The morning news. [volume] (Savannah, Ga.) 1887-1900, 1898-04-09
The STORY OF CUBA.
From the Chicago Tlmes-Herald

Cuba was discovered by Christopher Co
lumbus on Oct. IS, 1892. Had it not been
for The episode of Ferdinand and Isabella
in the life of the great Italian navigator
the rule of Spain had not perhaps cursed
The whole Southern American continent
for centuries, and Cuba had not now been
fighting for freedom. Columbus believed
that ne had discovered the main land Of
India but was persuaded by the aborigi-
mails that he was ON an island. When he
returned TO Cuba he again made up his
mind that 1t was the oriental main land
and it Is said he died in that belief So
firmly was he seated in this opinion that
he committed it to writing in order that
posterity might know of his conviction
But in this detail the immortal discovereI
was in error.
There is something noble, unyielding and
stubborn about Cuba. The Spaniards have
never been able to conquer even the maize
Columbus called the island Juana for the
honor of The son and heir of Ferdinand and
Isabella. This name was afterward
changed into Fernandina. When the King
died il was again changed, this time to
Santiago. Some plous Spaniard later all
tered it to Ave Maria. 1t was known by
other names, and a learned essay on its
| proper nomenclature might be written.
But Cuba" triumphed, and Cuba is not
Spanish The patriots will have at least
| that JUNCTION when they are free. They
| can retain their name unchanged in the
comfortable thought that there is not even
a suggestion of Spanish about it. When
| Columbus landed, as II Is believed, near
the River Maxine. Cuba, so called by its
native inhabitants, was people by gen
| tie, docile race of American Indians. They
were part of the great tribe called 1.-The
| good" and they were good indeed. Chill
dren of the forest and the sun, they did
not know what savages they had well
coined when they extended their hospital
| ity to the gay-bedeoked Spaniards.
| The first Cuban war occurred ninteen
| years after the discovery of the island by
| Columbus. That human beast, Velasquez.
| with an army OF 800 men, started out in
1911 to "pacify'' the Ciboneyes. as the Gu
ban Indians were called. Eelasquez, by
| all accounts, belong to the genus Way
| Ter. The peaceful and kind Indians were
| as sheep under the cut-throat hands of
their conquerers. They did not seek to re-
| pei the invaders. But the motto of Spain,
| suggested by its national colors, is
Through blood and death to golden vic
| tory" Victory, unaccompaned by blood
| and death, was not sweet to .Velasquez And
when the chief of the Cubans was caught
! Che was called Hatuey) Velasquez tied him
10 stake, started a fire about his body
and burned the life out of the poor crea-
| ture, as a ''warningD' to his people
This noble conquest was fifty followed
| up by Velasquez, who promptly undertook
to civilize the island by dividing the In
dams among his friends. The original Gu
| bans were made slaves, and Cuba began
to blossom with plantations. Within forty
! years the island was producing magnif-
cent crops, but these crops were fattened
by the lives of the slaves. Before half a
| century had passed the original Cubans
| had been beaten and worked to extinction.
| Negro slaves took the place of the native
slaves, and in this fact lay the germ of
ultimate liberty, for from that stock
| sprang the glorious family of Maceo and
the iiberty-loving, Spaniard- hating family
| of Masso, one of whose. sons is now the
| president OF the infant republic.
With the extinction of the Ciboneves ag-
riculture declined and remained in desue-
| tude Tor long time, or at least until the
| negro slave trade became efficient, Velas-
| quez built cities improved the harbors
and laid the foundations of the govern
ment, In 1887 the King of Spain acquired
the right to appoint the governor. and the
decree
| was fernando de Soto. Santiago had
been the capital, but in 1862 the seat of
government was removed to Havana. The
population diminished, and the island Ian
| gulshed for more than century. owing
to Spanish laws forbidding anyone hui
! death. H' -
There have been revolution and discon-
.ehI ana love OF liberty in the very air
breath Ia
hnality of Spanish rule has never been
accepted there except by the helpless In
dlans and they died. The first revolution
began in N17, and that revolution kent
SPAN busy for a century. 1t was moi
quelled uts spirit was never crushed1 I'm.
IA the beginning of the present century
IA ltZo another revolution broke out vim
~ me hrse' In that revolt Guazo, the
captain general, hanged men and star.,od
them and garroted them and stabhad
tnen IN the back, as Weyler has done in
THESE DAYS. This proves that Snain has
not advanced an inch In civilization for
centuries. Give her untramnoeIad r,ou,or
anu she seems to be as heartIess, as cruel
as dead to sympathy as the Papuan.
naeahWhile negro slaves, the trade IL,
@noni Wss made free, were poured into
Ias+ .sI Wy tne thousands. Early in the
iast century there were nearly 100 0o0 no.
gro slaves in Cuba And for twenty t,,,o
| years the importation continued via, !
STEADY flow Now, in Cuba there uas
mlscegenation. The Kaflrs and the other
negroes were improved by the nirt,,re
with Mediterranese blood. When they he
came tree-in a narrow way--thev longed
Tor more liberty. The anti-SnanIsh ira
dltion began to take substance and form
IL waxed with the growth of liberty All
ABOUT 1t through the range of North and
south America. The Cuban half-breed
sucked the milk Of hatred and liberty from
the breasts of his dusky mother. and IN
his fathers fierce eye he saw liberty ana
revenge in the future. The holy cause
won, by very strength of sympathy. re-
enforced by Spanish cruelty, blood and
life The tradition was relentless. Death
or liberty was the cry nearly one hundred
years ago.
| In the year 1913 the United States of
America turned her eyes toward Cuba.
The half-breeds, the Spanish-Cuban and
the naturalized islander saw in that glance
the light of an undylng hope From that
moment Cuba libre was as certain as
| death. 1t was only the other day that
Senior Canalejas said that so long as tina
rebels saw In the United States the hone
| of sympathy Spain would never be abba