CHAPTER V

ATTITUDE OF THE UNITED STATES TOWARDS CUBA, THE ISLE OF PINES, AND THE PHILIPPINES

UBA has been a source of unending uneasiness to us for a century. As far back as 1823 John Quincy Adams had favored the idea of Cuban annexation, and the world had been informed that we could not permit Cuba to become the colony of any other power than Spain; that we claimed a reversionary title to the island, and that should it ever pass out of Spain's possession, it must gravi

tate to us.

John Quincy Adams' letter, written to the American minister at Madrid, said at a time when war was impending between France and Spain:

"Whatever may be the issue of this war, it may be taken for granted that the dominion of Spain upon the American Continents, North and South, is irrevocably gone. But the islands of Cuba and Porto Rico still remain nominally and so far really dependent upon her that she yet possesses the power of transferring her own dominion over them, together with the possession of them, to others. These islands are natural appendages to the North American Continent, and one of them, almost in sight of our shores, from a multitude of considerations has become an object of transcendent importance to the commercial and political interests of our Union. Its commanding position with reference to the Gulf of Mexico and the West Indian seas; its situation midway between our Southern Coast and the Island of San Domingo; its safe and capacious harbor of the Havana, fronting a long line of our shores destitute of the same advantages; the nature of its productions and of its wants, furnishing the supplies and needing the returns of a commerce immensely profitable and mutually beneficial, give it an importance in the sum of our national interests with which that of no other foreign territory can be compared, and little inferior to that which binds the different members of this Union together. Such, indeed, are, between the interests of that island and of this country, the geographical, commercial, moral, and political relations formed by nature, gathering in the process of time, and even now verging to maturity, that in looking forward to the probable course of events for the short period of half a century it is scarcely possible to resist the conviction that the annexation of Cuba to our Federal Republic will be indispensable to the continuance of the integrity of the Union itself. . . . There are laws of political as well as of physical gravitation, and if an apple, severed by the tempest from its native tree, cannot choose but to fall to the ground, Cuba,

forcibly disjointed from its own unnatural connection with Spain and incapable of self-support, can gravitate only towards the North American Union, which, by the same law of nature, cannot cast her off from her bosom. The transfer of Cuba to Great Britain would be an event unpropitious to the interests of this Union. . . . The question both of our right and of our power to prevent it, if necessary, by force, already obtrudes itself upon our councils, and the Administration is called upon, in the performance of its duties to the nation, at least to use all the means within its competency to guard against and forefend it."

From 1823 to 1898 there was an almost unbroken succession of scandals, outrages, and disturbances in Cuba, to the great detriment of our interests and of the world. From 1868 to 1878 there was continual war in the islands, and in 1895 another revolution broke out, which in its barbaric atrocity on both sides is almost without parallel. Finally, in April, 1898, President McKinley asked authority from Congress to intervene and put an end to the horrors existing in Cuba, two months after our war-ship Maine, which had been lying in the harbor of Havana, had been treacherously destroyed with a loss of about three hundred officers and men. Congress at once acceded to his request. The joint resolution of Congress recognized the independence of the people of Cuba, demanded that the government of Spain relinquish its authority and withdraw its naval and military forces from the island, and directed the President to use the land and naval forces of the United States for the purpose of carrying the resolutions into effect.

In these resolutions Congress declared: "That the United States hereby disclaims any disposition or intention to exercise sovereignty, jurisdiction, or control, over said island, except for the pacification thereof, and asserts its determination, when that is accomplished, to leave the government and control of the island to its people.' This resolution has been religiously respected by the United States government.

After the signing of the protocol with Spain the United States continued in military occupation of the Island of Cuba until 1902, General Leonard Wood being Governor. Under the able administration of General Wood order was rapidly brought out of chaos. Excellent sanitary measures were adopted, and Cuba enjoyed peace and prosperity.

Before surrendering control of the island to the local government, which had been elected by the people of Cuba, Mr. T. Estrada Palma being chosen President, the United States Congress passed a law known as the "Platt Amendment," to define our relations to Cuba. This law was incorporated into the Cuban Constitution. It is as follows:

"That in fulfilment of the declaration contained in the joint resolution approved April twentieth, eighteen hundred and ninety-eight, entitled 'For

the recognition of the independence of the people of Cuba, demanding that the Government of Spain relinquish its authority and government in the island of Cuba, and to withdraw its land and naval reserve forces from Cuba and Cuban waters, and directing the President of the United States to use the land and naval forces of the United States to carry these resolutions into effect,' the President is hereby authorized to 'leave the government and control of the island of Cuba to its pe ple' so soon as a government shall have been established in said island under a constitution which, either as a part thereof or in an ordinance appended thereto, shall define the future relations of the United States with Cuba, substantially as follows:

"I. That the government of Cuba shall never enter into any treaty or other compact with any foreign power or powers which will impair or tend to impair the independence of Cuba, nor in any manner authorize or permit any foreign power or powers to obtain by colonization or for military or naval purposes or otherwise, lodgment in or control over any portion of said island. "II. That said government shall not assume or contract any public debt, to pay the interest upon which, and to make reasonable sinking fund provision for the ultimate discharge of which, the ordinary revenues of the island, after defraying the current expenses of government, shall be inadequate.

"III. That the government of Cuba consents that the United States may exercise the right to intervene for the preservation of Cuban independence, the maintenance of a government adequate for the protection of life, property, and individual liberty, and for discharging the obligations with respect to Cuba imposed by the treaty of Paris on the United States, now to be assumed and undertaken by the government of Cuba.

"IV. That all Acts of the United States in Cuba during its military occupancy thereof are ratified and validated, and all lawful rights acquired thereunder shall be maintained and protected.

"V. That the government of Cuba will execute, and as far as necessary extend, the plans already devised or other plans to be mutually agreed upon, for the sanitation of the cities of the island, to the end that a recurrence of epidemic and infectious diseases may be prevented, thereby assuring protection to the people and commerce of Cuba, as well as to the commerce of the southern ports of the United States and the people residing therein.

"VI. That the Isle of Pines shall be omitted from the proposed constitutional boundaries of Cuba, the title thereto being left to future adjustment by treaty.

"VII. That to enable the United States to maintain the independence of Cuba, and to protect the people thereof, as well as for its own defence, the government of Cuba will sell or lease to the United States lands necessary for coaling or naval stations at certain specified points, to be agreed upon with the President of the United States.

"VIII. That by way of further assurance the government of Cuba will embody the foregoing provisions in a permanent treaty with the United States."

I. CUBAN REVOLUTION

After the withdrawal of the American government things went very well in Cuba - until the first presidential election. It was held in November, 1905, and occasioned serious trouble. There were riots

and bloodshed, and finally the Liberals withdrew from the field, with their candidate, General Gomez, leaving the so-called Moderates in undisputed possession of all the offices, and President Palma was declared re-elected,

Revolutionary plots, however, began to form, and local disturbances took place in February, 1906, followed by a general revolution in all parts of the country in August, 1906. An outline of this movement will be found in another chapter of this work.

In explanation of this uprising Colonel Charles M. Aguirre, head of the Cuban Revolutionary Junta, made the following charges against President Palma:

"We charge that President Palma obtained his election to office through fraud and intimidation, and by the denial to the Liberals of their right of suffrage.

"We charge that the government of President Palma was directly responsible for the killing of Colonel Enrique Villuendas, a member of the House of Representatives, at Cienfuegos on September 22, 1905. Colonel Villuendas, a prominent member of the Liberal party, had prepared charges against President Palma on which he expected to have that official impeached.

"The day following the publication of these charges, which was also the day previous to the primary election, Colonel Villuendas was attacked by the chief of police and several of his subordinates, and, without any effort being made to arrest him, was shot down in cold blood.

"We charge that President Palma has usurped the powers and functions of the governing bodies of the municipalities and has annulled, arbitrarity and without warrant in law, the elections of Liberal officials, displacing them with members of his own political party, the Moderates.

"We charge that he has, in like manner, removed from the bench judges who refused to act in their judicial capacity according to his dictates. President Palma also has imprisoned without judicial proceedings members of the Liberal party, because they voiced their protests against his dictatorial conduct.

"We charge that the Palma government has steadfastly refused to investigate or even listen to the charges that Palma's election was obtained by the force of arms, and that the Liberals were, at the point of bayonets, refused the right to cast their votes for their candidates.

"We charge, further, that the assassination of Colonel Villuendas was a government conspiracy to intimidate the Liberal voters. This policy of coercion and intimidation, aided by the armed and uniformed forces of the republic, was continued throughout the campaign, reached its climax on election day, and placed Palma in the Presidential chair for a second term.

"The Liberals have made continued peaceful appeals that this injustice be righted, but to all these the government has turned a deaf ear. Denied the constitutional rights for which the Cubans fought, bled, and died for nearly half a century, we decided that our one recourse was again to take up

arms.

"We now ask only one thing, and that is that the illegal and fraudulent election of last December be annulled and a new election held at which every Cuban citizen will be given a fair chance to vote."

By the middle of September the revolution had become exceedingly grave, and on the 14th of that month President Roosevelt sent the following letter to Señor Don Gonzalo de Quesada, the Cuban Minister at Washington, for transmission to the Cuban people:

MY DEAR SEÑOR QUESADA,

In this crisis in the affairs of the Republic of Cuba I write you, not merely because you are the Minister of Cuba accredited to this government, but because you and I were intimately drawn together at the time when the United States intervened in the affairs of Cuba, with the result of making her an independent nation. You know how sincere my affection and admiration and regard for Cuba are. You know that I never have done and never shall do anything in reference to Cuba save with such sincere regard for her welfare. You also know the pride I felt because it came to me as President to withdraw the American troops from the Island of Cuba and officially to proclaim her independence and to wish her Godspeed in her career, as a free republic. I desire now, through you, to say a word of solemn warning to your people whose earnest well-wisher I am. For seven years Cuba has been in a condition of profound peace and of steadily growing prosperity. For four years this peace and prosperity have obtained under her own independent government. Her peace, prosperity, and independence are now menaced, for of all possible evils that can befall Cuba the worst is the evil of anarchy into which civil war and revolutionary disturbances will assuredly throw her. Whoever is responsible for armed revolution and outrage, whoever is responsible in any way for the condition of the affairs that now obtain, is an enemy of Cuba, and doubly heavy is the responsibility of the man who, affecting to be the especial champion of Cuban independence, takes any step which will jeopardize that independence. For there is just one way in which Cuban independence can be secured, and that is for the Cuban people to show their ability to continue in their path of peaceful and orderly progress. This nation asks nothing of Cuba, save that it shall continue to develop as it has developed during the last seven years, that it shall know and practise the orderly liberty which will assuredly bring an ever increasing measure of peace and prosperity to the beautiful Queen of the Antilles. Our intervention in Cuban affairs will only come if Cuba herself shows that she has fallen into the insurrectionary habit, that she lacks the self-restraint necessary to peaceful self-government, and that her contending factions have plunged the country into anarchy.

I solemnly adjure all Cuban patriots to band together to sink all differences and personal ambition, and to remember that the only way that they can preserve the independence of the republic is to prevent the necessity of outside interference by rescuing it from the anarchy of civil war. I earnestly hope that this word of adjuration of mine, given in the name of the American people, the stanchest friends and well-wishers of Cuba that there are in all the world, will be taken as it is meant, will be seriously considered and will be acted upon; and if so acted upon, Cuba's permanent independence, her permanent success as a republic, is assured.

Under the treaty with your government I, as President of the United States, have a duty in this matter which I cannot shirk. The third article of that treaty explicitly confers upon the United States the right to intervene for her maintenance in Cuba of a government adequate for the protection of life, property, and individual liberty. The treaty conferring this right is the su