A writer in a volume on “Cuba,” issued by the United States Bureau of the Census, states: “The diminution of the proportion of colored inhabitants during the last half century is doubtless but another illustration of the inability of the colored race to hold its own in competition with the whites, a truth which is being demonstrated on a much larger scale in the United States.”
This is not at all convincing. The negroes have not been to any appreciable degree subjected to competition in Cuba. The climate and latter-day conditions are altogether favorable to their survival and increase. Two official reports indicate that they held their own under the more arduous life of slavery.
We must look for an explanation elsewhere, and the most plausible seems to be that there is a much greater distribution of negro blood in Cuba than the statistics indicate. The enumerators who took the census under our military occupation acknowledged the difficulty of distinguishing among a people whose prevailing physical characteristics are dark skin and black hair, and expressed their suspicion that a large number of those who returned themselves as “whites” had negro blood in their veins. Those who have lived long and travelled extensively in Cuba, generally entertain the opinion that the proportion of pure whites in population is considerably less than seventy per cent.
The unqualified terms of condemnation in which most of our writers refer to the Spanish rule of Cuba, can only be accounted for on the assumption of ignorance of the history of the Island and the general conditions of the times. Spain had an admirable code of laws for the government of her colonies. This code, called Las Leyes de Indias, was formulated during the reign of Philip the second. It was designed to insure the humane and equitable treatment of the native subjects and, considering the times, was a highly enlightened measure. The laws were frequently violated by colonial governors, but it was hardly in the power of the home government to prevent such abuses. In those days of long distances and slow communication, it was necessary that viceroys should be invested with practically unlimited powers and undivided authority. The only alternative would have been the adoption of some form of popular government, which no nation had at that period dreamed of applying to its distant possessions. As a matter of fact, a liberal policy prevailed in Cuba during the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries. Public assemblies of citizens were held to elect the members of municipal corporations; no taxation was permitted without the sanction of these bodies;[1] charges were freely lodged and sustained against governors. During the same period, the British colonies in the West Indies were not so well governed as was Cuba and some of their governors were more flagrantly tyrannical and dishonest than the worst of Cuba’s captains-general. Spain’s chief fault and the cause of her downfall as a colonial power, lay in failure to respond to the growth of sentiment in favor of popular rights. She became more autocratic as other nations became more liberal. In truth, she had ineptitude for colonial government, but her sovereigns generally evinced a sincere concern for the welfare of their foreign subjects.
Cuba entered upon an era of development and prosperity following the restoration of the Island to Spain by the British in 1763. For eighty years following the event it was governed by a line of captains-general, almost all of whom were able and well-intentioned. The first of these, Count O’Reilly, devoted his five-year term of office to the organization of a militia force and the execution of other much needed military measures. Don Antonio Bucarely paid special attention to the administration of justice throughout the Island and redressed many popular grievances. Of him was recorded the unparalleled fact that during his administration not a single complaint against him had reached the Court of Madrid. His successor, the Marques de la Torre, gained the affection and esteem of all classes. The benign and talented Las Casas arrived in 1790, and the period of his governorship is recognized by all Spanish writers as one of the most brilliant in the history of the Island. He effected many public improvements and introduced means for the increase of the industrial and commercial prosperity of Cuba. He it was, who founded the institution of Sociedad Patriotica, which became so important an agency in the promotion of agriculture, trade, education, literature, and the fine arts. The recognition of the popular principle in this institution, and the promotion of liberal ideas by it, have been highly influential factors in the development of the people and their country.
To Las Casas, also, the Island is indebted for the establishment of the Casa de Beneficencia, for its first public library, and its first newspaper.
It is frequently stated that under the rule of Spain education among the natives was discouraged. Such was not the case. The facilities of the masses in the country districts for acquiring such education as their classes usually enjoyed at the same period in Europe was, at least, equally as great. The priests maintained parish schools throughout the Island, and received pupils free without the distinction of classes or color. In the capital the opportunities for learning were unusually good. The Jesuits, Dominicans, and other orders, provided thorough classical education and instruction in foreign languages. Almost every religious institution had some sort of college or attached to it. The University of Habana was established in 1721. It became the object of special favor by Las Casas. He increased the endowment and extended the scope of its utility by creating several new professorial chairs, notably one of medicine. He also lent aid and encouragement to the Jesuits, in improving their colleges.
Following Las Casas came several other benevolent governors, of whom the Conde de Santa Clara, the Marques de Someruelos, and the Espeletas, especially left records of wise and useful administration.
The chief features of the history of the Island previous to the opening of the eighteenth century, were the settlements created by the first governor, the usual repartimientos, or distribution of the territory and its inhabitants among the Spanish adventurers who led the early expeditions of the Indians, the introduction of negro slaves, the attacks by buccaneers, and the capture of Habana by the English. The century closed with a notable advance in commerce and industry, and a period of excellent government. This, though essentially despotic, was benevolent and well adapted to the conditions of the time. Under it the Cubans