the only one of these vessels ever captured, and so helpless did Spain seem to be in defending the coasts of Cuba that Captain "Johnny" O'Brien, one of the most daring of the filibusters, declared that if it was not for the precautions taken by the United States he would advertise regular dates of sailing.

The success of these expeditions, particularly that of the "Silver Heels" in October, 1897, aroused much bitter feeling in Spain. One of the Madrid newspapers asserted that "the hypocritical complicity and notorious stupidity of Mr. McKinley's officials serve as a screen to actions that constitute an offence and an attack on our sovereignty in Cuba." In reply to this Mr. John D. Long, Secretary of the Navy, pointed out that the United States had expended about $2,000,000 in efforts to stop filibustering.

While the government of Spain doubtless realized that the United States was doing all that it could be expected to do to stop filibustering, the landing of each new expedition in Cuba added fuel to the flames of anger that was beginning to be felt toward the United States by the press and people of Spain.

CHAPTER V

WEYLER AND RECONCENTRATION

It was not long after the Cuban declaration of independence, in February, 1895, that Spain began to realize that this rebellion was likely to prove much more difficult to suppress than any that had gone before it.

Spain, it is true, had more troops in Cuba than the insurgents were able to muster and equip, but the insurgents fought with a desperation that made them dangerous foes.

Cubans ac

Cubans, everywhere seemed to regard the revolution headed by Marti as the final effort to tear off the yoke of Spanish optive every- pression. From all parts of the where West Indies and North and South America, where there were Cubans, contributions poured into the treasury of the Cuban Junta in New York. Cubans of all degrees, down to the poorest cigar-makers in Key West and Tampa, gave a generous tithe of their incomes for fitting out filibustering expeditions and buying munitions of war.

In the attitude of the United States, Spain also found cause for alarm. Just about a year after the revolution began the United States Senate passed a resolution recognizing the Cubans as belligerents and offering the friendly offices of the United States through the President to Spain in recognizing Cuban independence. The House of Representatives about six weeks later passed a similar resolution. President Cleveland, however, ignored these resolutions, and nothing more was done.

The action of House and Senate had, however, indicated plainly the trend of public opinion in the United States, and stirred Spain to renewed activity against the insurgents, leading indirectly to the policy of reconcentration.

The actual carrying out of this policy devolved on General Valeriano Weyler, who had been made Captain-General of Cuba; that is, the Military Governor. Weyler was without mercy toward the insurgents. "War is no picnic," he said.

When the Spaniards, unable to crush the insurgents, were losing troops daily by illness and skirmishes, the insurgents were daily gaining in numbers, were adding to their equipment, and were drawing on the plantations for supplies.

To cut off the food supplies from the insurgents, it was decided to concentrate the Reconcentra- pacificos those peasants who were tion ordered taking no part in the war-into certain limits, in order that the crops they might raise would not go to feed the rebels.

in Cuba.

Circles were drawn around the cities, into which the peasants were herded, and forbidden to raise crops. Failing to accomplish the desired end, the circles were drawn smaller, and the peasants thus reconcentrated became the reconcentrados.

Forbidden to maintain themselves, dependent on the cruel mercies of the Spanish soldiery for their food, the condition of the reconcentrados soon became such as to stir the sympathy of the United States in their behalf.

CHAPTER VI

ATTITUDE OF UNITED STATES

DESPITE reports sent out from Havana and Madrid during the year 1896, of insurgents defeated in battle and provinces pacified by the Spanish soldiery, the people of the United States knew better. Many young Americans of adventurous spirit went to Cuba and fought with the insurgents. The tales they told on their return of insurgent victories and Spanish cruelties awakened much sympathy with the Cuban cause. Cuban refugees who reached the United States related terrible tales of the brutality of the Spanish troops. Despatches and letters from newspaper correspondents in Havana and in the field with the insurgents threw still more light on the subject.

The diminution of the volume of trade between the United States and Cuba also proclaimed the fact that the rich island was being made desolate. But for the fact that the whole attention of the United States politically was devoted to financial problems, the war with