balls, and upon theatrical entertainments, upon cockfighting, and upon public concerts. Specially stamped official paper, costing from thirty-five cents to $37.50 per sheet, was imperative for all legal documents, wills, deeds, and papers in civil suits. The price per sheet varied according to the character of the document and the value of the property involved.

In large measure, the system of taxation was arbitrary, depending upon the whim of the authorities, or upon their immediate requirements, official or personal. Abuse in the application of these laws was flagrant, and antagonism was inevitable. Corruption was reduced to an effective system.

While Cubans participated to some extent in the machinery of government, such participation depended primarily upon their co-operation with or subordination to the will and the purposes of the Governor General. In the earlier days, the influence of the church authorities was strongly manifest, but in the later years it became less potent. At no time has it dominated as it has in the Philippine Islands.

The administrative system of the Island as a whole consisted of a Governor General, an appointee of Madrid; Provincial Governors, appointed by the Governor General, to whom they were responsible and by whom they were subject to removal at any time; a Diputacion Provincial, in each province, elected by popular vote and holding office for four years; and Comisiones Permanentes, composed of five members of the Diputacion Provincial in each province, selected by the Provincial Governor. The municipal system has varied from the direct appointment of the Alcalde, or mayor, by the Governor General, to a somewhat limited elective system.

From the time of the appointment of Diego Velazquez as Governor of the Island, in 1512, until the termination of Spanish sovereignty at noon on the 1st day of January, 1899, a period of 387 years, Cuba had 136 administrators under their different titles of Lieutenant Governor, Governor General, Captain General, and Provisional Governor. This gives an average term of service of a little less than three years. From the appointment, Nov. 14, 1859, of Lieut. Gen. Francesco Serrano, Duke de la Torre, until the American occupation, a period of thirty years, Cuba was presented with no less than thirty-eight of these representatives from Spain, with an average term of service of a little less than ten months each. Six of these, however, are given as "Provisional."

The frequent change in the head office involved frequent changes in the subordinate positions, and a constant disarrangement of the whole political machinery. Under conditions of such governmental uncertainty, neither content nor due prosperity could be looked for among the people. Lucrative posts, or posts which, under the prevailing system, could be made lucrative, were generally held by Spaniards who, by service or by influence, obtained recognition from the crown. Cuba and Cuban offices were regarded as a rich pasture into which impecunious Spaniards could be turned for their financial fattening. It is natural that a goodly number of Cubans should have developed an ambition to graze in the same rich pasturage, and that they became envious and discontented. They felt that the grazing land was a field in which they had some proprietary right and interest, and that the millions of pesos which were transported to Spain by these temporary Spanish officials, came largely, as they doubtless did, from Cuban pockets. The whole system of Spanish Colonial Government, where

ever it has existed, has tended strongly to inspire the governed with ambition for the spoils of office. This was inevitable, and desire for political office is epidemic in all the lands over which Spain has held dominion. It is no reflection upon the patriotism of other Cubans to say that, in some of these Cuban revolts, agitators have been concerned whose chief motive was to do for their own pockets that which they had seen so many Spaniards doing for theirs.

Each of these circumstances has played its part in such revolts as are recorded in Cuba's history. But a broad patriotism, a genuine desire for independence and a larger political life, with broadened trade facilities, improved educational advantages, and a more important place in the life of the world, have been manifest in all of Cuba's petty revolts and more extensive insurrections.

The first recorded outbreak of any moment occurred in 1717. At that time, the trade in Cuban tobacco was a monopoly of the Spanish Crown. The government owned warehouses, and fixed the market price of the product. It may easily be imagined that little regard was shown for the profit or welfare of the growers. The attempt of Captain General Roja to enforce the conditions imposed led to an outbreak attended by rioting, and resulted in the temporary withdrawal of Roja.

After that, a time of comparative peace and general acquiescence followed until the beginning of the nineteenth century. There were, during the period, some disturbances among the blacks of Oriente, and the English occupation, 1762-1763, was not without its influence and results.

In fact, it is quite within bounds to say that few periods in the entire history of the Island have been so fruitful of both good and ill to Cuba and the Cubans as this short term of English occupation. The seed then sown by Eng

land, in the form of a broader trade policy, developed in the dim light of protest and in the darkness of revolution, until, one hundred and forty years later, Cuba determined for herself the trade relations which she was to maintain with the other nations of the world. On the other hand, the opening of Cuba's commercial gates to the traffic of the world, even for so brief a period, brought her vast resources and her valuable products to the knowledge of a world which could make them available and give them value. Prior to that event, Cuba's interests were almost exclusively an affair of the colony and the mother country. Following it, the nations of the larger world became ever more and more actively concerned in the commercial possibilities of the Island. The struggle for the larger life was protracted, but in that struggle lies the key to Cuban revolt.

Reforms in trade conditions were demanded from time to time, and the demands met with varying measure of success. But the active principle of Spain's colonial policy remained, and reform and relief were no more than nominal. The Spanish Constitution of 1812, which followed the Napoleonic War of 1808, granted to Spain's American Colonies a representation in the Cortes at Madrid. In effect, this cession of political rights was practically a dead letter. The reopening of Cuban ports to foreign commerce, in 1818, was followed by a brief period of commercial and industrial activity. Spain quickly took advantage of this condition to enforce an increase in her revenues.

The successful revolution in South America, under Simon Bolivar, in 1823, extended its influence to the Island of Cuba. Under the general auspices of an organization known as the Soles de Bolivar, conspiracy extended throughout a large part of the Island, though its centre was in Matanzas. Its leader was José Francisco Lemus, and among its active

members was José Maria Heredia, the Cuban poet. The insurrection was suppressed, and Lemus and many others were arrested and deported. Much bitter resentment was aroused, and a period of disturbance ensued.

The next uprising of any note was that of 1828, known as that of the Black Eagle (El Aguila Negra), an association whose headquarters were in Mexico. In 1825, Ferdinand VII issued a royal order which gave to the Governor General of Cuba almost absolute authority in the Island. Secret organization for political propaganda became the order of the day, and the society of the Black Eagle was among the more prominent of these bodies. The enlarged powers of the local government contributed to the ready suppression of these conspiracies, but the principle involved and the methods pursued by the authorities served only as fresh ground for antagonism.

About this time, there appeared in England certain political influences whose purpose was English control of Cuba. This became a source of serious and active agitation on the Island where it encountered a strong opposition. The incident also involved the United States in a diplomatic controversy which lasted for a number of years. It was this incident which led, almost directly, to the enunciation of the so-called Monroe Doctrine, though the general proposition of that doctrine had been laid down in earlier administrations.

A revolution in the Peninsula, that of La Granja, in 1836, was the occasion of disturbance in Cuba, though the active parties were in reality the Governor General, Don Miguel Tacon, one of the ablest and strongest men whom Spain has ever sent to the Island, and one of his subordinates, General Lorenzo, commanding the department of Santiago. General Lorenzo sided with the seemingly trium