The student or the reader may take his choice.  On one side are Spanish statements, official and semi-official, and on the other side, Cuban statements no less partisan.  The facts appear to support the Cuban argument.  In spite of the severe restrictions and the heavy burdens, Cuba shows a notable progress during the 19th Century.  Governors came and went, some very good and others very bad.  There were a hundred of them from 1512 to 1866, and thirty-six more from 1866 to 1899, the average term of service for the entire number being a little less than three years.  On the whole, the most notable of the group of 19th Century incumbents was Don Miguel Tacon, who ruled from June 1, 1834, until April 16, 1838.  His record would seem to place him quite decidedly in the “reactionary” class, but he was a man of action who left behind him monuments that remain to his credit even now.  One historian, Mr. Kimball, who wrote in 1850, describes him as one in whom short-sightedness, narrow views, and jealous and weak mind, were joined to an uncommon stubbornness of character.  Another, Mr. M.M.  Ballou, says that “probably of all the governors-general that have filled the post in Cuba none is better known abroad, or has left more monuments to his enterprise, than Tacon.  His reputation at Havana (this was written 1854) is of a somewhat doubtful character; for, though he followed out with energy various improvements, yet his modes of procedure were so violent that he was an object of terror to the people generally, rather than of gratitude.  He vastly improved the appearance of the capital and its vicinity, built the new prison, rebuilt the governor’s palace, constructed a military road to the neighboring forts, erected a spacious theatre and market house, arranged a new public walk, and opened a vast parade ground without the city walls, thus laying the foundation of the new city which has now sprung up in this formerly desolate suburb.  He suppressed the gaming houses and rendered the streets, formerly infested with robbers, as secure as those of Boston or New York.”  Another writer, Mr. Samuel Hazard, in 1870, says:  “Of all the governors who have been in command of the island Governor Tacon seems to have been the best, doing the most to improve the island, and particularly Havana; making laws, punishing offences, and establishing some degree of safety for its inhabitants.  It is reported of him that he is said, like the great King Alfred, to have promised the Cubans that they should be able to leave their purses of money on the public highway without fear of having them stolen.  At all events, his name is cherished by every Cuban for the good he has done, and paseos, theatres, and monuments bear his great name in Havana.”  The Tacon theatre is now the Nacional, and the Paseo Tacon is now Carlos III.  The “new prison” is the Carcel, or jail, at the northern end of the Prado, near the fortress of La Punta.  Don Miguel may have been disliked for his methods and his manners, but he certainly did much to make his rule memorable.