the New Cuba, the beginning of
the 19th Century may be taken for that purpose. Cuba's development dragged
for two hundred and fifty years. The population increased slowly and
industry lagged. For this, Spain's colonial policy was responsible. But it
was the policy of the time, carried out more or less effectively by all
nations having colonies. England wrote it particularly into her Navigation
Acts of 1651, 1660, and 1663, and supported it by later Acts. While not
rigorously enforced, and frequently evaded by the American colonists, the
system at last proved so offensive that the colonists revolted in 1775.
Most of Spain's colonies in the Western Hemisphere, for the same reason,
declared and maintained their independence in the first quarter of the
19th Century. At the bottom of Cuba's several little uprisings, and at the
bottom of its final revolt in 1895, lay the same cause of offence. In those
earlier years, it was held that colonies existed solely for the benefit
of the mother-country. In 1497, almost at the very beginning of Spain's
colonial enterprises in the New World, a royal decree was issued under
which the exclusive privilege to carry on trade with the colonies was
granted to the port of Seville. This monopoly was transferred to the port
of Cadiz in 1717, but it continued, in somewhat modified form in later
years, until Spain had no colonies left.

While Santiago was the capital of the island, from 1522 to 1552, trade
between Spain and the island could be carried on only through that port.
When Havana became the capital, in 1552, the exclusive privilege of trade
was transferred to that city. With the exception of the years 1762 and
1763, when the British occupied Havana and declared it open to all trade,
the commerce of the island could only be done through Havana with Seville,
until 1717, and afterward with Cadiz. Baracoa, or Santiago, or Trinidad,
or any other Cuban city, could not send goods to Santander, or Malaga, or
Barcelona, or any other Spanish market, or receive goods directly from
them. The law prohibited trade between Cuba and all other countries, and
limited all trade between the island and the mother-country to the port of
Havana, at one end, and to Seville or Cadiz, according to the time of the
control of those ports, at the other end. Even intercolonial commerce was
prohibited. At times, and for brief periods, the system was modified to
the extent of special trade licences, and, occasionally, by