The History of Cuba Volume III Part 21

"Art. II--Free pardon for all political offenses committed from 1868 to date, and freedom for those who are under indictment or are serving sentences within or without the island. Amnesty to all deserters from the Spanish army, regardless of nationality, this clause being extended to include all those who have taken part directly or indirectly in the revolutionary movement.

"Art. III--Freedom for the Asiatic coolies and for the slaves who may be in the insurgent ranks.

"Art. IV--No individual who by virtue of this capitulation shall submit to and remain under the authority of the Spanish government shall be compelled to render any military service before peace be established over the whole territory.

"Art. V--Every individual who by virtue of this capitulation may wish to depart from the island shall be permitted to do so, and the Spanish government shall provide him with the means therefor, without pa.s.sing through any town or settlement, if he so desire.

"Art. VI--The capitulation of each force shall take place in uninhabited spots, where beforehand the arms and ammunition of war shall be deposited.

"Art. VII--In order to further the acceptance, by the insurgents of the other departments of these articles of capitulation, the commander-in-chief of the Spanish army shall furnish them free transportation, by land and sea, over all the lines within his control of the Central Department.

"Art. VIII--This pact with the Committee of the Central Department shall be deemed to have been made with all the departments of the island which may accept the conditions."

In addition to this, there were reported to have been secret agreements, which provided for "a civil governor with duties distinct from those of a military governor; a provincial parliament in each of the three departments; popular elections for munic.i.p.al officers; the inclusion of the war debt in the public estimates of the island; the dissolution of the Volunteer Corps of Havana, and the organization of a new militia to be composed alike of Cubans and Spaniards; a representation of the island in the Cortes; a recognition of the military rank of the insurgent chiefs and officers, and those accredited with foreign commissions, their rank 'to be effective only in the list of the Spanish army in Cuba,' and the complete abolition of slavery in five years, with indemnity."

Both parties disregarded the terms of the treaty. Doubtless the Cubans would have played with entire fairness, had it not been for the fact that the Spaniards at once demonstrated that they did not intend to keep their promises. General Garcia retained the t.i.tle of "President of the Republic," and the House of Representatives continued, until 1869, to meet somewhere in the wilderness. General Campos made a bid for popular favor, and went on record as advocating a peace which would be lasting.

The Spaniards had good cause not to desire resumption of warfare, and the Cubans were too worn out to start any serious trouble. Campos wrote a report to the Spanish government, couched in florid language and breathing benevolence:

"I do not wish to make a momentary peace. I desire that this peace be the beginning of a bond of common interests between Spain and her Cuban provinces, and that this bond be drawn continually closer by the ident.i.ty of aspirations and the good faith of both.

"Let not the Cubans be considered as pariahs or minors, but put on an equality with other Spaniards in everything not inconsistent with their present condition.

"It was on the other hand impossible, according to my judgment and conscience, not to grant the first condition; not to do it was to postpone indefinitely the fulfilment of a promise made in our present const.i.tution. It was not possible that this island, richer, more populous, and more advanced morally and materially than her sister, Porto Rico, should remain without the advantages and liberties long ago planted in the latter with good results; and the spirit of the age, and the decision of the country gradually to a.s.similate the colonies to the Peninsula, made it necessary to grant the promised reforms, which would have been already established, and surely more amply, if the abnormal state of things had not concentrated all the attention of government on the extirpation of the evil which was devouring this rich province.

"I did not make the last const.i.tution; I had no part in the discussion of it. It is now the law, and as such I respect it, and as such endeavor to apply it. But there was in it something conditional, which I think a danger, a motive of distrust, and I have wished that it might disappear.

Nothing a.s.sures me that the present ministry will continue in power, and I do not know whether that which replaces it would believe the fit moment to have arrived for fulfilling the precept of the const.i.tution.

"I desire the peace of Spain, and this will not be firm while there is war or disturbance in the richest jewel of her crown. Perhaps the insurgents would have accepted promises less liberal and more vague than those set forth in this condition; but even had this been done it would have been but a brief postponement, because those liberties are destined to come for the reasons already given, with the difference that Spain now shows herself generous and magnanimous, satisfying just aspirations which she might deny, and a little later, probably very soon, would have been obliged to grant them, compelled by the force of ideas and of the age.

"Moreover, she has promised over and over again to enter on the path of a.s.similation, and if the promises were more vague, even though the fulfillment of this promise were begun, these people would have the right to doubt our good faith and to show a distrust unfortunately warranted by the failings of human nature itself.

"The not adding another one hundred thousand to the one hundred thousand families that mourn their sons slain in this pitiless war, and the cry of peace that will resound in the hearts of the eighty thousand mothers who have sons in Cuba who are liable to conscription, would be a full equivalent for the payment of a debt of justice."

February 21, 1878, saw the Cuban insurrection officially at an end. The Cubans laid down their arms and surrendered to the Spanish forces. On March 1, telegrams announcing this fact were received by the Cortes in Spain with the greatest rejoicing. On the next day a royal decree was published at Havana announcing that Cuba was to be accorded the same treatment which had been granted to Porto Rico; and many concessions were nominally made to the former insurgents. Cuba was to be allowed to have her own munic.i.p.al government and city councils, and was to be granted representation in the Cortes, while a second decree was promulgated at Puerto Principe declaring the freedom of all slaves who had been born since the enactment of the measure of February 10, 1869, on the condition that within a month they presented themselves to the authorities for the proper legal procedure. Spain had so frequently gone on record, particularly in her efforts to enlist the sympathy of the United States Government, that she would, immediately on a determination of the war in her favor, declare the abolition of slavery, that she could not now very well give the lie to her a.s.surances. The proclamation at Puerto Principe, however, contained the extremely unjust provision that all patriots who had taken part in the revolution would not receive compensation for the financial loss suffered in the freeing of their slaves, but that the loyal Spaniards would be indemnified. It is not difficult to picture how this provision must have impressed those patriots who had sacrificed everything in an effort to free themselves from that very rule which was now imposing such an unfair enactment upon them.

Official Spanish reports give the following table of their losses yearly during the Ten Years' War:

_Year_ _Force in Field_ _Deaths_ 1869 35,570 5,504 1870 47,242 9,395 1871 55,357 6,574 1872 58,708 7,780 1873 52,500 5,902 1874 62,578 5,923 1875 63,212 6,361 1876 78,099 8,482 1877 90,245 17,677 1878 81,700 7,500 ------ Total 81,098

CHAPTER XVII

The Spanish government had granted concessions to the Cubans, or what on their face seemed to be concessions, but in actual administration, the government remained practically the same. The power remained vested in a military government, at the head of which was the Captain-General, whose name was subsequently changed to Governor-General, but whose nature and functions remained in the last a.n.a.lysis very little different from what they had been before the revolution. The struggle had, however, given the Cubans less fear of their tyrant. They had demonstrated that they were able for ten years to keep up an armed resistance against their oppressors, and one which had occasioned Spain a great loss of life, and of property, and had caused her rulers to have many unpleasant hours, struggling with vexing problems. Those who had accomplished this would never again be quite the same. They could never again be ground beneath the heels of Spanish tyrants in the same unresisting if not uncomplaining fas.h.i.+on, which had been the regular order of things before the revolution. Had a Lopez come to Cuba, he would have found a far different people from those who failed to rally to aid him when in 1851 he made his fruitless efforts to free the island.

During 1878 two political parties were organized in Cuba, and another was essayed, the proposed const.i.tution of the latter forming the basis for the platform of the Autonomistas, then the most radical of all Cuban political organizations.

The Liberal Party belied its name, for its platform was a most conservative one. It followed closely the lines of the agreement with Spain, as laid down in the Treaty of Zanjon, and the negotiations in connection therewith, and it sought mainly to obtain the enforcement of the promises which Spain made at that time, and in which, from long experience, most Cubans had little faith--nor was this lack of faith unwarranted. The party was really an organized movement to enforce the provisions of the treaty. Its platform provided for the right to a.s.semble and to discuss political questions, the right of freedom in religious wors.h.i.+p, the removal of the restrictions which had been placed on the press, and the right of pet.i.tion. It also provided for the protection of the homes and property of loyal Cubans, and for the right of correspondence without censors.h.i.+p or interference from the Spanish authorities. It stood for improvements in the criminal law, which would make it impossible for the crimes which had been so prevalent to be committed further against the persons and property of those who were in sympathy with the liberation of Cuba. It also sought to obtain the admission of Creoles to office on the island on the same basis as Spanish born citizens, and above all a complete separation of the military and civil functions of the government. It will be recalled that one of the promises said to have been made by Spain was that there should be a civil governor. By these means it hoped to abolish the discrimination against the Creoles in the government of their own country. Changes in taxation also had their part in the platform, with an idea of obtaining a decrease of the high export duties.

An a.n.a.lysis of the platform of the Union Const.i.tutionalists shows surprisingly little difference from that of the Liberals. It also provided for the right of pet.i.tion, asked for an improvement in the methods of administration of the laws--that is the abatement of the perversion of those laws by unscrupulous Spanish officials, so that they might be used as a club for protesting Creoles. The platform of the Union Const.i.tutionalists further stood for the enactment of special laws for Cuba, which would be peculiarly suited to her needs, including protection for the various industries and activities, the planters and the tobacco raisers, and the removal of excessive export duties. It also sought a commercial treaty with the United States, and the abolition of slavery in accordance with the Moret law, with modifications which seemed proper in the light of conditions in Cuba.

A third platform was formulated, but it was never completely adopted, and the party which drafted it died at birth, without a name. It took the bull by the horns, and flaunted its conviction in the face of Spain.

It is a matter of conjecture whether if the leaders of this movement had prolonged the life of the potential party, it would have long survived active Spanish opposition. This platform provided for free trade, free banks, free s.h.i.+pping, free labor, none but munic.i.p.al taxes, the prompt and complete abolition of slavery, the formation of a provincial militia and universal suffrage. Its terms must have been a severe shock to the Spaniards.

No fewer than thirty representatives in the Spanish Cortes were allotted to Cuba; but such representation was a farce, for pains were taken by those who held the balance of power to see that so small a number of Creoles were sent as representatives, and that the Spaniards so greatly outnumbered them, that the Cuban vote counted for nothing, and Spain still held complete power. This was the more regrettable and exasperating, since the Cubans so far as they were permitted to do so sent men of the highest type to the Cortes. Among them, preeminently, was Dr. Rafael Montoro, one of the ablest scholars and statesmen in Cuban history, who was destined subsequently to play a great part in the administration of the free and independent Republic of Cuba.

It is self-evident that such conditions and the failure of Spain to live up to her promises would be provocative of much dissatisfaction, and it followed as a matter of course that those who had learned to rebel now took that means of expressing their dissatisfaction. In fact the war had never ceased, for soon after the signing of the treaty, as soon as Spain had shown her hand, Calixto Garcia a.s.sembled a small band of rebels, and continued to hara.s.s the Spanish in guerrilla warfare, taking up his position in mountain fastnesses which were inaccessible except to those who held the key to their labyrinthine paths, and biding his time in the most annoying fas.h.i.+on possible until he felt matters were ripe for another widespread armed rebellion.

In August, 1879, in the districts of Holguin and Santiago there was a serious renewal of hostilities. The rebels, so termed by the Spanish, consisted mainly of freed blacks, and were under the leaders.h.i.+p of three mulattoes, Maceo, Brombet and Guilleamon. This movement thoroughly frightened the authorities, and two thousand Spanish troops were promptly sent to repress it. The insurgents were reinforced by large numbers of runaway slaves--those who had demanded their liberty and had had their request denied. The insurgents took advantage of the disturbed condition of the country and sought to turn the general situation to their advantage. They hid in the mountains, in dense woods, and in wild places, and descended wherever and whenever they could pillage and burn without intervention from Spanish troops. So thoroughly did the Spanish authorities dread a renewal of hostilities that the Captain-General declared the province of Santiago to be in a state of siege. Meanwhile the insurgents drew up a const.i.tution for themselves, and continued their activities for over six months, terrorizing the people, destroying property and taking prisoners for ransom.

[Ill.u.s.tration: JOSe SILVERIO JORRIN

Jose Silverio Jorrin y Bramosio, a distinguished advocate, man of letters and publicist, was born in Havana on June 20, 1816, and was one of the pupils of Jose de la Luz at his famous school. After travelling in the United States and Europe he became one of the leaders of the Cuban bar and filled several judicial and other public offices. He was at one time a Senator in the Spanish Cortes, from Camaguey. His chief interest was in the advancement of the educational and economic welfare of the island, and on subjects relating thereto he wrote a number of important works. He wrote a Biography of Christopher Columbus and other historical works, and had much repute as an orator. For some years he was a leader of the Autonomist party, but later identified himself actively with the cause of independence. He lived to see independence a.s.sured if not actually yet achieved, dying in New York in 1897.]

Meantime General Garcia conducted a campaign in the neighborhood of Santiago, which further complicated matters for the government. He had planned a general uprising for December 15, with the expectation that his small band would be largely reinforced by the arrival of filibustering expeditions from the United States, with men and arms and ammunitions. But he was disappointed, and the government retaliated by making wholesale arrests of all persons, particularly blacks, who were under the slightest suspicion of sympathy with the rebellion. Three hundred and fifty blacks were arrested in Santiago alone. The rebels in spite of their small numbers had been able to do so much damage to property in this vicinity, that the government voted a hundred thousand dollars for the relief of Santiago, and half that amount for the same purpose in Puerto Principe.

The general feeling of unrest, uncertainty and suspicion among the Creoles was enhanced by the action of the government at Madrid in publis.h.i.+ng a manifesto, on April 6, 1880, demanding that the Cuban government be a.s.similated with that of Spain, and promising in return enactments which would greatly increase the material prosperity of the colony. If Spain did not keep her promises with Cuba in a position to protest, it was a foregone conclusion that the action contemplated by the manifesto would not be productive of leniency in the government of the island, and it is not difficult to imagine with what wrath and consternation the knowledge that such a plan could ever be formulated filled the hearts of those who had struggled so long and so valiantly and at so great personal sacrifice for the freedom of Cuba. The result was a renewal of sporadic rebellions, and a seething turmoil of anger and resentment on the part of the Creoles.

In April, 1881, an attempt was made by the Spanish government by concessions to allay the storm which it had raised, and on April 7, the const.i.tution of 1876 was again proclaimed. This granted to the Cubans full rights of citizens.h.i.+p, and the rights of free speech, free press and a.s.sembly, and representation. This was promptly modified on the very day of its enactment by the promulgation of the order of January 7, 1879, which had the effect of muzzling the press which had only a few hours before been freed. The other rights granted were of course existent only in name, and thus Spain continued her old program of stupid treachery.

In 1882 an event occurred which for a time seemed likely to draw England into the controversy. Three Cuban patriots, Maceo, Rodriguez, and a third whose name is not of record, escaped from custody while they were being transferred from one penal colony in Spain to another. They hastened to gain English territory, and fled to Gibraltar. One of the rights sacred to the English government was the right of asylum. This the Spanish government proceeded to ignore. The Spanish consul notified the English authorities that the fugitives must be returned to Spain, and suggested as a method which would be productive of the least trouble that at a time and place agreed upon they be sent across the border, whereupon the Spanish authorities could apprehend them without difficulty and the controversy would be happily ended. Through some misapprehension on the part of the British officials, this was done. But the end was not yet. The British government, when it learned of the occurrence, promptly demanded the return of the men to British soil, under the right of asylum. The Spanish government exhausted all its arguments in vain. Great Britain stood firm, but when Spain had surrendered two of the fugitives, the matter was finally dropped and the fate of the third one was left to the mercies of Spain.

The history of Cuba was from this time on, until rebellion finally flamed into the war in which, with the aid of the United States, she gained her independence, one of petty persecutions, and retaliation by continuous uprisings, small in character but indicative of the smouldering fire. These were frequently aided by filibustering expeditions sent by the Cuban Junta in New York.

In 1885 a revolt took place in the provinces of Santa Clara and Santiago, always the hotbed of rebellion. The rebellion was quickly suppressed, but its leaders, and a large number of other Cubans, who were merely under suspicion of complicity, were executed without trial.

One of the leaders, General Vidal, was banished from Cuba, but, when he was about to leave for Jamaica, under an arrangement made with the Spanish authorities, he was brutally murdered by hired a.s.sa.s.sins.

Meanwhile the administration of justice in Cuba would have been almost ludicrous if it had not been tragic. The Spaniards openly practiced the most egregious frauds at the polls, and by all the chicanery known to corrupt politics kept the Creoles from the partic.i.p.ation in the government which Spain had so glibly promised them. One of the interesting methods to prevent the voting of the poor in Cuba was the prohibition under a law pa.s.sed on December 12, 1892, of bona fide citizens from exercising the right of suffrage unless they paid the sum of five dollars in taxes. This law applied to black and white alike, and was prohibitive so far as the greater number of the former were concerned.

Meanwhile those Cubans who desired better things for their children than the nightmare in which they themselves lived were eager for education for their families, but for the most part education was a privilege which belonged only to the wealthy. It was not until 1883 that there existed schools of learning similar to high schools. It was not Spain's game to educate the ma.s.ses, for if an autocracy is to survive, too much learning is a dangerous thing to be allowed to spread among the common people.

In 1887 the Spanish authorities decided, justly, that the treasury of Spain was being deprived of revenues by the evasion of taxes, and that this was being done by the connivance of the custom house officials. The Governor-General therefore ordered the seizure of the custom house by Spanish troops, and the wharfs and warehouses were placed under heavy guard. After an investigation had been started a number of merchants whose business was importing confessed that they had been doing business in a way which deprived the government of certain revenues and asked permission to change their entries. They were granted three days to do this. The result was an enormous increase in revenue from the custom house. The Governor-General proceeded from that time forth to keep a strict watch on custom house matters, with the result that evasions of the law were the exception.

By 1887 the country was in such condition that it was unsafe for any man to proceed unguarded for a mile or two into the country. Neither the person of any well-to-do planter, nor his property was safe. Outlaw bands overran the highways, and took cover in woods and hills, from whence they pounced on travelers, robbed and beat them, and took them captive for ransom. The brigands were so daring and their depredations a.s.sumed such proportions that martial law was declared in over a hundred towns and villages. Incendiarism was rife, not only were planters robbed and murdered, but their possessions were pillaged, their fields were laid waste and their buildings were burned. Sanitary conditions on the island were so bad that in the months of December, 1887, and of January and February, 1880, two thousand cases of smallpox were reported. This, of course, covered only a small portion of the cases actually existent, and those who did not fall victim to smallpox were in danger of yellow fever. Even Nature seemed to have entered into a conspiracy against the unhappy island, for in 1887 there was an earthquake, and the following year a violent cyclone, which went the whole length of the island, but did its princ.i.p.al damage in the province of Santa Clara. Not less than a thousand lives were lost.

For a time, indeed, there was a measure of relief. That was when under the McKinley tariff of 1890, Cuban products, particularly sugar, gained freer access to American markets. While this system lasted, there was an accession of material prosperity in Cuba. But upon its repeal, due to a change of politics in the United States government, prosperity in Cuba waned, while discontent, dissatisfaction and disaffection waxed apace, and undismayed and resolute patriots began preparing for another general insurrection.

During the period between the Ten Years' War and the final War of Independence there was a succession of Governors-General, varying chiefly in the degree of their unacceptability to the Cuban people and of the inept.i.tude with which they maladministered the affairs of the island and thus contributed to the ultimate and inevitable catastrophe.

Martinez Campos served, with the best of intentions, until the late summer of 1883. Then on September 28 he was succeeded by Ignacio Maria del Castillo. His administration endured for three years, and was replaced in 1886 by that of General Emilio Calleja y Isasi, who gave place the next year to Saba Marin. Another change occurred on March 13, 1889, when Manuel de Salamanca y Negrete took office. He served for less than a year, being succeeded on February 7, 1890, by General J.

Chinchilla. To the latter must be accorded the distinction of having the shortest term of all, for on June 10 following his place was taken by General Polavieja. He served for two years and was succeeded on May 31, 1892, by General A. R. Arias, who in turn, on August 10, 1894, was replaced by General Emilio Calleja, who thus entered upon his second term, in which he was to suffer the penalty of the misdeeds of a long line of predecessors, and was to begin reaping the whirlwind harvest of the evil wind which for four centuries Spain had been sowing with a perverse and ruthless hand.

CHAPTER XVIII