"The rebels have no communication with each other; they occupy no place as a centre of operations; nor have they, in the whole Island, a single town, a single village or hamlet, nor even a point on the coast, where they might collect their forces and date their orders and proclamations; but they fly from our troops and never offer battle, except when forced to do so; and their only mode of warfare is to apply the incendiary torch to estates, thus reducing to ashes and ruins the whole wealth of the Island, if not prevented by Spanish soldiers."

The statements of this extract are not fully supported by facts. Like all Cuban-Spanish wars and warfare, the destruction of property was a common procedure, and

there was much that came little short of brutal murder. But this applies to the methods of both of the contending parties. The reduction of the "whole wealth of the Island to ashes and ruins" is distinctly a Spanish figure of speech. The great wealth of the Island, then as now, lay in the western districts. At no time during the whole term of the war did the insurrection touch that section. It was an affair of the eastern provinces of Santiago and Puerto Principe and the central province of Santa Clara.

Some of the methods employed for the suppression of the insurrection were not unlike those adopted by General Weyler in the later war. At Bayamo, on April 4, 1869, Count Valmaseda, the Spanish Commandant of that district, issued the following proclamation:

"1. Every man, from the age of fifteen years upward, found away from his place of habitation, who does not prove a justified reason therefor, will be shot.

"2. Every unoccupied habitation will be burned by the troops. "3. Every habitation from which no white flag floats, as a signal that its occupants desire peace, will be reduced to ashes.

"4. Women who are not living at their own homes, or at the homes of their relatives, will collect in the town of Jiguani, or at Bayamo, where maintenance will be provided. Those who do not so present themselves will be conducted forcibly."

But the revolution displayed a marked degree of tenacity in its special area, and assumed such proportions that, on June 29, 1869, Secretary Fish took the matter up with General Sickles, who was then United States Minister to Spain. Under that date, Mr. Fish wrote as follows:

"The condition of the Island of Cuba excites the most serious concern. For more than nine months a civil conflict has been raging there that gives no promise of a speedy termination; a conflict marked with a degree of fierceness and excess on either side rarely witnessed in later ages, and threatening, if continued, to work the desolation and destruction of the wealth and the resources of the Island."

The letter proceeds with a brief review of the reasons for special interest on the part of the United States in the affairs of Cuba, and leads up to a tender of the good offices of the United States in effecting a termination of the war. This was expressed as follows:

"After much consideration and a careful survey of the question in all its relations, this Government has arrived at the conclusion that it is its duty to exert its friendly influence to bring this unhappy strife to a close. Duty to its own citizens and to their large property interests, jeopardized by the continuance of the war, the necessity of maintaining quiet within its borders now seriously disturbed by the continued strife carried on so near its borders our friendship for Spain, one of the earliest and oldest of our allies, with whom no interruption of friendly relations has occurred since our entrance into the family of nations - our sympathy for the Cubans, who are our neighbors all alike impel the Government to this course.

"The President therefore directs you to offer to the Cabinet at Madrid the good offices of the United States for the purpose of bringing to a close the civil war now ravaging the Island of Cuba, on the following bases:

“1. The independence of Cuba to be acknowledged by Spain. "2. Cuba to pay to Spain a sum, within a time and in a manner to be agreed upon by them, as an equivalent for the entire and definite relinquishment by Spain of all her rights in that Island, including the public property of every description. If Cuba should not be able to pay the whole sum in cash, the future payments, by installments, are to be adequately secured by a pledge of the export and import customs duties under an arrangement to be agreed upon for their collection, in trust, for the purpose of securing both the principal and interest of those installments until their final discharge. "3. The abolition of slavery in the Island of Cuba.

"4. An armistice pending the negotiations for the settlement above referred to."

This letter was followed by another, under the same date, in which there occurs the following:

"You will notice that the proposal contained in your instruction No. 2 (that from which the above quotations are taken) is expressed to be for the purpose of bringing to a close the civil war now ravaging the Island. While this expression is not designed to grant any public recognition of belligerent rights to the insurgents, it is nevertheless used advisedly, and in recognition of a state and condition of the contest which may not justify a much longer withholding of the concession to the revolutionary party of the recognized rights of belligerents. Should the expression therefore be commented upon, you will admit what is above stated with reference to it, and may add, in case of a protracted discussion, or the prospect of a refusal by Spain to accept the proffered offer of the United States, that an early recognition of belligerent rights is a logical deduction from the present proposal, and will probably be deemed a necessity on the part of the United States, unless the condition of the parties to the contest shall have changed very materially."

This proposition was duly submitted through the proper diplomatic channels, and, on August 13, General Sickles cabled to Secretary Fish as follows:

"President of Council authorizes me to state that the good offices of the United States are accepted. He suggests, informally, for your information, four cardinal propositions that will be acceptable, if offered by the United States, as the basis for a convention, the details to be settled as soon as practicable:

"1. The insurgents to lay down their arms.

"2. Spain to grant simultaneously a full and complete amnesty. "3. The people of Cuba to vote by universal suffrage upon the question of their independence.

"4. The majority having declared for independence, Spain to grant it, the Cortes consenting; Cuba paying satisfactory equivalent guaranteed by the United States."

Special stress was laid upon the proviso that the insurgents lay down their arms. Diplomatic negotiations followed, lasting for about four weeks, when General Sickles notified Secretary Fish that the Spanish Government held that acceptance of the "bases proposed by the United States was out of its power; that the mediation of any nation in a purely domestic question was wholly incompatible with the honor of Spain; that the permanent committee of the Cortes, representing all shades of politics, had unanimously voted that the independence of Cuba was inadmissible as a basis of negotiation; and that, by the terms of the Constitution, no measure could be taken without the consent of the Cortes that might result in any alienation of Spanish territory." On September 28, the offer of the United States was officially withdrawn.

Meanwhile the strife continued. Large numbers of reinforcements from the Peninsula enabled Spain to confine its activities to the eastern provinces. The commerce of

the Island was not greatly disturbed, for the reason that the great producing and commercial centres lay to the westward. But within its area, the war was conducted, upon both sides, in relentless fashion with widespread destruction. The special need of the insurgents was arms and ammunition. This feature and the efforts to supply the need were the occasion of protracted and complicated negotiations between the United States and Spain.

A Junta had been organized in New York. Money was raised and filibustering expeditions were essayed with varying success. The Spanish Minister in Washington, Señor Lopez Roberts, filed frequent complaints which were duly investigated and dealt with where suitable evidence was found. A considerable number of vessels were charged, probably with justice, with being engaged in filibustering expeditions. The most notable case was that of the steamer Virginius which sailed from New York in October, 1870, with clearance papers for Curacoa, carrying a cargo of breadstuffs, saddlery, and clothing. She appears to have cruised between various ports in the Caribbean Sea until her capture, on Oct. 31, 1873, upon the high seas, by the Spanish ship Tornado. When captured, she had on board 155 people, nominally as crew and passengers. These were taken to Santiago, where fifty-three, many of them Americans, were summarily shot. This act led to a conference between Secretary of State Hamilton Fish and Rear Admiral Polo de Bernabe, the Spanish Minister. The investigation which followed determined that the Virginius carried the American flag in violation of the maritime laws of the United States. It was held that, by the seizure, Spain had offered no offence or insult to the American flag. The ship was ordered to New York, where necessary papers for a libel suit were to await her arrival. American naval officers and a crew