By the treaties of 1648 and 1714 between Spain and the Dutch provinces it was agreed that parties to the treaty should abstain from trading in the ports and along the coast of the Indies belonging to the other nation. Again, by the treaty of Madrid between England and Spain, similar agreements were made, although it was provided that in case vessels arrived at the prohibited ports under stress or shipwreck they should be received kindly and permitted to purchase provisions and repair damages. This privilege was subsequently withdrawn by royal orders of January 20 and April 15, 1784, which prescribed that no vessel belonging to a foreign nation should be permitted to enter. The severity of these restrictions was modified later on and, by a royal order of January 8, 1801, Cuban ports were thrown open to the commerce of friendly and neutral nations.

Other commercial privileges granted in 1805, 1809, 1810, and 1812, were due, in great measure, if not entirely, to the French invasion of the peninsula and its effect on Spanish possessions in the West Indies and America. These concessions to trade with Spanish colonies were but temporary, however, as by royal orders of January 10, November 17, and July 10, 1809, foreign commerce with Spanish-American ports was prohibited. Against these last restrictions of trade the various Spanish colonial governors, and especially the Captain-General of Cuba, protested on the ground of the necessities of the colonies and the inability of Spain to meet them. These objections having been favorably considered by the Council for the Indies, foreign trade with Habana was extended for a time.

Many other decrees and royal orders affecting trade with Cuba and the other Spanish colonies were promulgated during the period between 1775 and 1812, but it is plain that Spain was always averse to granting trade facilities to her colonies, and only did so for a time when forced by her necessities. After she had once opened Cuban ports and to that extent established the privilege of foreign trade, it was a difficult matter to close the ports again; consequently the next step was to restrict the trade as far as possible by duties, tonnage, and port dues, and by arbitrary tariffs imposed from time to time in such a way as to render foreign commerce unprofitable. Up to 1824 duties on foreign commerce were much greater than those on Spanish merchandise, and while from that year they were generally less restrictive, still they were always high enough to compel Cubans to purchase from Spanish merchants, who, as Spain did not herself produce what was needed, bought from French, German, American, or other sources, thereby raising prices far above what they would have been under a system less hampering. In fact, up to 1818 Cuba does not appear to have had a tariff system. In that year a tariff was promulgated making the duties 264 per cent on agricultural implements and 43 per cent ad valorem on other foreign merchandise. This was modified in 1820 and 1822 and the duties reduced to 20 per cent on agricultural implements and 37 per cent ad valorem on foreign industrial products. On all Spanish importations under this classification the duties were two-thirds less. The tariff of 1824 was less prohibitive.

Apparently, either this arrangement for excluding foreign trade or the amount of customs revenue was not satisfactory, for an export tariff was established in 1828 on sugar and coffee, which had by that time become important products. The duty was four-fifths of a cent per pound on sugar and two-fifths of a cent per pound on coffee. If these products were exported in foreign vessels, the duty on sugar was doubled and that on coffee was increased to 1 cent per pound. With slight modifications these duties continued to August 1, 1891, when, under the McKinley tariff law, a reciprocal commercial agreement was proclaimed by President Harrison between Spain and the United States, which enabled Cuba to seek its nearest and most natural market. In a short time nearly the entire trade of Cuba was transferred to the United States, and Cuba enjoyed a degree of prosperity never before attained.

But with the termination of this agreement by the tariff law of 1894, the old practice was reestablished, thus forcing upon the Cubans compulsory trade with Spain. There seems to be no question among impartial and intelligent judges as to the injurious effect of this system on the growth of Cuba's population and material progress, both largely dependent on commercial advantages.

Another evil born of the system and given a certain amount of immunity through the reverses and disasters of the Spanish navy, is smuggling, which began with trade restrictions and monopolies and has continued almost to this day, the amount of merchandise smuggled being, for many years, nearly equal to that regularly imported and exported. Under the name of privateers, French, Dutch, English, and American smugglers and buccaneers swarmed in the Caribbean Sea and the Gulf of Mexico for more than two centuries, plundering Spanish flotas and attacking colonial settlements. Among the latter, Cuba was the chief sufferer. In 1538 the marauders attacked and burned Habana. In 1544 they attacked Baracoa and Matanzas, and again sacked and burned Habana. In 1604 Giron, a French buccaneer, landed twice in Santiago, capturing the Morro, and in 1679 French buccaneers again raided the province.

Coupled with trade restrictions and extending throughout the entire life of Cuba as a dependency of Spain, excessive taxation has always prevailed. In addition to the taxes on imports and exports, taxes were levied on real and personal property and on industries and commerce of all kinds. Every profession, art, or manual occupation contributed its quota, while, as far back as 1638, seal and stamp taxes were established on all judicial business and on all kinds of petitions and claims made to official corporations, and subsequently on all bills and accounts.

There was also a municipal tax on the slaughter of cattle for the market. This privilege was sold by the municipal council to the highest bidder, with the result that assessments were made on all animals slaughtered, whether for the market or for private consumption, with a corresponding increase in the price of meat.

Another tax established in 1528, called the derecho de averia, required the payment of 20 ducats ($16) by every person, bond or free, arriving in the island. In 1665 this tax was increased to $22, and continued in force for one hundred years, thus retarding immigration, and, to that extent, the increase of population, especially of the laboring class.

An examination of the taxes shows that they operated to discourage Cubans from owning property or engaging in many industrial pursuits tending to benefit them and to promote the material improvement of the island.

Up to the year 1638 the taxes were collected by royal officers appointed by the King, and their accounts were passed on by the audiencia of San Domingo. In that year contadores (auditors) were appointed who exercised fiscal supervision over the tax collectors, until, by royal cedula of October 31, 1764, the intendancy of Habana was established and the administration of taxes was conducted as in Spain. After 1892 the taxes were collected by the Spanish Bank under a ten years' contract, the bank receiving a commission of 5 per cent. About 18 per cent of the assessed taxes remained uncollected between 1886 and 1897, and the deficits thus caused were added to the Cuban debt.1

If to high taxes. high tariffs, and utter indifference, apparently, to the needs of the island be added a lack of banking facilities of all kinds, and a system of currency dependent entirely on the Spanish government and affected by all its financial difficulties, we have some of the reasons why the economic development of Cuba has been slow. All her industrial profits were absorbed by Spain, leaving no surplus to provide for the accumulation of capital and the material progress of the island. For many years Cuba was prohibited from cultivating such raw products as were raised in Spain, this policy being the exact opposite of the theory and practice under which England subsequently developed her manufacturing industries at home. The system followed in England was the very natural process of paying for the raw products of her colonies in manufactured articles, and no nation in Europe during the sixteenth century was in a better condition than Spain to establish such a system, as she was essentially a manufacturing country. With the expulsion of the Moors. however, her manufactures were practically ruined, and she became little more than a clearing house for foreign products.

Long after repeated warnings should have suggested a greater measure of economic and political independence for Cuba, the entire system of Cuban government and administration was retained in the hands of Spanish officials to the exclusion of native Cubans. The feelings aroused by this policy would

According to the data of the tribunal of accounts (tribunal de suentas) of Habana, referred to by Señor la Sagra, Cuba received as ordinary and extraordinary "situados" from Mexico, from 1766 to 1788, the sum of 57,739,346 pesos fuertes, and from 1788 to 1806, 50,411,158 pesos fuertes.

The proof of this is the bad condition of the roads and harbors, the absence of docking facilities, the lack of adequate water supply in cities, and the absence of sewers, paved streets, and schoolhouses and other public buildings essential to every community.

undoubtedly have been appeased if greater economic and political freedom had been allowed. Political independence was not generally advocated at #first. Autonomy under the protection of Spain was as much as the industrial ⚫ classes wished, and had this been granted ten years earlier Cuba might and probably would have remained a Spanish colony.

The first serious opposition to the insular government was brought out by 'the attempt of Captain-General Vicente Roja to enforce the government monopoly in tobacco, decreed in 1717. Several bloody riots occurred and Roja was obliged to withdraw temporarily from the island.

Apart from uprisings among the negroes, stimulated no doubt by the success of their race over the French in the neighboring island of San Domingo, there were no attempts at insurrection on the part of Cubans until after the conspiracy of 1823, planned by a secret society known as the "Soles de Bolivar." This conspiracy resulted from the attempt of Captain-General Vives to carry out the instructions of Ferdinand VII, after the abrogation of the Spanish liberal constitution of 1812, and was intended as a protest against a return to absolutism in Cuba. The conspiracy was of a serious character and extended over the entire island. The conspiracy failed and the leader, Jose Francisco Lemus, and a large number of conspirators were arrested and deported. A feeling of bitter resentment against the government was the result, and a period of agitation and public demonstration followed. Frequent unsuccessful uprisings were attempted in 1824.

On May 28, 1825, a royal decree was issued, conferring on the CaptainGeneral "all the powers of governors of cities in a state of siege * * * with full and unlimited authority to detach from the island and to send to the Peninsula all officials and persons employed in whatsoever capacity, and of whatsoever rank, class, or condition, whose presence may appear prejudicial, or whose public or private conduct may inspire you with suspicion * * * and further to suspend the execution of any order or general regulations issued in whatever branch of the administration and to whatever extent you may consider convenient to the royal service, etc., to see that faithful servants of His Majesty be remembered, at the same time punishing without delay or hesitation the misdeeds of those, etc."1

An army from Spain, intended for the subjugation of former Spanish colonies in South America, which was to have been dispatched from Cuba, was retained there, and a military commission was permanently organized to try political offenses under the above decree and the articles of war.

Political agitation having taken the form of revolutionary demonstrations, there was a gradual separation on political lines between the Cubans and Spaniards, and numberless Cuban secret societies were formed throughout the island. Allied with the Cubans were all of the more radical, as well as the more moderate liberal members of the community, while the Spanish party included beneficiaries of former monopolies and the conservative and reaction

1

Promulgated again in the royal decrees of March 21 and 26, 1834.

ary elements, which, under the policy of the Captains-General, had crystallized around the officials of the government and their coadjutors in the church.

The political agitation continued, and in 1826 a small uprising took place in Camagüey, directed by the Sociedad de la Cadena, and aimed against the abuses of the regiment Leon quartered there. The same year (June 22) the Congress of American Republics assembled at Panama. The object of this congress was to urge the establishment of liberal principles of commercial intercourse in peace and war, the advancement of religious liberty, and the abolition of slavery, and to discuss the relations of Haiti, the affairs of Cuba and Porto Rico, the continuation of the war of Spain on her Spanish colonies, and the Monroe doctrine.

While the United States no doubt sympathized with the objects of the congress, the debates in the Senate and House of Representatives indicated a desire to avoid interference with Spain. As a result, the American delegates were given limited powers, and this, coupled with the conservative attitude of the United States, resulted in the failure of the congress to achieve any result.

The year before, Francisco Agüero and Manuel Andres Sanches, a second lieutenant in the Colombian army, had been sent from Cuba to the United States and to Colombia to seek the assistance of these countries. An expedition was organized in Colombia to be led by the famous Colombian patriot, Simon Bolivar, but the failure of the Panama congress caused the abandonment of the expedition. On the return of the emissaries to Cuba they were arrested, tried, and executed.

In 1830 a revolution was planned by the society of the "Black Eagle," a Masonic fraternity having its base of operations in Mexico, with secondary bases in Habana and at various points throughout the island. The conspiracy failed, and several of the conspirators received sentence of death, which was afterwards commuted by Captain-General Vives to sentence to life imprisonment. The object of the conspiracy was the independence of Cuba, the pretext, a report that the island was to be ceded to Great Britain.

In 1836 the constitution of 1812 was reestablished in Spain, but this change did not benefit Cuba. On the contrary, the deputies sent from Cuba to the constitutional convention in Madrid were excluded, and, by a royal decree of 1837, the representation in the Cortes which had been given Cuba in 1834 was taken away, and it was announced that Cuba would be governed by special laws. These, the Cubans claim, were never published. From this time to 1847 several uprisings or insurrections occurred throughout Cuba, followed in that year by a revolutionary conspiracy organized by Narciso Lopez, and having in view the liberation of the island or its annexation to the United States. It had been arranged to make the first demonstration on the 4th of July, in the city of Cienfuegos, but the plot was made known to the Spanish governor, and Lopez and his companions fled to the United States, where, in 1849, they organized a filibustering expedition, which was prevented from leaving by the vigilance of the government of the United States. In 1850