He was the representative of the Crown of Spain
and responsible only to the sovereign, and he was
the supreme head of the ecclesiastical as well as
the civil and military jurisdiction, the Church being
maintained as part of the government of the State.
His authority was virtually arbitrary and unrestrained,
and the manner of its exercise depended
entirely on the character of the man appointed to
wield it. There were six governors of provinces,
but they, too, were appointed by the Crown and
were military officers of the rank of generals, subject
to the orders of the captain-general. There
were thirty-four subordinate jurisdictions, or captaincies,
which for purposes of civil administration
were under military officers, though these were
called “ lieutenant-governors.” Each town had an
Ayuntamiento, or council, which chose the mayor,
but their functions were purely local, and even as
such were subject to the overruling power of the
colonial government.
In 1879, riSht of representation in the Cortes
at Madrid was granted as a measure of “ reform.”
The province of Havana could send three senators,
each of the other five provinces two, the archbishop
of Santiago one, the University of Havana one, and
the Society of Friends of the Country one; and
there were to be thirty members of the House of
Deputies, elected and apportioned according to
population, the suffrage being qualified by the p ay ment
of $25 a year in taxes. Not only was this
representation in a hopeless minority at Madrid,
but the choice of senators and the election of deputies
were so controlled that they were nearly all
natives of Spain and not of Cuba. B y another
“ reform ” in 1895, a council of administration was
established to be advisory or auxiliary to the governor
general ; but of its thirty members fifteen were
appointed by the Crown and the others chosen by
controlled elections in the provinces. Besides, the
governor-general could suspend them individually
at will to the number of fourteen, and if the rest
were not tractable he could suspend the whole body
on the advice of the “ Council of Authorities,” consisting
of the archbishop of Santiago, the bishop of
Havana, the commanding officers of the army and
navy, the chief-justice of the Supreme Court at
Havana, the attorney-general, the head of the department
of finance, and the director of local administration.
These all represented substantially the
same power as the governor-general and were
invariably subservient.
There was an elective assembly in each province,
of twelve to twenty members according to population,
with limited functions and virtually controlled
by the governor, who could prorogue it at any time
and report his action to the governor-general, who
could suspend any provincial assembly whenever he
saw fit and report to the government at Madrid.
T h e official influence over elections extended even
to the towns, and when the Ayuntamiento did not
choose the right member for mayor, the governor-
general could substitute one of his own selection.
T o all intents and purposes, the government was
autocratic from top to bottom.