Cuba

“ It is impossible to describe to one who has not visited the tropics, the bright vividness with which each object, artificial or natural, house or tree, stands out in the clear liquid light, where there is no haze nor smoke to interrupt the view. Indeed, it is impossible to express fully how everything differs in Cuba from our own country, so near at hand. The language, the people, the climate, the manners and customs, the architecture, the foliage, the flowers and general products, all and each afford broad contrasts to what the American has ever seen at home. ”

“ I can from Cuba, better than from any other point on this side the globe, speak of the New World, because Cuba lies between North and South America: the Anglo-Norman and the Spanish races here meet, for good and for evil, secretly and openly combating for dominion; and in the midst of this wonderously beautiful scenery, which belongs to the tropics (beneath which the greater part of South America is situated) , beneath the tropical sun, among palm-trees and coffee plantations, one sees already the homes of the North American, railroads, and shops. ”

“ In the ranks of independence we have to count all the free sons of Cuba, whatever may be the color of their race—the brave nations of South America, who inhabit our soil and who have already made trial of the strength and conduct of our tyrants—the sturdy islanders of the Canaries, who love Cuba as their country, and who have already had an Hernandez and a Monies de Oca, to seal with the proof of martyrdom, the heroic decision of their compatriots for our cause. ”

“ 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. ”

“ The mild and beautiful climate of Cuba seems more like the Elysian fields of poetic birth, than the air that forms the islands of the ocean. Beautiful indeed is the genial influence of the mild zephyrs that breathe over these pacific seas. As evening knelt and cast her broad mantle over land and sea, the two vessels lay side by side, close under the lee of the island, while the young commander awaited with apparent impatience the arrival of the hour for the commencement of the proposed enterprise. ”

“ 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 ”

“ Cuba is indeed a land of enchantment, where nature is beautiful and bountiful, and where mere existence is a luxury, but it requires the infusion of a sterner, a more self-reliant, self-denying and enterprising race to test its capabilities and to astonish the world with its productiveness. ”

“ It is with infinite reluctance that the temporary sojourner in Cuba leaves her delicious shores, and takes his farewell look at their enchanting features. A brief residence in the island passes like a midsummer night's dream, and it requires a strenuous effort of the mind to arrive at the conviction that the memories one brings away with him are not delusive sports of the imagination. ”

“ The atmosphere of Cuba, as everywhere within the tropics, except when the high winds prevail, is so unpolluted, so thin, so elastic, so dry, so serene, and so almost inconceivably transparent and brilliant, that every object is distinct and clearly defined as if cut out of the clear blue sky. ”

“ 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. ”

“ 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. ”

“ Once a part of this great confederacy, Cuba would immediately catch the national spirit and genius of our institutions, and the old Castilian state of dormancy would give way to Yankee enterprise, her length and breadth would be made to smile like a New England landscape Her sons and daughters would be fully awakened to a true sense of their own responsibility, intelligence would be sown broadcast, and the wealth of wisdom would shine among the cottages of the poor. ”

“ NATURE designed Cuba for greatness. That salient fact is written large and clear upon every page of the island’s history. He must lack vision who can not discern it even in the annals of political, military and social development of the Cuban nation. Although one of the earliest lands in the Western Hemisphere to be discovered and colonized, it was actually the last of all to be erected into political independence and thus to enter into an opportunity for improving fully the incomparable opulence of its natural endowment. ”

“ On the one side lay the city, on a low, level plain, while the hills that make the opposite side of the harbor presented a beautiful picture of the soft green sward and the luxuriant verdure that forms the constant garb of the tropics.
As Paris is said to be France, so is Havana Cuba, and its history embraces in no small degree that of all the island, being the centre of its talent, wealth and population. Every visible circumstance proclaims the great importance of the [Pg 73] city, even to the most casual observer. ”

“ Cuba is an outer court of Paradise, worthy to be studied by the natural historian, the painter, and the poet. The forms and colours of the vegetation seem to typify a transition from earthly life to a freer and a loftier sphere of beauty. ”

“ The moon in the tropics is, for astronomical reasons, brighter than it is elsewhere; but as regards Cuba, another reason might be derived from the fact that, metaphorically speaking, a slave country and a badly governed one into the bargain, is about the darkest spot in the habitable globe. At least, in Cuba the lamp of Heaven shines with increased brilliancy, illuminating alike Spaniard, Cuban, freedman, and bondsman! ”

“ Cuba seems formed to become the very button on Fortune's cap. No wonder that the Abbé Raynal pronounced it to be the boulevard of the New World, or that the Spanish historian called it the fairest emerald in the crown of Ferdinand and Isabella. Under any other government in Christendom than that of Spain, the island would to-day have been one vast smiling garden, for its natural advantages are absolutely [Pg 113] unequaled. To oppress and rob its inhabitants has been the unvarying policy of the home government from first to last. ”

“ An ungraceful woman is not to be found on the island; whether bred in the humble cottage of the Montero, or in the luxuriant mansion of the planter or citizen, she is sure to evince all the ease and grace of polished life. Your heart is bound to them at once, when on parting they give you kindly the Spanish benediction, "Go, señor, in a good hour."
The nobility of Cuba, so called, is composed of rather original material, to say the least of it, and forms rather a funny "institution." ”

“ Coffee and cotton planting have been absolutely driven out of the island by the taxes imposed upon their production. In short, the mother country has carried her system of oppression and despotism in Cuba to the utmost stretch of human audacity.
Probably no place has a finer or more desirable climate than has the main portion of Cuba, with the clear atmosphere of the low latitudes, no mist, the sun seldom obscured, and a season of endless summer. We do not wonder that the Northern invalid turns instinctively towards so inviting a clime, where Nature in all her moods is so regal. ”

“ 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. ”

“ Cuba keeps watch and ward over our communication with California by way of the isthmus. The peculiar formation of the southeastern shore of this continent, and the prevalence of the trade-winds, with the oceanic current from east to west, make the ocean passage skirting the shore of Cuba the natural outlet for the commerce also of Venezuela, New Granada, Costa Rica, and Nicaragua. It is not surprising, therefore, when we realize the commanding position of the island, that so much of interest attaches to its ultimate destiny. ”

“ Havana abounds in public squares, which in all my random strolls throughout the big town I found to be well watered, well cared for, well planted, and full of exceedingly showy and interesting plants, rare even amid the exhaustless luxuriance of Cuba. ”

“ Cuba became the head-quarters of the Spanish power in the west, forming the point of departure for those military expeditions which, though inconsiderable in numbers, were so formidable in the energy of the leaders, and in the arms, discipline, courage, ferocity, fanaticism and avarice, of their followers, that they were amply adequate to carry out the vast schemes of conquest for which they were designed. ”

“ We shall see, too, most grateful and inspiring of all, how at last the people of Cuba have come into their own and are improving the vast endowment with which nature has so bounteously provided them. It has been only since they gained their independence that they could or would do this; the result being that a score of years have seen more progress than the twenty score preceding. ”

“ The coat of arms of the Republic of Cuba displays the colors of the flag, and by their side the Royal Palm, perhaps the most notable of the trees in Cuba. The tree springs from a grassy plain, at the back of which is a mountain range; agriculture and mining being thus typified. Across the top of the shield extends a landscape-seascape, representing the ocean, with Florida at one side and Yucatan at the other, while between them lies the Key, Cuba. From the far horizon rises the sun. ”

“ Such are the contrasts, broad and striking, and such the reflections forced upon the mind of the citizen of the United States in Cuba. Do they never occur to the minds of the Creoles? We are told that they are willing slaves. Spain tells us so, and she extols to the world with complacent mendacity the loyalty of her "siempre fielissima isla de Cuba." But why does she have a soldier under arms for every four white adults? ”

“ 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. ”

“ Cuba looks to the United States for encouragement, for strength, for education, for development, for business—for union, shall we say?—and, as her nearest neighbour, the United States will pledge itself that the Queen of the Antilles shall not look in vain. ”

“ It needs little suggestion to point out that Cuba fulfils those conditions in a supreme degree. It was not vainly that Spaniards centuries ago called Havana the Key of the Gulf, of the Caribbean, of the Indies, of the Western World. The position of Cuba is unique and incomparable, with relation to the United States, Mexico, Central America and South America, and the two enclosed seas which form the Mediterranean of the American Continents. Of old the treasure fleets of Spain passed by her coasts, and visited her harbors. ”

“ 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. ”

“ Cuba is a very good island and in it is generally, for so large a country, the best land I have seen in America, although I have traveled the main continent in several places and crossed from the north to the south seas as also the north side of Hispaniola, and most parts of Jamaica. This great island is easily to be conquered, and would make the best plantation, besides the prejudice it would be to the Spaniards and the great advantage to our nation. ”