Cuba Past and Present

by Richard Davey

Although Columbus revisited the island three times before he returned to Spain, to rest his weary bones in that peace his enemies so persistently denied him, he died, as I have said, in the full conviction that it formed part of the Asiatic continent, and it was not until 1508 that, at the command of Nicola Ovanda, a certain Captain Sebastian circumnavigated the island, and established the undoubted fact of its being completely surrounded by water. In 1511, Columbus' son Diego, then Governor of Hispaniola, otherwise Hayti, sent Diego Velasquez to Cuba, with full authority to colonize it. This process he performed by parcelling out the island among his followers and reducing the natives to slavery. The poor creatures, never having been accustomed to hard work, rebelled, and were forthwith mercilessly exterminated. Velasquez founded many towns, among them Baracoa, Bayamo, Trinidad, Puerto Principe, Santiago de Cuba (in 1515), and San Christobal de Habana (Havana) (in 1519), this last city not exactly in its present position.

More interesting by far than Velasquez was his lieutenant, Hernando Cortez, eventually to be known as the intrepid explorer of Mexico. The lustre of his career in Cuba was stained, however, by his ferocious treatment of the aborigines, whom he condemned to work in his newly discovered copper mines, and tortured to death because they refused to obey their taskmaster. His love affairs, on the other hand, were romantic, and are still enshrined in the legendary history of the island. His great, if cruel, name figures in many a folk-lore tale, but no allusion is ever made to his subsequent adventures on the main continent. Velasquez, too, is not forgotten. His Governorship had evidently many features of excellence, and if he bears the shame of having introduced the curse of negro slavery, he must be given credit for having planted the first sugar cane in his fair domain.

After his death, in 1524, the history of Cuba is a blank until the year 1538, when Hernando de Soto landed in the island, and fitted out, in the harbour of Santiago, the celebrated but unfortunate expedition to Florida, by means of which he hoped to annex that country to the Spanish territory. The undertaking, one of vast importance to the future welfare of the New World, was disastrous in many ways. The flower of the Spanish colonists perished in numerous battles with the natives, Cuba was drained of her European population, and the progress of the island lamentably retarded. Meanwhile, the venerable Las Casas had settled himself in Havana, and started many wise reforms. Thanks to him, the future enslavement of the natives was rendered impossible. The benevolent law, unfortunately, came all too late—the great majority had already perished. Las Casas built several charitable institutions and hospitals in various parts of the island, notably at Havana and Santiago, and obtained for Havana the grant of civic rights, as capital of the island. For a few years Cuba enjoyed a measure of peace and prosperity, interrupted by fierce occasional raids by French, Dutch, and English buccaneers and pirates.

The great Buccaneering period in West Indian history, from the second quarter of the sixteenth century till the end of the seventeenth, is one of the most romantic and exciting that can be conceived. This celebrated association of piratical adventurers maintained itself in the Caribbean seas for over a century, by dint of audacity, bravery, and shrewdness. It was organized for a systematic series of reprisals on the Spaniards; but in the course of time all sense of honour disappeared, and its members indulged in indiscriminate piracy. Its name, singular to relate, is derived from the Caribbee word bucan, a term for preserved meat, smoked dry in a peculiar manner. From this the French adventurers formed the verb bucaner and the noun bucanier, which was eventually adopted, oddly enough, by the English, whereas the French preferred the word filibustier, a possible corruption of our "freebooter," still used to designate a certain portion of the Cuban rebels. The real motive for the existence of the buccaneers was the universal detestation in which Spain was held in the West Indian Archipelago. The Spanish assumption of a divine right to half of the New World, in accordance with the grant bestowed on them by Pope Alexander VI., and traced in his own hand on the famous Borgian map, and the diabolical cruelties practised by them upon all foreign interlopers who chanced to fall into their hands, led to an association for mutual defence among all adventurers of other nations, whom the reports of its fabulous wealth had attracted to this part of the New World. Their policy was war to the death against all Spaniards. Their code was of the simplest. They lived in community: locks and bars were proscribed as an insult to their honesty. Each buccaneer had his comrade, who stood by him when alive, and succeeded to his property at his death. Their centre of operations was the island of Tortuga, near San Domingo, where, when not hunting the Spaniards or being hunted by them in return, they enjoyed peace of a kind. Their life was wild and terrible, and their history teems with cruelty and bloodshed, but the lurid page is lighted here and there by tales of romantic adventure, chivalrous valour, and brilliant generalship. Cupid, too, occasionally lent his aid to soften the rugged asperities of the buccaneer's career. Who has not heard how Peter of Dieppe fell in love with, and carried off, the daughter of the Governor of Havana? and of how Van Horn lost his life in saving his daughter's honour? Pre-eminent amongst such names as L'Olonnais, Michael de Busco, Bartholomeo de Portuguez, and Mansvelt, stands forth that of Henry Morgan, the Welshman, who organised fleets and armies, besieged rich cities, reduced strong fortresses, displayed throughout his long career an absolute genius for command, was finally knighted by Charles II., and ended his wild and spirited career as Deputy-Governor of Jamaica, a somewhat tame conclusion! Had he loved gold less, and power more, he might have died Emperor of the West Indies, but he was content to retire into comparative obscurity with his enormous fortune, after having made the western hemisphere, from Jamaica to Rio, ring with his name and fame. The buccaneers were then, as we see, a thoroughly well organised association of sea-banditti, consisting mainly of English, French, and Dutch adventurers, who harassed the coast of Cuba for over a century, and finally, with the connivance of their respective Governments, laid hands on Jamaica, Hayti, and others of the islands. In 1528 they even ventured to attack Havana, set the town on fire, and reduce it to ashes. There were no fortifications to repel them then, and the straw and wooden buildings burnt merrily. When the buccaneers evacuated the ruins, Hernando de Soto, the future discoverer of the Mississippi, hastened from Santiago, where he was residing, and set himself to work to rebuild the city in its present position, and surround it by well-designed and constructed fortresses. So great was the terror inspired by the buccaneers, that special laws were enacted in Cuba to protect the seaports from their predatory attacks. People were ordered to keep within their doors after certain hours of the night. Every man was commanded to wear his sword, not only by day, but by night, and it was death to assist any buccaneer who attempted to escape, after falling into the hands of the Spaniards. In 1556, Jacob Sores, a famous pirate, whose much-dreaded name was used by the Cuban women to frighten their unruly children, again attacked Havana, reduced the fortress, and sacked the church and city. Terrible stories are told of the outrages and murders which he committed, and of his hair-breadth escape from being captured, which he owed to a Spanish lady who had fallen desperately in love with him. After the departure of Sores and his gang, Havana and the other growing cities of the island were fortified afresh, so that when Drake arrived in 1555, he thought twice before attacking the capital, and sailed away without firing a shot. In 1589 Philip II. built two castles, the Morro and Los tres Reyes (The Three Kings), designed by Giovanni Batista Antonelli, an Italian architect in his employ. These exist to this day, though, of course, greatly modified, especially of late years, by being adapted to modern purposes of warfare. Havana now had become too strong for the buccaneers, and although they frequently threatened it, they dared not venture near enough to do much harm. The town repulsed the persistent attack of the Dutch Admiral, Jolls, who menaced it from August to September 1628.

During the seventeenth century, Havana and the other large towns of Cuba were greatly extended, surrounded by walls (portions of which, as well as the picturesque old gates, were recently standing), and soon became renowned throughout the West Indies for their wealth and luxury. The long series of Spanish Governors, or Captains-General, as they were and are still called, made a point of importing splendid equipages, plate, china, and even pictures by the great Spanish masters. When His Excellency went abroad, it was in a gilded coach, not unlike that of our Lord Mayor, drawn by twelve mules, caparisoned in yellow, red, and gold, the national colours of the kingdom. A host of slaves of every tint, wearing gorgeous liveries, followed, some on horseback, others running by the side of the sumptuous vehicle. Trumpeters preceded, and men in armour closed the procession. His Excellency's consort, who had to enact the part of Vice-Queen, was instructed, before leaving Madrid, in all the formidable etiquette of the Spanish court. Those members of noble Spanish families who had established themselves, at an early period, in the colony, continued to bear their titles, and formed an aristocracy which held aloof from the untitled planters, and attended the court of the Governor with all the state it could possibly assume. These magnates, likewise, went abroad in gilded coaches, drawn by four, six, and even eight richly caparisoned mules, and had their trains of gaily liveried slaves. Horses were at one time scarce in the island, but before the end of the seventeenth century they were numerous enough, and the volante, a picturesque carriage, evidently a modification of a similar vehicle then in use in the Peninsula, made its first appearance. Another feature of those days, which has long since disappeared, was the state barges which served to convey the rich and highly-born across the harbour, and which, if I may rely on a contemporary engraving now before me, were richly carved and gilded, and rowed by as many as twenty oarsmen in gaudy costumes. In another print, dated 1670, representing the market-place at Havana, a number of ladies are seen wearing the old Spanish costume, farthingale and mantilla au grand complet, as we see them in the pictures of Velasquez, and attended by slaves carrying China silk parasols with deep fringes, to shield their mistresses from the sun. In one corner a slave is being sold, while in another a sacred image is carried in procession by a number of friars. Half-naked negroes are running about hawking bananas, oranges, and pineapples. To the left of the market-place is a church, now no longer in existence, which must, I presume, have been that of San Domingo, annexed to which were the prisons of the Holy Office, which undesirable institution was established early in the 16th century, soon after the foundation of the colony. It worked in Cuba with as much fierce cruelty as in all the other Spanish dominions, and autos da fé of heretics and heathens were a frequent form of entertainment. Early, too, in the 17th century, a good-sized theatre, where the plays of Calderon and Lope de Vaga were doubtless performed, was opened in Havana. In Holy Week, autos, or sacred dramas, were given in the open, "weather permitting." In a word, Havanese life, in those far-off times, was a reflection of life in Spain as it has been depicted by Cervantes and Lesage, and the Countess d'Aulnoy.

Very soon after the Conquest, the Church obtained large grants of valuable property, and down to the first quarter of the present century a good fifth of the island was Church property. Most of the great religious orders were represented—including the Benedictines and the Carthusians. The Franciscan and Dominican friars had a number of priories in various parts of the island, and were much esteemed by the people, whom they steadily befriended. To their credit, be it recorded, the Dominican friars occupied themselves a great deal with the condition of the slaves, obtained the freedom of many, and redressed the wrongs of thousands. The Jesuits made their first appearance very soon after the creation of their celebrated order. They established themselves in Havana, Santiago, Matanzas, and Puerto Principe, where they opened Colleges for the education of the sons of the upper classes. There were also many nunneries, peopled generally by sisters from Europe, who educated the daughters of the wealthy, and gave primary instruction to the children of the people. As is usually the case in Catholic countries, numbers of churches were built, some of them of considerable architectural pretensions, in the well-known Hispano-American style, of which many excellent examples are still extant, not only in Havana, but throughout the whole of South America. Some of the more popular shrines, like that of Neustra Señora de Cobre, the Lourdes of Cuba, were, and are still, rich in ex votos, in gold, silver, and even jewels.

The Holy Week ceremonies still remain rather crude reproductions of those which annually attract so many hundreds of visitors to Seville. But notwithstanding the existence of many learned and estimable prelates and priests, the general character of the clergy in Cuba has been indifferent, and I am afraid the Cubans have ever held the gorgeous ceremonies of their Church in greater affection than her moral teachings.

Up till 1788, the Cuban Church was ruled by a single bishop, but in that year it was divided into two dioceses, each covering about one half of the island. In 1804, Santiago, the eastern diocese, was raised to the dignity of an archbishopric. The other, which contains the city of Havana, still remains a bishopric.

The European revolutions of the end of the last and the beginning of the present centuries had their effect on Cuba, and a great number of monasteries and convents were closed, their inmates scattered, and their property confiscated.

Unfortunately, the Inquisition, which had been implanted at an early period everywhere in the Spanish colonies, with the object of compelling the aborigines and the imported slaves to embrace Catholicism, was used as a means of overawing refractory colonists, who were soon made aware that either open or covert disapprobation of the proceedings of their rulers was the most deadly of all heresies. From the middle of the 17th century until the close of the 18th, the annals of the Havanese Inquisition contain endless charges of heresy against native-born Spaniards—charges which were in reality merely expressions of political displeasure, and had nothing whatever to do with religion.