the slaves, to increase the
+number of marriages, to give each negro a little cabin of his own that
+he might call home, and, when children came, to see that they were
+properly cared for. Then, too, efforts were made to insure lighter work
+for the women during pregnancy, with a total relief as the time for the
+birth of the coming child grew nearer.
+
+How much of this came about because the slave owners were forced to see
+that a continuation of the early conditions would compass their own
+ruin, and how much because they were naturally inclined to be humane
+when their duty was brought home to them, it is difficult to determine;
+but judging from the Cuban's naturally kindly disposition, we are
+inclined to believe that in many instances the master was glad to treat
+his slaves as well as he could, when he began to realize that after all
+they were not merely property--cheap labor--but human beings with
+emotions and longings very much like his own. Under these bettered
+conditions the rate of negro mortality fell as low as from eight to six
+per cent. on the best plantations.
+
+Another element, however, which was not conducive to the betterment of
+the conditions of the negroes was the introduction of thousands of
+Chinese laborers. They contracted to work for a number of years at
+prices far below those usually estimated as fair, on the island. They
+were the very lowest type of Chinese, and brought with them many vicious
+influences and practices. No Chinese women were imported, and the
+Chinese men mingled freely with the negro women. The very worst kind of
+miscegenation was thus promoted, and the effect on the morals of the
+negroes on the estates where these Chinese were employed was very bad
+indeed.
+
+In no other of the foreign colonies in America did the free negro so
+predominate as in Cuba. It was not at all a difficult matter for a black
+to gain freedom, since almost no real obstacles were placed in his way.
+Every slave who did not like his "condition of servitude" had a right
+to seek a new master, or to purchase his liberty, on payment only of the
+price paid for him.
+
+Then, too, the religious education of the slaves came to be recognized
+as a matter of great importance. Religion played an important part in
+the life of the Spanish colonies in general. It was therefore only
+natural that they should employ every available means to convert the
+African slave from his "false heathen superstitions" to their own "true
+faith." Besides, it had long been the theory of tyrants that if men were
+imbued with religious fervor and taught self-immolation, they were thus
+rendered more docile under oppression. The slave code accordingly
+required every master to instruct his slaves in religion.
+
+One of the first and most marked results of this encouragement of
+religious feeling was quite different from what had been expected or
+intended. That was, to arouse a strong and increasing repugnance to the
+legal continuance of the institution of slavery. This prevailed among
+the better class of owners as well as among the slaves themselves. More
+and more frequent became the custom of providing by will for the
+emancipation of slaves at the death of their masters. The natural
+affection, also, to which we have referred, which arose between slaves
+who acted as domestic or body servants and the owners who enjoyed such
+faithful service, conduced to the same end. The natural inclination of
+the humane master was to grant such servitors their freedom.
+
+Despite these palliating circumstances, slavery was odious, and
+persistent negro insurrections began to cause serious concern to the
+white population. In hope of checking them by kindness, new laws were
+enacted. Legal restrictions were placed upon the hours of labor. It was
+decreed that except under certain stated conditions a master should not
+work his slaves more than nine or ten hours a day. When the exigencies
+of the season required greater efforts, sixteen hours were prescribed as
+the extreme limit, and the master was required to give extra pay for the
+extra time. But these regulations were difficult if not impossible to
+enforce. Indeed, we must assume that they were not meant to be enforced.
+They were for show and nothing more; and they remained practically a
+dead letter.
+
+Religious scruples could not and of course did not prevent the
+performance of much labor on Sundays, and the needs of agriculture often
+made work necessary on holidays. There were routine duties to be
+performed every day. For these, two hours were regarded as sufficient,
+and to such time the code restricted the labor of Sundays and holidays.
+There was also a general provision under which slaves were granted the
+right to labor on their own account, paying a certain part of their
+wages to the masters and retaining the remainder from which they might,
+if they desired, create a fund looking toward their own eventual
+freedom.
+
+One cannot escape the conclusion that during the periods of slavery,
+either in the United States or the Spanish colonies, the African negro
+was never really regarded--no matter how close and friendly his
+relations with his master--in the last analysis, as anything more than a
+sort of higher animal or at best a child. Men do not thrash their
+employes for disobedience, when there is any pretence of equality
+between master and servant. Animals are whipped to teach them obedience,
+and a child is chastised when he is naughty. The last was ever the
+corrective which the white master wielded against his disobedient or
+lazy slaves. It is true that nominally the laws of Cuba did not permit
+its brutal misuse. The slave code limited the amount of punishment for
+any offense to twenty-five lashes. Any more severe measures, if known,
+were the subject of careful judicial investigation, and the penalty for
+them on conviction was a fine of from $20 to $200. Unfortunately,
+however, these laws were not effective. It is obvious that a strong man
+can do much damage to a human being with 25 lashes. Infractions of the
+law were seldom reported. The frightened African, subject to his master,
+feared the results of reporting a violation of the law. He would have to
+stand trial before a jury, not of his peers but of white men, one of
+whose number was the aggressor. The other slaves--his witnesses--were
+far too afraid of what might befall them if they upheld the testimony of
+the complainant. Even the sluggish brain of the slave could picture,
+with dreadful anticipation, the anger of the master, and the subsequent
+retribution, much more severe than the original beating, should by any
+extraordinary chance the slave be triumphant and his master be compelled
+to pay a fine.
+
+And so, in spite of the fact that in none of the colonies was the
+condition of the black freedman better than in Cuba,--far better than in
+Martinique, where free negroes were prohibited from receiving gifts from
+white people, and where they might be apprehended and returned to
+servitude if they could be convicted of the very natural act of aiding
+any of their less fortunate brothers to escape--and in spite of the laws
+which might, if not dead letters, have safeguarded the interests of the
+slaves, a feeling of dissatisfaction and unrest among the blacks was
+seething beneath the surface. The more knowledge they gained, and,
+curiously enough, the more concessions there were granted them, the
+stronger it grew, breeding trouble and bad blood between the white
+owners and the blacks, both enslaved and free, destroying mutual
+confidence and engendering a spirit of fear and distrust which was
+presently to break forth into open revolt.
+
+The negroes hated the Spanish authorities, too, because they recognized
+them to be cowards and hypocrites, pretending one thing and doing
+another; oppressing the weak for their own gain, and siding with the
+powerful because it served their interests to do so. In such
+circumstances the drift toward slave insurrections was inevitable.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XIX
+
+
+Perhaps it is a wise Providence that decrees that even government shall
+be subject to that rhythm by which the tides of human affairs rise and
+fall. Who shall say? In 1796, Las Casas, who had tried to do so much for
+Cuba, was succeeded, as Captain-General, by the Conde de Santa Clara.
+The latter was of a different type from Las Casas. In spite of his
+aristocratic birth, he was a man of little education, and indifferent to
+it. The result was, since he had no taste for letters, and social
+elegance did not appeal to him, that the impetus was withdrawn from the
+development of the finer arts in Cuba. His influence was all the more
+deleterious since he was a man of generous, hearty, open-handed nature
+and personally was immensely popular. Naturally, but unhappily, culture
+in Cuba quickly fell from the high standards maintained by his
+predecessor.
+
+Santa Clara's interests were military and he did a great deal to improve
+the forts of Cuba--a much needed work. Almost all of the new
+fortifications on the island, which aided in its defense during the
+latter part of the nineteenth century, were originated by him, and the
+Bateria de Santa Clara, outside of Havana, was named in recognition of
+his services.
+
+Previous to 1796 there had been a great navy yard on the Bay of Havana,
+and more than a hundred war vessels or convoys for Spanish treasure
+ships had there been built. The same year that Santa Clara became
+Captain-General, the Spanish ship-builders, realizing that they were
+losing the large profits from this work, demanded that the navy yard at
+Havana be closed, and that the work be done in Spain. Influence was
+finally brought to bear on the crown, and an order was issued closing
+the Cuban navy yards.
+
+The rule of Santa Clara was, however, a short one; which was well for
+the island. In 1799, the Marquis de Someruelos succeeded him. By Spanish
+law the term of Captain-General was limited to five years. The Conde de
+Santa Clara failed to complete his term, but the Marquis de Someruelos
+served for a much longer period. He remained in Cuba until 1812, and he
+sought by every means in his power to efface the bad effects of the rule
+of Santa Clara and to reestablish the regime of progress which had
+flourished under Las Casas.
+
+In 1802 Havana was visited by a devastating conflagration. As frequently
+happens in such disasters, it was the poorer people who suffered the
+most severely. Over 11,000 of the poorer inhabitants of the suburb of
+Jesus Maria were rendered destitute. The Marquis de Someruelos lent his
+personal efforts to their succor, to excellent effect, and his kindness
+of heart quickly endeared him to rich and poor alike. He tried hard to
+rule impartially, to dispense justice to all classes without
+distinction, and attained a gratifying measure of success.
+
+The improvement of the island from an architectural point of view also
+interested him, and he left behind him two public memorials. The first
+was intended to give an impetus to art. It was a great public theatre;
+perhaps not great for these days, it is true, but an undertaking of note
+for that time. The second showed his interest in sanitary measures. It
+was a public cemetery, a huge burying-ground, 22,000 square yards in
+size, where the dead might be gathered, rather than to permit their
+being buried in small plots on estates or in yards. The walls, gateway
+and chapel were good examples of the Cuban architecture of the period,
+and the mortuary chapel contained a beautiful fresco depicting the
+Resurrection.
+
+Early in the nineteenth century, in 1807, the people of the island began
+to manifest a fear, which indeed was well founded, of hostile invasion.
+Both England and France had long cast appraising and jealous eyes on the
+Spanish possessions in America. The Spanish trade was valuable, and
+England was eager to seize as much as possible of it. In view of this
+peril the defenses of Havana were materially strengthened. Troops were
+carefully drilled, and the army was increased by the addition of
+recruits. Several coast towns were attacked and sacked by the English,
+but no large invasion took place and the damage was small.
+
+But the Cubans soon learned that the enemy whom they had real cause to
+fear was not England but France. Spain and France were at war, and the
+French colonists in America stood ready to take up the quarrel. To avert
+this peril "Juntas" or Committees were organized for national defense.
+War was unofficially declared on the unnaturalized Frenchmen on the
+Island, many of whom were killed and their plantations wrecked, while
+6,000 were expelled from the island. Even these drastic measures did not
+prevent a French invasion, although it was rather an opera bouffe
+performance. A motley company of soldiers of fortune, adventurers, and
+refugees from Santo Domingo tried to take Santiago and failed; they did,
+however, effect a landing at Batabano.
+
+The Cuban army hastened to defend the country, but found that the
+invaders were not particularly enthusiastic about fighting. They wanted
+to colonize. They endeavored to "build homes and make their residences
+in uninhabited portions of Cuba, just as they had done in Santo
+Domingo. The Cubans, however, realized that this apparently peaceful
+effort might well be a menace in disguise. If the French were allowed to
+settle portions of the island, soon France, who also appreciated the
+value of the Spanish possessions, might endeavor to claim the island, or
+at least a portion of it, as her territory.
+
+The Captain-General was equal to the occasion. He did not resort to
+arms. He plainly but firmly impressed upon the invaders the fact that it
+was unthinkable that they should be allowed to take as their own any
+portion of Cuba. He told them that if they were dissatisfied with Santo
+Domingo, he would see that transportation was furnished them to France.
+On the other hand, if they wanted to return to Santo Domingo, he would
+insure their being taken thither. But on no account could they remain as
+inhabitants of Cuba. His persuasions were partially successful and
+numbers of them peacefully left the country.
+
+For a long time, Spain had paid but meagre attention to her American
+possessions, save to mulct them for revenue. They had no representation,
+and their messages to and requests of the mother country received but
+scanty attention. Spain herself was passing through stormy times. The
+country was in turmoil. Revolution was impending. Napoleon, whose greedy
+glance embraced almost the whole of Europe, had turned his attention to
+the Peninsula. In 1808 the royal family of Spain was abducted, and held
+virtually prisoners by Napoleon, while a new government was set up.
+
+When the news of Napoleon's action reached Cuba, the Cabildo was in
+session. At once, each and every member took a solemn oath to make every
+effort to retain the island "for their lawful sovereign." Don Juan de
+Aguilar arrived in Cuba on the American ship _Dispatch_, and the
+government at once declared war against Napoleon and reaffirmed the
+loyalty of Cuba to Spain. On July 20, 1808, they proclaimed King
+Ferdinand VII as their lawful sovereign. This conduct, so little
+appreciated and so cruelly repaid by the mother country, won for Cuba
+the title of the "Ever-Faithful Isle."
+
+The internal troubles in Spain naturally had a most disastrous effect
+upon the Cuban trade and prosperity. The exports to Spain fell off to an
+alarming degree. The products of the country had, for a time, lost their
+natural market. Only statesmen of vision were able to understand the
+causes of the trouble. The common people looked upon the results only,
+and a strong feeling of unrest was engendered. The colony was
+practically independent of the mother country at this time, so far as
+any guidance or aid was concerned. The King was exiled and Joseph
+Bonaparte held sway in the Spanish capital.
+
+But now a new difficulty showed its head. Not all the French had
+returned to Santo Domingo or France. There were numbers of French
+settlers in the rural districts. The people were discontented, and soon
+a movement arose--on March 21, 1809, it came to a crisis--to endeavor to
+persuade the French colonists, who had been so easily disposed of by
+Someruelos, to return. This movement took on almost the aspect of a
+revolution. It seemed as if France, not content with obtaining control
+of Spain, was again stretching out a clutching hand to grab Cuba as
+well.
+
+The heads of the Cuban government were thoroughly aroused. Summary
+measures were taken, and the uprising, which had bid fair to be so
+serious, was subdued in two days. It was due, probably, to the firmness,
+decision and resourcefulness of those at the helm of Cuba at that time,
+that Cuba did not then and there become the victim of a movement which
+might have resulted in her becoming subject to France instead of Spain.
+The attitude of the United States toward French aggression also lent
+Cuba moral support, as we shall see.
+
+The encounters which took place in putting down this trouble were
+practically bloodless. Almost no lives were lost, but much property was
+destroyed. A more serious result was that dissatisfied colonists, some
+of them of the most desirable type, to the number of many thousands,
+were driven to seek their fortunes and find new homes away from Cuba.
+
+Napoleon was not satisfied to leave Spain in possession of Cuba, but
+soon instigated another effort to get possession of the island for
+France. In 1810, a young man arrived in Cuba from the United States. He
+was Don Manuel Aleman. His mission was apparently private business of
+his own, but the Cuban government had confidential information to the
+effect that he was an emissary of Napoleon. He was not allowed to land
+unapprehended, but was arrested on the ship on which he had come, and he
+was thrust into a none too pleasant Cuban prison. A council of war was
+assembled, but this was merely a form. Aleman's fate was predetermined.
+On the following morning, July 13, 1810, he was taken to the Campo de la
+Punta and there publicly hanged as a traitor to Spain.
+
+No account of events in Cuba at this time would be complete without some
+record of one whom Las Casas called "a jewel of priceless value to the
+glory of the nation, a protector for Cuba, an accomplished statesman for
+the monarchy," Don Francisco de Arango, the bearer of the "most
+illustrious name in Cuban annals."
+
+Arango, to whom we have previously made reference, was born on May 22,
+1765, at Havana. In early boy-hood he was left an orphan, but he managed
+the large estate which had been left him with all the skill and judgment
+of a mature mind. He studied law, and was admitted to practice in Spain,
+and he there acted, for a number of years, as agent for the municipality
+of Cuba. He was thoroughly familiar with the wrongs and needs of his
+country, and it is probable that no one of his time was more suited by
+nature, training and sympathies to act for Cuba. He succeeded in fact in
+obtaining from the crown some very valuable concessions for the island.
+In Cuba itself he worked hard to bring about an increase of staples. He
+exerted his influence among the planters to the end that the fertile
+soil should be worked to its utmost productiveness. It was necessary
+that not only should Cuba be self-supporting, and be able to pay her
+enormous taxes, but that there should be a large surplus to feed the
+royal exchequer. No one realized this more than Arango, whose years at
+the Spanish court had made him familiar with the greed of the Spanish
+government. His work was fruitful, and Cuban production at this period
+came almost up to the wild expectations of the Spanish government, which
+regarded Cuba as a land of inexhaustible riches. Arango was moreover a
+humanitarian at heart. The wrongs of the slaves and the evils of the
+slave trade appealed to his sense of justice. On the other hand, he saw
+very clearly the difficulty of obtaining the proper amount of labor for
+the Cuban plantations if the slave trade was abolished, and so his
+efforts on behalf of the slaves took the form of attempts toward their
+protection by wise laws.
+
+The attitude of Spain toward her colonies was at this time, as indeed
+always, grossly illogical. She wanted to take everything and give
+nothing. She could not foresee that a present of constant depletion
+meant a future of want; that in order to produce in quality the proper
+facilities must be provided. Arango, who was a diplomat as well as a
+statesman, by persuasion and by constant but gentle pressure at last won
+some of those in authority at the court to his point of view. If Cuba
+was to be a source of wealth to Spain, she must be endowed with the most
+efficient equipment to produce that wealth. Through Arango's efforts
+machinery was allowed to be imported into the island, free of duty.
+This, of course, furnished the means for industrial expansion. He also
+obtained the removal of the duty on coffee, liquors and cotton, for a
+period of ten years.
+
+But Arango saw as clearly as Las Casas had seen that Cuba to show
+progress must have facilities for uplift, and for the improvement of the
+mental and moral status of the inhabitants. He accordingly started a
+movement which resulted in the formation of the "Junta de Fomento," or
+Society for Improvement, which was long a power for good in the island,
+until later the Spanish Captains-General saw in it a means to further
+their own designs, and it became an instrument for oppression. Its
+object was avowedly to protect and to promote the progress of
+agriculture and commerce. The formation of the Cuban Chamber of Commerce
+was another benefit which Arango conferred upon Cuba. For a long time he
+was the Syndic of the Chamber of Commerce. There were certain
+perquisites of this office which Arango steadily refused to accept, and
+he also declined the salary which the office carried with it. In all his
+long and useful life he never accepted remuneration in any office which
+he held under the Cuban government.
+
+Now the real power at the court of Spain at this time was the infamous
+Godoy, the personal favorite of the king and the queen's lover; who
+seemed to be so firmly entrenched that no one would dare to oppose him.
+This creature turned greedy eyes toward Cuba. It was quite the fashion
+of those times for Spanish courtiers to consider Cuba as a source of
+revenue to bolster up their own fortunes. So Godoy claimed to be
+protector of the Chamber of Commerce, and demanded that the receipts of
+the custom house at Havana be turned over to him. He immediately met
+with the opposition of Arango, who bitterly opposed his every move and
+stood firmly against his plans for mulcting Cuba; in which conflict it
+is a pleasure to relate that for once virtue was triumphant. Godoy was
+unable to carry out his designs, and Arango was not only victor but he
+gained a still further point for Cuba, the relinquishment of the royal
+monopoly of tobacco.
+
+There is another curious and interesting phase of this matter, which
+speaks highly for the remarkably forceful personality of Arango.
+Although he at all times stood firmly as the inflexible opponent of any
+schemes which the court at Madrid might father for the oppression of
+Cuba, he was always an object of respect and esteem in high political
+circles in Spain, and he was offered a title of nobility. Possibly he
+looked upon this as a bribe. At any rate he declined it. However, when
+the Cross of the Order of Charles III. was offered him he accepted the
+decoration.
+
+In 1813 Cuba, by the adoption of the constitution of 1812, became
+entitled to representation in the Spanish Cortes, and Arango was
+unanimously chosen for this office. There was no person in Cuban
+politics more fitted for the honor. He proved himself worthy, for, as
+deputy to the Cortes, he achieved the greatest victory of his long fight
+for the good of Cuba, the opening of Cuban ports to foreign trade. New
+honors awaited him, for he was awarded the Grand Cross of Isabella, and
+when in 1817 he returned to Cuba, he was accorded the rank of Counsellor
+of State, and Financial Intendente of Cuba. Arango died in 1837, having
+lived seventy-two years, and having faithfully served his country for
+the greater portion of them. He bequeathed a large portion of his
+considerable fortune for public purposes and charitable objects, all for
+the betterment of the land that he loved.
+
+In the darkest hours of tyranny, while suffering wrongs that would have
+inflamed other peoples to rebellion, Cuba remained "The Ever-Faithful
+Isle" for many years, until forced to rebellion. Against the background
+of injustice, as contrasted with the Spanish Captains-General who were
+to follow, and whose sole interest in Cuba was to extract as much as
+they could from her, acting on the principle of "after us the deluge,"
+and caring nothing for her ultimate fate, the figure of Arango, the
+native Cuban, fighting at home and abroad for Cuba, stands out in bold
+and happy relief. It is not a matter for surprise that his name has been
+written on the annals of Cuba, with all the love and respect with which
+the other South American countries revere Bolivar. Here was a man who
+could not be tempted by honors, who refused remuneration for his
+services, and who against the greatest odds stood staunchly for
+everything which would help his travailing country.
+
+Among Spain's other possessions in America unrest was now beginning to
+manifest itself. They were sick of Spanish rule, and the period when
+Spain was occupied with troubles at home seemed to be a good opportunity
+to thrown off the yoke. Revolution was in the air in those days.
+Independence had arisen like a new star on the horizon, and had become
+the object of popular worship. It was therefore greatly to the credit
+of Someruelos that in such troublous times he maintained a relatively
+peaceful government. The better class of Cubans recognized his ability.
+They realized that he of all men was best fitted to keep Cuba free from
+disturbances which would hinder her advancement. Consequently when his
+term of office was ended, a petition was sent to the Spanish government,
+requesting that he be retained for a longer period. We have, however,
+only to study the dealings, not only of Spain but of all the European
+nations with the colonies in the New World, to understand that not the
+good of the subject country, but the supposed interests of the mother
+country, were what determined the destiny of the colonies. The very fact
+that Someruelos was so popular in Cuba apparently seemed to those in
+power in Spain an excellent excuse for his removal. They reasoned that
+if he had the interests of Cuba at heart, he might not be loyal to the
+government in Spain. And so, when multitudes of the best citizens of
+Cuba petitioned that he be retained longer in office, not only was the
+petition denied, but the petitioners were severely reprimanded by a
+mandate of the Spanish government.
+
+Hurricanes are not unusual in the southern seas, but now and then one of
+exceptional severity leaves so devastating a trail that it is worthy of
+chronicle even in a country where the elements are always more or less
+to be reckoned with. Such a hurricane visited the western coast of Cuba
+in 1810. Valuable shipping in the harbor of Havana was sunk. Sixty
+merchant vessels and many ships of war were torn from their anchors and
+swallowed up by the sea. Property all along the coast was destroyed, and
+a large number of lives were lost. That same year an uprising occurred
+among the negro population of the island. It bade fair to be far
+reaching in effect and occasioned much alarm among the white
+population. The most drastic and even cruel methods were taken to check
+it, and finally it was subdued.
+
+[Illustration: ALEJANDRO RAMIREZ]
+
+On April 14, 1812, Don Juan Ruiz de Apodaca, afterwards the Conde de
+Benadito, assumed the post of Captain-General, in place of the Marquis
+de Someruelos. His assumption of power was marked by the gift of
+additional authority to the office of Captain-General. For the first
+time, the Captain-General was also the commander of the naval forces.
+His initial act was to proclaim the Constitution of Cadiz. This was far
+from popular in Cuba, but the citizens realized the futility of
+resistance. His action created a sensation and caused much talk, but it
+met with no open opposition. De Apodaca's tenure of office was short. He
+retained the office of Captain-General for only two years, when he was
+sent to Mexico by the Spanish government.
+
+Next, Lieutenant-General Don Jose Cienfuegos was installed at Havana as
+Captain-General, on July 18, 1816. It was under his direction, in 1817,
+that the third census of the island was taken. Cienfuegos was most
+unpopular with the Cubans. He instituted many reforms which did not find
+favor in the eyes of those he governed.
+
+     ALEJANDRO RAMIREZ
+
+     An economist and statesman of three countries, Alejandro Ramirez
+     was born in Spain in 1777. He began his career in Guatemala as an
+     agricultural reformer and promoter; thence in 1813 went to Puerto
+     Rico as Intendente and saved that island from bankruptcy. In 1816
+     he became Intendente of Cuba, where he effected great reforms in
+     land-holding and in education. Despite his excellent services he
+     was bitterly attacked, and largely because of grief over the
+     ungrateful injustice thus shown him he sickened and died on May 20,
+     1821.
+
+The entire policing forces of Havana were revolutionized and put under
+new rules. We are told that his most unpopular move was to have the
+streets of that city lighted at night, and that this was "thoroughly
+resented." Just why such a move should be resented is not told us, but
+it certainly might be the subject of fruitful and romantic conjecture.
+His action is said to have caused "consternation."
+
+A second measure was even more distasteful to the Cubans, and they
+regarded it as an infringement of personal liberty. Cienfuegos ordered
+that, as soon as the public services in the churches in the evenings
+were over, all public thoroughfares be closed. Now this was the time of
+day when all Cuba was most bent on amusement and enjoyment, and this
+decree of the Captain-General made it impossible for any man to stray
+far from his own door with hope of returning the same night. The
+populace was up in arms with indignation. Cienfuegos had intended the
+command to have a quieting effect, but its result was exactly the
+reverse. It gave rise to the very disturbances which the Captain-General
+was endeavoring to restrain.
+
+It would be hard to conjecture what might have been the result of a
+continuance of Cienfuegos's arbitrary methods. They certainly boded no
+good for the peace of Cuba. Fortunately before he could resort to any
+more of what the Cubans termed "these outrages against liberty," he fell
+ill, and thereupon the administration of the government fell into the
+hands of Don Juan Maria Echeverria, as a temporary substitute. This
+officer had no time to formulate new rules for the government of the
+Cubans, being kept very busy laboring against the troubles caused by his
+predecessor's doings. Then, too, his stay was short, for on August 29,
+1819, the Spanish ship of war _Sabrina_ brought Cuba a new
+Captain-General, Don Juan Manuel Cagigal.
+
+In "Cuba and the Cubans," published in 1850, we are told that "The
+political changes adopted in Spain in 1812 and 1820 were productive of
+similar changes in the island: and when in both instances the
+constitution was proclaimed, the perpetual members of the municipalities
+were at once deprived of office, and their successors elected by the
+people. The provincial assembly was called, and held its sessions. The
+militia was organized; the press made entirely free, the verdict of a
+jury deciding actions for its abuses; and the same courts of justice
+were in no instance to decide a case a second time. But if the
+institution of the consulate was very beneficial during Ferdinand's
+absolute sway, the ultra-popular grants of the constitutional system,
+which could hardly be exercised with quiet in Spain, were ill-adapted to
+Cuba, though more advanced in civilization, stained with all those vices
+that are the legitimate curse of a country long under despotic sway.
+That system was so democratic that the king was deprived of all
+political authority. No intermediate house of nobility or senators
+tempered the enactments of a single elective assembly. This sudden
+change from an absolute government, with its usual concomitant, a
+corrupt and debased public sentiment, to the full enjoyment of
+republican privileges, served only to loosen the ties of decency and
+decorum throughout the Spanish community. Infidelity resulted from it;
+and that veil of respect for the religion of their fathers, which had
+covered the deformity of such a state of society, was imprudently thrown
+aside. As the natural consequence of placing the instruments of freedom
+in the hands of an ignorant multitude, their minds were filled with
+visions of that chimerical equality which the world is never to realize.
+The rich found themselves deprived of their accustomed influence, and
+felt that there was little chance of obtaining justice from the common
+people (in no place so formidable as in Cuba, from the heterogeneous
+nature of the population), and who were now, in a manner, arrayed
+against them throughout the land. They, of course, eagerly wished the
+return of the old system of absolute rule. But the proprietors only
+asked for the liberal policy which they had enjoyed at the hands of the
+Spanish monarch; not, most surely, that oppressive and nondescript
+government, which, by separating the interest of the country from that
+of her nearest rulers, and destroying all means of redress or complaint,
+thrust the last offspring of Spain into an abyss of bloodshed and ruin,
+during the recent disgusting exercise of military rule, in publishing by
+the most arbitrary and cruel measures, persons suspected of engaging in
+an apprehended servile insurrection."
+
+This not altogether coherent statement gives an idea of how the rule of
+the Spanish Captains-General of this period, and how the so-called
+reforms which were instituted during the early part of the nineteenth
+century, were regarded thirty-five or forty years afterward.
+
+Senor Cagigal was accompanied by troops, ostensibly to supply the local
+garrison, and it would be strange if they were not also imported to fill
+the native hearts with respect for the government and to help in
+quelling any threatened uprisings. History furnishes strange paradoxes,
+and so in 1820 we have the spectacle of Cagigal's own troops rising in
+revolt against him and compelling him to proclaim the constitution of
+1812. It is true that he soon quelled this rebellion, set aside his
+proclamation, and restored the old order, but that does not detract from
+the grim humor of the situation in which he for a time found himself.
+
+But Cagigal was a diplomat of a high order, and he did make efforts to
+accomplish well the difficult task of governing Cuba. His decisions and
+decrees were generally impartial. He had a charming social manner, and a
+delightfully conciliatory way; always suave, affable and approachable.
+He placated trouble makers, and dispensed justice in an endeavor to give
+universal satisfaction. He was accordingly held in the highest esteem by
+the majority of the Cubans. And Cuba apparently found favor in his eyes.
+He grew to love the beautiful island, and perhaps his heart was touched
+by her patience under the galling Spanish yoke. At any rate, he applied
+to the crown for special permission to spend the rest of his life in
+Cuba. This request was granted and he made for himself a home at
+Guanabacoa, where he lived until his death, some years later.
+
+Cagigal was succeeded in 1821 by Nicholas Mahy, an old man, of a
+distrustful and arbitrary disposition, who was entirely out of sympathy
+with the liberal movement in Cuba. He could see no way of retaining her
+for Spain except by keeping her people in subjection under an absolute
+despotism. He proceeded to carry out his ideas with a high hand, and it
+is a matter of speculation to what lengths he might have gone, had not
+death speedily cut short his career. He ruled for only a single year,
+after which no new Captain-General was sent out from Spain but Sebastian
+Kindelan, Mahy's subordinate, took command. He was a sterner
+disciplinarian than even his former master. His sole object seemed to be
+to reunite the military and civil power in the hands of the
+Captain-General. He was willing to stoop to any means to accomplish his
+purpose, and he was backed up by a large body of troops imported from
+Spain. Feeling ran high between these--as the Cubans termed
+them--"interlopers and troublemakers" and the local militia, and
+serious trouble was with difficulty avoided. Then in 1823 Ferdinand VII.
+was again in power in Spain; weak, crafty, scheming, malicious, and
+grasping; and it is needless to say that Cuba was visited with new
+oppression.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XX
+
+
+It was on May 2, 1823, that Don Francisco Vives, afterward Conde de
+Cuba, arrived in Cuba to take over the office of Captain-General. Let us
+first contemplate the good which he accomplished for Cuba, before
+scanning the darker pages of his high-handed rule.
+
+Vives reorganized the rural militia, and he caused the construction of a
+number of important fortresses and the completion of others already
+begun. He divided the island into three military departments. Under his
+instructions two asylums for the insane, el Departmento de Dementes, and
+the Casa de Beneficencia, were constructed. He made an effort to mark
+the historic spots of the island, and under his auspices a temple was
+built on the spot in the city of Havana where was reputed to have been
+celebrated the first mass. So much for the good done by Vives. Now we
+come to a different story.
+
+This Captain-General was a despot of the most pronounced type, the kind
+dear to the hearts of the rulers in the mother country. He obtained from
+his royal master, in 1825, an order placing Cuba under martial law, and
+giving the Captain-General complete control of her destiny. It reads as
+follows:
+
+"The King, our master, in whose royal mind great confidence has been
+inspired by your excellency's proved fidelity, indefatigable zeal in his
+majesty's service, judicious and well-concerted steps taken since Y. E.
+had charge of the government, in order to keep in quietude his faithful
+inhabitants, confine within the proper limits such as would deviate
+from the path of honor, and punish such as forgetting their duty would
+dare commit excesses in opposition to our wise laws; well convinced as
+H. M. feels, that at no time and under no circumstances whatever will
+the principles of rectitude and love toward H. M. royal person be
+weakened which now distinguish Y. E.; and being at the same time
+desirous of preventing the embarrassments which under ordinary
+circumstances might arise a division in the command, and from the
+complicated authority and powers of the different officers of
+government, for the important end of maintaining in that island his
+sovereign authority and the public quiet, it has pleased H. M., in
+conformity with the advice of his council of ministers, to authorize
+your excellency, _fully investing you with the whole extent of power
+which by the royal ordinances is granted to the governors of besieged
+towns_. In consequence thereof H. M. most amply and unrestrictedly
+authorizes Y. E. _not only to remove from that island such persons,
+holding offices from government or not_, whatever their occupation,
+rank, class or situation in life may be, whose residence there you may
+believe prejudicial, or whose public or private conduct may appear
+suspicious to you, _employing in their stead faithful servants of H. M.
+who shall fully deserve your excellency's confidence; but also to
+suspend the execution of whatever royal orders or general decrees in all
+the different branches of the administration, or in any part of them, as
+Y, E. may think conducive to the royal service_; it being in any case
+required that these measures be temporary, and that Y. E. make report of
+them for his majesty's sovereign approval.
+
+"In granting Y. E. this marked proof of his royal esteem, and of the
+high trust your proven loyalty deserves, H. M. expects that in due
+correspondence to the same, Y. E. will use the most wakeful prudence
+and reserve, joined to an indefatigable activity and unyielding
+firmness, in the exercise of your excellency's authority, and trusts
+that as your excellency shall by this very pleasure and graciousness of
+H. M. be held to a more strict responsibility, Y. E. will redouble his
+vigilance that the laws be observed, that justice be administered, that
+H. M. faithful vassals be protected and rewarded, and punishment without
+partiality or indulgence inflicted on those who, forgetful of their duty
+and their obligations to the best and most benevolent of monarchs, shall
+oppose those laws, decidedly abetting sinister plots, with infraction of
+them and disregard of the decrees from them issuing. And I therefore, by
+royal order, inform Y. E. of the same for Y. E.'s intelligence,
+satisfaction, and exact observance thereof. God preserve your
+excellency's life. Madrid, 28 May, 1825."
+
+As a marvel of unconscious irony this is a unique document. Evidently
+both the King and his minister lacked a sense of humor. Here is a
+document purporting to be issued "to keep in quietude" "faithful
+inhabitants." Why the "Ever-Faithful" needed a curb or why if such
+measures were necessary the insurgents were referred to as "Faithful,"
+only a stupid king through the mouth of an equally pig-headed minister
+could determine. This royal order, we may relate with satisfaction,
+proved a boomerang. It gave the Captain-General--just why it is hard to
+decide--absolute power, not only to govern by military force, but to
+depose from office those who offended him, whether they were the king's
+minions or not. It also made inoperative all royal decrees unless the
+Captain-General chose to sanction them. Now Cuba, at this time, was
+saddled with hosts of fortune seekers, court favorites who were
+temporarily and voluntarily exiles from the sunshine of the monarch's
+smiles, that they might line their pockets and return to startle the
+Spanish grandees with their new splendor. Naturally they were seeking
+office and emoluments from the Spanish government. But then came their
+royal master and placed them, their positions, their fortunes, in the
+hands of a man who, should they offend him, could summarily degrade
+them, and force them to return home no richer than when they came. Truly
+the ways of kings are no less inscrutable than those of Providence.
+Naturally this royal order found little favor in Cuba. In vain, however,
+were efforts made to have it suspended, and to prove that it had never
+been intended to be anything but a temporary measure.
+
+The trouble which was brewing for Spain, in Cuba, at this period was
+well forecast and described in an article, primarily on the dangers of
+the slave trade, which was published in a periodical in Havana, in 1832.
+After detailing some facts as to slave importations, it said:
+
+"Thus far we have only considered the power which has its origin in the
+numbers of the colored population that surrounds us. What a picture we
+might draw, if we were to portray this immense body acting under the
+influence of political and moral causes, and presenting a spectacle
+unknown in history! We surely shall not do it. But we should be guilty
+of moral treason to our country, if we were to forget the efforts now
+making to effect a change in the conditions of the African race.
+Philanthropic laws, enacted by some of the European nations,
+associations of distinguished Englishmen, periodicals solely devoted to
+this subject, eloquent parlimentary debates whose echoes are constantly
+repeated on this side of the Atlantic, bold exhortations from the
+pulpits of religious sects, political principles which with lightning
+rapidity are spreading in both hemispheres, and _very recent commotions
+in several parts of the West Indies, everything is calculated to awaken
+us from our profound slumber and remind us that we must save our
+country_. And should this our beloved mother ask us what measures we
+have adopted to extricate her from her danger, what would those who
+boast themselves her dutiful sons, answer? The horrid traffic in human
+blood is carried on in defiance of the laws, and men who assume the name
+of patriots, being no other than parricides, cover the land with
+shackled victims. And as if this were not sufficiently fearful with
+criminal apathy, Africans freed and brought to this country by English
+policy, are permitted to reside in our midst. How different the conduct
+of our neighbors the Americans! Notwithstanding the rapid increase of
+their country; notwithstanding the white has constantly been four fifths
+more numerous than the colored population, and have ten and a half
+millions to offset two millions; notwithstanding the importation of the
+latter is prohibited from one end of the republic to the other, while
+European immigration is immense; notwithstanding the countries lying
+upon their boundaries have no slaves to inspire dread, they organize
+associations, raise funds, purchase lands in Africa, establish colonies,
+favor the emigration of the colored population to them, increasing their
+exertions as the exigency may require, not faltering in their course,
+and leaving no expedient untried which shall prove them friends of
+humanity and their country. Not satisfied with these general measures,
+some states have adopted very thorough and efficient measures. In
+December, 1831, Louisiana passed a law prohibiting importation of slaves
+even from other states of the Union.
+
+"Behold the movement of a great people, who would secure their safety!
+Behold the model you should imitate! But we are told 'Your efforts are
+in vain. You cannot justly reproach us. Our plantations need hands and
+if we cannot obtain negroes, what shall we do?' We are far from wishing
+to offend a class equally deserving respect and esteem, including many
+we are happy to call friends. We are habitually indulgent and in no
+sense more so than in that before us. The notions and examples to which
+they have been accustomed justify in a great measure the part they act,
+and an immediate benefit and remote danger authorize in others a course
+of conduct which we wish may never be generally and permanently adopted.
+We would not rudely censure the motives of the planters. Our mission
+requires us only to remark, that it is necessary to adopt some plan,
+since the change in politics is inconsistent with and hostile to the
+much longer continuance of the illicit traffic in slaves. We all know
+that England has, both with selfish and humane motives, made and is
+still making great efforts against it by means of treaties. She is no
+longer the only power thus engaged, since France is also taking her
+share in the enterprise. The United States will soon appear in the field
+to vindicate down-trodden humanity. They will adopt strong measures, and
+perseveringly pursue the pirate negro-dealer. Will he then escape the
+vigilance of enemies so active and powerful? And even should some be
+able to do so, how enormously expensive must their piracy be! It is
+demonstrable that the number of imported negroes being then small, and
+their introduction subject to uncommon risks, their cost would be so
+enhanced as to destroy the motive for preferring slave labor. A proper
+regard to our true interests will lead us to consider henceforth other
+means of supplying our wants, since our present mode will ultimately
+paralyze our resources and be attended with baneful consequences. The
+equal distribution of the two sexes in the country, and an improved
+treatment of them, would alone be sufficient, not merely to prevent a
+diminution of their number, but greatly to increase it. But the existing
+disproportion of the sexes forbids our indulging in so pleasing a hope.
+We shall, however, do much to effect our purposes by discontinuing
+certain practices, and adopting a system more consonant to the good
+principles that should be our guide.
+
+"Would it not be advisable to try some experiments that we may be able
+to compare the results of cultivating cane by slaves, with such other
+methods as we may find expedient to adopt?
+
+"If the planters could realize the importance of these propositions to
+their welfare, we should see them striving to promote the introduction
+of white and the exclusion of colored hands. By forming associations,
+raising funds, and in various ways exerting themselves vigorously in a
+cause so eminently patriotic, they would at once overcome the obstacles
+to the introduction of white foreigners, and induce their immigration by
+the guarantees of good laws and thus assure the tranquillity of the
+country.
+
+"We may be told that these are imaginary plans, and never to be
+realized. We answer that they are essays, not difficult or expensive, if
+undertaken, as we suggest, by a whole community. If we are not disposed
+to make the voluntary trial now, the day is at hand when we shall be
+obliged to attempt it, or abandon the cultivation of sugar! The prudent
+mariner on a boisterous ocean prepares betimes for the tempest, and
+defies it. He who recklessly abandons himself to the fury of the
+elements is likely to perish in the rage of the storm.
+
+"'How imprudent,' some may exclaim, 'how imprudent to propose a subject
+which should be forever buried in "lasting oblivion."' Behold the
+general accusation raised against him who dares boldly avow new
+opinions respecting these matters. Unfortunately there is among us an
+opinion which insists that 'silence' is the true policy. All feel the
+evils which surround us, are acquainted with the dangers, and wish to
+avoid them. Let a remedy be suggested and a thousand confused voices be
+simultaneously raised; and a significant and imploring 'Hush!--hush!' is
+heard on every side. Such infatuation resembles his who conceals the
+disease which is hurrying him speedily to death, rather than hear its
+unpleasant history and mode of cure, from his only hope, the physician's
+saving science. Which betrays censurable apathy, he who obstinately
+rushes headlong to the brink of a mighty precipice, or he who gives the
+timely warning to beware? Who would not thus save a whole community
+perhaps from frightful destruction? If we knew most positively that the
+disease were beyond all hopes of cure, the knowledge of the fact would
+not stay the march of death, while it might serve but as a terrifying
+enunciation of his approach. If, however, the sick man is endowed with a
+strong constitution, that with timely prescription promises a probable
+return of health, it would be unpardonable to act the part of a passive
+spectator. We heed not that the selfish condemn, that the self-admiring
+wise censure, or the parricidal accuse us. Reflections of a higher
+nature guide us, and in the spirit of our responsible calling as a
+public writer, we will never cease to cry aloud, '_Let us save our
+country--let us save our country!_'"
+
+A subtle document that. Hidden carefully in the denunciation of slavery
+is a call to organization to form societies. We shall see later how
+important and potent those societies were and that their objects were
+something far different from the destruction of slavery. The paper
+closed with a clear cry for freedom for Cuba.
+
+It cannot be disguised that those who had the real good of the island of
+Cuba at heart, patriots, Cubans who loved their country, men who longed
+to stand upright, to put off the yoke of Spain, and to look the
+inhabitants of free countries in the face as equals, were withdrawing
+their heartfelt allegiance from Spain, and were longing for
+independence. That this desire had been created by Spanish oppression,
+and nurtured by Spanish injustice, is a self-evident fact. The causes
+which led to the insurrections by which Cuba was torn from this time on
+until she obtained her independence, we must leave for another chapter.
+There are two matters most pertinent to this investigation, which we
+must first discuss: The attitude of the United States toward Cuba at
+this period, and the revolt of the other Spanish colonies, led by Simon
+Bolivar, "The Liberator."
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XXI
+
+
+Cuba, so rich and fertile, was an object of desire, not alone to
+America, but at least equally to the countries of Europe. Thus England
+cast covetous eyes at Cuba, and some of the English papers intimated
+that the United States was anxious to acquire the island, and that if
+England wished to save her West Indian trade, she had best look to her
+interests and, if possible, wrest Cuba from Spain. Probably the
+strongest feeling in the United States in the early part of the
+nineteenth century was that Cuba must not pass from the hands of Spain
+into those of any other power, and that if Cuba was to be separated from
+Spain it must be either as an independent country or by annexation to
+the United States. The desire for annexation, _per se_, did not appear
+to be so strong as the feeling that the United States must not allow
+either France or England to acquire Cuba, and there were, of course,
+strong political and geographical reasons for this decision. In a former
+chapter we have recalled some of the circumstances of that time, and
+have cited some of the authoritative utterances of American statesmen
+concerning Cuba in the first half of the nineteenth century. Let us now
+recur to that part of Cuban history in its chronological order.
+
+Early in 1823, those Cubans who were more or less secretly in favor of
+independence sent an agent named Morales to Washington to try to
+discover what course the United States would pursue in case Cuba should
+declare her independence. It was intimated that in case Spain continued
+her oppressions, and did not grant Cuba a more liberal government, Cuba
+would ask for the protection of the United States, possibly for
+admission to the Union; and in case this was refused, she would appeal
+to England. While no definite promises were made to Cubans, it seemed to
+be the sentiment in Washington that, should Cuba thus offer herself, it
+would be tempting fate not to accept the gift. Indeed, a considerable
+portion of the United States was at this time eager for the annexation
+of Cuba. There seems moreover to have been in the American cabinet a
+strong feeling toward urging Cuba to declare her independence, and this
+might have resolved itself into promises if not into decided action, had
+it not been for the counter current of opinion that, should she do so,
+she could not maintain such a status. John Quincy Adams was sure of
+this, and although he felt that the time was not ripe in the United
+States for the adoption of a policy of annexation, yet if Cuba should
+fall to the United States by the mere gravitation of politics, he
+believed it would be folly to refuse to accept the gift, particularly
+since the occupation of Cuba by England would give her a base from which
+to proceed against the United States; and matters between England and
+her former possession were by no means yet settled on a basis of
+enduring friendship. Indeed, Adams believed that the future might make
+the annexation of Cuba almost indispensable to the destiny of the Union;
+as on April 28, 1823, he said in his instructions to the American
+minister at Madrid which we have already quoted.
+
+It was practically certain at this time that France would intervene in
+the affairs of Spain, and would try to overthrow the liberal government
+of that country, and it seemed probable that England would take
+advantage of the opportunity in an endeavor to secure Cuba for herself.
+The island was seething with an undercurrent of revolt, and Washington
+was uneasy as to what England might do. Reports had it that orders had
+been sent to British troops to take possession of Cuba, by force if
+necessary, and that Spain, in return for certain secret concessions from
+England, had consented to this course. Adams wisely saw that if the Holy
+Alliance overthrew the Spanish constitution, Spain could not hope to
+retain Cuba, and since the island was believed to be incapable of
+self-government, the natural inference was that it would become a
+dependent of either England or the United States. We may be sure that
+Washington did not intend that this dependence should be upon England.
+About this time, Mr. Miralla, a man of affairs who had been for some ten
+years a resident of Cuba, told Jefferson in a conference in Washington
+that public sentiment in Cuba was against the country becoming an
+English territory, and that the Cubans would rise to resist it. He
+stated that Cuba would prefer to remain as she was rather than to change
+masters--jump from Scylla to Charybdis, as it were--and that if any
+change must come she desired independence; that she realized that
+unaided she could not maintain herself a separate nation, but that she
+hoped for the support of the United States or of Mexico, or both, to
+help her to maintain her freedom. Cuba had a secret fear that should she
+seek independence, the turbulent blacks would try to seize the
+government, and of course that would mean ruin.
+
+On December 2, 1823, President Monroe delivered his epochal Doctrine:
+
+"In the wars of European powers in matters relating to themselves, we
+have never taken any part nor does it comport with our policy to do so.
+It is only when our rights are invaded or seriously menaced that we
+resent injuries or make preparations for defense. With the movements in
+this hemisphere we are of necessity more immediately connected, and by
+causes which must be obvious to all enlightened and impartial observers.
+The political system of the Allied Powers is essentially different in
+this respect from that of America.... We should consider any attempt on
+their part to extend their system to any portion of this hemisphere as
+dangerous to our peace and safety. With the existing colonies and
+dependencies of any European power we have not interfered and shall not
+interfere. But with the governments who have declared their independence
+and maintained it, and whose independence we have on great consideration
+and on just principles acknowledged, we could not view any interposition
+for the purpose of oppressing them, or controlling in any other manner
+their destiny, in any other light than as the manifestation of an
+unfriendly disposition toward the United States."
+
+[Illustration: JAMES MONROE]
+
+This message had the desired effect. The Holy Alliance wisely kept its
+hands off from affairs in the southern Americas, including Cuba. But the
+United States naturally sought to cultivate closer relations with its
+neighbor. There were indeed practical reasons why it should do so; even
+for its own peace and comfort. For pirates preyed on United States
+shipping. A blockade was proposed to catch the offenders, but it did not
+find favor with the powers at the United States capital. Landing in
+Cuba, and reprisals on persons and property, were suggested, but it was
+considered unwise for the United States thus to take steps which would
+be opposed if any other power should assume a like attitude.
+
+The United States government feared a secret transfer of Cuba by Spain
+and that such action would be taken before Washington could become
+cognizant of it. It therefore sought to be allowed to station consuls at
+Havana, and in Porto Rico, who were, of course, practically to be the
+eyes of the United States government, to detect any incipient plot to
+rid Spain of Cuba. This idea did not find favor at the Spanish court and
+a polite letter of demurrer was sent, stating that such a proposition
+was untenable at the time, owing to the turbulent condition of affairs
+on the island, but that later, when Cuba became more peaceful, it would
+be considered. The real reason for Spain's refusal doubtless was that
+she was still smarting from the United States's recognition of the
+independence of other South American countries, and she did not feel
+justified in allowing anyone who she felt would be a spy to have an
+official position on the island, particularly when that person came from
+a country which, having attained its own liberty, naturally had sympathy
+with those who had theirs yet to gain.
+
+The state of affairs at this time was epigrammatically described by _The
+London Courier_, when it said: "Cuba is the Turkey of trans-Atlantic
+politics, tottering to its fall, and kept from falling only by the
+struggles of those who contend for the right of catching her in her
+descent."
+
+Spain, always badly in need of money, made in 1838 a proposal to England
+to offer Cuba as security for a loan, which undoubtedly would have meant
+that England would eventually have to take Cuba in payment for the debt.
+The United States Minister at Madrid, hearing of the project, made it so
+clear that such a course would not be tolerated by his country, that
+the idea was abandoned. A few years later President Van Buren again
+expressed the American pro-slavery policy toward Cuban independence:
+
+"The Government has always looked with the deepest interest upon the
+fate of these islands, but particularly of Cuba. Its geographical
+position, which places it almost in sight of our southern shores, and,
+as it were, gives it the command of the Gulf of Mexico and the West
+Indian seas, its safe and capacious harbors, its rich productions, the
+exchange of which for our surplus agricultural products and manufactures
+constitutes one of the most extensive and valuable branches of our
+foreign trade, render it of the utmost importance to the United States
+that no change should take place in its condition which might
+injuriously affect our political and commercial standing in that
+quarter. Other considerations connected with a certain class of our
+population made it to the interest of the southern section of the Union
+that no attempt should be made in that island to throw off the yoke of
+Spanish dependence, the first effect of which would be the sudden
+emancipation of a numerous slave population, which result could not but
+be very sensibly felt upon the adjacent shores of the United States."
+
+The United States had a selfish interest in keeping Cuba in a state of
+peace and prosperity. In 1842 it was found that Spain could not pay the
+interest upon her debt to the United States. It was suggested that she
+make it a charge upon the revenues of Cuba, and the next year it was
+arranged that the entire claim be settled by a sum paid to the United
+States annually by the Captain-General of Cuba. Naturally if there were
+constant revolutions and uprisings in Cuba, these revenues would not be
+forthcoming. On the other hand, taxation for the purpose of settling
+Spain's debt to America was not looked on with favor among Cuban
+patriots.
+
+From the foregoing it will be seen that while the United States did not
+urge annexation,--since it was against her avowed policy to do so--she
+would not have been unwilling to accept Cuba, had that country knocked
+at her door and offered herself as a free gift. It will be equally clear
+that the United States had no intention that Cuba should be transferred
+by Spain to any other country than herself, and that she stood ready to
+combat such a project by force of arms if necessary. It will also be
+seen that some of her statesmen would have smiled upon the idea of Cuba
+as an independent nation, if they had for a moment believed that Cuba
+could maintain her independence, and that surreptitiously the United
+States might have lent her aid to this end, if it could have been done
+without embroiling herself with Spain. However, there was a division of
+opinion in Washington as to the effects on the Southern States of any
+change of condition in Cuba.
+
+It might also be observed that France and England--particularly the
+latter--would have been glad to add Cuba to their possessions, but they
+feared war with the United States if they made the attempt. And as for
+Cuba herself, her first choice was freedom, but if it were necessary, in
+order to escape Spanish tyranny, she would have accepted annexation to
+the United States, or at any rate a protectorate from that government.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XXII
+
+
+The half century from 1776 to 1826 was afire with the spirit of
+revolution and freedom. During this period the United States won her
+independence from England; Belgium sought separation from Holland;
+France was in the throes of revolution; and Greece won her freedom from
+Turkey. This spirit of liberty penetrated to Central and South America
+and set the Spanish colonies there aflame.
+
+A successful revolution must have a competent and daring leader. The
+South American revolt in Venezuela and surrounding countries was led by
+a romantic figure, a man of such tremendous personality, such high
+ideals, and such ability to carry them out, that, although he never set
+foot in Cuba, and never personally figured in her politics, his
+influence reached out from the other colonies and more than any other at
+this period swayed the destiny of the "Pearl of the Antilles." His
+desire for liberty was like a bright light which illumined the whole
+Latin-American atmosphere.
+
+It has been said that "only an aristocrat can be truly democratic," for
+only an aristocrat has everything to lose and nothing to gain by
+espousing the cause of democracy and liberty. It is true that, like
+Washington, Simon Bolivar came of wealthy and aristocratic ancestry. His
+people were among the foremost of the Creoles. His parents died when he
+was still a child, and his passionate, wilful nature was allowed to go
+uncurbed. He developed a violent and hasty temper, but he was also
+openhearted, generous, and quick to sue for pardon. He had a charming
+personality, and the ability to make friends and hold them for life. In
+his later years his followers would have died for him. He was absolutely
+fearless, and it is said of him that at one time at a banquet, in the
+presence of the Governor of Venezuela--Bolivar's native country--he
+arose and proposed a toast to the "Independence of the Americas."
+
+[Illustration: SIMON BOLIVAR]
+
+At an early age he went abroad. When in Spain he became friendly with
+Prince Ferdinand, afterwards King Ferdinand VII. of Spain--then a boy.
+They were both tennis enthusiasts, and it is told that Bolivar
+constantly beat the young prince on the courts at the royal palace at
+Madrid, just as later his armies prevailed against those of Ferdinand
+VII. He travelled in Italy and contrasted the progressive spirit of that
+country as compared with the turbidity and tendency to disintegration
+which dominated Spain. A sojourn in France made him an eye witness of
+some of the most frightful scenes of the French revolution. On his
+return home, he visited the United States and there beheld the actual,
+peaceful workings of a republic. All this time there was stirring within
+him the eager desire for freedom for his own country, which at last
+impelled him to cast aside the luxury and ease which his position and
+family gave him, and to accept the danger of exile and death, so that he
+might free South America.
+
+The process of revolutionary organization in Venezuela and her sister
+states was much the same as that later adopted in Cuba. Secret societies
+were formed, the members of which were pledged to the cause of liberty.
+They grew, and waxed strong and powerful, and at length the fire of
+revolt was kindled. Bolivar's first active step toward the rescue of his
+country from the Spanish rule was an insurrection at Caracas in April,
+1810. The governor was deposed and the freedom of Caracas was
+established without violence. The commerce of Venezuela was opened to
+the world, taxes to the crown were declared abolished, and a republic
+was formed. In recognition of Bolivar's services, he was given a
+commission as Colonel and with Louis Lopez Mendez went to England to try
+to get her aid. Great Britain, however, declined to be drawn into the
+controversy and declared her absolute neutrality.
+
+On July 5, 1811, the flag of the new republic was unfurled to the world.
+But Spain was not inclined to relinquish what she considered her rights
+without a struggle, and Spanish troops were quickly dispatched to
+Venezuela. In a famous speech Bolivar, now returned to his native
+country, voiced the sentiments of the republic. He said:
+
+"Why should we take into account Spain's intentions? What shall we care
+if she chooses to keep us as her slave or sell us to Bonaparte, since we
+have decided to be free? That great projects should be patiently
+weighed, I hear; but are not three hundred years of waiting long enough?
+Let us set without fear the foundation of South American independence.
+To tergiversate is to fail."
+
+With Bolivar to Venezuela came General Francisco Miranda, who had fought
+under Washington for the independence of the United States and under
+Dumouriez for the freedom of the French people. He was an experienced
+and tried soldier and one who loved liberty as he loved his life, but he
+was unfamiliar with conditions in Venezuela, and he was a better fighter
+than an organizer. He was made general-in-chief of the Venezuelan army;
+but his campaigns against the Spaniards were unsuccessful and he was
+captured and flung into a dungeon, where he remained for the rest of his
+life. Bolivar escaped and went to Curacao, where he published a
+declaration to the effect that in order to make possible the liberty of
+the continent Venezuela must be again established as a republic; and to
+accomplish this end he called for men. Two hundred responded and with
+this small force he engaged an army ten times the size of his own, and
+fought twenty successive battles in fifteen days. His way led across
+mountains and through passes where death, not only from the foe but as
+the result of a single misstep, was ever imminent, but neither Bolivar
+nor his men were daunted. He was victorious over the Spaniards, took the
+city of Cucuta, and added a million dollars to the treasury. His army
+was constantly increased by volunteers. Over 750 miles were traversed,
+and fifty times the Spaniards were engaged. On August 6, 1813, Bolivar
+entered Caracas in triumph. The most beautiful women of the city crowned
+him with laurels; cries of "Long live our Liberator! Long live New
+Granada! Long live the Savior of Venezuela!" filled the air; the people
+wept for joy, and Bolivar himself, much moved, dismounted from his horse
+and knelt to give thanks to God for the victory which had attended his
+efforts.
+
+But while the patriots were showering honors upon their "Liberator" the
+Spanish were remarshalling their forces. On the plains lived the
+Llaneros, cattle breeders, men of the wildest nature, almost outlaws.
+They were reckless fighters and rode fearlessly. They were won over to
+the Spanish cause by the promise of booty, and soon, under the
+leadership of a Spaniard named Boves, were arrayed against Bolivar's
+little army.
+
+The days that followed were dark for the patriots, with a long record of
+heart-breaking defeats. But no matter how the tide of battle went
+against them, their souls were unconquered. Rumors against the honor and
+integrity of Bolivar began to be circulated and he lost caste among
+those who had been his staunch supporters. Finally he was denounced as a
+traitor and driven into exile. In this, the darkest hour of his life, he
+made a farewell address to his people:
+
+"I swear to you," he said, "that this title (Liberator) which your
+gratitude bestowed upon me when I broke your chains shall not be in
+vain. I swear to you that Liberator or dead, I shall ever merit the
+honor you have done me; no human power can turn me from my course."
+
+Bolivar went to New Granada, where Camille Torres, the president of that
+Republic, was his staunch friend. He is said to have cried: "So long as
+Bolivar lives, Venezuela is not lost." There Bolivar never ceased to
+work for his country, even though he was unjustly exiled. The cause of
+liberty suffered severe reverses during these days. Ferdinand VII., who
+was once more securely seated on the throne of Spain, sent a great army
+to America, under the command of General Morillo, who had instructions
+to subdue the insurgent colonies even "if no patriot was left alive on
+the continent." New Granada was conquered and all the revolutionists on
+whom the Spanish could lay hands were massacred. Peru, Chili and Buenos
+Aires were also made to bow to the power of Spain, who outdid herself in
+cruel injustice to show the revolutionists that revolt was useless. Of
+the Spanish action in Venezuela, an official report says: "Provinces
+have ceased to exist. Towns inhabited by thousands now number scarcely a
+hundred. Others have been entirely wiped out. Roads are covered with
+dying, dead and unburied skeletons. Heaps of ashes mark the sites of
+villages. The trace of cultivated areas is obliterated."
+
+Bolivar next banded his little following together on the island of Santo
+Domingo, and at the close of 1816 landed just off the coast of
+Venezuela, on the island of Margarita. He convened a congress,
+instituted a government, and issued a proclamation abolishing slavery in
+Venezuela; almost fifty years before the famous Emancipation
+Proclamation of Lincoln. Then he entered upon a two years' campaign, of
+fierce and fearless fighting against the huge forces of General Morillo.
+On July 17, 1817, his capture of Angostura marked the turning tide of
+his fortunes. In 1818 his followers were increased by a large number of
+soldiers of fortune who were seeking new employment in the pastime of
+fighting, now that the end of the Napoleonic wars had taken away their
+occupation. These men were an acquisition because they were skilled in
+warfare and used to its hardships.
+
+A congress was convened at Angostura, in February, 1819, and Bolivar, as
+the unanimous choice for President, was given supreme power. He made an
+address which is famous in the annals of history. Among other things he
+said:
+
+"A republican form of government has been, is and ought to be that of
+Venezuela; its basis ought to be the sovereignty of the people, the
+division of power, civil liberty, the prohibition of slavery and the
+abolition of monarchy and privilege---- I have been obliged to beg you
+to adopt centralization and the union of all the states in a republic,
+one and indivisible."
+
+On August 7, 1819, the decisive battle of Boyaca was fought, and Bolivar
+entered the capital of New Granada again crowned with laurels. Bolivar
+believed that the colonies, to make a strong resistance to Spain, must
+be united. His dream was a confederacy of South American States. This
+was partially realized when he formed a union of Venezuela, New Granada
+and Ecuador, in 1819, as one republic, of which he was made president.
+He was also made commander in chief of the army, with full powers of
+organization of any new conquests which he might add to the union.
+
+Now Spain cried for mercy, and when, in 1820, King Ferdinand was again
+deposed, she asked for a six months truce, which was granted, because
+Bolivar saw in this lull in hostilities a chance further to entrench
+himself and prepare for new conquests. His wisdom was demonstrated by
+the fact that in June, 1821, his army was triumphant at Carabobo, and he
+soon entered Caracas to cries of "El Libertador," his honor vindicated
+and his vow fulfilled. In victory he was generous, for in reviewing his
+army he greeted them with the words, "Salvadores de mi patria." In the
+period from 1821 to 1824, Bolivar fought for the freedom of Ecuador and
+Peru, and accomplished it. He was hailed as the South American
+Liberator, and a separate nation, formed from the territory of Upper
+Peru, became known as Bolivia, in honor of the great South American
+patriot. In 1826 Bolivar was at the height of his power, with his best
+dreams realized. He bore the titles, Perpetual Protector of Bolivia,
+President of Colombia and Dictator of Peru. The territory under his
+control was almost two-thirds the size of all Europe.
+
+History is too often a record of ingratitude. One would think that in
+South America Bolivar would have remained first in the hearts of all the
+people. But jealous seekers after self-aggrandizement plotted against
+his rule and even attempted his life. Venezuela, which owed so much to
+him, was the first to withdraw, Ecuador became a separate republic and
+Bolivar was banished. At this his heart and his spirit were broken and
+he died at the age of only 47, on December 17, 1830. His last words
+were: "For my enemies I have only forgiveness. If my death shall
+contribute to the cessation of factions and the consolidation of the
+Union, I can go tranquilly to my grave."
+
+No other single individual has left such a mark on the pages of South
+American history; and though he never even visited the island he greatly
+influenced Cuba as well as the countries in which he lived and struggled
+for freedom.
+
+For the breath of revolt which was scorching the Spanish possessions on
+the main land, was no longer leaving Cuba untouched. It has ever been
+the history of tyranny that sooner or later the oppressed have found a
+leader and have risen against their tormentors, and also--we have only
+to contemplate French history, or to study the story of Russia under the
+Czars, to find confirmation--that such opposition was born first in
+secret gatherings, and gained strength under cover of concealment and
+darkness, until it grew strong enough to stand in the daylight.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XXIII
+
+
+Tales of Bolivar's triumphs in South America were not slow to penetrate
+to the knowledge of the Cubans. Liberty, which had seemed only a dream,
+now began to take on the aspect of a possible reality. Men expressed
+their opinions and desires furtively in their own homes, to tried and
+trusted friends. They began to assemble and exchange views. No one dared
+to come out openly at first, and so propaganda was carried on through
+veiled articles, by word of mouth, by the secret clasp or sign of union.
+Under pretext of meeting for amusement and social pleasure clubs whose
+members were all friends of liberty began to be formed, about 1820. The
+Free Masons, whose principles were far from inimical to what now began
+to become the aim of all Cubans who loved their country, organized
+societies, which immediately became hot-beds of revolt, of the fiercest
+kind of protest against Spanish rule, and the rendezvous of those who
+planned to overthrow it.
+
+Other clubs, all of them masking their real purpose under some pretext,
+sprang into existence like magic. The best known of them all was called
+the "Soles de Bolivar" in which the influence of Bolivar had bridged the
+waters which separate Cuba from South America, and was leading the
+Cubans, in the inception of their fight for liberty. What the members of
+these societies most longed for was that the renowned "Liberator" would
+come at the head of an army and overthrow the Spanish rule in Cuba;
+though this was not to be.
+
+Now if the Spanish rule was politically weak and tottering at this
+time, the evidence of this fact was strongly repressed, and financially
+the country was flourishing. At the head of the financial department was
+the Count de Villanueva. He made many reformations in the methods of
+collecting taxes--to enable Spain more readily to lay her hands on her
+spoils. He changed the methods of keeping accounts, and of checking up
+the books of the public treasury. His influence at the Spanish court was
+greater than that of the Captain-General, and so he was able to have him
+deposed as President of the Consulado and himself appointed in his
+stead. He exercised a despotic control over the functions of that body,
+and made them subservient to the improvement and development of Cuba for
+the enrichment of Spain. He saw to it that everything that could be
+taxed paid its share into the public treasury. As agriculture increased,
+its products were more heavily taxed. The plight of the Cuban who
+desired to own property and get on, was similar to that of a pieceworker
+who, when he speeded up productions, found the piece work price cut to
+take care of any surplus. The more the Cuban produced, the more he was
+taxed, and his last state was about the same as his first; the only ones
+who profited were the officials in Spain. Now for the first time taxes
+were imposed without even consulting those taxed, to say nothing of
+obtaining their consent. Villanueva was the friend of the
+Captain-General and his co-conspirator against Cuba's happiness, in
+spite of the fact that he wrested from him certain honors. He was
+naturally most popular with the Spanish court, and was cordially hated
+by all loyal Cubans.
+
+Yet Villanueva did do some things for the improvement of Havana. He had
+many roads in and near the city paved, and devices erected to clear the
+anchorage of the harbor of the infiltrations of mud, and to preserve
+the wharves. He had the waters of the Husille brought into the city by
+an excellent method. He established a regular mail packet system between
+Spain and Cuba, and it was under his administration that the Guines
+railroad was built. This road ran from Havana to Guines, a distance of
+forty-five miles, and was built under the direction of an American
+engineer, Mr. Cruger. It was the nucleus of a system which in 1848
+comprised 285 miles of rails in operation, and 85 more in process of
+construction. These lines connected Havana with Guines, Batabano,
+Cardenas and Matanzas; Cardenas with Juacaro, Matanzas with Sabanilla
+and Colisco, Nuevitas with Puerto Principe, and Santiago de Cuba with
+the copper mines. They represented an investment of between five and six
+million dollars.
+
+Villanueva, however, oppressed and robbed the people in order that he
+might make frequent and munificent remittances to the treasury in Spain.
+The more they gave, the more they were urged to give. Spain cared
+nothing for the manner in which the money which she demanded was
+accumulated, only that by fair means or foul it might be forthcoming.
+Villanueva established the Bank of St. Ferdinand, but for all the good
+it did Cuba at this time, it might have remained unestablished. Its
+capital was seized by the crown as fast as it accumulated, and it proved
+to be just a new method for the extortioners. Spain had no more
+unscrupulous agent than her chief of the finance department.
+
+The victims were not quiescent, except in appearance. The rack keys were
+being too tightly turned. In the "Soles de Bolivar" and in other
+assemblies patriots were crying out for vengeance. In vain Vives tried
+to suppress the societies. Known members were arrested and thrown into
+prison, and meetings were forbidden; but the movement was like a
+conflagration which has gained start in many parts of a city. When
+stamped out in one place--when one society was destroyed--it only made
+its appearance in another. The principal headquarters were at Matanzas.
+Very carefully and in secret the leaders laid their plans for a
+widespread revolt, the date of which was set for August 16, 1823. But
+Vives had secret agents in the societies, and there were traitors as
+there frequently are in such movements. When the day of the revolt
+dawned the leaders were seized and imprisoned. There were many eminent
+Cubans among the patriots, the best known being the greatest of Cuban
+poets, Jose Maria Heredia. Perhaps some appreciation not so much of this
+man's courage as of his genius influenced the Captain-General. At any
+rate, instead of being condemned to death, he was sent into perpetual
+exile. A few of the members of the society learned of the betrayal
+before they could be taken and made their escape from the island.
+
+Those who were conspiring for the liberation of Cuba were not cowed,
+however, but simply temporarily overcome. One of the first acts of Vives
+under the royal decree of May 25, 1825, was to use every means possible
+to suppress and to annihilate the secret societies, but he simply made
+them more wary. The desire for liberty which had sprung up in the
+breasts of so many Cuban patriots was destined never again to be
+extinguished, and the history of the island from this time down to the
+War of Independence, in the closing decade of the century, is that of
+one long struggle for separation from Spain--sometimes open, more
+frequently secret but always continuous.
+
+When the uprising of 1823 failed so signally, a number of the refugees
+who escaped prosecution fled to Mexico and Colombia. There was a
+settlement of these people in Caracas. They turned to "The Liberator"
+for support, and soon the invasion of Cuba, by a force composed of
+Mexicans and Colombians, either under the personal leadership, or under
+the direction of Bolivar, was planned. The leaders of this movement also
+sought aid in the United States. Now the slaveholders of the South were
+at this time opposed to the separation of Cuba from Spain, because under
+the lead of Bolivar it would mean the doom of the slave trade, the
+abolition of slavery, and such an achievement in Cuba would be inimical
+to their own interests. So the attempt to procure assistance in the
+United States was really the cause of the failure of the proposed
+expedition. Spanish spies were quickly informed of the proposed plan,
+and such strenuous efforts were openly made to make such an attempt
+ineffective, that it was never made. Bolivar had all he could attend to
+in South America, and he was too intelligent a leader to attempt the
+impossible, and at the same time leave his plans for the liberation of
+South America to meet certain defeat in his absence.
+
+But Spain did not easily overlook the conspiracy, and she seized the
+leaders in Cuba who were conspiring with those in Colombia and Mexico.
+Two young men of fine families, Don Francisco de Aguero Velasco and Don
+Bernabe Sanchez, were apprehended by the aides of the Captain-General,
+imprisoned and most cruelly treated, and when their spirit was not
+broken by torture and they refused to divulge the secrets of their
+leaders, they were condemned to die for treason, and paid the penalty of
+their patriotism with their lives.
+
+Still the love of freedom grew and waxed stronger in Cuba. In 1828, a
+secret society known as El Aguila Negra (The Black Eagle) was
+inaugurated in Colombia and Mexico, by those patriots who were escaping
+the vengeance of Spain by remaining in exile. This movement was
+splendidly organized. It had branches, not only in Colombia and Mexico,
+but also in the United States, where recruiting offices were openly
+established, and in Cuba where its operations were secret. But the
+organizers of The Black Eagle could not make a move which Spanish spies
+did not report to their master, the Captain-General of Cuba. Every plan
+was known to him as soon as it was formulated. He made no secret of his
+determination to deal summarily with those who were plotting against the
+power of Spain, but he waited in hope that he might be able to seize the
+real brains of the expedition. Besides this, the declaration of Bolivar
+for the freedom of the slaves as one of the principles for which he was
+fighting, and the fact that he was so closely connected with these
+revolutionary movements in Cuba, excited at this time the fears and
+animosity not only of the slave owners in the United States, but also of
+the most selfish, greedy and powerful of this class--particularly those
+of Spanish birth and sympathies--in Cuba. Before the expedition could be
+actually started, the leaders were apprehended and a farce of a trial
+followed. The Captain-General was beginning to fear the new spirit which
+was abroad in the land. Perhaps he had discovered that cruelty and
+fierce opposition only fanned the flame. At any rate he commuted the
+sentence of death, and imprisoned the conspirators.
+
+Since Mexico had conspired against the Spanish occupation of Cuba,
+General Vives retaliated by a military expedition against Mexico, in
+1828. A force of three thousand and five hundred men was sent against
+Mexico--not a large army, but General Vives expected that large numbers
+of Mexicans would join his soldiers, once they set foot on Mexican soil.
+A landing was made at Tampico, in August, 1828. Instead of being
+received with acclamations by the people of Mexico, the movement met
+with the most strenuous opposition. The expedition was surrounded by the
+Mexican army, and its members were glad to surrender and to make terms
+with the Mexicans by which they were allowed to return to Havana. In
+March, 1829, the would-be conquerors of Mexico arrived in Havana with
+none of the honors with which it had been planned to crown the victors.
+
+Vives, while a stern governor, did not actually play the part of a
+despot. He held his office until May 15, 1832, when he was succeeded by
+Don Mariana Ricafort, a tyrant of the most pronounced type. His rule
+left one continuous record of oppression and misgovernment. No better
+person to encourage in the hearts of thinking Cubans an eagerness to be
+rid of Spain could have been chosen, for he was thoroughly hated and
+despised. His rule continued two years, and then, in 1834, the reins of
+government were taken into the hands of General Don Miguel Tacon. The
+eastern department of the island was commanded at this time by General
+Lorenzo.
+
+Tacon, one of the most famous of the nineteenth century
+Captains-General, was a man of small mind and great stubbornness,
+shortsighted, narrow and jealous. He was exceedingly vain, grasping for
+power, and a tyrant of the most pronounced type. He took many privileges
+from the wealthy inhabitants of the island, and he seized for himself
+the power, which had theretofore been a municipal function, of naming
+the under-commissaries of police in Havana.
+
+Like all people of extremely arbitrary nature, Tacon was an arrant
+coward at heart. He was perpetually in terror of being assassinated,
+and upon the slightest pretext had anyone whom he considered dangerous
+to his rule thrown into prison. The life of no Cuban who happened to
+offend the Captain-General was safe at this time.
+
+In 1836 there occurred in Spain the revolution of La Granja, when the
+progressive triumphed over the moderate party, and the Queen Regent was
+obliged to proclaim the old Constitution of 1812, granting Cuba
+representation in the Spanish Cortes, and to summon deputies from Cuba.
+The news of this triumph reached Santiago de Cuba before it did Havana,
+whereupon General Lorenzo, in command there, immediately proclaimed the
+Code of Cadiz, and ordered an election for deputies to the Cortes. He
+reestablished the constitutional ayuntamiento, declared the press free,
+reorganized the national militia and put his department on the same
+footing that it had been in 1823.
+
+Tacon was furious when knowledge of this action reached him. He had no
+power to compel General Lorenzo to retract, but he summarily cut off all
+communications with his department and laid his plans to invade that
+territory, and by military force to restore his own absolute government
+and do away with representation for Cuba in the Spanish Cortes. Perhaps
+nothing that he could have done could have added more to his
+unpopularity. He was hissed in the streets, and plots were made against
+his life.
+
+For himself, Tacon paid no attention to the royal mandate which
+announced the reestablishment of the Constitution of 1812 and
+foreshadowed orders for election of deputies to the Cortes. Under the
+royal decree of 1825, which was still in force, Tacon had power to set
+aside any instructions which came from Spain, if it seemed to him to
+the best interests of Cuba. He did not hesitate to take advantage of
+this authority, which gave him the same rights as a Spanish governor
+over a city in a state of siege, allowed him to suspend any public
+functionary no matter what his rank, and to banish any resident of the
+island who opposed him, without trial, and even without the formal
+preferring of accusations, as well as to suspend any law or regulation
+emanating from Spain, should he see fit.
+
+Under Tacon's orders, a column of soldiers, picked from the Spanish army
+of occupation, and chosen--much against their will and inclination--from
+the rural and provincial militia and cavalry, was placed under the
+command of General Gascue, in the town of Guines. Meanwhile, Tacon's
+secret agents were carrying on an active propaganda among the citizens
+of Santiago de Cuba, and endeavoring to seduce public sentiment from
+Lorenzo's to Tacon's side. They did not hesitate to tell the most
+unblushing falsehoods, and to make the most dishonest promises to win
+the people over, and by such means attained some degree of success.
+
+If Tacon had had a different sort of opponent the story would have been
+written along very different lines. A strong commander of the large
+forces at Santiago de Cuba could easily have compelled him to withdraw
+from his position, and could have assured for Cuba greater freedom, and
+this course might in the long run at least have postponed her further
+efforts for separation from Spain. But General Lorenzo though
+well-meaning was fatally weak. Instead of resisting Tacon's tyranny he
+left Cuba for Spain, in an effort to make sure of the support of the
+Spanish crown, leaving Tacon to follow his own will, and to wreak his
+vengeance on those who had opposed him. Tacon was of course delighted
+with the success of his strategy. He sent some of the officers of his
+companies to Santiago and established a military commission to try all
+the people of prominence who under General Lorenzo had opposed him.
+Moya, the commandant, was the presiding judge, and Miret, a lawyer and a
+tool of Tacon's, acted as advocate. No greater travesty of justice has
+ever been staged than the proceedings of this precious body.
+
+Now all the Creoles of wealth, education and family had welcomed the
+royal decree, and hastened to obey the commands of General Lorenzo and
+to take oath to uphold a constitution which was so beneficial to their
+interest. Their names were known to Tacon, and he seized not only such
+people, but anyone of whom he had the slightest suspicion. Men of the
+highest rank, or the best reputation for loyalty and honesty, of the
+finest education and standing, were among the number who were summoned
+before Tacon's tribunal. Even the church was not exempt, and several
+clergymen, with liberal leanings, and of known revolutionary sentiments,
+were arrested and imprisoned. This was an excellent time for Tacon to
+find a pretext to separate the sheep from the goats, and to put those
+who seemed likely to oppose him where he thought they belonged. Many of
+these people were confined in dungeons which were as barbarous as those
+of the middle ages, and were left there until they died of disease or of
+starvation. They were cut off from communications with their families
+and friends, and in darkness and filth suffered until death relieved
+them. A few considered themselves fortunate to get off with sentences of
+banishment, and those who had warning were glad to escape to another
+country. Families were separated and homes were broken up. Tacon was
+very thorough in his methods of putting down what he considered a
+menace to his government. Even the soldiers under General Lorenzo's
+command were made his victims. They had been guilty of no offence save
+that of obeying their superior officer, but this made no difference to
+Tacon. He decided to make an example of them. Over five hundred of them,
+with ball and chain dragging, were condemned to work on the streets of
+Havana like convicts.
+
+The deputies to the Cortes whom Lorenzo had chosen, or who had been
+chosen under his rule, were among those who escaped from the island.
+They made their way to Spain, and, hoping that the Spanish crown would
+recognize the regularity of their election, and the irregularity of
+Tacon's action, presented their credentials to the Cortes. They were
+referred to a special committee composed of Spaniards whose only
+interest in Cuba was in what might be extracted from her, and who had no
+sympathy with her struggles or concern for her welfare or the good of
+her people. What few ideas they had of the best way to govern Cuba and
+make her pay the highest returns to Spain were derived from such
+intellects as those possessed by men of Tacon's ilk, and they were
+stoutly ranged on Tacon's side of the controversy. The deputies were
+refused seats in the Cortes, and it was decided that the Constitution of
+1812 did not apply to Cuba. Cuba was thus placed under the despotic rule
+of the Captains-General, who were given absolute power, even precedence,
+over the will of the Spanish Cortes. The decree of the Cortes on this
+matter was framed in the following language:
+
+"The Cortes, using the power which is conceded to them by the
+Constitution, have decreed: Not being in a position to apply the
+Constitution which has been adopted for the peninsula and adjacent to
+the ultramarine provinces of America and Asia, these shall be ruled and
+administered by special laws appropriate to their respective situations
+and circumstances, and proper to cause their happiness. Consequently,
+the Deputies for the designated provinces are not to take their seats in
+the present Cortes."
+
+Tacon was exultant over this strengthening of his hand, and he began a
+regime even more cruel than his previous record. His agents were
+constantly busy stirring up strife and jealousy between the Spanish
+residents of the island and the native Cubans. He dominated the civil
+courts with his military officers, and justice became a mere chimera of
+fancy. In order to keep the police in line, he insisted that a certain
+number of arrests must be made within a given period. When there were
+not enough real offenders to make up the quota, the police naturally
+wreaked any little personal animosities which they might have against
+private citizens; and it has even been said that frequently they were
+paid by certain revengeful citizens who held grudges to prefer charges
+against men who were absolutely innocent of any offence.
+
+Of course societies, whether political or social, came under the
+governmental ban. Citizens were not encouraged to assemble in groups for
+any purpose, and they feared to do so openly, lest the entire group
+might be apprehended and tried on some trumped up charge. All
+associations for education or personal betterment were discouraged,
+because if people came to know too much, they were harder to handle and
+more apt to revolt. Besides this, any society or institution which did
+not depend on the favor of the Captain-General might find means of
+denouncing his rule, and one could never tell how royal favor might be
+swayed. Tacon well knew it to be a very uncertain quantity, and meant
+to keep the wind blowing in his quarter, if possible.
+
+In connection with his management of the police force, the whole
+attitude of justice was changed. No person was presumed innocent until
+his guilt was proved, but on the contrary his guilt was presumed unless
+he could beyond the shadow of a doubt prove his innocence; and if he had
+been unfortunate enough to incur the displeasure of one of the legion of
+sycophants from the court of Spain who hung around the palace of the
+Captain-General, seeking their own aggrandizement, his chances of having
+an opportunity to prove himself innocent were very small. Tacon
+encouraged rather than discouraged his subordinates in acts of
+injustice, and did not care to what lengths they went if they kept the
+people quiet. He roared at his officers, and demanded that they be
+vigilant against his enemies, and they were thoroughly cowed by him. To
+satisfy him, they invented accusations and thrust just men into prison,
+or had them condemned to death. A curious result of this regime, and one
+which shows how some good will often work out of the basest evils, was
+that thieves and banditti were much less active than under any other
+Captain-General. The long arm of Tacon reached out to subdue them, to
+fall upon the guilty as well as the innocent.
+
+Tacon is said to have stated his own position in these words: "I am
+here, not to promote the interests of the people of Cuba, but to serve
+my master, the king." The press was muzzled, and the local ayuntamientos
+were deprived of their rights, and became merely the means for the
+collection and distribution of the funds of the municipalities. The
+prisons were overcrowded with Tacon's victims, and it became necessary
+to lodge some of the political prisoners in the dungeons of castles.
+Nearly 600 people, against whom there was no formal accusation, and
+about whom no treason could be proved, were lodged in cells and
+dungeons. No private citizen was safe, and no one had any personal
+liberty.
+
+In spite of the lack of a free press, pamphlets denouncing the rule of
+Tacon were constantly being written, printed and circulated. One,
+entitled "_Cuba y su Gobierno,_" contained the following assertions:
+
+"With the political passions of Spaniards and Cubans excited; the island
+reduced from an integral part of the monarchy to the conditions 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 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 opinions; 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 party in Cuba which was struggling against her oppression decided
+that since they dared not give expression of their views in the local
+press, they would establish organs outside their distressed country. Two
+papers were accordingly issued, one at Paris, called _El Correo de
+Ultramar_, and one at Madrid called _El Observador_. These were both
+edited by able Cubans who were in exile. Later, in 1848, _La Verdad_, a
+paper devoted to Cuban interests, was started in New York and the copies
+given free distribution.
+
+Tacon, like other despots, sought to cover his misdeeds by public works,
+with which he tried to placate those possible insurgents whom he had not
+imprisoned, and to deceive the Spanish government; for cruel and
+arbitrary as had been the Spanish attitude toward her colonies, it is
+doubtful whether the Spanish Cortes, had all the facts been known, would
+have countenanced some of the brutalities of which Tacon was guilty.
+There is a curious irony, a sort of paradox, about one of the
+improvements which Tacon made on the island. As we have seen, the
+prisons had never before been so full, and there had never before been
+such a demand for places to incarcerate political offenders. Tacon
+consequently caused a prison to be built, which has ever since been
+pointed to as a palliation of some of his misdeeds. It is situated near
+the gate of La Punta, and not far distant from the sea coast. It is well
+ventilated and airy, and open to the sea breezes. One point urged in its
+favor was that "its unfortunate inmates were protected from those
+pestilential fevers rising from crowded and ill-ventilated rooms." In
+other words, they were torn from squalor to well ventilated
+imprisonment. This would have been all very nice, were it not for the
+fact that numbers of the prisoners were from the best homes on the
+island, and had no need of a comfortable boarding house by the sea,
+watched over by an inhuman jailor. The prison had a capacity of five
+thousand prisoners, and very shortly after its erection it sheltered one
+thousand. It was built by the labor of convicts, and poor, unhappy
+political prisoners, and partly with funds which Tacon extracted from
+some of the officers who served under his predecessors, claiming that
+such funds had been by them unlawfully appropriated to their own use.
+
+To give opportunities for "graft" to his followers, and work to their
+hangers-on, Tacon constructed a wall, high, level and massive, and for
+what purpose only he knew, right through the widest avenue of Havana.
+The Cubans were taxed to pay for the work, and subsequently were retaxed
+to pay for its removal. Tacon also established a public meat and fish
+market, for which he won popular approbation--outside of Cuba. It was in
+fact much to the detriment of the public and the public revenue, and
+greatly to his own gain and that of his friends. Even the contract for
+this market was not honestly let, but was given to the highest bidder
+for Tacon's enrichment, while honest bidders were ignored. The grant was
+obtained, whereupon the contractors came into their own, and commenced
+extorting large and valuable fees to which they were not entitled.
+Finally the matter became such a public scandal that even Tacon could
+not avert its being investigated, but when this investigation was
+completed, the record was taken possession of by Tacon, and mysteriously
+never again was discovered. The scandal of Tacon's administration at
+last became too great even for the Spanish court, which was supposed to
+be inclined to stand for anything, and the voice of Don Juan Montalvo y
+Castillo was raised in the Spanish Cortes in expostulation. But Tacon
+wrote artful reports, dodged the real issues, and cheerfully lied, and
+his utterances--perhaps better fitting the temper of the Cortes--found
+credence and his rule was continued.
+
+Tacon caused the Governor's palace to be rebuilt, at great profit to
+himself and his favorites in the way of perquisites and bribes; he
+caused a military road to be constructed; and he had a spacious theatre
+erected, cynically saying, that "it would keep the people amused, and
+keep their minds off of matters which did not concern them." He also
+caused a large parade ground to be opened just outside the city. But in
+none of his improvements was he free from suspicion of having enriched
+his own purse, and having in some manner pulled the wool over the sadly
+strained eyes of the Cuban patriots.
+
+A story which reads like a romance is told of Tacon's institution of the
+fish market. In those days pirates infested the waters around Cuba, and
+indeed were a menace to American and French vessels, as we have seen.
+The most daring pirate and smuggler of them all was said to be a man
+named Marti, of whom many exciting tales are related. He was a bold
+leader of desperadoes, and since the Isle of Pines was where his band
+most frequently had their headquarters, he was known as the "King of the
+Isle of Pines." Now Tacon was eager to suppress smuggling and piracy,
+probably because they interfered with his own plans. The Spanish ships
+of war lay in the harbors of Cuba at anchor, while the officers indulged
+in dancing on board with Cuban ladies, or took long period of leave on
+shore. This did not please Tacon, and he accordingly issued commands
+that they suppress the smugglers at all costs. But the smugglers carried
+on their operations from small coves and inlets, in little crafts which
+did not draw much water, and the clumsy and half-hearted efforts of the
+Spanish sailors to apprehend them filled their leaders with mirth. There
+are many tales of the impudent daring with which these outlaws operated
+under the very noses of those who were sent out to capture them.
+
+At last Tacon, who had an abounding belief that every man had his price,
+and perhaps had heard enough of the character of the men he was hunting
+to gauge it correctly, offered a reward for anyone who would desert and
+inform the government of the pirates. A much larger and more tempting
+sum was offered for the delivery of Marti, dead or alive. These offers
+were posted throughout the country.
+
+For some time nothing happened, and then one dark night, when it was
+raining copiously, a man evaded the sentinels before the main entrance
+to the governor's palace in Havana. He stole through the entrance, and
+hid himself among the pillars in the inner court. Next this man silently
+crept up the staircase to the governor's apartments. Here he met a
+guard, but he saluted, and passed on with such nonchalance that he was
+not challenged, and entering the reception room of the governor, found
+himself in the semi-royal presence. Tacon was alone, busily writing. He
+promptly inquired who his visitor might be, and was informed that he was
+one who had valuable information for the Captain-General.
+
+"I am the Captain-General," said Tacon.
+
+"Your excellency is desirous of apprehending the pirates who infest the
+coasts of the island?"
+
+"You must have been reading the proclamations," jocosely suggested
+Tacon.
+
+"And you wish to take Marti, dead or alive?"
+
+Tacon signified that such was his purpose. His strange visitor then
+exacted the Captain-General's promise that he would be granted a free
+pardon in return for the valuable information which he was about to
+divulge. When this promise was given he said:
+
+"I will lead you to the strongholds of the smugglers."
+
+"You?" cried Tacon. "Who are you?"
+
+"I am Marti!" was the reply.
+
+Marti, who so calmly and unscrupulously betrayed his followers, was of
+course a welcome visitor to the Captain-General, and one worthy of his
+warmest co-operation and friendship. He was placed under surveillance,
+and was obliged to remain in the palace for the night, but the
+Captain-General refrained from telling anyone his identity. On the next
+day he acted as pilot for one of the Captain-General's boats, and after
+the course of several weeks he had exposed every hiding place of his
+men. The amount of money and property thus secured and appropriated by
+the Captain-General cannot be estimated, but it was very great. A great
+deal of it never found its way into the treasury. Marti was a scoundrel
+so much to his liking that the Captain-General decided not only to give
+him a free pardon, but an order on the treasury for a large sum of
+money. However, Marti had his own ideas of what he desired. In place of
+the money he chose the absolute right to fish the waters surrounding
+Havana, to the exclusion of all fishermen who were not in his employ. He
+had in his wild career marked for his own all the best fishing grounds
+in the harbor. This concession granted, there must naturally be found a
+market for his fish, and thus the fish market project was born. Then
+fishing made Marti so wealthy that he now had time for more elegant
+occupations, and turned his mind to theatricals. He is said to have
+obtained some sort of monopoly from the government over theatrical
+performances in the island, and then the public theatre idea was formed.
+
+Tacon had as many press agents as an opera singer, albeit they had no
+methods of getting their material into public print and disseminated it
+by word of mouth. His agents told many stories of him to illustrate his
+love of justice, his wonderful generosity, and his many other admirable
+traits, for which he was in reality only negatively to be celebrated.
+The one which follows is merely illustrative of the others.
+
+In the first year of his rule there was a young Creole girl, of
+surpassing beauty and modesty, of the name of Miralda Estalez. She was
+an orphan of seventeen, and kept a cigar store, which her beauty and
+grace made very popular with the young men of Havana. Miralda, like all
+proper heroines of fiction or fairy stories, was good as well as
+beautiful, and although many of the young bloods sighed for her, her
+glance fell with favor only on a handsome but, of course, poor and
+deserving young man, of the name of Pedro Mantenez. Pedro was a boatman,
+which is a most romantic and fitting occupation for an impoverished but
+righteous hero. He was more than this. By his wit and sagacity--which as
+we have seen failed to line his coffers, but if they had done so he
+would have been out of drawing in this affecting picture, since he would
+no longer have been poor but deserving--he was a leader among the other
+boatmen and beloved by all. The records of his noble and
+self-sacrificing deeds would have filled a volume as large as an
+unabridged dictionary. Miralda loved Pedro, and Pedro loved Miralda, and
+all was going as merry as a marriage bell, when entered the villain, a
+famous roue of the name of Count Almonte, who liked Miralda's cigars and
+cast melting glances at Miralda herself, but all in vain, because, as we
+have said, Miralda was good as well as beautiful. Finding that he would
+have to do something more substantial than make eyes, the worthy count
+offered Miralda a costly present which so affected her that she fainted,
+not with joy, but with horror. Then she ordered the count from her shop,
+but he refused to go and continued to hang around and buy her wares.
+Next the fine count offered her money and lands and rich clothes and
+what not, but the pure-minded young girl righteously spurned his offer.
+Acting quite in character the count then decided to kidnap her. His
+plans were ingenious, but in order to gain popularity for Tacon it was
+necessary that not far from this point he should get into the story.
+
+One afternoon, just at twilight, that fine hour for abduction, a
+lieutenant--probably in Tacon's pay--stepped into the store and demanded
+that Miralda go with him, by order of the Captain-General; which does
+look like the cloven hoof in the velvet glove, or something of the sort.
+But instead of taking Miralda to the Captain-General she was conveyed to
+the count's country estates, where she was kept a prisoner, although of
+course not harmed--in fiction the villain never harms the heroine before
+the hero arrives even if he is a bit late at the appointment. Pedro, by
+that wit and sagacity which had made him a master boatman, discovered
+the count's treachery. He disguised himself as a friar and went to the
+count's gate every day and slipped notes through the cracks to Miralda,
+thus cheering her exceedingly. Then entered the most high excellency,
+the Captain-General, that defender of those who loved liberty in Cuba,
+that builder of prisons and master genius in filling them, that
+despoiler of rich and poor alike, and thus the man most likely to help
+defenseless virtue. Pedro's excess of wit and sagacity led him straight
+to the spotless Captain-General. After trying three times to get an
+audience, for governing the island and putting down rebellions kept
+Tacon reasonably busy, Pedro succeeded in getting into the presence of
+the lord of Cuba. When he had told his story, and sworn to his honorable
+intentions toward his fiancee, Tacon sent his soldiers to the count's
+estate to bring him and Miralda into the sacred presence. When the
+Captain-General had demanded to know, and the count had assured him,
+that Miralda was "as pure as when she came beneath my roof," Tacon
+immediately produced a priest and married Miralda to the count, much to
+the astonishment and chagrin of the faithful Pedro. But Tacon the Just
+was not through. He was ever on the side of the oppressed, when his own
+interests leaned that way. The count was ordered to return to his own
+plantation, without his bride. While on the way he was shot in the back,
+after Tacon's most pleasant manner and by his orders. In one record it
+is hinted that his estates were pleasant picking for Tacon, but the
+story which is most current leaves out that interesting detail. Tacon's
+version is that he gave the count's estate to the widow; and at any rate
+Pedro and Miralda were married and lived happily ever afterward, and
+Tacon gave them his blessing with the high-sounding pronouncement: "No
+man nor woman on this island is so humble but that they may claim the
+justice of Tacon."
+
+Tacon's rule, one of the worst that the long-suffering Cubans had to
+endure, finally came to an end, on April 16, 1838, when he was succeeded
+by Don Joaquin de Espeleta. The latter had been born in Cuba, and it is
+a mystery why he was ever appointed, for Spain was not wont to accord
+honors to Cubans, or to confer the high rank of Captain-General on one
+who might naturally be expected to have Cuban sympathies. He had been
+for some time connected with the government in a subordinate capacity,
+being inspector-general of the troops, and second cabo-subalterno. From
+all accounts Espeleta was an excellent governor, and must have afforded
+the harassed Cubans a much needed breathing spell after the misrule of
+Tacon. But he was not long allowed to rule Cuba. Spain began to suspect
+that the Cubans were being treated too well, and that trouble might
+follow. Indeed, Espeleta was reported to be conciliating the people,
+and holding out hopes of great reforms. This in itself seemed to justify
+his removal, and so, in 1840, he was succeeded by the Prince de Aglona.
+
+During this administration the Royal Pretorial Audience, a high court of
+appeal to which all civil cases might be taken, was established. If this
+had been kept free from deleterious influences, it would have been a
+most beneficial thing for the oppressed Cubans, but the royal favorites
+dominated it, as they did pretty much everything else.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XXIV
+
+
+General Geronimo Valdez, who succeeded the Prince de Aglona as
+Captain-General in 1840, probably endeavored to rule wisely, since he
+was by nature a rather gentle and just man; but he had absolutely no
+chance with the power of Spain against him. It was during his incumbency
+that the first of the alarming slave uprisings occurred, and the Spanish
+officials were so frightened that they counseled the most violent
+methods of subduing the offenders, to which as we shall see General
+Valdez at least shut his eyes. For he was weak and indecisive, and had
+not the power to rule insurgents or to keep his Spanish colleagues
+within bounds.
+
+The British consul, David Turnbull, of whom we shall hear more later,
+was unpopular with the planters, who accused him of inciting their
+slaves to rebellion. Certainly he was an ardent advocate of
+emancipation, and a book which he wrote about this period was filled
+with denunciations of slavery. Valdez tried to placate both him and the
+planters, and between the two promptly fell down and won the enmity of
+both. His numerous grants of freedom to negroes were another cause for
+complaint. The planters combined and caused his downfall, and he yielded
+his office to one better suited to Spanish standards. Some years later
+they secured the recall of Turnbull. It is said of Valdez that he
+departed from Cuba no richer than when he had come, and if this is
+true,--it sounds almost impossible,--then he stands unique in an
+assembly of "grafters."
+
+In 1843 George Leopold O'Donnell took office as Captain-General. No
+despot who had preceded him surpassed him in cruelty. He turned every
+possible happening to his personal advantage, and lined his pockets with
+Cuban money. It was during his tenure of office that the most
+wide-spread and most dangerous of the insurrections among the slaves
+happened. Of the methods used in subduing this we shall write in another
+chapter, but they were the most disgraceful that have blotted the pages
+of the history of any nation. General O'Donnell himself, his wife and
+daughter were said to have profited by the slave trade. The wife of the
+Captain-General, by the way, seems to have had a painfully itching palm.
+It is told of her that she had a number of loaves of bread left after a
+reception, and that she sent for the baker at three o'clock in the
+morning, to require him to take back the surplus. When he demurred, that
+he could only sell it for stale bread, and would thus lose money on it,
+she said: "Oh, I sent for you early because now you can mix it with the
+other bread, and sell it to the masses, and no one will know the
+difference." She is accused of having been engaged in all kinds of
+schemes by which she profited in an illegitimate way. She dabbled in the
+letting of contracts for the cleansing of sewers and for the removal of
+dirt and manure from the city streets, demanding her bonus from the one
+who secured the contract, and these municipal operations stained her
+hands with illgotten gains. It is said that O'Donnell, who had a large
+interest in marble quarries in the Isle of Pines, had his agents select
+able bodied laborers, and trump up charges of treason against them. They
+were then sentenced to deportation to work in the Captain-General's
+stone quarries, and thus solved the problem of low priced labor.
+O'Donnell was fertile also in inventing new taxes and new methods of
+extorting money, which of course brought him into high favor at court.
+So pleasing was his rule to his masters and to his aides that he was
+allowed to stay in office longer than usual, and was not succeeded until
+1848.
+
+One of the most ridiculous figures in Cuban history came next, in the
+person of General Frederico Roncali. Some 400 Americans had taken up
+their abode on an island far distant from Cuba. Rumors reached General
+Roncali that they intended to free Cuba from Spanish rule. He promptly
+marched 4,000 picked soldiers to garrisons in Cuba, and promised them
+double pay if they would fight bravely when the enemy landed. Of course,
+the enemy never came, and General Roncali presented a foolish figure.
+But after all there was a portent in this of the fear which the
+Spaniards were beginning to entertain, that the end of their rule in
+Cuba was at hand.
+
+While the slave trade had been made illegal in 1820, it flourished with
+more or less vigor until the end of the Ten Years' War in the latter
+part of the century. Spain officially frowned upon it, but unofficially
+the Spanish crown is said to have been financially interested in the
+slave trading companies, and to have shared largely in their profits. To
+add to this incentive for the continuance of the trade, the
+Captain-General had his own reasons for not suppressing it. He was paid
+a fixed bonus for every slave imported. Indeed, the post of
+Captain-General of Cuba was one not to be despised by any soldier of
+fortune. The perquisites of the office are said to have been--of course,
+not from the slave trade alone--close to $500,000 a year. The
+Captain-General is said to have received "half an ounce of gold" for
+every "sack of charcoal," as they facetiously dubbed the negro, allowed
+to pass into the country.
+
+Although no excuse of expediency can be urged for the enslavement of
+human beings, no matter what their color or race, it remains a fact that
+the sugar plantations of Cuba required laborers in great numbers for
+their development, and the easiest and most profitable way to obtain
+that labor was through the employment of black slaves. It would probably
+have been impossible to obtain a sufficient number of white men at that
+time to do the work required, especially since when an attempt was made
+to import white men for work on the plantations, the owners who were of
+Spanish birth brought every influence possible to bear on the government
+to make such laws and regulations for that kind of labor that, if it
+could be procured, its retention was well nigh impossible.
+
+The blacks were naturally not satisfied with slavery. In their
+association with their masters they acquired just enough information and
+knowledge to make them dangerous. And at this time the blacks, free and
+slave, were a large majority of the population. The negro race in
+captivity was always difficult to manage. They were affectionate and
+responsive to good treatment but when their rage was aroused by hard and
+unjust treatment they reverted to habits of the jungle. The Spanish
+planters believed that the way to keep the negroes quiet was to keep
+them under with a strong hand and consequently overseers were frequently
+brutal.
+
+There began to be a strong undercurrent of unrest among the negro
+population, and an equally strong fear of them among the whites.
+Sporadic uprisings occurred, which were like the overflowing of a
+boiling caldron, not organized, and not well prepared, and therefore
+easily put down by the authorities. A description of a typical uprising
+of this character is contained in a work called "The Slaves in the
+Spanish Colonies" by the Countess Merlin, published about 1840. It
+relates the experiences of one Don Rafael with a mutiny of his slaves.
+
+"The slaves lately imported from Africa were mostly of the Luccommee
+tribe, and therefore excellent workmen, but of a violent and unwieldly
+temper, and always ready to hang themselves at the slightest opposition
+to their way.
+
+"It was just after the bell had struck five, and the dawn of morning was
+scarcely visible. Don Rafael had gone over to another of his estates,
+within half an hour before, leaving behind him, and still in tranquil
+slumbers, his four children and his wife, who was in a state of
+pregnancy. Of a sudden the latter awaked, terrified by hideous cries and
+the sound of hurried steps. She jumped affrighted from her bed, and
+observed that all the negroes of the estate were making their way to the
+house. She was instantly surrounded by her children, weeping and crying
+at her side. Being attended solely by slaves, she thought herself
+inevitably lost; but scarcely had she time to canvass these ideas in her
+distracted mind, when one of her negro girls came in, saying, 'Child,
+your bounty need have no fears; we have fastened all the doors, and
+Michael is gone for the master.' Her companions placed themselves on all
+sides of their female owners, while the rebels advanced, tossing from
+hand to hand among themselves a bloody corpse, with cries as awful as
+the hissing of a serpent. The negro girls exclaimed, 'That's the
+overseer's body!' The rebels were already at the door, when Pepilla
+(this is the name of the lady) saw the carriage of her husband coming at
+full speed. That sweet soul, who, until that moment, had valiantly
+awaited death, was now overpowered at the sight of her husband coming
+unarmed toward the infuriated mob, and she fainted. In the mean time,
+Rafael descended from the vehicle, placed himself in front of them, and
+with only one severe look, and a single sign of the hand, designated the
+purging house for them to go to. The slaves suddenly became silent,
+abandoned the dead body of their overseer, and, with downcast faces,
+still holding their field-swords in their hands, they turned round and
+entered where they had been ordered. Well might it be said, that they
+beheld in the man who stood before them the exterminating angel.
+
+"Although the movement had for a moment subsided, Rafael, who was not
+aware of its cause, and feared the results, selected the opportunity to
+hurry his family away from the danger. The _quitrin_ or vehicle of the
+country could not hold more than two persons, and it would have been
+imprudent to wait till more conveyances were in readiness. Pepilla and
+the children were placed in it in the best possible manner; and they
+were on the point of starting, when a man, covered with wounds, with a
+haggard, deathlike look, approached the wheels of the _quitrin_, as if
+he meant to climb in by them. In his pale face the marks of despair and
+the symptoms of death could be traced, and fear and bitter anguish were
+the feelings which agitated his soul in the last moments of his life. He
+was the white accountant, who had been nearly murdered by the blacks,
+and having escaped from their ferocious hold, was making the last
+efforts to save a mere breath of life. His cries, his prayers, were
+calculated to make the heart faint. Rafael found himself in the cruel
+alternative of being deaf to the request of a dying man, or throwing his
+bloody and expiring corpse over his children: his pity conquered; the
+accountant was placed in the carriage as well as might be, and it moved
+away from the spot.
+
+"While this was passing on the estate of Rafael, the Marquis of
+Cardenas, Pepilla's brother, whose plantations were two leagues off, who
+had been apprised through a slave of the danger with which his sister
+was threatened, hastened to her aid. On reaching the spot, he noticed a
+number of rebels who, impelled by a remnant of rage, or fear of
+punishment, were directing their course to the Savannas--large open
+plains, the last abodes resorted to by runaway slaves. The Marquis of
+Cardenas, whose sense of the danger of his sister had induced him to fly
+to her, had brought with him, in the hurry of the moment, no one to
+guard his person except a single slave. Scarcely had the fugitive band
+perceived a white man, when they went towards him. The marquis stopped
+his course and prepared to meet them; it was useless temerity in him
+against such odds. Turning his master's horse by the bridle, his own
+slave addressed him thus: 'My master, let your bounty get away from
+here; let me come to an understanding with them.' And he then whipped
+his master's horse, which went off at a gallop.
+
+"The valiant Jose, for his name is worthy of being remembered as that of
+a hero, went on toward the savage mob, so as to gain time for his master
+to fly, and fell a victim to his devotedness, after receiving thirty-six
+sword-blows. This rising, which had not been premediated, had no other
+consequences. It had originated in a severe chastisement inflicted by
+the overseer, which had prompted the rebels to march toward the owner's
+dwelling to expound their complaint. They begged Rafael's pardon, which
+was granted, with the exception of two or three, who were delivered
+over to the tribunals."
+
+This specimen of the fine writing of the period has hidden within it two
+truths which stand out in the history of the difficulties between the
+blacks and the whites on the island of Cuba. First, although we must
+discount a bit the Countess's account of Rafael's valor, and the ease
+with which he subdued the uprising, by taking into account the fact that
+he was her cousin, and that therefore she naturally looked at him with
+over-favorable eyes, nevertheless the fact remains that the blacks were
+usually amenable to the commands of their owners, unless aroused to an
+unusual pitch of ferocity, and were, through fear or respect, not
+difficult to reduce to control.
+
+In the second place, it has been the history of the relations between
+the blacks and whites in every country that with anything like fair
+treatment those who worked about the house, or acted as body servants,
+became personally attached to their masters--to whom it is true there
+was often a tie of consanguinity--and showed the same spirit of loyalty
+which was displayed by Pepilla's women slaves.
+
+Shortly after this insurrection, reported by the Countess Merlin, there
+was another near Aguacate, which was more formidable and more difficult
+to subdue. Meanwhile, the government was handling the matter of slave
+insurrections in a vacillating manner. Laws were made which granted the
+slaves a right to assemble and to establish societies, even to form
+military bodies for the public defense; actually giving them greater
+rights than white laborers; and this went hand in hand with such cruel
+injustice as public whipping posts. The white population, on the other
+hand, even in localities where there was a great preponderance of
+blacks, could not form a militia.
+
+Turnbull, the English consul, fancied that he saw in these slave
+insurrections a chance to advance the interests of his country. It is
+claimed that he also had visions of a republic in which the blacks ruled
+with himself as president. He was _persona non grata_ with the
+aristocracy of the island, and is supposed to have been actuated in part
+by a desire to avenge social slights. He was charged with planning to
+effect a huge black uprising, to seize and execute enough of the white
+population to cow the rest and then to set up his black republic. But it
+is impossible to determine the truth or falsity of these accusations.
+Turnbull had many enemies who were only too glad to charge him with any
+crime.
+
+In 1842 there was an insurrection in Martiaro, and it was with
+difficulty suppressed. Then evidence began to be seen everywhere of a
+systematic propaganda among the slaves on plantations scattered in
+widely separated parts of the island. A negro mason accidentally dropped
+an incendiary proclamation from his pocket, and it finally reached the
+hands of the captain of the district. The negro was tortured, but would
+not divulge the source of the paper. An itinerant monk went through the
+country ostensibly begging alms for the church, but in reality
+prophesying to the blacks that in July, 1842, they would, on St. John's
+Day, rise and obtain their freedom. The wholesale insurrection did not
+occur, but there were uprisings in July in various parts of the island,
+and the slaves of an estate near Bemba murdered their master and a
+neighbor, and were only subdued when the militia had been called. In
+January, 1843, an official of the government was murdered by the blacks.
+A colored man secretly gave evidence against the slayers and in some
+manner fell under their suspicion, and soon after was assassinated by
+one of his own people, who afterward was tried for the crime, but
+committed suicide in jail, before he could pay the death penalty. In
+March, 1843, near Bemba five hundred negroes rose against their white
+masters, and it was only after considerable bloodshed that they were
+subdued. No sooner was this trouble quieted than there was another
+uprising on a plantation in the neighborhood, and still a third one the
+same year, the exact details of which are lacking. Then followed, at the
+close of 1843, the most serious trouble of all, when, in November, the
+negroes near Matanzas revolted and went on an orgy of murder and rape,
+ravishing and killing women, and murdering white men. Turnbull was
+accused of being the brains behind these troubles, but it was impossible
+to fix the guilt on him. If he was guilty he was not a good organizer,
+for none of the revolts had any national effect. They were all local in
+character, and all unsuccessful in attaining any lasting results.
+
+After the insurrection of November, 1843, a meeting of planters was
+called in Matanzas, and the government was asked to take steps to make
+further revolts impossible. But in 1844, near Matanzas, occurred another
+serious insurrection, and it was reported that the negroes on all the
+plantations in the neighborhood were organized and were planning a
+wholesale revolt, which would bring about the realizations of Turnbull's
+dreams. It was then that the government decided to act ruthlessly, and
+methods which would have done credit to the old Spanish Inquisition were
+promptly introduced.
+
+In March, 1844, the Captain-General, O'Donnell, addressed a letter to
+General Salas, who was the head of the military tribunal, in which he
+counseled drastic and violent measures against any insurgent blacks. He
+suggested that all blacks, slave or free, who were suspected of treason
+to their masters, should be apprehended, and if they refused to give
+information as to the extent of the organization and their associations,
+the knowledge must be wrung from them by torture. The slaves were to be
+tried in the district where they were taken. The officer in charge of
+each district was promptly given full power to apprehend and punish the
+plotters as he saw fit. The Spanish officers were often cruel and brutal
+men, who exercised their authority in the most revolting manner. The hue
+and cry went from hut to cabin and no black man was safe at his own
+hearth. Opportunity was taken in some cases to work out a personal
+grudge and gain freedom from an enemy. No one, not even a white man,
+dared publicly to raise his voice to expostulate, for he was promptly
+dubbed an abolitionist and thrown into prison. If a negro had a little
+money saved to buy his freedom, or, if he was a freedman, to obtain a
+little business, he stood a better chance of his life. He might buy his
+tormentors off, but all too frequently when he had paid, he was murdered
+lest he might tell of the man whom he had bribed.
+
+One tender hearted Spanish judge, Don Ramon Gonzales, is reported to
+have condemned his victims to be taken to a room, the walls of which
+were already dripping with the blood and shredded flesh of previous
+victims. There they were tied head down to a ladder, and flogged by two
+Africans until they were dead. To make their torture the more
+excruciating, the thongs with which they were scourged had on the ends
+small buttons made of fine wire, which bit into the flesh. When several
+freedmen had been executed in this pleasant fashion, and when public
+opinion dared feebly to protest at such atrocities, death certificates
+were made out by unscrupulous physicians, reporting death from some
+simple disease, and under this authority the murdered negroes were
+quickly buried.
+
+A second kind judge seized on some pretext a freeborn negro, an old man,
+who was gentle and inoffensive, but who had incurred the judicial
+displeasure, and had him tied to the ladder and flogged on three
+separate occasions, without even going to the trouble to bring an
+indictment against him or divulge the nature of his offense. Another
+free negro was taken by this same official, hung by his hands from the
+ceiling of the torture chamber, and left there all night, while he was
+at intervals whipped. At length this poor victim succumbed to the
+treatment and gave information of a comrade, who was promptly taken out
+and shot without a trial.
+
+Another officer, Don Juan Costa, had a record of ninety-six negroes
+killed by the lash, of whom fifty-four were slaves and forty-two
+freedmen. The record shows the following entries, which gives an inkling
+of the colored man's powers of endurance and of what each must have
+suffered: "Lorenzo Sanchez, imprisoned on the first of April, died on
+the fourth. Joseph Cavallero, imprisoned on the fourth, died on the
+sixth. John Austin Molino, imprisoned on the ninth, died on the
+twelfth." There were similar laconic entries for the whole ninety-six.
+Don Jose del Piso, a fiscal officer, was responsible for the flogging to
+death of a negro a hundred and ten years of age, too old and infirm to
+be an active conspirator. This was within the walls of the Matanzas
+jail. The poor victim was so lacerated that he was hardly recognizable
+as a human being. This del Piso had a pleasant form of afternoon sport
+which he conducted to the great edification of his brother
+inquisitioners. He would have his victims tied to the high limb of a
+tree, and then cut the rope and watch them writhe when they fell. Don
+Ferdinand Percher fell slightly below the record of his colleague, Don
+Juan Costa, for he could boast of only seventy-two deaths to his credit.
+
+Then there occurred to these just men and true a new and exceedingly
+fine way of adding to their revenue. Don Miguel Ballo de la Rore
+extorted from the negroes on a certain estate, in the absence of their
+owners, affidavits accusing their master of treason; and the latter was
+notified through his overseer that unless he paid two hundred ounces of
+gold forthwith he was a condemned man. However, the correspondence fell
+into the hands of General Salas who had the grace to put an end to the
+matter.
+
+But not only the blacks were victims. A white man who had incurred the
+displeasure of the minions of the government was never safe. One Spanish
+officer had a grudge against a young Englishman and accused him of
+inciting the negroes on an estate to poison their master; and the
+Englishman paid the forfeit of his life for a crime of which he was
+entirely guiltless. The fiscal officers ranged the island, looking for
+chances to murder, obtaining false testimony, seizing property, cattle,
+furniture, horses, the property of freed blacks, which they sold,
+converting the proceeds to their own use. This record seems incredible,
+but it is vouched for beyond question. Furthermore, at this time no
+comely colored woman was safe. If she happened to attract the lustful
+eyes of a Spanish general, her husband or father or brothers were
+seized, and she herself was delivered up to be ravished and then slain.
+One of the episodes of this campaign was a largely attended ball, at
+which no white woman was present, and at which all the colored women
+were obliged to appear in the garb of Eve before the Fall.
+
+[Illustration: JOSE ANTONIO SACO
+
+One of the greatest of Cuban publicists, Jose Antonio Saco was born at
+Bayamo on May 7, 1797; studied philosophy and politics, and succeeded
+Varela as Professor of Philosophy at the San Carlos Seminary, Havana. In
+1828 he founded in New York the "Mensajero Quincenal," and four years
+later in Havana became editor of the _Revista Bimestre Cubana_. Because
+of his defense of the Academy of Literature, Captain-General Tacon
+banished him to the island of Trinidad. In 1836 he represented Cuba in
+the Spanish Cortes, and afterward travelled in Europe. In Paris he
+published a treatise of Cuban annexation to the United States, and after
+the Lopex expedition he wrote again on the political situation in Cuba.
+He was a member of the Junta of Information in 1866, and a Deputy to the
+Cortes from Santiago de Cuba. He died at Barcelona, Spain, on September
+26, 1879, and his body was returned to Cuba for burial. His greatest
+literary work was a monumental "History of Slavery," but he wrote many
+others on political, economical, social and literary subjects.]
+
+The fiscal officers were able to carry out these infamies because they
+were at once prosecuting attorney, judge and jury. They obtained
+testimony, apprehended, imprisoned, condemned and executed. The
+testimony which they extorted was taken without witnesses. They
+themselves wrote down the declarations, distorting them to suit their
+own purposes. The blacks seldom knew how to read or write, and they were
+obliged to set their mark to anything which the fiscal officer chose to
+record. Not even the notary who swore the witness was allowed to check
+up the declaration with his knowledge of the statements. The Spanish
+government had for a long time played the most corrupt and petty of
+politics in apportioning the smaller offices on the island. Political
+hangers-on, with little education, no moral sense and no honor, were
+paid for their loyalty to Spain with these positions. The records show
+that during this reign of terror one thousand three hundred and
+forty-six people were victims of the inquisition.
+
+But Spain in her campaigns of cruelty was only laying up trouble for
+herself. She was raising a storm which would never again be completely
+quelled until Cuba was free. The abolitionists and the liberals, or
+those who longed for freedom from Spanish rule, began joining forces.
+The cause of freedom for the slaves, and of separation from Spain, were
+curiously interlaced. The country was worn out with turmoil and eager
+for peace, but there could be no peace, it was believed, while Spain and
+the Spaniards on Cuban soil ruled with such cruel measures.
+
+The problem of how separation might be obtained was capable of either
+of two solutions, by annexation to some other country, or by
+independence. The cause of independence had at this time for its leader
+a Cuban of the highest type, Jose Antonio Saco, who had traveled all
+over the world, and was a man of fine education and great culture. The
+larger proportion of those Cubans who were intelligent, and who were
+thinking out for themselves the problem of the fate of Cuba, accepted
+him as their leader. Of course, it is understood that all organization,
+all plans and almost all conversation, except in whispers behind closed
+doors, or in corners of cafes which seemed safe from surveillance, had
+to be secret. To come out openly for the salvation of Cuba from Spanish
+rule meant banishment or death.
+
+Saco's ideas were well known to the Spanish governor, for in 1834 he had
+been exiled because of them. But he was prudent, and was not disposed to
+do anything that would hurl Cuba into the throes of revolution. He felt
+that a revolution at this time, with the blacks subdued but not
+conquered, might mean a race war which would be the most disastrous
+thing that could happen to the island. He also opposed annexation to any
+other country, particularly to the United States, because he felt that
+Cuba, being in such close proximity to the latter country, would lose
+her individuality, be absorbed and become Anglo-Saxon. In 1845 he wrote
+on this subject, as follows:
+
+"If the slave trade continues, there will be in Cuba neither peace nor
+security. Their risings have occurred at all times; but they have always
+been partial, confined to one or two forms, without plan or political
+result. Very different is the character of the risings which at brief
+intervals have occurred in 1842-43; and the conspiracy last discovered
+is the most frightful which has even been planned in Cuba, at once on
+account of its vast ramifications among slaves and free negroes, and on
+account of its origin and purpose. It is not necessary that the negroes
+should rise all at once all over the island; it is not necessary that
+its fields should blaze in conflagration from one end to the other in a
+single day; partial movements repeated here and there are enough to
+destroy faith and confidence. Then emigration will begin, capital will
+flee, agriculture and commerce will rapidly diminish, public revenues
+will lessen, the poverty of these and the fresh demands imposed by a
+continual state of alarm, will cause taxes to rise; and, with expenses
+on the one hand increased, but with receipts diminished, the situation
+of the island will grow more involved until there comes the most
+terrible catastrophe."
+
+[Illustration: GASPAR BETANCOURT
+
+CISNEROS]
+
+Again we find in a letter to a friend, Caspar Betancourt Cisneros,
+written a little later than the former communication:
+
+                        GASPAR BETANCOURT CISNEROS
+
+     Scion of a distinguished stock, Gaspar Betancourt Cisneros was born
+     in Camaguey in 1803 and was educated in the United States. In 1823
+     he went with other Cubans to Colombia to confer with Bolivar on the
+     theme of Cuban independence, and remained there for many years. In
+     1837 he began a notable series of papers in the Cuban press, on
+     familiar economic and educational topics, signing them El Lugareno;
+     under which pen name he became famous. He established schools and
+     agricultural colonies, and built the second railroad in Cuba. In
+     1846 while he was in Europe he was suspected of revolutionary
+     conspiracy, and his property was confiscated. He then became a
+     teacher in the United States, but returned to Cuba in 1861 and
+     became a journalist. He was too ill to accept election to the Junta
+     of Information, and died in 1866.
+
+"Let there be neither war nor conspiracies of any kind in Cuba. In our
+critical situation either one means the desolation of the country. Let
+us bear the yoke of Spain. But let us bear it so as to leave to our
+children, if not a country of liberty, at least one peaceful and
+hopeful. Let us try with all our energies to put down the infamous
+traffic in slaves; let us diminish without violence or injustice the
+number of these; let us do what we can to increase the white population;
+let us do all which you have always done, giving a good example to our
+own fellow countrymen, and Cuba, our beloved Cuba, shall some day be
+Cuba indeed!"
+
+On the other hand the Annexationists were waging a vigorous though quiet
+campaign. On April 20, 1848, a proclamation urging the Cubans to make
+every effort to add their island to the United States appeared. It was
+signed simply "Unos Cubanos," and urged opposition to Saco and his
+sympathizers and a concerted effort to gain the political and civil
+rights which were enjoyed by Americans. "Amalgamation of the races," ran
+the proclamation, "would not extinguish Cuban nationality, for every
+child born in Cuba would be at once a Cuban and an American. Cuba united
+to this strong and respected nation, whose southern interests would be
+identified with hers, would be assured quiet and future success; her
+wealth would increase, doubling the value of her farms and slaves,
+trebling that of her whole territory; liberty would be given to
+individual action, and the system of hateful and harmful restrictions
+which paralyze commerce and agriculture could be destroyed."
+
+But no matter what the Cubans themselves might dream of or hope for,
+Spain had not the slightest intention of surrendering Cuba without a
+struggle. No country, not even one more altruistic in its policies, and
+more highly civilized than Spain had shown herself to be at this time,
+would be eager to relinquish a colony which brought her in a revenue of
+three and a half millions clear, and which in the twenty years from 1830
+to 1850 had poured over $50,000,000 into her coffers. Spain therefore
+cast around for any expedient which would enable her to retain her last
+possession in the new world. Roncali during his term as Captain-General
+very clearly expressed his views as to where the Spanish interests in
+Cuba lay:
+
+"Among the considerable elements of power with which Spain counts in
+this island, ought to be mentioned slavery. Permit me, your excellency,
+to explain my belief in this regard. The interest in preserving their
+fortunes and in developing the rich crops from which they spring causes
+all the wealthy inhabitants of the country to fear the first whisper of
+conflict which may relax the discipline of the slaves, or threaten
+emancipation. From this fact I infer that slavery is the rein which,
+through fear and interest, will keep in submission the great majority of
+the white population. But if the event should arrive of foreign war and
+of inner commotions such as to threaten the dependence of the island,
+what should be the conduct of the Captain-General toward slavery? I, my
+noble lord, state my solemn belief that this terrible weapon which the
+government holds in its hand might in the last extremity prevent the
+loss of the island, and that if the inhabitants are persuaded that it
+will be used they will trouble and renounce every fond illusion rather
+than draw down such an anathema. The chance is remote without doubt, but
+that very fact makes me express myself clearly: the liberty of all the
+slaves in a day of gravest peril, proclaimed by Her Majesty's
+representative in these territories, would re-establish superiority and
+even strengthen our power in a very real way, based as it would then be
+on that very class which it seems best today to keep submerged. But if
+that last resort should prove insufficient, or if it did not suit Spain
+afterward to retain her hold, it may always be brought about that the
+conquerors shall acquire Hayti instead of the rich and prosperous Cuba
+and that the bastard sons who have brought down that calamity by their
+rebellion shall meet in their complete ruin, punishment and
+disillusionment. A principle of retributive justice or of harmony with
+the maxims of modern civilization, to which it is so customary now to
+appeal, would also call for general emancipation, at the moment when,
+for whatever reason, Spain should decide to renounce the island.... So
+far this trans-Atlantic province is still strongly attached to the
+mother land, and thanks to the wisdom and material solicitude of Her
+Majesty, I believe that the bonds of union will be still more
+strengthened; but if the fate of nations brings to this land a day
+pregnant with such circumstances as to threaten its loss, their national
+honor and interest alike would demand that every recourse and means be
+exhausted, without saving anything. If, even then, fortune should
+abandon us, we should at least leave it written in history that our
+departure from America corresponded to the heroic story of its
+acquisition."
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XXV
+
+
+The era of Cuban history which embraced part of the seventeenth, the
+eighteenth, and part of the nineteenth centuries, and which we have
+endeavored to review in this volume, presents a striking and almost
+unique contrast to the customary course of human affairs. The normal
+order of civic development begins with the rise and confirmation of
+nationality, and thence proceeds to international relationships and
+cosmopolitan interests and activities. Such was the record of other
+American states which grew up contemporaneously with Cuba. Such was
+notably the course of the United States of North America. In their
+colonial period they were intensely local, parochial, in sentiment and
+spirit. In their revolutionary era they began to manifest a national
+entity. It was not until long after their establishment of national
+independence that they fully realized their international status.
+
+In Cuba the order was reversed. At first, as a colony of triumphant and
+masterful Spain, the island had neither national sentiment nor
+international interests. In the second stage, however, it became a pawn
+in the great international game which was being played between declining
+Spain and her increasingly powerful neighbors, actually for a time
+passing from Spanish to British possession, and often being regarded as
+likely to pass permanently into the hands of some other power than
+Spain.
+
+These circumstances had a marked effect upon the whole genius of the
+Cuban people. It gave them international vision before they had learned
+to discern themselves even as a potential nation. It gave them a degree
+of cosmopolitanism such as few comparable colonies have ever known. It
+divorced them in sentiment from the Mother Country to an exceptional
+degree. They were made to feel that Spain meant little or nothing to
+them. She had planted them, it is true. But she had given them little
+cultivation, little protection. She had looked to them for more help for
+herself than she had herself given to them. She was unable to save them
+from the danger of being passed from hand to hand, from owner to owner.
+
+At the north, England had not governed her Thirteen Colonies well. But
+she had at least protected them. There had never been on their part any
+fear that she would abandon them to some other conqueror, or that they
+would be taken from her by force, or sold or traded away. The British
+colonists knew that in the last emergency the whole power of the United
+Kingdom would be exerted for their protection. Yet even so they revolted
+against misgovernment, and declared their independence.
+
+How much more, almost infinitely more, cause had Cubans for alienation
+from Spain! She had given them no such protection. Her policy suggested
+always the possibility of their transfer in some way to some other
+sovereignty. And her misgovernment had been immeasurably worse than that
+of England. If Cuba was more patient than the Thirteen Colonies at the
+north, that was another of the paradoxes of history--that the impulsive,
+hot-blooded Latin of the south should be more deliberate and
+conservative than the cool and phlegmatic Anglo-Saxon of the north.
+
+This very quality of patience was, indeed, the saving virtue of the
+Cuban character. Quijano Otero wrote of Colombia, at the very time of
+her revolt against Spain and the establishment of her independence, that
+she "had lived so fast in her years of glory and great deeds that,
+though still a child, she was already entering a premature decrepitude."
+Not so Cuba. It is true that, as we have seen, she had imbibed enough of
+the spirit of Spain and of other lands to be measurably saturated with
+their customs, even their luxurious vices and follies. Yet she did not
+live fast. She did not grow prematurely old. In so far as she adopted
+the customs of Europe, she adapted them to herself, not herself to them.
+The result was that after three centuries, she still had the
+ingenuousness and spontaneity of youth. She might almost have said, in
+paraphrase of a great captain's epigram, "I have not yet begun to live!"
+
+Half unconsciously, however, she had made an exceptionally complete
+preparation for the life that was to come as a nation. She had already
+become international in the scope of her vision, in the range of her
+sympathies, and in her intellectual and social culture. Many of her sons
+had studied abroad, acquiring the learning of the best European schools.
+If the world at large knew little about Cuba, Cuba knew much about the
+world at large.
+
+Though indeed the world did know something about Cuba, and took a lively
+and intelligent interest in her. This we have endeavored to indicate in
+these pages by our numerous citations of authorities, observers and
+writers of various lands, who found in the Queen of the Antilles a theme
+worthy of their most interested attention. More and more, as the
+unimproved estates of the world were partitioned among the powers, the
+transcendent value of this island was recognized, and more and more
+covetous gaze was fixed upon it by the nations which were extending
+their empires instead of losing them.
+
+So at the close of the eighteenth century it was apparent that another
+epoch in Cuban history was at hand. North America had been swept by
+revolution. South America was at the brink of revolution. Europe was
+convulsed with revolution. Amid all these, Cuba was like the calm spot
+at the centre of a whirlpool. Changes had occurred on every side, but
+she had been left unchanged. Yet every one of those changes had, deeply
+and irrevocably, though perhaps imperceptibly, wrought its effect upon
+her.
+
+The potency and the promise of national life were within her. Thus far
+everything that she had accomplished had been accredited to Spain. But
+the time was at hand when she would claim her own. During three
+centuries Cuba had produced the flower of the Spanish race; as indeed
+from time immemorial colonies had been wont to produce stronger men, in
+their comparatively primitive and healthful conditions, than the more
+sophisticated and often decadent Mother Countries. But they had all been
+reckoned Spaniards. Now the time was coming, and was at hand, when
+Cubans would be reckoned Cubans, by all the world as well as by
+themselves.
+
+The errors of Spain were not of Cuba's choosing. The disasters of Spain
+were not of Cuba's inviting. The decadence of Spain was not of Cuba's
+working. If in the downfall of Spanish power Cuba saw the opportunity
+for her own uprising, it was not that she herself had compassed that
+downfall, but only that she chose not needlessly to let herself be
+involved therein. As Spain weakened, Cuba girded and strengthened
+herself, and made herself ready to stand alone.
+
+THE END OF VOLUME TWO
+
+
+
+
+INDEX to Volumes 1 thru 4
+
+
+    Abarzuza, Sr. proposes reforms for Cuba, IV, 6.
+
+    Abreu. Marta and Rosalie, patriotism of, IV, 25.
+
+    Academy of Sciences, Havana, picture of, IV, 364.
+
+    Adams, John Quincy, enunciates American policy toward Cuba, II, 258;
+      portrait, 259;
+      on Cuban annexation, 327.
+
+    Aglona, Prince de. Governor, II, 363.
+
+    Agramonte, Aristide, in yellow fever campaign, IV, 172.
+
+    Agramonte, Enrique, in Cuban Junta, IV, 12.
+
+    Agramonte, Eugenio Sanchez, sketch and portrait, IV, 362.
+
+    Agramonte, Francisco, IV, 41.
+
+    Agramonte, Ignacio, portrait, facing. III, 258.
+
+    Agriculture, early attention to, I, 173, 224;
+      progress, 234;
+      II, 213;
+      absentee landlords, 214;
+      statistics, 223;
+      discussed in periodicals, 250;
+      rehabilitation of after War of Independence, IV, 147.
+
+    Aguayo, Geronimo de, I, 161.
+
+    Aguero, Joaquin de, organizes revolution, III, 72;
+      final defeat, 87.
+
+    Aguiar, Luis de, II, 60.
+
+    Aguiera, Jose, I, 295.
+
+    Aguila, Negra, II, 346.
+
+    Aguilera, Francisco V., sketch and portrait, III, 173.
+
+    Aguirre, Jose Maria, filibuster, IV, 55;
+      death, 85.
+
+    Albemarle, Earl of, expedition against Havana, II, 46;
+      occupies Havana, 78;
+      controversy with Bishop Morell, 83.
+
+    Alcala, Marcos, I, 310.
+
+    Aldama, Miguel de, sketch and portrait, III, 204.
+
+    Aleman, Manuel, French emissary, II, 305.
+
+    Algonquins, I, 7.
+
+    Allen, Robert, on "Importance of Havana," II, 81.
+
+    Almendares River, tapped for water supply, I, 266;
+      view on, IV, 167.
+
+    Almendariz, Alfonso Enrique, Bishop, I, 277.
+
+    Alquiza, Sancho de, Governor, I, 277.
+
+    Altamarino, Governor, I, 105;
+      post mortem trial of Velasquez, 107;
+      attacked by the Guzmans, 109;
+      removed, 110.
+
+    Altamirano, Juan C., Bishop, I, 273;
+      seized by brigands, 274.
+
+    Alvarado, Luis de, I, 147.
+
+    Alvarado, Pedro de, in Mexico, I, 86.
+
+    Amadeus, King of Spain, III, 260.
+
+    America, relation of Cuba to, I, 1;
+      II, 254. See UNITED STATES.
+
+    American Revolution, effect of upon Spain and her colonies, II, 138.
+
+    American Treaty, between Great Britain and Spain, I, 303.
+
+    Andrea, Juan de, II, 9.
+
+    Angulo, Francisco de, exiled, I, 193.
+
+    Angulo, Gonzales Perez de, Governor, I, 161;
+      emancipation proclamation, 163;
+      quarrel with Havana Council, 181;
+      flight from Sores, 186;
+      end of administration, 192.
+
+    Anners, Jean de Laet de, quoted, I, 353.
+
+    Annexation of Cuba to United States, first suggested, II, 257, 326;
+      campaign for, 380;
+      sought by United States, III, 132, 135;
+      Marcy's policy, 141;
+      Ostend Manifesto, 142;
+      Buchanan's efforts, 143;
+      not considered in War of Independence, IV, 19.
+
+    Antonelli, Juan Bautista, engineering works in Cuba, I, 261;
+      creates water supply for Havana, 266.
+
+    Apezteguia. Marquis de, Autonomist leader, IV, 94.
+
+    Apodaca, Juan Ruiz, Governor, II, 311.
+
+    Arana, Martin de, warns Prado of British approach, II, 53.
+
+    Arana, Melchior Sarto de, commander of La Fuerza, I, 237.
+
+    Arana, Pedro de, royal accountant, I, 238.
+
+    Aranda, Esquival, I, 279.
+
+    Arango, Augustin, murder of, III, 188.
+
+    Arango, Napoleon, treason of, III, 226.
+
+    Arango y Pareno, Francisco, portrait, frontispiece, Vol. II;
+      organizes Society of Progress, II, 178;
+      leadership in Cuba, 191;
+      attitude toward slavery, 208;
+      his illustrious career, 305 et seq.
+
+    Aranguren, Nestor, revolutionist, IV, 85;
+      death, 92.
+
+    Araoz, Juan, II, 181.
+
+    Arias, A. R., Governor, III, 314.
+
+    Arias, Gomez, I, 145.
+
+    Arignon, Villiet, quoted, II, 26, 94.
+
+    Armona, Jose de, II, 108.
+
+    Army, Cuban, organization of, III, 178;
+      reorganized, 263;
+      under Jose Miguel Gomez, IV, 301.
+
+    Army, Spanish, in Cuba, III, 181, 295.
+
+    Aroztegui, Martin de, II, 20.
+
+    Arrate, Jose Martin Felix, historian, II, 17, 179.
+
+    Arredondo, Nicolas, Governor at Santiago, II, 165.
+
+    Asbert, Gen. Ernesto, amnesty case, IV, 326.
+
+    "Assiento" compact on slavery, II, 2.
+
+    Assumption, Our Lady of the, I, 61.
+
+    Astor, John Jacob, aids War of Independence, IV, 14.
+
+    Asylums for Insane, II, 317.
+
+    Atares fortress, picture, II, 103.
+
+    Atkins, John, book on West Indies, II, 36.
+
+    Atrocities, committed by Spanish, III, 250;
+      Cespedes's protest against, 254;
+      "Book of Blood," 284;
+      Spanish confession of, 286;
+      war of destruction,
+      295;
+      Weyler's "concentration" policy, IV, 85.
+
+    Attwood's Cay. See GUANAHANI.
+
+    Autonomist party, III, 305;
+      IV, 34;
+      attitude toward Campos in War of Independence, 59;
+      Cabinet under Blanco, 94;
+      earnest efforts for peace, 101;
+      record of its government, 102.
+
+    Avellanda, Gertrudis Gomez de, III, 331;
+      portrait, facing, 332.
+
+    Avila, Alfonso de, I, 154.
+
+    Avila, Juan de, Governor, I, 151;
+      marries rich widow, 154;
+      charges against him, 157;
+      convicted and imprisoned, 158.
+
+    Avila. See DAVILA.
+
+    Aviles, Pedro Menendez de, See MENENDEZ.
+
+    Ayala, Francisco P. de, I, 291.
+
+    Ayilon, Lucas V. de, strives to make peace between Velasquez
+      and Cortez, I, 98.
+
+    Azcarata, Jose Luis, Secretary of Justice, sketch and portrait,
+      IV, 341.
+
+    Azcarate, Nicolas, sketch and portrait, III, 251, 332.
+
+    Azcarraga, Gen., Spanish Premier, IV, 88.
+
+
+    "Barbeque" sought by Columbus, I, 18.
+
+    Bachiller, Antonio, sketch and portrait, III, 317.
+
+    Bacon, Robert, Assistant Secretary of State of U. S., intervenes
+      in revolution, IV, 272.
+
+    Bahia Honda, selected as U. S. naval station, IV, 256.
+
+    Balboa, Vasco Nunez de, I, 55, 91.
+
+    Bancroft, George, quoted, I, 269;
+      II, 1, 24, 41, 117, 120, 159.
+
+    Banderas, Quintin, revolutionist, IV, 34;
+      raid, 57;
+      death, 84.
+
+    Baracoa, Columbus at, I, 18;
+      Velasquez at, 60;
+      picture, 60;
+      first capital of Cuba, 61, 168.
+
+    Barreda, Baltazar, I, 201.
+
+    Barreiro, Juan Bautista, Secretary of Education, IV, 160.
+
+    Barrieres, Manuel Garcia, II, 165.
+
+    Barrionuevo, Juan Maldonado, Governor, I, 263.
+
+    Barsicourt, Juan Procopio. See SANTA CLARA, Conde.
+
+    Bayamo, founded by Velasquez, I, 68, 168;
+      Cuban Republic organized there, III, 157.
+
+    Bayoa, Pedro de, I, 300.
+
+    Bay of Cortez, reached by Columbus, I, 25.
+
+    Bees, introduced by Bishop Morell, II, 104;
+      increase of industry, 132.
+
+    "Beggars of the Sea," raid Cuban coasts, I, 208.
+
+    Bells, church, controversy over, II, 82.
+
+    Bembrilla, Alonzo, I, 111.
+
+    Benavides, Juan de, I, 280.
+
+    Berrea, Esteban S. de, II, 6.
+
+    Betancourt, Pedro, Civil Governor of Matanzas, IV, 179;
+      loyal to Palma, 271.
+
+    Betancourt. See CISNEROS.
+
+    "Bimini," Island of, I, 139.
+
+    Bishops of Roman Catholic Church in Cuba, I, 122.
+
+    "Black Eagle," II, 346.
+
+    _Black Warrior_ affair, III, 138.
+
+    Blanchet, Emilio, historian, quoted, II, 9, 15, 24;
+      on siege of Havana, 57, 87.
+
+    Blanco, Ramon, Governor, IV, 88;
+      undertakes reforms, 89;
+      plans Cuban autonomy, 93;
+      on destruction of _Maine_, 99;
+      resigns, 121.
+
+    Blue, Victor, observations at Santiago, IV, 110.
+
+    Bobadilla, F. de, I, 54.
+
+    Boca de la Yana, I, 18.
+
+    "Bohio" sought by Columbus, I, 18.
+
+    Bolivar, Simon, II, 333;
+      portrait, 334;
+      "Liberator," 334 et seq.;
+      influence on Cuba, 341;
+      "Soles de Bolivar," 341.
+
+    Bonel, Juan Bautista, II, 133.
+
+    "Book of Blood," III, 284.
+
+    Bourne, Edward Gaylord, quoted, on slavery, II, 209;
+      on Spanish in America, 226.
+
+    Brinas, Felipe, III, 330.
+
+    British policy toward Spain and Cuba, I, 270;
+      aggressions in West Indies, 293;
+      slave trade, II, 2;
+      war of 1639, 22;
+      designs upon Cuba, 41;
+      expedition against Havana, 1762, 46;
+      conquest of Cuba, 78;
+      relinquishment to Spain, 92. See GREAT BRITAIN.
+
+    Broa Bay, I, 22.
+
+    Brooke, Gen. John R., receives Spanish surrender of Cuba, IV, 122;
+      proclamation to Cuban people, 145;
+      retired, 157.
+
+    Brooks, Henry, revolutionist, IV, 30.
+
+    Buccaneers, origin of, I, 269.
+
+    Buccarelli, Antonio Maria, Governor, II, 110;
+      retires, 115.
+
+    Buchanan, James, on U. S. relations to Cuba, II, 263;
+      III, 135;
+      Minister to Great Britain, 142;
+      as President seeks annexation of Cuba to U. S., 143.
+
+    Bull-fighting, II, 233.
+
+    Burgos, Juan de, Bishop, I, 225.
+
+    Burtnett, Spanish spy against Lopez, III, 65.
+
+    Bustamente, Antonio Sanchez de, jurist, sketch and portrait, IV, 165.
+
+
+    Caballero, Jose Agustin, sketch and portrait, III, 321.
+
+    Caballo, Domingo, II, 173.
+
+    Cabanas, defences constructed, II, 58;
+      Laurel Ditch, view, facing, 58.
+
+    Caballero, Diego de, I, 111.
+
+    Cabezas, Bishop, I, 277.
+
+    Cabrera, Diego de, I, 206.
+
+    Cabrera, Luis, I, 198.
+
+    Cabrera, Lorenzo de, Governor, I, 279;
+      removed, 282.
+
+    Cabrera, Rafael, filibuster, IV, 70.
+
+    Cabrera, Raimundo, conspirator in New York, IV, 334;
+      warned, 339.
+
+    Cadreyta, Marquis de, I, 279.
+
+    Cagigal, Juan Manuel de, Governor, II, 154;
+      defence of Havana, 155;
+      removed and imprisoned, 157.
+
+    Cagigal, Juan Manuel, Governor, II, 313;
+      successful administration, 315.
+
+    Cagigal de la Vega, Francisco, defends Santiago, II, 29;
+      Governor, 32;
+      Viceroy of Mexico, 34.
+
+    Caguax, Cuban chief, I, 63.
+
+    Calderon, Gabriel, Bishop, I, 315.
+
+    Calderon, Garcia, quoted, II, 164, 172.
+
+    Calderon de la Barca, Spanish Minister,
+      on _La Verdad_, III, 19;
+      on colonial status, 21;
+      negotiations with Soule, 140.
+
+    Calhoun, John C., on Cuba, III, 132.
+
+    Calleja y Isisi, Emilio, Governor, III, 313;
+      proclaims martial law, IV, 30;
+      resigns, 35.
+
+    Camaguey. See PUERTO PRINCIPE, I, 168.
+
+    Campbell, John, description of Havana, II, 14.
+
+    Campillo, Jose de, II, 19.
+
+    Campos, Martinez de, Governor, III, 296;
+      proclamations to Cuba, 297, 299;
+      makes Treaty of Zanjon and ends Ten Years War, 299;
+      in Spanish crisis, IV, 36;
+      Governor again, 37;
+      establishes Trocha, 44;
+      defeated by Maceo, 46;
+      conferences with party leaders, 59, 63;
+      removed, 63.
+
+    Cancio, Leopoldo, Secretary of Treasury, IV, 161, 320.
+
+    Canizares, Santiago J., Minister of Interior, IV, 48.
+
+    Canning, George, policy toward Cuba, II, 257;
+      portrait, 258.
+
+    Canoe, of Cuban origin, I, 10.
+
+    Canon, Rodrigo, I, 111.
+
+    Canovas del Castillo, Spanish Premier, IV, 36;
+      assassinated, 88.
+
+    Cape Cruz, Columbus at, I, 20.
+
+    Cape Maysi, I, 4.
+
+    Cape of Palms, I, 17.
+
+    Capote, Domingo Menendez. Vice-President, IV, 90;
+      Secretary of State, 146;
+      President of Constitutional Convention. 189.
+
+    Carajaval, Lucas, defies Dutch, I, 290.
+
+    Cardenas, Lopez lands at, III, 49.
+
+    Caribs, I, 8.
+
+    Carillo, Francisco, filibuster, IV, 55.
+
+    Carleton, Sir Guy, at Havana, II, 47.
+
+    Carranza, Domingo Gonzales, book on West Indies, II, 37.
+
+    Carrascesa, Alfonso, II, 6.
+
+    Carreno, Francisco, Governor, I, 219;
+      conditions at his accession, 228;
+      dies in office, 229;
+      work in rebuilding Havana, 231.
+
+    Carroll, James, in yellow fever campaign, IV, 172.
+
+    Casa de Beneficienca, founded, I, 335;
+      II, 177.
+
+    Casa de Resorgiamento, founded, II, 31.
+
+    Casares, Alfonso, codifies municipal ordinances, I, 207.
+
+    Castellanos, Jovellar, last Spanish Governor of Cuba, IV, 121;
+      surrenders Spanish sovereignty, 123.
+
+    Castillo, Demetrio, Civil Governor of Oriente, IV, 180.
+
+    Castillo, Ignacio Maria del, Governor, III, 314.
+
+    Castillo, Loinaz, revolutionist. IV, 269.
+
+    Castillo, Pedro del, Bishop, I, 226.
+
+    Castro, Hernando de, royal treasurer, I, 115.
+
+    Cathcart Lord, expedition to West Indies, II, 28.
+
+    Cathedral of Havana, picture, facing I, 36;
+      begun, I, 310.
+
+    Cat Island. See GUANAHANI.
+
+    Cayo, San Juan de los Remedios del, removal of, I, 319.
+
+    Cazones, Gulf of, I, 21.
+
+    Cemi, Cuban worship of, I, 55.
+
+    Census, of Cuba, first taken, by Torre, II, 131;
+      by Las Casas, 176;
+      of slaves, 205;
+      of 1775, 276;
+      of 1791, 277;
+      Humboldt on, 277;
+      of 1811, 280;
+      of 1817, 281;
+      of 1827, 283;
+      of 1846, 283;
+      of 1899, IV, 154;
+      of 1907, 287.
+
+    Cespedes, Carlos Manuel, III, 157;
+      portrait, facing 158;
+      in Spain, 158;
+      leads Cuban revolution, 158;
+      President of Republic, 158;
+      proclamation, 168;
+      negotiations with Spain, 187;
+      removed from office, 275.
+
+    Cespedes, Carlos Manuel, filibuster, IV, 55.
+
+    Cespedes, Enrique, revolutionist, IV, 30.
+
+    Cervera, Admiral, brings Spanish fleet to Cuba, IV, 110;
+      portrait, 110;
+      surrenders, 114.
+
+    Chacon, Jose Bayoma, II, 13.
+
+    Chacon, Luis, I, 331, 333.
+
+    Chalons, Sr., Secretary of Public Works, IV, 297.
+
+    Chamber of Commerce founded, II, 307.
+
+    Charles I, King, I, 74;
+      denounces oppression of Indians, 128.
+
+    Chaves, Antonio, Governor, I, 157;
+      prosecutes Avila, 157;
+      ruthless policy toward natives, 159;
+      controversy with King, 160;
+      dismissed from office, 161.
+
+    Chaves, Juan Baton de, I, 331.
+
+    Chilton, John, describes Havana, I, 349.
+
+    Chinchilla, Jose, Governor, III, 314.
+
+    Chinese, colonies in America, I, 7;
+      laborers imported into Cuba, II, 295.
+
+    Chorrera, expected to be Drake's landing place, I, 248.
+
+    Chorrera River, dam built by Antonelli, I, 262.
+
+    Christianity, introduced into Cuba by Ojeda, I, 55;
+      urged by King Ferdinand, 73.
+
+    Church, Roman Catholic, organized and influential in Cuba, I, 122;
+      cathedral removed from Baracoa to Santiago, 123;
+      conflict with civil power, 227;
+      controversy with British during British occupation, II, 84;
+      division of island into two dioceses, 173;
+      attitude toward War of Independence, IV, 26;
+      controversy over property, 294.
+
+    Cienfuegos, Jose, Governor, II, 311.
+
+    Cimmarones, "wild Indians," I, 126;
+      revolt against De Soto, 148.
+
+    Cipango, Cuba identified with, by Columbus, I, 5.
+
+    Cisneros, Gaspar Betancourt, sketch and portrait, II, 379.
+
+    Cisneros, Pascal Jiminez de, II, 110, 127.
+
+    Cisneros, Salvador, III, 167;
+      sketch and portrait, 276;
+      President of Cuban Republic, 277;
+      President of Council of Ministers, IV, 48;
+      in Constitutional Convention, 190.
+
+    Civil Service, law, IV, 325;
+      respected by President Menocal, 325.
+
+    Clay, Henry, policy toward Cuba, II, 261.
+
+    Clayton, John M., U. S. Secretary of State, issues proclamation
+      against filibustering, III, 42.
+
+    Cleaveland, Samuel, controversy over church bells, II, 83.
+
+    Cleveland, Grover. President of United States, issues warning against
+      breaches of neutrality, IV, 70;
+      reference to Cuba
+      in message of 1896, 79;
+      its significance, 80.
+
+    Coat of Arms of Cuba, picture, IV, 251;
+      significance, 251.
+
+    Cobre, copper mines, I, 173, 259.
+
+    "Cockfighting and Idleness" campaign, IV, 291.
+
+    Coffee, cultivation begun, II, 33, 113.
+
+    Coinage, reformed, II, 142;
+      statistics of, 158.
+
+    Collazo, Enrique, filibuster, IV, 55.
+
+    Coloma, Antonio Lopez, revolutionist, IV, 30.
+
+    Colombia, designs upon Cuba, II, 262;
+      III, 134;
+      attitude toward Cuban revolution, 223.
+
+    Columbus, Bartholomew, recalled to Spain, I, 57.
+
+    Columbus, Christopher, portrait, frontispiece, Vol. I;
+      discoverer of America, I;
+      i;
+      first landing in America, 2;
+      monument on Watling's Island, picture, 3;
+      arrival in Cuba, 11;
+      question as to first landing place, 12;
+      first impressions of Cuba and intercourse with natives, 14;
+      exploration of north coast, 16;
+      end of first visit, 18;
+      second visit, 19;
+      exploration of south coast, 21;
+      at Bay of Cortez, 25;
+      turns back from circumnavigation, 26;
+      at Isle of Pines, 26;
+      final departure from Cuba, 27;
+      diary and narrative, 28 et seq.;
+      death and burial, 33;
+      tomb in Havana cathedral, 34;
+      removal to Seville, 36;
+      removal from Santo Domingo to Havana, II, 181;
+      epitaph, 182.
+
+    Columbus, Diego, plans exploration and colonization of Cuba, I, 57;
+      attempts mediation between Velasquez and Cortez, 97;
+      replaces Velasquez with Zuazo, 100;
+      rebuked by King, 100.
+
+    Comendador, Cacique, I, 55.
+
+    Commerce, begun by Velasquez, I, 68;
+      rise of corporations, II, 19;
+      after British occupation, 98;
+      under Torre, 132;
+      reduction of duties, 141;
+      extension of trade, 163;
+      Tribunal of Commerce founded, 177;
+      Real Compania de Havana, 199;
+      restrictive measures, 200;
+      Chamber of Commerce founded, 307;
+      commerce with United States, III, 2;
+      during American occupation, IV, 184;
+      present, 358.
+
+    Compostela, Diego E. de, Bishop, I, 318;
+      death, 332.
+
+    Concepcion, Columbus's landing place, I, 3.
+
+    Concessions, forbidden under American occupation, IV, 153.
+
+    Concha, Jose Gutierrez de la, Governor, III, 62, 290.
+
+    Conchillos, royal secretary, I, 59.
+
+    Congress, Cuban, welcomed by Gen. Wood, IV, 246;
+      turns against Palma, 269;
+      friendly to Gomez, 303;
+      hostile to Menocal, 323;
+      protects the lottery, 324.
+
+    Constitution: Cuban Republic of 1868, III, 157;
+      of 1895, IV, 47;
+      call for Constitutional Convention, 185;
+      meeting of Convention, 187;
+      draft completed, 192;
+      salient provisions, 193;
+      Elihu Root's comments, 194;
+      Convention discusses relations with United States, 197;
+      Platt
+      Amendment, 199;
+      amendment adopted, 203;
+      text of Constitution, 304 et seq.;
+      The Nation, 205;
+      Cubans, 205;
+      Foreigners, 207;
+      Individual Rights, 208;
+      Suffrage, 211;
+      Suspension of Guarantees, 212;
+      Sovereignty, 213;
+      Legislative Bodies, 214;
+      Senate, 214;
+      House of Representatives, 216;
+      Congress, 218;
+      Legislation, 221;
+      Executive, 222;
+      President, 222;
+      Vice-President, 225;
+      Secretaries of State, 226;
+      Judiciary, 227;
+      Supreme Court, 227;
+      Administration of Justice, 228;
+      Provincial Governments, 229;
+      Provincial Councils, 230;
+      Provincial Governors, 231;
+      Municipal Government, 233;
+      Municipal Councils, 233;
+      Mayors, 235;
+      National Treasury, 235;
+      Amendments, 236;
+      Transient Provisions, 237;
+      Appendix (Platt Amendment), 238.
+
+    "Constitutional Army," IV, 268.
+
+    Contreras, Andres Manso de, I, 288.
+
+    Contreras, Damien, I, 278.
+
+    Convents, founded, I, 276;
+      Nuns of Santa Clara, 286.
+
+    Conyedo, Juan de, Bishop, II, 35.
+
+    Copper, discovered near Santiago, I, 173;
+      wealth of mines, 259;
+      reopened, II, 13;
+      exports, III, 3.
+
+    Corbalon, Francisco R., I, 286.
+
+    Cordova de Vega, Diego de, Governor, I, 239.
+
+    Cordova, Francisco H., expedition to Yucatan, I, 84.
+
+    Cordova Ponce de Leon, Jose Fernandez, Governor, I, 316.
+
+    Coreal, Francois, account of West Indies, quoted, I, 355.
+
+    Coronado, Manuel, gift for air planes, IV, 352.
+
+    Cortes, Spanish, Cuban representation in, II, 308;
+      excluded, 351;
+      lack of representation, III, 3;
+      after Ten Years' War, 307.
+
+    Cortez, Hernando, Alcalde of Santiago de Cuba, I, 72;
+      sent to Mexico by King, 74;
+      agent of Velasquez, 86;
+      early career, 90;
+      portrait, 90;
+      quarrel with Velasquez, 91;
+      marriage, 92;
+      commissioned by Velasquez to explore Mexico, 92;
+      sails for Mexico, 94;
+      final breach with Velasquez, 96;
+      denounced as rebel, 97;
+      escapes murder, 99.
+
+    Cosa, Juan de la, geographer, I, 6, 53.
+
+    Councillors, appointed for life, I, 111;
+      conflict with Procurators, 113.
+
+    Creoles, origin of name, II, 204.
+
+    Crittenden, J. J., protests against European intervention in Cuba,
+      III, 129.
+
+    Crittenden, William S., with Lopez, III, 96;
+      captured, 101;
+      death, 105.
+
+    Crombet, Flor, revolutionist, IV, 41, 42.
+
+    Crooked Island. See ISABELLA.
+
+    Crowder, Gen. Enoch H., head of Consulting Board, IV, 284.
+
+    Cuba: Relation to America, I, 1;
+      Columbus's first landing, 3;
+      identified with Mangi or Cathay, 4;
+      with Cipango, 5;
+      earliest maps, 6;
+      physical history, 7, 37 et seq.;
+      Columbus's discovery, 11 et seq.;
+      named Juana, 13;
+      other names, 14;
+      Columbus's account of, 28;
+      geological history, 37-42;
+      topography, 42-51;
+      climate, 51-52;
+      first circumnavigation, 54;
+      colonization, 54;
+      Velasquez at Baracoa, 60;
+      commerce begun, 68;
+      government organized, 69;
+      named Ferdinandina, 73;
+      policy of Spain toward, 175;
+      slow economic progress, 215;
+      land legislation, 232;
+      Spanish discrimination against, 266;
+      divided into two districts, 275;
+      British description in 1665, 306;
+      various accounts, 346;
+      turning point in history, 363;
+      close of first era, 366;
+      British conquest, II, 78;
+      relinquished to Spain, 92;
+      great changes effected, 94;
+      economic condition, 98;
+      reoccupied by Spain, 102;
+      untouched by early revolutions, 165;
+      effect of revolution in Santo Domingo, 190;
+      first suggestion of annexation to United States, 257;
+      "Ever Faithful Isle," 268;
+      rise of independence, 268;
+      censuses, 276 et seq.;
+      representation in Cortes, 308;
+      "Soles de Bolivar," 341;
+      representatives rejected from Cortes, 351;
+      transformation of popular spirit, 383;
+      independence proclaimed, III, 145;
+      Republic organized, 157;
+      War of Independence, IV, 15;
+      Spanish elections held during war, 67;
+      Blanco's plan of autonomy, 93;
+      sovereignty surrendered by Spain, 123;
+      list of Spanish Governors, 123. See REPUBLIC OF CUBA.
+
+    Cuban Aborigines;
+      I, 8;
+      manners, customs and religion, 8 et seq.;
+      Columbus's first intercourse, 15, 24;
+      priest's address to Columbus, 26;
+      Columbus's observations of them, 29;
+      hostilities begun by Velasquez, 61;
+      subjected to Repartimiento system, 70;
+      practical slavery, 71;
+      Key Indians, 125;
+      Cimmarones, 126;
+      new laws in their favor, 129;
+      Rojas's endeavor to save them, 130;
+      final doom, 133;
+      efforts at reform, 153;
+      oppression by Chaves, 159;
+      Angulo's emancipation proclamation, 163.
+
+    "Cuba-nacan," I, 5.
+
+    "Cuba and the Cubans," quoted, II, 313.
+
+    "Cuba y Su Gobierno," quoted, II, 354.
+
+    Cuellar, Cristobal de, royal accountant, I, 59.
+
+    Cushing, Caleb, Minister to Spain, III, 291.
+
+    Custom House, first at Havana, I, 231.
+
+
+    Dady, Michael J., & Co., contract dispute, IV, 169.
+
+    Davila, Pedrarias, I, 140.
+
+    Davis, Jefferson, declines to join Lopez, III, 38.
+
+    Del Casal, Julian, sketch and portrait, IV, 6.
+
+    Del Cueta, Jose A., President of Supreme Court, portrait, IV, 359.
+
+    Delgado, Moru, Liberal leader, IV, 267.
+
+    Del Monte, Domingo, sketch, portrait, and work, II, 323.
+
+    Del Monte, Ricardo, sketch and portrait, IV, 2.
+
+    Demobilization of Cuban army, IV, 135.
+
+    Desvernine, Pablo, Secretary of Finance, IV, 146.
+
+    Diaz, Bernal, at Sancti Spiritus, I, 72;
+      in Mexico, 86.
+
+    Diaz, Manuel, I, 239.
+
+    Diaz, Manuel Luciano, Secretary of Public Works, IV, 254.
+
+    Diaz, Modeste, III, 263.
+
+    Divino, Sr., Secretary of Justice, IV, 297.
+
+    Dockyard at Havana, established, II, 8.
+
+    Dolz, Eduardo, in Autonomist Cabinet, IV, 96.
+
+    Dominguez, Fermin V., Assistant Secretary of Foreign Affairs, IV, 50.
+
+    Dorst, J. H., mission to Pinar del Rio, IV, 107.
+
+    "Dragado" deal, IV, 310.
+
+    Drake, Sir Francis, menaces Havana, I, 243;
+      in Hispaniola, 246;
+      leaves Havana unassailed, 252;
+      departs for Virginia, 255.
+
+    Duany, Joaquin Castillo, in Cuban Junta, IV, 12;
+      Assistant Secretary of Treasury, 50;
+      filibuster, 70.
+
+    Dubois, Carlos, Assistant Secretary of Interior, IV, 50.
+
+    Duero, Andres de, I, 93, 115.
+
+    Dulce y Garay, Domingo, Governor, III, 190, 194;
+      decree of confiscation, 209;
+      recalled, 213.
+
+    Dupuy de Lome, Sr., Spanish Minister at Washington, IV, 40;
+      writes offensive letter, 98;
+      recalled, 98.
+
+    Duque, Sr., Secretary of Sanitation and Charity, IV, 297.
+
+    Durango, Bishop, I, 225.
+
+    Dutch hostilities, I, 208, 279;
+      activities in West Indies, 283 et seq.
+
+
+    Earthquakes, in 1765, I, 315;
+      II, 114.
+
+    Echeverria, Esteban B., Superintendent of Schools, IV, 162.
+
+    Echeverria, Jose, Bishop, II, 113.
+
+    Echeverria, Jose Antonio, III, 324.
+
+    Echeverria, Juan Maria, Governor, II, 312.
+
+    Education, backward state of, II, 244;
+      progress under American occupation, IV, 156;
+      A. E. Frye, Superintendent, 156;
+      reorganization of system, 162;
+      Harvard University's entertainment of teachers, 163;
+      achievements under President Menocal, 357.
+
+    Elections: for municipal officers under American occupation, IV, 180;
+      law for regulation of, 180;
+      result, 181;
+      for Constitutional Convention, 186;
+      for general officers, 240;
+      result, 244;
+      Presidential, 1906, 265;
+      new law, 287;
+      local elections under Second Intervention, 289;
+      Presidential, 290;
+      for Congress in 1908, 303;
+      Presidential, 1912, 309;
+      Presidential, 1916, disputed, 330, result confirmed, 341.
+
+    Enciso, Martin F. de, first Spanish writer about America, I, 54.
+
+    Epidemics: putrid fever, 1649, I, 290;
+      vaccination introduced, II, 192;
+      small pox and yellow fever, III, 313;
+      at Santiago, IV, 142;
+      Gen. Wood applies Dr. Finlay's theory of yellow fever, 171;
+      success, 176;
+      malaria, 177.
+
+    Escudero, Antonio, de, II, 10.
+
+    Espada, Juan Jose Diaz, portrait, facing II, 272.
+
+    Espagnola. See HISPANIOLA.
+
+    Espeleta, Joaquin de, Governor, II, 362.
+
+    Espinosa, Alonzo de Campos, Governor, I, 316.
+
+    Espoleto, Jose de, Governor, II, 169.
+
+    Estenoz, Negro insurgent, IV, 307.
+
+    Estevez, Luis, Secretary of Justice, IV, 160;
+      Vice-President, 245.
+
+    Evangelista. See ISLE OF PINES.
+
+    Everett, Edward, policy toward Cuba, III, 130.
+
+    "Ever Faithful Isle," II, 268, 304.
+
+    Exquemeling, Alexander, author and pirate, I, 302.
+
+
+    "Family Pact," of Bourbons, effect upon Cuba, II, 42.
+
+    Felin, Antonio, Bishop, II, 172.
+
+    Fels, Cornelius, defeated by Spanish, I, 288.
+
+    Ferdinand, King, policy toward Cuba, I, 56;
+      esteem for Velasquez, 73.
+
+    Ferdinandina, Columbus's landing place, I, 3;
+      name for Cuba, 73.
+
+    Ferrara, Orestes, Liberal leader, IV, 260;
+      revolutionist, 269;
+      deprecates factional strife, 306;
+      revolutionary conspirator in New York, 334;
+      warned by U. S. Government, I, 239.
+
+    Ferrer, Juan de, commander of La Fuerza, I, 239.
+
+    Figueroa, Vasco Porcallo de, I, 72;
+      De Soto's lieutenant, 142;
+      returns from Florida in disgust, 145.
+
+    Figuerosa, Rojas de, captures Tortuga, I, 292.
+
+    Filarmonia, riot at ball, III, 119.
+
+    Filibustering, proclamation of United States against, III, 42;
+      after Ten Years' War, 311, in War of Independence, IV, 20;
+      expeditions intercepted, 52;
+      many successful expeditions, 69;
+      warnings, 70.
+
+    Fine Arts, II, 240.
+
+    Finlay, Carlos G., theory of yellow fever successfully applied
+      under General Wood, IV, 171;
+      portrait, facing, 172.
+
+    Fish, Hamilton, U. S. Secretary of State, prevents premature
+      recognition of Cuban Republic, III, 203;
+      protests against Rodas's decree, 216;
+      on losses in Ten Years' War, 290;
+      seeks British support, 292;
+      states terms of proposed mediation, 293.
+
+    Fish market at Havana, founder for pirate, II, 357.
+
+    Fiske, John, historian, quoted, I, 270.
+
+    Flag, Cuban, first raised, III, 31;
+      replaces American, IV, 249;
+      picture, 250;
+      history and significance, 250.
+
+    Flores y Aldama, Rodrigo de, Governor, I, 301.
+
+    Florida, attempted colonization by Ponce de Leon, I, 139;
+      De Soto's expedition, 145. See MENENDEZ.
+
+    Fonseca, Juan Rodriguez de, Bishop of Seville, I, 59.
+
+    Fonts-Sterling, Ernesto, Secretary of Finance, IV, 90;
+      urges resistance to revolution, 270.
+
+    Fornaris, Jose, III, 230.
+
+    Forestry, attention paid by Montalvo, I, 223;
+      efforts to check waste, II, 166.
+
+    Foyo, Sr., Secretary of Agriculture, Commerce and Labor, IV, 297.
+
+    France, first foe of Spanish in Cuba, I, 177;
+      "Family Pact," II, 42;
+      interest in Cuban revolution, III, 126.
+
+    Franquinay, pirate, at Santiago, I, 310.
+
+    French refugees, in Cuba, II, 189;
+      expelled, 302.
+
+    French Revolution, effects of, II, 184.
+
+    Freyre y Andrade, Fernando, filibuster,
+      IV, 70;
+      negotiations with Pino Guerra, 267.
+
+    Frye, Alexis, Superintendent of Schools, IV, 156;
+      controversy with General Wood, 162.
+
+    Fuerza, La: picture, facing I, 146;
+      building begun by De Soto, I, 147;
+      scene of Lady Isabel's tragic vigil, 147, 179;
+      planned and built by Sanchez, 194;
+      work by Menendez, and Ribera, 209;
+      slave labor sought, 211;
+      bad construction, 222;
+      Montalvo's recommendations, 223;
+      Luzan-Arana quarrel, 237;
+      practical completion, 240;
+      decorated by Cagigal, II, 33.
+
+
+    Galvano, Antony, historian, quoted, I, 4.
+
+    Galvez, Bernardo, seeks Cuban aid for Pensacola, II, 146;
+      Governor, 168;
+      death, 170.
+
+    Galvez, Jose Maria, head of Autonomist Cabinet, IV, 95.
+
+    Garaondo, Jose, I, 317.
+
+    Garay, Francisco de, Governor of Jamaica, I, 102.
+
+    Garcia, Calixto, portrait, facing III, 268;
+      President of Cuban Republic, III, 301;
+      joins War of Independence, IV, 69;
+      his notable career, 76 et seq.;
+      joins with Shafter at Santiago, 111;
+      death, 241.
+
+    Garcia, Carlos, revolutionist, IV, 269.
+
+    Garcia, Esequiel, Secretary of Education, IV, 320.
+
+    Garcia, Marcos, IV, 44.
+
+    Garcia, Quintiliano, III, 329.
+
+    Garvey, Jose N. P., II, 222.
+
+    Gastaneta, Antonio, II, 9.
+
+    Gelder, Francisco, Governor, I, 292.
+
+    Gener y Rincon, Miguel, Secretary of Justice, IV, 161.
+
+    Geraldini, Felipe, I, 310.
+
+    Germany, malicious course of in 1898, IV, 104;
+      Cuba declares war against, 348;
+      property in Cuba seized, 349;
+      aid to Gomez, 350.
+
+    Gibson. Hugh S., U. S. Charge d'Affaires, assaulted, IV, 308.
+
+    Giron. Garcia, Governor, I, 279.
+
+    Godoy, Captain, arrested at Santiago, and put to death, I, 203.
+
+    Godoy, Manuel, II, 172.
+
+    Goicouria, Domingo, sketch and portrait, III, 234.
+
+    Gold, Columbus's quest for, I, 19;
+      Velasquez's search, 61;
+      the "Spaniards' God," 62;
+      early mining, 81;
+      value of mines, 173.
+
+    Gomez, Jose Antonio, II, 18.
+
+    Gomez, Jose Miguel, Civil Governor of Santa Clara, IV, 179;
+      aspires to Presidency, 260, 264;
+      turns from Conservative to Liberal party, 265;
+      compact with Zayas, 265;
+      starts revolution, 269;
+      elected President, 290;
+      becomes President, 297;
+      Cabinet, 297;
+      sketch and portrait, 298;
+      acts of his administration, 301;
+      charged with corruption, 304;
+      conflict with Veterans' Association, 304;
+      quarrel with Zayas, 306;
+      suppresses Negro revolt, 307;
+      amnesty bill, 309;
+      National Lottery, 310;
+      "Dragado" deal, 310;
+      railroad deal, 310;
+      estimate of his administration, 311;
+      double treason in 1916, 332;
+      defeated and captured, 337;
+      his orders for devastation, 337;
+      aided by Germany, 350.
+
+    Gomez, Juan Gualberto, revolutionist, IV, 30;
+      captured and imprisoned, 52;
+      insurgent, 269.
+
+    Gomez, Maximo, III, 264;
+      succeeds Gen. Agramonte, 275;
+      makes Treaty of Zanjon with Campos, 299;
+      in War of Independence, IV, 15;
+      commander in chief, 16, 43;
+      portrait, facing 44;
+      plans great campaign of war, 53;
+      controversy with Lacret, 84;
+      opposed to American invasion, 109;
+      appeals to Cubans to accept American occupation, 136;
+      impeachment by National Assembly ignored, 137;
+      influence during Government of Intervention, 149;
+      considered by Constitutional Convention, 191;
+      proposed for Presidency, 240;
+      declines, 241.
+
+    Gonzalez, Aurelia Castillo de, author, sketch and portrait, IV, 192.
+
+    Gonzales, William E., U. S. Minister to Cuba, IV, 335;
+      watches Gomez's insurrection, 336.
+
+    Gorgas, William C., work for sanitation, IV, 175.
+
+    Government of Cuba: organized by Velasquez, I, 69;
+      developed at Santiago, 81;
+      radical changes made, 111;
+      revolution in political status of island, 138;
+      codification of ordinances, 207;
+      Ordinances of 1542, 317;
+      land tenure, II, 12;
+      reforms by Governor Guemez, 17;
+      reorganization after British occupation, 104;
+      great reforms by Torre, 132;
+      budget and tax reforms, 197;
+      authority of Captain-General, III, 11;
+      administrative and judicial functions, 13 et seq.;
+      military and naval command, 16;
+      attempted reforms, 63;
+      concessions after Ten Years' War, 310.
+
+    Governors of Cuba, Spanish, list of, IV, 123.
+
+    Govin, Antonio, in Autonomist Cabinet, IV, 95;
+      sketch and portrait, 95.
+
+    Grammont, buccaneer, I, 311.
+
+    Gran Caico, I, 4.
+
+    Grand Turk Island. See GUANAHANI.
+
+    Grant, U. S., President of United States, III, 200;
+      inclined to recognize Cuban Republic, 202;
+      prevented by his Secretary of State, 203;
+      comments in messages, 205, 292.
+
+    Great Britain, interest in Cuban revolution, III, 125;
+      protection sought by Spain, 129;
+      declines cooperation with United States, 294;
+      requires return of fugitives, 310.
+
+    Great Exuma. See FERDINANDINA.
+
+    Great Inagua, I, 4.
+
+    Great War, Cuba enters, IV, 348;
+      offers 10,000 troops, 348;
+      German intrigues and propaganda, 349;
+      attitude of Roman Catholic clergy, 349;
+      ships seized, 350;
+      cooperation with Food Commission, 351;
+      military activities, 352;
+      liberal subscriptions to loans, 352;
+      Red Cross work, 352;
+      Senora Menocal's inspiring leadership, 353.
+
+    Grijalva, Juan de, I, 65;
+      expedition to Mexico, 66;
+      names Mexico New Spain, 97;
+      unjustly recalled and discredited, 88.
+
+    Guajaba Island, I, 18.
+
+    Guama, Cimmarron chief, I, 127.
+
+    Guanabacoa founded, II, 21.
+
+    Guanahani, Columbus's landing place, I, 2.
+
+    Guanajes Islands, source of slave trade, I, 83.
+
+    Guantanamo, Columbus at, I, 19;
+      U. S. Naval Station, IV, 256.
+
+    Guardia, Cristobal de la, Secretary of Justice, IV, 320.
+
+    Guazo, Gregorio, de la Vega, Governor, I, 340;
+      stops tobacco war, 341;
+      warnings to Great Britain and France, 342;
+      military activity and efficiency, II, 5.
+
+    Guemez y Horcasitas, Juan F., Governor, II, 17;
+      reforms, 17;
+      close of administration, 26.
+
+    Guerra, Amador, revolutionist, IV, 30.
+
+    Guerra, Benjamin, treasurer of Junta, IV, 3.
+
+    Guerro, Pino, starts insurrection, IV, 267, 269;
+      commander of Cuban army, 301;
+      attempt to assassinate him, 303.
+
+    Guevara, Francisco, III, 265.
+
+    Guiteras, Juan, physician and scientist, sketch and portrait, IV, 321.
+
+    Guiteras, Pedro J., quoted, I, 269;
+      II, 6;
+      42;
+      207.
+
+    Guzman, Gonzalez de, mission from Velasquez to King Charles I, I, 85;
+      vindicates Velasquez, 108;
+      Governor of Cuba, 110;
+      marries rich sister-in-law, 116;
+      litigation over estate, 117;
+      tremendous indictment by Vadillo, 120;
+      appeals to King and Council for Indies, 120;
+      seeks to oppress natives, 128;
+      second time Governor, 137;
+      makes more trouble, 148;
+      trouble with French privateers, 178.
+
+    Guzman, Nunez de, royal treasurer, I, 109;
+      death and fortune, 115.
+
+    Guzman, Santos, spokesman of Constitutionalists, IV, 59.
+
+
+    Hammock, of Cuban origin, I, 10.
+
+    Hanebanilla, falls of, view, facing III, 110.
+
+    Harponville, Viscount Gustave, quoted, II, 189.
+
+    Harvard University, entertains Cuban teachers, IV, 163.
+
+    Hatuey, Cuban chief, leader against Spaniards, I, 62;
+      death, 63.
+
+    Havana: founded by Narvaez, I, 69;
+      De Soto's home and capital, 144;
+      rise in importance, 166;
+      Governor's permanent residence, 180;
+      inadequate defences, 183;
+      captured by Sores, 186;
+      protected by Mazariegos, 194;
+      sea wall proposed by Osorio, 202;
+      fortified by Menendez, 209;
+      "Key of the New World," 210;
+      commercial metropolis of West Indies, 216;
+      first hospital founded, 226;
+      San Francisco church, picture, facing 226;
+      building in Carreno's time, 231;
+      custom house, 231;
+      threatened by Drake, 243;
+      preparations for defence, 250;
+      officially called "city," 262;
+      coat of arms, 202;
+      primitive conditions, 264;
+      first theatrical performance, 264;
+      capital of western district, 275;
+      great fire, 277;
+      attacked by Pit Hein, 280;
+      described by John Chilton, 349;
+      first dockyard established, II, 8;
+      attacked by British under Admiral
+      Hosier, 9;
+      University founded, 11;
+      described by John Campbell, 14;
+      British expedition against in 1762, 46;
+      journal of siege, 54;
+      American troops engaged, 66;
+      surrender, 69;
+      terms, 71;
+      British occupation, 78;
+      great changes, 94;
+      description, 94;
+      view from Cabanas, facing, 96;
+      reoccupied by Spanish, 102;
+      hurricane, 115;
+      improvements in streets and buildings, 129;
+      view in Old Havana, facing 130;
+      street cleaning, and market, 169;
+      slaughter house removed, 194;
+      shopping, 242;
+      cafes, 243;
+      Tacon's public works, 365;
+      view of old Presidential Palace, facing III, 14;
+      view of the Prado, facing IV, 16;
+      besieged in War of Independence, 62;
+      view of bay and harbor, facing, 98;
+      old City Wall, picture, 122;
+      view of old and new buildings, facing 134;
+      General Ludlow's administration, 146;
+      Police reorganized, 150;
+      view of University, facing 164;
+      view of the new capitol, facing 204;
+      view of the President's home, facing 268;
+      view of the Academy of Arts and Crafts, facing 288;
+      new railroad terminal, 311.
+
+    Hay, John, epigram on revolutions, IV, 343
+
+    Hayti. See HISPANIOLA.
+
+    Hein, Pit, Dutch raider, I, 279.
+
+    Henderson, John, on Lopez's expedition, III, 64.
+
+    _Herald_, New York, on Cuban revolution, III, 89.
+
+    Heredia, Jose Maria. II, 274;
+      exiled, 344;
+      life and works, III, 318;
+      portrait, facing 318.
+
+    Hernani, Domingo, II, 170.
+
+    Herrera, historian, on Columbus's first landing, I, 12;
+      on Hatuey, 62;
+      description of West Indies, 345.
+
+    Herrera, Geronimo Bustamente de, I, 194.
+
+    Hevea, Aurelio, Secretary of Interior, IV, 320.
+
+    Hispaniola, Columbus at, I, 19;
+      revolution in, II, 173;
+      186;
+      effect upon Cuba, 189.
+
+    Hobson, Richmond P., exploit at Santiago, IV, 110.
+
+    Holleben, Dr. von, German Ambassador at Washington, intrigues of,
+      IV, 104.
+
+    Home Rule, proposed by Spain, IV, 6;
+      adopted, 8.
+
+    Horses introduced into Cuba, I, 63.
+
+    Hosier, Admiral, attacks Havana, I, 312;
+      II, 9.
+
+    Hospital, first in Havana, I, 226;
+      Belen founded, 318;
+      San Paula and San Francisco, 195.
+
+    "House of Fear," Governor's home, I, 156.
+
+    Humboldt, Alexander von, on slavery, II, 206;
+      on census, 277;
+      282;
+      on slave trade, 288.
+
+    Hurricanes, II, 115, 176, 310.
+
+    Hurtado, Lopez, royal treasurer, I, 116;
+      has Chaves removed, 162.
+
+
+    Ibarra, Carlos, defeats Dutch raiders, I, 288.
+
+    Incas, I, 7.
+
+    Independence, first conceived, II, 268;
+      326;
+      first revolts for, 343;
+      sentiment fostered by slave trade, 377;
+      proclaimed by Aguero, III, 72;
+      proclaimed by Cespedes at Yara, 155;
+      proposed by United States to Spain, 217;
+      War of Independence, IV, 1;
+      recognized by Spain, 119. See WAR OF INDEPENDENCE.
+
+    Intellectual life of Cuba, I, 360;
+      lack of productiveness in Sixteenth Century, 362;
+      Cuban backwardness, II, 235;
+      first important progress, 273;
+      great arising and splendid achievements, III, 317.
+
+    Insurrections. See REVOLUTIONS, and SLAVERY.
+
+    Intervention, Government of: First, established, IV, 132;
+      organized, 145;
+      Cuban Cabinet, 145;
+      saves island from famine, 146;
+      works of rehabilitation and reform, 148;
+      marriage law, 152;
+      concessions forbidden, 153;
+      census, 154;
+      civil governments of provinces, 179;
+      municipal elections ordered, 180;
+      electoral law 180;
+      final transactions, 246;
+      Second Government of Intervention, 281;
+      C. E. Magoon, Governor, 281;
+      Consulting Board, 284;
+      elections held, 289, 290;
+      commission for revising laws, 294;
+      controversy over church property, 294.
+
+    Intervention sought by Great Britain and France, III, 128;
+      by United States, IV, 106.
+
+    Iroquois, I, 7.
+
+    Irving, Washington, on Columbus's landing place, I, 12.
+
+    Isabella, Columbus's landing place, I, 3.
+
+    Isabella, Queen, portrait, I, 13.
+
+    Isidore of Seville, quoted, I, 4.
+
+    Islas de Arena, I, 11.
+
+    Isle of Pines, I, 26;
+      recognized as part of Cuba, 224;
+      status under Platt Amendment, IV, 255.
+
+    Italian settlers in Cuba, I, 169.
+
+    Ivonnet, Negro insurgent, IV, 307.
+
+
+    Jamaica, Columbus at, I, 20.
+
+    Japan. See CIPANGO.
+
+    Jaruco, founded, II, 131.
+
+    Jefferson, Thomas, on Cuban annexation, II, 260;
+      III, 132.
+
+    Jeronimite Order, made guardian of Indians, I, 78;
+      becomes their oppressor, 127.
+
+    Jesuits, controversy over, II, 86;
+      expulsion of, 111.
+
+    Jordan, Thomas, joins Cuban revolution, III, 211.
+
+    Jorrin, Jose Silverio, portrait, facing III, 308.
+
+    Jovellar, Joachim, Governor, III, 273;
+      proclaims state of siege, 289;
+      resigns, 290.
+
+    Juana, Columbus's first name for Cuba, I, 13.
+
+    Juan Luis Keys, I, 21.
+
+    Judiciary, reforms in, II, 110;
+      under Navarro, 142;
+      under Unzaga, 165;
+      under Leonard Wood, IV, 177.
+
+    Junta, Cuban, in United States, III, 91;
+      New York, IV, 2;
+      branches elsewhere, 3;
+      policy in enlisting men, 19.
+
+    Junta de Fomento, II, 178.
+
+    Juntas of the Laborers, III, 174.
+
+
+    Keppel, Gen. See ALBEMARLE.
+
+    Key Indians, I, 125;
+      expedition against, 126.
+
+    "Key of the New World and Bulwark of the Indies," I, 210.
+
+    Kindelan, Sebastian de, II, 197, 315.
+
+
+    Lacoste, Perfecto, Secretary of Agriculture, Industry and Commerce,
+      IV, 160.
+
+    Land tenure, II, 12;
+      absentee landlords, 214.
+
+    Lanuza, Gonzalez, Secretary of Justice, IV, 146;
+      portrait, 146.
+
+    Lares, Amador de, I, 93.
+
+    La Salle, in Cuba, I, 73.
+
+    Las Casas, Bartholomew, Apostle to the Indies, arrival in Cuba, I, 63;
+      portrait, 64;
+      denounces Narvaez, 66;
+      begins campaign against slavery, 75;
+      mission to Spain, 77;
+      before Ximenes, 77.
+
+    Las Casas, Luis de, Governor, II, 175;
+      portrait, 175;
+      death, 182.
+
+    Lasso de la Vega, Juan, Bishop, II, 17.
+
+    Lawton, Gen. Henry W., leads advance against Spanish, IV, 112;
+      Military Governor of Oriente, 139.
+
+    Lazear, Camp, established, IV, 172.
+
+    Lazear, Jesse W., hero and martyr in yellow fever campaign, IV, 172.
+
+    Ledesma, Francisco Rodriguez, Governor, I, 310.
+
+    Lee, Fitzhugh, Consul General at Havana, IV, 72;
+      reports on "concentration" policy of Weyler, 86;
+      asks for warship to protect Americans at Havana, 97;
+      _Maine_ sent, 98;
+      commands troops at Havana, 121.
+
+    Lee, Robert Edward, declines to join Lopez, III, 39.
+
+    Legrand, Pedro, invades Cuba, I, 302.
+
+    Leiva, Lopez, Secretary of Government, IV, 297.
+
+    Lemus, Jose Morales, III, 333.
+
+    Lendian, Evelio Rodriguez, educator, sketch and portrait, IV, 162.
+
+    Liberal Party, III, 306;
+      triumphant through revolution, IV, 285;
+      dissensions, 303;
+      conspiracy against election, 329.
+
+    Liberty Loans, Cuban subscriptions to, IV, 352.
+
+    Lighthouse service, under Mario G. Menocal, IV, 168.
+
+    Linares, Tomas de, first Rector of University of Havana, II, 11.
+
+    Lindsay, Forbes, quoted, II, 217.
+
+    Linschoten, Jan H. van, historian, quoted, I, 351.
+
+    Liquor, intoxicating, prohibited in 1780, II, 150.
+
+    Literary periodicals: _El Habanero_, III, 321;
+      _El Plantel_, 324;
+      _Cuban Review_, 325;
+      _Havana Review_, 329.
+
+    Literature, II, 245;
+      early works, 252;
+      poets, 274;
+      great development of activity, III, 315 et seq.
+
+    Little Inagua, I, 4.
+
+    Llorente, Pedro, in Constitutional Convention, IV, 188, 190.
+
+    Lobera, Juan de, commander of La Fuerza, I, 182;
+      desperate defence against Sores, 185.
+
+    Lolonois, pirate, I, 296.
+
+    Long Island. See FERDINANDINA.
+
+    Lopez, Narciso, sketch and portrait, III, 23;
+      in Venezuela, 24;
+      joins the Spanish
+      army, 26;
+      marries and settles in Cuba, 30;
+      against the Carlists in Spain, 31;
+      friend of Valdez, 31;
+      offices and honors, 33;
+      plans Cuban revolution, 36;
+      betrayed and fugitive, 37;
+      consults Jefferson Davis and Robert E. Lee, 38;
+      first American expedition, 39;
+      members of the party, 40;
+      activity in Southern States, 43;
+      expedition starts, 45;
+      proclamation to his men, 46;
+      lands at Cardenas, 49;
+      lack of Cuban support, 54;
+      reembarks, 56;
+      lands at Key West, 58;
+      arrested and tried, 60;
+      second expedition organized, 65;
+      betrayed, 67;
+      third expedition, 70;
+      final expedition organized, 91;
+      lands in Cuba, 98;
+      defeated and captured, 112;
+      death, 114;
+      results of his works, 116.
+
+    Lorenzo, Gen., Governor at Santiago, II, 347.
+
+    Lorraine, Sir Lambton, III, 280.
+
+    Los Rios, J. B. A. de, I, 310.
+
+    Lottery, National, established by Jose Miguel Gomez, IV, 310.
+
+    Louisiana, Franco-Spanish contest over, II, 117;
+      Ulloa sent from Cuba to take possession, 118;
+      O'Reilly sent, 123;
+      Uznaga sent, 126.
+
+    Louverture, Toussaint, II, 186.
+
+    Luaces, Joaquin Lorenzo, sketch and portrait, III, 330.
+
+    Ludlow, Gen. William, command and work at Havana, IV, 144.
+
+    Lugo, Pedro Benitez de, Governor, I, 331.
+
+    Luna y Sarmiento, Alvaro de, Governor, I, 290.
+
+    Luz y Caballero, Jose de la, "Father of the Cuban Revolution,"
+      III, 322;
+      great work for patriotic education, 323;
+      Portrait, frontispiece, Vol III.
+
+    Luzan, Gabriel de, Governor, I, 236;
+      controversy over La Fuerza, 237;
+      feud with Quinones, 241;
+      unites with Quinones to resist Drake, 243;
+      energetic action, 246;
+      tenure of office prolonged, 250;
+      end of term, 260.
+
+
+    Macaca, province of, I, 20.
+
+    Maceo, Jose Antonio, proclaims Provisional Government, IV, 15;
+      leader in War of Independence, 41;
+      commands Division of Oriente, 43;
+      defeats Campos, 46;
+      plans great campaign, 53;
+      invades Pinar del Rio, 61;
+      successful campaign, 73;
+      death, 74;
+      portrait, facing 74.
+
+    Maceo, Jose, IV, 41;
+      marches through Cuba, 76.
+
+    Machado, Eduard, treason of, III, 258.
+
+    Machete, used in battle, IV, 57.
+
+    Madison, James, on status of Cuba, III, 132.
+
+    Madriaga, Juan Ignacio, II, 59.
+
+    Magoon, Charles E., Provisional Governor, IV, 281;
+      his administration, 283;
+      promotes public works, 286;
+      takes census, 287;
+      election law, 287;
+      retires, 295.
+
+    Mahy, Nicolas, Governor, II, 315.
+
+    Mail service established, II, 107;
+      under American occupation, IV, 168.
+
+    Maine sent to Havana, IV, 98;
+      destruction of, 98;
+      investigation, 100.
+
+    Maldonado, Diego, I, 146.
+
+    Mandeville, Sir John, I, 20.
+
+    Mangon, identified with Mangi, I, 20.
+
+    Manners and Customs, II, 229 et seq.;
+      balls, 239;
+      shopping, 242;
+      relations of black and white races, 242;
+      cafes, 243;
+      early society, 248.
+
+    Monosca, Juan Saenz, Bishop, I, 301.
+
+    Manrique, Diego, Governor, II, 109.
+
+    Manzaneda y Salines, Severino de, Governor, I, 320.
+
+    Manzanillo, Declaration of Independence issued, III, 155.
+
+    Maraveo Ponce de Leon, Gomez de, I, 339.
+
+    Marco Polo, I, 4, 20.
+
+    Marcy, William L., policy toward Cuba, III, 136.
+
+    Mar de la Nuestra Senora, I, 18.
+
+    Mariguana. See GUANAHANI.
+
+    Marin, Sabas, succeeds Campos in command, IV, 63.
+
+    Markham, Sir Clements, on Columbus's first landing, I, 12.
+
+    Marmol, Donato, III, 173, 184.
+
+    Marquez, Pedro Menendez, I, 206.
+
+    Marriage law, reformed under American occupation, IV, 152;
+      controversy over, 153.
+
+    Marti, Jose, portrait, frontispiece, Vol IV;
+      leader of War of Independence, IV, 2;
+      his career, 9;
+      in New York, 11;
+      organizes Junta, 11;
+      goes to Cuba, 15;
+      death, 16;
+      his war manifesto, 17;
+      fulfilment of his ideals, 355.
+
+    Marti, Jose, secretary of War, portrait, IV, 360.
+
+    Marti, the pirate, II, 357.
+
+    Martinez Campos. See Campos.
+
+    Martinez, Dionisio de la Vega, Governor, II, 8;
+      inscription on La Punta, 14.
+
+    Martinez, Juan, I, 192.
+
+    Martyr, Peter, I, 53.
+
+    Maso, Bartolome, revolutionist, IV, 34;
+      rebukes Spotorno, 35;
+      President of Cuban Republic, 43;
+      Vice President of Council, 48;
+      President of Republic, 90;
+      candidate for Vice President, 242;
+      seeks Presidency, 243.
+
+    Mason, James M., U. S. Minister to France, III, 141.
+
+    Masse, E. M., describes slave trade, II, 202;
+      rural life, 216;
+      on Spanish policy toward Cuba, 227;
+      social morals, 230.
+
+    Matanzas, founded, I, 321;
+      meaning of name, 321.
+
+    Maura, Sr., proposes Cuban reforms, IV, 5.
+
+    McCullagh, John B., reorganizes Havana Police, IV, 150.
+
+    McKinley, William, President of United States, message of 1897
+      on Cuba, IV, 87;
+      declines European mediation, 103;
+      message for war, 104.
+
+    Maza, Enrique, assaults Hugh S. Gibson, IV, 308.
+
+    Mazariegos, Diego de, Governor, I, 191;
+      a scandalous moralist, 193;
+      defences against privateering, 193;
+      takes charge of La Fuerza, 195;
+      controversy with Governor of Florida, 196;
+      replaced by Sandoval, 197.
+
+    Medina, Fernando de, I, 111.
+
+    Mendez-Capote, Fernando, Secretary of Sanitation, portrait, IV, 360.
+
+    Mendieta, Carlos, candidate for Vice President, IV, 328;
+      rebels, 338.
+
+    Mendive, Rafael Maria de, III, 328.
+
+    Mendoza, Martin de, I, 204.
+
+    Menendez, Pedro de Aviles, I, 199;
+      commander of Spanish fleet, 200;
+      clash with Osorio, 201;
+      Governor of Cuba, 205;
+      dealing with increasing enemies, 208;
+      fortifies Havana, 209;
+      recalled to Spain, 213;
+      conflict with Bishop Castillo, 226.
+
+    Menocal, Aniceto G., portrait, IV, 50.
+
+    Menocal, Mario G., Assistant Secretary of War, IV, 49;
+      Chief of Police at Havana, 144, 150;
+      in charge of Lighthouse Service, 168;
+      candidate for President, 290;
+      slandered by Liberals, 291;
+      elected President, 312;
+      biography, 312;
+      portrait, facing 312;
+      view of birthplace, 313;
+      Cabinet, 320;
+      opinion of Cuba's needs, 321;
+      first message, 322;
+      conflict with Congress, 323;
+      important reforms, 324;
+      suppresses rebellion, 327;
+      candidate for reelection, 328;
+      vigorous action against Gomez's rebellion, 335;
+      declines American aid, 337;
+      escapes assassination, 339;
+      reelection confirmed, 341;
+      clemency to traitors, 342;
+      message on entering Great War, 346;
+      fulfilment of Marti's ideals, 355;
+      estimate of his administration, 356;
+      achievements for education, 357;
+      health, 357;
+      industry and commerce, 358;
+      finance, 359;
+      "from Velasquez to Menocal," 365.
+
+    Menocal, Senora, leadership of Cuban womanhood in Red Cross and
+      other work, IV, 354;
+      portrait, facing 352.
+
+    Mercedes, Maria de las, quoted, II, 174;
+      on slave insurrection, 368.
+
+    Merchan, Rafael, III, 174;
+      patriotic works, 335.
+
+    Merlin, Countess de. See MERCEDES.
+
+    _Merrimac_, sunk at Santiago, IV, 111.
+
+    Mesa, Hernando de, first Bishop, I, 122.
+
+    Mestre, Jose Manuel, sketch and portrait, III, 326.
+
+    Meza, Sr., Secretary of Public Instruction and Arts, IV, 297.
+
+    Mexico, discovered and explored from Cuba, I, 87;
+      designs upon Cuba, II, 262;
+      Cuban expedition against, 346;
+      warned off by United States, III, 134;
+      fall of Maximilian, 150.
+
+    Milanes, Jose Jacinto, sketch, portrait and works, III, 324.
+
+    Miles, Gen. Nelson A., prepares for invasion of Cuba, IV, 111.
+
+    Miranda, Francisco, II, 156;
+      with Bolivar, 335.
+
+    Miscegenation, II, 204.
+
+    Molina, Francisco, I, 290.
+
+    Monastic orders, I, 276.
+
+    Monroe Doctrine, foreshadowed, II, 256;
+      promulgated, 328.
+
+    Monroe, James, interest in Cuba, II, 257;
+      promulgates Doctrine, 328;
+      portrait, 329.
+
+    Monserrate Gate, Havana, picture, II, 241.
+
+    Montalvo, Gabriel, Governor, I, 215;
+      feud with Rojas family, 218;
+      investigated and retired, 219;
+      pleads for naval protection for Cuba, 220.
+
+    Montalvo, Lorenzo, II, 89.
+
+    Montalvo, Rafael, Secretary of Public Works, urges resistance
+      to revolutionists, IV, 270.
+
+    Montanes, Pedro Garcia, I, 292.
+
+    Montano See VELASQUEZ, J. M.
+
+    Montes, Garcia, Secretary of Treasury, IV, 254.
+
+    Montesino, Antonio, I, 78.
+
+    Montiel, Vasquez de, naval commander, I, 278.
+
+    Montoro, Rafael, Representative in Cortes, III, 308;
+      spokesman of Autonomists, IV, 59;
+      in Autonomist Cabinet, 95;
+      candidate for Vice President, 290;
+      attacked by Liberals, 291;
+      biography, 317;
+      portrait, facing 320.
+
+    Morales case, IV, 92.
+
+    Morales. Pedro de, commands at Santiago, I, 299.
+
+    Morals, strangely mixed with piety and vice, II, 229.
+
+    Morell, Pedro Augustino, Bishop, II, 53;
+      controversy with Albemarle, 83;
+      exiled, 87;
+      death, 113.
+
+    Moreno, Andres, Secretary of Foreign Affairs, IV, 90.
+
+    Moret law, abolishing slavery, III, 243.
+
+    Morgan, Henry, plans raid on Havana, I, 297;
+      later career, 303.
+
+    Morro Castle, Havana, picture, facing I, 180;
+      site of battery, 180;
+      tower built by Mazariegos, 196;
+      fortified against Drake, 249;
+      planned by Antonelli, 261;
+      besieged by British, II, 55.
+
+    Morro Castle, Santiago, built, I, 289;
+      picture, facing 298.
+
+    Mucaras, I, 11.
+
+    Muenster, geographer, I, 6.
+
+    Mugeres Islands, I, 84.
+
+    Munive, Andres de, I, 317.
+
+    Murgina y Mena, A. M., I, 317.
+
+    Music, early concerts at Havana, II, 239.
+
+
+    Nabia, Juan Alfonso de, I, 207.
+
+    Nancy Globe, I. 6.
+
+    Napoleon's designs upon Cuba, II, 203.
+
+    Naranjo, probable landing place of Columbus, I, 12.
+
+    Narvaez, Panfilo de, portrait, I, 63;
+      arrival in Cuba, 63;
+      campaign against natives, 65;
+      explores the island, 67;
+      errand to Spain, 77;
+      sent to Mexico to oppose Cortez, 98;
+      secures appointment of Councillors for life, 111.
+
+    Naval stations, U. S., in Cuba, IV, 255.
+
+    Navarrete, quoted, I, 3, 12.
+
+    Navarro, Diego Jose, Governor, II, 141, 150.
+
+    Navy, Spanish, in Cuban waters, III, 182, 225.
+
+    Negroes, imported as slaves, I, 170;
+      treatment of, 171;
+      slaves and free, increasing numbers of, 229. See SLAVERY.
+
+    New Orleans, anti-Spanish outbreak, III, 126.
+
+    New Spain. See MEXICO.
+
+    Newspapers: _Gazeta_, 1780, II, 157;
+      _Papel Periodico_, 179;
+      246;
+      publications in Paris, Madrid and New York, 354;
+      El Faro Industrial, III, 18;
+      Diario de la Marina, 18;
+      La Verdad, 18;
+      La Vos de Cuba, 260;
+      La Vos del Siglo, 232;
+      La Revolucion, 333;
+      El Siglo, 334;
+      El Laborante, 335.
+
+    Norsemen, American colonists, I, 7.
+
+    Nougaret, Jean Baptiste, quoted, II, 26.
+
+    Nunez, Emilio, in Cuban Junta, IV, 12;
+      in war, 57;
+      Civil Governor of Havana, 179;
+      head of Veterans' Association, 305;
+      Secretary of Agriculture, 320;
+      candidate for Vice President, 328;
+      election confirmed, 341.
+
+    Nunez, Enrique, Secretary of Health and Charities, IV, 320.
+
+
+    Ocampo, Sebastian de, circumnavigates Cuba, I, 54.
+
+    O'Donnell, George Leopold, Governor, II, 365;
+      his wife's sordid intrigues, 365.
+
+    Oglethorpe, Governor of Georgia, hostile to Spain, II, 24, 30.
+
+    O'Hara, Theodore, with Lopez, III, 46.
+
+    Ojeda, Alonzo de, I, 54;
+      introduces Christianity to Cuba, 55.
+
+    Olid, Christopher de, sent to Mexico, I, 88.
+
+    Olney, Richard. U. S. Secretary of State, attitude toward War
+      of Independence, IV, 71.
+
+    Oquendo, Antonio de, I, 281.
+
+    Orejon y Gaston, Francisco Davila de, Governor, I, 301, 310.
+
+    O'Reilly, Alexandre, sent to occupy Louisiana, II, 123;
+      ruthless rule, 125.
+
+    Orellano, Diego de, I, 86.
+
+    Ornofay, province of, I, 20.
+
+    Ortiz, Bartholomew, alcalde mayor, I, 146;
+      retires, 151.
+
+    Osorio, Garcia de Sandoval, Governor, I, 197;
+      conflict with Menendez, 199, 201;
+      retired, 205;
+      tried, 206.
+
+    Osorio, Sancho Pardo, I, 207.
+
+    Ostend Manifesto, III, 142.
+
+    Ovando, Alfonso de Caceres, I, 214;
+      revises law system, 233.
+
+    Ovando, Nicolas de, I, 54.
+
+
+    Palma, Tomas Estrada, head of Cuban Junta in New York, IV, 3;
+      Provisional President of Cuban Republic, 15;
+      Delegate at Large, 43;
+      rejects anything short of independence, 71;
+      candidate for Presidency, 241;
+      his career, 241;
+      elected President, 245;
+      arrival in Cuba, 247;
+      portrait, facing 248;
+      receives transfer of government from General Wood, 248;
+      Cabinet, 254;
+      first message, 254;
+      prosperous administration, 259;
+      non-partisan at first, 264;
+      forced toward Conservative party, 264;
+      reelected, 266;
+      refuses to believe insurrection impending, 266;
+      refuses to submit to blackmail, 268;
+      betrayed by Congress, 269;
+      acts too late, 270;
+      seeks American aid, 271;
+      interview with W. H. Taft, 276;
+      resigns Presidency, 280;
+      estimate of character and work, 282;
+      death, 284.
+
+    Palma y Romay, Ramon, III, 327.
+
+    Parra, Antonio, scientist, II, 252.
+
+    Parra, Maso, revolutionist, IV, 30.
+
+    Parties, political, in Cuba, IV, 59;
+      origin and characteristics of Conservative and Liberal, 181, 261.
+
+    Pasalodos, Damaso, Secretary to President, IV, 297
+
+    Pasamonte, Miguel, intrigues against Columbus, I, 58.
+
+    Paz, Dona de, marries Juan de Avila, I, 154.
+
+    Paz, Pedro de, I, 109.
+
+    Penalosa, Diego de, Governor, II, 31.
+
+    Penalver. See PENALOSA.
+
+    Penalver, Luis, Bishop of New Orleans, II, 179.
+
+    "Peninsulars," III, 152.
+
+    Pensacola, settlement of, I, 328;
+      seized by French, 342;
+      recovered by Spanish, II, 7;
+      defended by Galvez, 146.
+
+    Pereda, Gaspar Luis, Governor, I, 276.
+
+    Perez, Diego, repels privateers, I, 179.
+
+    Perez, Perico, revolutionist, IV, 15, 30, 78.
+
+    Perez de Zambrana, Luisa, sketch and portrait, III, 328.
+
+    Personal liberty restricted, III, 8.
+
+    Peru, good wishes for Cuban revolution, III, 223.
+
+    Philip II, King, appreciation of Cuba, I, 260.
+
+    Pieltain, Candido, Governor, III, 275.
+
+    Pierce, Franklin, President of United States, policy toward
+      Cuba, III, 136.
+
+    Pina, Severo, Secretary of Finance, IV, 48.
+
+    Pinar del Rio, city founded, II, 131;
+      Maceo invades province, IV, 61;
+      war in, 73.
+
+    Pineyro, Enrique, III, 333;
+      sketch and portrait, 334.
+
+    Pinto, Ramon, sketch and portrait, III, 62.
+
+    "Pirates of America," I, 296.
+
+    Pizarro, Francisco de, I, 54, 91.
+
+    Platt, Orville H., Senator, on relations of United States
+      and Cuba, IV, 198;
+      Amendment to Cuban Constitution, 199;
+      Amendment adopted, 203;
+      text of Amendment, 238.
+
+    Pococke, Sir George, expedition against Havana, II, 46.
+
+    Poey, Felipe, sketch and portrait, III, 315.
+
+    Point Lucrecia, I, 18.
+
+    Polavieja, Gen., Governor, III, 314.
+
+    Police, reorganized, II, 312;
+      under American occupation, IV, 150;
+      police courts established, 171.
+
+    Polk, James K., President of the United States, policy toward
+      Cuba, III, 135.
+
+    Polo y Bernabe, Spanish Minister at Washington, IV, 98.
+
+    Ponce de Leon, in Cuba, I, 73;
+      death, 139.
+
+    Ponce de Leon, of New York, in Cuban Junta, IV, 13.
+
+    Pope, efforts to maintain peace, between United States and
+      Spain, IV, 104.
+
+    Porro, Cornelio, treason of, III, 257.
+
+    Port Banes, I, 18.
+
+    Port Nipe, I, 18.
+
+    Port Nuevitas, I, 3.
+
+    Portuguese settlers, I, 168.
+
+    Portuondo, Rafael, Secretary for Foreign Affairs, IV, 48;
+      filibuster, 70.
+
+    Prado y Portocasso, Juan, Governor, II, 49;
+      neglect of duty, 52;
+      sentenced to degradation, 108.
+
+    Praga, Francisco de, I, 282.
+
+    Presidency, first candidates for, IV, 240;
+      Tomas Estrada Palma elected, 245;
+      Jose Miguel Gomez aspires to, 260;
+      candidates in 1906, 265;
+      Palma's resignation, 280;
+      Jose Miguel Gomez elected, 290;
+      fourth campaign, 312;
+      Mario G. Menocal elected, 312;
+      fifth campaign, 328;
+      General Menocal reelected, 341.
+
+    Prim, Gen., Spanish revolutionist, III, 145.
+
+    Printing, first press in Cuba, II, 245.
+
+    Privateers, French ravage Cuba, I, 177;
+      Havana and Santiago attacked, 178;
+      Havana looted, 179;
+      Jacques Sores, 183;
+      Havana captured, 186;
+      Santiago looted, 193;
+      French raids, 220, et seq.
+
+    Proctor, Redfield, Senator, investigates and reports on condition
+      of Cuba in War of Independence, IV, 87.
+
+    Procurators, appointment of, I, 112.
+
+    Protectorate, tripartite, refused by United States, II, 261;
+      III, 130, 133.
+
+    Provincial governments organized, IV, 179, confusion in, 292.
+
+    Public Works, promoted by General Wood, IV, 166;
+      by Magoon, 286.
+
+    Puerto Grande. See GUANTANAMO.
+
+    Puerto Principe, I, 18, 167.
+
+    Punta, La, first fortification, I, 203;
+      strengthened against Drake, 249;
+      fortress planned by Antonelli, 261;
+      picture, IV, 33.
+
+    Punta Lucrecia, I, 3.
+
+    Punta Serafina, I, 22.
+
+
+    Queen's Gardens, I, 20.
+
+    Quero, Geronimo, I, 277.
+
+    Quesada, Gonzalo de, Secretary of Cuban Junta, IV, 3;
+      Minister to United States, 275.
+
+    Quesada, Manuel, sketch and portrait, III, 167;
+      proclamation, 169;
+      death, 262.
+
+    Quezo, Juan de, I, 113.
+
+    Quilez, J. M., Civil Governor of Pinar del Rio, IV, 179.
+
+    Quinones, Diego Hernandez de, commander of fortifications at
+      Havana, I, 240;
+      feud with Luzan, 241;
+      unites with Luzan to resist Drake, 243.
+
+    Quinones, Dona Leonora de, I, 117.
+
+
+    Rabi, Jesus, revolutionist, IV, 34, 42.
+
+    Railroads, first in Cuba, II, 343.
+
+    Raja, Vicente, Governor, I, 337.
+
+    Ramirez, Alejandro, sketch and portrait, II, 311.
+
+    Ramirez, Miguel, Bishop, partisan of Guzman, I, 120;
+      political activities and greed, 124.
+
+    Ramos, Gregorio, I, 274.
+
+    Ranzel, Diego, I, 295.
+
+    Recio, R. Lopez, Civil Governor of Camaguey, IV, 180.
+
+    Recio, Serafin, III, 86.
+
+    Reciprocity, secured by Roosevelt for Cuba, IV, 256.
+
+    "Reconcentrados," mortality among, IV, 86.
+
+    Red Cross, Cuban activities, IV, 353.
+
+    Redroban, Pedro de, I, 201.
+
+    Reed, Walter, in yellow fever campaign, IV, 172.
+
+    Reformists, Spanish, support Blanco's Autonomist policy, IV, 97.
+
+    Reggio, Andreas, II, 32.
+
+    Reno, George, in War of Independence, IV, 12;
+      running blockade, 21;
+      portrait, 21;
+      services in Great War, 351.
+
+    Renteria, Pedro de, partner of Las Casas, I, 75;
+      opposes slavery, 76.
+
+    Repartimiento, I, 70.
+
+    Republic of Cuba: proclaimed and organized, III, 157;
+      first representative Assembly, 161;
+      Constitution of 1868, 164;
+      first House of Representatives, 176;
+      Judiciary, 177;
+      legislation, 177;
+      army, 178;
+      fails to secure recognition, 203;
+      Government reorganized, 275;
+      after Treaty of Zanjon, 301;
+      reorganized in War of Independence, IV, 15;
+      Maso chosen President, 43;
+      Conventions of Yara and Najasa, 47;
+      Constitution adopted, 47;
+      Government reorganized, Cisneros President, 48;
+      capital at Las Tunas, 56;
+      removes to Cubitas, 72;
+      exercises functions of government, 72;
+      reorganized in 1897, 90;
+      after Spanish evacuation of island, 134;
+      disbanded, 135;
+      Constitutional Convention called, 185;
+      Constitution completed, 192;
+      relations with United States, 195;
+      Platt Amendment, 203;
+      enters Great War, 346.
+
+    Revolutions: Rise of spirit, II, 268;
+      in South America, 333;
+      "Soles de Bolivar," 341;
+      attempts to revolt, 344;
+      "Black Eagle," 346;
+      plans of Lopez, III, 36;
+      Lopez's first invasion, 49;
+      Aguero's insurrection, 72;
+      comments of New York _Herald_, 89;
+      Lopez's last expedition, 91;
+      results of his work, 116;
+      European interest, 125;
+      beginning of Ten Years' War. 155;
+      end of Ten Years' War, 299;
+      insurrection renewed, 308, 318;
+      War of Independence, IV, 1;
+      Sartorius Brothers, 4;
+      end of War of Independence, 116;
+      revolt against President Palma, 266;
+      ultimatum, 278;
+      government overthrown, 280;
+      Negro insurrection, 307;
+      conspiracy against President Menocal, 327;
+      great treason of Jose Miguel Gomez, 332;
+      Gomez captured, 337;
+      warnings from United States Government, 338;
+      revolutions denounced by United States, 343.
+
+    Revolutionary party, Cuban, IV, 1, 11.
+
+    Rey, Juan F. G., III, 40.
+
+    Riano y Gamboa, Francisco, Governor, I, 287.
+
+    Ribera, Diego de, I, 206;
+      work on La Fuerza, 209.
+
+    Ricafort, Mariano, Governor, II, 347.
+
+    Ricla, Conde de, Governor, II, 102;
+      retires, 109.
+
+    Rio de la Luna, I, 16.
+
+    Rio de Mares, I, 16.
+
+    Riva-Martiz, I, 279.
+
+    Rivera, Juan Ruiz, filibuster, IV, 70;
+      succeeds Maceo, 79.
+
+    Rivera, Ruiz, Secretary of Agriculture, Commerce and Industry, IV, 160.
+
+    Roa, feud with Villalobos, I, 323.
+
+    Rodas, Caballero de, Governor, III, 213;
+      emancipation decree, 242.
+
+    Rodney, Sir George, expedition to West Indies, II, 153.
+
+    Rodriguez, Alejandro, suppresses revolt, IV, 266.
+
+    Rodriguez, Laureano, in Autonomist Cabinet, IV, 95.
+
+    Rojas, Alfonso de, I, 181.
+
+    Rojas, Gomez de, banished, I, 193;
+      Governor of La Fuerza, 217;
+      rebuilds Santiago, 258.
+
+    Rojas, Hernando de, expedition to Florida, I, 196.
+
+    Rojas, Juan Bautista de, royal treasurer, I, 218.
+
+    Rojas, Juan de, aid to Lady Isabel de Soto, I, 145;
+      commander at Havana, 183.
+
+    Rojas, Manuel de, Governor, I, 105;
+      adopts policy of "Cuba for the Cubans," 106;
+      second Governorship, 121;
+      dealings with Indians, 126;
+      noble endeavors frustrated, 130;
+      resigns, 135;
+      the King's unique tribute to him, 135.
+
+    Roldan, Francisco Dominguez, Secretary of Public Instruction,
+      sketch and portrait, IV, 357.
+
+    Roldan, Jose Gonzalo, III, 328.
+
+    Roloff, Carlos, revolutionist, IV, 45;
+      Secretary of War, 48;
+      filibuster, 70.
+
+    Romano Key, I, 18.
+
+    Romay, Tomas, introduces vaccination, II, 192;
+      portrait, facing 192.
+
+    Roncali, Federico, Governor, II, 366;
+      on Spanish interests in Cuba, 381.
+
+    Roosevelt, Theodore, at San Juan Hill, IV, 113;
+      portrait, 113;
+      President of United States, on relations with Cuba, 245;
+      estimate of General Wood's work in Cuba, 251;
+      fight with Congress for Cuban reciprocity, 256;
+      seeks to aid President Palma against revolutionists, 275;
+      letter to Quesada, 275.
+
+    Root, Elihu, Secretary of War, on Cuban Constitution, IV, 194;
+      on Cuban relations with United States, 197;
+      explains Platt Amendment, 201.
+
+    Rowan, A. S., messenger to Oriente, IV. 107.
+
+    Rubalcava, Manuel Justo, II, 274.
+
+    Rubens, Horatio, Counsel of Cuban Junta, IV, 3.
+
+    Rubios, Palacios, I, 78.
+
+    Ruiz, Joaquin, spy, IV, 91;
+      death, 92. See ARANGUREN.
+
+    Ruiz, Juan Fernandez, filibuster, IV, 70.
+
+    Rum Cay. See CONCEPTION.
+
+    Rural Guards, organized by General Wood, IV, 144;
+      efficiency of, 301.
+
+    Ruysch, geographer, I, 6.
+
+
+    Saavedra, Juan Esquiro, I, 278.
+
+    Sabinal Key, I, 18.
+
+    Saco, Jose Antonio, pioneer of Independence, II, 378;
+      portrait, facing 378;
+      literary and patriotic work, III, 325, 327.
+
+    Sagasta, Praxedes, Spanish Premier, proposes Cuban reforms, IV, 6;
+      resigns, 36.
+
+    Saint Augustine, expedition against, I, 332.
+
+    Saint Mery, M. de, search for tomb of Columbus, I, 34.
+
+    Salamanca, Juan de, Governor, I, 295;
+      promotes industries, 300.
+
+    Salamanca y Negrete, Manuel, Governor, III, 314.
+
+    Salaries, some early, I, 263.
+
+    Salas, Indalacio, IV, 21.
+
+    Salazar. See SOMERUELOS.
+
+    Salcedo, Bishop, controversy with Governor Tejada, I, 262.
+
+    Sama Point, I, 4.
+
+    Samana. See GUANAHANI.
+
+    Sampson, William T., Admiral, in Spanish-American War, IV, 110;
+      at Santiago, 114;
+      portrait, 115.
+
+    Sanchez, Bartolome, makes plans for La
+      Fuerza, I, 194;
+      begins building, 195;
+      feud with Mazariegos, 197.
+
+    Sanchez, Bernabe, II, 345.
+
+    Sancti Spiritus, founded by Velasquez, I, 68, 168.
+
+    Sandoval, Garcia Osorio, Governor, I, 197. See OSARIO.
+
+    Sanitation, undertaken by Guemez, II, 18;
+      vaccination introduced by Dr. Romay. 192;
+      bad conditions, III, 313;
+      General Wood at Santiago, IV, 142;
+      achievements under President Menocal, 357.
+
+    Sanguilly, Julio, falls in leading revolution, IV, 29, 55.
+
+    Sanguilly, Manuel, in Constitutional Convention, IV, 190.
+
+    San Lazaro watchtower, picture, I, 155;
+      fortified against Drake, 248.
+
+    San Salvador. See GUANAHANI.
+
+    Santa Clara, Conde de, Governor, II, 194, 300.
+
+    Santa Crux del Sur, I, 20.
+
+    Santa Cruz, Francisco, I, 111.
+
+    Santiago de Cuba, Columbus at, I, 19;
+      founded by Velasquez, 68;
+      second capital of island, 69;
+      seat of gold refining, 80;
+      site of cathedral, 123;
+      condition in Angulo's time, 166;
+      looted by privateers, 193;
+      fortified by Menendez, 203;
+      raided and destroyed by French, 256;
+      rebuilt by Gomez de Rojas, 258;
+      capital of Eastern District, 275;
+      Morro Castle built, 289;
+      captured by British, 299;
+      attacked by Franquinay, 310;
+      attacked by Admiral Vernon, II, 29;
+      literary activities, 169;
+      great improvements made, 180;
+      battles near in War of Independence, IV, 112;
+      naval battle, 114;
+      General Wood's administration, 135;
+      great work for sanitation, 142.
+
+    Santiago, battle of, IV, 114.
+
+    Santiago, sunset scene, facing III, 280.
+
+    Santillan, Diego, Governor, I, 205.
+
+    Santo Domingo See HISPANIOLA.
+
+    Sanudo, Luis, Governor, I, 336.
+
+    Sarmiento. Diego de, Bishop, makes trouble, I, 149, 152.
+
+    Saunders, Romulus M., sounds Spain on purchase of Cuba, III, 135.
+
+    Sartorius, Manuel and Ricardo, revolutionists, IV, 4.
+
+    Savine, Albert, on British designs on Cuba, II, 40.
+
+    Schley, Winfield S., Admiral, in Spanish-American War, IV, 110;
+      portrait, 110;
+      at Santiago, 114.
+
+    Schoener's globe, I, 5.
+
+    Schools, backward condition of, II, 174, 244, 312. See EDUCATION.
+
+    Shafter, W. R., General, leads American army into Cuba, IV, 111.
+
+    Shipbuilding at Havana, II, 8, 33, 113, 300.
+
+    Sickles, Daniel E., Minister to Spain, offers mediation, III, 217.
+
+    Silva, Manuel, Secretary of Interior, IV, 90.
+
+    Slave Insurrection, II, 13;
+      III, 367, et seq.
+
+    Slavery, begun in Repartimiento system, I, 70;
+      not sanctioned by King, 82;
+      slave trading begun, 83;
+      growth and regulation, 170;
+      oppressive policy of Spain, 266;
+      the "Assiento," II, 2;
+      great growth
+      of trade, 22;
+      gross abuses, 202;
+      described by Masse, 202;
+      census of slaves, 204;
+      rise of emancipation movement, 206;
+      rights of slaves defined by King, 210;
+      African trade forbidden, 285;
+      Negro census, 286;
+      early records of trade, 288;
+      Humboldt on, 288;
+      statistics of trade, 289 et seq.;
+      domestic relations of slaves, 292;
+      dangers of system denounced, 320;
+      official complicity in illegal trade, 366;
+      slave insurrection, 367;
+      inhuman suppression by government, 374 et seq.;
+      emancipation by revolution of 1868, 159;
+      United States urges Spain to abolish slavery, 242;
+      Rodas's decrees, 242;
+      Moret law, 243.
+
+    Smith, Caleb. publishes book on West Indies, II, 37.
+
+    Smuggling, II, 133.
+
+    "Sociedad de Amigos," II, 169.
+
+    "Sociedad Patriotica," II, 166.
+
+    "Sociedad Patriotica y Economica," II, 178.
+
+    Society of Progress, II, 78.
+
+    Solano, Jose de, naval commander, II, 147.
+
+    "Soles de Bolivar," II, 341;
+      attempts to suppress, 343.
+
+    Solorzano, Juan del Hoya, I, 337;
+      II, 10.
+
+    Someruelos, Marquis of, Governor, II, 196, 301.
+
+    Sores, Jacques, French raider, II, 183;
+      attacks Havana, 184;
+      captures city, 186.
+
+    Soto, Antonio de, I, 292.
+
+    Soto, Diego de, I, 109, 217.
+
+    Soto, Hernando de, Governor and Adelantado, I, 140;
+      portrait, 140;
+      arrival in Cuba, 141;
+      tour of island, 142;
+      makes Havana his home, 144;
+      chiefly interested in Florida, 144;
+      sails for Florida, 145;
+      his fate in Mississippi, 147;
+      trouble with Indians, 148.
+
+    Soto, Lady Isabel de, I, 141;
+      her vigil at La Fuerza, 147;
+      death, 149.
+
+    Soto, Luis de, I, 141.
+
+    Soule, Pierre, Minister to Spain, III, 137;
+      Indiscretions, 138;
+      Ostend Manifesto, 142.
+
+    South Sea Company, II, 21, 201.
+
+    Spain: Fiscal policy toward Cuba, I, 175;
+      wars with France, 177;
+      discriminations against Cuba, 266, 267;
+      protests against South Sea Company, II, 22;
+      course in American Revolution, 143;
+      war with Great Britain, 151;
+      attitude toward America, 159;
+      peace with Great Britain, 162;
+      restrictive laws, 224;
+      policy under Godoy, 265;
+      decline of power, 273;
+      seeks to pawn Cuba to Great Britain for loan, 330;
+      protests to United States against Lopez's expedition, III, 59;
+      seeks British protection, 129;
+      refuses to sell Cuba, 135;
+      revolution against Bourbon dynasty, 145 et seq.;
+      rejects suggestion of American mediation in Cuba, 219;
+      seeks American mediation, 293;
+      strives to placate Cuba, IV, 5;
+      crisis over Cuban affairs, 35;
+      attitude toward War of Independence, 40;
+      considers Autonomy, 71;
+      Cabinet crisis of 1897, 88;
+      proposes joint investigation of Maine disaster, 100;
+      at war with United States, 106;
+      makes Treaty of Paris, relinquishing Cuba, 118.
+
+    Spanish-American War: causes of, IV, 105;
+      declared, 106;
+      blockade of Cuban coast, 110;
+      landing of American army in Cuba, 111;
+      fighting near Santiago, 112;
+      fort at El Caney, picture, 112;
+      San Juan Hill, battle, 113;
+      San Juan Hill, picture of monument, 114;
+      naval battle of Santiago, 115;
+      peace negotiations, 116;
+      "Peace Tree," picture, 116;
+      treaty of peace, 118.
+
+    Spanish literature in XVI century, I, 360.
+
+    Spotorno, Juan Bautista, seeks peace, rebuked by Maso, IV, 35.
+
+    Steinhart, Frank, American consul, advises President Palma to
+      ask for American aid, IV, 271;
+      correspondence with State Department, 272.
+
+    Stock raising, early attention to, I, 173, 224;
+      development of, 220.
+
+    Stokes, W. E. D., aids War of Independence, IV, 14.
+
+    Students, murder of by Volunteers, III, 260.
+
+    Suarez y Romero, Anselmo, III, 326.
+
+    Sugar, Industry begun under Velasquez, I, 175, 224;
+      growth of industry, 265;
+      primitive methods, II, 222;
+      growth, III, 3;
+      great development under President Menocal, IV, 358.
+
+    "Suma de Geografia," of Enciso, I, 54.
+
+    Sumana, Diego de, I, 111.
+
+
+    Tacon, Miguel, Governor, II, 347;
+      despotic fury, 348;
+      conflict with Lorenzo, 349;
+      public works, 355;
+      fish market, 357;
+      melodramatic administration of justice, 359.
+
+    Taft, William H., Secretary of War of United States, intervenes
+      in revolution, IV, 272;
+      arrives at Havana, 275;
+      negotiates with President Palma and the revolutionists, 276;
+      portrait, 276;
+      conveys ultimatum of revolutionists to President Palma, 279;
+      accepts President Palma's resignation, 280;
+      pardons revolutionists, 280;
+      unfortunate policy, 283.
+
+    Tainan, Antillan stock, I, 8.
+
+    Tamayo, Diego, Secretary of State, IV, 159;
+      Secretary of Government, 254.
+
+    Tamayo, Rodrigo de, I, 126.
+
+    Tariff, after British occupation, II, 106;
+      reduction, 141;
+      oppressive duties. III, 5;
+      under American occupation, IV, 183.
+
+    Taxation, revolt against, II, 197;
+      "reforms," 342;
+      oppressive burdens, III, 6;
+      increase in Ten Years' War, 207;
+      evasion of, 312;
+      under American intervention, IV, 151.
+
+    Taylor, Hannis, American Minister at Madrid, IV, 33.
+
+    Tejada, Juan de, Governor, I, 261;
+      great works for Cuba, 262;
+      resigns, 263.
+
+    Teneza, Dr. Francisco, Protomedico, I, 336.
+
+    Ten Years' War, III, 155 et seq.;
+      first battles, 184;
+      aid from United States, 211;
+      offers of American mediation, 217;
+      rejected, 219;
+      campaigns of destruction, 222;
+      losses reported, 290;
+      end in Treaty of Zanjon, 299;
+      losses, 304.
+
+    Terry, Emilio, Secretary of Agriculture, IV, 254.
+
+    Theatres, first performance in Cuba, I, 264;
+      first theatre built, II, 130, 236.
+
+    Thrasher, J. S., on census, II, 283.
+
+    Tines y Fuertes, Juan Antonio, Governor, II, 31.
+
+    Tobacco, early use, I, 9;
+      culture promoted, 300;
+      monopoly, 334;
+      "Tobacco War," 338;
+      effects of monopoly, II, 221.
+
+    Tobar, Nunez, I, 141, 143.
+
+    Tolon, Miguel de, III, 330.
+
+    Toltecs, I, 7.
+
+    Tomayo, Esteban, revolutionist, IV, 34.
+
+    Torquemada, Garcia de, I, 239;
+      investigates Luzan, 241.
+
+    Torre, Marquis de la, Governor, II, 127;
+      work for Havana, 129;
+      death, 133.
+
+    Torres Ayala, Laureano de, Governor, I, 334;
+      reappointed, 337.
+
+    Torres, Gaspar de, Governor, I, 234;
+      conflict with Rojas family, 235;
+      absconds, 235.
+
+    Torres, Rodrigo de, naval commander, II, 34.
+
+    Torriente, Cosimo de la, Secretary of Government, IV, 320.
+
+    Toscanelli, I, 4.
+
+    Treaty of Paris, IV, 118.
+
+    Tres Palacios, Felipe Jose de, Bishop, II, 174.
+
+    Tribune, New York, describes revolutionary leaders, III, 173.
+
+    Trinidad, founded by Velasquez, I, 68, 168;
+      great fire, II, 177.
+
+    Trocha, begun by Campos, IV, 44;
+      Weyler's, 73.
+
+    Troncoso, Bernardo, Governor, II, 168.
+
+    Turnbull, David, British consul, II, 364;
+      complicity in slave insurrection, 372.
+
+
+    Ubite, Juan de, Bishop, I, 123.
+
+    Ulloa, Antonio de, sent to take possession of Louisiana, II, 118;
+      arbitrary conduct, 120.
+
+    Union Constitutionalists, III, 306.
+
+    United States, early relations with Cuba, II, 254;
+      first suggestion of annexation, 257;
+      John Quincy Adams's policy, 258;
+      Jefferson's policy, 260;
+      Clay's policy, 261;
+      representations to Colombia and Mexico, 262;
+      Buchanan's policy, 263;
+      Monroe Doctrine, 328;
+      consuls not admitted to Cuba, 330;
+      Van Buren's policy, 331;
+      growth of commerce with Cuba, III, 22;
+      President Taylor's proclamation against filibustering, 41;
+      course toward Lopez, 60;
+      attitude toward Cuban revolutionists, 123;
+      division of sentiment between North and South, 124;
+      policy of Edward Everett, 130;
+      overtures for purchase of Cuba, 135;
+      end of Civil War, 151;
+      new policy toward Cuba, 151;
+      recognition denied to revolution, 172;
+      aid and sympathy given secretly, 195;
+      Cuban appeals for recognition, 200;
+      recognition denied, 203;
+      protests against Rodas's decrees, 216;
+      offers of mediation, 217;
+      rejected by Spain, 219;
+      increasing interest and sympathy with revolutionists, 273;
+      warning to Spanish Government, 291;
+      effect of reciprocity upon Cuba, 313;
+      attitude toward War of Independence, IV, 27, 70;
+      Congress favors recognition, 70;
+      tender of good
+      offices, 71;
+      President Cleveland's message of 1896, 79;
+      appropriation for relief of victims of "concentration" policy, 86;
+      President McKinley's message of 1897, 87;
+      sensation at destruction of _Maine_, 99;
+      declaration of war against Spain, 106;
+      Treaty of Paris, 118;
+      establishment of first Government of Intervention, 132;
+      relations with Republic of Cuba, 195;
+      protectorate to be retained, 196;
+      Platt Amendment, 199;
+      mischief-making intrigues, 200;
+      naval stations in Cuba, 255;
+      reciprocity, 256;
+      second Intervention, 281;
+      warning to Jose Miguel Gomez, 305;
+      asks settlement of claims, 308;
+      Charge d'Affaires assaulted, 308;
+      supervision of Cuban legislation, 326;
+      warning to revolutionists, 339;
+      attitude toward Gomez revolution, 343.
+
+    University of Havana, founded, II, 11.
+
+    Unzaga, Luis de, Governor, II, 157.
+
+    Urrutia, historian, quoted, I, 300.
+
+    Urrutia, Sancho de, I, 111.
+
+    Utrecht, Treaty of, I, 326;
+      begins new era, II, 1.
+
+    Uznaga, Luis de, sent to rule Louisiana, II, 126;
+      reforms, 165.
+
+
+    Vaca, Cabeza de, I, 140.
+
+    Vadillo, Juan, declines to investigate Guzman, I, 118;
+      temporary Governor, 119;
+      tremendous indictment of Guzman, 120;
+      retires after good work, 121;
+      clash with Bishop Ramirez, 124.
+
+    Valdes, historian, quoted, II, 175.
+
+    Valdes, Gabriel de la Conception, III, 325.
+
+    Valdes, Jeronimo, Bishop, I, 335.
+
+    Valdes, Pedro de, Governor, I, 202, 272;
+      retires, 276.
+
+    Valdes, Geronimo, Governor, II, 364.
+
+    Valdueza, Marquis de, I, 281.
+
+    Valiente, Jose Pablo, II, 170, 180.
+
+    Valiente, Juan Bautista, Governor of Santiago, II, 180.
+
+    Vallizo, Diego, I, 277.
+
+    Valmaseda, Count, Governor, proclamation against revolution, III,
+      171, 270;
+      recalled for barbarities, 273.
+
+    Van Buren, Martin, on United States and Cuba, II, 331.
+
+    Vandeval, Nicolas C., I, 331, 333.
+
+    Varela, Felix, sketch and portrait, III, 320;
+      works, 321.
+
+    Varnhagen, F. A. de, quoted, I, 2.
+
+    Varona, Bernabe de, sketch and portrait, III, 178.
+
+    Varona, Jose Enrique, Secretary of Treasury, IV, 159;
+      Vice President, 312;
+      biography, 316;
+      portrait, facing 316.
+
+    Varona, Pepe Jerez, chief of secret service, IV, 268.
+
+    Vasquez, Juan, I, 330.
+
+    Vedado, view in, IV, 176.
+
+    Vega, Pedro Guerra de la, I, 243;
+      asks fugitives to aid in defence against Drake, 248.
+
+    Velasco, Francisco de Aguero, II, 345.
+
+    Velasco, Luis Vicente, defender of Morro against British, II, 58;
+      signal valor, 61;
+      death, 67.
+
+    Velasquez, Antonio, errand to Spain, I, 77
+
+    Velasquez, Bernardino, I, 115.
+
+    Velasquez, Diego, first Governor of Cuba, I, 59;
+      portrait, 59;
+      colonizes Cuba, 60;
+      hostilities with natives, 61, explores the island, 67;
+      marriage and bereavement, 68;
+      founds various towns, 68;
+      begins Cuban commerce, 68;
+      organizes government, 69;
+      favored by King Ferdinand, 73;
+      appointed Adelantado, 74;
+      seeks to rule Yucatan and Mexico, 85;
+      recalls Grijalva, 88;
+      quarrels with Cortez, 91;
+      sends Cortez to explore Mexico, 92, 94;
+      seeks to intercept and recall Cortez, 97;
+      sends Narvaez to Mexico, 98;
+      removed from office by Diego Columbus, 100;
+      restored by King, 102;
+      death and epitaph, 103;
+      posthumous arraignment by Altamarino, 107;
+      convicted and condemned, 108.
+
+    Velasquez, Juan Montano, Governor, I, 293.
+
+    Velez Garcia, Secretary of State, IV, 297.
+
+    Velez y Herrera, Ramon, III, 324.
+
+    Venegas, Francisco, Governor, I, 278.
+
+    Vernon, Edward, Admiral, expedition to Darien, II 27;
+      Invasion of Cuba, 29.
+
+    Viamonte, Bitrian, Governor, I, 286.
+
+    Viana y Hinojosa, Diego de, Governor, I, 317.
+
+    Victory loan, Cuban subscriptions to, IV, 353.
+
+    Villa Clara, founded, I, 321.
+
+    Villafana, attempts to assassinate Cortez, I, 99.
+
+    Villafana, Angelo de, Governor of Florida, controversy with
+      Mazariegos, I, 196.
+
+    Villalba y Toledo, Diego de, Governor, I, 290.
+
+    Villalobos, Governor, feud with Roa, I, 323.
+
+    Villalon, Jose Ramon, in Cuban Junta, IV, 13;
+      Secretary of Public Works, 160, 330.
+
+    Villalon Park, scene in, IV, 247.
+
+    Villanueva, Count de, II, 342.
+
+    Villapando, Bernardino de, Bishop, I, 225.
+
+    Villarin, Pedro Alvarez de, Governor, I, 333.
+
+    Villaverde, Cirillo, III, 327.
+
+    Villaverde, Juan de, Governor of Santiago, I, 276.
+
+    Villegas, Diaz de, Secretary of Treasury, IV, 297;
+      resigns, 302.
+
+    Villuendas, Enrique, in Constitutional Convention, IV, 188;
+      secretary, 189.
+
+    Virginius, capture of, III, 277;
+      butchery of officers and crew, 278 et seq.;
+      British intervention, 280;
+      list of passengers, 281;
+      diplomatic negotiations over, 283.
+
+    Vives, Francisco, Governor, II, 317;
+      despotism, 317;
+      expedition against Mexico, 346.
+
+    Viyuri, Luis, II, 197.
+
+    Volunteers, organized, III, 152;
+      murder Arango, 188;
+      have Dulce recalled, 213;
+      cause murder of Zenea, 252;
+      increased activities, 260;
+      murder of students, 261.
+
+
+    War of Independence, IV, i, 8;
+      circumstances of beginning, 9;
+      finances, 14;
+      Republic of Cuba proclaimed, 15;
+      attitude of Cuban people, 22;
+      actual outbreak, 29;
+      martial law proclaimed, 30;
+      Spanish forces in Cuba, 31;
+      arrival and policy of Martinez Campos, 38;
+      Gomez and Maceo begin great campaign, 53;
+      Spanish defeated, and reenforced, 55;
+      campaign of devastation, 60;
+      entire island involved, 61;
+      fall of Campos, 63;
+      Weyler in command, 66;
+      destruction by both sides, 68;
+      losses, 90;
+      entry of United States, 107;
+      attitude of Cubans toward American intervention, 108;
+      end of war, 116.
+
+    Watling's Island. See GUANAHANI.
+
+    Wax, development of Industry, II, 132.
+
+    Webster, Daniel, negotiations with Spain, III, 126.
+
+    Weyler y Nicolau, Valeriano, Governor, IV, 65;
+      portrait, 66;
+      harsh decree, 66;
+      conquers Pinar del Rio. 83;
+      "concentration" policy, 85;
+      recalled, 88.
+
+    Wheeler, Gen. Joseph, at Santiago, IV, 113, 115.
+
+    White, Col. G. W., with Lopez, III, 40.
+
+    Whitney, Henry, messenger to Gomez, IV, 107.
+
+    Williams, Ramon O., United States consul at Havana, IV, 32;
+      acts in behalf of Americans in Cuba, 72;
+      opposes sending _Maine_ to Havana, 100.
+
+    Wittemeyer, Major, reports on Gomez revolution to Washington
+      government, IV, 336;
+      offers President Menocal aid of United States, 337.
+
+    Wood, General Leonard, at San Juan Hill, IV, 113;
+      Military Governor of Santiago, 135;
+      his previous career, 140;
+      unique responsibility and power, 141;
+      dealing with pestilence, 142;
+      organizes Rural Guards, 144;
+      portrait, facing 158;
+      Military Governor of Cuba, 158;
+      well received by Cubans, 158;
+      estimate of _La Lucha_, 158;
+      his Cabinet, 159;
+      comments on his appointments, 160;
+      reorganization of school system, 161;
+      promotes public works, 166;
+      Dady contract dispute, 171;
+      applies Finlay's yellow fever theory with great success, 171;
+      reform of jurisprudence, 177;
+      organizes Provincial governments, 179;
+      holds municipal elections, 180;
+      promulgates election law, 181;
+      calls Constitutional Convention, 185;
+      calls for general election, 240;
+      his comments on election, 245;
+      announces end of American occupation, 246;
+      surrenders government of Cuba to
+      Cubans, 249;
+      President Roosevelt's estimate of his work, 251;
+      view of one of his mountain roads, facing 358.
+
+    Woodford, Stewart L., United States Minister to Spain, IV, 103;
+      presents ultimatum and departs, 106.
+
+
+    Xagua, Gulf of, I, 21.
+
+    Ximenes, Cardinal and Regent, gives Las Casas hearing on Cuba, I, 77.
+
+
+    Yanez, Adolfo Saenz, Secretary of Agriculture and Public Works,
+      IV, 146.
+
+    Yellow Fever, first invasion, II, 51;
+      Dr. Finlay's theory applied by General Wood, IV, 171;
+      disease eliminated from island, 176.
+
+    Yero, Eduardo, Secretary of Public Instruction, IV, 254.
+
+    Ynestrosa, Juan de, I, 207.
+
+    Yniguez, Bernardino, I, 111.
+
+    Yucatan, islands source of slave trade, I, 83;
+      explored by Cordova, 84.
+
+    Yznaga, Jose Sanchez, III, 37.
+
+
+    Zaldo, Carlos, Secretary of State, IV, 254.
+
+    Zambrana, Ramon, III, 328.
+
+    Zanjon, Treaty of, III, 299.
+
+    Zapata, Peninsula of, visited by Columbus, I, 22.
+
+    Zarraga, Julian, filibuster, IV, 70.
+
+    Zayas, Alfredo, secretary of Constitutional Convention, IV, 189;
+      compact with Jose Miguel Gomez, 265;
+      spokesman of revolutionists against President Palma, 277;
+      elected Vice President, 290;
+      becomes Vice President, 297;
+      sketch and portrait, 300;
+      quarrel with Gomez, 306;
+      candidate for President, 328;
+      hints at revolution, 330.
+
+    Zayas, Francisco, Lieutenant Governor, I, 205;
+      resigns, 206.
+
+    Zayas, Francisco, in Autonomist Cabinet, IV, 95.
+
+    Zayas, Juan B., killed in battle, IV, 78.
+
+    Zayas, Lincoln de, in Cuban Junta, IV, 12;
+      Superintendent of Schools, 162.
+
+    Zenea, Juan Clemente, sketch and portrait, III, 252;
+      murdered, 253;
+      his works, 332.
+
+    Zequiera y Arango, Manuel, II, 274.
+
+    Zipangu. See CIPANOO.
+
+    Zuazo, Alfonso de, appointed second Governor of Cuba, I, 100;
+      dismissed by King, 102.
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+End of the Project Gutenberg EBook of The History of Cuba, vol. 2, by
+Willis Fletcher Johnson
+
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