The History of Cuba Volume III Part 11

The proclamation of Count Valmaseda, to which General Quesada referred, had been issued at Bayamo on April 4, and was as follows:

"Inhabitants of the Country--

"The forces which I expected have arrived. With them I will afford protection to the good and summarily punish all those who still rebel against the government of the metropolis.

"Know ye that I have pardoned those who have fought against us, armed; know ye that your wives, mothers and sisters have in me found the protection they admired and which you rejected; know, also, that many of the pardoned have turned against me. After all these excesses, after so much ingrat.i.tude and so much villainy, it is impossible for me to be the man I was heretofore. Deceptive neutrality is no longer possible. 'He that is not with me is against me,' and in order that my soldiers may know how to distinguish you, hearken to the orders given them:

"Every man from the age of 15 upward, found beyond his farm, will be shot, unless a justification for his absence be proven.

"Every hut that is found uninhabited will be burned by the troops.

"Every hamlet where a white cloth in the shape of a flag is not hoisted in token that its inhabitants desire peace, will be reduced to ashes.

"The women who are not found in their respective dwellings, or in those of their relatives, will return to the towns of Jiguani or Bayamo, where they will be duly provided for. Those who fail to do so will be taken by compulsion. These orders will be in force on and after the 14th inst.!

"COUNT VALMASEDA.

"Bayamo, April 4, 1869."

General Cespedes about this time sent to the Government of the United States, in his name and in that of the Provisional Government of Cuba, a request for recognition, as belligerents. His letter contained these references to the strength of the movement in Cuba:

"We now hold much more than fifty leagues of the interior of this Island in the Eastern Department, among which are the people (or communities) of Jiguani, Tunas, Baire, Yara, Barrancas, Datil, Cauto, Embarcadero, Guisa, and Horno, besides the cities of Bayamo and Holguin, in all numbering 107,853 inhabitants, who obey us, and have sworn to shed to the last drop of blood in our cause.

"In the mentioned city of Bayamo, we have established a provisional government, and formed our general quarters, where we hold more than three hundred of the enemy prisoners, taken from the Spanish Army, among whom are generals and governors of high rank. All this has been accomplished in ten days, without other resources than those offered by the country we have pa.s.sed through, without other losses than three or four killed and six or eight wounded."

However this impressed the Government at Was.h.i.+ngton, and notwithstanding the marked sympathy in the United States for the cause of the Republic, the desired recognition was not obtained.

The impression of the revolution and its leaders which was given to the people of the United States may be judged from what was written by an authoritative correspondent of the New York _Tribune_:

[Ill.u.s.tration: FRANCISCO V. AGUILERA]

FRANCISCO V. AGUILERA

One of the organizers of the Ten Years' War, Francisco V. Aguilera was born at Bayamo in 1821, of a wealthy and distinguished family, and was finely educated in America and Europe. Although married to the daughter of the Spanish Governor of Santiago, General Kindelan, he was an ardent patriot, liberating his slaves and giving his great fortune to the cause of independence. He served in the Ten Years' War as Secretary of War and as Commander in Chief in Oriente; and succeeded Salvador Cisneros Betancourt as President of the Revolutionary government. He died in New York on February 22, 1877, and though his government had not been officially recognized, full honors as to a Chief of State were paid at his funeral.

"General Cespedes, the hero and chief of the revolt--is a man of good appearance, fifty years of age, and has traveled in the United States.

His second in command, Arango, the Marquis of Santa Lucia, is a native of Puerto Principe, and at taking part in the insurrection emanc.i.p.ated his slaves. General Aguilera was a man of great wealth, and had once held under the Government the office of mayor over the town of Bayamo just burnt by the rebels. He too released his slaves. General Donato Marmol bears the repute of having genuine military talent, as he is said to have defeated his opponents in most of their encounters with him, and signally at Bairi, in the Eastern District. He is admired for the ready invention of a new weapon of defence in war, which is called the horguetilla, and is a kind of hook to resist bayonet charges. The hook, which can be made without much trouble, of wood, is held with the left hand to catch the bayonet, while with the right the rebel brings his rude machete, a kind of sword, down upon his Spanish foe. General Quesada, the other mentionable Cuban leader, served with credit on the side of Juarez during the intervention in Mexico. The soldiers of the revolt are of the rawest kind. A good part of them have been recruited from the emanc.i.p.ated slaves of Cespedes, Arango, and Aguilera. Many of the weapons are of the poorest kind, but I have heard that a certain number of Enfields have been furnished them, and lately some hand grenades. It is told me that no help, or exceedingly little, has reached them from the North. Among some other things of their own device, they have been employing wooden cannon, good for one shot and no more."

The insurrection was eagerly supported by the "Juntas of the Laborers."

These societies, formed at the suggestion of Rafael Merchan, issued a proclamation which enumerated the wrongs and insults endured by them under the Spanish rule of Cuba, and stated the principles for which they were willing to fight:

"The Laborers, animated by the love for their native land, aspire to the hope of seeing Cuba happy and prosperous by virtue of her own power, and demand the inviolability of individuals, their homes, their families, and the fruits of their labor, which they would have guaranteed by the liberty of conscience, of speech, of the press, and of peaceful meetings. In fact, they demand a government of the country for and by the country, free from an army of parasites and soldiers that only serves to consume it and oppress it. And, as nothing of that kind can be obtained from Spain, they intend to fight that power with all available means, and drive and uproot its domination from the face of Cuba.

Respecting above all and before all the dignity of man, the a.s.sociation declares that it will not accept slavery as a forced inheritance of the past. However, instead of abolis.h.i.+ng it as an arm by which to sink the Island into barbarity, as threatened by the government of Spain, they view abolition as a means of improving the moral and national condition of the working men, and thereby to place property and wealth in a more just and safe position.

"Sons of their times, baptised in the vivid stream of civilization, and, therefore above preoccupation of nationality, the laborers will respect the neutrality of Spaniards, but among Cubans will distinguish only friends and foes, those that are with them or against them. To the former they offer peace, fraternity, and concord; to the latter, brutality and war--war and brutality that will be more implacable to the traitors to Cuba, where they first saw the day, who turn their arms against them, or offer any asylum or refuge to their tyrants. We, the laborers, do not ignore the value of nationality, but at the present moment consider it of secondary moment. Before nationality stands liberty, the indisputable condition of existence. We must be a people before becoming a nation. When the Cubans const.i.tute a free people they will receive the nationality that becomes them. Now they have none."

The Captain-General replied to this in January, 1869, with a proclamation, full of promises which, however, were never fulfilled. It said:

"I will brave every danger, accept every responsibility, for your welfare. The revolution has swept away the Bourbon dynasty, tearing up by the roots a plant so poisonous that it polluted the air we breathe.

To the citizen shall be returned his rights, to man his dignity. You will receive all the reforms which you require. Cubans and Spaniards are all brothers. From this day, Cuba will be considered a province of Spain. Freedom of the press, the right of meeting in public, and representation in the national Cortes, the three fundamental principles of true liberty, are granted you.

"Cubans and Spaniards! Speaking in the name of our mother, Spain, I adjure you to forget the past, hope for the future, and establish union and fraternity."

Cuba had declared herself to be an independent state, but that was merely the first step in establis.h.i.+ng her independence, and a long and bitter struggle lay before her before she could hope to accomplish in fact that for which her loyal citizens had armed themselves and which they were determined to achieve.

The first regularly elected House of Representatives took their seats at Guaimaro, whereupon the members of the former convention resigned their seats to their successors. In the new House, Jorge Milanes was elected from the District of Manzanillo, Manuel Gomez Silva from Camaguey, Manuel Gomez Pena from Guantanamo, Tomas Estrada from Cobre, Pio Posada from Santiago de Cuba, Fernando Fornaris from Bayamo, and Pedro Aguero from Las Tunas. Later sessions of the House of Representatives were held at Cascorro and at Sibanico. These towns, held sacred by Cubans as the birthplaces of liberty, were stoutly defended during the revolution, and in spite of repeated efforts the Spaniards were never able to effect their capture, although they used their most highly trained troops, and most efficient officers in their attacks.

Beginning with August 6, 1869, the a.s.sembly began to organize the government along the most enlightened lines, and provided for the administration of justice by establis.h.i.+ng a Judiciary Department with the following branches:

1. A Supreme Court.

2. Criminal Judges.

3. Civil Judges.

4. Prefects and sub-prefects.

5. Court Martial.

The Supreme Court was composed of a presiding officer, two judges and a judge-advocate. Each of the states of the Republic was divided into districts, and a civil and criminal judge as well as an attorney for the Commonwealth were appointed for each district.

Each state was to be ruled by a Civil Governor, and each district by a Lieutenant-Governor, while the districts were divided into prefects and sub-prefects, each with its appropriate ruler. The officers in question were in every case to be elected by popular suffrage.

A chronological enumeration of the laws enacted by the Congress during 1869 is not only pertinent, but it divulges their evident intention to administer the government of the island, should they obtain the power to do so, along the most humane and enlightened lines.

On May 11, 1869, an amnesty was granted to all political prisoners, who had not already been sentenced.

On June 4, much needed provisions for civil marriages, and regulations concerning the same, were enacted.

On June 7, the commerce of the Republic was declared free to all nations.

The enactment of June 15, while a customary proceeding, would have a touch of irony connected with it, if it were not almost pathetic, as revealing the st.u.r.dy belief of these officials of the young Republic in the ultimate triumph of their cause. It was an authorization of the issue of $2,000,700 of legal tender paper money, to be redeemed by the Republic in coin, at par, when circ.u.mstances enabled them to do so--that is when they had conquered the enemy and established their Republic on a lasting basis. The bills thus issued had already reached the officers of the Republic, having been engraved in New York, and sent to Cuba by the New York Junta.

[Ill.u.s.tration: BERNABE DE VARONA]

On July 9, the army was definitely organized, and this organization remained in force until the capture and death of General Quesada. It was as follows:

Commander-in-Chief General Manuel Quesada Chief-of-Staff General Thomas Jordan Chief of Artillery Major Beauvilliers Brigadier-Major of Orders Major Bernabe Varona Sanitary Department Adolfo Varona

_First Division_ _Army of Camaguey_ Major General Ignacio Agramonte Commanding 1st Brigade Colonel Miguel Bosse " 2d Brigade General Francisco Castillo " 3d Brigade Colonel Cornelio Porro " 4th Brigade Colonel Lope Recio " 5th Brigade Colonel Manuel Valdes Urra " 6th Brigade Colonel Manuel Agramonte " 1st Battalion Colonel Pedro Recio " 2d Battalion Colonel Jose Lino Cica " 3d Battalion Colonel Rafael Bobadilla

_Second Division_ _Army of Oriente_ Major General Francisco Aguilera Commanding 1st Brigade General Donate Marmol " 2d Brigade General Luis Marcano " 3d Brigade General Julio Peralta

_Third Division_ _Army of Las Villas_ Commanding 1st Brigade General C. Acosta " 2d Brigade General Salome Hernandez " 3d Brigade General Adolfo Cabada

A law was enacted providing that every citizen of the Republic, between the ages of 18 and 50 years, must under compulsion take up arms for the cause of liberty.

BERNABE DE VARONA