It is agreeable to remember that in spite of the obviously objectionable nature of the institution of slavery, and in spite of the fears and anxieties which have been mentioned, negro slavery in Cuba in those early days was not marked with the distressing features which it has elsewhere borne. It was probably more humane than it was two and a half centuries later in the United States. The slaves were seldom sold by one master to another, and never in circumstances which separated husband and wife, or parents and young children. Severe physical punishments were prohibited. Their masters were compelled to feed them well, and to provide them with decent and comfortable clothes. There was no personal or social prejudice against them, but they were permitted to attend church and to frequent all public places on equal terms with the Spaniards. Ordinarily they were not permitted to carry weapons; but those who occupation seemed to make it desirable for them to be armed, such as cattle-rangers, and messengers travelling from one part of the island to another, were permitted to bear arms just as white men would have done. Moreover, the free negroes were called upon equally with the whites to serve as sentinels on the water fronts of cities, and were of course provided with arms. There are no authentic records of intermarriage between Spaniards and negroes, yet neither is there any proof that it did not occasionally occur. We have already seen that amalgamation with the Indians was not unknown, and in other Spanish colonies of those and later days there were some fusions with African blood.
What is chiefly to be remembered, however, is that negroes, although enslaved, were regarded in Cuba as human beings, with immortal souls, no less than their masters, and that they were invariably so treated. There was no pretence that they were of an intrinsically inferior race, or that they were suffering from the primaeval curse of Canaan or of Ham. And when they gained their freedom and became educated, they were treated socially and politically according to their merits, without regard for the color of their skin.
In the most literal sense, the administration of Carreño was marked with constructive statesmanship. As a statesman this Governor set about enlarging and improving Havana and other cities, and providing them with public and private buildings commensurate with the needs of an increasing population. He laid out enough of the streets of Havana to establish for all time the plan of that city. He encouraged the building of houses, or at any rate discouraged the holding of town sites unimproved, by making distributions of lots to all who wished them, on condition that the owners would promptly build. If they did not build within six months, their titles were forfeited. Another important reform effected by him was the substitution of adobe or other masonry for wood as building material. By the end of his administration fully half of the houses in Havana had walls of masonry, and a considerable number had also tiled roofs.
It was Carreño, too, who began the building of the first custom house in Cuba, at Havana. The king had ordered Montalvo to undertake this enterprise, but he appears to have taken no steps whatever in that direction, not even selecting a site. Carreño essayed the task with characteristic energy. He selected an appropriate site, at the water front and close to the principal wharf, where an excellent rock foundation was to be found, and there he planned to erect a building of solid masonry, seventy feet long and two stories high. The royal government approved the plans, and the work was promptly entered upon.
Finally, it was impossible that the new governor should not be seriously concerned with La Fuerza. Carreño found that long-delayed edifice practically finished, according to the old plans; its though condition was, as hitherto suggested, decidedly unsatisfactory. He began by insisting upon clearing away all buildings of any kind close to the fort. This had been ordered nearly a score of years before but had never been done. The purpose was, of course, to strengthen the fort by leaving no shelter near its walls which might harbor or facilitate the approach of a hostile force. Then he insisted upon building an additional story on La Fuerza. This he declared was necessary, for barracks for the garrison, and for a storage place for gunpowder, the fort proper being flooded more than half the time. Doubtless these needs were real, and Carreño intended to meet them with the new story. Yet it seems also to have been his plan thus to secure for himself living quarters more pleasant than the house which had been assigned to him for that purpose. There was much opposition to his plans for enlarging La Fuerza, but he persisted in them, and they were nearly completed at the time of his death.
During the administration of Governor Carreño the question of the distribution, proprietorship and use of land became of much social and economic importance in Cuba. The population of the Island was still small, and yet because of the immense size of the tracts which many settlers had appropriated for cattle ranges nearly all the accessible and available area had been taken up. In the eastern part of the Island there was practically no unclaimed land left excepting that in the mountains and some almost impenetrable swamps, and already many controversies and not a few forcible conflicts had arisen over rival claims. Thus far no private ownership of land was authorized outside of building sites in the towns and cities. Cattle ranges and farms were held under indefinite leases from the Crown, subject to forfeit if the land were permitted to remain unoccupied and unused for the space of three years. These grants were made by the municipal government in the name of the Crown. At first the tracts thus taken were of unlimited extent and indeed their boundaries were defined in only the vaguest possible manner. The result naturally was that innumerable and interminable conflicts arose over overlapping claims.
To correct such evils and to provide for a more equitable distribution of land in future, Alfonso Caceres, who had been sent to investigate the administration of Governor Menendez, was charged with a complete revision of the land system of the Island and with the prescribing of new rules and regulations for subsequent grants and titles. In entering upon that work he found some settlers holding enormous tracts which they had never attempted to utilize. Of these he summarily voided the titles and assigned the land to others. Such areas were quickly taken up by new comers, in smaller and definitely bounded tracts, so that by the time of Governor Carreño practically the only unoccupied lands of considerable extent and practical value were to be found in the extreme west end of the Island.
Around Havana and some other large municipalities there were reserved unassigned zones of from fifteen to twenty miles in width which were kept practically as public game preserves. No grants of cattle ranges were made in them. But they were infested by many stray cattle and hogs which had escaped from the ranges beyond and were there running at large in practically a wild state, and these were regarded as fair game for hunters from the cities. It was, however, insisted that anyone killing such stray animals must bring their hides to market with the ears attached, so as to prove that they were indeed wild strays, since then their ears would be unbranded while all the animals on the ranges had their ears branded with their owner's marks.
The Government wisely desired to encourage agriculture, even at the expense of stock raising, the latter occupation having been expanded disproportionately to the former. It was accordingly provided that grants of land for farming purposes might be made within this hunting zone, and also that such grants might be made of land already apportioned for cattle ranges, the owners of the ranges thus invaded being indemnified by other grants of land elsewhere. By this means a varied agricultural industry was gradually developed to the great advantage of the Island, though for many years cattle raising remained the chief industry. During Carreño's administration more than 20,000 hides were exported yearly, and in the great demand for leather at that time this trade was exceedingly profitable. Of course a large amount of meat was also produced, but the difficulty of preserving it in the warm climate of Cuba caused much of it to go to waste, so that yearly thousands of heads of cattle were slaughtered for their hides alone, their carcasses being left to the dogs and buzzards.
The sudden death of Carreño caused some curious complications