Political revolt was the weapon with which Cuba sought relief for her economic woes. National independence may

have been the object of a few. It was not then desired by the great mass of the people.

CHAPTER II

WAR AND ITS RESULTS

THROUGHOUT the period which elapsed between the conspiracy of the Soles de Bolivar, in 1823, and the outbreak of the Ten Years' War, in 1868, Cuba was in a state of almost continual ferment with occasional local revolts. Effort and demand for the removal of the limitations imposed upon Cuban commerce and the profits of Cuban industry by restrictive tariffs and excessive taxation, met with little else than political jugglery, vague assurances, and unfulfilled promises.

In 1865, a number of prominent Cubans organized a party whose definite aim and purpose was relief from oppressive economic conditions. This, necessarily, could only be effected through reform in political conditions. It was a period of no little prosperity, notably in the line of Cuba's chief industry, the production of sugar. The output was steadily increasing, and prices for the commodity ruled fairly high, being more than double those of the present day. Yet the times were seriously disturbed and a spirit of discontent was dominant in the Island.

During the same year, 1865, the Spanish queen, Isabella II, appointed a commission for the investigation and consideration of questions concerning political reform in the Island. Cuba was called upon to send delegates to appear before this commission with a presentation of the grievances of the Cuban people. The requests submitted by these dele

gates included the establishment of a constitutional insular government, freedom of the press, the right of petition and assembly, the right of Cubans to hold office in Cuba, and Cuban representation in the Spanish Cortes. Many Cubans had come into intimate contact with their great neighbor on the north, and had imbibed the spirit of republicanism. Spain, following her established policy, gave no heed to these desires, and disregarded the signs which were even then clearly visible. As Cuba held the position of "the under dog in the fight," and because of Spain's manifest unfairness and frequent injustice and cruelty to the people of her colony, the sympathies of the American people were, at that time, as they were thirty years later, decidedly with the Cubans. But it would be to lose the true perspective to picture the Spanish people, nationally, as a race of demons trampling upon the natural rights of a race of Cuban saints. It is seldom that either party to such a controversy is wholly right or wholly wrong. The situation is probably portrayed with accuracy in a letter written some years later by Hamilton Fish, Secretary of State in the Cabinet of President Grant, to Caleb Cushing, Minister to Spain. Referring to this period, in a letter under date of March 1, 1876, Mr. Fish says:

"Abuses and wrongs which would not be tolerated in the Peninsula have been allowed and are perpetrated in the Island.

"The administration of law has been substantially subordinated to military force; offences against the government, whether really committed or only suspected, have been punished at the will of military officers or under the forms of military courts, and the Island has been, in fact, governed, even in times of peace, by martial law.

"Exactions by way of taxes, imposts, and contributions have been onerous and oppressive, so much so, in fact, as to make it

often questionable whether the possession of property, with the risks attendant upon its cultivation, would not result in loss. These exactions have been governed by no fixed rule, are enforced by an arbitrary power in the Island, and large proportions fail to reach the public treasury, or to contribute in any measure to the support of the government, but are directed to private purposes.

"Public positions are held by persons sent by Spain to the Island, who are wanting in interest in the welfare of Cuba, and who resort thither for the mere purpose of pecuniary profit, intending to return to Spain as soon as their avarice is satisfied. General report and belief speak loudly of corruption, and a large number of public officers are charged with securing profit from their positions.

"Oppressive commercial regulations, injurious to trade, discriminating directly against Cuba, enhance the price of commodities. Fines imposed upon vessels for trivial offences, and large exactions by way of consular fees for clearances of vessels destined for her ports, discourage trade and commerce and tend to place the Island at a serious disadvantage."

The indifference of the Spanish Government to such a situation in her most valuable colony, and her neglect to render justice to colonists who were quite disposed to be loyal under any rational system of government, led to an almost inevitable result. Revolt followed.

On the 10th of October, 1868, Carlos Manuel Cespedes and his associates raised the cry of Cuban independence at Yara, in the Province of Puerto Principe. On the 10th of April, 1869, there was proclaimed the constitution of the Cuban Republic. During the intervening months, there was considerable fighting, though it was largely in the nature of guerilla skirmishing. The Spanish Minister of State asserts, in a memorandum issued to Spain's representatives in other countries, under date of Feb. 3, 1876, that at the outbreak of the insurrection Spain had 7,500 troops, all told, in the Island of Cuba. According to the

statement of General Sickles, then Minister to Spain, this number was increased by reinforcements of 34,500 within the first year of the war. The accuracy of this information, however, has been questioned.

Prior to the establishment of the so-called Republic, the affairs of the insurrection were in the hands of an Assembly of Representatives. On Feb. 26, 1869, this body issued a decree proclaiming the abolition of slavery throughout the Island, and calling upon those who thus received their freedom to "contribute their efforts to the independence of Cuba." During the opening days of April, 1869, the Assembly met at Guiamara. On the 10th of that month a government was organized, with a president, vice-president, general-in-chief of the army, secretaries of departments, and a parliament or congress. Carlos Manuel Cespedes was chosen as President, and Manuel de Quesada as General-in-Chief. A Constitution was adopted. Señor Morales Lemus was appointed as minister to the United States, to represent the new Republic and to ask official recognition by the American Government.

The government which the United States was asked to recognize was a somewhat vague institution. The insurrection, or revolution, if it may be so called, at this time consisted of a nominal central government, chiefly selforganized and self-elected, and various roving bands, probably numbering some thousands in their aggregate, of men rudely and incompletely armed, and showing little or nothing of military organization or method. It is probable that the new Cuban Republic was not inaccurately described in a letter from Señor Lopez Roberts, the Spanish Minister in Washington, to the Secretary of State, Mr. Fish, under date of April 5, 1869. He said: