Cuba, and the Cubans ; comprising a history of the island of Cuba, its present social, political, and domestic condition : also, its relation to England and the United States

Front matter

CUBA,

AND

COMPRISING

Chapter I

Cuba discovered by Columbus. — Names of the Island. — Character of the Natives. — Town of Baracoa. — Havana burnt in 1538. — Seat of Government transferred to Havana. — Succession of Governors. — Cultivation of Tobacco and Sugar introduced about 1580. — Slavery introduced at the same time. — Depredations of Pirates. — A Commissioner of the Inquisition comes from Carthagena to reside in Havana. — Jamaica taken by the English. — Apprehensions of the Cubans. — The English repulsed. — Walls commenced round the City of Havana in 1663. — City of Santiago destroyed by an Earthquake. — Invasion of the Island by the English in 1762.— Morro Castle taken by them July 30th, and the City of Havana on the 14th of August. — Distribution of the Spoils. — Peace concluded with England in 1763. — The Island restored to the Spaniards.^ Results of the wise Policy of Las Casas. — Great Fire in 1802.— News of the Proceedings of Napoleon in Spain. — Its Effects in Cuba. — Negro Conspiracy. — Different Captains-Genei'al'.

Cuba, the finest and largest of the West India Islands, was discovered by Columbus himself, on the 28th day of October, 1492, and was named by him Juana, in honor of Prince John, the son of Ferdinand and Isabella, the sovereigns of Aragon and Castile.

Upon the death of Ferdinand, the island was called Fernandina. It afterward received the name of Santiago, as a mark of reverence for the patron saint of Spain, and still later, the inhabitants, to illustrate their piety, gave it that of Ave Maria, in honor of the Holy Virgin.

Notwithstanding these several titles, the island ig still principally known by its original Indian name of

Cuba ; a name which it bore when the great navigator first landed on its shores, and which in all probability it is destined to retain.

* With regard to the character of the aboriginal inhabitants of the island, it is universally admitted by all the Spanish authors who have written on the subject, that they were disinterested and docile, gentle and generous, and that they received the first discoverer, as well as the conquerors, who followed in his tra,ck, with the most marked attention and courtesy. At the same time they are represented as being entirely given up to the enjo3Tnent of those personal indulgences, and all the listlessness and love of ease, which the climate is supposed to provoke, and which is said to have amounted in the eyes of their European conquerors to positive cowardice and pusillanimitj^ They seldom spoke until first addressed by the strangers, and then with perfect modesty and respect. Their hospitality was unbounded ; but they were unwilling to expose themselves to any personal fatigue bej^ond what was strictly necessary for their subsistence. The cultivation of the soil was confined, as Columbus had observed, to the raising of yams, garbanzos, and maize, or Indian corn, but as huntsmen and fishermen they were exceedingly expert. Their habiliments were on the most limited scale, and their laws and manners sanctioned the practice of polygamy. The use of iron was totally unknown to them, but they supplied the want of it with pointed shells, in constructing their weapons, and in fashioning their implements for fishing and the chase. Their almost total want of quadrupeds 13 worthy of notice.

Although the island was divided into nine principalities, under nine different caciques, all independent of each other, yet such was the pacific disposition of the inhabitants, that the most perfect tranquillity prevailed

* TurnbuU's Travels in Cuba.

throughout the island at the time of the arrival of the invaders. The several governments were administered in the simplest form, the will of the cacique being received as law by his subjects, and the age he had attained being in general the measure of his influence and authority, and of the reverence and respect with which he was treated. Their religion was limited to a belief in the immortality of the soul, and to the existence of a beneficent Deity — un Bios remunerador. But their priests were cunning, superstitious, or fanatic, pretending to intelligence with malignant spirits, and maintaining their influence over the people by working on their fears, and practicing the grossest and most ridiculous extravagances. No sanguinary sacrifices were resorted to, however; still less could the gentle race be chargeable with the horrid practices of the savage anthropophagi ; and, according to the earliest Spanish authorities, they distinguished themselves beyond any other Indian nation, by the readiness and docility with which they received the doctrines of Christianity.

The town of Baracoa, which was called de la Asumpcion^ was the first that was founded, and was for some time considered the capital, until, in the year 1514, the whole of it had been overrun and examined. In that year, the towns of Santiago and Trinidad, on the southern side, were founded for the purpose of facilitating the communications of the new colonists with the Spanish inhabitants of Jamaica. Near the centre of the island also were established, soon after this period, the towns of Bayamo, Puerto Principe, and Santi-Espiritus, and that of Baracoa was considerably enlarged. In the sequel, as there was no town toward the north, that of San Juan de los Remedies was founded ; and on the 25th of July, 1515, at the place now called Batabano, on the south side of the island, was planted a town with the name of San Cristobal de la Habana, in deference to the memory of the jllustri- 1* ous discoverer ; but in the year 1519 this name was transferred to the place where the capital now stands. The leaning of the Spaniards toward the southern side of the island appears to have arisen from their previous possession of Jamaica and the Costa Firme ; as till then they had no idea of the existence of the Floridas, or of New Spain ; the expedition for the conquest of which, as well as the steps toward their first discovery, having been taken from the island of Cuba.

The town of Baracoa having first been raised to the dignity of a city and a bishopric, was declared the capital of the island in 1518, and remained so till 1522, when both were transferred to Santiago de Cuba. In 1538 the Havana, second city of the name, was surprised by a French privateer, who reduced it to ashes. This misfortune brought the governor of the island, Hernando de Soto, to the spot, who lost no time in laying the foundation of the Castillo de la Fuerza, one of the numerous fortresses which still exist for the defence of the city. With this protection, combined with the advantageous geographical position of the harbor, the ships already passing, charged with the riches of New Spain, on their way to the Peninsula, were induced to call there for supplies of water and provisions. In this way the Havana began to rise in importance b}^ insensible degrees, insomuch that in 1549, on the arrival of a new governor, Gonzalez Perez de Angulo, he resolved on making it his place of residence. His example was followed by subsequent governors, and in this way the city, although without any royal or legal sanction, came to be silently regarded as the capital of the island, until in 1589 it was formally declared so by the peninsular government, at the time of the nomination of the first captain-general. El Maestre de Campo, Juan de Tejada, who was positively directed to take up his residence at the Havana.

In the annals of the island the names of the first governors and of their lieutenants have not been recorded with a degree of accuracy that can be altogether depended on. All that is known with certainty is, that the early chiefs resided at Santiago de Cuba, from its being the place where the largest population was collected, from its proximity to Jamaica and St. Domingo, and from its being the seat of the ecclesiastical jurisdiction. For the Havana and other towns of inferior importance, lieutenants were appointed. This system continued until the year 1538, when Hernando de Soto, who to the rank of Adelantado of the Floridas, added the office of governor of Cuba, having arrived at Santiago, passed a few days there, and then proceeded to the continent. In his absence he left the government of the island in the hands of a lady, Dona Isabel de Bobadilla, and gave her for a colleague, Don Juan de Rojas. This Rojas had previously resided at the Havana, in quality of lieutenant-governor ; and it is from this date that the gradual transference of the seat of power from Santiago to the Havana may be said to have arisen. It was not till the year 1607 that the island was divided into two separate governments.

In 1545, Don Juan de Avila assumed the government, and to him in 1547 succeeded Don Antonio de Chavez, to whom the Havana is indebted for its first regular supply of water, bringing it from the river called by the aborigines Casiguaguas, and by the Spaniards Chorrera, a distance of two leagues from the city. At that period the trade of the place was limited. The largest and wealthiest proprietors were mere breeders of cattle ; as yet agriculture was very little attended to, and any actual labor performed consisted in exploring the neighborhood in pursuit of the precious metals.

To this governor succeeded Dr. Gonzalo Perez de Angulo, who, according to the historia-n Urrutia, was the first who resided at the Havana during the greater part of his administration. At this period the number of cattle and the practice of agriculture had so much increased that the expeditions from the neighboring continent obtained their supplies at the Havana, and from thence also large quantities of provisions were sent to the Terra Firma. For some time large profits were made by means of these exports, more especially in the sale of horses for the troops ; but the continental settlements, having at length been able to provide for themselves, this source of profit was dried up.

In the year 1554 the government was assumed by Don Diego de Mazariegos, and, during his administration, the Havana was again attacked and reduced to ashes by the French, notwithstanding the protection supposed to be afibrded by the Castillo de la Fuerza. The other towns of the island were also insulted, insomuch that the bishop of the diocese was compelled to leave Santiago and take up his residence at Bayamo, causing a serious misunderstanding between the ecclesiastical authorities and the civil governor.

To Mazariegos, in 1565, succeeded Garcia Osorio, and to Osorio, two years afterward, Don Pedro Melendez de Avilez, who at the same time held the office of Jidelantado of the Floridas, administering the afiairs of the island for a number of years by means of a series of lieutenant-governors. At this period, the hospital of San Juan de Dios, and a church dedicated to San Cristobal, were erected at the Havana. This church was built on the spot now occupied by the residence of the captain-general. Don Gabriel Mental vo was the successor of Melendez, and assumed the government in 1576. In his time the Franciscan convent was erected, in spite of the opposition of the bishop ; and preparations were made, by the building of suitable vessels, for the extirpation of the pirates by whom the coasts of the island were infested. Don Francisco" Carreno, the successor of Montalvo, assumed the command in 1578. In his time the weights and measures of the island were regulated ; and vast quantities of timber were shipped to the mother-country, to contribute toward the construction of the convent and palace of the Escorial.

During the administration of Don Gaspar de Torres, the successor of Carreno, who arrived in 1580, not only Cuba, but the neighboring islands of Jamaica and St. Domingo, were more than ever annoyed by piratical incursions. The expense occasioned by the attempts to suppress them was so great, that it became necessary to impose a special tax, called la sisa de piragua^ to cover it.

At this period was begun the cultivation of tobacco and the sugar-cane, the labor of which was found to be too great for the indolent aborigines, whose numbers had already been materially diminished by the state of slavery to which they had been reduced. It was to promote the production of these new luxuries, that a royal license was first obtained for importing negroes from the coast of Africa.

The continued presence and increasing numbers of the pirates began to give a factitious importance to the castellanos of the fortress, which protected the harbor of the Havana, and sheltered the lanchas and piraguas and the guardacostas themselves. A military power thus insensibly arose, which, coming into collision with that of the civil governor, caused a great deal of disturbance and confusion. The next governor, Don Gabriel de Lujin, who arrived in 1584, came to such a serious rupture with Don Diego Fernandez de Quinones, the Castellano de la Fuerza, that the real audiencia of the district, at the instigation of Quinones, took it upon them to suspend Don Gabriel from his administration of the government, but some time afterward restored him. On the application of the ayuntamiento^ the two offices were afterward combined and vested in the same individual. During Lujan's administration, several hostile demonstrations were made against the island ; but none of them were seriously prosecuted. The attacks of a diminutive enemy, the ant, became so alarming, however, that it was thought necessary by the Cabildo, or chapter of the diocese, to elect a new patron saint, and to confer that dignity on San Marcial, the bishop agreeing to celebrate his fiesta, and keep his day yearly, on the condition of his interceding for the extermination of the hormigas and vivijaguas.

The successor of Lujan, Don Juan de Tejada, was the first governor who arrived with the rank of captain-general, in which was included the same powers and jurisdiction enjoyed by the vireyes of the continental possessions of the crown. Tejada was directed to commence the construction of the two fortresses now known as the Morro and the Punta, and for this purpose brought with him the Engineer Don Juan Bautista Antoneli ; and he was authorized to negotiate with the provinces of New Spain for obtaining contributions, by which to support the garrison, which at that time was limited for all the three fortresses to 300 men. After the building of the Morro was begun, it is said that Antoneli having ascended the heights of the Cabana, remarked to those about him, that from that point the city and the Morro itself would be commanded. This opinion having been communicated to the government, the construction of the present fortress of the Cabanas was immediately determined on. During Tejada' s government the Havana received the title of Ciudad ; the ayuntamiento was increased to the number of twelve regidores ; and a coat of arms was given to it by Philip the Second^ bearing on a blue field three castles argent^ in allusion to the Fuerza, the Morro, and the Punta, and a golden key to signify that it was the key of the Indies ; the whole surmounted by a crown.

Tejada was succeeded as captain-general in 1602 by Don Pedro Valdes, who made strong representations to the court on the subject of the excesses comniitted by the pirates, by whose incursions Santiago had been almost depopulated. The bishop, on returning there from Bayamo on a temporary visit, was seized, tied, stripped, and carried off by the pirate Giron, and detained for eighty days on board his vessel, until he was ransomed by the payment of 200 ducats and five arrobas of beef by Don Gregorio Ramos, who, after rescuing the bishop, succeeded in destrojdng the pirate. From the insecurity of Santiago, this bishop attempted, but without success, to establish his cathedral at the Havana. The supreme government, however, to stay the progress of depopulation at Santiago, resolved on establishing there a subordinate governor with the rank of capitan a guerra, and appointed to the ofl&ce Don Juan de Villaverde, the Castellano of the Morro, who was charged with the defence of his new jurisdiction against the pirates.

The successor of Valdes was Don Gaspar Ruiz de Pereda in 1608 ; and that of Pereda in 1616 was Don Sancho de Alquiza. This last had been previously the governor of Venezuela and Guiana, and he is recorded to have applied himself with energy to the working of the copper mines at Cobre in the neighborhood of Santiago ; the superintendence of which was for some time annexed to the office of captain-general of the Havana, although it was afterward transferred to the lieutenant-governor at Santiago. The annual produce of that period was about 2000 quintals, and the copper extracted is represented to have been of a quality superior to any thing then known in the founderies of Europe. Alquiza died after having enjoyed his office only two years ; and by a provision of the real audiencia, he was succeeded in the temporary command by Geronimo de Quero, the castellano of the Morro, whose military rank was that of sargento mayor. From this period till the year 1715 it appears that, in the nomination of captains-general, a declaration was constantly introduced to the effect that the castellanos of the Morro, on the death of the captain-general, should succeed to the military command of the island ; but since the year 1715 an officer has been specially named with the rank of teniente rey or cabo-subalterno, whose functions acquire an active character only on the death or incapacity of his chief.

Doctor Damian Velasquez de Contreras succeeded Alquiza in 1620, and Don Lorenzo de Cabrera, the next captain-general, was appointed to the command in 1626. A charge was brought against Cabrera, that he had sold a cargo of negroes in the Havana without a royal license ; which being backed by other complaints, the licenciado Don Francisco de Prada was sent out to inquire into them, and by him the captain-general was sent home to the Peninsula, when de Prada assumed the civil and political jurisdiction, and assigned the military command to Don Cristobal de Aranda, the alcaide of the Morro. During the joint administration of de Prada and Aranda it was resolved to shut up the entrance of the harbor by means of a chain drawn across it, a resolution which is described by the historians of the period as having been exceedingly extravagant and absurd.

The next captain-general was Don Juan Bitrian de Viamonte, who began his administration in 1630, and projected the construction of two strong towers, the one in Chorrera, and the other in Cojimar, but the plan was not carried into effect until the year 1646. At this period a certain good woman, known by the name of Magdalena de Jesus, established a sort of female sanctuary, called a beaterio, which gave rise to the establishment of the first female monastery of Santa Clara.

Fears of an invasion of the island by the Dutch now began to be entertained in the Peninsula ; and as Viamonte's health was infirm, he was removed to the presidency of St. Domingo ; and, in 1634, Don Francisco Riano y Gamboa was sent out to replace him. Gamboa introduced important reforms in the collection of the revenue. He established a court of accounts at the Havana, to which was afterward referred the examination of all public disbursements, not only for the island of Cuba, but for Porto Rico, the Floridas, and that portion of the Spanish navy called the windward fleet, la Armada de Barlovento. At first, a single accountant-general was named; but a second was afterward added, with instructions to visit alternately the various parts where the colonial revenue was collected or disbursed. During the government of Gamboa, also, a commissioner of the Inquisition came from Carthagena to reside in the Havana; to provide for whose support one of the canons of the cathedral of Santiago was suppressed. The bishops had for some time acquired a taste for residing in the capital, and other members of the ecclesiastical cabildo began to follow their example, soon degenerating into an abuse which loudly called for a remedy.

The successor of Gamboa was Don Alvaro di Luna y Sarmiento, who commenced his administration in 1639, and in the course of it completed the castle of Chorrera, two leagues to leeward of the Havana, and the Torreon de Cojimar, one league to windward.

In 1647, Sarmiento was succeeded by Don Diego de Villalva y Toledo, who, in 1650, was replaced by Don Francisco Gelder. During Gelder's administration, the establishment of the Commonwealth in England gave rise to serious apprehensions for the safety of the Spanish possessions in America ; especia,lly when it became known, that, in 1655, a squadron had sailed by order of the Protector, the ostensible object of which was the reconciliation of the English colonies to the new form of government, but with the real design of ca^pturing Jamaica. It is scarcely necessa-ry to add, that this design was successfully executed; that the Spanish defenders of Jamaica were dispersed, and the governor killed, and that many of the inhabitants removed in consequence to Cuba. An attempt on the Havana was also made by this expedition, but the assailants were successfully resisted. The failure is ascribed by the Spaniards to a sort of miracle performed in their favor. The invaders having landed on a very dark night, they became so terrified, according to the Spanish authorities, by the noise of the landcrabs and the flitting light of the fire-flies, which they took for an enemy in ambuscade, that they fled to their ships in the utmost disorder and confusion.

The next captain-general was Don Juan Montano, who arrived in 1656. During his time the Spaniards of Jamaica continued to defend themselves under two distinguished hacendados, Don Francisco Proenza, and Don Cristobal de Isasi ; who, for their exertions in preserving the island to the Spanish crown, received thanks and honors from the court. Orders were also sent out to the other Spanish settlements in America to lend their assistance to the Jamaica loyalists ; and a strong expedition was prepared in the Peninsula, having the same object in view. In the end, however, in consequence of the sickness which prevailed on board the ships, the expedition never sailed, and the Spaniards were compelled to evacuate the island.

Montano having died within a year after his arrival, was succeeded in the command, in 1658, by Don Juan de Salamanca, in whose time the incursions of the pirates became more troublesome than ever, on all the coasts of Spanish America. As many of them had the audacity to sail under the flags of France and England, the court of Spain addressed itself to these governments on the subject, and received for answer that, having no countenance or authority from either, the Spaniards were at liberty to deal with them as they thought fit. At this period the French, having established themselves in the island of Tortuga, began from thence by slow degrees, first on hunting parties^

Preface

No excuse is deemed necessary for publishing a volume on Cuba, at a time when the attention both of England and the United States is directed toward that island with eager interest. Political events have transpired so rapidly within the last two years, that

" That of an hour's age doth hiss the speaker."

We are borne onward by a force which seems hastening some great consummation. If all do not agree as to the result which these changes are to bring, no one can shut his eyes to the changes themselves. They have multiplied within the year ; they are multiplying ; they will continue to multiply. The conservative and the radical — the ultra whig and the ultra democrat — are all overwhelmed by the resistless course of things, if they stop even but a moment to contemplate it. What is to be done ? Shall we attempt to stay this irresistible progression, and be swept away by it ; or shall we rather do what we may to control and direct it? >^.

As to Cuba, a word only need be said. Tj^i^^ °^ without the United States, she will soon be free from Spanish dominion ; and — which is of greater consequence to this

IV PREFACE.

country — if free without our aid or influence, she falls to England. How will the United States relish the possession by that nation of a point which commands the Gulf of Mexico and the mouth of the Mississippi ? J>

The analysis of Cuban taxes in these pages is believed to be the first of the kind ever attempted ; and it is hoped the chapters on the social and domestic manners of the Cubans, on religion and education, will interest the reader.

The Appendix contains much important statistical information, together with a translation of a pamphlet from the Spanish in reply to Don Jose Antonio Saco, on the subject of the annexation of Cuba to the United States. This last is given to illustrate the feehng among the Cubans themselves, and to show the opinions held by the leading Cuban planters.

It should be stated that the larger part of the first chapter of this work is abridged from the historical notice of Cuba in " Turnbull's Travels in Cuba."

New York, March 1st, 1850.

and afterward more permanently, to make encroachments on the neighboring coast of the island of St. Domingo ; until, in the end, they had completely taken possession of the western part of it, and created there a respectable colony. According to the Spanish authorities, the French colonists of St. Domingo formed an alliance with the English in Jamaica, and, without the sanction of either of their governments in Europe, made piratical incursions in the Spanish territories, and at length became so formidable, that the Spaniards found it necessary to fortify their possessions, and to combine together for their mutual protection. The most remarkable of these piratical leaders was the Frenchman Lolonois and the celebrated Morgan.

In 1663, arrived as captain-general Don Rodrigo de Flores y Aldana, who in the following year was relieved by Don Francisco Orejon y Gaston, previously governor of Gibraltar and Venezuela. Fearing the neighborhood of the English in Jamaica, Gaston applied himself to the construction of the walls of the Havana ; and to meet the expense he was authorized to levy half a real on each quarter of an arroba of wine, nearly equal to a gallon, which might be sold in the city ; but this having given rise to complaints, the Spanish government by a royal cedula directed that $20,000 a year should be raised for the purpose in Mexico ; and that as much more should be procured as the captain-general could extract by other means from the inhabitants of the Havana.

The next governor was Don Rodriguez de Ledesma, who assumed his functions in 16T0, and prosecuted the work of fortification with the greatest ardor. He also prepared a naval armament for the protection of the coast. It was at this time that the working of the copper mines near Santiago was abandoned, and that the reconstruction of the cathedral in that city was begun ; but the greater part of the slaves employed in the mines were sent to the Havana to work on the fortifications. During Ledesma's administration, a French party landed in the eastern part of the island, to the number of 800, under the command of one Franquinay, with the intention of plundering the city of Santiago, but they withdrew without doing any damage, alarmed, according to the Spanish accounts, by hearing the mere cry of " al arma.^^ In 1675 the city of Santiago was destroyed by an earthquake, a calamity from which the Havana and the western parts of the island appear to be exempt. Ledesma complained bitterly to his government that the English authorities in Jamaica countenanced and encouraged the attacks of the pirates, and applied for leave to make reprisals. He was succeeded by Don Jose Fernandez de Cordoba Ponce de Leon, who began his administration in 1680, and continued the work of fortification with energy.

In 1687 Ponce de Leon was replaced by Don Diego de Viana e Hinojosa, and to him in 1689 succeeded Don Severino de Manzaneda y Salinas, during whose administration the city of Matanzas was founded, the first lines of it having been traced on the 10th of October, 1693, in presence of the captain-general, and many other persons of distinction. The etymology of the name Matanzas is much disputed by the antiquarians of Cuba, some ascribing it to the slaughter of Indians at the time of the conquest of the island, contending that the supposed Indian name Yumuri, that of one of the two rivers between which the city stands, is in fact a synonym in bad Spanish for this general massacre. Others contend, with equal pertinacity, that it was the natives who killed the Spaniards, while passing from one side of the bay to the other, having mutinied against their masters and used their oars successfully as weapons of ojQTence. Seven of the Spaniards are said to have a-ttempted to escape, but were carried prisoners to a neighboring Indian town, where they were all put to death except one, who escaped to tell the tale of the Matanza.

The next captain-general was Don Diego de Cordoba Lazo de la Vega 3 to him in 1702 succeeded Don Pedro Nicolas Benitez de Lugo, who died soon after his arrival. The next captain-general was Don Pedro Alvarez de Villarin, who arrived in 1706, and died the same year. After him, in 1708, came the Marques de Casa Torres, ex-governor of the Floridas, who having had some dispute with the auditor Don Jose Fernandez de Cordoba, was suspended from his office by the real audiencia.