CHAPTER IV CUBA IN TRANSITION A CIRCUMSTANTIAL account of the war of liberation would make anything but pleasant reading. Aside from the fact that on one side was a down-trodden people struggling to throw off the yoke of the oppressor, there was little in the conflict to excite admiration, or even interest. Barbarities of the worst kind were practised by the insurgents as well as by the Spaniards, and it would be profitless to enquire where the balance of blame lay when both were so deeply guilty. From the technical point of view the protracted hostilities hardly deserved to be termed war. Until the participation of the United States there was not an engagement which might be justly described as a battle. Neither side displayed any extraordinary military capacity, but the plans and movements of the rebels were characterized by greater intelligence and purpose than those of their opponents. During the entire war one manœuvre alone was of a high order of strategy. That was the brilliant operation in which Antonio Maceo, the mulatto, swept from end to end of the Island, and lighted the flame of rebellion throughout its length. One of the most important features of the war was the prominent part taken in it by the black and colored elements of the population. They formed the backbone of the insurgent army, and furnished several of its most able leaders. As a result the "race of color" has secured a standing and influence in Cuba which it does not enjoy in any other country where the Caucasian is dominant. On one of the closing days of 1895, the constitutional guarantees were suspended in Cuba by proclamation. The Government had suddenly awakened to the fact that a mine had been quietly laid beneath its feet. For months a wide-spread conspiracy, having its fountainhead in the United States, had been in existence. The Cuban Junta in New York had, during this time, energetically collected money and arms for the purpose of promoting a rebellion with greater determination and upon better organized lines than ever before. With some of the leaders the object entertained was autonomy; with others, complete independence; and with a third element, annexation to the United States. All were united, however, in a burning desire to terminate the rule of Spain over their native land. For some time previous to the proclamation of the Governor-General, arms and ammunition had been shipped to Cuba from various American ports and were secreted in different parts of the Island. Several local outbreaks had presaged the approaching storm, which burst in March. Before the close of April, the brothers Maceo, Jose Marti, and Maximo Gomez had returned to Cuba and resumed their respective places at the head of the rebel ranks. Close upon their heels arrived Martinez Campos, who had effected the peace at Zanjon, to take the part of Governor-General. Without delay, the insurgent generals set about carrying out the shrewd design of spreading the rebellion over every part of the Island. Their object was not only to increase the difficulties of the Spaniards, but also to give the uprising as formidable an aspect as possible, in the hope of securing the recognition, if not the intervention, of the United States. General Campos entered upon his task with 66 Cuba and Her People of To-day Within a week of his arrival, General Campos his life. Followed months of skirmishing, in which the rebels attacked isolated garrisons with considerable success, but avoided encounters with large bodies of troops. Meanwhile, numerous filibustering expeditions disembarked with recruits and munitions of war, greatly strengthening the revolutionary movement. By the end |