The History of Cuba, vol. 2

by Willis Fletcher Johnson

"It is a very spacious city, well enough built and among the best fortified in America. In size it compares about with la Rochelle, but it is far more populated. It is graced with a large number of public buildings, churches, convents and you see there usually more negro slaves than in any other city of Spanish domination. Its harbor especially is one of the largest and most beautiful in America, and they build there warships for the construction of which the king of Spain employs a prodigious number of laborers, an arsenal and an immense workshop. It is the Catholic king's custom to pay one thousand piastres a cannon; so a vessel of eight cannon costs him eight thousand piastres. There are always on the docks five or six vessels at once; it is a company called the Company of Biscay which attends to the business. Havana is rather regular in plan; the streets are surveyed by the line, although some of them are not absolutely straight; all houses are of two or three floors, built of masonry and have balconies mostly of wood; the lower part of most houses is terrace-like as in European Spain and altogether they make a respectable impression.

"The city is protected by a numerous garrison of about four thousand regular troops, extremely well kept, who make Havana impregnable in a country where one cannot attack, except with considerable forces. The city which is one of the best located seems an oval; the entrance to her port is advantageously protected by different forts, of which one, the first, is called Morro or port of entrance; the second is opposite; a third has been erected toward the side of the city; it is so large that it seems rather a citadel than a fort. There is besides before the principal section of the city before the palace of the governor which is magnificent, a battery of big guns and of considerable calibre; so one can say that Havana is the best defended of all places in America, the vessels that want to enter being obliged to pass so close to the forts that it would be easy to sink them.

"The customs of the Spanish are here about the same as in Spain, differing from other colonies of the nation, where frankness, righteousness and probity seem to have been exiled. The Havanese are quite frank, extremely gay, more so than suits the ordinary Spanish gravity which is probably due to the great number of strangers which come there from all parts. The climate is rather good; the sex very handsome and enjoying much more liberty than in the rest of Spanish America.

"Armed cruisers are entertained to keep away strangers from the coast, which does not prevent all the fraudulent operations in which the commandant often shares. Nevertheless life is agreeable for the rich, everything being abundant in Havana; and the residents are far more neatly habited than elsewhere. One does not drink but cistern water, much superior to that of the only fountain which is in the center of a large square; and which serves only as watering trough for animals. You see in Havana many rolling chairs, most of which are rented, which gives the city an air resembling European towns."

Appreciative as this description sounds, which had for its author a M. Sr. Villiet d'Arignon, the Havana of the time of the British calls forth even more appreciative language from the Spanish historians of Cuba. They dwell much on the beauty of its location and of the city itself say:

The streets were not large or well leveled, especially those running from north to south, which caused the town to be so great in length; over three thousand houses occupied an expanse of nine hundred fathoms in length and five hundred in width; they were of hewn stone, of graceful form and as a whole afforded a very beautiful appearance. To the beauty of the city contributed eleven churches and convents and two large hospitals; the churches were rich and magnificent, especially those of Recoletos, Santa Clara, San Agustino and San Juan de Dios. Their interior was adorned with altars, lamps and candelabra of gold and silver of an exquisite taste. There were three principal squares: The Plaza des Armas, which still retains its name, encompassed by houses of uniform frontage with the metropolitan church. A magnificent aspect was added to this square by the castille de la Fuerza, where resided the Captain-Generals, and the pyramid encompassed by three luxuriant five-leaved silk cotton trees planted there in memory of the tradition, that the first mass and town meeting were held in the shadow of a robust tree of that kind; that of San Francisco adorned with two fountains was considered the best place in the city and on it were the houses of the Ayuntamento and the public jail, whose two-story façade with arched entrance contrasted with the severe architecture of the convent after which the square is named; and there was still another, the new square, because it had been opened after the former, with a fountain in the center and all encompassed with porticos for the convenience of the public, serving also as market-place, where the inhabitants, according to Arrate, provided themselves "copiously" with all they wanted.

Native writers also dwell upon the good manners of the Havanese, calling them the most polite and social people of Spanish America, much given to imitating the French customs and manners, which were then in vogue at the Spanish court of Madrid, both in their dress and their conversation, as also in the furnishings of their houses and the good table they set their guests. These descriptions of Cuba and Cuban life tally well with those of the foreigners quoted by the author, and indicate the progress made by the island, and especially by Havana, in the sixth and seventh decades of the century.

The economic conditions of the island underwent a great change during the sixth decade of the century. Up to this time, the majority of the people had been engaged in agriculture and led a more or less simple, rustic life. The products of her soil were consumed on the spot. Her mines were neglected because the gold and silver which had been discovered in the earlier part of Cuba's history and which had roused the jealousy of other countries were not sufficient in quantity to justify the labor needed for working them. With the increasing number of negro slaves, the possibilities of exploiting all the rich natural resources of the island were multiplied. Among the products that came into prominence was sugar. Not ordinarily consumed, it brought forty three cents a pound. John Atkins, the British surgeon and author of that interesting book of travel in Spanish America referred to in a previous chapter, had declared the sugar of Cuba the best in the world; and it was indeed so considered in the market. It became soon one of the most important articles of Cuba's commerce. The cheapened labor encouraged enterprises which the Spanish would have been physically unable to carry through.

The commerce of Havana had in this epoch increased considerably and the greatest part of it came from the ports of the island itself. Besides supplying with goods the towns of the interior and the littoral, Havana exported great amounts of hides, much esteemed for their excellent quality, and also sugar, tobacco and other articles. The trade was carried on by vessels registered from Cadiz and the Canaries besides those of Spanish merchants who were allowed to trade with the Spanish-American continent. Especially favored were those that returned to Spain from Cartagena, Porto Bello and Vera Cruz and entered Havana to renew their supply of provisions and water, and enjoy the advantage of going out with the convoy which in the month of September returned to the Peninsula with galleons loaded with the riches of Peru and Chile, and the fleet freighted with the treasures of New Spain. This periodical assembly of a great number of merchant and war vessels in Havana had introduced the custom of holding fairs, during which great animation prevailed in the city. For while they facilitated commercial transactions, they also furnished diversion and entertainment to the sailors and others who were waiting for the sailing of the convoy. At that time an order was published prohibiting on penalty of death any person belonging to the squadron to remain on land over night, and all had to retire on board at the report of a gun. Provisions were then, as also M. d'Arignon reported at his time, very dear. The monopoly which was exercised by the company had unreasonably raised the cost of living. The flour brought from foreign smugglers at five or six piasters a barrel, was sold at his time at thirty-five and more! Besides the ordinary wages of men hired by the day every male slave day-laborer was paid in excess four pesos a day and every female two pesos.

The description of the defenses of the city during the British invasion suggest that the surrender to the enemy may after all not have been entirely the fault of the procrastination and unconcern of the Cuban governor, as some zealous patriots alleged at the time. The entrance of the port was in the eastern part, defended by the strong fort of el Morro, situated upon an elevated rock of irregular, somewhat triangular form, in the walls and bulwarks of which were forty mounted cannon. It was protected also by the battery of Doce Apostoles, so called for having a dozen mounted cannon, situated toward the interior of the port in the lower parts of the Morro bulwark, which looked to the southeast and were almost at sea-level. There was also the Divina Pastora with fourteen cannon, on a level with the sea at a point a little higher than the former facing the gate of la Punta. Toward the west in the same entrance of the port and about two hundred yards from it with four bulwarks well-mounted with artillery, was la Fuerza with twenty-two cannon. Although not of as solid construction as the others, it served as storehouse for the treasures of the King and was also the residence of the governor. Between these fortresses there were erected along the bay a number of other bulwarks well supplied with artillery. The walls from la Punta to the arsenal were protected by bulwarks with parapets and a ditch. From the first to the second gate there was considerable territory converted at that time into gardens, and pasture land, and covered with palmettos. In front of the Punta de Tierra was a ravelin.