1890 it was complacently remarked that the spirit of armed revolution had passed away in the embrace of agitation within constitutional lines by the great Autonomist party. The Cortes was busy with reforms for Cuba. The plans were not for home rule, but they were pledges of improvement which, if carried out, would enable the Autonomists to show that the evolution of colonial self-government in the logical order which they advocated had begun. They were very fond of that phrase, “evolutionary colonial government." Then came the exigencies of Madrid politics, the shifting of ministries and the mockery of the Antillian aspirations for wider liberties. And then, too, came the tariff legislation in the United States, which repealed the Blaine reciprocity legislation and lowered at a stroke the profit of raising sugar-cane in Cuba. The quiescent elements began to move. They were no longer acquiescent. In this inchoate activity was disclosed the abyss which the Autonomists had not been able to bridge. This was the knowledge that the mass of revolutionists of the TenYears' war never had been reconciled to Spanish domination.

Antonio Macéo had been a young chief in that war. He had not accepted the regimen of peace, but had consented to depart from the island under a safe-conduct from Martínez Campos. His subsequent life in Central America and the watch which the Spanish authorities kept on his movements are matters of common history. They do not need recounting. Máximo Gómez had retired to his farm in Santo Domingo, and withdrawn himself from participation in the affairs of Cuba. Calixto García, after joining a second abortive rebellion

known as the Little War, which raged in Santiago province within a twelvemonth after the peace of El Zanjón, had accepted the friendship of Campos and taken a civil position as a bank officer in Madrid, where he was under espionage. Other leaders of the Ten-Years' war had voluntarily exiled themselves to the United States, to Mexico, and to the countries of Central America. That they did not trust the Spanish promises was evidenced by their actions. Their lack of faith in the success of the Autonomist party was equally clear. Some conspired and plotted. Others merely waited.

The culmination came with the simultaneous failure of Cuban reform legislation in the Cortes and the decrease in the profits of the American sugar market. Economic causes combined with political discontent in keeping the embers of insurrection glowing under the ashes of apparent indifference. The period of freedom from internecine war has been called a parenthesis. within a fact. The insurrection of 1895 was the last act in the revolution which began in 1868. There had been an interregnum, nothing more. Armed revolt was coming again.

CHAPTER II

THE WESTERN INVASION

Alarm Bell of Insurrection Sounded-Old Leaders in Arms-Manifesto of Autonomists Reprobates the Insurrection-Subsequent History of the Signers-Activity of Gómez and Macéo-Martínez Campos Takes Command-Battle of Bayamo-Arrival of Spanish Reinforcements--Autonomists Deported-Formation of Revolutionary Government--Gómez' Address to the Cuban People-His Plan for Nationalizing the Insurrection-March to the Occident Begun-Machete as a Weapon-Progress of Insurgents -Campos Quiets Censure of Spanish Classes-Promise of Vigorous Military Operations-Blazing Cane-Fields the Mark of the Insurgent Campaign-Tremor and Turmoil in Habana-Official Orders for Defence-Gómez in the Outskirts-Macéo in the Tobacco Country-The Invasion Gómez' Conception and Macéo's Execution-Spain's Military Power Broken.

TORCH and machete make short work of constitutional agitation. They are not the weapons of political parties. When they were resorted to it was a question whether they would convert the Autonomists into recruits or into enemies of the faith that proclaimed its doctrines by war. A little time had to be allowed before the answer could be given.

It was known in the United States, in the winter months of 1894-95, that something was expected to happen in Cuba. The Spanish authorities in the island were both blind and impotent. They, too, knew that

something was going on, yet they did not know where to look for the uprising. One day a small party of insurgents raised the banner of revolt at the hamlet of Ybarra in Matanzas province. Four hundred miles away in the villages of Baire and Juguani, in the province of Santiago de Cuba,* small uprisings also were noted. At Baire the peaceable demand was made for the implantation of the reforms of Maura. At Juguani the demand was for the removal of the local ayuntaimento, or municipal council, because of some alleged malfeasance. At Guantánamo there was an open revolt without a stated grievance.

The movement at Ybarra was premature. The little band of insurgents was quickly dispersed. Some of the leaders were arrested and deported in chains to the penal settlements of Africa, among them the mulatto publicist Juan Gualberto Gómez. Small risings in the province of Santa Clara were also dispersed. But the alarm bell had been sounded. It was to ring through months and years. The night of February 23d, 1895, the printing-presses in Habana were kept whirling with the proclamation of the Governor-General, Emilio Calleja, suspending the constitutional guarantees. This was followed by the official announcement that the provinces of Matanzas and Santiago de Cuba were in a state of war. Then was disclosed the existence of the Cuban revolutionary party with headquarters and branches in the United States, and with a net extended throughout the island the completeness of which was not suspected. All the agencies of secret police and of similar means *Santiago means St. James. Cubans and Spaniards call the city and the province simply "Cuba.”

which were a part of the Spanish system had not uncovered this universal political conspiracy.

José Martí, dreamer, poet, and idealist, had visited Máximo Gómez in his retirement in Santo Domingo, and on behalf of the Cuban revolutionary societies had offered him the command of an insurgent army that was to come up from the earth. Gómez had accepted the command. Antonio Macéo had been communicated with and was ready to aid. The sympathizers in Cuba had been secreting arms, and were awaiting the call. Bartolomé Masó, a sugar-planter at Manzanillo, who had been an insurgent colonel in the Ten-Years' war, was quickly in the field with armed followers. He had the respect of the Spanish classes. Though he had been friendly to the Autonomist propaganda, he had refused to accept the presidency of the party. Masó was said to have taken up arms in order to compel Spain to yield autonomy without granting absolute independence. Minor engagements took place in the Oriente, as Eastern Cuba was called, and within a month the insurrection was in full movement. Spain was sending troops across the ocean, and the leading Spaniards in Habana were calling for more vigorous action by the Government. They were also seeking to place the responsibility for the insurrection. The Union Constitutionals shrieked that the Autonomists had done it all. Insur

rection, which meant separation, they cried, was the fruit, as they had warned the loyal classes, of the pernicious doctrines of autonomy.

Thus attacked, the Autonomist leaders through the Magna Junta, or central committee, of the party made vigorous reply. They vindicated their loyalty by offer