The History of Cuba, vol. 2

by Willis Fletcher Johnson

"Would it not be advisable to try some experiments that we may be able to compare the results of cultivating cane by slaves, with such other methods as we may find expedient to adopt?

"If the planters could realize the importance of these propositions to their welfare, we should see them striving to promote the introduction of white and the exclusion of colored hands. By forming associations, raising funds, and in various ways exerting themselves vigorously in a cause so eminently patriotic, they would at once overcome the obstacles to the introduction of white foreigners, and induce their immigration by the guarantees of good laws and thus assure the tranquillity of the country.

"We may be told that these are imaginary plans, and never to be realized. We answer that they are essays, not difficult or expensive, if undertaken, as we suggest, by a whole community. If we are not disposed to make the voluntary trial now, the day is at hand when we shall be obliged to attempt it, or abandon the cultivation of sugar! The prudent mariner on a boisterous ocean prepares betimes for the tempest, and defies it. He who recklessly abandons himself to the fury of the elements is likely to perish in the rage of the storm.

"'How imprudent,' some may exclaim, 'how imprudent to propose a subject which should be forever buried in "lasting oblivion."' Behold the general accusation raised against him who dares boldly avow new opinions respecting these matters. Unfortunately there is among us an opinion which insists that 'silence' is the true policy. All feel the evils which surround us, are acquainted with the dangers, and wish to avoid them. Let a remedy be suggested and a thousand confused voices be simultaneously raised; and a significant and imploring 'Hush!—hush!' is heard on every side. Such infatuation resembles his who conceals the disease which is hurrying him speedily to death, rather than hear its unpleasant history and mode of cure, from his only hope, the physician's saving science. Which betrays censurable apathy, he who obstinately rushes headlong to the brink of a mighty precipice, or he who gives the timely warning to beware? Who would not thus save a whole community perhaps from frightful destruction? If we knew most positively that the disease were beyond all hopes of cure, the knowledge of the fact would not stay the march of death, while it might serve but as a terrifying enunciation of his approach. If, however, the sick man is endowed with a strong constitution, that with timely prescription promises a probable return of health, it would be unpardonable to act the part of a passive spectator. We heed not that the selfish condemn, that the self-admiring wise censure, or the parricidal accuse us. Reflections of a higher nature guide us, and in the spirit of our responsible calling as a public writer, we will never cease to cry aloud, 'Let us save our country—let us save our country!'"

A subtle document that. Hidden carefully in the denunciation of slavery is a call to organization to form societies. We shall see later how important and potent those societies were and that their objects were something far different from the destruction of slavery. The paper closed with a clear cry for freedom for Cuba.

It cannot be disguised that those who had the real good of the island of Cuba at heart, patriots, Cubans who loved their country, men who longed to stand upright, to put off the yoke of Spain, and to look the inhabitants of free countries in the face as equals, were withdrawing their heartfelt allegiance from Spain, and were longing for independence. That this desire had been created by Spanish oppression, and nurtured by Spanish injustice, is a self-evident fact. The causes which led to the insurrections by which Cuba was torn from this time on until she obtained her independence, we must leave for another chapter. There are two matters most pertinent to this investigation, which we must first discuss: The attitude of the United States toward Cuba at this period, and the revolt of the other Spanish colonies, led by Simon Bolivar, "The Liberator."

CHAPTER XXI

Cuba, so rich and fertile, was an object of desire, not alone to America, but at least equally to the countries of Europe. Thus England cast covetous eyes at Cuba, and some of the English papers intimated that the United States was anxious to acquire the island, and that if England wished to save her West Indian trade, she had best look to her interests and, if possible, wrest Cuba from Spain. Probably the strongest feeling in the United States in the early part of the nineteenth century was that Cuba must not pass from the hands of Spain into those of any other power, and that if Cuba was to be separated from Spain it must be either as an independent country or by annexation to the United States. The desire for annexation, per se, did not appear to be so strong as the feeling that the United States must not allow either France or England to acquire Cuba, and there were, of course, strong political and geographical reasons for this decision. In a former chapter we have recalled some of the circumstances of that time, and have cited some of the authoritative utterances of American statesmen concerning Cuba in the first half of the nineteenth century. Let us now recur to that part of Cuban history in its chronological order.

Early in 1823, those Cubans who were more or less secretly in favor of independence sent an agent named Morales to Washington to try to discover what course the United States would pursue in case Cuba should declare her independence. It was intimated that in case Spain continued her oppressions, and did not grant Cuba a more liberal government, Cuba would ask for the protection of the United States, possibly for admission to the Union; and in case this was refused, she would appeal to England. While no definite promises were made to Cubans, it seemed to be the sentiment in Washington that, should Cuba thus offer herself, it would be tempting fate not to accept the gift. Indeed, a considerable portion of the United States was at this time eager for the annexation of Cuba. There seems moreover to have been in the American cabinet a strong feeling toward urging Cuba to declare her independence, and this might have resolved itself into promises if not into decided action, had it not been for the counter current of opinion that, should she do so, she could not maintain such a status. John Quincy Adams was sure of this, and although he felt that the time was not ripe in the United States for the adoption of a policy of annexation, yet if Cuba should fall to the United States by the mere gravitation of politics, he believed it would be folly to refuse to accept the gift, particularly since the occupation of Cuba by England would give her a base from which to proceed against the United States; and matters between England and her former possession were by no means yet settled on a basis of enduring friendship. Indeed, Adams believed that the future might make the annexation of Cuba almost indispensable to the destiny of the Union; as on April 28, 1823, he said in his instructions to the American minister at Madrid which we have already quoted.

It was practically certain at this time that France would intervene in the affairs of Spain, and would try to overthrow the liberal government of that country, and it seemed probable that England would take advantage of the opportunity in an endeavor to secure Cuba for herself. The island was seething with an undercurrent of revolt, and Washington was uneasy as to what England might do. Reports had it that orders had been sent to British troops to take possession of Cuba, by force if necessary, and that Spain, in return for certain secret concessions from England, had consented to this course. Adams wisely saw that if the Holy Alliance overthrew the Spanish constitution, Spain could not hope to retain Cuba, and since the island was believed to be incapable of self-government, the natural inference was that it would become a dependent of either England or the United States. We may be sure that Washington did not intend that this dependence should be upon England. About this time, Mr. Miralla, a man of affairs who had been for some ten years a resident of Cuba, told Jefferson in a conference in Washington that public sentiment in Cuba was against the country becoming an English territory, and that the Cubans would rise to resist it. He stated that Cuba would prefer to remain as she was rather than to change masters—jump from Scylla to Charybdis, as it were—and that if any change must come she desired independence; that she realized that unaided she could not maintain herself a separate nation, but that she hoped for the support of the United States or of Mexico, or both, to help her to maintain her freedom. Cuba had a secret fear that should she seek independence, the turbulent blacks would try to seize the government, and of course that would mean ruin.