RAIMUNDO VBRERA AUTHOROF "MIS BUENOSTIEMPOS." " LOS ESTADOSUNIDOS." " ~MPRES~ONESDE VIAJE." BC.. kc. MEMBEROF THE BAR OF CUBA. PROVINCIAL EX-DEPUTY.MEMBER OF THE EXECUTIVECOMMI~TEE OF THE CUBANAUTONO- MIST PARTY. BC. TRANSLATED FROM THE EIGHTH SPANISH EDITION OF " CUBA Y SUS, JUECES" BY LAURA GUlTERAS REVISED AND EDITED BY LOUIS EDWARD LEVY AND COMPLETED WITH A SUPPLEMENTARY APPENDIX BY THE EDITOR ILLUSTRATED WITH 114 ENGRAVINGS AND A MAP PHILADELPHIA THE LEVYTYPE COMPANY ~Sgd GRAD . F 1783 .c1313 1896 COPYRIGHT 1896 THE LEVYTYPE COMPANY PHILADELPHIA -- 4Cad 40~3280g I IciYnGX o 2\\ ~\b\ TO THE MEMORY OF HER BELOVED UNCLE EUSEBIO GUITERAS THIS TRANSLATION IS DEDICATED BY HIS NIECE EDITOR'S PREFACE. At a time when the condition of Cuba and its people has been forced upon the attenti011 of the civilized8 world by another sanguinary contest between Spain and its Great Antillan colony, there is no need of an apology for the appearance of the present work. The American people, especially, have an abiding interest in Cuba, not alone as a matter of sentiment, but by reason of extensive commercial relations wit11 the island and of the important economic facts resulting from those relations; the condition of Cuba and the Cubans largely concerns us, and a disturbpce of those conditions affects our material interests in Inany ways. Since the beginning of 1895 the prolonged contention between the Cuba11 colonists and the mother country, which in the past has resulted in numerous insurrections and in a devastating civil war of ten years' duration, has again been taken out of the domain of parliamentary discussion by a resort to force. The political agita- tion for administrative reforms and a due measure of self governnlent which has constantly aild per- sistently been maintained by the progressive par- ties ainong the Cuban people, especially since the failure of the Spanish governrne~~tto develope the reforms agreed npon by t,he Compromise of 1878, has again been replaced by an ins~rrect~ionary movement that has spread over the greater part of the island of Cuba. Again the Cuban question, turgid with the wrongs of centuries, distorted by social misconceptions and by political chicanery, an anachronism at the close of t<he19th century, is illuminated by the torch of war. But the gleam of battle fire illuminates an historic subject in but a garish and imperfect light. Its various phases are brought out in gross relief against a sombre backgrourid and such presentations are necessarily lnisleadirlg in t<heirnature. In the midst of the confusioil and turmoil iricitlent to a clash of arms, statements of fact, discusaior~sof opinion a~ld contentious of argument inevitably partake of the heat of the conflict and are apt to be over-col6red by passion or prejudice. A4ffected by these conditions, the press and the tribune are alike prone to give ex- pression to the rancors of the conflict, rather than the calmly ascertainetl causes whicl~underlie ant1 have produced it ; the real import of those causes is apt to be obscuretl hy the bitterness of partisanship and the far-reaching significance of their effects hidden in the sllloke of battle. To afford a true light under such cil.cumstances there is need of a competent and acknowledged EDITOR'S PREFAUE. Vii authority, whose position is conceded and whose standpoint is fully recognized; an authority un- affected by the rancors of the moment, actuated by logical and well-detel-nli~~etlinotivev arid influenced by consideratioils apart from present exigencies. Such a light is afforded by the volume before us. It renders accessible to Englisli readers Raimundo Cabrera's Cuha y sus jueces. That work, as wiIl be found noted in its admirable prologue by Rafael Montoro, attracted universal attention throughout the Spanish-speaking world at the time of its first publication in 1887. Since then it has gone through eight editions in the Spanish, and has been accepted as a faithful reflex of public opinion among the liberal thinkers not only of Cuba, but of the mother country as well. The work affords the most compre- hensive and thorough statement of the Cuban ques- tion that has thus far emanated from the press ; it has stood the test of criticism and review by all parties i11 Cuba and in Spain, and remaills an un- questioned and unimpeached authority on the sub- ject of Cuba and the Cubans. The idea of presenting this work to the English speaking public had been conceived by the present editor some year's ago, when, as publisher of the seventh Spanish edition, he became minutely con- versant with its contents. The author's permission to translate the work was then obtained with that viii EDITOR'S PREFACE. end in view, and now, with the growing interest of the American people in the struggle between Spain and its rebellious colonists, an English translation of this standard work will especially commend itself. In view of the existing situation of affairs, the editor has deemed it proper to confine the translation to the text as it was published in the Spanish edition of 1891, which was the seventh of the series and the last which received the revision of the author, he having then augmented his pre- vious work with numerous notes and supplemented it with appendices and illustrations. A brief sum- mary of descriptive and historical data, which the author, writing for a Spanish and particularly a Cuban public, nat~~rallyregarded as unnecessary, has been added to this translation by the editor, and the illustrations of the original work have been in- creased by a number of photographic views and a map of the island and its surroundings. Sefior Cabrera has dealt with his subject-matter from the vantage ground of an ackriowledged leader- ship of the Autonomist party of Cuba. His state- ments may therefore be regarded as an expression of that element of the Cuban people whose hopes of the future of their country have been based on the belief that their aspirations could be realized through an effective system of Autonomy, and who looked forward to achieving their political aims by constitutional agitation, rather than by the possibly shorter but immeasurably more costly method of a . resort to arms. The earnest and thoughtful leaders of the Auto~iomistsbased their contention for a peaceful propaganda of the reform movement upon the fact that socio-political problems which, a gene- ration ago, seemed impossible of determination ex- cept by force, were now open for solution by appeals to justice and to reason; that the intelligence arid education upon which they relied were bei~igrapidly disseminated by the spread of commerce and of in- dustry; that the spirit of the times was making strongly for their cause and that the progress o'f modern thought and enlightenment, slow though if was in making an impress on Spanish policy, might still with confidence be left to work its way in Cuba. as it had worked and was yet workii~gthroughout the civilized world. Cabrera's book indeed, as voic- ing the demands of the Cuban people for reforms which Spain has constantly postponed or absolutely refused, has commanded the recognition and respect of the advanced rank of Spanish statesmen. The original publication of this work in the Spanish, as already noted, marked all era in the agi- tation for Cuban Home Rule. It was put fortll, as is indicated by Montoro in his Prologue, and by the author in his introductory chapter, as a refuta- tion of statements by a Peninsular writer, published in a book entitled " Cuba y S~Lgenf~" (Cuba a~itlits People), and hence proceeds upon a plan of disserta- tion which Cabrera found forced upon him. But the latter's work is much Inore than a polemic; it takes a wider sweep and presents a broad and philosophic statement of its subject. IVith scholarly insight and thorough analysis, Cahrera traces the existing social, political, and economic conditio~iof Cuba aud the Cu- bans with n facile l)en, in brief hut compl.ehensive outlines and in a lucid and trenchant style. Ile elucidates the needs and aspirations of the Cuban people as evinced by that portion of the community of which Cahrern himself is a typical represe~itative, the ttiouglitfi~l,co~iservati~e and substantial ele- ments of society, which form the true basis of the social structure. It was these elemelits that com- posed the Autonon~istpartty of Cuba, whicli sought, through every possible peacefill effort, to move the Home Government to a recognition of tlie needs of the times, of the demands of justice, and of tlie dic- tates of an enlightened self-interest, and it is these elements which must forni in Cuba, as in all civilized societies, tlie foundation whereon the lasti~lgrecoil- struction of the community must eventually be based. Lours EDWARDLEVY. Philadelphia, February, 1896. TABLE OF CONTENTS. EXPLANATORYINTROL)UC~ION - THE PORT OF HA- VANA- THE HARBOROFFICIAIS-CUSTOM HOURE EXAMINATIONS-~~REE.I~REOF THE CITY- ARCHI- TECTURAL PECULIAR~~IE~- CIIARALTERIBTI~ OF THE CITY CROWDS- THE NEGROFSAND THE' CHIN~E-THE" SECTION OF HYGIENE"-OTHER FEATUREB . 29 xii TABLE OF CONTENTB. VI. CUBANLITERATUREITS BEQIWNINGS AND DEVEG OPMENT-CUBANPorn AND HISTORIANB-A~Iv- ITY IN THE FIELDSOF SCIENCE,ART AND GENERAL rA~~~~~~~~~-c~~~~PAINTERSAND COMPOSERS. 86 VII. TABLE OF CONTENTS. xili ' VIII. CUBA,Im POLITICAL,ECCLEBIASTICAI. AND JURIDICAL DIVISIONR-THEMORAI. STATUS OF THE PEOPLE- THE SOCIAI,EVIL - IT8 EXPLOITATIONBY THE GOVERNMENT-PURITY OF THE CURASPEOPLE- THESTATUR 012 EDUCATION-HI~TORI(:ALREVIEW OF THE SYR~EMOF INRTRUC~~ION- GOVERNMENT NEGLECTOF EDUCATION- FHEE SCHOOL^, SEMI- NARIEB AND COLLEQ~PRIVATELY INSTITUTED AND CX)NDUC:~ELJ.