Willis Fletcher Johnson

“ The early settlers of the island, and therefore the progenitors of the present Cuban people, were beyond question the flower of the Spanish race at the very time when that race was at the height of its marvellous puissance and efficience. The Sixteenth Century was the Golden Age of Spain, and they were conspicuous representatives of those who made it so who implanted the genius of their time upon the hospitable soil of the great West Indian island. That rule has been, indeed, common to the colonial enterprises of all lands. The best men become the pioneers. ”

“ Unconsciously, perhaps, but not the less surely she was drawn into the irresistible current which was drawing all the American settlements away from the European planters of them. It was one of the interesting eccentricities of history that the first important land acquired by Spain in the western hemisphere should be the last to leave her sway; and that the first European colonists in America to have cause for complaint against their overlords should be the longest to suffer and the last to secure abatement of their wrongs. ”

“ As we observed at the beginning of this volume, Cuba, at the advent of Europeans, was a country without a civilization and without a past. Mexico, Yucatan and Peru had enjoyed civilizations not unworthy of comparison with those of Europe and Asia, the remains of which attracted thither the intellects of Spain, and inspired them. But Cuba had nothing of the sort. Again, the vast wealth of Mexico and Peru attracted to those countries many more explorers, conquerors and colonists than Cuba could draw to herself. ”

“ So a few weeks after his arrival at Santiago, in the early part of August, 1538, de Soto ruthlessly closed his mansion at Santiago and removed his whole household to Havana. His household and his foot soldiers were sent thither in his vessels, of which he now had five. He himself with his horsemen travelled overland, Vasco de Figueroa acting as guide. The beauty and riches of the island seem not greatly to have impressed the great adventurer; certainly not enough to withhold him for one moment from his quest. Mountain and plain were alike to him merely the road toward Florida. ”

“ But the supreme and most enduring satisfaction will come from some assurance that I have brought to the appreciative attention of the world not merely the Cuba of four centuries past, with all its legends of adventure and romance, and too often of cruelty and crime, and with its fluctuating though still persistent progress toward the "foremost files of time," but also and still more the Cuba of this present moment and, we may hope, of unmeasured future time. It is a Cuba that is beautiful for situation, opulent in resources, entrancing in charm, illimitable in potentialities ”

“ In so doing he not merely provided the capital with one of the prime necessities of life, but he also made Havana the centre of the sugar industry. For it was along these artificial watercourses that the first sugar mills were erected and operated. But this availed little while there was persistent discrimination against Cuba to a degree that kept the island without a tithe of the labor which was needed for the development of its resources. We cannot, of course, approve the slave trade, or argue that it should have been followed to a greater extent than it was. ”

“ The earliest settlers were not only of Spanish origin but also of Spanish sympathies. They could not be expected to have any affection for or any pride in the land to which they had come as to a mere "Tom Tiddler's ground," on which to pick up silver and gold. They valued Cuba for only what they could get out of her; many of them glad, after thus gaining wealth, to return to Spain, or to go to Mexico, Venezuela or Peru, there the better to enjoy it and to mingle in social pleasures which the primitive life of Cuba did not yet afford. ”

“ It was so recognized by Columbus himself, who indeed in one respect actually esteemed it more highly than it deserved. For after long and careful exploration he became convinced that it was not an island, but was the mainland of the Asian continent—Mangi, or Cathay: that country of the Great Khan of which Marco Polo had written and which Toscanelli had indicated upon his map, and the visiting of which was the supreme object of the Admiral's enterprise.
To understand this aright we must remember that Columbus was not seeking a new continent. He had no thought that one existed. ”

“ There are others which are no less real. As soon as one has set foot in the New World, you are confronted with an endless lot of plunderers and marauders, who call themselves soldiers, ravage the beautiful country, pillage the treasures of the Indians, torture the inhabitants and rob them of their property and freedom, under a thousand pretences unworthy of Christianity and of Spanish generosity. So that several of these nations which at the beginning favored the Spaniards, became in time their most mortal enemies. ”

“ In fact, in the face of the great peril which confronted it, all Cuba arose to the occasion with a unity of public spirit never before known in its history, and wholly admirable. All the officials, civil and military, insular and royal, were in accord, and all classes of the population, Spaniards, Indians and negro slaves were loyal and devoted in their support. In these circumstances it is of fascinating interest to speculate upon what might have happened had Drake made the expected descent upon Havana. ”

“ We must not wonder, even, that so late as the War of Independence some of the foremost Cuban statesmen, who yielded precedence to none in purity of purpose and in sincere devotion to what they regarded as the best interests of the island, were willing and even proud to be known as Autonomists and to essay the impossible task of trying to make an Autonomist government successful. ”

“ To draw once more upon American history for an example which should convincingly appeal to Americans, the case may be likened to the intervention of France in the American Revolution. There is no American who does not remember that performance with sincere gratitude and with deep appreciation of the undoubtedly great aid which France rendered to the Thirteen Colonies. But I should doubt if there is a well informed American willing to concede that the French aid was indispensable, or that without it Washington and Greene would have been vanquished and the Revolution would have failed. ”

“ Juan de Lobera was at that time the commander of the fortifications of Havana, to wit, La Fuerza. He appears to have been a man of strangely mingled temperament, at times fearful and timorous, at others resolute and valiant. At the beginning the former characteristics prevailed. He realized, only too truly, that the fortifications and petty garrison would be entirely insufficient for the protection of the place against any considerable force, such as even a single French ship might bring against it, and he fell into something like a panic. ”

“ The conquest of Jamaica by the British had furnished the world such incontestable proof of Spain's military decline, that the lawless elements roving the sea under the black flag of the pirates once more set out upon their criminal expeditions. They extended their depredations to the whole coast of Spanish America and menaced the life and property of the inhabitants wherever the lack of forts or adequate garrisons facilitated their manœuvres. ”

“ When the impossible is promised, the promise is doomed to non-fulfilment. Spain was in an impossible position. In order to pacify Cuba she had to promise her reforms, autonomy, liberty. But in order to maintain herself at home she had to repudiate those promises. Their fulfilment in the West Indies would have been disastrous in the Iberian Peninsula. While Spain was a reactionary monarchy at home, she could not practice liberal and progressive democracy in her colonies. ”

“ To fortify her coasts and strengthen the garrison of her forts became an urgent need for Cuba and brooked no delay. For while the government of Spain deliberated at leisure upon means to furnish the much-needed aid, the enemy was alive to the opportunity which inadequate defense offered. The invasion of Santiago de Cuba, which is the most important event of Salamanca's governorship, was a flagrant example of what could at any time happen at any point along the Spanish American coast. ”

“ While, therefore, we must believe that even without American intervention in the actual war the Cubans would have won their independence, we may doubt whether such would have been the case if the United States had not all along been dose at hand, a resourceful and hospitable country, in which Cuban political exiles could find secure asylum, in which a Cuban Junta could plan revolution, in which funds to aid the patriot cause could be raised, and which, in brief, could partly in secret and partly in the open be used as a base of supplies and operations. ”

“ Acclaimed as national achievements, adding new lustre to national glory, these discoveries at first only stimulated patriotism and became an incentive to national effort. But as Spain and Portugal which had given to the world those men with the large vision and the undaunted courage, awakened to the importance of their exploits and began to see them from the angles of political and economic advantages, the desire to restrict those advantages to their own use became so powerful, that consideration for the interests of other nations was ignored. ”

“ Dutch mariners who had been in the employ of the Spaniards and Portuguese and had shared in their voyages of discovery, had brought home tales of the strange lands and stranger peoples, which stirred the imagination of the ambitious and capable nation. The unknown continents and islands stimulated the scholars' desire for investigation and research. Exaggerated reports about the mineral wealth and other treasures of the New World had roused the merchants' spirit of enterprise and acquisition. ”

“ In spite of the "American Treaty" which had for the moment bound Great Britain and Spain together for mutual protection against the pirates, the designs of land-hungry British courtiers and adventurers were by no means abandoned. Spain was not blind to the fact that she had all powers against her, that were playing an important part in the development of the New World. French, Dutch and British were stung with the desire to appropriate to themselves some of its wealth. For many years the British government had jealously watched the progress of Dutch navigation and commerce. ”

“ The refugees fell on their knees before him bidding him die fighting if he would, but to let their lives be spared. In this desperate plight Lobera yielded, offering to surrender on honorable terms, if the lives of his men were spared and the women were protected from dishonor. To this Sores gave his word, and the fort capitulated. The flag of France was raised over La Fuerza, and twenty-odd Spanish subjects were prisoners. ”

“ It is one of the anomalies of Cuban history that while the island was denied the enjoyment of even those incipient and inchoate intimations of potential nationality which were granted to other Spanish provinces, such as Mexico, Venezuela, Colombia and Peru, it was nevertheless, perhaps more than any other, involved from early times in the international complications and conflicts of Spain. At least equally with the mainland coasts Cuba's shores were ravaged by pirates and freebooters, and were attacked or menaced by the commissioned fleets of hostile powers. ”

“ For a considerable time after the last visit of Columbus, Cuba was strangely neglected by the enterprising explorers and conquistadors of Spain. Hispaniola, since known as Hayti or Santo Domingo, became the chief colony and centre of Spanish authority in the Antilles, and it for many years far outranked Cuba in interest and importance. It does not appear that for more than a dozen years after the last visit of Columbus any attempt whatever was made to colonize or to explore the great island, if indeed it was so much as voluntarily visited. ”

“ All men were resolute, confident and in high spirits. All night long sentinels watched the English fleet expecting to see it send boat loads of men ashore; ready to signal the news with beacon fires and torches. But all night long the English fleet lay dark and silent in the offing.
The morning of May 30 dawned. It was clear and bright, the sea was smooth, the wind just sufficient to fill the sails. There could be no fitter day for a landing or for an approach to the harbor to bombard the forts and city. The sentinels on Morro counted all thirty of Drake's vessels, drawn up in line. ”

“ It is an interesting circumstance that what threatened to be a great disaster to Cuba proved in fact to be one of the greatest blessings that the Island had enjoyed since the Spanish settlement. We have already seen how great an alarm was caused at Havana and throughout Cuba by the threatened attack of the British under Sir Francis Drake and how fine a degree of public spirit and unity among all classes was thereby inspired. The threatened attack did not occur, and it was many years before an actual British conquest or even invasion of the Island was effected. ”

“ The softening and continual crumbling away of the rock have formed a rich soil on which grows a wonderful wealth of tropical vegetation, unlike anything known to other sections of Cuba, or perhaps to the world.
The valley of the Vinales, lying between the city of Pinar del Rio and the north coast, might well be called the garden of the "magotes," since not only is it surrounded by their precipitous walls, but several of them,{47} detached from the main chain, rise abruptly from the floor of the valley, converting it into one of the most strangely beautiful spots in the world. ”

“ At the head of a force of more than a hundred and fifty men, including a score of horsemen, he led the way in the conquest, first of Bayamo and finally of all the rest of the island. In his campaign he enjoyed immense advantage from the awe and terror which were caused among the natives by the appearance of the horses, which were the first ever seen in Cuba. ”

“ It is agreeable to remember that in spite of the obviously objectionable nature of the institution of slavery, and in spite of the fears and anxieties which have been mentioned, negro slavery in Cuba in those early days was not marked with the distressing features which it has elsewhere borne. It was probably more humane than it was two and a half centuries later in the United States. The slaves were seldom sold by one master to another, and never in circumstances which separated husband and wife, or parents and young children. ”

“ Yet no other governor in those times was more shabbily and ungratefully treated than he, both during and after his administration. A wise, just judge, an indefatigable administrator, above all an honest man, he devoted himself to the task of promoting the interests of the island, of its people, with a sincerity and a whole-heartedness unfortunately uncommon in those days or in any days. It is true that he failed to solve the problem of saving the Indian natives, and some others which confronted him. ”

“ Its escutcheon bore the emblems of a crown, underneath it in a blue field three silver fortresses, emblematic of La Fuerza, La Punta and El Morro, and finally a golden key symbolic of Havana's importance as the key of the western world. The administration of Tejada lasted a little more than five years and was marked with almost unbroken peace, prosperity and progress. The new fortifications of Havana were not all completed in that time, but they were carried far toward completion and the work upon them was marked with no such difficulties and complications as had been the bane of La Fuerza. ”

“ For three fundamental reasons, however, annexation would have been a deplorable mistake, for both parties. One was, that the Cuban people at heart wanted independence and would permanently have been satisfied with nothing less. Every other Spanish colony in the Western Hemisphere had attained independent sovereignty, and it would have been a reproach to Cuba to have been satisfied with any less status than theirs. The second reason was that Cuba and the United States were incompatible in temperament, and could not have got on well together. ”