The History of Cuba, vol. 2

by Willis Fletcher Johnson

For himself, Tacon paid no attention to the royal mandate which announced the reestablishment of the Constitution of 1812 and foreshadowed orders for election of deputies to the Cortes. Under the royal decree of 1825, which was still in force, Tacon had power to set aside any instructions which came from Spain, if it seemed to him to the best interests of Cuba. He did not hesitate to take advantage of this authority, which gave him the same rights as a Spanish governor over a city in a state of siege, allowed him to suspend any public functionary no matter what his rank, and to banish any resident of the island who opposed him, without trial, and even without the formal preferring of accusations, as well as to suspend any law or regulation emanating from Spain, should he see fit.

Under Tacon's orders, a column of soldiers, picked from the Spanish army of occupation, and chosen—much against their will and inclination—from the rural and provincial militia and cavalry, was placed under the command of General Gascue, in the town of Guines. Meanwhile, Tacon's secret agents were carrying on an active propaganda among the citizens of Santiago de Cuba, and endeavoring to seduce public sentiment from Lorenzo's to Tacon's side. They did not hesitate to tell the most unblushing falsehoods, and to make the most dishonest promises to win the people over, and by such means attained some degree of success.

If Tacon had had a different sort of opponent the story would have been written along very different lines. A strong commander of the large forces at Santiago de Cuba could easily have compelled him to withdraw from his position, and could have assured for Cuba greater freedom, and this course might in the long run at least have postponed her further efforts for separation from Spain. But General Lorenzo though well-meaning was fatally weak. Instead of resisting Tacon's tyranny he left Cuba for Spain, in an effort to make sure of the support of the Spanish crown, leaving Tacon to follow his own will, and to wreak his vengeance on those who had opposed him. Tacon was of course delighted with the success of his strategy. He sent some of the officers of his companies to Santiago and established a military commission to try all the people of prominence who under General Lorenzo had opposed him. Moya, the commandant, was the presiding judge, and Miret, a lawyer and a tool of Tacon's, acted as advocate. No greater travesty of justice has ever been staged than the proceedings of this precious body.

Now all the Creoles of wealth, education and family had welcomed the royal decree, and hastened to obey the commands of General Lorenzo and to take oath to uphold a constitution which was so beneficial to their interest. Their names were known to Tacon, and he seized not only such people, but anyone of whom he had the slightest suspicion. Men of the highest rank, or the best reputation for loyalty and honesty, of the finest education and standing, were among the number who were summoned before Tacon's tribunal. Even the church was not exempt, and several clergymen, with liberal leanings, and of known revolutionary sentiments, were arrested and imprisoned. This was an excellent time for Tacon to find a pretext to separate the sheep from the goats, and to put those who seemed likely to oppose him where he thought they belonged. Many of these people were confined in dungeons which were as barbarous as those of the middle ages, and were left there until they died of disease or of starvation. They were cut off from communications with their families and friends, and in darkness and filth suffered until death relieved them. A few considered themselves fortunate to get off with sentences of banishment, and those who had warning were glad to escape to another country. Families were separated and homes were broken up. Tacon was very thorough in his methods of putting down what he considered a menace to his government. Even the soldiers under General Lorenzo's command were made his victims. They had been guilty of no offence save that of obeying their superior officer, but this made no difference to Tacon. He decided to make an example of them. Over five hundred of them, with ball and chain dragging, were condemned to work on the streets of Havana like convicts.

The deputies to the Cortes whom Lorenzo had chosen, or who had been chosen under his rule, were among those who escaped from the island. They made their way to Spain, and, hoping that the Spanish crown would recognize the regularity of their election, and the irregularity of Tacon's action, presented their credentials to the Cortes. They were referred to a special committee composed of Spaniards whose only interest in Cuba was in what might be extracted from her, and who had no sympathy with her struggles or concern for her welfare or the good of her people. What few ideas they had of the best way to govern Cuba and make her pay the highest returns to Spain were derived from such intellects as those possessed by men of Tacon's ilk, and they were stoutly ranged on Tacon's side of the controversy. The deputies were refused seats in the Cortes, and it was decided that the Constitution of 1812 did not apply to Cuba. Cuba was thus placed under the despotic rule of the Captains-General, who were given absolute power, even precedence, over the will of the Spanish Cortes. The decree of the Cortes on this matter was framed in the following language:

"The Cortes, using the power which is conceded to them by the Constitution, have decreed: Not being in a position to apply the Constitution which has been adopted for the peninsula and adjacent to the ultramarine provinces of America and Asia, these shall be ruled and administered by special laws appropriate to their respective situations and circumstances, and proper to cause their happiness. Consequently, the Deputies for the designated provinces are not to take their seats in the present Cortes."

Tacon was exultant over this strengthening of his hand, and he began a regime even more cruel than his previous record. His agents were constantly busy stirring up strife and jealousy between the Spanish residents of the island and the native Cubans. He dominated the civil courts with his military officers, and justice became a mere chimera of fancy. In order to keep the police in line, he insisted that a certain number of arrests must be made within a given period. When there were not enough real offenders to make up the quota, the police naturally wreaked any little personal animosities which they might have against private citizens; and it has even been said that frequently they were paid by certain revengeful citizens who held grudges to prefer charges against men who were absolutely innocent of any offence.

Of course societies, whether political or social, came under the governmental ban. Citizens were not encouraged to assemble in groups for any purpose, and they feared to do so openly, lest the entire group might be apprehended and tried on some trumped up charge. All associations for education or personal betterment were discouraged, because if people came to know too much, they were harder to handle and more apt to revolt. Besides this, any society or institution which did not depend on the favor of the Captain-General might find means of denouncing his rule, and one could never tell how royal favor might be swayed. Tacon well knew it to be a very uncertain quantity, and meant to keep the wind blowing in his quarter, if possible.

In connection with his management of the police force, the whole attitude of justice was changed. No person was presumed innocent until his guilt was proved, but on the contrary his guilt was presumed unless he could beyond the shadow of a doubt prove his innocence; and if he had been unfortunate enough to incur the displeasure of one of the legion of sycophants from the court of Spain who hung around the palace of the Captain-General, seeking their own aggrandizement, his chances of having an opportunity to prove himself innocent were very small. Tacon encouraged rather than discouraged his subordinates in acts of injustice, and did not care to what lengths they went if they kept the people quiet. He roared at his officers, and demanded that they be vigilant against his enemies, and they were thoroughly cowed by him. To satisfy him, they invented accusations and thrust just men into prison, or had them condemned to death. A curious result of this regime, and one which shows how some good will often work out of the basest evils, was that thieves and banditti were much less active than under any other Captain-General. The long arm of Tacon reached out to subdue them, to fall upon the guilty as well as the innocent.

Tacon is said to have stated his own position in these words: "I am here, not to promote the interests of the people of Cuba, but to serve my master, the king." The press was muzzled, and the local ayuntamientos were deprived of their rights, and became merely the means for the collection and distribution of the funds of the municipalities. The prisons were overcrowded with Tacon's victims, and it became necessary to lodge some of the political prisoners in the dungeons of castles. Nearly 600 people, against whom there was no formal accusation, and about whom no treason could be proved, were lodged in cells and dungeons. No private citizen was safe, and no one had any personal liberty.