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PICTORIAL HISTORY OF OUR WAR WITH SPAIN

A THRILLING ACCOUNT OF THE LAND AND NAVAL OPERATIONS OF AMERICAN SOLDIERS AND SAILORS IN OUR WAR WITH SPAIN, AND THE HEROIC STRUGGLES OF CUBAN PATRIOTS AGAINST SPANISH TYRANNY.

INCLUDING A DESCRIPTION AND HISTORY OF CUBA, SPAIN, PHILIPPINE ISLANDS, OUR ARMY AND NAVY, FIGHTING STRENGTH, COAST DEFENSES, AND OUR RELATIONS WITH OTHER NATIONS, ETC., ETC.

BY TRUMBULL WHITE,

THE WELL KNOWN AND POPULAR AUTHOR, HISTORIAN AND WAR CORRESPONDENT.

ELABORATELY ILLUSTRATED WITH PHOTOGRAPHS AND DRAWINGS OF BATTLES, ON SEA AND LAND, WAR SHIPS, ETC., FROM LIFE.

FREEDOM PUBLISHING CO.

Dedicated To Our American Volunteers

PREFACE.

Information concerning the island of Cuba has been of an exceedingly unsatisfactory character until the search-light of American inquiry was thrown upon it from the beginning of the war for Cuban liberty early in 1895. Although our next-door neighbor to the south, with a perfect winter climate and a host of interesting and picturesque attractions for travelers, tourists had been comparatively few, measured by the numbers that might have been expected. All of the reasons for this were those which naturally followed the characteristic Spanish rule of the island. Publicity was not welcomed, inquiry was not welcomed, travelers were not welcomed. The cities and the accommodations they offered were in many ways far behind those of like age and size in the other countries of the globe. Railway construction and the making of highways had lagged disgracefully, because the exorbitant taxes collected were looted by the officers of the government as their own spoils. No other country so near to the highways of ocean commerce and so accessible from the United States was so little known.

A few travelers had journeyed to Cuba and had written books descriptive of their experiences, which were read with interest by those who had access to them. But these books were usually simply descriptive of the people, the manner of life, the scenery, and the things of surface interest. It is proverbial that Spanish rule conceals the resources of a country instead of exploiting them. The person of inquiring mind had no way in Cuba to obtain prompt information concerning the material facts of the island's wealth of resource, because the Spanish authorities themselves knew nothing about it. Spanish statistics are notoriously unreliable and incomplete. No census of Cuba worthy the name ever has been taken, and there are few schools and few sources of accurate information. With all this handicap it was a foregone conclusion that the casual traveler should confine himself to the things that were visible and that were near to the usual paths of travelers. So until the beginning of the Cuban war for liberty no books could be obtained which told the things which one really cares to know. Picturesque descriptions there were, more than one, of considerable interest, but the information was scattered.

Demand always creates supply, even if material is scant. When the war began, the people of the United States wanted to know something of the people who were striving for their freedom, of their characteristics, their conditions and their personality. Moreover, it was an immediate necessity to know the geography of Cuba, its history, its natural conditions, its material resources, and a host of things that unite to make a comprehensive knowledge of any country. There were men who knew Cuba from years of residence there in industrial and commercial enterprises. They were drawn upon for their knowledge. Then the newspapers of the United States gave another demonstration of their unvarying enterprise and covered the points of interest in the insurrection most exhaustively. Their correspondents shared the camps of insurgent chiefs, witnessed the daring machete charges of the Cubans, saw every detail of armed life in the field. Others kept close watch of the movements of the Spanish forces in Havana and the fortified towns, as well as in the field. One was shot in action. Another was macheted to death after his capture, by a Spanish officer who waited only to be sure that the prisoner was an American before ordering him to death. Others were incarcerated in Morro and Cabanas fortresses and in the other Spanish prisons in Cuba because they insisted on telling the truth to America and the world. They were the ones who told of the horrors of reconcentration under that infamous order of Captain General Weyler. They have been the real historians of Cuba.

It is to all of these sources and others that the information contained in the present volume is owed. The writer takes pleasure in acknowledging the courteous permission to use salient facts contained in some volumes of merit published prior to this time. But more than all the obligation is to the newspaper correspondents who worked with him in Cuba in the days when the war was but an insurrection and afterward when the insurrection became our own war against Spain for the liberty of Cuba. They are the ones who have gathered the most exhaustive information on the whole subject of Cuban affairs. They have been able by virtue of their intimate knowledge of Cuba and the Cubans to be of invaluable assistance to the commanders of army and navy alike, not only in advice as to the forming of plans, but in executing them. One who has seen the things knows that to exaggerate the horrors of Spanish cruelty and the oppression of Spanish rule in Cuba is an impossibility. No newspaper could have printed the plain truth of a score of shocking affairs, simply because the public prints are no place for the exploiting of such tales of vicious crime against humanity as have been perpetrated. The most sensational tales have never reached the limits of the truth.

It is hoped that the reader will find in this volume not only a comprehensive current history of our war with Spain for Cuba's freedom, but also much of the other matter that will be of interest and value in considering the future of the liberated island. Its history, its people, its resources and other salient subjects are included, with certain matter on Spain and her own affairs, with Puerto Rico and the Philippine islands, which chapters serve to make the volume a work for general reference and reading on the whole subject of the war.

TABLE OF CONTENTS.

I. A War for Liberty and Humanity
II. How Columbus Found the "Pearl of the Antilles"
III. Spain's Black Historical Record
IV. Buccaneering in the Spanish Main
V. Commercial Development of Cuba
VI. Beauties of a Tropical Island
VII. Wealth from Nature's Store in the Forest and Fields of Cuba
VIII. The Cubans and How They Live
IX. Havana, the Island Metropolis
X. The Cities of Cuba
XI. Mutterings of Insurrection
XII. Outbreak of the Ten Years' War
XIII. Massacre of the Virginius Officers and Crew
XIV. Operations of the Ten Years' War
XV. The Peace of Zanjon and Its Violated Pledges
XVI. Preparations for Another Rebellion
XVII. The Cuban Junta and Its Work
XVIII. Key West and the Cubans
XIX. Another Stroke for Freedom
XX. Jose Marti and Other Cuban Heroes
XXI. Desperate Battles with Machete and Rifle
XXII. Filibusters from Florida
XXIII. Weyler the Butcher
XXIV. Cuba Under the Scourge
XXV. Fitzhugh Lee to the Front
XXVI. Americans in Spanish Dungeons
XXVII. Maceo Dead by Treachery
XXVIII. Weyler's Reconcentration Policy and Its Horrors
XXIX. American Indignation Growing
XXX. Outrages on Americans in Cuba
XXXI. McKinley Succeeds Cleveland
XXXII. The Case of Evangelina Cisneros
XXXIII. Work of Clara Barton and the Red Cross
XXXIV. The Catastrophe to the Maine
XXXV. Patience at the Vanishing Point
XXXVI. Events in the American Congress
XXXVII. President McKinley Acts
XXXVIII. Strength of the Opposing Squadron and Armies
XXXIX. Battleships and Troops Begin to Move
XL. Diplomatic Relations Terminate
XLI. First Guns and First Prizes of the War
XLII. Declaration of War
XLIII. Call for the National Guard, Our Citizen Soldiery
XLIV. Blockade of Cuban Ports
XLV. Spanish Dissensions at Home
XLVI. The Philippines, Puerto Rico, and Other Colonies of Spain
XLVII. Progress of Hostilities
XLVIII. Sea Fight off Manila, Americans Victorious
XLIX. Hawaii, and Our Annexation Policy
L. Continued Success for American Soldiers and Sailors
LI. The Invasion of Puerto Rico
LII. The Surrender of Manila
LIII. Victorious Close of the War
LIV. Personal Reminiscences

INTRODUCTION.

When, on the 22d day of April, 1898, Michael Mallia, gun-captain of the United States cruiser Nashville, sent a shell across the bows of the Spanish ship Buena Ventura, he gave the signal shot that ushered in a war for liberty for the slaves of Spain.

The world has never seen a contest like it. Nations have fought for territory and for gold, but they have not fought for the happiness of others. Nations have resisted the encroachments of barbarism, but until the nineteenth century they have not fought to uproot barbarism and cast it out of its established place. Nations have fought to preserve the integrity of their own empire, but they have not fought a foreign foe to set others free. Men have gone on crusades to fight for holy tombs and symbols, but armies have not been put in motion to overthrow vicious political systems and regenerate iniquitous governments for other peoples.

For more than four centuries Spain has held the island of Cuba as her chattel, and there she has revelled in corruption, and wantoned in luxury wrung from slaves with the cruel hand of unchecked power. She has been the unjust and merciless court of last resort. From her malignant verdict there has been no possible appeal, no power to which her victims could turn for help.

But the end has come at last. The woe, the grief, the humiliation, the agony, the despair that Spain has heaped upon the helpless, and multiplied in the world until the world is sickened with it, will be piled in one avalanche on her own head.

Liberty has grown slowly. Civilization has been on the defensive. Now liberty fights for liberty, and civilization takes the aggressive in the holiest war the world has even known.

Never was there a war before in which so many stimulating deeds of bravery were done in such a short time, and this in spite of the fact that the public has been restless for more action. It is almost worth a war to have inscribed such a deed of cool, intelligent heroism as that of Hobson and his men with the Merrimac, in the entrance to the harbor of Santiago de Cuba. That is an event in world history, one never to be forgotten, and in the countries of Europe quite as generously recognized as by our own people. There is a word to say for the Spanish admiral. In his chivalry after that act of heroism, Cervera proved himself a worthy adversary, who could realize and admire bravery in a foe, even when it had been directed against himself with such signal success. Not every commander would be great enough in that circumstance to send a flag of truce to the opposing admiral, in order to inform him that his brave men were safe and that they were honored as brave men by their captors.

Of another sort was the bravery of Dewey at Manila, more notable in its results but in no other way surpassing that of Hobson and his men. Dewey went forward in spite of unknown dangers of torpedoes, to engage an enemy in the place it had selected as most favorable for Spanish arms, an enemy with more ships, more men, more guns than had the American. A day later the nation was at the feet of Dewey and the United States had taken a position among the powers of the world never before admitted by them. In larger degree than ever before, from that moment the United States became a factor in the international history of the world. At this writing one cannot tell what will be the end of the relations of the United States to the Philippines and the Orient, but the solution cannot fail to be of profit to this nation. This was a holy war for the liberty of Cuba, but like many another good deed it is bringing its additional rewards. Cuba, Puerto Rico, the Philippines and the Caroline islands are to be liberated, four colonies of Spain instead of one, and the direct and indirect profit, looked at from a purely commercial basis, will be far more than enough to compensate the United States for the cost of the war. The annexation of the Hawaiian islands as a war measure must be credited to the same cause, for the success of that effort under any other circumstances was problematical.

Yet another sort of bravery was that in the harbor of Cardenas when the little torpedo boat Winslow lay a helpless hulk under the rain of fire from the shore batteries, without rudder or engine to serve, and the Hudson, a mere tugboat with a few little guns on deck, stood by for forty minutes to pass a hawser and tow the disabled vessel out of range. Both were riddled, the Winslow had half her total complement of men killed and wounded by a single shell, but there was no faltering, and they all worked away as coolly as if nothing were happening.

If one started to catalogue the instances of personal bravery that the war brought out in its first few months, the list would be a cumbersome one. It is enough here to say that there have been a hundred times when personal courage was needed to be shown, and never a moment's hesitancy on the part of any man to whom the call came. Furthermore, in every case in which a particularly hazardous undertaking was contemplated, and volunteers were called for, the number offering has been in every instance far more than was needed. This was eminently notable on the occasion of Hobson's sinking of the Merrimac, when more than a thousand in the fleet volunteered for a service requiring but six, and from which it seemed impossible that any could come out alive.

The public must know all about the war, and the only avenue of information is the press. Never before has any war been covered as to its news features with the accuracy and energy which have characterized this. American journalism has outstripped the world. The expense of a news service for this war is something enormous, with little return compensation. Yet the work is done, metropolitan papers have from ten to twenty correspondents in the field, and the public has the benefit. Dispatch boats follow the fleets and are present at every battle. They must be near enough to see, which means that they are in as much danger at times as are the ships of the fighting squadron, far more if one remembers that the former are in no way protected. Some of them are heavy sea-going tugs and others are yachts. The expense of charter, insurance and running cost amounts to from $200 to $400 a day each, and yet some metropolitan newspapers have fleets of these boats to the number of six.

All the foregoing facts are related in detail in the volume which these paragraphs introduce. The only object in reiterating them here is that they are entitled to emphasis for their prominence, and it is desired to call special attention to them and their accompanying matter when the book itself shall be read. The number of those who believe we are engaged in a righteous war is overwhelming. The records of the brave deeds of our men afloat and ashore will inspire Americans to be better citizens as long as time shall last. The country has proven its faith in the cause by giving to the needs of war hundreds of thousands of young men to fight for the liberty of others. From every corner of the land regiments of volunteer soldiers have sprung in an instant at the call of the President, while as many more are waiting for another call to include those for whom there was not room the first time. The country which can show such an inspiring movement has little to fear in the race of progress among the nations of the world.

OUR WAR WITH SPAIN.

CHAPTER I.

A WAR FOR LIBERTY AND HUMANITY.

Again at War with a Foreign Power—Spain's Significant Flag—
Three Years Without an American Flag in Cuban Waters—Visit of the
Maine to Havana Harbor—The Maine Blown Up by Submerged Mine—
Action of President and Congress—Spain Defies America—Martial
Spirit Spreading—First Guns Are Fired—Cuban Ports Blockaded—
Many Spanish Ships Captured—Excitement in Havana—Spain and the
United States Both Declare War—Internal Dissension Threatens
Spain—President McKinley Calls a Volunteer Army.

Civilization against barbarism, freedom against oppression, education against ignorance, progress against retrogression, the West against the East, the United States against Spain. In this cause the flag of freedom was again unfurled in the face of a foreign foe, and our nation entered war against the people of another land, carrying the star spangled banner through successive victories in the name of liberty and humanity.

It is a proud banner, which stands the whole world over for freedom and right, with few stains of defeat or injustice upon its folds. The great heart of the nation swelled with pride at the righteousness of the cause, with an assurance that eternal history would praise America for the unselfish work. On land and sea the boys in blue gave new fame to the flag, and their proud record in the past was more than justified by the honors that they won.

Two wars with Great Britain and one with Mexico were the more notable predecessors of this conflict with Spain. If to these should be added the hostilities between the United States and the Barbary pirates of Algiers, Morocco and Tripoli, and the scattered brushes with two or three Oriental and South American countries, the list might be extended. But those affairs are not remembered as wars in the true sense of the word.

Except for protection against Indian outbreaks, the United States had been at peace for thirty years, when the war cloud began to loom in the horizon. It was with a full realization of the blessings of peace that the American people yielded to the demands, of humanity and righteous justice, to take up arms again in the cause of liberty. There was no haste, no lack of caution, no excited plunge into hostilities without proper grounds. The nation made sure that it was right. An intolerable condition of affairs resulting from years of agony in a neighbor island, with half a dozen immediate reasons, any one sufficient, was the absolute justification for this holy war.

Spain is the Turk of the West. Spain is an obsolete nation. Living in the past, and lacking cause for pride to-day, she gloats over her glorious explorations and her intellectual prowess of the middle ages when much of Europe was in darkness. Then Spain's flag led pioneers throughout the world. But her pride was based on achievements, many of which, to the people of any other nation, would have been the disgrace of its history. No indictment of Spain can ever be more severe, more scathing, if its true significance be considered, than the famous phrase which one of her proudest poets created to characterize her flag of red and yellow.

"Sangre y oro," he said, "blood and gold—a stream of gold between two rivers of blood."

It is almost a sufficient characterization to indicate the whole national spirit of Spain, to recall that this phrase is the proud expression used by the Spanish people to glorify their own flag. That sentiment is in no stronger contrast to the American phrase, "the star-spangled banner," than are the people of Spain to the people of the United States.

"REMEMBER THE MAINE."

From the day of the outbreak of the Cuban revolution, early in 1895, until nearly the end of January, 1898, there had been no flag of the United States seen in any harbor of Cuba except upon merchant vessels. Always before, it had been the policy of our government to have ships of war make friendly calls in the harbors of all countries of the world at frequent intervals, and Cuban waters had shared these courtesies.

So careful were the officers of the Cleveland administration to avoid the appearance of offense or threat against the authority of Spain, with which we were living in amity, that immediately upon the outbreak of hostilities in Cuba this practice was suspended, so far as it applied to that island. Our ships cruised through the oceans of the world and called at all ports where they were not needed, but the waters of Havana harbor for three years were never disturbed by an American keel.

Out of deference to the expressed wishes of the local Spanish authorities in Havana, Dr. Burgess, the splendid surgeon of the United States Marine Hospital service in Havana, who for thirty years has guarded our southern ports from the epidemics of yellow fever and smallpox, which would invade us annually as a result of Spanish misgovernment in Cuba, except for his watchfulness, ceased flying the American flag on his steam launch, by means of which he carried out his official duties in those foul waters. The American flag was a disturbing influence upon the minds of the Cubans who might see it flashing in the clear sunlight of the tropic sky, suggested the Captain General.

It must have been the language of diplomacy that was in mind, when the satirist explained that "language was intended as a medium for concealing thought." President McKinley, in his message to Congress transmitting the report of the naval board concerning the catastrophe to the Maine, explained that for some time prior to the visit of the battle-ship to Havana harbor, it had been considered a proper change in the policy, in order to accustom the people to the presence of our flag as a symbol of good will. The decision to send the vessel to that harbor was reached, it was explained, after conference with the Spanish minister, and, through our diplomats, with the Spanish authorities at Madrid and Havana. It was declared that this intention was received by the Spanish government with high appreciation of the courtesy intended, which it was offered to return by sending Spanish ships to the principal ports of the United States.

We are bound to accept this expression from the officials on both sides as frankly indicative of their feelings. But it is just as necessary to recognize that to the mass of the people in both countries, the significance of the Maine's courtesy call was very different. Americans believed that it indicated a changed policy on the part of the national government at Washington which would be more strenuous and more prompt in resenting outrages against the life and property of American citizens in Cuba. The people of the Cuban republic believed that the change meant an expression of sympathy and friendship for their cause, with probable interference in their behalf, and took courage from that sign. Finally, the people of Spain resented the appearance of the Maine in the harbor of Havana as an affront, and a direct threat against them and in favor of the insurgents. If the policy of making frequent calls in warships had never been interrupted, they would not have had this sentiment in the matter, but the resumption of the practice after three years' cessation, carried a threat with it in their minds.

TREACHEROUS DESTRUCTION OF THE MAINE.

The Maine entered the harbor of Havana at sunrise on the 25th of January and was anchored at a place indicated by the harbor-master. Her arrival was marked with no special incident, except the exchange of customary salutes and ceremonial visits. Three weeks from that night, at forty minutes past nine o'clock in the evening of the 15th of February, the Maine was destroyed by an explosion, by which the entire forward part of the ship was wrecked. In this frightful catastrophe 264 of her crew and two officers perished, those who were not killed outright by the explosion being penned between decks by the tangle of wreckage and drowned by the immediate sinking of her hull.

In spite of the fact that the American public was urged to suspend judgment as to the causes of this disaster, and that the Spanish authorities in Havana and in Madrid expressed grief and sympathy, it, was impossible to subdue a general belief that in some way Spanish treachery was responsible for the calamity. With the history of Spanish cruelty in Cuba before them, and the memory of Spanish barbarities through all their existence as a nation, the people could mot disabuse their minds of this suspicion.

One month later this popular judgment was verified by the finding of the naval court of inquiry which had made an exhaustive examination of the wreck, and had taken testimony from every available source. With this confirmation and the aroused sentiment of the country concerning conditions in Cuba, the logic of events was irresistibly drawing the country toward war with Spain, and all efforts of diplomacy and expressions of polite regard exchanged between the governments of the two nations were unable to avert it.

For a few weeks, history was made rapidly. Conservative and eminent American senators visited Cuba in order to obtain personal information of conditions there, and upon their return, gave to Congress and to the country, in eloquent speeches, the story of the sufferings they had found in that unhappy island. The loss of the Maine had focused American attention upon the Cuban situation as it had never been before, and though there were no more reasons for sympathetic interference than there had been for many months, people began to realize as they had not before, the horrors that were being enacted at their thresholds.

The sailors who died with the Maine, even though they were not able to fight their country's foes, have not died in vain, for it is their death that will be remembered as the culminating influence for American intervention and the salvation of scores of thousands of lives of starving Cuban women and children. Vessels were loaded with supplies of provisions and clothing for the suffering and were sent to the harbors of Cuba, where distribution was made by Miss Clara Barton and her trusted associates in the American National Red Cross. Some of these vessels were merchant steamers, but others were American cruisers, and Cubans were not permitted to forget that there was a flag which typified liberty, not far away. The strain upon the national patience increased every day, and was nearing the breaking point.

PRESIDENT AND CONGRESS ACT.

After a period of restlessness in Congress which was shared by the whole country, the President finally transmitted an important message. It included a resume of the progress of the Cuban revolution from its beginning and considered in some detail the workings of that devastating policy of General Weyler, known as reconcentration. The message related the progress of diplomatic negotiations with Spain, and disclosed a surprising succession of events in which the Spanish government had submitted to various requests and recommendations of the American government. The message ended with a request that Congress authorize and empower the President to take measures to secure a full and final termination of the intolerable conditions on the island of Cuba. Having exhausted the powers of the executive in these efforts, it was left to the legislative authority of the American people to establish such policies as would be finally efficient.

Congress rose to the occasion. The facts were at command of both houses, their sympathies were enlisted at the side of their reason and there was little time lost in acting. The House and the Senate, after mutual concessions on minor details, passed as a law of the land for the President's signature, an act directing him and empowering him to require Spain to withdraw her troops and relinquish all authority over the island of Cuba. The President was authorized to employ the army and navy of the United States for the purpose of carrying into effect this instruction and the interference was directed to be made at once. Best of all, from the point of view of the Cuban patriots, the act declared that the people of Cuba are and ought to be free and independent. But a few days more of diplomacy, and war was to begin.

SPAIN DEFIES AMERICA.

It was hardly to be expected that the Spanish government and the Spanish people would yield to the demands of the United States without a protest. So feeble is the hold of the present dynasty upon the throne of Spain, that it was readily understood that any concession upon the part of the Queen Regent would arouse Spanish indignation beyond the limits of endurance. The Queen-mother had to think of her baby son's crown. If she were to yield to the superior power of the United States without a struggle, Spanish revolutionists would overthrow the dynasty before he could come to the throne. However well she might know that the logical outcome of a war would be overwhelming defeat to Spanish arms, political necessities compelled her to take the position dictated by Spanish pride.

The Spanish Cortes met in special session at Madrid, and on the 20th of April the Queen Regent delivered her speech before that legislative body and declared that her parliament was summoned in the hour of peril to defend her country's rights and her child's throne, whatever sacrifice might be entailed. It was on that same day that President McKinley presented the ultimatum of the United States to Spain, in language diplomatic in form, but carrying with it a definite notice to yield Cuba's freedom and relinquish her pretense of authority in that island without delay. A copy of the ultimatum was forwarded to the Spanish ambassador at Washington, Senor Polo y Bernabe, who responded by asking for his passports and safe conduct out of the country.

Having reached the point where diplomacy no longer availed, the Spanish government for the first time made an aggressive move against the United States. Instead of waiting for the transmission of the ultimatum by American Minister Stewart L. Woodford, the ministry forestalled him and dismissed him from Madrid without affording him an opportunity to present that important document. It had been transmitted to Madrid by cable from the Spanish Minister in Washington, and the government felt no need to wait for formal messages from the enemy's representative in Spain. Minister Woodford left Madrid without delay, and finally reached the French frontier, after being subjected to many insults and attacks upon his train during the journey from the Spanish capital.

MARTIAL SPIRIT SPREADING.

A wave of national patriotic enthusiasm swept over the United States. North and South, East and West, there was hardly a discordant note in the great chorus of fervent applause which rose when it was understood that at last the forces of the nation were to be united in the cause of liberty and humanity.

But sentiment could not fight battles, unless backed by material equipment. The nation was preparing for war. From all parts of the United States the troops of the regular army were hurried by special trains southeastward to camps at Chickamauga and Tampa. In every navy yard work was hurried night and day upon all incomplete battleships and cruisers. Already the fleets of the American navy had been concentrated at points of vantage so that little was left to be done on that score. Congress lost no time in providing the sinews of war by generous appropriations for the regular channels of supply, in addition to one passed by unanimous vote of both houses granting $50,000,000 as a special fund to be at the disposal of the President. The war appropriation bill and the naval appropriation bill carried with them emergency clauses. Preparations were made for the reorganization of the regular army to more than double its normal size, and the President was authorized to call for a volunteer army of 125,000 men. Looking to the future, and the possibility of a long and expensive conflict, financial measures were prepared which would raise war revenues through the regular channels of taxation and the issue of bonds. Americans were ready to put their hands in their pockets and pay for the privilege of teaching a worthy lesson to the world.

American sense of humor never fails, and even in this period of stress the people took time to smile over the story of the Spanish Minister's journey from Washington to Canada. In Toronto, Senor Polo sought to discredit the assaults that had been made on Minister Woodford's train in Spain, and related that he himself had been the victim of assaults at two or three important cities on his journey through New York, which threatened great danger to himself and the train on which he was riding.

Upon inquiry it was revealed that the assaults which had aroused his fear were not quite as hostile as he believed. At the division stations on the line, the railway employees, according to custom, passed along the cars, tapping the tires of the wheels with steel hammers to test them for a possible flaw or break in the wheel, and it was this that made the Spanish Minister believe that he was the victim of an American outrage.

FIRST GUNS ARE FIRED.

The United States cruiser Nashville of the North Atlantic squadron, with headquarters at Key West, had the honor of firing the first shot in our war with Spain.

Early on the morning of Friday, April 22, the American fleet sailed from Key West, and, steaming southward across the straits of Florida, came in sight of Havana and the frowning fortifications of Morro Castle before six o'clock the same afternoon.

The sailing of the fleet, as dawn was creeping over the Florida keys, was a beautiful sight and a significant one, for from the time the first signals were hoisted until many days after, there was hardly an hour of inactivity. It was at three o'clock in the morning that the signal lights began to flash from the New York, Admiral Sampson's flagship. Answering signals appeared on the warships all along the line, and in a few moments black smoke began to belch from the funnels of all the ships and the crews woke from quietness to activity.

As soon as day began to break, the cruisers and gunboats inside the harbor hoisted anchors and moved out to join the big battleships which were already lined outside the bar. At five o'clock, when all the fleet were gathered around the battleships, Captain Sampson signaled from the New York to go ahead. The formation of the line had been agreed upon some time before and each vessel was in position for line of battle, the New York in the center and the Iowa and Indiana on either beam. The ships presented a most beautiful appearance as they swept out on the ocean without a vestige of anything not absolutely necessary on the decks. They were stripped of all useless superstructure, awnings, gun-covers and everything that goes to adorn a ship. Officers paced the bridge, marines were drawn up on deck and every man was at his post. They appeared as they were, grim fighting machines, not naval vessels out on cruise nor a squadron of evolution and maneuver, but warships out for business.

FIRST SPANISH SHIP CAPTURED.

The fleet had proceeded twelve miles from Sand Key Light, which lies seven miles southeast of Key West, when the Nashville signaled the flagship that a vessel flying the Spanish colors had been sighted. Admiral Sampson signaled from the New York for the Nashville to go and take it. The Nashville bore down on the Spanish ship and fired a blank shot from the port guns aft. This did not stop the Spaniard, and, to give a more definite hint, a solid shot was fired close over its bows. The Spanish ship immediately hove to and waited to know its fate.

The vessel proved to be the Buena Ventura, with a crew of about thirty men, bound from Pascagonla to Rotterdam with a cargo of lumber, cattle and miscellaneous freight. As soon as possible a boat was lowered from the Nashville and an officer was sent aboard the Buena Ventura. When the Spanish captain was informed that his ship could not proceed, he took his capture gracefully, shrugged his shoulders, and said he supposed it was only the fortune of war. It was suggested to him that the capture of a ship bearing that name, which, translated, means "good fortune," as the first prize of the American fleet in the war, seemed to be a striking coincidence. A prize crew of marines under Ensign T. P. Magruder was placed aboard, and, with the Nashville in the lead, both ships set out for Key West.

Inasmuch as the Buena Ventura was the first capture by the American navy in the war, it had a more definite interest than a success of the same sort would have a few months later. The first shot was fired by Gunner Michael Mallia of the Nashville, who therefore has the distinction of firing the first shot in the war. The prize was a rich one, estimated to be worth, including vessel and cargo, nearly $500,000, and the prize money resulting became a tempting amount. Captain Washburne Maynard, commander of the Nashville, who gained the distinction of making the first capture, is a native of Knoxville, Tenn. He is a son of former United States Senator Horace Maynard, and at the time of the capture was about fifty years old. He entered the Annapolis Naval Academy at the age of seventeen and graduated at the head of his class. He was for a number of years stationed in Alaska, and at the time of gaining his present distinction had been in command of the Nashville for four years.

BLOCKADE OF HAVANA BEGUN.

After the Nashville left the fleet to return to Key West with its prize, the remaining vessels of the squadron steamed onward toward the Cuban coast. Coming within fifteen miles of Morro Castle, the fleet scattered in a more open line of battle, some of the vessels turning to the east and others to the west, and making the blockade of the port complete. No ship could enter or leave the harbor, and every day brought new prizes to the vessels of the blockading squadron.

The blockade of the Cuban metropolis was well in progress by the time the formal notification of it was issued. The President issued warning to the nations of the world that the Cuban ports were sealed by the authority of the United States, in the following formal proclamation:

BY THE PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: A PROCLAMATION.

Whereas, By a joint resolution passed by the Congress and approved April 20, 1898, and communicated to the government of Spain, it was demanded that said government at once relinquish its authority and government in the island of Cuba, and withdraw its land and naval forces from Cuba and Cuban waters; and the President of the United States was directed and empowered to use the entire land and naval forces of the United States and to call into the actual service of the United States the militia of the several States to such extent as might be necessary to carry said resolution into effect; and

Whereas, In carrying into effect this resolution the President of the United States deems it necessary to set on foot and maintain a blockade of the north coast of Cuba, including all ports of said coast between Cardenas and Bahia Honda and the port of Cienfuegos, on the south coast of Cuba;

Now, therefore, I, William McKinley, President of the United States, in order to enforce the said resolution, do hereby declare and proclaim that the United States of America has instituted and will maintain a blockade of the north coast of Cuba, including ports on said coast between Cardenas and Bahia Honda, and the port of Cienfuegos on the south coast of Cuba, aforesaid, in pursuance of the laws of the United States and the law of nations applicable to such cases.

An efficient force will be posted so as to prevent the entrance and exit of vessels from the ports aforesaid. Any neutral vessel approaching said ports, or attempting to leave the same, without notice or knowledge of the establishment of such blockade, will be duly warned by the commander of the blockading forces, who will indorse on her register the fact and the date of such warning, where such indorsement was made; and if the same vessel shall again attempt to enter any blockaded port she will be captured and sent to the nearest convenient port for such proceedings against her and her cargo as prize as may be deemed advisable. Neutral vessels lying in any of said ports at the time of the establishment of such blockade will be allowed thirty days to issue therefrom.

In witness whereof I have hereunto set my hand and caused the seal of the United States to be affixed.

Done at the city of Washington this 22d day of April, A. D. 1898, and of the independence of the United States the one hundred and twenty-second.

By the President: WILLIAM McKINLEY.

JOHN SHERMAN, Secretary of State.

MORE SPANISH PRIZES TAKEN.

The blockade was not a mere paper blockade, but an exceedingly effective one. Before two days had passed, the prizes taken began to multiply in numbers and in value. The second capture was the Spanish freighter Pedro, of Bilboa, which was taken by the New York in the afternoon of the first day's cruising.

When the fleet approached the Cuban coast and spread out for patrol duty, the New York turned eastward for her own watch, not knowing what might be found in the neighborhood. Far off against the dim, vague background of Cuban hills, half seen, half guessed, could be traced a faint film of gray smoke, the one visible evidence of a Spanish freighter striving vainly to race out the day without being discovered by the great gray monsters that blackened the sky to the west with a solid mass of black cloud from their roaring furnaces.

Vainly the Spaniard raced. Charging along at trial test speed, the New York soon lay across the bows of the Spanish ship, and the crashing challenge blazed from the deck of the cruiser. A huge puff of white smoke rolled out from the side of the flagship, and far off, just in front of the Spaniard, a fountain of white foam leaped into the air. In a moment the course of the strange Spaniard was changed, and she hove to.

Shortly after, the New York led her prize further out from shore and laid her to. Crew and captain could be seen rushing about the deck of the ship like a nest of ants, hiding their valuables and striving to avert some impending fate they could only guess at in their ignorance. As she came around her name could be clearly read on her stern, Pedro of Bilboa.

As soon as she was laid alongside, the Pedro was boarded by Ensign Frank Marble of the New York. Ensign Marble led a prize crew, consisting of a file of marines and seamen. With great formality the ensign swung aboard and assumed command. A burly, bare-footed American tar shoved the Spanish quartermaster away from the wheel and began to set the course of the Spaniard. The Spanish crew gathered in a terrified huddle near the forecastle and awaited developments.

Hardly had the prize crew been put on board before another freighter was seen going down the coast to the eastward. The New York, leaving the captured Spanish craft in charge of the prize crew, drew across the bows of the stranger and sent a shot into the water directly in front of her bows. She paid no attention to the challenge, but kept steadily on, and a few seconds later another shot was sent hurtling across the water in front of her. After this hostile demonstration she hauled up and soon followed the New York out to sea. It was discovered, however, that she flew the German flag, and consequently was permitted to proceed.

The prize crew from the New York took the captured vessel into port at Key West under its own steam. The ship was bound from Havana to Santiago with a valuable cargo of rice, iron and beer. On the same day two other captures were made, one by the torpedo boat Ericsson, which seized a fishing schooner under the very guns of Morro Castle and by the torpedo boat, Porter, which took the Spanish schooner, Mathilde, after a lively chase and a number of shots. Both of these prizes were taken to Key West to join their unfortunate friends.

EXCITEMENT IN HAVANA.

It was nearly five o'clock in the afternoon of that lucky Friday, when the semaphore by the lighthouse in Morro Castle signaled to the people of Havana that a fleet had been sighted. It was said to be without any colors to show its nationality. At that time La Punta, the fort on the side of the harbor opposite Morro Castle, was crowded with curious people, including many ladies. In addition, crowds of people could be seen at various points of vantage, many of them gathering on the roofs of houses. At 6 p.m. the semaphore signaled that it was the United States fleet which was in sight, and at 6:15 p.m. a red flag was run up at the signal station, warning guns were fired from Morro Castle, and afterward from Cabanas fortress, adjoining it. This caused excitement throughout the city, and was the first real note of war. When the first signal came from the semaphore station a British schooner which was in the harbor put to sea. She was immediately followed by the German steamer Remus. Some time afterward the American steamer Saratoga put to sea.

The cannon shots from the fortresses stirred up the regular troops and volunteers throughout Havana and its vicinity and there was a rush to quarters. The signal guns from the fortifications echoed to the palace and through the streets, causing people to rush from their houses, with the result that all the thoroughfares were soon crowded with excited inhabitants. Captain General Blanco heard the shots while at the palace, to which place the generals and commanders of the volunteers promptly reported, full of excitement and warlike enthusiasm. Some time afterward the Captain General, accompanied by his staff, the generals and others, left the palace and was warmly acclaimed by the soldiers and populace. The General then made a brief final inspection of the fortifications and went to a spot from which he could see the approaching fleet.

There was no sign of alarm anywhere. The Spaniards were confident that Havana was prepared for any eventuality, and they had great faith in the strength of their forts, batteries, etc., and in the effectiveness of their heavy artillery. In fact, there was a feeling of satisfaction at the warlike tremors which spread everywhere when it was seen that the hour of battle was apparently approaching and that the Spaniards were soon to give battle to their enemies.

As the time passed, more people crowded to the spot from which the fleets could be most favorably seen. By 8:30 p.m. there was a great movement of the masses through all the streets and on all the squares. The coffee-houses and clubs were crowded with excited people, discussing the arrival of the American war ships. The Spaniards expressed themselves as anxious to measure arms with the "invaders," and there was no expression of doubt as to the result. The civil and military authorities of Havana were in consultation at the palace, and every precaution possible to the Spaniards was taken to guard against a night surprise and to resist an attack if the bombardment commenced.

SPAIN'S DAYS OF GRACE EXPIRE.

When President McKinley sent his ultimatum to Spain, he indicated that it was to expire at noon on Saturday, April 23, and at that time the period allowed Spain to give up Cuba peacefully was ended. Spain, however, had not waited to take advantage of this time limit, but by her own preparations during the days that had passed, as well as by her diplomatic actions, had indicated plainly that war was to come. The action of Minister Polo in demanding his passport and leaving the United States, and the action of the Spanish government in ejecting Minister Woodford, were sufficient notifications of the policy which was to be pursued. It had been unnecessary, therefore, for the fleet to wait for a more explicit answer before investing Havana. Not until the expiration of the time allotted by President McKinley to Spain, did he take definite action which committed the country to a distinct war policy in advance of the declaration of war by Congress. But at noon on Saturday the President issued the following proclamation calling for 125,000 troops to serve two years if the war should last so long:

BY THE PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: A PROCLAMATION.

Whereas, by a joint resolution of Congress, approved the 22d of April, 1898, entitled "Joint resolution for the recognition of the independence of the people of Cuba, demanding that the government of Spain relinquish its authority and government in the island of Cuba, to withdraw its land and naval forces from Cuba and Cuban waters, and directing the President of the United States to use the land and naval forces of the United States to carry these resolutions into effect," and,

Whereas, by an act of Congress, entitled "An act to provide for the increasing of the military establishment of the United States in time of war and for other purposes," approved April 22, 1898, the President was authorized in order to raise a volunteer army to issue his proclamation calling for volunteers to serve in the army of the United States.

Now, therefore, I, William McKinley, President of the United States, by the power vested in me by the constitution and laws, and deeming sufficient occasion to exist, have thought fit to call for and hereby do call for volunteers to the aggregate number of 125,000, in order to carry into effect the purpose of the said resolution, the same to be apportioned, as far as practicable, among the several States and Territories and the District of Columbia, according to population, and to serve for two years unless sooner discharged. The details for this object will be immediately communicated to the proper authorities through the war department.

In witness whereof, I have hereunto set my hand, and caused the seal of the United States to be affixed.

Done at Washington this 23d day of April, 1898, and of the independence of the United States the one hundred and twenty-second.

By the President: WILLIAM McKINLEY.

JOHN SHERMAN, Secretary of State.

STATES BEGIN TO COLLECT THEIR TROOPS.

Although it was decided that formal notification to the Governors of the states of the call for volunteers should not be made until the following Monday, the first step was taken immediately after the signing of the proclamation, by the issuance of orders to the organized militia of the District of Columbia. Before dinner time the drums were beating and the roll was being called within sight and sound of the White House, and before night the drum beats were heard from the Atlantic to the Pacific and from the Gulf of Mexico to the Great Lakes.

There was no interruption in the sequence of captures by the American fleet around Havana, and two prizes of considerable value were added to the list. On Saturday the gunboat Helena took the big steamer Miguel Jover, a vessel of more than 2,000 tons, with a full cargo of cotton and staves on board. The prize was worth not less than $400,000. Friday night the Helena left Key West to follow the main fleet, but instead of sailing directly for Havana, turned westward toward the west end of the island of Cuba. The dark, cloudy night had barely broken to a brilliant Cuban sunrise, when the Helena saw smoke on the western horizon and gave chase.

It was soon evident that the quarry had sighted the hunter and was making a run for it. The freighter was no match in speed for the gunboat, however, and the Helena was soon near enough to fire a shot. Only one blank shot was required. The fugitive steamer shook out the Spanish flag and hove to. When the Helena came up the captain tried to talk Captain Swinburne out of his prize. He urged that he was from an American port, New Orleans, and knew nothing of a declaration of war. The talk did him no good. He was taken on board the Helena and a prize crew of a dozen sailors and sixteen marines, under Ensigns M. C. Davis and H. G. McFarland, was put aboard the Jover.

The first the fleet knew of the capture was when the Helena came steaming up with her prize and signaled the flagship. The other ships cheered and the Helena, started off for Key West, the Jover being worked by its own men, superintended by the prize crew.

VALUABLE PRIZE CAPTURED.

The most valuable prize yet taken was the transatlantic liner, Catalina, which was taken by the Detroit. The vessel's tonnage was 6,000, and with its general cargo the prize was considered worth nearly $600,000. The big ship was bound from New Orleans to Barcelona, via Havana, with a large general cargo. Twelve miles before making port the steamer was stopped by two shots, and a prize crew under Ensign H. H. Christy, consisting of sixteen men from the Detroit and New York, was put on board to take the vessel back to Key West.

In addition to these notable captures the torpedo boat, Porter, took the Spanish schooner, Antonio, laden with sugar for Havana, and the revenue cutter, Winona, added the Spanish steamer Saturnine to the list.

If it had not been for the excitement of taking occasional prizes, the blockading of Havana would have been dull business for the Jack Tars aboard the North Atlantic squadron. Saturday night they had to listen to the roar of the guns of Morro Castle and see the flashes of fire from their muzzles, without a reply from the fleet. Havana officials have declared that the discharge of those guns was only for signaling purposes and was not an attack on the fleet, but it would be difficult to make the sailors believe that Spanish marksmanship was not responsible for the fact that no balls fell near them.

SPAIN DECLARES WAR.

The Spanish government did not wait for further aggression on the part of the United States, but herself made the next formal move by issuing a declaration of the fact that war existed, and defining the conditions under which the Spanish government expected to carry on the conflict. This decree was gazetted in Madrid on Sunday, April 24, in the following terms:

Diplomatic relations are broken off between Spain and the United States, and the state of war having begun between the two countries numerous questions of international law arise which must be precisely defined chiefly because the injustice and provocation come from our adversaries and it is they who, by their detestable conduct, have caused this grave conflict.

We have observed with strictest fidelity the principles of international law and have shown the most scrupulous respect for morality and the right of government. There is an opinion that the fact that we have not adhered to the declaration of Paris does not exempt us from the duty of respecting the principles therein enunciated. The principle Spain unquestionably refused to admit then was the abolition of privateering. The government now considers it most indispensable to make absolute reserve on this point in order to maintain our liberty of action and uncontested right to have recourse to privateering when we consider it expedient, first by organizing immediately a force of cruisers auxiliary to the navy, which will be composed of vessels of our mercantile marine and with equal distinction in the work of our navy.

Clause 1—The state of war existing between Spain and the United States annuls the treaty of peace and amity of Oct. 27, 1795, and the protocol of Jan. 12, 1877, and all other agreements, treaties, or conventions in force between the two countries.

Clause 2—From the publication of these presents thirty days are granted to all ships of the United States anchored in our harbors to take their departure free of hindrance.

Clause 3—Notwithstanding that Spain has not adhered to the declaration of Paris the government, respecting the principles of the law of nations, proposes to observe, and hereby orders to be observed, the following regulations of maritime law:

1. Neutral flags cover the enemy's merchandise except contraband of war.

2. Neutral merchandise, except contraband of war, is not seizable under the enemy's flag.

3. A blockade to be obligatory must be effective—viz.: It must be maintained with sufficient force to prevent access to the enemy's littoral.

4. The Spanish government, upholding its right to grant letters of marque, will at present confine itself to organizing, with the vessels of the mercantile marine, a force of auxiliary cruisers which will cooperate with the navy according to the needs of the campaign and will be under naval control.

5. In order to capture the enemy's ships and confiscate the enemy's merchandise and contraband of war under whatever form, the auxiliary cruisers will exercise the right of search on the high seas and in the waters under the enemy's jurisdiction, in accordance with international law and the regulations which will be published.

6. Defines what is included in contraband of war, naming weapons, ammunition, equipments, engines, and, in general, all the appliances used in war.

7. To be regarded and judged as pirates with all the rigor of the law are captains, masters, officers, and two-thirds of the crews of vessels which, not being American, shall commit acts of war against Spain, even if provided with letters of marque issued by the United States.

Following is a summary of the more important of the five clauses outlining the rules Spain announced she would observe during the war:

THE UNITED STATES MAKES REPLY.

It took the House of Representatives just one minute and forty-one seconds on Monday to pass a declaration of war which replied to that of Spain. The Senate acted almost as promptly, and their respective presiding officers and the President of the United States signed the Act of Congress immediately, so that it became at once a law of the land. The declaration of war was passed by Congress in response to a message from the President requesting that action in the following terms:

TO THE SENATE AND HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES OF THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA:

I transmit to Congress for its consideration and appropriate action copies of correspondence recently had with the representative of Spain in the United States, with the United States Minister at Madrid, and through the latter with the government of Spain, showing the action taken under the joint resolution approved April 20, 1898, "for the recognition of the independence of the people of Cuba, demanding that the government of Spain relinquish its authority and government in the island of Cuba and to withdraw its land and naval forces from Cuba and Cuban waters, and directing the President of the United States to carry these resolutions into effect."

Upon communicating with the Spanish Minister in Washington the demand which it became the duty of the executive to address to the government of Spain, in obedience to said resolution, the said Minister asked for his passports and withdrew. The United States Minister at Madrid was in turn notified by the Spanish Minister for Foreign Affairs that the withdrawal of the Spanish representative from the United States had terminated diplomatic relations between the two countries, and that all official communications between their respective representatives ceased therewith.

I recommend to your special attention the note addressed to the United States Minister at Madrid by the Spanish Minister for Foreign Affairs on the 21st inst., whereby the foregoing notification was conveyed. It will be perceived therefrom that the government of Spain, having cognizance of the joint resolution of the United States Congress, and in view of things which the President is thereby required and authorized to do, responds by treating the representative demands of this government as measures of hostility, following with that instant and complete severance of relations by its action whereby the usage of nations accompanies an existent state of war between sovereign powers.

The position of Spain being thus made known, and the demands of the United States being denied, with a complete rupture of intercourse by the act of Spain, I have been constrained, in exercise of the power and authority conferred upon me by the joint resolution aforesaid, to proclaim, under date of April 22, 1898, a blockade of certain ports on the north coast of Cuba lying between Cardenas and Bahia Honda, and of the port of Cienfuegos on the south coast of Cuba; and further, in exercise of my constitutional powers, and using the authority conferred upon me by the act of Congress approved April 22, 1898, to issue my proclamation, dated April 23, 1898, calling for volunteers in order to carry into effect the said resolutions of April 20, 1898. Copies of these proclamations are hereto appended.

In view of the measures so taken, and with a view to the adoption of such other measures as may be necessary to enable me to carry out the expressed will of the Congress of the United States in the premises, I now recommend to your honorable body the adoption of a joint resolution declaring that a state of war exists between the United States of America and the Kingdom of Spain, and I urge speedy action thereon, to the end that the definition of the international status of the United States as a belligerent power may be made known, and the assertion of all its rights and the maintenance of all its duties in the conduct of a public war may be assured.

WILLIAM McKINLEY. Executive Mansion, Washington, April 25, 1898.

WAR IS DECLARED.

The formal declaration of war as passed by the houses of Congress was short and pointed, worthy of recollection as a model for such unpleasant documents. It read as follows:

A BILL DECLARING THAT WAR EXISTS BETWEEN THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA AND THE KINGDOM OF SPAIN.

Be it enacted, etc.:

First—That war be and the same is hereby declared to exist and that war has existed since the 21st day of April, A. D. 1898, including said day, between the United States of America and the Kingdom of Spain.

Second—That the President of the United States be, and he hereby is, directed and empowered to use the entire land and naval forces of the United States and to call into the actual service of the United States the militia of the several States to such extent as may be necessary to carry this act into effect.

Diplomacy was still taking a hand in the war. Spain was indignant at the attack on Spanish possessions and endeavored to arouse sympathy among her European neighbors. The Queen Regent addressed telegrams to all the sovereigns of Europe protesting against the vitiation of the rights of Spain by the United States, and declaring that her government was firmly resolved never to yield until crushed. This was a personal communication from one sovereign to her brother sovereigns of the continental kingdom. At the same time there was made public Spain's memorandum to all the European powers which was an official utterance of the Spanish ministry and signed by Senor Gullon, the Spanish Minister of Foreign Affairs.

The memorandum began by recording the "moral and material aid the Cuban rebels have received from the United States" in filibustering expeditions and the operations of the junta. It mentioned Spain's repeated and positive denials to the allegations of cruelty toward the Cubans, and laid great stress upon President Cleveland's dispatch of Dec. 7, 1896, to the effect that peace would be possible if Spain gave a sufficient autonomy to Cuba.

The memorandum contended that, in the face of the new liberal constitution granted Cuba, which "has already borne fruits," it was difficult to understand why President McKinley, in his message of Dec. 6, 1897, and General Woodford, in the note of Dec. 20, 1897, should still doubt Spain's loyalty.

The document then spoke at some length of the Maine accident, and asserted that the Americans, under the pretext of the extra territoriality of the vessel, never allowed the Spanish authorities to visit the wreck for purposes of investigation; and it most solemnly asserted the absolute innocence of Spanish officials and of Spanish subjects generally.

The fairness and loyalty of Spain were then shown by a reference to the equitable treatment which American filibusters, more especially those of the Competitor, received at the hands of Spain, and in order to show more fully how pacific and correct have been the attitude of the Spanish government the memorandum enumerated the four clauses of the Spanish proposals. They were:

PROPOSALS OF SPAIN.

1. An offer to submit all questions arising from the Maine affair to arbitration.

2. An order to Governor-General Blanco to retire into the western provinces and to apply 3,000,000 pesetas for the relief of the agricultural population, with an acceptance by the Spanish government of relief for Cubans sent by the United States, provided such relief were sent in merchant vessels.

3. The co-operation of the Cuban parliament in formulating the extent of the powers to be reserved for the central government.

4. In view of the Cuban parliament not meeting before May 4, the proclamation of an immediate armistice.

The memorandum proceeded to declare that the United States had not accepted even these far-reaching concessions, and that the good offices of the pope had been equally unavailing. It asserted that the Maine accident was used by political parties in America as a means of hurling "most gratuitous and intolerable calumnies at the Spanish government," and yet, the document said, Mr. Olney, in an official note dated April 4, 1896, to the Spanish minister in Washington, himself expressed very serious apprehensions lest the only existing bond of union in Cuba should disappear in the event of Spain withdrawing from that island. Mr. Olney, as the memorandum argued, feared at that time that a war of races would ensue, all the more sanguinary in proportion to the experience and discipline acquired during the insurrection, and that two republics would at once be formed—one white, the other black—the upshot being that one of the two would swallow the other.

The grave view thus taken by Mr. Olney of the future of Cuba freed from Spain's rule was then enlarged upon, and inevitable racial wars were foreshadowed, which were "certain to wreck the existence of Cuba as a state, should Spain be deprived of sovereignty" over the island. Thus, being convinced, as Spain was, that right and equity are on her side "she will not and cannot surrender her sovereignty in Cuba."

TROUBLE FOR SPAIN AT HOME.

Spain's embarrassments at home were multiplying, and threatening danger only less than that from the hostilities of the United States. Twenty thousand republicans of all shades of opinion in Madrid signed and addressed to Senor Castelar, the republican leader, under the pretext of congratulating him upon his recovery from recent sickness, but in reality offering him their services if he would proclaim a republic.

At the same time Don Carlos, the pretender to the Spanish throne, was a disturbing element, threatening a revolution against the present dynasty if an opportunity were to offer.

During all these complications, which included at one time even a threat that the Spanish ministry would resign, there was no discordant note of any sort in the United States. Secretary of State John Sherman and Postmaster General Gary resigned from President McKinley's cabinet because of ill health, in order that the government might be in no way handicapped during the time of emergency. Secretary Sherman was succeeded by Assistant Secretary Judge William R. Day of Canton, Ohio, who had displayed remarkable aptitude for the office during his term of service, while Mr. Gary's successor was the Honorable Charles Emory Smith, of Philadelphia, a newspaper editor and formerly ambassador to Russia.

ALONG THE CUBAN COAST.

It was the torpedo boats which kept things exciting during the early blockade of Cuban ports. They are like hornets, which travel faster than anything that tries to escape them, sting when they strike, and vanish in an instant. Two of these brisk fighters distinguished themselves on Sunday, while the diplomats were busy in the cabinets of the world. The torpedo boat Porter, which is as fleet as an express train, has a dare-devil crew and an intrepid commander with an honored name. He is Lieutenant John C. Fremont, a son of the famous "Pathfinder," who himself never hesitated to lead the way, whether in wilderness exploration or any other duty that came before him.

Lieutenant Fremont, with the Porter, made a landing on the north coast of Cuba with a small force of his men, in search of certain information which was desired by Admiral Sampson for the guidance of his plans. It was a dangerous undertaking, for the squad might have been wiped out in spite of their readiness to fight, if they had stumbled upon Spanish troops. None were met, however, the journey was made in safety, and the landing party returned to the fleet in triumph with the distinction of being the first actual invaders of the Cuban soil in this warfare.

Earlier in the same day the torpedo boat Foote, in command of Lieutenant W. L. Rogers, was directed to take soundings of the approach to the harbor of Matanzas, an important city on the north coast of Cuba fifty miles east of Havana. The Foote drew the first fire definitely known to be directed against the blockading squadron. The little scout was taking soundings within three hundred yards of shore, when a Spanish masked battery on the east side of the harbor, commanding the entrance, fired three shots in quick succession. They all went wide of the mark, striking the water nearly a quarter of a mile away from the boat. The officers and men were momentarily startled by the volley, and then continued their observation. The cruiser Cincinnati, which was not far away, was hailed by the torpedo boat and Lieutenant Rogers reported his experience. The orders of Captain Chester, in command of the Cincinnati, did not permit him to shell Matanzas, so the fire from the masked battery was not returned.

THE CALL TO ARMS.

It was on Monday, the 25th of April, that the national authorities notified the governors of each state that they would be expected to furnish volunteers for our war with Spain. The response was immediate. In every state of the Union the call to arms was heard with delight and troops gathered at their armories for prompt enlistment. The speed and facility with which a trained and efficient army could be mobilized was an amazement to those who had not been familiar with the details of the organization of the National Guard of America. Within twenty-four hours after the receipt of the order, thousands of troops were moving to the state encampments where they had been directed to gather. Illinois was an example of this promptness, in sending nearly 5,000 men out of Chicago without delay, but this was no more notable than the record made by many other states in every part of the Union. The cheers and the blessings of hundreds of thousands of loyal citizens stimulated those who were to go to the front with the banner of freedom, and they realized that they were representing the sentiment of a united nation.

Those days near the end of April were exciting times. The whole nation was keyed up to a nervous tension of anxiety to know what would be the next event recorded on land or sea. The armies of the United States were preparing for the struggle, the coast defenses were brought to completion, and the government was ready for any emergency that might arise. Admiral Sampson's splendid North Atlantic squadron was blockading the ports of Cuba. Admiral Schley, with the flying squadron at Hampton Roads, was ready for prompt action in any direction where it might be effective, whether to protect the Atlantic coast cities from a threatened assault by Spanish warships, or to descend upon the Spanish fleet for a naval battle.

Admiral Dewey with the Asiatic squadron had been driven out of Hong Kong by application of the neutrality laws, and international obligations might embarrass him unless he took the aggressive, and made for himself a base of supplies in the Philippine Islands. It was expected every day that he would make an assault upon Manila, the capital of the Philippines, and that the first naval engagement of consequence in the war would be with the Spanish fleet in those waters. No one doubted that the Asiatic squadron would be able to give a good account of itself, although the fleet which was to oppose it did not lack efficient guns and fighting strength.

The capture of that valuable Spanish colony, in which rebellion against the government was in progress, would be not only a severe blow to the Spanish arms, but would also strengthen the position of the United States in the Orient by the capture of large supplies of coal and naval equipment, as well as a splendid base of operations.

But while these preparations were going on for the conflict which was destined to cost Spain her possessions in the western world, there were a few individuals who were still making desperate efforts to induce the administration at Washington to effect a compromise at any cost. Not even the actual declaration of war, and the call for volunteers, could bring the members of this peace-at-any-price party to a realization of the fact that patience has ceased to be a virtue, that we could no longer turn a deaf ear to the appeals of an oppressed people, and that the brave men who went down with the Maine must be avenged.

Every true American felt that the hour had come when we must defend the honor of our great nation, and it was evident to all that the time was near at hand when actual warfare was to begin both on land and sea.

The insurgents in Cuba, who have been struggling against almost overwhelming odds for so many months, received the glad tidings of American intervention with unbounded joy, and at once sent representatives to the United States to arrange for co-operation in the invasion of Cuba, and to assist in planning a systematic campaign against the Spanish forces. Every arrangement was completed for final action and with men and money, munitions of war and ships, all in ample supply, it was evident that the crucial test was soon to come, and that war was at last an actual fact.

CHAPTER II.

HOW COLUMBUS FOUND THE "PEARL OF THE ANTILLES."

In gratitude of Spain to the Great Discoverer Who Gave Her a New World—How Spain's Evil Colonial Policy Lost the Western Hemisphere to That Obsolete Nation—Early Settlement of Cuba— Character of the Natives at the Time of the Discovery—Founding of the First Cities—Havana Becomes the Island Capital—Docility of the Natives and Their Extermination by Spanish Oppressors.

Cuba and Columbus are names inseparably connected. This largest and most fruitful island of the Spanish Main was discovered by the great navigator himself on the 28th day of October, 1492, only a short time after his first landing upon the soil of the western hemisphere on the island of San Salvador. There is a sentimental association to Americans in the thought that the discovery of our own continent was due to the pioneer expeditions sent from Spain. But any regret in one's mind that animosities have risen between the two nations, may be mollified by the memory that Columbus was himself an Italian, that it had required years of his efforts to induce sufficient interest on the part of Spanish monarchs to father his undertaking, and that his life in the service of Spain was marred by the basest ingratitude on the part of those whom he had served.

Upon the handsome monument erected to the memory of Columbus in
Seville by Ferdinand and Isabella, is the simple inscription, "A
Castile y Leon, nuevo mundo dio Colon"—"to Castile and Leon,
Columbus gave a new world."

This was the tardy recognition granted to the discoverer by those to whom he had made the marvelous gift. Recognition had been denied him in his life, except after years of persistent urging, second only to those years he wasted in his effort to arouse Spanish interest and enterprise. Once he was removed from his West Indian governorship and returned to Spain in chains. The titles and honors which had been promised him before, were denied after he had earned them. He was a victim of foul ingratitude, and no American need permit sentiment to blind him for the sake of Columbus.

The splendid new world which Columbus gave to Spain, was the most marvelous addition of territory that has ever come into the possession of any nation upon earth. It included the whole of South America, except Brazil, which was acquired by Portugal, and the small colonies known as British, Dutch and French Guiana. It included the whole of Central America and Mexico. It included the whole of what is now the United States west of the Mississippi river. It included the whole of the coast of the Gulf of Mexico and the peninsula of Florida to the southern limit of Alabama and Georgia, and except for a few scattered islands, it included every foot of land in the Gulf of Mexico and the Caribbean sea, all the coral rocks, as well as the greater islands of the West Indies and the Antilles. To-day not a foot of all that enormous possession remains to Spain undisputed, except the islands of Cuba and Puerto Rico. These hundreds of thousands of square miles are inhabited by a free and peaceful people, most of them as republics, and the few exceptions under civilized and liberal colonial policies. Spain's hold on Cuba has vanished and Puerto Rico is slipping away. Spain could not preserve the gifts of Columbus.

SPAINS COLONIAL POLICIES.

The logic of events and the progress of civilization have commanded that Spain should withdraw from her possessions in the western hemisphere. Never has there been such a record of ferocity and barbarity in conquest, as that which blackens the pages of Spanish history in connection with Spain's acquisition and subjection of her newly discovered territories. Whether it was the peaceful Indians of the Antilles, the highly civilized Aztecs of Mexico, or the Incas of Peru, the policy pursued was always the same. First, treacherous friendship, then robbery and massacre, then slavery, and finally extermination, was the unvarying programme. And so, instead of winning favor and loyalty with their consequent happiness and prosperity from the native tribes, Spanish conquerors implanted in the possessors of the country an over-mastering and ineradicable hatred, which grew with association, until in colony after colony the bonds were burst by violence.

When Great Britain lost her American colonies by reason of her misgovernment and oppression of them, it was a lesson which her people never forgot. From that day, the colonial policy of the British government was altered, and the spirit of liberality and generosity began to dominate. To-day, every colony of Great Britain that enjoys representative government—Canada, Australia, Cape Colony and many others, owes to the United States the liberty which Great Britain grants.

But Spain could learn no such lessons. Her cruelty and misgovernment aroused colony after colony to rebellion ending in freedom, but her policies remained unaltered. One by one possessions of fabulous wealth dropped away until at last this old crone of nations has been left to shiver alone by her fireside, abandoned in her misery by all the children whose memory of her is nothing but that of vicious cruelty. The only pity to which Spain is entitled, is the pity that is due for her ignorance and her mistakes, not pity for the penalties that these have brought upon her.

Spain was once the intellectual leader of the world, as well as the pioneer of discovery. Spanish universities were centers of learning long before northern Europe had its intellectual birth. Spanish mariners sailed every sea and Spanish adventurers explored every land. If learning and advancement bring obligations, as they are admitted to do, it was Spain's obligation to be a leader in strife for liberty of mind and body, but the two most notable things in her history are the Spanish inquisition against freedom of thought, and the Spanish ferocities which enslaved a new world for many a year. Now she has reaped the harvest of her own misdeeds.

THE EARLY SETTLEMENT OF CUBA.

Every one knows that Columbus was not looking for a western hemisphere, but for the Orient, and that when he found Cuba he believed he had reached the East Indies and the islands of gold and spice which had been reported from that mysterious land. His first island discoveries he believed to be the outlying portions of that eastern archipelago and when the natives told him of a greater land near by, which he reached a few days later, he believed that at last he had reached Cipango, as Japan then was called.

The first name given to the island was Juana, in honor of Prince Juan, the son of Ferdinand and Isabella of Aragon and Castile. After Ferdinand's death, in his honor the name was changed to Fernandina. Still later it received the name of Santiago, as a mark of reverence for the patron saint of Spain, and another change was made a few years afterward, when the inhabitants, as a proof of their piety, called it Ave Maria, in honor of the Holy Virgin. In spite of all this effort at establishing a Spanish name, the original Indian name of Cuba, which it bore when the great navigator first landed on its shores, has asserted itself triumphantly through all the centuries and is now ineradicable.

According to the accounts given by Spanish writers who were contemporary with the discovery, and the century immediately following, the aboriginal inhabitants of Cuba were a generous, gentle, hospitable people, by no means energetic, but heartily cordial and courteous to the strangers who reached their shores. The mildness of their climate did not stimulate them to much activity in cultivation of the soil, because tropical fruits and vegetables came with scarcely an effort on the part of the natives. Their implements and utensils were crude and their life simple.

The system of government was by no means complicated. The island was divided into nine independent principalities, each under a Cacique, all living in harmony, and warfare being almost unknown. Their religion was a peaceful one, without human sacrifices or cannibalism, but the priests had great power through their pretense of influence with spirits good and evil.

Of all the people discovered by the Spanish in their colonization of the western hemisphere, the Cubans were the most tractable to the influences of Christianity so far as their willingness to accept the doctrines was concerned. Christianity, as practiced by the Spanish conquerors, was scarcely that of the highest type of the faith, and the inducements to accept it were somewhat violent. Nevertheless it must be noted that it is from Spanish sources this testimony as to the docility of the Cuban natives comes. Under these circumstances it becomes a magnified crime that the Spanish conquerors absolutely exterminated the hundreds of thousands of native Cubans whom they found at the time of the discovery, and that within little more than a century, there was absolutely not a trace of native stock to be found anywhere in the island.

When Columbus first rested his eyes on the island of Cuba it seemed to him an enchanted land. He was charmed with its lofty mountains, its beautiful rivers, and its blossoming groves, and in his account of the voyage he said: "Everything is green as April in Andalusia. The singing of the birds is such that it seems as if one would never desire to depart. There are flocks of parrots that obscure the sun. There are trees of a thousand species, each having its particular fruit, and all of marvelous flavor."

Columbus was first of the opinion that he had found an island, but after following the shores for many miles he concluded that it was a continent. He retained the latter belief until his death, for it was not until 1508 that the island was circumnavigated, when it was discovered that it was of about the same area as England. In a subsequent expedition he reached the coast of South America, but he had no appreciation of the magnitude of that continent, and to him Cuba was the grandest of his discoveries in the New World.

Cuba was twice visited by Columbus after its discovery, in April, 1494, and again in 1502, and these visits but confirmed his first opinion regarding the salubrity of the climate and the wealth of the soil. His sailors wrested from the natives large sums of gold and silver, and this led to the mistaken belief that mines of great richness were within their grasp.

SPAIN'S HEARTLESS TREATMENT OF COLUMBUS.

Biography furnishes no parallel to the life of Columbus. Great men there have been who have met with injustice and disappointments, but there is perhaps no other instance of a man whom disappointments and injustice did not dishearten and disgust; who had his greatness recognized in his lifetime, and yet was robbed of the rewards that it entitled him to.

It is probable that before his death Columbus confided his belief in the wealth to be found in Cuba to his son Diego Columbus, for in 1511 the latter fitted out an expedition for the purpose of colonizing the island. This company consisted of about 300 men, under Diego Velasquez, who had accompanied the great explorer on his second voyage. The first settlement was made at Baracoa, in the extreme eastern section, and this village was regarded as the capital of the colony for several years. In the meantime extensive settlements had been made by the Spaniards in the island of Jamaica, and in 1514 the towns of Santiago and Trinidad were founded on the southern coast of Cuba, in order that the inhabitants of the two colonies might be brought into closer communication. As immigration increased, other towns of importance sprung up, and the island became the base for the various operations against Mexico. Baracoa grew largely in population, and the towns of Puerto Principe and Sancti Espiritus were established in the central section, and San Juan de los Remedios on the north coast. In July, 1515, the city of San Cristobal de la Habana was planted, deriving its name from the great Discoverer, but this name was transferred in 1519 to the present capital, and the original town was called Batabano.

In 1518 the capital was fixed at Baracoa, which had by this time become a city of considerable importance, and the diocese of the colony. In 1522 both the seat of government and the bishopric were removed to Santiago de Cuba. In 1538 Havana was reduced to ashes by a French privateer; and to prevent a similar disaster in future, the Castillo de la Fuerza, a fortress which still exists, was built by Fernando de Soto, governor of Cuba, and afterwards famous for his explorations in the southern and western portions of North America, as well as for the discovery of the Mississippi.

Using a modern expression, this great fortress, added to her almost perfect harbor, gave Havana a wonderful "boom," and the city experienced a remarkable growth. The Spanish merchantmen were actively employed in carrying the wealth of Mexico to the Peninsula, and Havana was a convenient port for them to secure supplies of provisions and water. In 1549 Gonzales Perez de Angulo was appointed governor of the island, and he was so impressed with the beauties of the city, that he chose it as his residence. Several of his successors followed his example, and in 1589 it was legally made the capital of Cuba.

EARLY GOVERNMENT OF CUBA.

The early records of the island were kept in so imperfect a manner that it is not possible to give an accurate account of the early governors and their lieutenants. It is certain, however, that the seat of government was at Santiago de Cuba, and that Havana and other towns of minor importance were ruled by lieutenants. In 1538, Hernando de Soto, adelantado of Florida, and also governor of Cuba, landed at Santiago, and remained a few days before proceeding to the mainland. On his departure he left the government of the island in charge of a lady, Dona Isabel de Bobadilla, and gave her for a colleague Don Juan de Rojas, who had at one time been lieutenant governor of Havana. It is from this date that the gradual transference of the seat of power from Santiago to Havana may be said to have arisen.

Don Antonio de Chavez assumed the government in 1547, and he it was who gave Havana its first regular supply of water, bringing it a distance of about six miles from the river Chorrera.

The early settlers devoted themselves principally to the raising of cattle, paying very little attention to agricultural pursuits, or in fact to any means of livelihood that called for manual labor. Much time and money was wasted in explorations for gold and silver, but these were invariably unsuccessful, for while the precious metals have occasionally been found in the island, the quantity has never been sufficient to repay the labor of the search.

A LETTER WRITTEN BY COLUMBUS.

Nothing more interesting for the conclusion of this chapter can be offered than Columbus' own account of his first view of the island of Cuba. It is as follows

"When I reached Juana, I followed its coast to the westward, and found it so large that I thought it must be mainland, the province of Cathay; and as I found neither towns nor villages on the sea coast, but only some hamlets, with the inhabitants of which I could not hold conversation, because they all immediately fled, I kept on the same route, thinking that I could not fail to light upon some large cities or towns. At length, after the proceeding of many leagues, and finding that nothing new presented itself, and that the coast was leading me northwards (which I wished to avoid, because the winter had already set in, and it was my intention to move southwards; and because moreover the winds were contrary), I resolved not to wait for a change in the weather, but to return to a certain harbor which I had remarked, and from which I sent two men ashore to ascertain whether there was any king or large cities in that part. They journeyed for three days, and found countless small hamlets, with numberless inhabitants, but with nothing like order; they therefore returned. In the meantime I had learned from some other Indians, whom I had seized, that this land was certainly an island; accordingly, I followed the coast eastward for a distance of 107 leagues, where it ended in a cape. From this cape I saw another island to the eastward, at a distance of eighteen leagues from the former, to which I gave the name of La Espanola. Thither I went and followed its northern coast, (just the same as I had done with the coast of Juana), 118 full miles due east. This island, like all others, is extraordinarily large, and this one extremely so. In it are many seaports, with which none that I know in Christendom can bear comparison, so good and capacious that it is a wonder to see. The lands are high, and there are many lofty mountains, with which the islands of Tenerife cannot be compared. They are all most beautiful, of a thousand different shapes, accessible, and covered with trees of a thousand kinds, of such great height that they seem to reach the skies. I am told that the trees never lose their foliage, and I can well understand it, for I observed that they were as green and luxuriant as in Spain in the month of May. Some were in bloom, others bearing fruit, and others otherwise, according to their nature. The nightingale was singing, as well as other little birds of a thousand different kinds, and that in November, the month in which I was roaming amongst them. There are palm trees of six or eight kinds, wonderful in their beautiful variety; but this is the case with all other trees and fruits and grasses. It contains extraordinary pine groves and very extensive plains. There is also honey and a great variety of birds, and many different kinds of fruits. In the interior there are many mines of metals, and a population innumerable."

CHAPTER III.

SPAIN'S BLACK HISTORICAL RECORD.

Present Men of Prominence Are Types of Those Who Were Infamous
Years Ago—Roman Rule in Spain—Weakness of Spanish Power of
Resistance—Discoveries in America—Horrors of the Inquisition—
Spanish Rule in Holland—Expulsion of the Moors—Loss of American
Colonies—Later History of Spain.

The signal fact that will present itself to the student of Spanish history is that from the earliest times the country has been in a continual state of conflict, internal, with its colonies, and with other nations; and seldom has it been a war of defense. In almost every instance Spain has been the aggressor. The Spaniard has ever been perfidious, avaricious, ferocious. In his veins still flows the blood of Ferdinand, of Torquemada, and of Philip II. Weyler is a prototype of Alva, and in Blanco we find another Antonio de Mendoza. Spain is the China of modern Europe. Her spirit is still the spirit of the inquisition. Her policy is not to conciliate, but to coerce; not to treat justly, but to rob and enslave; and her dependence is the ignorance and superstition of her people.

All reforms wrung from rulers must first be baptized in blood, and it is possible that the end of the present century may see a new nation, built on the ruins of the old, which will be a credit to civilization, instead of a disgrace.

ROMAN RULE IN SPAIN.

Prior to the first war between Rome and Carthage, which ended 241 BC, there is little or no authentic information regarding the history of the country now known to the world as Spain. To the ancients it was a land of mystery and enchantment, the home of the setting sun; and Iberia, as they called it, was but a name for an indefinite extent of territory in the far west, peopled by barbarous Celts and Iberians, with a few Phoenician settlements, for the purposes of trade, on its southern coasts.

At the close of the first Punic war, Hamilcar Barca, at the head of a Carthaginian host, crossed the strait of Gibraltar and commenced the conquest which his son Hannibal completed, and which resulted in the undisputed supremacy of Carthage throughout almost all of Spain. This brings us to 218 B. C. and marks the beginning of the second Punic war, when the Roman legions first entered Spain. After a struggle which lasted for thirteen years the Carthaginians were completely routed, and the country was conquered by the arms of Rome. It was many years, however, before the inhabitants were really subdued, but eventually they became more completely Romanized than any province beyond the limits of Italy. When brought under the iron rule of the Empire they were forced to desist from the intestinal wars in which it had been their habit to indulge, and adopting the language, laws and manners of their conquerors, they devoted themselves to industrial pursuits, and increased remarkably both in wealth and numbers. Their fertile fields formed for a considerable time the granary of Rome, and from the metal-veined mountains an immense amount of gold and silver flowed into Roman coffers. However, these were not voluntary offerings of the natives. They were compelled to labor in the mines for the benefit of strangers, and thus Spain, in the early ages, was the type of Spanish America in the fifteenth and succeeding centuries, with the difference that in the first case the Spaniards were the slaves, and in the second they were the slave-holders.

For more than 300 years Spain remained under Roman rule, until in 409 AD, hordes of barbarians crossed the Pyrenees and swept over the Peninsula. Suevi, Alani and Vandals ravaged with equal fury the cities and the open country, and brought the inhabitants to the lowest depths of misery. They were finally subjugated by a Visigothic host, and in 415, Walia, a war-like and ambitious chief, established the West-Gothic kingdom in Spain, on the ruins of the old Roman province. Walia concluded a treaty with the Emperor Honorius, and, putting himself at the head of the brave Goths, in a three-years' war he destroyed or drove the barbarians from the land. Spain, thus reconquered, was nominally subject to Rome, but soon became really independent, and began to be the seat of a Christian civilization. This West-Gothic kingdom lasted for about three centuries, from 418 to 711, when it fell before the Moorish invasion.

WEAKNESS OF SPANISH POWERS OF RESISTANCE.

Few things in history are more remarkable than the ease with which Spain, a country naturally fitted for defense, was subdued by a mere handful of invaders. The misgovernment of the Visigoths, the internal factions and jealousies, and the discontent of numerous classes, notably the Jews, co-operated to facilitate the conquest and to weaken the power of resistance. These conquerors were of the Mohammedan faith, but while they were united by religion, they were of different races. Besides the Moors there were the Arabs, the Egyptians and the Syrians, and when the task of conquest was achieved, and the need for unity removed, quarrels arose between them. So difficult was it to prevent these quarrels, that it was found necessary to subdivide the conquered territory, and to allot separate settlements to the different tribes.

During the period of Moorish domination a number of small independent kingdoms were formed in opposition to Moslem rule. These comprised Castile, Leon, Navarre and Aragon, and sometimes separately, sometimes in combination, they were in constant war with the common enemy. The age of the great crusades came, and all Christendom was absorbed in the struggle against the infidel, both in the East and West. Spain, like Palestine, had its crusading orders, which vied with the Templars and the Hospitallers both in wealth and military distinction. The decisive battle was fought in July, 1212, when the combined forces of Castile, Leon, Navarre, Aragon and Portugal met the Mohammedan army, and gained the most celebrated victory ever obtained by the Christians over their Moslem foes, the latter losing, according to the account transmitted to the pope, 100,000 killed and 50,000 prisoners. The king of Grenada was speedily forced to become a vassal of Castile, and from this period all danger from Moorish rule was over.

Following this time until the different kingdoms became as one, there is nothing in their history deserving a detailed account. The history of Spain as a united state dates from the union of Castile and Aragon by the marriage of Isabella and Ferdinand, the respective rulers of those kingdoms, in 1469. Grenada, the last remaining possession of the Moors, fell before the Spanish forces in 1492, and Navarre was acquired in 1512.

DISCOVERIES IN AMERICA.

The year 1492, during the reign of Ferdinand and Isabella, witnessed the discovery of America. Spain had become consolidated into one empire from the Pyrenees to the strait of Gibraltar, and civil wars were at an end. Maritime exploration was the task of the age, and under the patronage of Isabella, Columbus planted the flag of Spain in the West Indies. This grand achievement led to the opening of a splendid continent, teeming with riches, for Spanish adventure and despoliation. In 1498, Columbus landed on the continent of South America, and in a few years the entire western coast was explored by subsequent adventurers. In 1512, Ponce de Leon discovered Florida, and the following year, Balboa crossed the Isthmus of Darien, and gazed for the first time upon the Pacific.

The history of Spain, in connection with its discovery and settlement of the New World, is one long record of revolting crime. New England was settled by a people who came to turn the wilderness into a city, but the Spanish invaders went to the southern shores to turn the cities of the natives into a wilderness. In Mexico and Peru they found a civilization the equal and in many respects the superior of their own. With cross and sword in hand, in the name of religion, but with the lust for gold in their hearts, their coming was invariably a signal for every kind of attack that malignity could devise or avarice invent. Wherever they went, desolation followed them. They looted the towns, pillaged the cities, murdered the people; they burned alike the hovels of the poor, and the palaces of the rich.

The value of the treasure that Spain secured from Mexico and Peru never can be known accurately; but it is certain that within sixty years from the time of the landing of Columbus she had advanced to the position of the richest and most powerful nation in Europe. Victorious in Africa and Italy, Philip II, who was then the reigning monarch, carried war into France, and ruled in Germany, as well as in those provinces now known as Belgium and Holland. The money necessary to carry on these vast wars of conquest was undoubtedly acquired in the New World. When Cortez approached the palace of Montezuma, the King's messengers met him, bearing presents from their lord. These gifts included 200 pounds of gold for the commander, and two pounds of gold for each of his army. Prescott, in his "Conquest of Peru," says that when the Spanish soldiers captured the capital of that country they spent days in melting down the golden vessels which they found in temples and palaces. On one voyage a single ship carried to Spain $15,500,000 in gold, besides vast treasures of silver and jewels.

THE HORRORS OF THE INQUISITION.

The Inquisition was a tribunal in the Roman Catholic church for the discovery, repression and punishment of heresy and unbelief. It originated in Rome when Christianity was established as the religion of the Empire, but its history in Spain and her dependencies has absorbed almost entirely the real interest in the painful subject.

As an ordinary tribunal, similar to those of other countries, it had existed there from an early period. Its functions, however, in those times were little more than nominal; but early in the reign of Ferdinand and Isabella, on account of the alleged discovery of a plot among the Jews to overthrow the government, an application was made to the Pope to permit its re-organization. But in reviving the tribunal, the Crown assumed to itself the right of appointing the inquisitors, and of controlling their entire action. For this reason Catholic writers regard the Spanish inquisition as a state tribunal, and refer to the bull of the Pope, Sixtus IV., protesting against it. Notwithstanding this protest, however, the Spanish Crown maintained its assumption. Inquisitors were appointed, and in 1483 the tribunal commenced its terrible career, under Thomas de Torquemada.

The inquisition arrested on suspicion, tortured for confession, and then punished with fire. One witness brought the victim to the rack, two to the flames. The prisoner was not confronted with his accuser, nor were their names ever made known to him. The court was held in a gloomy dungeon at midnight, a dim light gleamed from smoking torches, and the grand inquisitor, enveloped in a black robe, glared at his victim through holes cut in the hood. Before the examination, the accused, whether man, maid or matron, was stripped and stretched upon the rack, where tendons could be strained without cracking, bones crushed without breaking and the body tortured without dying.

When the prisoner was found guilty, his tongue was cut out, so that he could neither speak nor swallow. On the morning of the execution a breakfast of rare delicacies was placed before the sufferer, and with ironical invitation he was urged to enjoy his last repast. Then the prisoner was led to the funeral pyre, where an address was given, lauding the inquisition, condemning heresy, and commanding obedience to the Pope and the Emperor. Then, while hymns were sung, blazing fagots were piled about the victim, until his body was reduced to a heap of ashes.

Some conception of the appalling cruelty of the inquisition under Torquemada may be formed from the statement that during the sixteen years of his tenure of office nearly 10,000 persons were condemned to the flames, and the property of 97,000 others was confiscated.

SPANISH RULE IN HOLLAND.

Horrible as the atrocities of the inquisition were in the mother country, it is doubtful if they ever reached the acme of savage cruelty that they attained during the period when Spain was seeking to strengthen the fetters with which she nominally held Holland in her grasp. The Spanish government, from the time when it first acquired a place among nations, has never been satisfied with a reasonable tribute from its dependencies. Its plan ever has been to exact all, and leave nothing to supply more than a miserable existence. So it was in the middle of the sixteenth century, when Philip II., greedy of the treasures of Holland, determined to spoil them of their wealth, and planned to establish the inquisition among them by the sword.

The duke of Alva, already famous for his harshness and bigotry, was named commander of the forces, with almost unlimited powers. He entered the Netherlands with about 20,000 tried troops, ready for cruelties, and all hopes of peace or mercy fled before them. There was a great and desperate exodus of the inhabitants; thousands took refuge in England, Denmark and Germany, and despair and helplessness alone remained to greet the cold Spaniard and his train of orthodox executioners. The Council of Troubles—the "Blood-tribunal"—was immediately established, and the land was filled with blood. In a short time he totally annihilated every privilege of the people, and with unrelenting cruelty put multitudes of them to death.

The more the peasants rebelled, the crueler were the methods of Alva. Men were tortured, beheaded, roasted before slow fires, pinched to death with hot tongs, broken on the wheel, flayed alive. On one occasion the skins of leaders were stripped from their living bodies, and stretched upon drums for beating the funeral march of brethren to the gallows. During the course of six years Alva brought charges of heresy and treason against 30,000 inhabitants, and made the infamous boast that, in addition to the multitudes killed in battle and massacred after victory, he had consigned 18,000 persons to the executioner.

This unholy war with the Netherlands lasted with occasional cessations of hostilities for eighty years, and during its progress Spain buried 350,000 of her sons and allies in Holland, spent untold millions in the attempted destruction of freedom, and sunk from the first power in Europe, an empire whose proud boast it had been that upon her possessions the sun never set, to the level of a fourth-rate country, cruel in government, superstitious in religion, and ever an enemy to progress.

EXPULSION OF THE MOORS.

In addition to the terrible drain upon the country from losses in war, the expulsion of the Jews and the Moors was productive of the direst results. In 1609 all the Moriscoes were ordered to depart from the Peninsula within three days. The penalty of death was declared against all who failed to obey, and against any Christians who should shelter the recalcitrant. The edict was obeyed, but it was a blow from which Spain never recovered. The Moriscoes were the back-bone of the industrial population, not only in trade and manufactures, but also in agriculture. The haughty and indolent Spaniards had willingly left what they considered degrading employment to their inferiors. The Moors had introduced into Spain the cultivation of sugar, cotton, rice and silk. In manufactures and commerce they had shown superiority to the Christian inhabitants, and many of their products were eagerly sought for by other countries. All these advantages were sacrificed to an insane desire for religious unity.

The reigns of Philip III. and Philip IV. witnessed a fearful acceleration in the decline of Spain by the contests with the Dutch and with the German Protestants in the Thirty Years' War, the wars with France, and the rebellion of Portugal in 1640, which had been united to Spain by Philip II. The reign of Charles II. was still more unfortunate, and his death was the occasion of the war of the Spanish succession.

Under Charles III. (1759-1788), a wise and enlightened prince, the second great revival of the country commenced, and trade and commerce began to show signs of returning activity. Previous to his accession to the throne, Spain appeared to be a corpse, over which the powers of Europe could contend at will. Suddenly men were astounded to see that country rise with renewed vigor to play once more an important part on the international stage. Commerce and agriculture were developed, native manufactures were encouraged in every way possible, and an attempt was made to remove all prejudices against trade, among the nobles. Meritorious as these reforms were, it would give a false impression to represent them as wholly successful. The regeneration of Spain was by no means accomplished, and many of the abuses which had been growing for centuries, survived the attempt to effect their annihilation. One of the chief causes of this failure was the corruption and ignorance of the lower officials; and a large portion of the population remained, to a great extent, sunk in sloth and superstition, in spite of all that was done in their behalf.

During the inglorious reign of Charles IV. (1788-1808), who left the management, of affairs in the hands of the incapable Godoy, (at once the queen's lover and the king's prime minister), a war broke out with Britain, which was productive of nothing but disaster to the Spaniards. Charles finally abdicated in favor of his son, the Prince of Asturias, who ascended the throne as Ferdinand VII. Forced by Napoleon to resign all claims to the Spanish crown, Ferdinand became the prisoner of the French in the year of his accession, and in the same year, Joseph, the brother of the French emperor, was declared King of Spain, and set out for Madrid to assume the kingdom thus assigned him. But Spanish loyalty was too profound to be daunted even by the awe-inspiring power of the great Napoleon. For the first time he found himself confronted, not by terrified and selfish rulers, but by an infuriated people. The rising on Spain commenced the popular movement which ultimately proved fatal to his power.

In July, 1808, England, on solicitation, made peace with Spain, recognized Ferdinand VII. as king, and sent an army to aid the Spanish insurrection. Joseph invaded the country on July 9, defeated the Spaniards at Rio Seco, and entered Madrid on the 20th. But the defeat of Dupont at Baylen by the veteran Spanish general Castanos somewhat altered the position of affairs, and Joseph, after a residence of ten days in his capital, was compelled to evacuate it.

Meanwhile Sir Arthur Wellesley, afterwards Duke of Wellington, at the head of the British auxiliary force, had landed at Mondego bay, and began the Peninsular war by defeating the French at Roliza and Vimiero. In November, 1808, Napoleon, who had been preceded by Ney with 100,000 men, entered Spain and assumed the command. For a time his armies were completely successful. In less than a week the Spanish forces were broken through and scattered, and Joseph was returned to Madrid. The victory was a short-lived one, however, for, in April, 1809, General Wellesley arrived in Portugal and at once commenced operations. By dint of masterly generalship and bold enterprise he finally succeeded in driving the French from the country. Napoleon, loth to lose his hold in the Peninsula, sent Soult, his most trusted general, to stop the ingress of the British into France, but the battles of the Pyrenees, (24th July 1st August, 1813), and of the Nivelle, Orthez, and Toulouse, in the beginning of 1814, brought to a victorious conclusion this long and obstinate contest.

LOSS OF AMERICAN COLONIES.

After the convulsions it had endured, Spain required a period of firm but conciliatory government, but the ill fate of the country gave the throne at this crisis one of her worst rulers. Ferdinand VII. had no conception of the duties of a sovereign; his public conduct was regulated by pride and superstition, and his private life was stained by the grossest dissipations.

For six years Spain groaned under a "Reign of terror," and isolated revolts only served as the occasion for fresh cruelties. The finances were squandered in futile expeditions to recover the South American colonies, which had taken advantage of Napoleon's conquest of Spain to establish their independence. In his straits for money, Ferdinand ventured to outrage national sentiment by selling Florida to the United States in 1819. Louisiana had been ceded to France in 1803, and when Mexico gained her independence in 1822, the last of the territory under Spanish rule in North America was lost to her.

The reign of Ferdinand's daughter, Isabella II., was disturbed by the Carlist rebellion in 1834-1839, in which England aided the Queen with an army commanded by Sir De Lacy Evans. Spain, under Isabella II., presents a dismal picture of faction and intrigue. Policies of state had forced her into a distasteful marriage with her cousin, Francis of Assisi, and she sought compensation in sensual indulgences, endeavoring to cover the dissoluteness of her private life by a superstitious devotion to religion. She had to contend with continual revolts, and was finally compelled, in 1868, to abdicate the throne and fly to France for her life.

A provisional government was formed with Serrano as President, and a new constitution was formed, by which an hereditary king was to rule, in conjunction with a senate and a popular chamber. The throne was offered to Amadeus of Aosta, the second son of Victor Emmanuel, in 1870, and he made an honest effort to discharge the difficult duties of the office. But he found the task too hard, and too distasteful, and resigned in 1873. A provisional republic was then formed, of which Castelar was the guiding spirit. But the Spaniards, trained to regard monarchy with superstitious reverence, had no sympathy with republican institutions. Don Carlos seized the opportunity to revive the claim of inalienable male succession, and raised the standard of revolt. Castelar finally threw up the office in disgust, and the administration was undertaken by a committee of officers. Anarchy was suppressed with a strong hand, but it was obvious that order could only be restored by reviving the monarchy. Foreign princes were no longer thought of, and Alfonso XII., the young son of the exiled Isabella, was restored to the throne in 1874. His first task was to terminate the Carlist war, which still continued in the North, and this was successfully accomplished in 1876. He died in 1885, and the regency was entrusted to his widow, Christina of Austria. On May 17th, 1886, a posthumous son was born, who is now the titular King of Spain.

CHAPTER IV.

BUCCANEERING AND THE WARFARE IN THE SPANISH MAIN.

Spain's Stolen Treasures from Mexico and Peru Tempt Her European
Rivals—The Spanish Main the Scene of Piratical Plundering for
Many Years—Havana and Other Cities Threatened—Great Britain
Takes Santo Domingo—American Troops from the British Colonies
Capture Havana—Victory on Land and Sea Is Saddened by Many
Deaths of Brave Americans from Fever—Lessons of the First Capture
of Havana.

After the acquisition of rich and populous countries in the western hemisphere had begun, Spain discovered that her new-found wealth was not to be hers without a struggle. From the harbors of Mexico and Peru, Spanish galleons sailed with their loads of treasure, stolen from the Montezumas and the Incas. Year after year, rich argosies, laden with gold and silver to replenish the extravagant treasury of the Spanish crown, crossed the seas. The Atlantic ocean, the Gulf of Mexico and the Caribbean sea were furrowed with the keels of Spanish fleets, at a time when the European nations scarcely maintained the pretense of friendship with one another.

It was hardly to be expected that these rich prizes should go unmolested. England and France knew quite well that they were plundered from the native treasuries of the new world, and no reason appeared why Spain in turn should not be robbed of her plunder. So the Spanish Main, the Caribbean sea, the Gulf of Mexico, and the adjacent waters, became the haunt of buccaneers and pirates, some under flags of European nations, and others under the black flag. Desperate fights were the lot of almost every Spanish galleon that sailed those seas, and fabulous prizes sometimes were taken under the skull and crossbones. Spanish men of war sailed back and forth to convoy the merchant fleets, but their protection was not always sufficient. Pirates could obtain frigates with guns as good as those of Spain, and with the temptation of wealth before them they braved conflict whenever it was necessary.

The harbors of Key West, the Dry Tortugas and others along the Florida keys, as well as many of those in the Bahamas, the West Indies and the Antilles, were the haunts of buccaneers and privateers who careened their ships on shore for repairs, or held high revel on the beaches after their triumph over some Spanish treasure fleet. Those were bloody days, full of dramatic excitement. From them some of the most notable writers of fiction have drawn their tales, which entertain readers of to-day.

What was done with all the gold thus garnered in sea fights before it reached the ports of Spain, is hard to know. Sometimes mysterious strangers appeared in the seaport towns of France and England and even the American colonies in their younger days, to spend money lavishly for a short time and then disappear as mysteriously as they came. These men were reputed to be pirate chiefs seeking relaxation from their customary life. Others of the buccaneers hoarded their wealth in hiding places known only to themselves, the secret of which must have died with them, while the gold remains undiscovered. All through the Florida keys and the West India islands, as well as along the coasts of Georgia and the Carolinas, traditions still exist in relation to these treasure hoards. Sanguine people are still digging in the sands of these beaches, in the hope that some day they will unearth a sea chest full of Spanish doubloons, or the golden ornaments stripped from Aztec idols. Some finds indeed have been made, but those who make them are not apt to reveal the secret which might guide another to a successful search.

PIRATICAL RAIDS TROUBLE HAVANA.

Having discovered the wealth that could be obtained by attacks upon the Spanish fleets, the pirates began to think of the cities which were themselves the source of much of this wealth. The result of this was that they began to make descents upon the coasts, not only of Cuba, but of the neighboring islands of Jamaica and Santo Domingo. The expense occasioned by the attempts to suppress these incursions became so great toward the end of the sixteenth century, that it became necessary to impose a special tax to cover it.

Fortresses at all the fortified harbors were improved, and the power of the military officials increased as their importance increased, and that of the civil governors diminished. It was as a direct result of these conditions that the office of Captain General was created, in which the governor shared military and civil authority alike. Havana fortifications were hastened to completion and the preparations for defense began, which never have been materially improved to this day. The three fortresses of El Morro, La Punta and La Cabana were built before the end of the sixteenth century and still were standing as the most effective defenses of Havana when our war with Spain began.

It was during the same period, that African negroes were first introduced into Cuba. Slavery had proved so severe upon the aborigines, that their numbers had almost reached the vanishing point, and there was a lack of sufficient labor for the cultivation of tobacco and sugar cane, the chief products of Spanish agriculture in the island. It was to promote the production of these new luxuries that the African slave trade was begun. A royal license from the King of Spain was obtained to guarantee the privilege of importing negroes.

Then began that foul commerce which was another black stain on the history of Spanish colonization of the western hemisphere. Spanish ships descended upon the African coasts and kidnapped thousands of negroes for service in the Cuban cane and tobacco fields. The horrors of the trade cannot be magnified and are too distressing for repetition. It is sufficient to say that in Havana it is understood that the harbor was free from sharks which now swarm there, until they followed the slave ships from the African coasts in multitudes, for the feast of slaves who were thrown overboard on the long voyage. Scores and hundreds of Africans died during the journey, from the hardships they were compelled to undergo, and Havana harbor itself was the last grave of many of these hapless ones.

GREAT BRITAIN THREATENS SPANISH POSSESSIONS.

It was just after the middle of the seventeenth century and during the rule of Oliver Cromwell in England, that the Spanish governors of Cuba began to fear an attack by a British fleet. A squadron sailed in 1655 with the design of capturing Jamaica, a purpose which was easily accomplished. That island was taken by Great Britain, the Spanish forces defending it were utterly defeated, the governor was killed, and many of the inhabitants removed, in consequence, to Cuba. From Jamaica the same fleet sailed for Havana, but the attack was repulsed and the ships abandoned the attempt. Except for the encroachments of the French upon the island of Santo Domingo, and the continual piratical incursions of French and English buccaneers, the Spanish in the West Indies were not threatened with any more hostilities except by their own internal dissensions until 1762. At that time Spain and England were at war, Spain in alliance with the French, and it was decided by the British government that Cuba was a vulnerable possession and a valuable one that ought to be taken.

The capture of Havana by forces under the English flag fills little space in the history of England and Spain, because of the magnitude of the interests involved elsewhere. It is almost forgotten in America, in spite of the bearing of all its contemporary incidents upon the rapidly approaching revolution, and yet it was an achievement of the colonial troops and consequently the first assault upon Cuba by Americans.

It was an event of the first importance in its own day and contained lessons of the first moment for the guidance of those who had to plan the conduct of the war against Spain in 1898. It proved that American troops under efficient officers could take the field with success against double their number of Spaniards fully provisioned and strongly intrenched. It proved that Havana could be successfully assaulted by a combined military and naval force, regardless of her picturesque but obsolete fortifications. Spain's lack of administrative ability in the later war as well as in the first, destroying any advantage to be derived from balls and cannon. On the other side it proved that Americans had to look forward to a considerable loss of life as a result of climatic conditions, if they attempted to conduct hostile operations in Cuba during the summer season.

The utter incapacity for straightforward, pertinacious fighting, which both Napoleon and the Duke of Wellington found in the Spanish army during the Peninsular war, was as conspicuous fifty years before, when the Americans took Havana, and may rightly be argued as perpetually inherent in the national character; for though the annals of Spain are filled with instances of individual courage of the first rank, demoralization sets in as soon as they come together in numbers in the face of a civilized foe. Their chief maneuver in the course of a century and a half, has been just plain running away. The victorious Wellington, seeing his Spanish allies running for dear life just after he had whipped the opposing French line in the last battle of the peninsular campaign, was moved to remark that he had seen many curious things in his life, but never before 20,000 men engaged in a foot race.

Yet the fight made by the Spaniards in Havana during the attack of the British and colonial forces in 1762 is the one notable instance of a prolonged struggle between men who speak English and men who speak Spanish. History may be searched in vain, either in the old or new world, for a defense as able in point of generalship or as stubborn in resistance as the Spaniards made at the siege of Havana. In all other cases, from the Elizabethan campaigns in Holland to the war with Mexico, the men educated in the Spanish school of arms have been content to spend their energies upon a single assault and then flee, sometimes even when the odds were greatly in their favor.

The English Armada left Portsmouth on March 5th, 1762, under the command of the gallant Admiral Pococke and Lord Albemarle, the force moving in seven divisions. It consisted of nineteen ships of the line, eighteen frigates or smaller men-of-war, and 150 transports containing about 10,000 soldiers, nearly all infantry. At the Island of Hayti, then called Hispanola, the British were joined by the successful expedition from Martinique. Together they sat down before Havana, July 6th, 1762.

SPAIN'S INTELLECTUAL DRY ROT.

Spain, suffering, as it suffers to-day, from intellectual dry rot, had known for weeks of the intended beleaguerment. Then, as now, nothing adequate was done to meet it. The Governor of Havana, the Marquis de Gonzalez, was a gallant soldier, as he was to prove; but that ounce of prevention which is proverbially worth more than the pound of cure, was not taken by him, and the British found the fortifications in a partially ruinous condition, and the fourteen ships of the line which were lying in the harbor before the city in such a state that they could hardly be called in commission. The Spanish army of defense numbered 27,000 men, and was in better condition; but the Spanish sailors were utterly demoralized by the granting of too much shore liberty, and the best use the Spaniard could put his fighting ships to was by sinking them at the entrance to the anchorage to prevent the entrance of the British fleet. Once the enemy was before the city, however, all was activity. The fortifications, which were too newly erected to be quite incapable of repair, were set in order, the guns of Morro Castle and of the fort known as the Puntal, across from it, were trained on the advancing foe, and the Spanish ships were sunk, as has been said.

Those familiar with the history of English administrative methods during this period will find little to choose between them and the methods of Spain. The season of the year most unwholesome to the inhabitants of a temperate climate had already set in, with all its train of pestilences, when the British arrived. Though deluged by the tremendous rains of the tropics from day to day, the water supply was wholly insufficient, and the little obtainable was so tainted as to make its use fraught with danger. There was no pilot who knew the roadstead in order to lead the ships against the Morro and the Puntal for many days. In throwing up the parallels and approaches to the walls of the city on the landward side, the soldiers found such scarcity of earth, the blanket over the rocks being of the thinnest sort, that this necessary material for covering an attack had to be brought from a distance. Then, too, it was charged with the germs of disease, and all who handled it suffered extremely. Despite all the precautions of the officers, the sanitary condition surrounding the camp was horrible, and the troops died like dogs.

YANKEES IN CUBA.

Meanwhile there was a large force of British regulars in North America, stationed there ever since the fall of the French empire in the new world in 1760. Four thousand of these soldiers were gathered in New York City. To them the colonies of East and West Jersey added a regiment of 500 men, New York another of 800, while Lyman raised a full thousand in Connecticut. When these, too, had been assembled in New York, Lyman was made Brigadier General of the colonial troops, and his Lieutenant Colonel, Israel Putnam, was made Colonel of the Connecticut soldiers in his stead. This was the same Putnam who fought the wolf single-handed in its cave, and who was to take that breakneck ride a few years later to escape the very troops with whom he was now associated. The entire force of 2,300 provincials under General Lyman's command was not a mere bevy of raw militia. Nearly all of them had seen service against the French in those well trained and active forces which were given the general name of "Rangers;" the officers especially, of whom Putnam was hardly more than a type, being men of extended experience. The fact that so many men were willing to volunteer in this arduous and, as it turned out, desperate service for the King, speaks volumes for what could have been done with such men had Pitt and not Bute been at the head of the English nation at that time. The advices from Havana showed that the army there was in great need of reinforcements, so by great efforts the regulars and provincials were stowed way in fourteen transports, and with an escort of a few frigates they set sail for the South about the middle of May. There were the usual shouts of an admiring populace and the tears of sweethearts and wives; but it is easy to say that there would have been no rejoicing if the people of Connecticut, the Jerseys, and New York could have foreseen that hardly one of every fifty of their volunteers would see his home again.

AMERICANS WERE WRECKED.

Just before the arrival of these welcome reinforcements on July 20, some English merchantmen had come along with cargoes of cotton bags, which were pressed into immediate use for the lines which were now closing around Havana; and in the ships were also found several pilots. Then the forces from the North came amidst general rejoicings, but without Putnam and 500 of his Yankees. These, in a transport which was skirting the dangerous coast much too closely, were shipwrecked on one of the treacherous shoals thereabouts. Putnam, with true New England fertility of resource, extemporized rafts from the fragments of the vessel and got all his men ashore without the loss of a life. They landed near the City of Carthagena, threw up breastworks, and were found ready to repel a force of thousands of Spaniards when the ships from before Havana arrived for their rescue, their own companions wisely pressing on and sending aid back from the headquarters.

The American troops went bravely to work, engaging themselves chiefly with the undermining of one of the walls. To reach this it was necessary for them to pass along a narrow eminence where they were in plain view and easy range of the Spaniards. A number were lost in this dangerous enterprise, but their valor was dimmed neither by this nor by the still heavier losses which came upon them through the diseases prevalent in every portion of the British camp. Though men of such hardiness that they must have been equal in resisting power to the British, their losses were comparatively much greater, proving that they occupied positions of greater danger, either from bullets or the fevers of the region.

MORRO CASTLE TAKEN.

Five days after the arrival of the reinforcements, Lord Albemarle judged himself sufficiently strong to assault Morro Castle, and the word was accordingly given. The sunken ships were blown up early on the morning of July 25, and the British ships sailed into the fury of the Spanish cannon, belching shot from all along the shore. The big guns of the ships could not be elevated sufficiently to silence the fire from Morro Castle, and this was accordingly left to be carried by assault. The Puntal was silenced, troops landed, and after five days of ferocious fighting, in which the British and American losses were enormous by reason of their exposed position, and where every one concerned exhibited the utmost valor, Morro Castle was carried by the bayonet. The fighting within its walls after an entry had been made was exceedingly fierce. The Marquis of Gonzalez was killed by his own cowardly men for refusing to surrender. The cannon from the other Spanish batteries were turned upon the Morro as soon as the Spanish flag had been lowered, and the British ensign run up in its place; and then the slow and disastrous work of the siege was taken up again.

As the lines grew nearer and nearer, and the last hope of the Spaniard for relief was given up, there was the usual attempt made to buy the attacking party off. Though it would have been a hopeless undertaking at any time, the amount offered for the ransom of the city was so far below the treasure which was known to be in the town that the offer was made a subject for derisive laughter. Fifteen days after Morro Castle had fallen, though the mortality in the trenches was so great that a few weeks more must have seen the abandonment of the enterprise, the city fell, the garrison stipulating for a passage out with all the honors of war, which was freely accorded them, owing to the climatic predicament in which Lord Albemarle found himself. It was also stipulated that private property should be respected. This was strictly observed, though Spain had set repeated examples of giving a captured city over to plunder in the face of a stipulation to the contrary.

August 14, 1762, the British entered, the glory of their victory over such heavy odds even then dimmed by the enormous mortality. It was reckoned that the few days of August had wrought more damage to the invading forces than all the weeks of hard labor and open assault which had gone before. In the city—the Havannah, as it was then called—treasure was found to the amount of $7,000,000, much of it in such shape that there had been abundant time to withdraw it either to Spain or into the interior of the island, had there been any other than Spaniards at the head of affairs.

The occupancy of the British and colonial forces lasted but a few months. Lord Albemarle, with $120,000 of the prize money as his personal share, received notice of the conclusion of the treaty of Paris and withdrew his army to Great Britain. A single ship sufficed to remove the shattered remnant of the soldiers from Connecticut, the Jerseys, and New York. Twenty-three hundred sailed; barely fifty returned. It was a part of the good fortune of America—all of the good fortune, to be exact—which brought Colonel Israel Putnam safely home again, though the paralysis which shortened his labors not many years after the Declaration of Independence was unquestionably due to his exposure to the vertical sun of Cuba and to the poisons of its pestilential coast.

In the hands of George III., then King of England, all this suffering and deprivation amounted to virtually nothing. He was a coward at heart, a man who could not even avail himself of such hardly gained victories. The peace of Paris was signed, and by its terms George yielded up Cuba and the Philippines again to the power that has never ceased to misuse the advantages so obtained.

The belief gained ground in Havana, in 1807, that the English government again contemplated a descent on the island; and measures were taken to put it in a more respectable state of defense, although, from want of funds in the treasury, and the scarcity of indispensable supplies, the prospect of an invasion was sufficiently gloomy. The militia and the troops of the garrison were carefully drilled, and companies of volunteers were formed wherever materials for them could be found. The French, also, not content with mere preparations, made an actual descent on the island, first threatening Santiago, and afterwards landing at Batabano.

The invaders consisted chiefly of refugees from St. Domingo; and their intention seems to have been to take possession with a view to colonize and cultivate a portion of the unappropriated, or at least unoccupied, territory, on the south side of the island, as their countrymen had formerly done in St. Domingo. Without recurring to actual force, the captain-general prevailed on them to take their departure by offering transportation either to St. Domingo or to France.

CHAPTER V.

COMMERCIAL DEVELOPMENT OF CUBA.

Efforts of the Early Governors to Encourage Trade—Cultivation of
Sugar One of the First Industries—Decree Defining Powers of the
Captain General—Attempted Annexation to the United States—The
Ostend Manifesto—Its Wonderful Predictions, in the Light of
Later Events—Exports and Imports Between Cuba and Spain—The
Future of Commercial Cuba.

The commerce of Cuba has grown in spite of the limitations that have been placed upon it and not because of any encouragement that has been given to it. Columbus called Cuba the most beautiful land that eyes had ever seen. Its resources, granted by a generous nature, have enabled it to recuperate after destructive warfare with a rapidity simply amazing to those accustomed only to the climate and the soil of the temperate zone. The immense industries of Cuba have been hampered from the beginning by Spanish oppression and the fact that they have flourished under such unfavorable conditions is a striking evidence of what may be expected under a policy of encouragement and freedom. Sugar, tobacco, and other tropical products have made fortunes for Cuba every year, only to have them stolen by Spanish officeholders, sent there to plunder all they could get their hands upon. With peace assured, the opportunities for the extension of industries in the "Pearl of the Antilles" will be enormous.

The commercial development of Cuba has come through centuries of disturbance, warfare, and oppression. A simple catalogue of all the evils with which the Cubans have had to contend would fill a volume. All that can be done here is to indicate briefly some of the more notable events in the history of the island after the British conquests and the relinquishment of the prize to the Spanish authorities upon the return of peace. Near the end of the last century there came a period which offered more encouragement to the hope of permanent prosperity in Cuba than had been offered before. The successive governors appointed varied in character, it is true, but several of them were liberal minded, public spirited men who gave to the colony far better administration that it had been accustomed to. One of these was Luis de Las Casas, who imparted a new impulse to the agriculture and commerce of the island. It was under his guidance that trade with the United States began to assume importance, and to his efforts was due the transfer of the remains of Columbus from Santo Domingo to their present resting place in the cathedral at Havana. He encouraged literature, science, the fine arts and the erection of various public charitable and educational institutions. He was the founder of the first public library and the first newspaper which had existed in the island. He showed his ability as an executive by restraining the restless population under the excitement which accompanied the revolution in the neighboring colony of Santo Domingo, which ended by the loss to Spain of that island.

One of the earliest causes of ill feeling between the islanders of Cuba and the people of Spain occurred just at the end of the administration of Las Casas in 1796. In the seventy years prior to that time a great navy yard grew up on the Bay of Havana, and 114 war vessels were built there to convoy the Spanish treasure ships. All at once this flourishing industry was closed on the demand of the ship-builders of Spain that the work should be done in the mother country. As might have been expected, this aroused great indignation among a large number of people in Havana who had been dependent upon the industry.

It was about the same time, or just a hundred years before the outbreak of our war with Spain, that sugar became an important article of general commerce. Even then, however, it was not an article of common consumption, and was held at extravagantly high prices, measured by the present cheapness of the article. Market reports of the time show that the price approximated forty cents a pound, and this at a time when the purchasing power of money was at least twice as great as it is now. As the price has fallen, the product and the consumption have increased, until of late years it has been an enormous source of revenue to the Island of Cuba. When Napoleon Bonaparte abducted the royal family of Spain and deposed the Bourbon dynasty in 1808, every member of the provincial counsel of Cuba took an oath to preserve the island for their legitimate sovereign. The Colonial government immediately declared war against Napoleon and proclaimed Ferdinand VII. as king. It was by this action that the colony earned its title of "The ever-faithful isle," which has been excellent as a complimentary phrase, but hardly justified by the actual facts. For some years following this action, affairs in the island were in an embarrassing condition, owing to the progress of the Napoleonic wars in Europe, which kept all trade disturbed and Spain in a constant condition of disorder. If it had not been for the fortunate election of one or two of the governors things might have been even worse than they were, and it was considered that Cuba was enjoying quite as much peace and prosperity as were her neighbor colonies and the mother governments of Europe. In 1812 a negro conspiracy broke out and attained considerable success, and as a result of it the Spanish governors began to be more and more severe in their administrations.

Under the influence of the spirit of freedom which was spreading all around them, Cubans became more and more restless. The revolutionary movements in Spanish America had begun in 1810, and after fourteen years of guerrilla warfare, European power had vanished in the Western hemisphere from the Northern boundary of the United States to Cape Horn, except for the Colonies of British Honduras and the Guianas, and a few of the West Indian Islands. In 1821, Santo Domingo became independent, and in the same year Florida came into the possession of the United States. Secret societies, with the purpose of revolution as their motive, began to spring up in Cuba, and the population divided into well-defined factions. There was indeed an attempt at open revolt made in 1823 by one of these societies known as the "Soles De Bolivar," but it was averted before the actual outbreak came, and those leaders of it who were not able to escape from Cuba were arrested and punished. It was as a result of these successive events that the office of Captain General was created and invested with all the powers of Oriental despotism. The functions of the Captain General were defined by a royal decree of May 28, 1825, to the following effect:

His Majesty, the King Our Lord, desiring to obviate the inconveniences that might in extraordinary cases result from a division of command, and from the interferences and prerogatives of the respective officers; for the important end of preserving in that precious island his legitimate sovereign authority and the public tranquillity through proper means, has resolved in accordance with the opinion of his council of ministers to give to your Excellency the fullest authority, bestowing upon you all the powers which by the royal ordinances are granted to the governors of besieged cities. In consequence of this, his Majesty gives to your Excellency the most ample and unbounded power, not only to send away from the island any persons in office, whatever their occupation, rank, class, or condition, whose continuance therein your Excellency may deem injurious, or whose conduct, public or private, may alarm you, replacing them with persons faithful to his Majesty and deserving of all the confidence of your Excellency; but also to suspend the execution of any order whatsoever, or any general provision made concerning any branch of the administration as your Excellency may think most suitable to the Royal Service.

This decree since that time has been substantially the supreme law of Cuba, and has never been radically modified by any concessions except those given as a last and lingering effort to preserve the sovereignty of Spain, when after three years' progress of the revolution she realized that her colony had slipped away from her authority. The decree quoted in itself offers sufficient justification for the Cuban revolution in the name of liberty.

ATTEMPTED ANNEXATION TO THE UNITED STATES.

During the present century there have been a number of attempts on the part of men prominent in public life, both in the United States and Cuba, to arrange a peaceable annexation by the purchase by this country of the island from Spain. Statesmen of both nations have been of the opinion that such a settlement of the difficulty would be mutually advantageous, and have used every diplomatic endeavor to that end.

During Thomas Jefferson's term of office, while Spain bowed beneath the yoke of France, from which there was then no prospect of relief, the people of Cuba, feeling themselves imcompetent in force to maintain their independence, sent a deputation to Washington, proposing the annexation of the island to the federal system of North America.

In 1854 President Pearce instructed Wm. L. Marcy, his Secretary of
State, to arrange a conference of the Ministers of the United
States to England, France and Spain, to be held with a view to the
acquisition of Cuba.

The conference met at Ostend on the 9th of October, 1854, and adjourned to Aix-la-Chapelle, where notes were prepared. Mr. Soule, then our Minister to Spain, said in a letter to Mr. Marcy, transmitting the joint report: "The question of the acquisition of Cuba by us is gaining ground as it grows to be more seriously agitated and considered. Now is the moment for us to be done with it, and if it is to bring upon us the calamity of war, let it be now, while the great powers of this continent are engaged in that stupendous struggle which cannot but engage all their strength and tax all their energies as long as it lasts, and may, before it ends, convulse them all. Neither England nor France would be likely to interfere with us. England could not bear to be suddenly shut out of our market, and see her manufactures paralyzed, even by a temporary suspension of her intercourse with us. And France, with the heavy task now on her hands, and when she so eagerly aspires to take her seat as the acknowledged chief of the European family, would have no inducement to assume the burden of another war."

The result of this conference is so interesting in its application to present conditions that its reproduction is required to make intelligible the whole story of Cuba, and we give it here:

THE OSTEND MANIFESTO.

Sir: The undersigned, in compliance with the wish expressed by the president in the several confidential despatches you have addressed to us respectively, to that effect, we have met in conference, first at Ostend, in Belgium, on the 9th, 10th, and 11th instant, and then at Aix-la-Chapelle, in Prussia, on the days next following, up to the date hereof.

There has been a full and unreserved interchange of views and sentiments between us, which we are most happy to inform you has resulted in a cordial coincidence of opinion on the grave and important subjects submitted to our consideration.

We have arrived at the conclusion, and are thoroughly convinced that an immediate and earnest effort ought to be made by the government of the United States to purchase Cuba from Spain at any price for which it can he obtained, not exceeding the sum of $…

The proposal should, in our opinion, be made in such a manner as to be presented through the necessary diplomatic forms to the Supreme Constituent Cortes about to assemble. On this momentous question, in which the people, both of Spain and the United States, are so deeply interested, all our proceedings ought to be open, frank and public. They should be of such a character as to challenge the approbation of the world.

We firmly believe that, in the progress of human events, the time has arrived when the vital interests of Spain are as seriously involved in the sale, us those of the United States in the purchase, of the island, and that the transaction will prove equally honorable to both nations.

Under these circumstances we cannot anticipate a failure, unless possibly through the malign influence of foreign powers who possess no right whatever to interfere in the matter.

We proceed to state some of the reasons which have brought us to, this conclusion, and for the sake of clearness, we shall specify them under two distinct heads:

1. The United States ought, if practicable, to purchase Cuba with as little delay as possible.

2. The probability is great that the government and Cortes of Spain will prove willing to sell it, because this would essentially promote the highest and best interests of the Spanish people.

Then, 1. It must be clear to every reflecting mind that, from the peculiarity of its geographical position, and the considerations attendant on it. Cuba is as necessary to the North American republic as any of its present members, and that it belongs naturally to that great family of states of which the Union is the providential nursery.

From its locality it commands the mouth of the Mississippi and the immense and annually increasing trade which must seek this avenue to the ocean.

On the numerous navigable streams, measuring an aggregate course of some thirty thousand miles, which disembogue themselves through this magnificent river into the Gulf of Mexico, the increase of the population within the last ten years amounts to more than that of the entire Union at the time Louisiana was annexed to it.

The natural and main outlet to the products of this entire population, the highway of their direct intercourse with the Atlantic and the Pacific States, can never be secure, but must ever be endangered whilst Cuba is a dependency of a distant power in whose possession it has proved to be a source of constant annoyance and embarrassment to their interests.

Indeed the Union can never enjoy repose, nor possess reliable security, as long as Cuba is not embraced within its boundaries.

Its immediate acquisition by our government is of paramount importance, and we cannot doubt but that it is a consummation devoutly wished for by its inhabitants.

The intercourse which its proximity to our coast begets and encourages between them and the citizens of the United States, has, in the progress of time, so united their interests and blended their fortunes that they now look upon each other as if they were one people, and had but one destiny.

Considerations exist which render delay in the acquisition of this island exceedingly dangerous to the United States.

The system of immigration and labor lately organized within its limits, and the tyranny and oppression which characterize its immediate rulers threaten an insurrection at every moment, which may result in direful consequences to the American people.

Cuba has thus become to us an unceasing danger, and a permanent cause of anxiety and alarm.

But we need not enlarge on these topics. It can scarcely be apprehended that foreign powers, in violation of international law, would interpose their influence with Spain to prevent our acquisition of the island. Its inhabitants are now suffering under the worst of all possible governments, that of absolute despotism, delegated by a distant power to irresponsible agents, who are changed at short intervals, and who are tempted to improve their brief opportunity thus afforded to accumulate fortunes by the basest means.

As long as this system shall endure, humanity may in vain demand the suppression of the African slave trade in the island. This is rendered impossible whilst that infamous traffic remains an irresistible temptation and a source of immense profit to needy and avaricious officials, who, to attain their ends, scruple not to trample the most sacred principles under foot.

The Spanish government at home may be well disposed, but experience has proved that it cannot control these remote depositaries of its power.

Besides, the commercial nations of the world cannot fail to perceive and appreciate the great advantages which would result to their people from a dissolution of the forced and unnatural connection between Spain and Cuba, and the annexation of the latter to the United States. The trade of England and France with Cuba would, in that event, assume at once an important and profitable character, and rapidly extend with the increasing population and prosperity of the island.

2. But if the United States and every commercial nation would be benefited by this transfer, the interests of Spain would also be greatly and essentially promoted.

She cannot but see that such a sum of money as we are willing to pay for the island would affect it in the development of her vast natural resources.

Two-thirds of this sum, if employed in the construction of a system of railroads, would ultimately prove a source of greater wealth to the Spanish people than that opened to their vision by Cortez. Their prosperity would date from the ratification of the treaty of cession.

France has already constructed continuous lines of railways from Havre, Marseilles, Valenciennes, and Strasburg, via Paris, to the Spanish frontier, and anxiously awaits the day when Spain shall find herself in a condition to extend these roads through her northern provinces to Madrid, Seville, Cadiz, Malaga, and the frontiers of Portugal.

This object once accomplished, Spain would become a center of attraction for the traveling world, and secure a permanent and profitable market for her various productions. Her fields, under the stimulus given to industry by remunerating prices, would teem with cereal grain, and her vineyards would bring forth a vastly increased quantity of choice wines. Spain would speedily become what a bountiful Providence intended she should be, one of the first nations of continental Europe—rich, powerful and contented.

Whilst two-thirds of the price of the island would be ample for the completion of her most important public improvements, she might with the remaining forty millions satisfy the demands now pressing so heavily upon her credit, and create a sinking fund which would gradually relieve her from the overwhelming debt now paralyzing her energies.

Such is her present wretched financial condition, that her best bonds are sold upon her own bourse at about one-third of their par value; whilst another class, on which she pays no interest, have but a nominal value, and are quoted at about one-sixth of the amount for which they were issued. Besides, these latter are held principally by British creditors, who may, from day to day, obtain the effective interposition of their own government for the purpose of coercing payment. Intimations to that effect have already been thrown out from high quarters, and unless some new sources of revenue shall enable Spain to provide for such exigencies, it is not improbable that they may be realized.

Should Spain reject the present golden opportunity for developing her resources and removing her financial embarrassments, it may never again return.

Cuba, in her palmiest days, never yielded her exchequer, after deducting the expense of its government, a clear annual income of more than a million and a half of dollars. These expenses have increased to such a degree as to leave a deficit, chargeable on the treasury of Spain, to the amount of six hundred thousand dollars.

In a pecuniary point of view, therefore, the island is an encumbrance instead of a source of profit to the mother country.

Under no probable circumstance can Cuba ever yield to Spain one per cent, on the large amount which the United States are willing to pay for its acquisition. But Spain is in imminent danger of losing Cuba without remuneration.

Extreme oppression, it is now universally admitted, justifies any people in endeavoring to relieve themselves from the yoke of their oppressors. The sufferings which corrupt, arbitrary and unrelenting local administration necessarily entail upon the inhabitants of Cuba cannot fail to stimulate and keep alive that spirit of resistance and revolution against Spain which has of late years been so often manifested. In this condition of affairs it is vain to expect that the sympathies of the people of the United States will not be warmly enlisted in favor of their oppressed neighbors.

We know that the President is justly inflexible in his determination to execute the neutrality laws; but should the Cubans themselves rise in revolt against the oppression which they suffer, no human power could prevent citizens of the United States and liberal-minded men of other countries from rushing to their assistance. Besides, the present is an age of adventure in which restless and daring spirits abound in every portion of the world.

It is not improbable, therefore, that Cuba may be wrested from Spain by a successful revolution; and in that event she will lose both the island and the price which we are now willing to pay for it—a price far beyond what was ever paid by one people to another for any province.

It may also be remarked that the settlement of this vexed question, by the cession of Cuba to the United States, would forever prevent the dangerous complications between nations to which it may otherwise give birth.

It is certain that, should the Cubans themselves organize an insurrection against the Spanish government, and should other independent nations come to the aid of Spain in the contest, no human power could, in our opinion, prevent the people and government of the United States from taking part in such a civil war in support of their neighbors and friends.

But if Spain, dead to the voice of her own interest, and actuated by a stubborn pride and a false sense of honor, should refuse to sell Cuba to the United States, then the question will arise, What ought to be the course of the American government under such circumstances?

Self-preservation is the first law of nature with States as well as with individuals. All nations have, at different periods, acted upon this maxim. Although it has been made the pretext for committing flagrant injustice, as in the partition of Poland and other similar cases which history records, yet the principle itself, though often abused, has always been recognized.

The United States has never acquired a foot of territory except by fair purchase, or, as in the case of Texas, upon the free and voluntary application of the people of that independent State, who desired to blend their destinies with our own.

Even our acquisitions from Mexico are no exception to this rule because, although we might have claimed them by right of conquest in a just way, yet we purchased them for what was then considered by both parties a full and ample equivalent.

Our past history forbids that we should acquire the island of Cuba without the consent of Spain, unless justified by the great law of self-preservation. We must, in any event, preserve our own conscious rectitude and our own self-respect.

Whilst pursuing this course we can afford to disregard the censures of the world, to which we have been so often and so unjustly exposed.

After we have offered Spain a fair price for Cuba, far beyond its present value, and this shall have been refused, it will then be time to consider the question, does Cuba, in the possession of Spain, seriously endanger our internal peace and the existence of our cherished Union?

Should this question be answered in the affirmative, then, by every law, human and divine, we shall be justified in wresting it from Spain, if we possess the power; and this upon the very same principle that would justify an individual in tearing down the burning house of his neighbor if there were no other means of preventing the flames from destroying his own home.

Under such circumstances we ought neither to count the cost, nor regard the odds which Spain might enlist against us. We forbear to enter into the question, whether the present condition of the island would justify such a measure. We should, however, be recreant to our duty, be unworthy of our gallant forefathers, and commit base treason against our posterity, should we permit Cuba to be Africanized and become a second San Domingo, with all its attendant horrors to the white race, and suffer the flames to extend to our own neighboring shores, seriously to endanger, or actually to consume, the fair fabric of our Union.

We fear that the course and current of events are rapidly tending toward such a catastrophe. We, however, hope for the best, though we ought certainly to be prepared for the worst.

We also forbear to investigate the present condition of the questions at issue between the United States and Spain. A long series of injuries to our people have been committed in Cuba by Spanish officials, and are unredressed. But recently a most flagrant outrage on the rights of American citizens, and on the flag of the United States, was perpetrated in the harbor of Havana under circumstances which, without immediate redress, would have justified a resort to measures of war in vindication of national honor. That outrage is not only unatoned, but the Spanish government has deliberately sanctioned the acts of its subordinates, and assumed the responsibility attaching to them.

Nothing could more impressively teach us the danger to which those peaceful relations it has ever been the policy of the United States to cherish with foreign nations, are constantly exposed, than the circumstances of that case. Situated as Spain and the United States are, the latter has forborne to resort to extreme measures.

But this course cannot, with due regard to their own dignity as an independent nation, continue; and our recommendations, now submitted, are dictated by the firm belief that the cession of Cuba to the United States, with stipulations as beneficial to Spain as those suggested, is the only effective mode of settling all past differences, and of securing the two countries against future collisions.

We have already witnessed the happy results for both countries which followed a similar arrangement in regard to Florida.

Yours, very respectfully,

JAMES BUCHANAN. J. Y. MASON. PIERRE SOULE.

HON. WM. L. MAECY, Secretary of State.

Unfortunately for Cuba the suggestions offered by this commission were not acted upon, although it is not probable that Spain, ever blind to her own interests, would have admitted the justice or reason of the argument, had the offer to purchase been made to her.

EXPORTS AND IMPORTS.

A table showing the amount of trade between Cuba and Spain during
the year 1894 (the last authentic report), is instructive:

Importations in Cuba from Spain $ 7,492,622
Exportation from Cuba to Spain $23,412,376
—————-
Difference in favor of export $15,919,754

THE FUTURE OF COMMERCIAL CUBA.

Under happier conditions, there can be no doubt that Cuba will speedily attain a much higher state of commercial importance and prosperity than it has yet enjoyed. Great as its productiveness has been in the past, well-informed writers assert that proper development of its resources will increase the value five-fold, and a liberal system of government will enable it to take advantage of its admirable position to gain greater prominence in the commercial world.

CHAPTER VI.

BEAUTIES OF A TROPICAL ISLAND.

A Delightful Climate—Grand Scenic Surprises—The Caves of
Bellamar—The Valley of the Yumuri—Under Nature's Dome—Gorgeous
Sunsets—The Palm Tree Groves—The Home of Fruits and Flowers—
The Zodiacal Light.

When the little island of Cuba, "The Pearl of the Antilles," was assigned a place upon the terrestrial globe, Nature must have been in her most generous mood. Certainly no land beneath the skies was given a more perfect combination of mountains and rivers, forests and plains. Situated within and near the border of the northern tropical zone, the temperature of the low coast lands is that of the torrid zone, but the high interior of the island enjoys a delightful climate, and the verdure-clad hills, with the graceful palm and cocoa tree clear against the pure blue sky, may be seen at all seasons of the year.

As in other countries on the borders of the tropics, the year is divided between a hot and wet season, corresponding to the northern declination of the sun, and a cool and dry period. The months from the beginning of May to October are called the wet season, though some rain falls in every month of the year.

With May, spring begins in the island, rain and thunder are of almost daily occurrence, and the temperature rises high, with little daily variation. The period from November to April is called the dry season by contrast.

On a mean of seven years the rain-fall at Havana in the wet season has been observed to be 27.8 inches, of the dry months, 12.7, or 40.5 inches for the year.

July and August are the warmest months, and during this period the average temperature at Havana is 82 F, fluctuating between a maximum of 88 and a minimum of 76. In the cooler months of December and January the thermometer averages 72, the maximum being 78, and minimum 58. The average temperature of the year at Havana on a mean of seven years is 77.

But in the interior, at elevations of over 300 feet above the level of the sea, the thermometer occasionally falls to the freezing point in winter. Frost is not uncommon, and during north winds, thin ice may form, though snow is unknown in any part of the island.

The prevailing wind is the easterly trade breeze, but from November to February, cool north winds, rarely lasting more than forty-eight hours, are experienced in the western part of the island, to which they add a third seasonal change. Hurricanes may occur from August to October, but they are rare and sometimes five or six years pass without such a storm.

GRAND SCENIC SURPRISES.

Many "globe-trotters" who have never included this little corner of the world in their itinerary, do not appreciate the fact that nowhere under the sun can be found a more perfect climate, grander mountain scenery, more charming valleys, more picturesque ruins, and fertile fields than Cuba offers to their view.

In another portion of this work will be found descriptions of the cities of Cuba, and brief mention here of some of the beauties of the country may not be amiss.

One of the grandest bits of scenery in the known world is to be found in the valley of the Yumuri, rivaling in sublimity the far-famed Lookout Mountain view and the Yosemite of the Sierra Nevadas. The journey leads over a winding trail, easily traversed by the native horses, up a steep hill, until, after a continuous climb of an hour and a half, the road turns around the edge of a grassy precipice, and the beautiful valley, with its patches of green and gold, spreads away in the distance. The little river of Yumuri winds its way through its flower-decked banks until it reaches the bay beyond, while in the distance rise the mighty mountains, clod in their coats of evergreen, and over all the fleecy clouds, and the sky of azure blue.

In this vicinity an opportunity is given the sight-seer to visit a sugar house and gain an idea of the sugar-making process, though on a very small scale, and enjoy a half an hour in the study of the natives, and their home life.

A traveler, in writing of this place, says:

"Our interview with the little black 'ninos' was highly amusing. On entering the court yard of the negro quarters, a dozen little black imps, of all ages and sexes and sizes, perfectly naked, rushed towards us, and crossing their arms upon their breasts, fell upon their knees before us, and jabbered and muttered, out of which could be distinguished, 'Master, master, give us thy blessing,' which we interpreted to mean 'tin;' whereupon we scattered sundry 'medios' among them! Hey! presto! what a change! The little black devils fell over one another, fought, tugged, and scrambled to secure a prize, while anyone who had been lucky enough to obtain a coin, marched off in a state of dignified delight, his distended little stomach going before him like a small beer barrel, while the owner of it kept shouting out, 'Medio, yo tengo medio' (five cents, I have five cents)."

THE CAVES OF BELLAMAR.

One of the most interesting trips that can be made is to the "Caves of Bellamar," which may be found about two and a half miles southeast of the city of Matanzas.

The journey takes the traveler up a winding and rugged road to the top of a hill, where the "Cave house" is reached, a large frame structure built over the entrance, and containing, among other objects of interest, a large collection of beautiful crystal formations found in the cave.

Here the tourist enters his name in the visitors' register, pays his dollar, and follows the boy guide down the stairs into the cave. About one hundred and fifty feet from the entrance a small bridge is crossed, and the "Gothic Temple" is reached. The only light comes from a few scattered lanterns, and is consequently very obscure, but one can see the millions of crystals, the thousand weird forms, and realize that it is surpassingly beautiful. The temple is about two hundred feet in length and seventy feet in width, and while it does not equal in size or solemn grandeur the temple of the same name in the Mammoth cave of Kentucky, it greatly excels it in the richness and splendor of its crystal formations and beautiful effects.

The spectator possessed of strongly developed imaginative powers cannot fail to feel himself in fairy land. From the gloomy corners come gnomes and demons, and in the crystal shadows he sees sprites and lovely fairies, keeping gay revel to dreamy airs, played on invisible strings by spirit hands.

One of the most beautiful objects in the cave is the "Fountain of
Snow," a name given to one of the great pillars, called by the
natives the "Cloak of the Virgin." Others are known as "Columbus
Mantle," "The Altar," and "The Guardian Spirit."

"Who has not seen the Caves of Bellamar has not seen Cuba."

UNDER NATURE'S DOME.

One of the most vivid pieces of descriptive writing, referring to the beauties of Cuban skies, is from the pen of James M. Phillippo:

"The splendor of the early dawn in Cuba, as in the tropical islands in its vicinity, has been referred to. The whole sky is often so resplendent that it is difficult to determine where the orb of day will appear. Small fleecy clouds are often seen floating on the north wind, and as they hover over the mountains and meet the rays of the sun, are changed into liquid gold and a hundred intensely beautiful dyes more splendid than the tints of the rainbow. During the cooler months, the mornings are delightful till about ten o'clock, the air soon after dawn becoming agreeably elastic, and so transparent that distant objects appear as if delineated upon the bright surface of the air; the scenery everywhere, especially when viewed from an eminence, is indescribably rich and glowing; the tops of the rising grounds and the summits of the mountains are radiant with a flood of light, while the vapor is seen creeping along the valleys, here concealing the entrance to some beautiful glen, and there wreathing itself fantastically around a tall spire or groves of palm trees that mark the site of a populous village.

"The finest and most gorgeous sunsets occur in the West Indian Archipelago during the rainy seasons. The sky is then sublimely mantled with gigantic masses of cloud, glowing with a thousand gorgeous dyes, and seeming to collect at the close of day as though to form a couch for the sun's repose. In these he sinks, flooding them with glory, touching both heavens and earth with gold and amber brightness long after he has flung his beams across the other hemisphere, or perhaps half revealing himself through gauze-like clouds, a crimson sphere, at once rayless and of portentous size.

"The azure arch, which by an optical illusion limits our view on every side, seems here, and in the tropics generally, higher than in England, even higher than in Italy. Here is seen, in a perfection compared to which even Italian skies are vapid and uninteresting, that pure, serene, boundless sky, that atmosphere of clear blue, or vivid red, which so much contributes to enrich the pencil of Claude Lorraine. The atmosphere of Cuba, as everywhere within the tropics, except when the high winds prevail, is so unpolluted, so thin, so elastic, so dry, so serene, and so almost inconceivably transparent and brilliant, that every object is distinct and clearly defined as if cut out of the clear blue sky. All travelers agree in praising the calm depths of the intensely blue and gloriously bright skies of inter-tropical latitudes. In the temperate zone, it is estimated that about 1,000 stars are visible to the naked eye at one time; but here, from the increased elevation and wider extent of the vault, owing to the clearness of the atmosphere, especially as seen from a high mountain chain, the number is greatly augmented. If, however, these luminaries may not be seen here in greater numbers, they certainly shine with greater brilliancy. The different constellations are indeed so greatly magnified as to give the impression that the power of the eye is increased. Venus rises like a little moon, and in the absence of the greater casts a distinguishable shadow.

"The Milky Way, which in the temperate zone has the appearance of a luminous phosphorescent cloud, and, as is well known, derives its brightness from the diffused light of myriads of stars condensed into so small space that fifty thousand of them are estimated to pass across the disc of the telescope in an hour, is here seen divided into constellations, and the whole galaxy is of so dazzling a whiteness as to make it resemble a pure flame of silvery light thrown across the heavens, turning the atmosphere into a kind of green transparency. Besides this, there are vast masses of stellar nebulae of indefinite diversity and form, oval, oblate, elliptical, as well as of different degrees of density, diffused over the firmament, and discoverable through a common telescope, all novel to an inhabitant of temperate climes, and recalling the exclamation of the psalmist: 'The heavens declare the glory of God, … the firmament showeth forth His handiwork.'

"'The stars
Are elder scripture, writ of God's own hand,
Scripture authentic, uncorrupt by man.'

"An interesting phenomenon sometimes occurs here, as in other islands of the West Indies, which was long supposed to be seen only in the eastern hemisphere. A short time before sunrise or sunset, a flush of strong, white light, like that of the Aurora Borealis, extends from the horizon a considerable way up the zenith, and so resembles the dawn as to prove greatly deceptive to a stranger. As he watches the luminous track he sees it decrease instead of becoming more vivid, and at length totally disappear, leaving the heavens nearly as dark as previous to its appearance. This is the zodiacal light."

CHAPTER VII.

WEALTH FROM NATURE'S STORES IN THE FORESTS AND FIELDS OF CUBA.

The Palm Tree, the Queen of the Cuban Forests—Sugar Cane and Its
Cultivation—The Tobacco Industry—Tropical Fruits and Flowers—
Beauties of a Garden in Cuba—Enormous Shipments to Spain—The
Wealth of the Island.

The forests of Cuba are of vast extent, and so dense as to be almost impenetrable. It is estimated that of about 20,000,000 acres of land still remaining perfectly wild and uncultivated, nearly 13,000,000 are uncleared forest. Mahogany and other hard woods, such as the Cuban ebony, cedar, and granadilla, valuable for manufactures, cabinet work and ship building are indigenous, and are exported to a considerable extent.

The palm is the queen of the Cuban forests and is its most valuable tree. It grows in every part of the island, but especially in the west, giving at once character and beauty to the scenery. The royal palm is the most common variety, and frequently grows to a height of one hundred and twenty feet, the branches numbering from twenty to twenty-five, in the center of which are the hearts or buds of the plant, elevating themselves perpendicularly with needle-like points.

This heart, enveloped in wrappers of tender white leaves, makes a most delicious salad, and it is also boiled, like cauliflower, and served with a delicate white sauce. The trunk of the palm is composed of fibrous matter, which is stripped off and dried, forming a narrow, thin board, which the natives use for the walls of their cottages. The boughs are sometimes made to serve for roofing, though palm leaves are usually used for this purpose, as well as for the linings of the walls. "El yarey" is another variety of the palm tree that is of great utility. From it the native women make the palm leaf hats that are worn by almost all the villagers and country people of Cuba.

TROPICAL FRUITS IN ABUNDANCE.

The fruits of Cuba are those common to the tropics. Bananas, pineapples, oranges, lemons and bread-fruit all grow in abundance, delicious to the taste and delightful to the eye.

Richard Henry Dana, Jr., after returning from a vacation trip to Cuba, wrote a charming description of a fruit garden that it was his good fortune to visit there:

"The garden contained a remarkable variety of trees, including some thrifty exotics. Here the mango, with its peach-like foliage, was bending on the ground with the weight of its ripening fruit; the alligator pear was marvelously beautiful in its full blossom, suggesting, in form and color, the passion flower; the soft, delicate foliage of the tamarind was like our sensitive plant; the banana trees were in full bearing, the deep green fruit (it is ripened and turns yellow off the tree), being in clusters of a hundred, more or less, tipped at the same time by a single, pendent, glutinous bud, nearly as large as a pineapple. The date palm, so suggestive of the far east, and the only one we had seen in Cuba, was represented by a choice specimen, imported in its youth. There was also the star-apple tree, remarkable for its uniform and graceful shape, full of green fruit, with here and there a ripening specimen; so, also, was the favorite zapota, its rusty coated fruit hanging in tempting abundance. From low, broad spreading trees depended the grape fruit, as large as an infant's head and yellow as gold, while the orange, lime and lemon trees, bearing blossoms, green and ripe fruit all together, met the eye at every turn, and filled the garden with fragrance. The cocoanut palm, with its tall, straight stem, and clustering fruit, dominated all the rest. Guava, fig, custard apple, and bread-fruit trees, all were in bearing.

"Our hospitable host plucked freely of the choicest for the benefit of his chance visitors. Was there ever such a fruit garden before, or elsewhere? It told of fertility of soil and deliciousness of climate, of care, judgment, and liberal expenditure, all of which combined had turned these half a dozen acres of land into a Gan Eden. Through his orchard of Hesperides, we were accompanied also by the proprietor's two lovely children, under nine years of age, with such wealth of promise in their large black eyes and sweet faces as to fix them on our memory with photographic fidelity. Before leaving the garden we returned with our intelligent host once more to examine his beautiful specimens of bananas, which, with its sister fruit, the plantain, forms so important a staple of fruit in Cuba and throughout all tropical regions. It seems that the female banana tree bears more fruit than the male, but not so large. The average clusters of the former comprise here about one hundred, but the latter rarely bears over sixty or seventy distinct specimens of the cucumber-shaped product. From the center of its large, broad leaves, which gather at the top, when it has reached the height of twelve or fifteen feet, there springs forth a large purple bud ten inches long, shaped like a huge acorn, though more pointed. This cone hangs suspended from a strong stem, upon which a leaf unfolds, displaying a cluster of young fruit. As soon as these are large enough to support the heat of the sun and the chill of the rain, this sheltering leaf drops off, and another unfolds, exposing its little brood of fruit; and so the process goes on, until six or eight rings of young bananas are started, forming, as we have said, bunches numbering from seventy to a hundred. The banana is a herbaceous plant, and after fruiting, its top dies; but it annually sprouts up again fresh from the roots. From the unripe fruit, dried in the sun, a palatable and nutritious flour is made."

THE TOBACCO INDUSTRY.

Cuban tobacco is famous throughout the world, and is one of the most profitable of all its products. Prior to 1791 the crop was sent to the national factories in Spain, by the "Commercial Company of Havana," under government contract, but during that year the "Factoria de Tobacco" was established in Havana by the government. The tobacco was classified as superior, medium and inferior, and was received from the growers at fixed prices. In 1804 these were six, five and two and a half dollars per arrobe (a Spanish unit of weight, subject to local variations, but averaging about twenty-seven pounds avoirdupois).

By comparing the different prices with the quantity of each class of tobacco produced, we find that the "Factoria" paid an average price of $16 per hundred pounds for the leaf tobacco. With the expense of manufacture, the cigars cost the government seventy-five cents per pound; snuff, fine grain and good color, forty-three cents, and common soft, or Seville, nineteen cents a pound in Havana. In good years, when the crop amounted to 350,000 arrobes of leaf, 128,000 arrobes were manufactured for Spain, 80,000 for Havana, 9,200 for Peru, 6,000 for Buenos Ayres, 2,240 for Mexico, and 1,100 for Caracas and Campeachy.

In order to make up the amount of 315,000 arrobes, (for the crop loses ten per cent. of its weight, in loss and damage in the transportation and manufacture) we must suppose that 80,000 arrobes were consumed in the interior of the island; that is, in the country, where the royal monopoly did not extend. The maintenance of 120 slaves and the expenses of manufacture did not exceed $12,000 yearly; but the salaries of the officers of the "Factoria" amounted to $541,000. The value of the 128,000 arrobes of tobacco sent to Spain, in the abundant years, either in cigars, leaf or snuff, at the customary prices there, exceeded the sum of five million dollars.

It is surprising to see in the returns of the exports from Havana (documents published by the Consulado), that the exports for 1816 were only 3,400 arrobes; for the year 1823, only 13,900 arrobes of leaf tobacco; and in 1825 only 70,302 pounds of cigars and 167,100 pounds of leaf tobacco and strips; but we must remember that no branch of the contraband trade is more active than that in cigars. The tobacco of the Vuelta de Abajo is the most celebrated, but large quantities are exported which are produced in other parts of the island. The cultivation of tobacco has been one of the most uncertain branches of industry in Cuba. Trammeled by restrictions and exactions, it was confined almost entirely to the poorer classes of the population, who were enabled to raise a scanty and uncertain crop through the advances of capital made them by the "Factoria." Since the suppression of this monopoly, it has had to contend with the more popular and profitable pursuit of sugar planting, which has successfully competed with it for the employment of the capital, skill and labor of the island.

SUGAR CANE AND ITS CULTIVATION.

Maturin Ballou, in his "Cuba Past and Present," published in 1885, when the sugar industry was in its best days, writes an interesting account of cane cultivation:

"Sugar cane is cultivated like Indian corn, which it also resembles in appearance. It is first planted in rows, not in hills, and must be hoed and weeded until it gets high enough to shade its roots. Then it may be left to itself until it reaches maturity. This refers to the first laying out of a plantation, which will afterwards continue fruitful for years, by very simple processes of renewal. When thoroughly ripe the cane is of a light golden yellow, streaked here and there with red. The top is dark green, with long, narrow leaves depending, very much like those of the corn stalk, from the center of which shoots upward a silvery stem, a couple of feet in height, and from its tip grows a white fringed plume of a delicate lilac hue. The effect of a large field at its maturity, lying under a torrid sun, and gently yielding to the breeze, is very fine, a picture to live in the memory ever after.

"In the competition between the products of beet-root sugar and that from sugar cane, the former controls the market, because it can be produced at a cheaper rate, besides which its production is stimulated by nearly all of the European states, through the means of liberal subsidies both to the farmer and to the manufacturer. Beet sugar, however, does not possess so high a percentage of true saccharine matter as the product of the cane, the latter seeming to be nature's most direct mode of supplying us with the article. The Cuban planters have one advantage over all other sugar-cane producing countries, in the great and inexhaustible fertility of the soil of the island. For instance, one or two hogsheads of sugar to the acre is considered a good yield in Jamaica, but in Cuba three hogsheads are the average. Fertilizing of any sort is rarely employed in the cane fields, while in beet farming it is the principal agent of success. Though the modern machinery, as lately adopted on the plantations, is very expensive, still the result achieved by it is so much superior to that of the old methods of manufacture, that the small planters are being driven from the market. Slave labor cannot compete with machinery. The low price of sugar renders economy imperative in all branches of the business, in order to leave a margin for profit.

"A planter informed the author that he should spread all of his molasses upon the cane fields this year as a fertilizer, rather than send it to a distant market and receive only what it cost. He further said that thousands of acres of sugar cane would be allowed to rot in the fields this season, as it would cost more to cut, grind, pack and send it to market than could be realized for the manufactured article. Had the price of sugar remained this year at a figure which would afford the planters a fair profit, it might have been the means of tiding over the chasm of bankruptcy which has long stared them in the face, and upon the brink of which they now stand. But with a more than average crop, both as to quantity and quality, whether to gather it or not is a problem. Under these circumstances it is difficult to say what is to become, financially, of the people of Cuba. Sugar is their great staple, but all business has been equally suppressed upon the island, under the bane of civil laws, extortionate taxation, and oppressive rule.

"The sugar cane yields but one crop a year. There are several varieties, but the Otaheitan seems to be the most generally cultivated. Between the time when enough of the cane is ripe to warrant the getting up of steam at the grinding mill, and the time when the heat and the rain spoils its qualities, all the sugar for the season must be made, hence the necessity for great industry on large estates. In Louisiana the grinding lasts but about eight weeks. In Cuba it continues four months. In analyzing the sugar produced on the island, and comparing it with that of the main land, the growth of Louisiana, chemists could find no difference as to the quality of the true saccharine principle contained in each.

"The great sugar estates lie in the Vueltra Arriba, the region of the famous red earth. The face of this region smiles with prosperity. In every direction the traveler rides astonished through a garden of plenty, equally impressed by the magnificent extent, and the profuse fertility of the estates, whose palm avenues, plantain orchards, and cane fields succeed each other in almost unbroken succession. So productive are the estates, and so steady is the demand for the planter's crop, that the great sugar planters are, in truth, princes of agriculture.

"The imposing scale of operations on a great plantation, imparts a character of barbaric regal state to the life one leads there. Looking at them simply as an entertainment, the mills of these great sugar estates are not incongruous with the easy delight of the place. Everything is open and airy, and the processes of the beautiful steam machinery go on without the odors as without the noises that make most manufactories odious. In the centrifugal process of sugar making, the molasses passes into a large vat, by the side of which is a row of double cylinders, the outer one of solid metal, the inner of wire gauze. These cylinders revolve each on an axis attached by a horizontal wheel and band to a shaft which communicates with the central engine. The molasses is ladled out into the spaces between the external and internal cylinders, and the axes are set in motion at the rate of nineteen hundred revolutions a minute. For three minutes you see only a white indistinct whirling, then the motion is arrested, slowly and more slowly the cylinders revolve, then stop, and behold! the whole inner surface of the inner cylinder is covered with beautiful crystallizations of a light yellow sugar. Watching this ingenious process, I used to fancy that somewhat in this wise might the nebulae of space be slowly fashioning into worlds."

HOW CUBA HAS BEEN ROBBED BY SPAIN.

Some knowledge of the enormous wealth that has accrued to Spain from her Cuban possessions may be gained from the following quotation from "Cuba and the Cubans," published in New York in 1850 by Raimundo Cabrera:

"Oh, we are truly rich!

"From 1812 to 1826, Cuba, with her own resources, covered the expenditures of the treasury. Our opulence dates from that period. We had already sufficient negro slaves to cut down our virgin forests, and ample authority to force them to work …

"By means of our vices and our luxury, and in spite of the hatred of everything Spanish, which Moreno attributed to us, we sent, in 1827, the first little million of hard cash to the treasury of the nation. From that time until 1864 we continued to send yearly to the mother country two millions and a half of the same stuff. According to several Spanish statisticians, these sums amounted, in 1864, to $89,107,287. We were very rich, don't you see? tremendously rich. We contributed more than five million dollars towards the requirements of the Peninsular—$5,372,205. We paid, in great part, the cost of the war in Africa. The individual donations alone amounting to fabulous sums.

"But of course we have never voted for our own imposts; they have been forced upon us because we are so rich. In 1862, we had in a state of production the following estates: 2,712 stock farms, 1,521 sugar plantations, 782 coffee plantations, 6,175 cattle ranches, 18 cocoa plantations, 35 cotton plantations, 22,748, produce farms, 11,737 truck farms, 11,541 tobacco plantations, 1,731 apiaries, 153 country resorts, 243 distilleries, 468 tile works, 504 lime kilns, 63 charcoal furnaces, 54 cassava-bread factories, and 61 tanneries. To-day I do not know what we possess, because there are no statistics, and because the recently organized assessment is a hodge podge and a new burden; but we have more than at that time; surely we must have a great deal more.

"For a very long time we have borne the expenses of the convict settlement of Fernando Po. We paid for the ill-starred Mexican expedition, the costs of the war in San Domingo, and with the republics of the Pacific. How can we possibly be poor? While England, France and Holland appropriate large sums for the requirements of their colonies, Spain does not contribute a single cent for hers. We do not need it, we are wading deep in rivers of gold. If the fertility of our soil did not come to our rescue, we must, perforce, have become enriched by the system of protection to the commerce of the mother country. … The four columns of the tariff are indeed a sublime invention.. Our agricultural industries require foreign machinery, tools and utensils, which Spain does not supply, but, as she knows that we have gold to spare, she may make us pay for them very high. And since our sugar is to be sold to the United States .. never mind what they cost. When there are earthquakes in Andalusia and inundations in Murcia, hatred does not prevent us from sending to our afflicted brethren large sums … (which sometimes fail to reach their destination.)

"We are opulent? Let us see if we are. From the earliest times down to the present, the officials who come to Cuba, amass, in the briefest space of time, fortunes, to be dissipated in Madrid, and which appear never to disturb their consciences. This country is very rich, incalculably rich. In 1830 we contributed $6,120,934; in 1840, $9,605,877; in 1850, $10,074,677; in 1860, $29,610,779. During the war we did not merely contribute, we bled. We had to carry the budget of $82,000,000.

"We count 1,500,000 inhabitants, that is to say, one million and a half of vicious, voluptuous, pompous spendthrifts, full of hatred and low passions, who contribute to the public charges, and never receive a cent in exchange, who have given as much as $92 per capita, and who at the present moment pay to the state what no other taxpayers the world over have ever contributed. Does anyone say that we are not prodigiously, enviably rich?"

CHAPTER VIII.

THE CUBANS, AND HOW THEY LIVE.

Life in the Rural Districts—A Cuban Bill of Fare—The Amusements
of the Country People—Sports of the Carnival—Native Dances—An
Island Farm—Fruit Used for Bread—Cattle Ranches and Stock Farms
—Population of the Island—Education and Religion—Railways and
Steamship Lines.

The traveler from the north, landing for the first time on Cuban shores, will discover his greatest delight in the radical changes he finds from everything he has been accustomed to in his own land. If he has read Prescott and Irving, he knows something of Castilian manners and customs in theory, but as the peculiarities of the people, their home life, their amusements, their religious observances, and their business methods are brought before him in reality, he is impressed with the constant charm of novelty.

In times of peace, the native of Cuban soil in the rural districts knows nothing of the struggle for existence which faces the majority of mankind in colder climes. He "toils not, neither does he spin," for the reason that nature provides so freely that very little exertion is necessary to secure her gifts. Occasionally he may plow, or sow a little grain, or even pick fruit, but, as a rule, he leaves the labor to the negroes. If he lives on a main-traveled road, he may possibly provide entertainment for man and beast, where he delights in gossiping with all who come his way, and is ready to drink whenever invited. Neither does his raiment possess the glory of Solomon's, for it generally consists of a pair of loose trousers, belted with a leather band, a linen shirt of brilliant hue, frequently worn outside his pantaloons, a silk handkerchief fastened about his head, a palm-leaf hat, and bare feet encased in leather slippers.

He is astute, though frank, boastful, though brave, and superstitious, if not religious. Gambling is his chief delight, and his fighting cocks receive more attention than his wife and family.

His better half is more reserved than her lord, especially with strangers. She is an adept horse-woman, though she sometimes shares the animal's back with her husband, riding in front of him, almost on the neck of the horse. Her dress is the acme of simplicity (sometimes rather too simple to suit conventional ideas), and consists of a loose frock, and a handkerchief tied around her neck. Like her husband she dispenses with stockings, except on occasions of ceremony. Her pride is her hair, on which she bestows a great deal of attention, and she delights in displaying it at every possible opportunity.

A CUBAN BILL OF FARE.

The mode of life among the people of these rural districts is entirely unlike that of the residents of the cities. This difference extends even to their food and the manner of preparing it. In the populous centers, especially among the better classes, the table service is of the French mode, but among the country people will be found the real Cuban cuisine.

The morning meal usually consists of fried pork, of which they are very fond, boiled rice, and roasted plantain, which serves them for bread. Beef, birds or roast pork are served for dinner, together with plantains and a stew composed of fresh meat, dried meat, green plantains, and all kinds of vegetables. These are cooked in a broth, thickened with a farinaceous root called malanga, and flavored with lemon juice. Rice is a staple article of diet, and no meal is complete without it.

RURAL AMUSEMENTS.

It is not in gastronomy alone that the Cubans of the country districts differ from their city cousins. They have their special amusements, some of which seem cruel to people of refinement, but it may be said in their defense that football is not a popular game on the island.

Cock fighting is the national sport, and men, women and children will wager their last possession on the result of an encounter between chickens of fighting blood. The goose fight is another cruel sport. Two poles are placed in the ground, with a rope stretched between them, on which a live goose is hung with its feet securely tied, and its head thoroughly greased. The contestants are on horseback, and ride at full speed past the goose, endeavoring to seize its head and separate it from the body as they pass. The fowl usually dies before the efforts are successful, but the rider who finally succeeds in the noble endeavor gains the glory and the prize.

There is a patron saint for every village, for whom there is a feast day, which is celebrated by masses at the church, and afterwards by games and dances. A procession is always arranged on this day, in which a little girl, dressed as an image, rides in a wagon, decorated with banners and flowers. Men in costumes of Indians lead the way, followed by others clad as Moors. A band is a necessary adjunct, and bringing up the rear are the inhabitants, marching and singing to the music of the band. When the church is reached, the people gather about the child, and she recites a composition written for the occasion.

During carnival time, processions of mountebanks, cavaliers, dressed as knights of old, on horses splendidly adorned, races, masques, balls and all manner of revelries are indulged in.

Dancing is a universal accomplishment, in which the young and old find enjoyment in all places and at all seasons. The Zapato, a dance peculiar to Cuba, is performed to the music of the guitar, accompanied by the voices of the dancers. It consists of fantastic posings, fancy marches, and graceful figures, and resembles in some details the "cake walks" of the negroes of our own country.

AN ISLAND FARM.

In the neighborhood of the larger cities are hundreds of "Estancias," which correspond to what are known as market gardens in the United States. These farms usually consist of less than a hundred acres each, and on them are raised vegetables, chickens, small fruits and other table delicacies, for the city trade. Properly looked after, this business might be one of great profit, but the land is, as a rule, cultivated by tenants, who pay a rental of about five dollars per acre a year, and who are too indolent to give it the care necessary to gain lucrative returns.

The principal vegetable raised on these farms is the sweet potato, of which there are two varieties, the yellow and the white. The soil and the climate are not favorable to the cultivation of the Irish potato, and it is necessary to import this luxury, which accounts for the fact that they are seldom seen outside the cities.

Plantains are raised in large quantities. This product is to the Cuban what bread is to us, and may be characterized as the standard article of food. Though less nutritious than wheat or potatoes, it is produced in vastly larger quantities from the same area, and with far less effort. It closely resembles the banana, and is in fact often regarded as a variety of that fruit. A fanciful name for it among the natives is "Adam's apple," and the story is that it was the forbidden fruit of the Garden of Eden.

On a number of these places the business of farming has been entirely abandoned, and kilns built, where the burning of lime is carried on extensively.

CATTLE RANCHES AND STOCK FARMS.

The raising of cattle is one of the important industries of Cuba, and as it costs comparatively nothing to fit the stock for the market, handsome profits are realized. Herds of vast numbers roam over the prairies, receiving no attention from their owners, and are sold without any preliminary fattening. Fabulous prices are received for the fierce bulls which are used for the bull fights in the cities, and the breeding of these animals brings large returns.

Hides are one of the principal exports of the island, and bone black, prepared from the bones, is sold in immense quantities to the sugar-makers, for use in the manufacture of that article.

The finest horses raised in Cuba come from Puerto Principe, and magnificent specimens of the noble animal they are. They are noted for their powers of endurance, and can journey day after day, covering sixty to seventy miles, at an easy gait, without showing signs of fatigue. As horses were unknown to the original inhabitants of the island, it is supposed that the Cuban horse of to-day comes from Spanish stock, and the fact that it differs so greatly from those animals, both in appearance and quality, is explained by the changed climatic conditions in its breeding. Whatever its origin may be, it is certain that there are no finer specimens of horse flesh than are to be found in Cuba, and the natives take great care of them, almost regarding them as belonging to the family. Like the Irishman who "kept his pig in the parlor," the Cuban often stables his horse in a room of his house.

PECULIAR FUNERAL CEREMONIES.

One of the strangest customs that is likely to be observed by the tourist in the interior sections, is the ceremony attendant on the burial of the dead. First come small boys, with white linen gowns over their clothes, short enough to display their ragged trousers and dirty shoes. A boy in the center bears a tall pole, upon the top of which is a silver cross, partially draped, while each of the other boys carries a tall candlestick.

Behind them comes the priest, in shabby attire, in one hand his prayer book, from which he is chanting from time to time, while in the other hand, the sun being hot, he carries an umbrella. Following him, a venerable old man comes tottering along, personating the acolyth, the bell-ringer, the sacristan, or other church dignitary, as may be necessary, croning out in his dreary voice, as he swings the burning censor, the second to the chants of the priest. The coffin then makes its appearance, made of rough boards, but covered with black paper muslin, and borne upon the shoulders of four villagers, a crowd of whom, all uncovered, bring up the rear.

Here, as in all other Catholic countries, the spectators uncover their heads at the passing of a funeral cortege. At the church are ceremonies of reading prayers, burning candles, and sprinkling the coffin with holy water, after which the priest goes his way, and the procession takes up its line of march for the newly-made grave, in the dilapidated and neglected cemetery, where the coffin is deposited without further ceremony. No females are present during the whole affair.

A family in mourning in Cuba, not only dress in dark clothes, upon which there is no luster, but they keep the windows of the house shut for six months. In fact, by an ordinance of the government, it is now prohibited to display the corpse to the public through the open windows, as was formerly done, both windows and doors being now required to be shut.

AN HOSPITABLE PEOPLE.

The Cuban of the better class is noted for his hospitality. His door is always open to receive whomsoever calls, be he acquaintance, friend or stranger. There is a place at his table for the visitor at all times, without money and without price, and no one having the slightest claim to courtesy of this kind need hesitate to accept the invitation. There is little travel or communication on the island, so even if the guest be an entire stranger, his host will feel amply repaid for his hospitality by the news the traveler brings from the outside world. There is a good old custom among the Danes, that when the first toast is drunk, it is to the roof of the house which covers everyone in it, meaning thereby it is all one family. This same custom might appropriately be kept up amongst the Cuban planters, for when one takes his seat at the table, he is immediately installed as one of the family circle.

EDUCATION AND RELIGION.

Education is woefully backward on the island. In the absence of recent statistics it is estimated that not one-tenth of the children receive lettered education of any kind, and even among the higher classes of society, liberal education is very far from being universally diffused. A few literary and scientific men are to be found both in the higher and middle ranks, and previous to the revolution, the question of public instruction excited some interest among the creole population.

At Havana is the royal university with a rector and thirty professors, and medical and law schools, as well as an institution called the Royal College of Havana. There is a similar establishment at Puerto Principe, in the eastern interior, and both at Havana and Santiago de Cuba there is a college in which the branches of ecclesiastical education are taught, together with the humanities and philosophy. Besides this there are several private schools, but these are not accessible to the masses. The inhabitants can scarcely be said to have any literature, a few daily and weekly journals, under a rigid censorship, supply almost all the taste for letters in the island.

To show how little liberty of opinion the newspapers of Cuba enjoy, we quote a decree issued by General Weyler, formerly Captain-General of the island:

Don Valeriano Weyler y Nicolau, Marquis of Tenerife, governor-general, captain-general of the Island of Cuba, and general-in-chief of this army.

Under the authority of the law of public order, dated the 23rd of
April, 1870.

I Order and Command,

1st. No newspaper shall publish any news concerning the war which is not authorized by the staff officers.

2nd. Neither shall be published any telegraphic communications of a political character without the authority given by the secretary of the governor general in Havana, or by the civil officers in the other provinces.

3rd. It is hereby forbidden to publish any editorials, or other articles or illustrations, which may directly or indirectly tend to lessen the prestige of the mother-country, the army, or the authorities, or to exaggerate the forces and the importance of the insurrection, or in any way to favor the latter, or to cause unfounded alarm, or excite the feelings of the people.

4th. The infractions of this decree, not included in Articles first and sixth of the decree of February 16th last, will make the offenders liable to the penalties named in Article 36, of the law of the 23rd of April, 1870.

5th. All persons referred to in Article 14 of the Penal Code of the Peninsula, which is in force in this Island, will be held responsible for said infractions in the same order as established by the said Article.

6th. Whenever a newspaper has twice incurred the penalty of said offense, and shall give cause for a third penalty, it may be then suppressed.

7th. The civil governors are in charge of the fulfillment of this decree, and against their resolutions, which must be always well founded, the interested parties may appeal within twenty-four hours following their notification.

VALERIANO WEYLER.

Havana, April 27, 1896.

POPULATION OF THE ISLAND.

Conflicting accounts render it impossible to arrive at anything like a certainty as to the number of inhabitants in Cuba at the time of its conquest, but it may be estimated at from 300,000 to 400,000. There is but little doubt, however, that before 1560 the whole of this population had disappeared from the island. The first census was taken in 1774, when the population was 171,620. In 1791 it was 272,300.

Owing to the disturbed condition of the island, no census of the inhabitants has been taken since that of 1887, when the total population was 1,631,687. Of this number, 1,111,303 were whites, and 520,684 were of negro blood. These figures make questionable the claim that the war for liberty is simply an insurrection of the colored against the Caucasian race.

CHAPTER IX.

HAVANA, THE METROPOLIS OF THE ISLAND.

Havana and Its Attractions for Tourists—How to Reach Cuba— Description of the Harbor of Havana—How the Proverbial Unhealthfulness of the City May Be Remedied—Characteristics of the Business Quarter—Residences and How the People Live—Parks and Boulevards—Other Features of Life in the City.

In spite of the little encouragement which American tourists have had for visiting the city of Havana, for many years it has been a popular place of resort for the few who have tried it or have been recommended to it by their friends. With the attractions it has had during Spanish administration, when an air of constraint and suspicion marked the intercourse with every American, it will not be surprising if under changed auspices and in an atmosphere of genuine freedom, Americans will find it one of the most delightful and easily accessible places possible for them to visit. It is not all pleasant, but the unpleasant things are sometimes quite as interesting as the pleasant ones. If the traveler forms his judgments according to the actual comforts he may obtain, he will be pleased from beginning to end of his stay. If the measure of his good opinion is whether or not things are like those to which he is accustomed, he will be disappointed, because novelty reigns. But novelty does not necessarily mean discomfort.

Havana may be reached by a sea voyage of three or four days from New York, on any one of several excellent steamers under the American flag, and even in winter the latter portion of the voyage will be a pleasant feature of the journey. Or the path of the American invading squadron may be followed, and the traveler, after passing through Florida by rail, may journey from Tampa by the mail steamers, and touching at Key West for a few hours, reach Havana after a voyage of two nights and a day.

The Florida straits, between Cuba and the Florida keys, which were the scene of the first hostilities of the war, are but ninety miles wide, and the voyage is made from Key West in a few hours. The current of the gulf stream makes the channel a trifle reminiscent of the English channel, but once under the lee of the Cuban coast the water is still and the harbor of the old city offers shelter.

In the days before the war, Morro Castle had an added interest to the traveler from the fact that behind its frowning guns and under the rocks on which it was built, were the cells of scores of sad prisoners, some of them for years in the dungeons, whose walls could tell secrets like those of the inquisition in Spain if they could but speak. Between Morro Castle and its neighbor across the way, La Punta, the vessels steam into that bay, foul with four hundred years of Spanish misrule and filth, where three hundred years of the slave trade centered, and into which the sewers of a great city poured their filth. Once inside the harbor, Cabana Castle frowns from the hills behind Morro, and on the opposite shore rise the buildings of the city itself.

The harbor always has been a busy one, for the commerce of the island and of the city has been large. In times of peace, scores of vessels lie at anchor in the murky waters. The American anchorage for mail steamers for years has been in the extremest part of the bay from the city of Havana itself, in order to avoid the contagion which was threatened by a nearer anchorage. Until the Maine was guided to her ill-fated station by the harbor master, it had been long since any American vessel had stopped in that part of the harbor.

PERFECT SANITARY CONDITION EASILY CREATED.

The shallow harbor of Havana has its entrance from the ocean through a channel hardly more than three hundred yards wide, and nearly half a mile long, after which it broadens and ramifies until its area becomes several square miles. No fresh water stream, large or small, flows into it to purify the waters. The harbor entrance is so narrow, and the tides along that coast have so little rise and fall, that the level of water in the harbor hardly shows perceptible change day after day.

The result of this is that the constant inflow of sewage from the great city pouring into the harbor is never diluted, and through the summer is simply a festering mass of corruption, fronting the whole sea wall and throwing a stench into the air which must be breathed by everyone on shipboard. There is one part of the harbor known as "dead man's hole," from which it is said no ship has ever sailed after an anchorage of more than one day, without bearing the infection of yellow fever among its crew.

Along the shores of this very harbor are great warehouses for the sugar and tobacco shipped into the United States by the thousands of tons every year. To preserve our national health, our government has maintained an expensive marine hospital service and quarantine system along our southern ports which trade with Havana, in addition to supporting a marine hospital service under the eminent Dr. Burgess in Havana itself. To the rigid enforcement of this system, and the untiring vigilance of Dr. Burgess, must be credited the immunity which the United States has had from annual epidemics of yellow fever and smallpox.

The guilt of Spain in permitting this shocking condition to continue, cannot in any way be palliated. For four hundred years she has had sway in the island, free to work her own will, and drawing millions of dollars of surplus revenue out of the grinding taxes she has imposed. The installation of a sanitary system of sewage, which should discharge into the open sea instead of into this cesspool which lies at the city's feet, would have been the first solution of the difficulty. The threat of danger would have been finally averted by the expenditure of a few hundred thousand dollars, which would open a channel from the further extremity of the harbor to the ocean eastward. The distance is but a few miles and the engineering problem a simple one. This and the construction of a jetty northwestward from the point on which Morro Castle stands, would divert a portion of the current of the noble gulf stream into the harbor entrance, and the foul pond of to-day would be scoured of its filth by a perennial flood which could never fail.

Vera Cruz, on the Mexican coast, has proven that it is possible to exterminate yellow fever, and it is a duty owed to civilization that Havana shall follow along the same path. If all other excuses were to be ignored, the United States for years has had ample cause for intervention in Cuban affairs, as a measure of safety to the health of her own citizens, as truly as one man may complain to the authorities if his neighbor maintains a nuisance in the adjoining yard.

THE BUSINESS QUARTERS OF HAVANA.

Once anchored in the safest place in the harbor, the mail steamers are surrounded without delay by a fleet of peculiar boats of a sort seen only in the bay of Havana. For a bit of silver, the traveler is taken ashore, the journey to the landing stage being a matter of but a few moments. The journey through the custom house is not a formidable one, for unless there is suspicion of some contraband goods, the customs officers are not exacting upon travelers. At the door of the custom house, or aduana, wait the cabs, which are cheaper in Havana than in any other city of the new world, and they serve as a conveyance to the hotels, which are all grouped in the same neighborhood.

The streets through which the traveler passes are picturesque, but hardly practical, from the American point of view. Some of them are so narrow that carriages cannot pass, and all traffic must go in one direction. Nearly all of the business streets have awnings extending from one side to the other, between the roofs, as a protection from the tropic sun. The sidewalks on some of the most pretentious streets are not wide enough for three persons to walk abreast, and on others two cannot pass. On every hand one gets the impression of antiquity, and antiquity even greater than the four hundred years of Spanish occupancy actually measures. Spanish architecture, however modern it may be, sometimes adds to that impression and one might believe himself, with little stretch of the imagination, to be in one of the ancient cities of the old world.

The streets are paved with blocks of granite and other stone, roughly cut and consequently exceedingly noisy, but upon these narrow streets front some shops as fine as one might expect to discover in New York or Paris. It is true that they are not large, but they do not need to be, for nearly all are devoted to specialties, instead of carrying stocks of goods of the American diversity. The one who wants to shop will not lack for temptations. The selection is ample in any line that may be named, the styles are modern and in exquisite taste, and altogether the shops are a considerable surprise to one who judges them first from the exterior. Stores devoted exclusively to fans, parasols, gloves, laces, jewels, bronzes, silks and the beautiful cloth of pineapple fiber known as nipe cloth, are an indication of the variety that may be found. The shoes and other articles of men's and women's clothing are nearly all direct importations from Paris, and where Parisian styles dominate one may be assured that the selection is not a scanty one. Clerks are courteous even to the traditional point of Castilian obsequiousness, and altogether a shopping expedition along this Obispo street is an experience to be remembered with pleasure.

HAVANA HOMES.

You notice that everything is made to serve comfort and coolness. Instead of having panes of glass, the windows are open and guarded by light iron railings, and the heavy wooden doors are left ajar. You see into many houses as you pass along, and very cool and clean they look. There are marble floors, cane-seated chairs and lounges, thin lace curtains, and glimpses of courts in the center of each building, often with green plants or gaudy flowers growing in them between the parlor and the kitchen.

You find much the same plan at your hotel. You may walk in at the doors or the dining room windows just as you please, for the sides of the house seem capable of being all thrown open; while in the center of the building you see the blue sky overhead. Equally cool do all the inhabitants appear to be, and the wise man who consults his own comfort will do well to follow the general example. Even the soldiers wear straw hats. The gentlemen are clad in underwear of silk or lisle thread and suits of linen, drill or silk, and the ladies are equally coolly apparelled.

Havana is a dressy place, and you will be astonished at the neatness and style to which the tissue-like goods worn there are made to conform.

But come and see the apartment you are to rest in every night. Ten to one the ceiling is higher than you ever saw one in a private house, and the huge windows open upon a balcony overlooking a verdant plaza. The floor is of marble or tiling, and the bed is an ornate iron or brass affair, with a tightly stretched sheet of canvas or fine wire netting in place of the mattress you are used to. You could not sleep on a mattress with any proper degree of comfort in the tropics. There is a canopy with curtains overhead, and everything about the room is pretty certain to be scrupulously clean. Conspicuous there and everywhere else that you go is a rocking chair. Rocking chairs are to be found in the houses, and in regiments in the clubs.

Havana is the metropolis of the West Indies. It has more life and bustle than all the rest of the archipelago put together. If you are German, English, Scotch, Dutch, American, French or whatever you are, you will find fellow countrymen among its 250,000 souls. There is a public spirit there which is rare in these climes. The theaters astonish you by their size and elegance. The aristocratic club is the Union, but the popular one is the Casino Espanol, whose club house is a marvel of tropical elegance and beauty. Nearly all these attractions are on or near the broad, shady and imposing thoroughfare, the Prado—a succession of parks leading from the water opposite Morro Castle almost across the city.

In one or another of these parks a military band plays on three evenings of the week, and the scene on such occasions is wholly new to English eyes. It is at such times that one may see the beautiful Spanish and Cuban women. They do not leave their houses in the heat of the day unless something requires them to do so, and when they do they remain in their carriages, and are accompanied by a servant or an elderly companion. So strict is the privacy with which they are surrounded that you shall see them shopping without quitting their carriages, waited on by the clerks, who bring the goods out to the vehicles.

But when there is music under the laurels or palms the senoritas, in their light draperies, and wearing nothing on their heads save the picturesque mantilla of Old Spain, assemble on the paths, the seats, the sidewalks and in their carriages, and there the masculine element repairs and is very gallant, indeed.

Here you will listen to the dreamy melody of these latitudes, Spanish love songs and Cuban waltzes so softly pretty that you wonder all the world does not sing and play them. On other nights the walk or drive along the Prado is very interesting. You pass some of the most elegant of the houses, and notice that they are two stories high, and that the family apartments are on the upper stories, so that you miss the furtive views of the families at meals and of the ladies reclining in the broad-tiled window sills that you have in the older one-story sections of the city.

CHAPTER X.

THE CITIES OF CUBA.

The Harbor of Matanzas—Sports of the Carnival—Santiago de Cuba
and Its Beautiful Bay—Cardinas, the Commercial Center—Enormous
Exports of Sugar—The Beauties of Trinidad—Other Cities of
Importance.

The city of Havana may be said to stand in the same relation to Cuba that Paris does to France, for in it are centered the culture, the refinement, and the wealth of the island, but there are several other towns of considerable importance, and many of them have become places of interest since the struggle for liberty has attracted the attention of the civilized world.

Chief among these is Matanzas. This city, with a normal population of about 60,000, is situated fifty miles east of Havana, with which it is connected by rail and water. Its shipping interests are second only to those of the capital, as it is the outlet of many of the richest agricultural districts of the island.

The city is situated on the flats on both sides of the San Juan river, which brings down large quantities of mud and greatly impedes inland navigation. As an offset the bay is spacious, easy of access and sheltered from the violent gulf storms which prevail at some seasons. This makes the port a favorite with marine men. A large amount of money has been spent by the government to fortify and protect the city, and it has been connected by rail with all the principal towns and producing centers of the provinces. Thus it is a particularly favorite port of entry for all the supplies required in the plantations—food staples and machinery. Its exports consist principally of sugar, coffee, molasses, tobacco, honey, wax and fruits.

The city is built principally of masonry and in a most substantial manner, though little effort has been made to secure architectural beauty. The pride of the city is the new theater, which is pointed out as the handsomest building in Cuba. The Empresa Academy also takes rank equal with any for the excellence of its educational facilities.

There is no more charming spot in Cuba than Matanzas. The bay is like a crescent in shape, and receives the waters of the Yumuri and Matanzas rivers, two small unnavigable streams. A high bridge separates them. On this ridge back of the town stands a cathedral dedicated to the black virgin. It is a reproduction of a cathedral in the Balearic Islands. The view from its steeple is magnificent. Looking backward the valley of the Yumuri stretches to the right. It is about ten miles wide and sixty miles long, dotted with palms, and as level as a barn floor. The Yumuri breaks through the mountains near Matanzas bay something like the Arkansas river at Canon City. Carpeted with living green and surrounded with mountains this valley is one of the gems of Cuba.

About ten miles from Matanzas, on the left of the road, stand what are known as the Breadloaf Mountains. They rise from the plain like the Spanish peaks in Colorado. These mountains are the headquarters of General Betancourt, who commands the insurgents in the province. The Spaniards have offered $1,000 reward for his head. Several efforts have been made to secure it, but in all cases the would-be captor has lost his own head.

In accordance with the Weyler edict 11,000 reconcentrados were herded together at Matanzas, and within a year over 9,000 of them died in the city. In the Plaza, under the shadow of the Governor's residence, twenty-three people died from starvation in one day. The province of Matanzas is not larger in area than the state of Delaware, yet 55,000 people have perished from starvation and incident diseases since the order went into effect.

But all the people of Matanzas are not reconcentrados, and even in the midst of war's alarms they find time for amusement, as the following description of a carnival ball will prove:

"It was our good fortune to be in Matanzas during the last three days of the Carnival; and while the whole time was occupied by noisy processions and grotesque street masqueraders, the crowning ceremonies were on the last Sunday night. Then the whole town used every effort to wind up the season in a 'feu de joie' of pleasure and amusement. In almost every town of any importance there is an association of young men, generally known as 'El Liceo,' organized for artistic and literary purposes, and for social recreation. A fine large building is generally occupied by the association, with ample space for theatrical representations, balls, etc.; in addition to which there are billiard rooms, and reading rooms, adorned, probably with fine paintings. In Matanzas this association is known as 'El Liceo Artistico y Literario de Matanzas,' and is a particularly fine one, being composed of the elite of the city, with a fine large house, to which they made an addition by purchasing the 'Club,' beautifully situated upon the Plaza.

"Thanks to our letter of introduction, we were, through the kind offices of the members, permitted to enjoy the pleasures of their grand ball, called the 'Pinata,' which was indeed a very grand affair, attended by the beauty and fashion of Matanzas. The ball commenced at the seasonable hour of 8 o'clock in the evening; and at entering, each one was required to give up his ticket to a committee of managers, who thus had a kind of general inspection of all those admitted.

"The ball room was a long, large hall, at the other end of which was a pretty stage for theatrical representations; on each side of the room was an arched colonnade, over which were the galleries, where the band was posted. Hanged in double rows of chairs the full length of the room in front of the colonnade, sat hundreds of dark-eyed angels, calm, dignified, and appearing, most of them, to be mere lookers on; not a black coat among them. All of these, with the exception of a few courageous ones that were facing all this beauty, were huddled together at the other end of the room, wanting the courage (it could not be the inclination) to pay their respects to 'las Senoritas.'

"What is exactly the trouble in Cuba between the gentlemen and the ladies I never have been able to quite understand. The men are polished and gentlemanly, as a general thing—sufficiently intelligent, apparently; while the ladies are dignified and pretty. And yet I have never seen that appearance of easy and pleasant intercourse between the sexes which makes our society so charming.

"I am inclined to believe that it is the fault of custom, in a great degree, which surrounds women in Cuba with etiquette, iron bars and formality. This would seem to apply to the natives only, for nothing can be kinder, more friendly and courteous than the manners of the Cuban ladies to strangers, at least, judging from what is seen. It may be as a lady with whom I was arguing the point said: 'It is very different with strangers, Senor, and particularly with the Americans, who are celebrated for their chivalric gallantry to ladies.' Now I call that a very pretty national compliment.

"Taking the arm of my friend, we walk up and down to see, as he expresses it, 'who there is to be presented to,' and faith, if beauty is to be the test, it would seem to be a hard matter to make up one's mind, there is so much of it, but after a turn or two around the room, this form is gone through with, and one begins to feel at home and ready to enjoy one's self.

"When one finds ladies (and there are numbers) who have been educated abroad, either in the United States or Europe, he finds them highly accomplished and entertaining. Several that I had the pleasure of meeting on this and other occasions spoke French perfectly, some English, and one or two both of these in addition to their native tongue.

"But let us return to the ball, which is all the time going on with great eclat. It opens with the advent upon the stage of a dozen or more young men, under the direction of a leader, in some fancy costume very handsomely made, who, after making their bow to the audience, go through some novel kind of a dance. The performers take this means of filling up the intervals of the general dance, and amusing the audience.

"It is now getting late, and the rooms are terribly warm. The fans of the long rows of lovely sitters, who have not moved out of their places the whole evening, keep up a constant flutter, and one begins to sigh for a breath of fresh air, and relief from the discomforts of a full dress suit. But the grand affair of the evening is yet to come off, we are told, so we linger on, and are finally rewarded by the grand ceremony of the 'Pinata,' from which the ball takes its name. This word I can hardly give the meaning of as applied to this ceremony, which consists in having pendent from the ceiling a form of ribbands and flowers, the ribbands numbered and hanging from the flowery the rights to pull which are drawn like prizes in a lottery. Of these ribbands, one is fastened to a beautiful crown of flowers, which, when the ribband to which it is attached is pulled, falls into the hands of the lucky person, who has the privilege of crowning any lady he may deem worthy of the honor 'Queen of the Ball,' to whom every one is obliged to yield obedience, homage, and admiration. There is, also, the same opportunity afforded to the ladies to crown a king. The whole ceremony is pretty, and creates much merriment and amusement.

"This ceremony over, at midnight we sally out into the open air. But what a sight greets us there! Lights blaze in such profusion that it seems more than day. Music and dancing are everywhere. Songs and mirth have taken complete possession of the place, while people of all ages, sexes and colors are mixed together, in what seems inextricable confusion, intent upon having a good time in the open air while their masters and betters are doing the same thing under cover. This is a carnival sight indeed, and only to be seen in a tropical clime."

GUANTANAMO, THE HOME OF THE PIRATES.

Approaching Cuba as Columbus did—across the narrow stretch of sea from San Domingo—you first sight the long, low promontory of the eastern tip, which the discoverer named Point Maysi. So different is the prospect from that seen at the other end of the island, as you come down in the usual route from New York or Florida, that you can hardly believe it is the same small country. From Maysi Point the land rises in sharp terraces, backed by high hills and higher mountains, all so vague in mist and cloud that you do not know where land ends and sky begins. Coming nearer, gray ridges are evolved, which look like cowled monks peering over each other's shoulders, with here and there a majestic peak towering far above his fellows—like the Pico Turquino, 11,000 feet above the sea. Sailing westward along this south shore, the "Queen of the Antilles" looks desolate and forbidding, as compared to other portions of the West Indies; a panorama, of wild heights and sterile shores, and surge-beaten cliffs covered with screaming sea birds. At rare intervals an opening in the rock-bound coast betrays a tiny harbor, bordered by cocoa palms, so guarded and concealed by hills, and its sudden revelation, when close upon it, astonishes you as it did the first explorer.

According to tradition, everyone of these was once a pirate's lair, in the good old days we read about, when "long, low, suspicious-looking craft, with raking masts," used to steal out from sheltered coves to plunder the unwary. Each little bay, whose existence was unknown to honest mariners, has a high wooded point near its entrance, where the sea robbers kept perpetual watch for passing merchantmen and treasure-laden galleons, their own swift-sailing vessels safe out of sight within the cove; and then, at a given signal out they would dart upon the unsuspecting prey like a spider from his web. Among the most notorious piratical rendezvous was Gauntanamo, which our warships are said to have shelled two or three times of late. In recent years its narrow bay, branching far inland like a river, has become of considerable consequence, by reason of a railway which connects it with Santiago, and also because the patriot army, hidden in the nearby mountains, have entertained hopes of overcoming the Spanish garrison and making it a base for receiving outside assistance. Before the war there were extensive sugar plantations in this city, now all devastated. The Cobre mountains, looming darkly against the horizon, are the great copper and iron range of Cuba, said to contain untold mineral wealth, waiting to be developed by Yankee enterprise. In earlier days $4,000,000 a year was the average value of Cuba's copper and iron exports; but in 1867 6,000,000 tons were taken out in less than ten months. Then Spain put her foot in it, as usual. Not content with the lion's share, which she had always realized in exorbitant taxes on the product, she increased the excise charges to such an extent as to kill the industry outright. For a long time afterward the ore lay undisturbed in the Cobre "pockets," until the attention of Americans was turned this way. Their first iron and copper claims in these mountains were recognized by the Cuban government about seventeen years ago. Three Yankee corporations have developed rich tracts of mining territory hereabouts, built railways from the coast to their works on the hills and exported, ore to the United States. The oldest of these companies employed 2,000 men, and had 1,600 cars and a fleet of twenty steamers for the transportation of its output. The Carnegie Company, whose product was shipped to Philadelphia, also employed upwards of a thousand men.

SANTIAGO DE CUBA.

At last an abrupt termination of the stern, gray cliffs which mark this shore line indicates the proximity of Santiago harbor, and a nearer approach reveals the most picturesque fort or castle, as well as one of the oldest, to be found on the western hemisphere. An enormous rounding rock, whose base has been hollowed into great caverns by the restless Caribbean, standing just at the entrance of the narrow channel leading into the harbor, is carried up from the water's edge in a succession of walls, ramparts, towers and turrets, forming a perfect picture of a rock-ribbed fortress of the middle ages. This is the famous castle of San Jago, the Moro, which antedates the more familiar fortress of the same name in Havana harbor by at least a hundred years. Words are of little use in describing this antique, Moorish-looking stronghold, with its crumbling, honey-combed battlements, queer little flanking turrets and shadowy towers, perched upon the face of a dun-colored cliff 150 feet high—so old, so odd, so different from anything in America with which to compare it. A photograph, or pencil sketch is not much better, and even a paint brush could not reproduce the exact shadings of its time-worn, weather-mellowed walls—the Oriental pinks and old blues and predominating yellows that give it half its charm. Upon the lowermost wall, directly overhanging the sea, is a dome-shaped sentry box of stone, flanked by antiquated cannon. Above it the lines of masonry are sharply drawn, each guarded terrace receding upon the one next higher, all set with cannon and dominated by a massive tower of obsolete construction.

It takes a good while to see it all, for new stories and stairways, wings and terraces, are constantly cropping out in unexpected places, but as it occupies three sides of the rounding cliff and the pilot who comes aboard at the entrance to the channel guides your steamer close up under the frowning battlements, you have ample time to study it. Window holes cut into rock in all directions show how extensive are the excavations. A large garrison is always quartered here, even in time of peace, when their sole business is searching for shady places along the walls against which to lean. There are ranges above ranges of walks, connected by stairways cut into the solid rock, each range covered with lolling soldiers. You pass so near that you can hear them chattering together. Those on the topmost parapet, dangling their blue woolen legs over, are so high and so directly overhead that they remind you of flies on the ceiling.

In various places small niches have been excavated in the cliff, some with crucifixes, or figures of saints, and in other places the bare, unbroken wall of rock runs up, sheer straight 100 feet. Below, on the ocean side, are caves, deep, dark and uncanny, worn deep into the rock. Some of them are so extensive that they have not been explored in generations.

The broad and lofty entrances to one of them, hollowed by the encroaching sea, is as perfect an arch as could be drawn by a skillful architect, and with it a tradition is connected which dates back a couple of centuries. A story or two above these wave-eaten caverns are many small windows, each heavily barred with iron. They are dungeons dug into the solid rock, and over them might well be written, "Leave hope behind, ye who enter here!" A crowd of haggard, pallid faces are pressed against the bars; and as you steam slowly by, so close that you might speak to the wretched prisoners, it seems as if a shadow had suddenly fallen upon the bright sunshine, and a chill, like that of coming death, oppresses the heart. Since time out of mind, the Moro of Santiago has furnished dungeons for those who have incurred the displeasure of the government infinitely more to be dreaded than its namesake in Havana. Had these slimy walls a tongue, what stories they might reveal of crime and suffering, of tortures nobly undergone, of death prolonged through dragging years and murders that will not "out" until the judgment day.

Against that old tower, a quarter of a century ago our countrymen of the Virginius were butchered like sheep. Scores of later patriots have been led out upon the ramparts and shot, their bodies, perhaps, with life yet in them, falling into the sea, where they were snapped up by sharks as soon as they touched the water.

The narrow, winding channel which leads from the open sea into the harbor, pursues its sinuous course past several other fortifications of quaint construction, but of little use against modern guns—between low hills and broad meadows, fishing hamlets and cocoanut groves. Presently you turn a sharp angle in the hills and enter a broad, land-locked bay, inclosed on every side by ranges of hills with numerous points and promontories jutting into the tranquil water, leaving deep little coves behind them, all fringed with cocoa-palms. Between this blue bay and a towering background of purple mountains lies the city which Diego Velazquez, its founder, christened in honor of the patron saint of Spain, as far back as the year 1514. It is the oldest standing city in the new world, excepting Santo Domingo, which Columbus himself established only eighteen years earlier. By the way, San Jago, San Diego and Santiago, are really the same name, rendered Saint James in our language; and wherever the Spaniards have been are numbers of them. This particular city of Saint James occupies a sloping hillside, 600 miles southeast from Havana, itself the capital of a department, and ranks the third city of Cuba in commercial importance—Matanzas being second. As usual in all these southern ports, the water is too shallow for large vessels to approach the dock and steamers have to anchor a mile from shore. While waiting the coming of health or customs officials, these lordly gentlemen who are never given to undignified haste, you have ample time to admire the prospect, and if the truth must be told, you will do well to turn about without going ashore, if you wish to retain the first delightful impressions—for this old city of Spain's patron saint is one of the many to which distance lends enchantment.

Red-roofed buildings of stone and adobe entirely cover the hillside, with here and there a dome, a tower, a church steeple shooting upward, or a tell palm poking its head above a garden wall—the glittering green contrasting well with the ruddy tiles and the pink, gray, blue and yellow of the painted walls. In the golden light of a tropical morning it looks like an oriental town, between sapphire sea and turquoise mountains. Its low massive buildings, whose walls surround open courts, with pillared balconies and corridors, the great open windows protected by iron bars instead of glass, and roofs covered with earthen tiles—are a direct importation from Southern Spain, if not from further east. Tangiers, in Africa, is built upon a similar sloping hillside, and that capital of Morocco does not look a bit more Moorish than Santiago de Cuba. On the narrow strip of laud bordering the eastern edge of the harbor, the Moro at one end and the city at the other, are some villas, embowered in groves and gardens, which, we are told, belong mostly to Americans who are interested in the Cobre mines. The great iron piers on the right belong to the American mining companies, built for loading ore upon their ships.

CARDINAS.

Fifty miles east of Matanzas is the city of Cardinas, the last port of any consequence on the north coast of the island. It has a population of 25,000, and is the capital of a fertile district. It is one of the main outlets of Cuba's richest province, Matanzas, and is the great railroad center of the island, or, more properly speaking, it ought to be, as the railroads of the country form a junction fifteen miles inland, at an insignificant station called Jouvellenes.

In time of peace Cardinas enjoys a thriving business, particularly in sugar and molasses, its exports of the former sometimes amounting to 100,000 tons a year. To the west and south stretch the great sugar estates which have made this section of Spain's domain a prize to be fought for. The water side of the town is faced with long wharves and lined with warehouses, and its extensive railway depot would do credit to any metropolis.

There are a few pretentious public buildings, including the customs house, hospital and college. Its cobble paved streets are considerably wider than those of Havana, and have two lines of horse cars. There is gas and electric light, and more two-story houses than one is accustomed to see on the island.

But, notwithstanding the broad, blue bay in front, and the Paseo, whose tall trees seem to be touching finger tips across the road, congratulating each other on the presence of eternal summer, Cardinas is not an attractive town. One misses the glamor of antiquity and historic interest which pervades Havana, Matanzas and Santiago, and feels somehow that the town is new without being modern, young but not youthful.

OTHER CITIES OF IMPORTANCE.

Puerto Principe, or to give it its full name in the Spanish tongue, Santa Maria de Puerto Principe, is the capital of the Central department, and is situated about midway between the north and south coasts, 305 miles southeast of Havana, and forty-five miles southwest of Nuevitas, its port, with which it is connected by railroad. Its population is about 30,000 and it is surrounded by a rich agricultural district, the chief products of which are sugar and tobacco. The climate is hot, moist and unhealthy. It was at one time the seat of the supreme court of all the Spanish colonies in America.

One of the most attractive cities of Cuba is Trinidad, which lies near the south coast, three miles by rail from the port of Casildas. It is beautifully situated on high land overlooking the sea, and on account of its mild and very equable climate it is a favorite resort for tourists and invalids.

Nuevitas, Sancti Espiritu, Baracoa and Cienfuegos are all centers of population with many natural advantages, and with a just form of government, and the advent of American enterprise and capital, they might become prosperous, attractive, and of great commercial importance.

CHAPTER XI.

MUTTERINGS OF INSURRECTION.

Slavery in Cuba—Horrible Tortures Inflicted—The Conspiracy of
Lopez—The United States Interferes—Lopez Captured and Executed
—Seizure of American Ships—Our Government Demands and Secures
Indemnity From Spain—Enormous Salaries of Cuban Officials—
Oppressive Taxation.

Slavery was a demoralizing influence to Cuba as it has been, to every other country in which the system has existed, and to its presence was traced one of the most sensational episodes in all the sensational history of the unhappy island. It is impossible to know to what extent the suspected insurrection of slaves on the sugar plantations about Matanzas was an actual threat. So horrible were the charges made by the accusers that it is almost impossible to believe them. At any rate, such an insurrection was anticipated, and the authorities took measures to crush it out, more severe than any such governmental movement has been since the days of the Spanish Inquisition itself. It was impossible to obtain witnesses by ordinary methods, so the most shocking forms of torture were employed. Those who refused to confess whatever charges happened to be brought against them were tortured till they did confess, and then probably executed for the crimes which they admitted under such circumstances. By such "judicial" processes, 1,346 persons were convicted, of whom seventy-eight were shot and the others punished less severely in various ways. Hundreds of others died from the tortures to which they were subjected, or in the foul prisons in which they were confined, and of these we have no record. Of those convicted and punished under the alleged forms of law, fourteen were white, 1,242 were free negroes, and fifty-nine were slaves. The negroes of Cuba have never forgotten the barbarities to which their parents were subjected in that trying year.

The most notable outbreak of Cuban insurrectionary forces prior to that of the Ten Years' war, which began in 1868, was that known as the conspiracy of Lopez.

As early as May, 1847, Narcisso Lopez and a number of his associates who had planned an insurrection in the central part of the island, were pursued to the United States by Spanish agents, who had kept track of their conspiracy. The Lone Star Society was in close sympathy with these refugees, and to a certain extent the two were co-existent. Lopez, in 1849, organized a military expedition to invade Cuba. By the exertions of the officers of the United States government the sailing of the expedition was prevented. Notwithstanding the activity of the government, however, Lopez, in the following year, got together a force of 600 men outside of the United States, shipped arms and ammunition to them from this country, and on May 19, 1850, made a landing at Cardenas.

The United States authorities had put the Spanish government in Cuba on the alert for this expedition. President Taylor had issued a proclamation warning all citizens of the United States not to take part in such an expedition or to assist it in any way. The expedition was driven out to sea from Cardenas a few days after it landed, sailed for Key West, and there disbanded. Meantime there were a number of uprisings in the island between groups of unhappy natives who had not the wisdom to co-operate in the effort to resist the oppressive hand of the Spaniards.

In August of 1851, Lopez eluded the United States authorities at the port of New Orleans, and sailed out into the Gulf of Mexico with an expedition 450 strong. His lieutenant on this expedition was a Colonel Crittenden, a native of the State of Kentucky. They landed near Bahia Honda, about thirty miles west of Havana, and found the government forces waiting for them. Colonel Crittenden, with a subdivision of 150 men, was compelled to surrender, and the rest were scattered. Lopez, with fifty others, was captured, taken to Havana, and there executed.

The circumstances attending the Lopez failure, and several Spanish outrages against American citizens and vessels, aroused deep feeling in the United States, and the sentiment was growing rapidly that it was a national duty to our own peace, to do something that would make the troublesome neighbor a pleasant one. It was fifty years before action was taken, but, once begun, it was well done.

It was in 1848, prior to the Lopez invasion, that President Polk made the first approaches to the Spanish government with a suggestion to purchase the island for $100,000,000, but was refused with scant consideration. A few years later came the succession of attacks on American merchant vessels by Spanish ships of war, on the pretext that the intercepted craft were in filibuster service. Some of these were fired on, and the American mail bags opened, the steamships Falcon and Crescent City being in this list. The most flagrant case was that of the Black Warrior, a large steamer in coasting trade between New York and Mobile. In February, 1850, while in the harbor of Havana, she was stopped, her cargo confiscated, and a fine of twice its value declared. Her captain hauled down the colors, and taking them with him, left the vessel as a Spanish capture. After five years of "diplomacy," Spain paid an indemnity of $300,000 for the outrage.

It was in 1852 that the governments of Great Britain and France tried to draw the United States into an agreement on the question of Cuba, which was happily refused on genuinely American grounds. It was suggested that all the parties should be bound not to acquire Cuba themselves, nor to permit any other power to do so. Our government gave the proposal respectful consideration, but declined to enter into any such arrangement, on the ground that we prefer to avoid entangling foreign alliances, that it would be unwise, if not unconstitutional, to tie our hands for the future regardless of what might happen, and that on geographical grounds, while England and France were making very slight concessions, we were asked to make a very important one.

The United States came as near to the purchase of Cuba in 1854 as it ever was, but Spain gave the plan little encouragement. Three American ministers to European countries, Messrs. Buchanan, Mason and Soule, met at Ostend and formulated a plan for the purchase, signing and issuing what came to be known as the Ostend manifesto. They recommended the purchase of the island for $120,000,000, and that in no event should it be allowed to come under the power of any other European government than the one by which it was held. At this time, and afterward, while filibustering expeditions were frequent and disorder constantly threatening in Cuba, the subject of the acquisition of Cuba was discussed in Congress, but no headway was made in the matter. At last, conditions in the island became intolerable to the patriots there, and the Ten Years' war began.

It is necessary at this point to relate some of the causes of the frequent disorders and uprisings in the island of Cuba. Some of the features of Spanish misgovernment in the colony have been named, but the catalogue is far from complete.

The most judicial writers, however bitterly they condemn Spain, admit that that peninsular kingdom has itself suffered and that the people have suffered almost beyond endurance themselves. Cuba is not the only land with which we may share a little of our sympathy. But sympathy for Spain must come from other things than oppression from without. Her oppression is within her own borders, and her authorities have tried to shift the burden of it to the colonists across the sea. The debt of Spain has reached enormous proportions, and having fallen from her high estate as a commercial nation, it has become impossible for the great interest charges on her floating debt to be paid by ordinary and correct methods. Says one writer: "To pay the interest necessitates the most grinding oppression. The moving impulse is not malice, but the greed of the famishing; and oppressor and oppressed alike are the objects for sympathy."

The annual revenue raised in the island of Cuba had reached nearly $26,000,000 by the time of the outbreak of the Ten Years' war, and preparations were in progress for largely increasing the exactions. The large revenue raised was expended in ways to irritate the Cubans or any one else who had to help pay it. The annual salary of the captain general was $50,000, when the president of the United States was getting only $25,000 a year. Each provincial governor in Cuba got a salary of $12,000, while the prime minister of Spain received only half that.

The bishop of Havana and the archbishop of Santiago de Cuba each received a salary of $18,000. All offices, civil, military and ecclesiastical, were productive of rich perquisites, except in those cases where stealing was simpler. Wholesale corruption in the custom houses was generally known and admitted by all. The thefts in the custom houses in Havana was estimated at forty per cent, and in Santiago at seventy per cent of the entire revenue. All offices except the very lowest, in church and state alike, were filled by men sent from Spain, with the frank understanding that as soon as he could, each new appointee could garner a fortune by fair means and foul combined, he should retire and let another be sent over to have a turn at the plunder. The result of this was that strangers were always in authority, men with no sympathy for local need, and no local reputation to sustain. It is perfectly obvious what sort of a public service such conditions would create.

As might have been expected, the result was the growth of two parties, one the native-born Cubans, and called the insulares, the other of those from Spain, and their adherents, known as the peninsulares. The line between them has been sharply drawn for many years, and they are on opposite sides of everything. It is from the ranks of the continentals that the volunteer corps of Cuba has been drawn, one of the most aggravating and threatening of all influences against peace in Cuba.

Spain imposed differential duties in such a way as to virtually monopolize the trade of the island. At the same time the prices of all imports to Cuba were forced, to an unnatural figure, to the great distress of the people. Petty oppression in postage and in baptismal fees multiplied, so that instead of petty it became great. The increase in taxation of Cuba for use in Spain in two years prior to the outbreak of the Ten Years' war was more than $14,000,000, and the next year it was proposed to increase it still more. The cities were hopelessly in debt and unable to make the most ordinary and most necessary public improvements. What few schools there had been were nearly all closed. Lacking insane asylums, the unfortunate of that class were kept in the jails. The people saw a country separated from them but by a narrow stretch of water, where freedom reigned. They saw that they were being heavily oppressed with taxation for the benefit of the people of Spain, and that, in addition, they were being robbed mercilessly for the benefit of the authorities who were placed over them temporarily. If the money collected from them had been expended for their benefit in the island, or had been expended honestly, the case might have been different. As it was, however, an intolerable condition had been endured too long, and they rose against it for the struggle known to history as the Ten Years' war.

CHAPTER XII.

OUTBREAK OF THE TEN YEARS' WAR

Cuba Again Stirred to Turmoil—The Taxes of the Island Increased
—A Declaration of Independence—Civil Government Organized—
Meeting of the Legislature, and Election of Officers—The Edict of
a Tyrant.

Before the outbreak of the Ten Years' War, the reform party in Cuba, which included all the most enlightened, wealthy and influential citizens of the island, had exhausted all the resources at their command to induce Spain to establish a more just and equitable administration of affairs, but all to no avail.

It was proposed that Cuba receive an autonomist constitution. The abolition of the supreme power of the Captain General, the freedom of the press, the right of petition, the regulation of the chief frauds by which elections were so arranged that no Cuban could hold government office, the right of assembly, representation in the Cortes, and complete local self-government were among the reforms asked for. The plans were considered in Spain and were reconsidered, and considered again, and that was about all that ever came of them, except that in June, 1868, Captain General Lersundi was permitted to raise the direct taxes on the island ten per cent.

Finally, driven to a point where they could endure it no longer, they made the start for freedom, and began to fight for it, as brave men should do and have done through the history of the world.

Several months before the revolution in Spain and the abdication of Isabella, measures had been taken to prepare for the effort to achieve independence. At last matters progressed so rapidly in the mother country that the Cubans dared not wait for the completion of their plans, but on October 10, 1868, began the hostilities. On that day, Carlos M. de Cespedes, a lawyer of Bayamo, took the initiative with 128 poorly armed men, and issued a declaration of independence at Yara. This declaration justified itself by referring in the following terms to the grievances that have been outlined:

"In arming ourselves against the tyrannical government of Spain, we must, according to precedent in all civilized countries, proclaim before the world the cause that impels us to take this step, which, though likely to entail considerable disturbances upon the present, will ensure the happiness of the future. … And as Spain has many a time promised us Cubans to respect our rights, without having fulfilled her promises; and she continues to tax us heavily, and by so doing is likely to destroy our wealth; as we are in danger of losing our property, our lives and our honor under Spanish dominion," etc.

Within a few weeks Cespedes was at the head of 15,000 men, ill-prepared for war, so far as arms and equipment were concerned, but well provided with resolution, bravery and a just cause. A civil government was organized, and a constitution drawn up, providing for an elective president and vice-president, a cabinet, and a single legislative chamber. It also declared the immediate abolition of slavery. This constitution was promulgated at Guaimaro in Central Cuba, on the 10th of April, 1869. The legislature met soon after, and elected Cespedes president, and Francisco M. Aguilero vice-president.

This insurrection soon assumed formidable dimensions, and the following edict was issued by General Balmaceda:

Inhabitants of the country! The reinforcement of troops that I have been waiting for have arrived. With them I shall give protection to the good, and punish promptly those that still remain in rebellion against the government of the metropolis.

You know that I have pardoned those who have fought us with arms; that your wives, mothers and sisters have found in me the unexpected protection that you have refused them. You know, also, that many of those we have pardoned have turned against us again. Before such ingratitude, such villainy, it is not possible for me to be the man I have been; there is no longer a place for a falsified neutrality; he that is not for me is against me; and that my soldiers may know how to distinguish, you hear the order they carry.

1st. Every man, from the age of fifteen years upward, found away from his habitation (finca), and who does not prove a justified motive therefor, will be shot.

2nd. Every habitation unoccupied will be burned by the troops.

3rd. Every habitation from which does not float a white flag, as a signal that its occupants desire peace, will be reduced to ashes.

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

The foregoing determinations will commence to take effect on the 14th of the present month.

EL CONDE DE BALMACEDA.

Bayamo, April 4, 1869.

Even Weyler, the "Butcher," has never succeeded in concocting a manifesto that surpassed this in malicious excuses for the ancient Spanish amusements of pillage, incendiarism and murder.

THE CAUSE A JUST ONE.

It is now conceded by high Spanish authorities that the insurgents had just grounds for this revolt, and Senor Dupuy de Lome, formerly the Spanish minister to the United States, admits in a letter to the New York Herald that a very large majority of the leading citizens of the island were in sympathy with the struggle for liberty.

The new government received the moral support of nearly all of the South American republics, but as many of them were troubled with internal dissensions, and uncertain of their own security, they were not in a condition to furnish assistance of a more practical nature, and the revolutionists were left to work out their own salvation.

In an exhaustive review of the trouble between Spain and her Cuban possessions, published in 1873, the Edinburg Review said:

"It is well known that Spain governs the island of Cuba with an iron and bloodstained hand. The former holds the latter deprived of civil, political and religious liberty. Hence the unfortunate Cubans being illegally prosecuted and sent into exile, or executed by military commissions in time of peace; hence their being kept from public meeting, and forbidden to speak or write on affairs of state; hence their remonstrances against the evils that afflict them being looked upon as the proceedings of rebels, from the fact that they are bound to keep silence and obey; hence the never-ending plague of hungry officials from Spain to devour the product of their industry and labor; hence their exclusion from public stations, and want of opportunity to fit themselves for the art of government; hence the restrictions to which public instruction with them is subjected, in order to keep them so ignorant as not to be able to know and enforce their rights in any shape or form whatever; hence the navy and the standing army, which are kept in their country at an enormous expenditure from their own wealth, to make them bend their knees and submit their necks to the iron yoke that disgraces them; hence the grinding taxation under which they labor, and which would make them all perish in misery but for the marvelous fertility of their soil."

CHAPTER XIII.

THE MASSACRE OF THE VIRGINIUS OFFICERS AND CREW.

Excitement in the United States over a Spanish Outrage of Twenty-five
Years Ago—The Virginius a Blockade Runner—Severity of the Spanish
Court Martial—Insolence to the American Consul—Indignation in the
United States—Negotiations Between Washington and Madrid—Settlement an
Unsatisfactory One to Most People—No Just Retribution Ever Made.

It was less than twenty-five years before the destruction of the Maine, that another vessel whose crew met its fate in a Spanish port in Cuba was the subject of as intense public interest in the United States as that created by the catastrophe of 1898. The hopeful progress of the Cuban revolution of 1868-78 had stimulated their friends in the United States to aid the insurgents in every way possible, by money, men and the munitions of war. Filibustering was constant and scarcely discouraged by the people of the United States, in spite of the protest of Spain. It was as a result of this condition that the terrible affair of the Virginius occurred.

The case of the Virginius had in it elements of tragedy that made it more spectacular and dramatic than that of the Maine, and American spirit was worked to an even higher tension than it is now, before diplomacy and caution averted a war between the United States and Spain. In the case of the Virginius the facts of Spanish aggression were in no way denied, but, on the contrary, avowed for a time with pride, until the authorities at Madrid subdued their people, who were making a settlement more difficult by their talk. The only controversy was as to whether or not Spain's action in the matter was within its rights. But the settlement, however it might have left the rights of the vessel still unsolved, was a rebuke to Spain, and for its execution of American citizens with scarcely a formality of law Spain has never been forgiven by those who remember it, whatever diplomacy decided as to being satisfied.

The Virginius was originally an English-built sidewheel steamer called the Virgin, and during the war between the States was one of the most famous of blockade runners until captured by a vessel of the United States. In 1870 she was sold in Washington to an agent of the Cuban Junta at New York, her name was changed to Virginius, and she cleared for Curacoa in the West Indies. From that time till her unhappy fate she was never in United States waters. At Aspinwall and in the ports of Venezuela and the West Indies she was known for three years as the most daring and the most successful of filibusters, making repeated landings on the Cuban coast with supplies of arms, ammunition, food and clothes for the insurgents who were then fighting the Ten-Years' war. In all her filibustering it was claimed, however, that the Virginius never lost her character as an American ship, though the Cuban flag was kept at the masthead whenever that practice served any good purpose.

The vessel sailed on the fatal voyage from Kingston, Jamaica, October 23, 1873, having cleared at the United States consulate as a United States vessel bound for Port Simon, Costa Rica. The commander was Captain Joseph Fry, a citizen of the United States. The cargo was made up of munitions of war for the Cuban insurgents, and the crew was part of Cuban and part of American citizens. There were also on board a number of enlisted men on their way to join the insurgent army.

It was not until October 31 that the Virginius approached the coast of Cuba to make her landing, and was intercepted by the Spanish gunboat Tornado. The Tornado had been built by the same English firm that constructed the Virginius, also for blockade running, but in the race that followed the Virginius was unable to equal the speed of her Spanish pursuer. The chase lasted eight hours. Finally, at 10 o'clock at night, the Virginius was stopped and surrendered in response to the cannon shots of the Tornado, which had come in range. The captain protested that his papers were regular and that the Virginius was "an American ship, carrying American colors and papers, with an American captain and an American crew." In response he was told that he was a pirate, his flag was lowered and trampled upon, and the Spanish flag was hoisted in its place.

During the chase after the Virginius, the passengers and crew of the fated vessel were in a state of panic. The cargo, which was made up of war material, was thrown overboard, and all persons on the vessel emptied their trunks of whatever might be considered suspicious. Almost from the instant of the capture the fate of the unfortunate men was assured, and they soon realized the extent of the danger that threatened them.

VERDICT OF THE SPANISH COURT-MARTIAL.

When the Tornado and the Virginius reached Santiago de Cuba the next day the 155 men captured were placed in close confinement and a court-martial was convened at once. The various courts-martial condemned most if not all of the prisoners to death, this summary proceeding being, as was alleged, in accordance with Spanish laws, so far at least as the character of the court and the nature of the judicial forms were concerned. The first executions were on the morning of November 4, when four men were shot, one of them being Brigadier Washington Ryan, who claimed British citizenship, as a Canadian, although he had served in the Union army during the late war. The victims were shot in the back, and their bodies were afterward beheaded, the heads displayed on spikes and the trunks trampled by horses. George W. Sherman, the correspondent of the New York Herald, tried to sketch the scene and was imprisoned for four days for his attempt. A guard kept the American consul in his house, so he could not appear to protest.

As the Virginius had displayed the American colors and was chartered and cleared as an American vessel, she had a prima facie claim to protection as such, until her right should be disproved. Hence Mr. E. G. Schmitt, the American vice-consul at Santiago, was prompt and urgent in demanding access to the prisoners, with a view to protecting the rights of the vessel and any on board who might be American citizens. He was treated with great discourtesy by the provincial governor, who told him in effect that it was none of his business, and persisted in declaring that they were all pirates and would be dealt with as such. Mr. Schmitt was even refused the use of the submarine cable to consult with the consul at Kingston, Jamaica. He would thus have been left entirely helpless but for the friendly aid of the British and French consuls.

On the 8th of November twelve more men were executed, and on the 13th thirty-seven were executed, this last batch including the officers and crew of the Virginius and most of the American citizens. At 4 o'clock in the afternoon the condemned men were marched to the place of execution, passing and saluting the American consulate, where the flag was not flying from its staff.

Captain Fry was shot first, and was the only man, though the soldiers stood but ten feet away, who fell dead at the first volley. The majority of the poor fellows, as the firing continued, were wounded, and killed as they lay on the ground by the usual Spanish fashion of firing rifles in the mouths of those who were disabled. The second engineer of the Virginius was among those executed. He had made a declaration to the Spanish that he had tampered with the engines and cut down the speed of the vessel so that she could be captured, and was marched with the rest to prevent his comrades from knowing that he was to be spared. He was shot by mistake while making frantic protests and explanations, but, as he was a traitor in one way or the other, his death was the only one of all that was never regretted.

PROTESTS WERE UNHEEDED.

During all this time the consuls at Santiago were not idle, but they were helpless. E. G. Schmitt, the American vice-consul, and Theodore Brooks, the British vice-consul, made all sorts of protests that were unavailing. Schmitt was not permitted to see the prisoners before or after the court-martial, until the very end, when he reached Captain Fry and signed his protest with him. He was not permitted the use of the telegraph in order to communicate with the government at Washington by way of Kingston, Jamaica.

He wrote repeated notes to Gen. Burriel, the Spanish commander at Santiago, getting no answer to them, until at last an answer came that was more irritating than silence. Burriel told him that he should have known that the previous day was a day of religious festival, during which he and all his officers were engaged in "meditation of the divine mysteries," and could not consider temporal affairs. He also informed the consul that he might be expelled from the island for trying to embroil the United States and Spain in difficulties if he were not careful.

Then came the only bright spot in the whole affair. News of what was going on reached Jamaica, and the British gunboat Niobe, Captain Sir Lambton Lorraine, left for the scene of massacre, sailing in such a hurry that he left some of the crew ashore. The Captain landed at Santiago before his ship was anchored, and demanded that the slaughter be stopped instantly. He declared that he represented the United States as well as England, and that he would bombard the city if there was another American citizen executed. Ninety-three men were under sentence of death, many of whom were Americans, but the sentences were immediately suspended and the lives were saved. The Spanish afterward asserted that the executions were stopped because of orders received from Madrid.

The next time Sir Lambton Lorraine was in New York he was offered a reception, which he declined. He was presented, however, with a silver brick, on which were engraved the words: "Blood is thicker than water." A resolution of thanks to him was laid on the table in the House of Representatives and never passed.

AMERICAN DEMANDS FOR VENGEANCE.

When the news of all this reached the United States, public indignation rose rapidly. Mass-meetings were held demanding vengeance on Spain. President Grant sent special messages to Congress, and the state department began diplomatic negotiations. Hamilton Fish, secretary of state, declared that the Virginius, having been registered as an American vessel carrying official documents regular upon their face and bearing the United States flag, was entirely beyond the jurisdiction of any other power on the high seas in the time of peace; that if she had secured fraudulent entry or committed any other fraud against the laws of the United States it was for her to be turned over to the United States courts for punishment, and not for her to be captured and punished by some other power.

The Spanish minister of foreign affairs at that time was Admiral Polo de Bernabe, father of the new Spanish minister who succeeded Dupuy de Lome. He wanted to submit the matter to arbitration, and Secretary Fish replied to him that the "United States was ready to refer to arbitration all questions properly subjects for reference, but that the question of an indignity to the flag of the nation and the capture in time of peace on the high seas of a vessel bearing that flag and having also the register and papers of an American ship, is not deemed to be one referable to other powers to determine. A nation must be the judge and custodian of its own honor."

Most of the men were executed after protests to Madrid began to be made. Madrid mobs made a demonstration against the American minister, General Sickles. November 4, Secretary Fish cabled Sickles: "In case of refusal of satisfactory reparation within twelve days from this date close your legation and leave Madrid." Ten days later, when the executions were over, he telegraphed: "If Spain cannot redress these outrages, the United States will." Ten days after that he wired: "If no settlement is reached by the close of to-morrow, leave." Next day Spain became tractable and war was averted.

By his conduct in Madrid at that time General Sickles made many friends of those Americans who wanted to see energetic action, and many enemies among those who wanted peace at any price. It was alleged afterward that the latter influence became dominant, and that his recall from that post was the result of their work to punish him for his energy that was not always diplomatic in its forms.

SETTLEMENT OF THE TROUBLE.

The terms of settlement of the trouble were that the Virginius should be surrendered to an American warship, with the survivors of those who had been captured with her, and that on December 25 the United States flag should be saluted by the Tornado. The surrender was made in the obscure harbor of Bahia Honda, December 16, the Spanish having taken the Virginius there to avoid the humiliation of a surrender in Santiago or Havana, where it should have been made. Captain W. D. Whiting, the chief of staff of the North Atlantic Squadron, was appointed to receive the surrender of the Virginius, and the gunboat Dispatch was sent to Bahia Honda with him for that purpose. Lieut. Adolph Marix was the flag lieutenant of the Dispatch, the same who was afterwards the judge-advocate of the court of inquiry on the Maine disaster. The Virginius was delivered with the flag flying, but she was unseaworthy, and, struck by a storm off Cape Hatteras, was sunk on her way to New York. The salute to the flag that had been arranged was waived by the United States because the attorney-general gave an opinion that the Virginius had no right to fly the American flag when she was captured.

Major Moses P. Handy, afterwards famous as a journalist, was present at the surrender of the Virginius to the American men of war in the harbor of Bahia Honda, and gives a graphic account of the circumstances attending that ceremony. In concluding the tale he says: "The surrender of the surviving prisoners of the massacre took place in the course of time at Santiago, owing more to British insistence than to our feeble representation. As to the fifty-three who were killed, Spain never gave us any real satisfaction. For a long time the Madrid government unblushingly denied that there had been any killing, and when forced to acknowledge the fact they put us off with preposterous excuses. 'Butcher Borriel,' by whose orders the outrage was perpetrated, was considered at Madrid to have been justified by circumstances. It was pretended that orders to suspend the execution of Ryan and his associates were 'unfortunately' received too late, owing to interruption of telegraph lines by the insurgents, to whose broad and bleeding shoulders an attempt was thus made to shift the responsibility.

"There was a nominal repudiation of Borriel's act and a promise was made to inflict punishment upon 'those who have offended,' but no punishment was inflicted upon anybody. The Spanish government, with characteristic double dealing, resorted to procrastination, prevarication and trickery, and thus gained time, until new issues effaced in the American mind the memory of old wrongs unavenged. Instead of being degraded, Borriel was promoted. Never to this day has there been any adequate atonement by Spain, much less an apology or expression of regret for the Virginius massacre."

The amount of money paid to the United States government for distribution among the families of American sufferers by this affair was $80,000. And that is the extent of the reparation made for the shocking crime.

The Virginius, although the most conspicuous, was not the only American victim of Spanish misgovernment in Cuba during the Ten Years' war. In 1877 the three whaling vessels, Rising Sun, Ellen Rizpah, and Edward Lee, while pursuing their legitimate business under the American flag, outside of Cuban waters, were fired upon and detained for days, with circumstances of peculiar hardship and brutality. The United States government investigated the outrage with care, and demanded of Spain an indemnity of $19,500. The demand, however, was not enforced, and the sum of $10,000 was accepted as a compromise settlement.

CHAPTER XIV.

OPERATIONS OF THE TEN YEARS' WAR.

The Two Wars Compared—The Havana Volunteers—The Slaughter at the Villaneuva Theater—The Court Martial of the Students—A Holiday in Havana—The Close of the War—The Treaty of Zanjon.

The reader who has watched closely the struggle in Cuba for the past three years need not be told that Spain has had every advantage in men, money, arms and ammunition. The same state of affairs existed during the Ten Years' War. In fact, the inequality was even greater, for the Spanish army was then composed of experienced soldiers who were well fed, well clothed and paid regularly. In the present conflict many of them are boys who have been sent from home to make targets for insurgent bullets. They know comparatively nothing of military tactics, they have not been paid for months, and they lack food and clothing. The equipment of the insurgent forces in the former rebellion was even more limited than it has been in this one. While they did not experience serious difficulty in obtaining food, the implements of war in any quantities were beyond their reach. But the same spirit that gave courage to our American heroes in revolutionary times was in them, and for ten years they struggled bravely against overwhelming odds.

It is not possible to tell in detail of the monstrous cruelties practiced by the Spanish army during those years of carnage. Here is the testimony of one officer:

"We captured seventeen, thirteen of whom were shot outright; on dying they shouted, 'Hurrah for Free Cuba, hurrah for independence.' A mulatto said, 'Hurrah for Cespedes.' On the following day we killed a Cuban officer and another man. Among the thirteen that we shot the first day we found three sons and their father. The father witnessed the execution of his sons without even changing color, and when his turn came he said he died for the independence of his country. On coming back we brought along with us three carts filled with women and children, the families of those we had shot, and they asked us to shoot them, because they would rather die than live among Spaniards."

Another wrote:

"Not a single Cuban will remain in this island, because we shoot all that we find in the fields, on the farms and in every hovel. We do not leave a creature alive where we pass, be it man or animal. If we find cows we kill them, if horses, ditto, if hogs, ditto, men, women or children, ditto. As to the houses, we burn them. So every one receives his due, the men in balls, the animals in bayonet thrusts. The island will remain a desert."

In the cities, outrages equally barbarous were committed.

THE HAVANA VOLUNTEERS.

The Havana volunteers, made up of the Spanish-born residents, in whose favor the government of the island has always been arranged, took possession of Havana, and put it under mob rule. In May, 1870, they marched out in front of the Villaneuva theater and fired volleys into the crowds that were entering. They had reason to believe, some of them said, that the performance to be given there was to raise funds for the insurgent cause.

So powerful was this organization that shortly after this outrage they placed the Captain-General of the island under arrest, and finally shipped him to Spain, sending word to the home government that he was not severe enough in his rule to suit their views, and suggesting that in case there were no Peninsulars who had the necessary stamina to govern Cuba according to their ideas, they might feel it advisable to assume command themselves.

On another occasion the dead body of one of these volunteers was placed in a public tomb in Havana, and the repository was found to have been defaced by scurrilous writing on the glass of the door. For no known reason, except a blood-thirsty desire for vengeance on someone, no matter whether guilty or innocent, it was claimed that the outrage was committed by some of the students of the university, and on complaint of the volunteer corps, forty-three of these young men were arrested.

They were arraigned before the military tribunal, and so manifestly unjust was the accusation that an officer of the regular army of Spain volunteered to defend them. There was absolutely no proof against them, and they were acquitted. But the volunteers were determined that their victims should not escape, and taking advantage of the fear in which they were held, even by the Havana officials, they forced the Governor-General to issue an order for a second courtmartial. At this examination they manipulated matters so that two thirds of the members of the trial board were connected with their organization, and a verdict of guilty was quickly rendered against all of the prisoners. Eight of them were sentenced to be shot, and the others to long terms of imprisonment at hard labor.

The day of the execution was a holiday in Havana. Bands of music paraded the streets, followed by the volunteers, 15,000 strong, while behind them, bound in chains, and under military guard, came the eight boys who had been condemned to die. Conscious of their innocence of any crime, they did not falter, but marched bravely to the place of execution, where they faced their murderers and fell, riddled by bullets from the rifles of the volunteers. The report of this affair sent a thrill of horror throughout the whole of the civilized world, and the perpetrators of the outrage were severely censured by the Spanish Cortes, but there was no attempt at punishment, nor were the ones who had been imprisoned released.

Meantime the war was being carried on in the provinces with varying success, but dissensions finally arose between the civil and military authorities of the republic of Cuba, and as "a house divided against itself cannot stand," the effectiveness of the campaign was destroyed, and, in 1878, concessions were offered by the Spanish government, which were accepted by the revolutionists, and the struggle was abandoned.

What the outcome of the contest might have been, could it have been continued with the leaders united for its success, is an open question. As the years went by the rank and file of the Cuban army seemed to be more determined than ever to throw off the yoke, and the government in Spain became less prompt in sending supplies of men and money to carry on the war. They eagerly seized the opportunity to bring it to a close, and the treaty of Zanjon, which was signed by General Martinez Campos, the Spanish Governor-General of the island, and General Maximo Gomez, Commander-in-Chief of the Cuban army, promised many reforms, and gave amnesty to all who had taken part in the rebellion.

CHAPTER XV.

THE PEACE OF ZANJON AND ITS VIOLATED PLEDGES

Spanish Hypocrisy and Deceit—Cubans Denied Representation—
Increase of Taxation—The Royal Edicts—A Plausible Argument,
Which Is Not Borne Out by Facts—Spain's Promises Always Broken.

If Spain had been sincere in the promises of reform she made her Cuban colony when the treaty of Zanjon was signed, it is probable that the present war would have never occurred. For while a few of the leaders—notably General Maceo—refused to become pacified, the great majority of the better classes were glad to accept a peaceful settlement on terms that gave them, in fact, if not in name, nearly every concession for which they had fought.

But it did not take them long to learn that they had been duped. Spain granted to Cuba the liberties of Puerto Rico, which had none. On this deceitful ground was laid the new situation, through which ran a current of falsehood and hypocrisy. Spain, whose mind did not change, hastened to change the name of things. The captain-general was called the governor-general. The royal decrees took the name of authorizations. The commercial monopoly of Spain was named coasting trade. The right of banishment was transformed into the law of vagrancy. The brutal attacks of defenseless citizens were called "componte." The law of constitutional guarantees became the law of public order. Taxation without the consent or knowledge of the Cuban people was changed into the law of estimates (budget) voted by the representatives of Spain.

The painful lesson of the Ten Years' War was entirely lost on Spain. Instead of inaugurating a redeeming policy that would heal the recent wounds, allay public anxiety, and quench the thirst for justice felt by the people, who were desirous to enjoy their natural rights, the Peninsula, while lavish in promises of reform, persisted in carrying on, unchanged, its old and crafty system, namely: to exclude every native Cuban from every office that could give him any effective influence and intervention in public affairs; the ungovernable exploitation of the colonists' labor for the benefit of Spanish commerce and Spanish bureaucracy, both civil and military. To carry out the latter purpose it was necessary to maintain the former at any cost.

Mr. Clarence King, a recognized authority on political subjects connected with Cuban affairs, says:

"The main concession for which the insurgents accepted peace was the promise of constitutional reform. As a matter of fact, there promptly followed four royal edicts as follows: June 9, entitling Cuba to elect deputies to the Cortes, one for each 40,000 people; June 9, dividing the island into the present six provinces; June 21, instituting a system of provincial and municipal government, followed on August 16 by the necessary electoral regulations. But the system was immediately seen to be the shadow without the substance of self-government. The Provincial Assembly could nominate only three candidates for presiding officer. It was the inevitable governor-general who had the power to appoint, not necessarily one of the three nominees, but any member of the Assembly he chose. But all this provincial machinery is in reality an empty form, since expressly by law the governor-general was given the power to prorogue the assemblies at will. The deputies have never been able to accomplish anything in the Cortes. Moreover the crux of the whole financial oppression—tariff, taxes, and absolute control and expenditure of the revenue—remained with Spain."

The loyal Spaniard insists that every agreement entered into by his government was faithfully carried out; that the Cubans were given from time to time even greater liberties than the treaty promised them; and that in several matters of importance, immunities have been granted them that the people of the mother country did not share.

The Assistant Colonial Secretary of Spain concludes a voluminous defense of the policy of his government in Cuba as follows:

There is thus no reason in Cuba to complain of the illiberality of the laws. If there has been any shortcoming in respect to morals, the nation is not to blame; none but the colonial provinces are to blame for this; if we proposed to seek comfort in comparisons, it would not be necessary to look for them in South America, in the countries that have emancipated themselves from the Spanish mother-country, because examples (some of them very recent) of acts of violence, anarchy and scandalous outbreaks could be found in the States of the Union itself.

In respect to another matter, a great deal of foolish talk is indulged in. From the statements of some people it would appear that Cuba does nothing but contribute, by the taxes which it pays, to alleviate the burdens of the peninsular treasury, whereas, in reality, just the contrary is the truth. The nation has, of late, guaranteed the conversion of Spanish debts in Cuba, which took place in 1886 and 1890. Owing to these operations, and to the fact that all taxes which did not have to be met directly by its government have been rigorously eliminated from the budget of Cuba, it was possible to reduce the Cuban budget from forty-six and one-half million dollars, which was its amount at the close of the former war (for the fiscal year of 1878-79) to a little more than twenty-three millions of dollars, as appears from the budget of 1893.

The financial laws have been assimilated, and if the system of taxation has not been entirely assimilated, this is because of the fact that direct taxes are very repugnant to the popular feeling in Cuba, especially the tax on land, which is the basis of the Peninsular budget. It appears, however, that our Cuban brethren have no reason to complain in this respect. The direct tax on rural property is two per cent, in Cuba, whereas in Spain it is seventeen, and even twenty per cent. It is evident that every budget must be based on something; in Cuba, as in all other countries in which the natural conditions are similar, that something must necessarily be the income from customs duties. Notwithstanding this, it may be remarked that in the years when the greatest financial distress prevailed, the Spanish Government never hesitated to sacrifice that income when it was necessary to do so in order to meet the especial need of the principal agricultural product of Cuba. Consequently the Spanish commercial treaty with the United States was concluded, which certainly had not been concluded before, owing to any fault of the Spanish Government. Under that treaty, the principal object of which was to encourage the exportation of Cuban sugar, which found its chief market in the States of the Union, many Spanish industries were sacrificed which have formerly supplied the wants of the people of Cuba. That sacrifice was unhesitatingly made, and now that the treaty is no longer in force, is due to the fact that the new American tariff has stricken sugar from the free list.

Attention may also be called to the fact that the colonial provinces alone enjoy exemption from the blood tax, Cuba never having been obliged to furnish military recruits.

The disqualifications of the Cubans to hold public office is purely a myth. Such disqualifications is found on the text of no law or regulation, and in point of fact there is no such exclusion. In order to verify this assertion it would be sufficient to examine the lists of Cuban officers, especially of those employed in the administration of justice and in all branches of instruction. Even if it were desired to make a comparison of political offices, even of those connected with the functions which are discharged in the Peninsula, the proportion would still be shown in which Spaniards in Cuba aspire to both. The fact is that a common fallacy is appealed to in the language habitually used by the enemies of Spain, who call persons "Peninsulars" who were not born in Cuba, but have resided there many years and have all their ties and interests there, and do not call those "Cubans" who were born there and have left the island in order to meet necessities connected, perhaps, with their occupation. This was done in the Senate, when the advocates of the separation of Cuba only were called "Cubans," while those only who refused allegiance to the Spanish mother-country were called patriots.

In conclusion, I will relate a fact which may appear to be a joke, but which, in a certain way, furnished proof of what I have just said. When Rafael Gasset returned from Habana, he came and asked me for some data showing the proportion of Cubans holding office under our Government. I asked him, as a preliminary question, for a definition of what we were to understand by "Cuban" and what by "Peninsular." He immediately admitted that the decision of the whole question was based upon that definition, and I called his attention to the fact that here, in the Ministry of the Colonies, at the present time, there are three high governmental functionaries. One is a representative from Habana, being at the same time a professor in its University, and another, viz., your humble servant, is a Spaniard because he was born in Habana itself. Is the other man a Peninsular, and am I not a Cuban?

GUILLERMO. Assistant Colonial Secretary of Spain.

This is the argument from the Peninsular standpoint, and it is probably made in good faith. But while the Spanish rule in Cuba may seem to be just and equitable in theory, it is oppressive and tyrannical in fact. While the government may have partly carried out the letter of its promises, there has been no effort to fulfill the spirit of the compact in the slighest degree, and the violated pledges of the treaty of Zanjon only add new chapters to the long record of Spanish treachery and deceit.

CHAPTER XVI.

PREPARATIONS FOR ANOTHER REBELLION.

Spain's Policy of Distrust—The Cost of the Ten Years' War—Work
of the Cuban Exiles—Revolutionary Clubs in the Western
Hemisphere—An Expedition Checked—Heroism of Cuban Women—The
Struggle Begun.

Ever since Spain lost her colonies on the American continent the Cubans have striven to gain their independence. The Ten Years War cost the mother country 300,000,000 pesetas and 100,000 men, most of them victims of yellow fever. When slavery was abolished in 1880 fresh disturbances ensued. The majority of slave holders, who received no compensation, joined the party of independence.

Spain, adhering to her old policy of distrust, retained a large army in Cuba and a navy round about her shores, the expenses of which caused the budget to amount to $46,594,000 at a time when two-thirds of the island was nothing but a mass of ruins, and when Cuba was beginning to feel the effects of the competition with other sugar-producing countries.

While the European manufacturers received important bounties those of Cuba had to pay export duties on their sugar, and the importation of all agricultural and industrial implements was subjected to a tariff almost prohibitive.

Two laws were enacted in 1882 to regulate commerce between Cuba and Spain. By the provisions of these laws the import duties on all Spanish products were to be gradually diminished until their importation in Cuba became entirely free, while the Cubans had to pay on their imports to Spain duties which practically closed the Spanish market to all their products.

Spanish goods, as a rule, are much inferior to those of English, French or American manufacture, but the Cuban consumer was forced to buy Spanish goods or pay an exorbitant price for those which he would have preferred to buy at a fair price. An instance will suffice to illustrate this: When the present war began in 1895 the duty on a hundred kilogrammes of woolen cashmere was fifteen dollars and forty-seven cents if Spanish, three hundred dollars if foreign. These differential duties opened a reign of prosperity for industry in Spain, where foreign goods were imported or smuggled, to be later sent to Cuba as Spanish.

The injustice of these commercial laws was so evident and so detrimental to the interests of Cuba that in 1894 the Planters' Association, the president of which, the Count de Diana, was a Spaniard, referred to them as "destructive of our public wealth, a source of inextinguishable discontent and the germ of serious dissensions."

The insular budgets could never be covered, and the result was that the public debt was kept on the increase. The expenditures were classed as follows: For army and navy, 36.59 per cent of the budget's total; for the debt, 40.89; for justice and government, 19.77, and for public works, 2.75. No public work of any kind was begun in the seventeen years which intervened between the two wars.

The Cuban Treasury, between 1823 and 1864, sent to Spain $82,165,436 in gold. This money entered the Spanish Treasury as "Colonial surplus," but as a Spanish writer (Zaragoza) says in his book, "Las Insurrecciones de Cuba," it was absurd to speak of a surplus when not even the opening of a bad road was undertaken.

Politically, the condition of the Cubans after the restoration of peace in 1878, was as bad as it had been before. Laws existed which might lead unobserving persons to believe that the Cubans enjoyed every liberty, but as a matter of fact the Cubans were kept under the most unbearable vassalage. The Spaniards in Cuba before this war numbered only 9.30 per cent of the island's population, but, availing themselves of a law which gave to them a majority in the electoral census, they were to return twenty-four of the thirty deputies which the island then sent to the Spanish Cortes.

So restrictive was the electoral law that only 53,000 men were qualified to vote in the entire island, although its population was 1,762,000. In the municipal district of Guines, with a population of 12,500 Cubans and 500 Spaniards, the electoral census included 400 Spaniards and thirty-two Cubans. This is one among many similar instances. The Board of Aldermen in Havana, the capital city of the island, has for years been made up entirely of Spaniards, and the same may be said of Cienfuegos and other important cities.

Despite all constitutional provisions the governor-general of the island had the power to deport from the island, without a trial, any person whose presence there he considered dangerous to the security of the State. The island was at peace when Cepeda, Lopez de Brinas and Marquez Sterling, all journalists, were deported. The liberty of the press was and still is a myth. El Pais, the Autonomist organ, was criminally prosecuted in 1889 because it denounced the appointment of one of the sons of the president of the Havana Court of Appeals to a place which he could not lawfully hold.

What liberty of association the Cubans enjoyed may be judged from the fact that a delegate of the government had to be present at their meetings, with power to dissolve them whenever he saw fit to do so.

No Cuban was able to obtain a place in the administration unless he was rich enough to go to Madrid and there become acquainted with some influential politician. Even so, Cubans seldom succeeded in being appointed to places of importance.

The Cuban exiles in Key West, New York and other cities in the United States, and in Costa Rica, Honduras, Santo Domingo and other parts of Spanish America, had been planning a new uprising for several years. The desire of the Cubans for national independence was quickened by what they suffered from Spain's misgovernment. For two or three years the exiles in the United States and Spanish American countries, veterans of the war of 1868-78, and younger champions of free Cuba, organized clubs, collected a war fund, purchased munitions of war and laid plans with their compatriots in Cuba for a new struggle for independence. There were 140 revolutionary clubs in North and South America, Cuba and other West India islands, affiliated under the name of the revolutionary party, ready to support an uprising with financial and moral aid. Cuban workingmen in the United States promised to contribute a tenth of their earnings, or more if necessary. There were firearms on the island that had remained concealed since the former war, some had been bought from corrupt custodians of the government arsenals, who, finding it impossible to get pay due them from Spain, took this method of securing what was rightfully theirs.

AN EXPEDITION CHECKED.

An expedition that planned to sail in the yacht Lagonda from Fernandina, Fla., on January 14, 1895, was broken up by the United States authorities. General Antonio Maceo, its leader, with Jose Marti, the political organizer of the new government, went to Santo Domingo, where they could confer with the revolutionist leaders living in Cuba. There Marti found Maximo Gomez, the veteran of a dozen struggles and a brave and able soldier, and offered him the command and organization of the army. Gomez accepted and began at once to arrange his programme.

The plan of the revolutionists was to rise simultaneously in the six provinces on February 24. The leaders on the island and the organizers abroad had a thorough understanding.

HEROISM OF CUBAN WOMEN.

The men of Cuba were not alone in their plans for independence, for their wives and sisters, mothers and sweethearts, were enthusiastic and faithful allies. The island was full of devoted women reared in indolence and luxury who were tireless in their successful efforts to get word from, one scattered rebel band to another, and to send them food, medicines and clothing. These women were far better conspirators than their fathers and brothers, for Cuban men must talk, but the women seem to know the value of silence.

Beautiful and delicate senoritas would disguise themselves in men's attire and steal out at night to the near-by haunts of lover or brother in the "Long Grass," as the insurgents' camps are called, with food secreted in false pockets, or letters, whose envelopes had been dipped in ink, hidden in their black hair. Medicines were carried in canes, and cloth for clothes or wounds was concealed in the lining of coats. One girl, disguised as a vender, frequently carried to the woods dynamite in egg shells deftly put together.

She had many thrilling experiences, but her narrowest escape was when a Spanish soldier by the roadside insisted on taking from the basket an egg, to let its contents drop in a hot and ready pan. He was with difficulty persuaded to forego the meal. The dynamite was made by another woman, who carefully obtained the ingredients at various times and at widely scattered drug stores.

And so, with almost every Cuban man, woman and child united in a fixed determination to make the island one of the free and independent nations of the earth, the final struggle was begun.

CHAPTER XVII.

THE CUBAN JUNTA AND ITS WORK.

Organization Which Has Represented the Insurgents in the United
States—Splendid Work Done by Senor Tomas Estrada Palma and His
Staff—Sources of the War Funds—Generosity of Cuban Cigar Makers
Who Have Supported the Revolution—Liberal Gifts from Americans—
Some Inside Facts about Filibustering—American Sailors Do Not
Like to Capture Insurgent Supplies—Palma's Address to the
American People.

From the moment of the first outbreak of insurrection in Cuba, in February, 1895, the name of the Cuban Junta has been a familiar phrase to everyone in the United States, and yet its functions and its organization have been by no means well understood. There have been those in Congress and elsewhere who have spoken of it slightingly as an organization banded together for its own profit in some way, not realizing that its members were the trusted representatives abroad of the whole Cuban people.

The parallels between the Cuban insurrection and that of the American colonies against Great Britain in 1776, are far more numerous than has been recognized. The Cuban army has been poorly clothed and scantily fed at times, and equipped with all sorts of obsolete weapons of offence. But these things are m> disgrace, and indeed are the basis of much of the pride that Americans take in the splendid work which their ancestors did in that other insurrection, which, having resulted successfully, is now known as the American Revolution. There have been sneers at the government of the Cuban republic because its officers have had to move from place to place at various times, in order to avoid threatened capture by the Spanish forces. But was there ever a more peripatetic national government than that of the American colonies during the Revolution, when the legislature and its officers sat successively in Philadelphia, Germantown, Princeton, New York and several other places, driven out of each in turn by the same fear of capture by British troops?

Finally, it ought to be remembered, though it may not be, that the colonies maintained an organization exactly similar to that of the Cuban Junta in New York, for the purpose of securing money and support from the people and the governments of Europe, to whom they were accredited. The only country which gave them welcome encouragement was France. But Benjamin Franklin's position in Paris as the head of what was virtually the American Junta, was then and is now an honor to his name and his countrymen. It enlisted the same aid from France and French citizens that the Cuban Junta in New York has enlisted from the United States and American citizens, and there is no reason to form any less creditable judgment of the latter enterprise than the former.

CHARACTER OF THE WORK OF THE JUNTA.

The Junta is the organization through which Cuba's friends reach the Cubans in the field. In many places these friends are banded together and work for the Cuban cause as organizations. In the United States and Europe there are 300 Cuban revolutionary clubs, with a membership of more than 50,000. These clubs were the outcome of a suggestion originating with Jose Marti, and their organization has been accomplished by the delegation, with whom they are all in closest touch, to whom they all account, and through whom they all make contributions in money, clothing, provisions, arms, and munitions for those who are enduring the hardships of the war. Before the revolution began these clubs had $100,000 in bank as a war fund.

These most vital contributions must reach the army in the field, and it is the business of the delegation to see that they get there. And they have been getting there under most adverse and trying circumstances, and amid perils of land and sea where enemies are watching and where a friendly government has had to guard against the violation of neutrality laws.

For accomplishing its work the Junta has in no way been restricted in authority, the Cuban government having even granted special authority allowing Mr. Palma to issue a limited amount of bonds, coin money, and grant letters of marque.

It has further been the business of the Junta—attended by risk of life to its agents—to keep in communication with the insurgents. This has been done by secret agents who come and go from New York to Key West, from Key West to Havana, from Havana into Spanish cities of Cuba and through the provinces of the island.

The headquarters of the Junta bears no outward sign except that the stars and stripes and the single starred flag of Cuba wave from the third-story window, where is Mr. Palma's office. A narrow hall and tortuous stairs lead to the office of the delegate, where on every side are signs of active business, with shelves, tables, and desks holding heaps of letters, books of accounts, and documents of various sorts. Here the delegate works, receives his friends, coworkers, and agents.

Off the main room is a private office, where secret agents report and are instructed, and where councils of moment are held and decisions of vital import to the Cuban cause reached, to be followed by orders that are of immense importance to the army of liberation.

The Cuban Junta, with its headquarters, represents the legation of the Cuban republic abroad, and the head of the Junta, as it is called, is T. Estrada Palma. Properly speaking he is the delegate, and with the members of his ministerial and diplomatic household constitutes the delegation of the Cuban republic.

The term "Junta" has been applied because such a body or council was attached to the diplomatic department of Cuba during the Ten Years' war. As the authority of the Junta frequently restricted the action of the delegate, the promoters of the present revolution decided to eliminate it; yet the name remains, and is used and accepted to designate Mr. Palma and his associates.

AUTHORITY OF THE JUNTA.

This Junta, as the representative of the Cuban republic, acts on high authority, for the delegation was appointed on September 19, 1895, by the Constituent Assembly that formed the government and commissioned Maximo Gomez chief commander of the Cuban army. At the same time it made Mr. Palma delegate and Cuban representative abroad, with authority to appoint ministers to all governments and to have control of all of Cuba's diplomatic relations and representatives throughout the world. Besides this, Mr. Palma is the duly accredited minister from Cuba to the United States, and in the event of the Cuban republic being recognized would be received as such.

Under his authority Mr. Palma has appointed sub-delegates, or diplomatic agents, in France, Italy, Mexico, and the Central and South American republics. Cuba's independence not being acknowledged by these nations, her ministers are not officially recognized, but are often unofficially received at the "back door," and exert an influence for the benefit of Cuba in the countries to which they are appointed.

Mr. Palma is in reality the head of the Cuban revolutionary party abroad, which is one of the three departments of the Cuban revolutionary government, the two others being the civil government and the army of liberation.

This Cuban revolutionary branch was founded by Jose Marti, who is regarded by the Cubans as the apostle and master mind of the Cuban revolution.

Mr. Palma is not only the head and front of the Junta, but he is the one person in whom its authority is centered. He was born in Cuba about sixty years ago, and in his tender youth imbibed the spirit of liberty for the island, a spirit which grew with him until it influenced his every word and act, and finally received his entire devotion. So direct, gentle, yet determined are his methods, and so unassuming and plain is he in speech and manner that he soon became known as the "Cuban Franklin," and more firmly has the name become attached to him since the potent influence of his policy has been felt throughout the world.

During the Ten Years' war Mr. Palma was President of the Cuban republic; was made prisoner by Spanish troops, and sent to Spain, where he was imprisoned until the close of the conflict. While in Spain, absolutely suffering under the hardships of imprisonment, he was offered freedom if he would swear allegiance to the Spanish crown.

"No!" was his answer. "You may shoot me if you will, but if I am shot it will be as the President of the Cuban republic."

Besides Mr. Palma, the only members of the delegation appointed by the
Cuban government are: Dr. Joaquin D. Castillo, the sub-delegate;
Benjamin J. Guerra, treasurer of the republic abroad, and Gonzalo de
Quesada, charge d'affaires at Washington.

Dr. Castillo is vice-delegate and would take Mr. Palma's place in case of his death or inability to act.

SOURCES OF THE WAR FUNDS.

The Junta, whose duty it has been to provide the funds for the carrying on of the war, has had various sources of income, all of them distinctly creditable, both to the integrity of the Cuban authorities and to the sentiments of those who have contributed the money. The larger portion of the cash has come in small contributions from Cubans living in the United States. The cigarmakers of Key West, Tampa, Jacksonville, New York and other cities where large Cuban colonies have congregated, have proven their patriotism and their adherence to the cause by giving more generously of their earnings than has ever been done before by the people of any country struggling for freedom. There is scarcely an exception to the assertion that every Cuban in America has shared in contributions to the war fund.

The minimum contribution has been ten per cent of the weekly earnings, and this has brought an enormous sum into the coffers of the Junta for war purposes. It is true that a war chest of $50,000 or $100,000 a week would be hardly a drop in the bucket for the conduct of the war after the established methods of organized armies. But this has been a war for liberty, and the conditions have been unique. No soldier in all the armies of Cuba Libre has ever drawn one dollar of pay for his service. Thousands of them have been fighting from the first outbreak of insurrection, without receiving a cent of money for it. If the pay of an army be deducted from the expenses of a war, the largest item is saved.

Nor has it been necessary to purchase many clothes, owing to the mildness of the Cuban climate, which fights in favor of those who are accustomed to it. The commissary department, too, has been almost non-existent, and the soldiers in the field have lived by foraging and by collecting the vegetables and fruits saved for them by the women and children, whose hearts are as deep in the conflict as are their own. The principal demand for money has been to procure arms, ammunition and medical and surgical supplies.

In addition to the contributions which have come from patriotic Cubans, another large source of income to the Junta has been the silent liberality of many American citizens, who have proved their practical sympathy to the cause of freedom by giving of their wealth to aid it. Outside of these sources, the only income has been from the sale of bonds of the Cuban republic, a means of obtaining money which has been used conservatively, so that the infant republic should not be saddled with a heavy debt at the outset of its career as an independent nation.

Aside from the contributions of money to the Cuban powers, enormous quantities of medical and surgical supplies and hospital delicacies have been offered by the generous people of the United States, organized into Cuban Auxiliary Aid Societies in the various cities of the country. American women have taken a prominent part in this movement and have won thereby the undying gratitude of the Cubans.

SOME FACTS ABOUT FILIBUSTERING.

The sailing of vessels from New York and other ports with cargoes of supplies for the Cuban revolutionists has been a frequent occurrence, far more so than has been known to the public. Filibustering is a phrase that has gained honor during these three years, such as it never had before. Carried on in the cause of humanity and liberty, its motives justified its irregularities, and there have been few to condemn the practice. In the fogs of an early morning, some fast steamer would slip away from an Atlantic port, loaded with arms, ammunition, quinine, and all sorts of hospital, medical and surgical supplies, accompanied usually by a band of Cuban patriots, seeking the first opportunity to return to their beautiful island and take up arms for its liberation. There have been a few such expeditions captured, but for everyone captured a score have reached their destination on the Cuban coast without interruption, and have landed their cargo in safety in insurgent camps.

The United States government, in recognition of its diplomatic obligations, spent millions of dollars prior to the outbreak of our war with Spain, in carrying on a patrol service of the Atlantic coast and the Gulf of Mexico, to prevent the sailing of filibustering expeditions. Now that the day of such patrol service in the aid of Spain is ended forever, there can be no harm in telling some of the details that might have been compromising before.

American cruisers and gunboats were stationed in the harbors around the coast, from New York to New Orleans, and particularly on both sides of the Florida peninsula. To one of these vessels would come the news that a suspected filibustering craft was likely to sail from a certain place at a certain time, and orders would be given to intercept the rover if possible. To one who did not know the temper and the spirit of American sailors from highest to lowest in the service of the navy, the actions that followed might have been puzzling. In spite of the proverbial alacrity and readiness with which an American vessel can make sail, there was always a delay at such times. It was almost certain that something would be wrong that would require some time to correct before the anchor could be weighed. It might be necessary to buy provisions or to take on coal before sailing, and then, more than once after the anchor was weighed and the actual start begun, it would be discovered that some minor accident had occurred to the machinery, which would require another halt to repair it. Finally at sea, the cruiser would steam away at full speed in the direction of the reported filibuster, until her hull and even her smoke disappeared far down in the horizon.

CAPTURING OF FILIBUSTERING VESSELS.

What happened after that no one ashore could know. But more than once there were grave suspicions that other delays occurred as goon as the vessel was well out of sight, or that the course was changed in pursuit of some other passing vessel, until after a few hours' chase it would be discovered to be an unoffending craft, and the course would be resumed towards the goal, as first ordered.

However these things may be, it is certain that the capture of a filibustering vessel before her cargo was discharged was an almost unknown event, and that the capture of such a craft after her cargo was discharged could in no way be disastrous to the Cuban cause when nothing could be proved against the boat or her men. Certain it is that no officer or sailor in the American navy ever wanted to capture a filibuster. To an American it was a blot on the honor of the ship that it should be used to intercept arms and ammunition on their way to an oppressed people struggling for their freedom. It is safe to say that the two or three captures which were made of filibusters at such a time that their confiscation and the conviction of their officers could not be avoided, was a distinct grief to every man who participated in the chase and the punishments that followed.

No one can deny the integrity or the ability of the men who are enlisted in the cause of Cuba as the New York Junta, who knows the facts as to their personality and the work they have done. Some of the diplomatic and state papers which have been issued by Senor Palma are worthy to take rank with the utterances of any American who has gained fame in national history for similar work. A notable instance of the dignity and the eloquence with which he speaks, is found in the proclamation to the people of the United States which he issued but a few weeks before the outbreak of our war with Spain. He said:

SENOR PALMA ON THE SPANISH CONCESSIONS.

"The persistency with which the American press has during the last few days been treating of supposed administrative reforms to be introduced in Cuba by the government of Spain, compels me to request the publication of the following declarations, which I make in behalf of my government, of the army of liberation of Cuba, and of the Cuban revolutionary party.

"The question of the proposed reforms is not a matter which at all concerns those who have already established an independent government in Cuba and have resolved to shrink from no sacrifice of property or life in order to emancipate the whole island from the Spanish yoke. If the Spanish residents of the island who are favored by the Spanish government with all sorts of privileges and monopolies, and if the handful of Cubans, too pusillanimous or too proud to acknowledge their error, or a few foreigners guided only by selfish interests, are satisfied that Cuba should remain under Spanish domination, we who fight under the flag of the solitary star, we who already constitute the Republic of Cuba, and belong to a free people with its own government and its own laws, are firmly resolved to listen to no compromise and to treat with Spain on the basis of absolute independence for Cuba.

"If Spain has power to exterminate us, then let her convert the island into a vast cemetery; if she has not and wishes to terminate the war before the whole country is reduced to ashes, then let her adopt the only measure that will put an end to it and recognize our independence. Spain must know by this time that while there is a single living Cuban with dignity—and there are many thousands of them—there will not be peace in Cuba, nor even hope of it.

"All good causes must finally triumph, and ours is a good cause. It is the cause of justice treated with contempt, of right suppressed by force, and of the dignity of a people offended to the last degree.

"We Cubans have a thousandfold more reason in our endeavors to free ourselves from the Spanish yoke than the people of the thirteen colonies had when in 1776 they rose in arms against the British government.

COMPARISONS WITH THE AMERICAN COLONIES.

"The people of these colonies were in full enjoyment of all the rights of man; they had liberty of conscience, freedom of speech, liberty of the press, the right of public meeting and the right of free locomotion; they elected those who governed them, they made their own laws and, in fact, enjoyed the blessings of self-government. They were not under the sway of a captain-general with arbitrary powers, who at his will could imprison them, deport them to penal colonies, or order their execution even without the semblance of a court-martial. They did not have to pay a permanent army and navy that they might be kept in subjection, nor to feed a swarm of hungry employes yearly sent over from the metropolis to prey upon the country.

"They were never subjected to a stupid and crushing customs tariff which compelled them to go to the home markets for millions of merchandise annually, which they could buy much cheaper elsewhere; they were never compelled to cover a budget of $26,000,000 or $30,000,000 a year, without the consent of the tax-payers, and for the purposes of defraying the expenses of the army and navy of the oppressor, to pay the salaries of thousands of worthless European employes, the whole interest on a debt not incurred by the colony, and other expenditures from which the island received no benefit whatever; for out of all those millions only the paltry sum of $700,000 was apparently applied for works of internal improvement and one-half of this invariably went into the pockets of the Spanish employes.

"We have thrown ourselves into the struggle advisedly and deliberately; we knew what we would have to face, and we decided unflinchingly to persevere until we should emancipate ourselves from the Spanish government. And we know that we are able to do it, as we know that we are competent to govern ourselves.

"Among other proofs which could be adduced of the ability of the Cuban white and colored to rule themselves, is the strong organization of the Cuban revolutionary party in America. It is composed of more than 20,000 Cubans, living in different countries of the new world and formed into clubs, the members of which yearly elect their leader. This organization has been in existence over five years, during which every member has strictly discharged his duties, has respected without any interruption the regulations and obeyed the elected delegate loyally and faithfully. Among the members of the clubs there are several Spaniards, who enjoy the same rights as the Cubans, and who live with them in fraternal harmony. This fact and that of the many Spaniards incorporated into our army, fully demonstrate that our revolution is not the result of personal hatred, but an uprising inspired only by the natural love of liberty and free institutions. The war in Cuba has for its only object the overthrow of Spanish power, and to establish an independent republic, under whose beneficent laws the Spaniards may continue to live side by side with the Cubans as members of the same community and citizens of the same nation. This is our programme and we strictly adhere to it.

"The revolution is powerful and deeply rooted in the hearts of the Cuban people, and there is no Spanish power, no power in the world, that can stop its march. The war, since General Weyler took command of the Spanish army, has assumed a cruel character. His troops shoot the Cuban prisoners, pursue and kill the sick and wounded, assassinate the unarmed, and burn their houses. The Cuban troops, on their part, destroy, as a war measure, the machinery and buildings of the sugar plantations and are firmly resolved not to leave one stone upon another during their campaign.

"Let those who can put an end to this war reflect that our liberty is being gained with the blood of thousands of Cuban victims, among whom is numbered Jose Marti, the apostle and martyr of our revolution. Let them consider that before the sacred memory of this new redeemer there is not a single Cuban who will withdraw from the work of emancipation without feeling ashamed of abandoning the flag which on the 24th of February, 1895, was raised by the beloved master.

"It is time for the Cuban people to satisfy their just desire for a place among the free nations of the world and let them not be accused if to accomplish their noble purpose they are obliged to reduce to ashes the Cuban land.

Tomas Estrada Palma."

CHAPTER XVIII.

KEY WEST AND THE CUBANS.

Cuban Refugees in Key West—Their Devotion to the Cause—
Peculiarities of the Town—Odd Sights and Sounds—Filibusters and
Their Work—The First Authorized Expedition—It Is a Failure—The
Second More Successful—Landing Supplies for the Insurgents—
Captain Jose Lacret, and Some of His Adventures.

The island of Key West lies sixty miles south of Cape Sable, the most southerly point of the mainland of Florida, and is seven miles long and from one to two miles broad. The city covers nearly one-half of the island and has a population of about 25,000. Key West has been described as being "to Cuba what Gibraltar is to Ceuta, to the Gulf of Mexico what Gibraltar is to the Mediterranean." It is one of the chief naval stations of the United States and is strongly fortified.

The most important industry is the making of cigars, which gives employment to thousands of Cubans, who make up a large majority of the population, and many of whom are refugees, charged with political crimes, with a price set upon their heads. One of the most important divisions of the Cuban Junta of the United States has its headquarters here. Almost every Cuban in Key West gives regularly a portion of his earnings to the cause, and many cargoes of arms, ammunition and supplies have been sent to the insurgents by their brethren on this little island. The city is unique in many respects. It is made up of innumerable little wooden houses, without chimneys, but crowded in irregular groups. Many of the houses have wooden shutters in place of glass windows.

On most of the streets there are no sidewalks, but people stumble over the jagged edges of coral rock. There are a great number of public vehicles, and one can be hailed at any corner and engaged for 10 cents. Some of these carriages are quite respectable in appearance. They are generally double-seated affairs, which have been discarded in the north. The horses are wrecks, and they show by their appearance that fodder is dear and that they are not half fed.

One of the sounds of Key West is the whacking of the horses which draw the carriages and the mules which move the street cars from place to place.

The street cars look as if they had been dug up from the neighborhood of the pyramids. Ropes are used for reins, and the only substantial thing about the whole outfit is the great rawhide whip, with which the street-car driver labors incessantly. The people, as a rule, are opposed to excessive exertion, but they make an exception in the case of labor with a whip.

JOURNALISM, CLIMATE AND DOGS.

The town has one struggling newspaper, which is worthy of a better support. It is told of the editor that he came to Key West a barefooted boy from Georgia, and worked his way up to his present eminent position of instructor in etiquette and ethics to the four hundred.

Hundreds of dogs, cats, roosters, goats, and "razorbacks" run at large through the streets, and the three former combine to make night hideous. In the early evening the sound of negro meetings and jubilations predominates. Then the cats begin where the shouters leave off. Later, the dogs, sneaking and sore-eyed, and more numerous than any other species, take up the refrain. They howl and bark and keep on howling and barking, until sleep seems impossible. At last, when the wakeful man thinks the row is over, the roosters, the meanest, skinniest, loudest-mouthed roosters in the world, continue the serenade until death seems a welcome, especially the death of the roosters.

NEGROES ALONE ARE PATRIOTIC.

There is a strange mixture of races at Key West, but the negroes are the most patriotic class. They alone celebrate the Fourth of July and other national holidays. While the town has its enlightened and respectable people, it also has a shoddy class, whose ignorance of the rest of the world carries them to grotesque extremes in their efforts to proclaim their greatness.

Even in its schools Key West is peculiar. The schoolhouses are built like cigar factories, and each has mounted upon the roof the bell of an old locomotive. When the school bells are ringing it is easy to close your eyes and imagine yourself in one of the great railway depots of the north.

THE FIRST AUTHORIZED EXPEDITION.

Prior to the commencement of our war with Spain the United States authorities kept a close watch on the Cubans in Key West, and made every effort to prevent the shipment of supplies to the insurgents. But as soon as the conflict was begun there was a change in the policy and the government assisted the work in every possible way. The first expedition was a failure. Under command of Captain Dorst of the United States army the transport steamer Gussie sailed from Key West with two companies of infantry on board, in charge of 7,000 rifles and 200,000 rounds of ammunition, intended for the insurgents of Pinar del Rio. The supplies were to be conveyed to General Gomez by a force of insurgents encamped three miles back from the coast.

But the cargo was not landed, for the reason that the insurgents were unable to meet the landing party at the rendezvous, and Captain Dorst was compelled to return to Key West with his cargo. The second attempt was more successful. Nearly 400 men, with a pack train and a large quantity of arms and ammunition, sailed on the Plant line steamer Florida from Key West, on the night of May 21. These men and the equipment constituted an expedition able to operate independently and to defend itself against any body of Spanish troops which might oppose it.

The expedition was under the command of Captain Jose Lacret, formerly insurgent commander in Matanzas province. He assumed the direction of affairs immediately on the landing of the expedition. Until then General Joaquin Castillo was in control.

In the landing of the expedition the United States army was represented by Captain J. A. Dorst, and Tomas Estrada Palma was represented by J. E. Cartaya, who has been the landing agent of nearly every filibustering expedition for more than a year. Messrs. Castillo, Cartaya and Dorst returned to Key West. General Julio Sanguilly, on his way to report to General Maximo Gomez, was also on the boat.

MOST POWERFUL OF THEM ALL.

This was the most powerful anti-Spanish expedition sent to Cuba up to that date. About 300 of the men were Cubans, the others Americans. The engineer corps of the expedition was composed entirely of Americans under Aurelian Ladd.

The men were dressed in canvas uniforms furnished by the United States government, and the commissary department had rations enough to last fifteen days after the landing. The pack train consisted of seventy-five mules and twenty-five horses. The expedition carried 7,000 rifles and 3,000,000 rounds of ammunition for General Calixto Garcia.

GENERAL SANGUILLY'S RETURN.

General Sanguilly's return to Cuba is a remarkable incident in his extraordinary career. His gallant services in the Ten Years' War, his arrest in Havana at the beginning of the present insurrection, his sentence to death and his release at the intercession of Secretary Sherman on a promise to remain outside of Cuba have made him a conspicuous man.

The expedition was convoyed by the cruiser Marblehead, the torpedo-boat destroyer Eagle and other warships. Two younger brothers of the late General Nestor Aranguren are with the expedition.

SOME OF LACRET'S ADVENTURES.

When the present revolution in Cuba began General Jose Lacret Morlot, by which title he is popularly known, secured passage on the steamer Mascotte for Jamaica on his way to Cuba. The English government had information regarding Lacret's movements and prevented his sailing for Cuba from Jamaica. He then went to Mexico and later to New York. At the latter place he consulted with the junta and returned to Tampa. Here he embarked on the steamer Olivette for Havana in the garb of a priest.

Still in this disguise he boarded a train for Sagua la Grande. Accompanying him were a large number of Spanish soldiers. His being highly educated, a man of good presence and a "padre" were sufficient to give him entrance into the best Spanish society of Sagua la Grande. Lacret stopped at the finest hotel, and when in the cafe sat at the alcalde's right hand.

After communicating with the insurgents the "padre" suddenly disappeared from the hotel. He joined the insurgents, and, throwing off his priestly disguise, has since performed valorous service for the cause of Cuban freedom. He was transferred to the province of Matanzas soon after his arrival, and his career there will form an interesting chapter in the history of Cuba. From Matanzas province he was sent to the eastward as a delegate to the assembly held in Puerto Principe last February, at which the new government was formed. From this assembly he was directed to come to this country as a bearer of dispatches to the junta.

When the Florida, escorted by the Osceola, drew up close to the shore at the place selected for the landing, she sent scouts to see if all was clear. These scouts were greeted by Generals Feria and Rojas, with about 1,500 armed insurgents. Therefore, far from there being any hostile demonstration upon the part of the Spaniards, the landing of the expedition was in the nature of a triumphal invasion. The Cubans, who were in waiting for the party, had a brass band and welcomed the newcomers with national airs.

The work of unloading the cargo of the Florida was promptly begun and carried on by the 432 men composing the expedition. There was nothing in the nature of interruption and the work was soon finished.

HAD IT ALL THEIR OWN WAY.

While the cargo was being unloaded the Osceola, an auxiliary gunboat, with her guns ready for action, scouted about the vicinity looking for an enemy. But the Spaniards apparently had no suspicion of what was taking place. So easily was the dangerous mission accomplished that while some members of the party were getting the supplies ashore others were providing themselves with fruit, sugar and other products of the landing place, a large stock of which was brought back for Key West friends.

The moment the work was concluded the Florida and the Osceola slipped away, leaving the insurgents to convey their re-enforcements into the interior, which was done without any casualty.

The returning members of the Florida party brought with them several hundred private letters, which give a complete insight into the conditions prevailing in the blockaded island.

CHAPTER XIX.

ANOTHER STROKE FOR FREEDOM.

The Beginning of the Revolt—Martial Law Declared in Santiago and
Matanzas—Arrival of Campos—The Blacks as Soldiers—No Caste
Prejudices—General Santocildes Killed—A Story of Maceo—Campos'
Campaign Fails—He Returns to Spain.

It was the intention of the insurgents to begin operations in the six provinces on the same date, but at the appointed time three of them failed to carry out the plan, and in only one was the aspect at all threatening. In Havana and Matanzas the Spanish officials had no difficulty in suppressing the insurrectionists, and the leader in the former province, the editor of a newspaper, accepted a pardon and returned to his work.

In Santiago, however, which is thinly settled, the movement gained ground steadily. The landing of a party of revolutionists from San Domingo aroused the patriots, and were welcomed warmly, being supplied with re-enforcements wherever they appeared. The government professed to be merely annoyed, nothing more, and pretended to look upon the patriots as mere brigands. Calleja became alarmed at last when the determination of the insurgents became known, and proclaimed martial law in Santiago and Matanzas, and sent forces to both provinces. He could put only nine thousand men in the field, however, and had only seven gunboats for coast duty at his command. The commissary arrangements were miserable, and frequently caused the interruption of important movements. The insurgents were most ubiquitous, and would appear here and there without the slightest warning, making raids on plantations, which they plundered, and from which they enticed away the laborers, disappearing in the swamps, where pursuit was impossible, and appearing again in a day or so in some unexpected spot, and repeating the same maneuvers. In this manner they terrorized the loyalists, and ruined their prospects of raising a crop, and as many depended solely upon the soil for their living this method of warfare struck them a vital blow.

At the end of March, 1895, Antonio Maceo, with sixteen comrades, sailed from Costa Rica and landed at Baracoa, on the eastern end of the island. They were surprised by a Spanish cavalry, but kept up an intermittent fight for several hours, when Maceo managed to elude his enemies and escape. After living in the woods for ten days, making his way westward, he met a party of rebels, was recognized and welcomed with great enthusiasm. He took command of the insurgents in the neighborhood and began to get recruits rapidly. He engaged in several sharp encounters with the Spanish and did such effective service that the moral effect was noticed immediately. He and his brother Jose were made generals.

About the middle of April Maximo Gomez and Jose Marti landed from San Domingo at about the same point where the Maceos had landed. For days they were obliged to secrete themselves in a cave on account of the presence of the enemy's pickets, but they finally reached an insurgent camp, and Gomez entered upon his duties as commander-in-chief. The insurgents now had an experienced leader at their head, re-enforcements poured in, and they soon had a force of six thousand men.

ARRIVAL OF CAMPOS.

The government had issued new calls for troops, and in April no less than twenty-five thousand men were raised. Martinez Campos came over from Spain, arriving at Santiago on April 16, and went at once to Havana, where he relieved Calleja as captain-general. Campos was a veteran, and expected to crush the insurrection at once, but day by day his task grew more difficult.

Gomez and Maceo, instead of being driven hither and thither, led Campos a dance, and he was prevented from solidifying the two trochas he had formed. Gomez never attempted pitched battles or sieges, but harassed the enemy in every way possible, cutting off their convoys, picking them off in detail, getting up night alarms, and in every way annoying them. His hardened soldiers, especially the negroes, could stand hardships and still keep in good fighting condition, but with the Europeans, what between yellow fever and the constant alarms of war, it was a different story. No European soldier could live under the hardships and exposures which seemed to put life into the negro soldiers.

NO CASTE PREJUDICES.

It must be understood that there is no caste feeling between the negro and the pure-blooded Cuban. They march, eat and sleep side by side. Moreover, the negroes make excellent soldiers, with finer physique than the Cubans themselves, and equal powers of endurance.

The Cuban is small in stature compared to the American soldier, but he is well set up, wiry, and apparently has unlimited staying powers. He frequently lives on one meal a day, and that a poor one, but he shows no signs whatever of being ill-fed; in fact, he seems to thrive on it, and he has an uncomfortable habit of marching six hours in the morning on an empty stomach, which would be fatal to the ordinary Anglo-Saxon.

About the first of July, Maceo, still in the province of Santiago, concentrated the forces in the Holguin district and moved against Bayamo, capturing one provision train after another that were en route to that place. Campos took fifteen hundred men, with General Santocildes second in command, and went to the relief of Bayamo. About the middle of July he was attacked several miles from Bayamo by Maceo with twenty-seven hundred rebels. He and his entire staff narrowly escaped capture, and only the bravery of General Santocildes averted this catastrophe. The brave general lost his life and the Spaniards were forced to fly, after having fought for five hours, surrounded on all sides by the rebels. They finally made their escape to Bayamo, the rear guard covering their retreat with great difficulty.

Flor Crombet had fallen in battle several weeks before this fight and Marti had been killed in an insignificant fight at Dos Rios. Gomez had passed into Camaguay to add fire to the insurrection and Maceo had been left in command in the province of Santiago. To him was Campos indebted for his defeat. He escaped capture as if by intuition. A new snare had been spread for him by Maceo after the death of Santocildes, and he was already within its meshes, when, intuitively divining the situation, he came to an about face and fled to Bayamo by an unused road, covered by impassable thickets in the rear of Maceo's victorious troops.

The Spaniards were rapidly re-enforced after the escape to Bayamo, and Maceo, with Quintin Bandero, began to fall back to his impregnable mountain retreat at Jarahuica. This was in the heart of Santiago de Cuba, over a hundred miles east of Bayamo and twenty-five miles northeast of the port of Santiago. His war-worn army needed rest, recruits, and supplies. Once in his mountain fastness, he was perfectly secure, as no Spanish army would trust itself in the rocky range. News of his movements had reached Santiago and a strenuous effort was being made to head him off at San Luis, a railroad town fifteen miles north-west of that city. Nothing, however, escaped the observation of the Cuban general. With wonderful prescience he anticipated the movements of the Spaniards. His troopers were armed with machetes and the infantry with rifles and ammunition captured at Paralejo. Bandera commanded this band of blacks. The march had been terrific, and horses and men were nearly fagged. With sparse supplies the pace had been kept up for hours. The sun had gone down and the moon was flooding the fronds of the palms with pale, silvery light. Maceo held a short conference with Quintin Bandera, and not long afterward the blacks wheeled in column and disappeared.

Meantime the Cuban cavalry continued its course. By midnight it had reached Cemetery Hill, overlooking the town of San Luis. The moon was half way down the sky. Maceo sat upon his horse surveying the scene below him long and silently. The little town was aglow with electric lights and the whistle of locomotives resounded in the valley. Over three thousand Spanish troops were quartered in the town and their movements were plainly discernible. Trains were arriving hourly from Santiago, bearing strong re-enforcements. Through a field-glass Maceo watched the stirring scene. He turned the glass beyond the town and gazed through it patiently, betraying a trace of anxiety. Finally he alighted and conferred with Colonel Miro, his chief of staff. A moment afterward came the order to dismount. Three hundred troopers obeyed and were about to tether their horses when they were called to attention. A second order reached their ears. They were told to stand motionless, with both feet on the ground, and to await further orders with their right hands' on their saddles. In the moonlight beneath the scattered palms they stood as silent as if petrified.

A STORY OF MACEO.

Among them there was a newspaper correspondent who had known Maceo many years, and who had parted with him at Port Limon, in Central America, a few months before. He had joined the column just after the battle of Paralejo. In obedience to orders he stood with his arm over the back of his horse, blinking at the enlivening scene below him. Exhausted by the day's march, his eyes closed and he found it impossible to keep awake. A moment later he fastened the bridle to his foot, wrapped himself in his rubber coat, placed a satchel under his head, and fell asleep in the wet grass. The adjutant soon awoke him, telling him that he had better get up, as they were going to have a fight. He thanked the adjutant, who told him there were over three thousand Spanish soldiers in San Luis and that it was surrounded with fourteen blockhouses. The correspondent soon curled himself on the grass a second time and was in a sound slumber, when he was again aroused by the adjutant, who told him he was in positive danger if he persisted in disobeying the order of General Maceo. A third time his heavy eyelids closed and he was in a dead sleep, when startled by a peremptory shake. Jesus Mascons, Maceo's secretary, stood over him. "Get up this instant," said he. "The general wants to see you immediately."

In a few seconds the correspondent was on his feet. The whistles were still blowing and the electric lights still glowing in the valley, and the moon was on the horizon. He went forward in some trepidation, fancying that the general was going to upbraid him for disobeying his orders. He was surprised to find him very pleasant. Maceo always spoke in a low tone, as he had been shot twice through the lungs.

"Are you not hungry?" he asked.

"No," the correspondent replied, wondering what was in the wind.

"I thought possibly you might want something to eat," General Maceo said, with a smile. "I have a boiled egg here and I want to divide it with you." As he uttered these words he drew out his machete and cut the egg straight through the center. Passing half of it to the correspondent, he said: "Share it; it will do you good." The newspaper man thanked the general and they ate the egg in silence. He said afterward that the incident reminded him of General Marion's breakfast with a British officer. He had read the incident in Peter Parley's history of the revolution, when a schoolboy. Marion raked a baked sweet potato out of the ashes of a camp fire and divided it with his British guest. The officer regretted the absence of salt, and the correspondent said he experienced the same regret when he ate his portion of General Maceo's egg.

After munching the egg both men sat for some time observing the stirring scene in the valley below them. The moon had gone down, but in the glow of the electric lights they could see that the activity among the Spaniards was as great as ever. Suddenly Maceo turned to the correspondent and said abruptly: "Were you asleep when Jesus called you?"

"Oh, no," the correspondent replied, "I was not asleep; I was only just tired—that was all."

The general looked at him searchingly and then said: "Don't worry; it is all right. We are going through that town in a few minutes. There may be a fierce fight, and you will need a clear head. The egg will give you strength."

Within twenty minutes the little columns of three hundred men were on the move. They led their horses down the hill about an hour before daybreak, with the general in the lead. Silently and stealthily they entered the outskirts of the town. The columns passed two blockhouses without being observed and at the break of day were beyond the town on the main road to Banabacoa. Meantime the Spaniards had discovered them. The town was aroused and a hundred and fifty Spanish cavalry headed the pursuit. The road wound through fields of cane. A strong column of Spanish infantry followed the cavalry. Maceo held his men in reserve and continued his march, the Spanish troopers trailing after them like so many wildcats.

Suddenly, to their astonishment, Quintin Bandera's infantry arose on either side of the road and almost annihilated the pursuing column. Those who escaped alarmed the columns of infantry, who returned to San Luis to fortify themselves. Maceo and Bandera camped on the estate of Mejorana, about six miles away. It was here that Marti, Gomez, the two Maceos, Crombet, Guerra, and Rabi met not long before this to inaugurate the new revolution. Bandera and Maceo found plenty of provisions at the estate, but no bread. A small Cuban boy was sent to the Spanish commander at San Luis with a note requesting him to be so kind as to send some bread to visitors at the Mejorana plantation. The boy delivered the note and the Spanish commander asked who sent him. Without a moment's hesitation he replied: "General Maceo." The Spanish official laughed and replied: "Very well, a supply of bread will be sent. It will not be necessary for Maceo to come after it." What is more remarkable is the fact that Maceo told the correspondent beforehand that the bread would be sent, as the Spaniards had been so frightened by Bandera on the previous day that they did not want to invite another attack. That very evening the boy returned, conveying many bags of bread. The Spaniards remained within the town until Maceo had rested his army and departed for Jarahuica.

CAMPOS' CAMPAIGN FAILS.

Before the end of the year Campos' campaign was admitted to be a failure. He could not depart from his humane policy, however, and at the beginning of the year 1896 he returned to Spain. The rabid Spaniards of Havana, having compelled Campos to tender his resignation, demanded from Canovas a captain-general framed in the old iron cast of the Spanish conquerors, not to fight battles and risk his life in the field, but to exterminate the native population. In their belief, women, children, everyone born in Cuba, should be held responsible for the situation. They did not like a soldier with a gallant career and personal courage. They wanted an executioner. Canovas satisfied them and appointed Don Valeriano Weyler y Nicolau to succeed Martinez Campos.

The question may be asked why the insurgents after so many victories did not invest the city of Havana, and end therewith the Spanish dominion. The answer is very clear. After the battle of Coliseo General Gomez reviewed his troops and found that each soldier had only three cartridges. The Cubans in the United States were making vain efforts to send a big expedition to the insurgents, but the policy of our government was non-interference, and they were checked in their plans. At Guira de Helena, on January 4, 1896, the Cubans had to fight with their machetes to enter the Province of Havana.

If history does not afford a parallel of the stern resolution displayed by the Cubans to die or to win in a struggle with all the odds against them, neither does it present a case of stubborn resistance to justice and human rights, and of barbarous cruelty, which equals the record of Spain in Cuba.

CHAPTER XX.

JOSE MARTI AND OTHER CUBAN HEROES.

A Cuban Patriot—A Life Devoted to the Cause—First Work for
Cuba—Banished From His Native Land—He Returns to Fight for
Freedom—His Death—Maximo Gomez, General-in-Chief of the Cuban
Forces—His Methods of Warfare—Antonio Maceo, the Colored
Commander—Other Military Men of Note in the Cuban Army.

When the day comes that Cuba shall take her place among the free and independent nations of the earth, Jose Marti, who probably did more than any other one man to arouse the insurgents to make the final struggle for liberty, will not be among them to share their triumphs. Struck down, by a Spanish bullet, almost at the commencement of the last revolution, he sleeps beneath the, southern skies, and neither the clash of swords nor the thunder of the cannon over his grave can disturb his rest.

Born in Havana, the son of a Spanish army officer, he was taught from his childhood days that the friends of Cuba's cause were rebels, deserving of death. But as he grew older he commenced to think for himself, and the more he learned of Spanish robbery, injustice and cruelty, the more determined he became to devote his life to the cause of his native land.

While yet a mere boy, he began the work. He published clandestine circulars, he wrote a play in which he depicted the wrongs inflicted upon the island people; "Free Cuba" was his thought by day, his dream at night. Through imprisonment and exile, in Spain, Mexico and the United States, every action of his life was guided by the one ambition.

On April 14th, 1895, in company with Maximo Gomez, Marti landed on the coast of Cuba, at Cobonico. His coming gave the insurgents new courage, and their numbers increased rapidly. He was made a Major General of the army, and in company with Gomez, who had seen service in the previous campaign, he led a number of successful attacks against detachments of the Spanish forces.

After organizing an expedition that was to march to Puerto Principe under Gomez's command, Marti intended to go to the seacoast in order to return abroad and continue his work there in favor of the secessionist revolution.

About this time a man named Chacon was captured by Colonel Sandoval, of the Spanish forces, and letters from the rebels were found in his possession, and some money with which he was going to make purchases for the insurgent chiefs. This man gave information regarding the enemy's location, and acting upon this knowledge, Colonel Sandoval, on the 19th of May, brought his army to La Brija. The Hernan Cortez squadron, under Captain Capa, was in vanguard, and attacked a band commanded by Bellito, which had come to meet the column.

When Colonel Sandoval heard of it, he advanced up to the plain of Dos Rios, and ordered his infantry to open fire. A spirited combat ensued, with fatal results to the insurgents, as the Spanish guide, Antonio Oliva, running up to help a soldier who was surrounded by a large group of the enemy, fired his rifle at a horseman, who fell to the ground, and was found to be Jose Marti. Captain Enrique Satue was the first to recognize him. A fight took place upon the spot, the rebels trying hard to carry the corpse away, but they were repulsed. Maximo Gomez was wounded in the encounter, which for some days led to the belief that he too was dead. According to one narrative, Gomez was in the midst of the battle from the beginning, and while hurrying to recover the corpse of Marti, he was slightly wounded. Others say that the famous chief, had already taken leave of Marti to go to Camaguey, when, passing at some distance from Dos Rios, he heard the report of musketry. He imagined what was happening, and ran to rescue the civil chief of the revolution, but when he arrived, Marti had been killed. Gomez being wounded, Borrero took him on his own horse, and in this manner carried him to a place of safety. The Spaniards, after their victory, moved to Remanganagaus, where the corpse of Marti was embalmed. From the latter town it was taken to Santiago de Cuba, and while on the way there, the troops had to repel an attack from the rebels, who intended to carry off the coffin. On arriving at the city, the remains of Marti were exhibited at the cemetery. Colonel Sandoval presided over the funeral ceremonies, and the dead leader was given a decent resting place. Here are Sandoval's words on the occasion:

Gentlemen:—In presence of the corpse of him who in life was Jose Marti, and in the absence of any relative or friend who might speak over his remains such words as are customary, I request you not to consider these remains to be those of an enemy any more, but simply those of a man, carried by political discords to face Spanish soldiers. From the moment the spirits have freed themselves of matter they are sheltered and magnanimously pardoned by the Almighty, and the abandoned matter is left in our care, for us to dispel all rancorous feelings, and give the corpse such Christian burial as is due to the dead.

MAXIMO GOMEZ, THE GENERAL-IN-CHIEF.

The General-in-Chief of the Cuban forces is Maximo Gomez, a man of scholarly attainments, great intellect, and long experience in military affairs. Formerly an officer of Spain, he explains his present position in the following words:

"When I gave up, in 1868, my uniform and rank as a Major of the Spanish Army, it was because I knew that if I kept them. I would have some day to meet my own children in the field, and combat against their just desire for liberty. Now, with my many years, I have come to lead and counsel the new generation to ultimate victory."

Of his methods in war, Thomas Alvord says:

"General Gomez never has more than 300 or 400 men with him. His favorite camp is near Arroyo Blanco, on a high plateau, difficult to approach, and covered with dense thicket. He posts his outer pickets at least three miles away, in directions from which the enemy may come. The Spaniards, whenever possible, march by road, and, with these highways well guarded, Gomez sleeps secure. He knows that his pickets will be informed by some Cuban long before the Spanish column leaves or passes the nearest village to attack him. A shot from the farthest sentry causes little or no excitement in Gomez's camp. The report throws the Spanish column into fears of attack or ambush, and it moves forward very slowly and carefully. Two pickets at such a time have been known to hold 2,000 men at bay for a whole day. If the column presses on, and General Gomez hears a shot from a sentinel near by, he will rise leisurely from his hammock and give orders to prepare to move camp. He has had so many experiences of this kind that not until he hears the volley-shooting of the oncoming Spaniards will he call for his horse, give the word to march, and disappear, followed by his entire force, into the tropical underbrush, which closes like curtain behind him, leaving the Spaniards to discover a deserted camp, without the slightest trace of the path taken by its recent occupants.

"Sometimes Gomez will move only a mile or two. The Spaniards do not usually give chase. If they do, Gomez takes a keen delight in leading them in a circle. If he can throw them off by nightfall, he goes to sleep in his camp of the morning, happier than if he had won a battle. The Spaniards learn nothing through such experiences. Gomez varies the game occasionally by marching directly towards the rear of the foe, and there, reinforced by other insurgent bands of the neighborhood, falling upon the column and punishing it severely. While his immediate force is but a handful, the General can call to his aid, in a short time, nearly 6,000 men."

A COLORED COMMANDER.

As soon as the rebellion had assumed such proportions as to make it possible to arrange a regular military organization among the insurgents, Antonio Maceo was made the second in command, under General Gomez, with the title of Lieutenant General. He had risen from the ranks to the position of Major General in the Ten Years' war, where, notwithstanding his colored blood, he had shown unusual ability as a leader of men. Sons of the first families of Cuba were proud to enlist under his banner, and to recognize him as their superior officer. Space is devoted in another part of this volume to an account of the treacherous manner of his death.

The following letter, written by him to General Weyler, soon after the arrival of the latter named in Cuba, shows that he could fight with his pen as well as with his sword:

Republic of Cuba, Invading Army. Second Corps, Cayajabos, Feb. 27, 1896.

General Valeriano Weyler, Havana:

In spite of all that the press has published in regard to you, I have never been willing to give it belief and to base my judgment of your conduct on its statements; such an accumulation of atrocities, so many crimes repugnant and dishonoring to any man of honor, I thought it impossible for a soldier holding your high rank to commit.

These accusations seemed to me rather to be made in bad faith, or to be the utterances of personal enmity, and I expected that you would take care to give the lie in due form to your detractors, rising to the height required of a gentleman, and saving yourself from any imputation of that kind, by merely adopting in the treatment of the wounded and prisoners of war, the generous course that has been pursued from the beginning by the revolutionists towards the Spanish wounded and prisoners.

But, unfortunately, Spanish dominion must always be accompanied by infamy, and although the errors and wrongful acts of the last war seemed to be corrected at the beginning of this one, to-day it has become manifest that it was only by closing our eyes to invariable personal antecedents and incorrigible traditional arbitrariness that we could have imagined Spain would forget forever her fatal characteristic of ferocity towards the defenseless. But we cannot help believing evidence. In my march during the period of this campaign I see with alarm, with horror, how the wretched reputation you enjoy is confirmed, and how the deeds that disclose your barbarous irritation are repeated. What! must even the peaceful inhabitants (I say noticing of the wounded and prisoners of war), must they be sacrificed to the rags that gave the Duke of Alva his name and fame?

Is it thus that Spain, through you, returns the clemency and kindness with which we, the redeemers of this suffering people, have acted in like circumstances? What a reproach for yourself and for Spain! The license to burn the huts, assassinations like those at Nueva Paz and the villa El Gato, committed by Spanish columns, in particular those of Colonels Molina and Vicuna, proclaim you guilty before all mankind. Your name will be forever infamous, here and far from here, remembered with disgust and horror.

Out of humanity, yielding to the honorable and generous impulses which are identified with both the spirit and the tendency of the revolution, I shall never use reprisals that would be unworthy of the reputation and the power of the liberating army of Cuba. But I nevertheless foresee that such abominable conduct on your part and on that of your men, will arouse at no distant time private vengeances to which they will fall victims, without my being able to prevent it, even though I should punish hundreds of innocent persons.

For this last reason, since war should only touch combatants, and it is inhuman to make others suffer from its consequences, I invite you to retrace your steps, if you admit your guilt, or to repress these crimes with a heavy hand, if they were committed without your consent. At all events, take care that no drop of blood be shed outside the battle field. Be merciful to the many unfortunate citizens. In so doing you will imitate in honorable emulation our conduct and our proceedings. Yours, A. MACEO.

This letter could have been written by none but a brave and honorable soldier, resolved to present the cause of the oppressed non-combatants, even when he probably knew that his appeal was powerless to lessen their sufferings in the slightest degree.

LOVE AND WAR.

Among the many brave leaders of the insurgents there is perhaps none who has shown more heroism than young De Robau. After the breaking out of the revolution he was one of the first to join the standard of independence. At that time he was engaged to be married, yet with him the call of duty was paramount over every selfish consideration. After having served for some months with conspicuous credit, he was sent with his command into the neighborhood of his fiance.

The men hitherto, it may be imagined, had not paid much attention to their appearance, but now there was a regular conventional dress parade. A barber was requisitioned, accoutrements were furbished up, and weather-beaten sombreros were ornamented with brilliant ribbons. When the metamorphosis was complete, De Robau placed himself at the head of his dashing troop, and went in state to call upon the lady of his affections.

His march was a triumph, as everywhere he was attended by crowds of enthusiastic people, who had long known him, and who now hailed him as a distinguished champion. How he sped in his wooing may be gathered from the fact that an orderly was soon dispatched for the villa cura, and that there was a wedding which fairly rivaled that of Camacho, so often and so fondly recalled by the renowned Sancho. Since then the Senora de Robau has accompanied her husband throughout the campaign, sharing the hard fare and the dangers of the men, and adding another to the noble band of patriotic Cuban women, who vie with their husbands and brothers in fidelity to their native land.

OTHER COMMANDERS OF NOTE.

The cause has many other brave leaders, among whom may be mentioned General Calixto Garcia, General Serafin Sanchez, Francisco Corrillo, and Jose Maria Rodriguez. They are all veterans of the war of 1868-1878, and are ready to sacrifice their lives in the struggle for liberty.

CHAPTER XXI.

DESPERATE BATTLES WITH MACHETE AND RIFLE.

The Sword of Cuba—Battle Cry of the Revolutionists—Cavalry
Charges—The Strategies of War—Hand-to-Hand Encounters—Maceo at
the Front—Barbarities of the Spanish Soldiers—Americans in the
Cuban Army—A Fight for Life—A Yankee Gunner—How a Brave Man
Died.

There is a story told of a great Roman General who, after having conquered in many battles, beat his sword into a plowshare, and turned from war's alarms to the peaceful pursuit of agriculture. The Cuban has reversed the story. When he left his labors in the forests and fields to fight his oppressors, he carried with him the implement with which he had cut the sugar cane on his plantation, and made paths through dense tropic vegetation. The machete is the sword of the Cuban soldier, and it will be famous forever. Its blade is of tempered steel, curved slightly at the end, with one edge sharp as a razor. It has a handle of horn, and is carried in a leather scabbard, attached to a narrow belt.

The weapon in the hands of one who understands its use is terribly effective. Instances have been known where rifle barrels have been cut in two by it, and heads have been severed from their bodies at a single stroke. Its name, shrieked in a wild ferocious way, is the battle cry of the insurgents, and when shouted from an hundred throats, it carries with it so awe-inspiring a sound, that it is little wonder that the enemy is stricken with fear, for it means in reality "war to the knife."

CAVALRY CHARGES.

The Cubans are among the most skillful and daring rough riders of the world, the equals of the cowboys of our western States, and the far-famed Cossacks of Russia. The horses' backs have been their cradles, and here they possess a decided advantage over their Spanish foes, who know as little of the equestrian art as they seem to understand of other's rights, or the amenities of war. A mounted band of insurgents, rushing down on a detachment of the enemy, waving aloft the terrible machete, will carry with them terror and death, and conquer twice their number.

The heroic mulatto brothers, Antonio and Jose Maceo, adopted this manner of fighting on every possible occasion, and it is a coincidence worthy of note that they both met their death while leading machete charges against their hated foes.

LACK OF AMMUNITION IN THE CUBAN RANKS.

The lack of ammunition is one of the weaknesses of the insurgents. Courage, ability and men they possess in abundance, but the lack of cartridges has interfered with many of their best laid plans, and has often prevented them from availing themselves of favorable opportunities. Three or four rounds a man is nothing in action, especially when the Spaniards are always so abundantly supplied. However they are determined, and as Spanish incapacity becomes daily more apparent, they feel that it is only a question of a few months until the cause for which they have so long and bravely fought will be gloriously won.

MACEO AT THE FRONT.

Within three months of the time that Gomez and Maceo landed at Baracoa they had all Santiago and Puerto Principe in a state of insurrection. They started out with comparatively a handful of men. The most reliable sources agree that there were not more than 300, but they were quickly joined by thousands of Cubans, who brought out from hiding places arms and ammunition which they had been collecting and concealing for years.

General Campos, the Spanish commander, had declared that Puerto Principe would never rise against Spain, and he proposed at once a plan to make it doubly sure. He procured special concessions from Madrid for the foreign railroads, permitting them to import iron bridges to replace their wooden structures, and pledging them $20,000 a month until they had extended their lines and made connections to complete a continuous road through the country, using the money to employ the natives. This was to insure the peace of Puerto Principe and Santa Clara, both considered conservative, and to prevent the people joining the revolutionary party.

After the plan was announced, the revolutionists burned out the wooden bridges, tore up the tracks in many places, and the roads have been, for all practical purposes, in their hands ever since. Campos, meantime, to prevent Gomez moving eastward, placed 10,000 troops on the border between the provinces of Puerto Principe and Santiago, but Gomez crossed the line on May 19th, after a battle at Boca del Dos Bios, where a loss was suffered in the death of General Marti, which was so great a blow to Cuba that Campos announced that the "death blow to the bandits had been struck."

In Puerto Principe Gomez captured every town he attempted to take, among them Alta Gracia, San Jeronimo and Coscorro. He took Fort El Mulato, and in all the places secured large quantities of ammunition. So enthusiastic was his reception in the provinces of Puerto Principe and Santa Clara that in the latter 400 Spanish volunteers joined him with their arms.

The most important battle of the summer occurred at Bayamo in July, just as Gomez was near the Spanish line between Santa Clara and Puerto Principe, where, in an engagement between the two armies, with about 3,000 men on either side, the Spanish forces were completely routed.

From that time on through the summer and far into the autumn, every day was marked by skirmishes, the taking of important places, and the threatening of the larger towns. It kept the Spanish columns moving constantly, and the exposure in the rainy season killed thousands.

Maceo now separated his forces from Gomez's command, and marched westward, fighting as he went, and everywhere meeting with success. He established the new government in the cities and towns of Mantua, San Cristobal, Remates, Palacios, Paso Real de San Diego, Guane, Consolacion del Sur, Pilotos, Alonso de Rojas, San Luis, San Juan y Martinez, and others of less importance.

Pinar del Rio City, the capital of the province, was the only city of importance that held out, but it was cut off with communication with its port, Colon, and was short of provisions. One supply sent by the Spanish for its relief, 100,000 rations, fell into Maceo's hands.

In San Cristobal the Spanish flag on the government building was replaced by the emblem of the new republic, a mayor and city officials were appointed, resolutions were adopted by the new authorities, and, after all the arms in the town had been collected, Maco remained a day to rest his men and horses, and moved on the following morning at daybreak.

Generals Navarre and Luque were ordered to crush the insurgent army at all hazards. Their combined forces consisted of 5,000 infantry, 200 cavalry, and 11 pieces of artillery. After a two-days' march they were joined by General Arizon's command, which had encountered Maceo's rear guard the previous day, with disastrous results.

Near Quivera Hacha, Navarre's skirmishers encountered a small band of insurgents, and fearing that all of Maceo's army was near, lines of battle were quickly formed. The engagement lasted for less than half an hour, when the insurgent forces withdrew, without serious losses on either side. General Navarro finally discovered that the principal part of Maceo's forces was at the Armendores estate, and the seat of operations was changed. General Luque succeeded Navarro in command, and several days now passed without any conflict of note. Finally Luque led a charge upon Maceo's vanguard, in the vicinity of Pinar del Rio, but the moment the attack was made he found himself under fire from the top of low hills on both sides of the road, where the insurgents were well protected, and he sustained severe losses without inflicting much injury upon the enemy. So hot was the encounter that Luque withdrew and prepared to charge upon two points where the enemy were making a stand. He held the road with one battalion, sending a detachment to the right, and another to the left. The attack was successful. The Spanish made a magnificent effort under withering fire, and swept Maceo's forces before them, not, however, until they had left the field scattered with their own dead and wounded.

For some reason the cavalry had not been used. The artillery was just coming up when the action had reached this point. The Spanish found that the enemy had, instead of being routed, simply fallen back and taken a position on another hill, and scattered firing went on for a considerable time, while Luque prepared to attack again. Then, against 2,000 of Maceo's men, was directed all of Luque's command, over 4,000 infantry, 200 cavalry, and eleven pieces of artillery.

At least half of Maceo's army, certainly not less than 2,000 cavalry, had been moving up to Luque's rear and came upon him, surprising him just as this second attack was being made.

For a time it was a question whether Luque's command would not be wiped out. They were practically surrounded by Maceo's men, and for fully an hour and a half the fighting was desperate. It is impossible to unravel the stories of both sides so as to arrive at a clear idea of the encounter.

When the cannonading ceased, four companies of infantry charged up the hill and occupied it before the insurgents, who had been driven out by the artillery, could regain it. Shortly the hill on the left of the road was taken in the same way, and Luque, although at a great loss, had repelled Maceo's attack from the rear.

The battle had lasted for a little over two hours. Maceo had about forty of his men wounded and left four dead on the field, taking away ten others. Twenty or more of his horses were killed. The Spanish reported that he had 1,000 killed, the next day reduced the number to 300, and finally to the statement that "the enemy's losses must have been enormous," the usual phrase when the true number is humiliating. Luque's losses have never been officially reported, but it is variously estimated at from seventy-five to a hundred men.

THE WORK OF FIENDS.

The Cubans give horrible details of a battle at Paso Heal, between General Luque's army and a division of Maceo's forces under Bermudez. Witnesses of the encounter claim that the Spaniards invaded the hospital and killed wounded insurgents in their beds, and that, Bermudez, in retaliation, formed a line, and shot thirty-seven Spanish prisoners.

Luque says in his report of this engagement: "The rebels made a strong defense, firing from the tops of houses and along the fences around the city. The Spanish vanguard, under Colonel Hernandez, attacked the vanguard, center and rear guard of the rebels in the central streets of the town, driving them with continuous volleys and fierce cavalry charges into the outskirts of the town. Up to this point we had killed ten insurgents."

The people of Paso Real say this report is true, as far as it goes, but that Luque neglects to add that he then attacked the hospital, and murdered twenty-eight wounded men, firing at them as they lay on their cots, through the windows, and finally breaking down the door, and killing the rest with the bayonet.

Under date of February 8th we have an account of the operations of the Spanish General Sabas Marin, who left Havana a short time before. His campaign in search of General Gomez was disastrous, and the official reports of Spanish victories were misleading. There were losses on both sides, but Marin accomplished absolutely nothing of what he intended to achieve.

The first misfortune which overtook the Spaniards was the rout of Carnellas, on the very day on which Marin left Havana, Gomez sent a detachment under Pedro Diaz to intercept him, and this force reached Saladrigas in the early morning. In this section the country is cut into small fields, divided by stone fences, and facing the road there is a high fence, with a ditch in front of it. Diaz placed 400 infantry behind this fence, and waited himself with 1,000 cavalry back of a hill close by. When the Spanish forces appeared, the advance guard was allowed to pass, and as soon as the main body was fairly in the trap, volleys were poured into them, literally mowing them down. At the sound of the first gun, Diaz led his thousand horsemen upon the enemy's flank and rear. The charge was irresistible. Half of Diaz's men did not even fire a shot, but yelling "machete," they rode furiously upon the Spanish lines, cutting their way through, and fighting with terrible effect.

The Spanish issued no official report of this battle. So far as the records show, it never occurred. One of the Spanish officers, who fought in it, conceded a loss of 200 men, but it is probable that twice that number would be nearer the correct figure.

AMERICANS IN THE CUBAN ARMY.

Colonel Frederick Funston, who returned to New York in January, 1898, told an interesting story of brave Yankee boys serving under General Gomez and General Garcia in Eastern Cuba, and also gave an account of the sad death of W. Dana Osgood, the famous football player, formerly of the University of Pennsylvania.

Colonel Funston was with Gomez's army when they attacked Guimaro.
They had with them a twelve-pound Hotchkiss rifle and four
American artillerymen, Osgood of Pennsylvania, Latrobe and Janney
of Baltimore, and Devine of Texas.

They attacked Guimaro in the morning, at ranges of from 400 to 600 yards, the infantry being protected by a breastwork of earth, in which openings were left for the guns.

The Spanish garrison consisted of 200 men in eleven forts, and they maintained a hot fire all day. Gradually, however, the Hotchkiss rifle, the fire of which was directed by Osgood, made the largest and nearest fort untenable, and it was abandoned by the garrison. No sooner had the Spanish forces left it than a band of the insurgents took possession, and from this point of vantage the fighting was continued with renewed vigor. As soon as darkness came on one of the Cuban guns was moved forward and stationed in this fort, and on the following day a storm of shot and shell was directed at the other forts.

Naturally the rifles of the garrison were trained most of the time upon the man sighting the Hotchkiss in the captured fort, and there, leaning over his gun in the early morning, the intrepid Osgood was shot through the head. He was carried off by his comrades under fire, and died four hours later. The death of this gallant young soldier was universally lamented, and the Cubans honor his memory as one of the first Americans to give his life while fighting for their cause.

With Gomez, with Garcia, and with Maceo, in every insurgent camp, there were brave men, American born, who fought for the flag of Free Cuba, side by side with the native soldier, and who gave their lives in the war against Spanish tyranny and misrule.

CHAPTER XXII.

FILIBUSTERS FROM FLORIDA.

First Expeditions—Expense to the United States—President Pierce's
Action—The Uprising in 1868-The Patrol of the Coasts—An Expedition on
the "Three Friends"—Arms and Ammunition for the Insurgents—Desperate
Chances—A Successful Landing.

The record of the last fifty years is the clearest and most convincing evidence that can be offered against the Spanish contention that the United States is not concerned with the question of government in Cuba, and has not been tremendously injured by the inability of Spanish administration to furnish the Cubans with a peaceful and satisfactory government. The first bit of evidence to be submitted comes from away back in 1848, when President Polk, on behalf of the United States, announced that while the United States was willing that Cuba should be continued under Spanish ownership and government, it would never consent to the occupation of the island by any other European nation.

It was pointed out at that time by the American government that were the United States to admit that Cuba was open to seizure by any government that was able to throw Spain out the fact that it was nearly surrounded, in Central and South America and in other West Indian islands, by territory belonging to twelve other nations would make it the ground of interminable squabbles. And these squabbles were not matters which would be without interest and damage to the commerce and peace of the United States. This was followed by an offer of $100,000,000 to Spain for the island of Cuba. The offer was promptly declined, and the United States was informed that Cuba was not on the market.

FIRST FILIBUSTERING EXPEDITION.

Nevertheless, there was formed in the United States the Lone Star
Society, which had as its object "the acquisition of the island of
Cuba as part of the territory of the United States."

The "Conspiracy of Lopez," which is fully treated of in previous pages of this work, was the first filibustering expedition that attracted particular attention from the authorities, and it was hoped that its disastrous end would deter others from like attempts. But the hope was a vain one, for within two years a similar expedition, led by General Quitman of Mississippi, was organized in the United States. Many men were enlisted and vessels chartered, but the expedition was suppressed by the government of the United States.

EXPENSE TO UNITED STATES.

It will thus be seen that the fact that Spain had not been able to govern Cuba peaceably has caused the United States great expense and irritation for a much longer period than is usually taken into consideration in these days. It is not the fault of the United States that its citizens have been stirred to sympathy with the victims of the Spanish policy of government by robbery and murder. It is not the fault of the United States that this country has been the refuge of men who have been outlawed from the country of their birth because their presence there meant the irrepressible working in them of a desire for freedom, a desire intolerable to Spanish institutions.

It is not the fault of the United States that these refugees, living in the land of civil liberty, should desire to return to their native country and drive out those who made it miserable. But it would have been the fault of the United States, under international law, if these exiled Cubans were permitted to carry out their very natural and laudable desire in concert with the Americans whose sympathy had been stirred by the story of Spanish wrongs. To ferret out the plans for expeditions conceived with such determination and perseverance was not only a task requiring tremendous expenditure of money and energy, but it was a miserably disagreeable and unpopular work for the government to engage in.

On the 31st of May, 1854, President Pierce issued a proclamation instructing citizens of the United States as to their duties in refraining from encouragement, aid, or participation in connection with the Cuban insurrections.

THE UPRISING IN 1868.

In the fall of 1868, after scattering uprisings and several battles during the preceding year, plans for a concerted insurrection were arranged. The plan was discovered and the insurrection was started prematurely. There followed a campaign in which Spanish forces, amounting to 110,000 men, were unable to hold in check the Cuban force of about 26,000. In May the filibustering expeditions, that were to prove such an immense expense and annoyance to the United States, began again. The Spanish navy co-operated with the United States government in the efforts to suppress these expeditions, but many of them eluded the authorities, and aided the insurgents with arms and provisions.

This was irritating to Spain and the United States alike, because it cost just as much to keep up an unsuccessful anti-filibustering patrol as it did actually to catch filibusters, and, moreover, every successful expedition weakened the authority of the Federal government. That authority in the Southern States just after the war was none too strong, and it was not a good thing that the spectacle of defiance to the United States should be flaunted along the Southern coast.

From 1878 until 1895, when the present insurrection gained strength to become openly active, the island is supposed to have been at peace, but in the latter year the open war and filibustering expeditions began again. The name of President Cleveland was added to the list of Presidents whose duty it was to interfere with efforts to aid Cuban liberty. He issued appropriate proclamations on June 12, 1895, and July 30, 1896. Revenue cutters and warships constantly patrolled the Florida coast and, indeed, all the waters of the gulf, and sometimes New York harbor, to head off filibustering expeditions. It is said to have cost more to suppress the natural desire of citizens of the United States to relieve the political distress in Cuba than it has cost to enforce customs regulations from the same territory.

THE VOYAGE OF THE "THREE FRIENDS."

As evidence of the fact that Cuban sympathizers have been successful in escaping the patrol on American coasts and the enemy's battleships in Cuban waters, we give the report of one of many expeditions that have been made during the past three years.

The steamer "Three Friends," of Jacksonville, Florida, in command of Captain Napoleon B. Broward, returned to Jacksonville on March 18th, having succeeded in landing in Cuba, General Enrique Collazo, Major Charles Hernandez, and Duke Estrada, besides fifty-four men taken off the schooner "Ardell" from Tampa, and the entire cargo of arms and ammunition of the schooner "Mallory" from Cedar Key. It was by long odds the most important expedition that has set out from this country, and the Cubans at Jacksonville, when they learned that the "Three Friends" had safely fulfilled her mission, shouted "Viva Cuba!" until they were hoarse.

They declared that it would change the character of the whole war, as the unarmed men would now be armed, and that Maceo, who had before been wary and cautious, would be more aggressive than he had ever been before. The cargo of arms landed by the "Three Friends" and the "Mallory" was as follows: 750,000 rounds of cartridges, 1,200 rifles, 2,100 machetes, 400 revolvers, besides stores, reloading tools, etc.

The "Three Friends" met the "Mallory" at Alligator Key. The "Ardell" had just finished transferring the men to her. While they were rendezvoused there behind the pines in a deep coral-walled creek, three big Spanish men-of-war steamed slowly by, but they did not discover that there was anything suspicious looking in shore, although with a glass men could be seen in their look-outs scanning the horizon, as well as searching the shore. Sunday, about noon, no vessels being in sight, the "Three Friends" took in tow the "Mallory" and steamed southward under a good head of steam.

The "Three Friends" is a powerful tug, and by Monday night was close enough to the Cuban shore to hear the breakers. Several shiplights to the west were seen, one of which was evidently a Spanish man-of-war, for she had a search-light at her bow, and was sweeping the waves with it, but the "Three Friends" was a long way off, and had no light, and so was out of the neighborhood of the Spaniard.

A SUCCESSFUL LANDING.

At ten o'clock that night, by the aid of a naphtha launch and two big surf boats, which had been taken out of Jacksonville, the "Three Friends" landed the men and ammunition from her hold, and from that of the "Mallory." It took four and a half hours to complete the job. There were hundreds of men on shore to assist, and they did it silently, appreciating the peril of the position.

The Cubans on shore recognized General Collazo immediately, and no words can describe their joy on seeing him. He is a veteran of Cuban wars, and one whom Spain fears. In fact, it is known that during his sojourn in Florida he was shadowed by detectives, who had been instructed to spare no expense to keep Collazo from reaching Cuba. When it was whispered that Collazo was really among them, they seemed not to believe their ears, but came forward and looked, and, seeing that there was really no mistake, threw up their arms and wept for joy. Major Charles Hernandez and Duke Estrada were also enthusiastically welcomed.

It was reported that night that Maceo had received the arms of the first expedition that set forth three days before the "Three Friends" landed. They were not from the "Commodore," for they reported that they were now on the lookout for that vessel. They said, too, that at the end of the week four expeditions were afloat. Two, including the "Three Friends," had landed, and two more were on the way. Tuesday morning, as the "Three Friends" was returning, she sighted a steamer that answered to the description of the "Commodore." She was headed southward, and pushing along apparently at the rate of fifteen knots an hour.

Here is the story of the capture of an expedition, by Commander
Butron, of the Spanish gunboat "Mensagera":

"The 'Mensagera' was directed to watch the coast between Cayo Julia and Morrillo, about one hundred miles. It was heard on the afternoon of April 25 that a suspicious schooner had been seen near Quebrados de Uvas. The gunboat followed, and found the 'Competitor.' The usual signals were made, but the schooner tried to get closer in shore, so as to land a rapid-fire gun.

"The 'Mensagera' was then moved forward and fired a shot, which struck the schooner and exploded a box of cartridges which the men were trying to take ashore. Several occupants of the schooner became alarmed, and threw themselves into the water, fearing an explosion of dynamite. The gunboat's crew seized rifles and began shooting, killing three men. Several others reached shore.

"Three men were aboard the schooner when it was overhauled, and they surrendered without resistance. Among them was Owen Milton, editor of the Key West Mosquito. Sailors were sent ashore to capture the arms landed. In the skirmish, two men, supposed to be filibusters, and a horse were killed. They secured several abandoned cases of cartridges. A body of insurgents had come to watch the landing of the boat's crew. The 'Mensagera' came to Havana with the arms and prisoners, who were very seasick. The schooner was towed to Havana by the gunboat 'Vicente Yanez.' It is regarded as an object of great curiosity by the crowds. It had the Spanish flag floating when captured. It is a neat, strong boat, and looks fast. One of the prisoners captured steadily refuses to give his name."

An account of the trial, as sent from Havana, May 8th, reads as follows:

"The court opened at the Arsenal. The prisoners were Alfredo Liaborde, born in New Orleans; Owen Milton, of Kansas; William Kinlea, an Englishman, and Elias Vedia and Teodore Dela Maza, both Cubans. Captain Ruiz acted as president of the court, which consisted of nine other military and naval officers. The trial of the five filibusters captured aboard the 'Competitor' was proceeded with against the formal protest presented by Consul General Williams, who declared that the trial was illegal and in violation of the treaty between Spain and the United States.

"The prisoners were not served with a copy of the charges against them and were not allowed to select their own counsel, but were represented by a naval officer appointed by the government. They were not permitted to call witnesses for their defense, the prosecution calling all the witnesses. Owen Milton, of Kansas, testified through an interpreter that he came on the expedition only to correspond for a newspaper. William Kinlea, when called, was in his shirt sleeves. He arose and said in English, 'I do not recognize your authority, and appeal for protection to the American and English consuls.'"

Fortunately for these prisoners, the United States government interfered, and they were eventually released.

CHAPTER XXIII.

WEYLER THE BUTCHER.

His Ancestry—A Soldier From His Youth—He Succeeds General
Campos—A Master of Diplomacy—A Slave of Spain—His Personal
Appearance—His Interview With a Woman—His Definition of War—
His Resignation.

Early in 1896, when the Spanish government began to realize that the insurrection was assuming serious proportions, arrangements were made for the recall of General Campos, then Governor-General of the island, and General Weyler was sent to assume the duties of the office. It was the opinion in Spain that Campos was too mild in his treatment of the rebels, and as Weyler was known to have no lamb-like qualities, he was regarded as the ideal man for the position. That he did not succeed in putting down the rebellion was certainly not due to any lack of extreme measures on his part. He is known as the "Butcher," and his management of affairs in Cuba certainly gives him every right to the title.

Valeriano Weyler y Nicolau, to give him his full name, is only half a Spaniard. His father was a Prussian, though Weyler himself was born in Cadiz in 1839. His parents were in very moderate circumstances and not of noble birth. What Weyler has won he has acquired through his own efforts. He has made his way single-handed. He graduated from the infantry school at Toledo in 1857 and was at once sent to Cuba as a subaltern. He was quickly made a captain and his first work was to subdue a small revolt in San Domingo.

He rose rapidly in rank, and during the first Cuban revolt he was in command in the province of Santiago, where he earned the title that has since made him famous in the eyes of his supporters, but infamous from a civilized point of view. But he put down the revolt. He was rewarded with the appointment of captain general of the Canary islands. His administration was so successful that he was created Marquis of Tenerife. He was then barely thirty-nine years old. He distinguished himself in the Carlist war and at its conclusion he was made captain general of the Philippines, where he quelled an insurrection and admittedly gave the islands the best administration they had ever known. He returned to Spain in 1889 and was in command at Barcelona until the present Cuban revolution began.

Here is a mental photograph of him by a newspaper correspondent:

"Most men resemble their reputations, and if a life famously spent is in the mind of one who visits a character of world-wide repute, he quite naturally discovers peculiarities, of facial expression and physique which appear to account for the individuality of the man, fighter, philosopher, criminal, reformer or whatever he may be.

"All this is true of General Weyler. He is one of those men who create a first impression, the first sight of whom can never be effaced from the mind, by whose presence the most careless observer is impressed instantly, and yet, taken, altogether, he is a man in whom the elements of greatness are concealed under a cloak of impenetrable obscurity. Inferior physically, unsoldierly in bearing, exhibiting no trace of refined sensibilities nor pleasure in the gentle associations that others live for, or at least seek as diversions, he is nevertheless the embodiment of mental acuteness, crafty, unscrupulous, fearless and of indomitable perseverance.

"I have talked with Campos, Marin and Weyler, the three Captain-Generals to whom Spain has intrusted (thus far unsuccessfully) the reconquest of Cuba. Reconquest seems an ill-chosen word, but one of General Weyler's staff has so denominated this war, and Cuban revolutions can be settled only by conquests, Campos was an exceptional man. Marin was commonplace. Weyler is unique. Campos and Marin affected gold lace, dignity and self-consciousness. Weyler ignores them all as useless, unnecessary impediments, if anything, to the one object of his existence. Campos was fat, good natured, wise, philosophical, slow in his mental processes, clear in his judgment, emphatic in his opinions, outspoken, and, withal, lovable, humane, conservative, constructive, progressive, with but one project ever before him, the glorification of Spain as a mother-land and a figure among peaceful, enlightened nations.

"Weyler is lean, diminutive, shriveled, ambitious for immortality, irrespective of its odor, a master of diplomacy, the slave of Spain, for the glory of sitting at the right of her throne, unlovable, unloving, exalted, and doubtless justly, in self-esteem, because he is unmistaken in his estimation of his value to his Queen. His passion is success, per se, foul or fair consequences or the conventional ideas of humanity notwithstanding.

"He is a little man. An apparition of blacks—black eyes, black hair, black beard, dark, exceedingly dark, complexion, a plain black attire, black shoes, black tie, a very dirty shirt and soiled standing collar, with no jewelry and not a relief from the aspect of darkness anywhere on his person.

"It is not remarkable that I momentarily hesitated to make certain that this was actually Weyler. Doubt was dispelled with a look at his face. His eyes, far apart, bright, alert and striking, took me in at a glance. His face seemed to run to his chin, his lower jaw protruding far beyond any ordinary sign of firmness, persistence or willpower. His forehead is neither high nor receding, neither is it that of a thoughtful or philosophic man. His ears are set far back, and what is called the region of intellect, in which are those mental attributes that might be defined as powers of observation, calculation, judgment, and execution, is strongly developed. The conformation of his head, however, is not one that is generally accepted as an indication of any marked possession of philoprogenitiveness or its kindred emotions and inclinations. His nose is aquiline, bloodless and obtrusive; When he speaks it is with a high nasal enunciation that is not disagreeable, because it is not prolonged, and his sentences justify every impression that has already been formed of the man. They are short, crisp, emphatic and expressive.

"'I have an aversion to speech,' he said. 'I am an enemy of publications. I prefer to act, not to talk. I am here to restore peace. When peace is in the land I am going away. I am a soldier. When I am gone, politicians will reconstruct Cuba, and probably they will upset things again until they are as bad as they are now. I care not for America, England, anyone, but only for the treaties we have with them. They are the law. I observe the law, and every letter of the law. I have my ideas of Cuba's relation to Spain. I have never expressed them. Some politicians would agree with them, others would not. No one would agree with all of them. I know I am merciless, but mercy has no place in war. I know the reputation which has been built up for me. Things that are charged to me were done by officers under me, and I was held responsible for all things in the Ten-Years' war, including its victorious end. I do not conceal the fact that I am here solely because it is believed I can crush this insurrection. I care not what is said about me, unless it is a lie so great as to occasion alarm. I am not a politician. I am Weyler.'"

A WOMAN'S INTERVIEW WITH WEYLER.

The following interview with the "Butcher" is by Mrs. Kate Masterson, who bearded the lion in his den for an American newspaper:

"His Excellency, Captain-General Weyler, graciously gave me an audience to-day. He received me with most charming courtesy, escorted me through his apartments and presented me with a bunch of roses from his own table. Before I left he had honored me with an invitation to dine with him at the Palace.

"'Your Excellency,' I said to him through my interpreter, 'the American women have a very bad opinion of you. I am very much afraid of you myself, but I have come to ask the honor of an interview with you, in order that I may write something which will reassure the women of America that you are not treating women and children unmercifully.'

"'I do not give interviews,' he said. 'I am willing, however, to answer any question you wish to ask.'

"'In the United States,' I said, 'an impression prevails that your edict shutting out newspaper correspondents from the field is only to conceal cruelties perpetrated upon the insurgent prisoners. Will your Excellency tell me the real cause?'

"'I have,' replied the General, 'shut out the Spanish and Cuban papers from the field, as well as the American. In the last war the correspondents created much jealousy by what they wrote. They praised one and rebuked the other. They wrote what the prisoners dictated, instead of facts. They even created ill-feeling between the Spanish officers. They are a nuisance.'

"'Then I can deny the stories as to your being cruel?'

"The General shrugged his heavy shoulders as he said carelessly: 'I have no time to pay attention to stories. Some of them are true and some are not. If you will particularize I will give direct answers, but these things are not important.'

"'Does not your Excellency think that prisoners of war should be treated with consideration and mercy?'

"The General's eyes glinted dangerously. 'The Spanish columns attend to their prisoners just as well as any other country in time of war,' he replied. 'War is war. You cannot make it otherwise, try as you will.'

"'Will not your Excellency allow me to go to the scene of battle under an escort of soldiers, if necessary, that I may write of the situation as it really is, and correct the impression that prevails in America that inhuman treatment is being accorded to the insurgent prisoners?'

"'Impossible,' answered the General. 'It would not be safe.'

"'I am willing to take all the danger, if your Excellency will allow me to go,' I exclaimed.

"General Weyler laughed. 'There would be no danger from the rebels,' he said, 'but from the Spanish soldiers. They are of a very affectionate disposition and would all fall in love with you.'

"'I will keep a great distance from the fighting, if you will allow me to go.'

"The General's lips closed tightly, and he said: 'Impossible!
Impossible!'

"'What would happen,' I asked, 'if I should be discovered crossing the lines without permission?'

"'You would be treated just the same as a man.'

"'Would I be sent to Castle Morro?'

"'Yes,' he replied, nodding his head vigorously. That settled it.
I decided not to go.

"'Why,' I asked him, 'is the rule incommunicado placed upon prisoners? Is it not cruel to prevent a man from seeing his wife and children?'

"'The rule incommunicado,' said the General, 'is a military law. Prisoners are allowed to see their relatives as a favor, but we exercise discretion in these cases.'

"'There are stories that prisoners are shot in Castle Morro at daybreak each morning, and that the shots can be plainly heard across the bay. Is this true?'

"The General's eyes looked unpleasant again. 'It is false!' he said shortly. 'The prisoners go through a regular court-martial, and no one could be shot at Morro without my orders, and I have not given orders to shoot anyone since I have been here.'

"'Do you not think it very cruel that innocent women and children should be made to suffer in time of war?'

"'No innocent women and children do suffer. It is only those who leave their homes and take part in battle who are injured. It is only the rebels who destroy peaceful homes.'

"'It is reported,' I said, 'that thirty women are fighting under
Maceo. Is this true?'

"'Yes,' replied the General. 'We took one woman yesterday. She was dressed in man's clothes and was wielding a machete. She is now in Morro Castle. These women are fiercer than men. Many of them are mulattoes. This particular woman was white.'

"'What will be her fate?'

"'She will go through the regular form of trial.'

"'Will no mercy be shown her?'

"'Mercy is always shown to a woman. While the law is the same for both sexes, there is a clause which admits of mercy to a woman.'

"'There are several Cuban women insurgents in Morro and the Cabanas. Would your Excellency,' I asked, 'allow me to visit them?'

"'No,' he said. 'There is a law that no foreigner shall enter our fortresses. It is a military law. We can make no exceptions. You understand that I do not wish to be discourteous, senorita.'

"'Some of these women,' I continued, 'are said to be imprisoned for merely having Cuban flags in their homes. Is this possible?'

"'Treason,' exclaimed the General, 'is always a crime, punishable by imprisonment.'

"'There is a newspaper correspondent at present in Morro. What was his crime?'

"The General shrugged his shoulders again. 'I know nothing about him,' he said. 'I think he has been freed.'

"'Do you not think the life of a newspaper correspondent in Havana is at present a most unhappy one?'

"'I think it must be, for they make me unhappy. If they were all like you it would be a pleasure.'

"'Is it true that thumbscrews are used to extort confessions from prisoners?'

"'Not by the Spaniards. Rebels use all these things, similar to those that were used in the Inquisition tortures.'

"'What does your Excellency think of the Cubans as a race? Do you not think them progressive and brave?'

"'With the progress of all nations the Cubans have progressed,' he replied. 'There are many Cubans in sympathy with Spain, but this insurrection is a blot upon the Cuban race which nothing can ever erase. It is a stain made with the blood of the slain and the tears of the women. It injures the Cubans themselves more than any other.'"

In spite of Weyler's boasts when he assumed command of the Spanish forces in Cuba that he would quickly put down the insurrection, his failure was as complete as that of General Campos had been, and his recall was finally demanded. In his letter of protest to the home government he said:

"If the functions with which the government had entrusted me had been merely those of Governor General of Cuba, I should have hastened to resign. But the twofold character of my mission and my duty as commander-in-chief in the face of the enemy prevent my tendering a resignation.

"Nevertheless, although I can rely upon the absolute, unconditional support of the autonomist and constitutional parties, as well as upon public opinion, this would be insufficient without the confidence of the government, now more than ever necessary to me after the censure of which I have been made the object by the members and journals of the Liberal party and by public opinion in the United States, which latter is largely influenced by the former. This confidence would be necessary to enable me to put an end to the war, which has already been virtually concluded from our lines at Jucaro to Cape Antonio."

Senor Sagasta replied: "I thank you for your explanation and value your frankness, I wish to assure you that the government recognizes your services and values them as they deserve, but it thinks a change of policy. In order to succeed, requires that the authorities should be at one with the ministry."

CHAPTER XXIV.

CUBA UNDER THE SCOURGE.

The Civil Guards and Their Crimes—Horrible Murder of Eight
Innocent Men—A Man After Weyler's Own Heart—How the Spanish Gain
"Victories"—Life, Liberty and Property Sacrificed—The War Not a
Race War—Resistance to the Bitter End.

Cuba has been under martial law for over fifty years, and its enforcement by the Civil guards (as the officers appointed by the Spanish government are called) has been responsible for innumerable outrages against the lives and property of the inhabitants. These officials have been guilty of every crime in the calendar, but protected by their positions they have escaped legal punishment, and it has only been on occasions when, driven to desperation, the people have acted as judges and executioners by taking the law into their own hands that any redress has been possible.

If for any reason these guards wish to persecute a man, the fact that he is a non-combatant is no protection to him, nor to his family. They have been the means of adding to the ranks of the insurrectionists, for frequently the man who has seen his relatives and friends shot before his eyes, to satisfy some personal spite, or in order that some officer may get credit for a battle, has left his fields and gone to strike a manly blow for his country and his home.

The story of eight peaceable white men, who were shot without trial, at Campo Florida, near Havana, will serve as an example of the work of these fiends.

These poor fellows were arrested, their arms were tied, and they were taken to the police station. One of them had just completed a coffin for a woman, and he was dragged to the station with a rope about his neck. The next day, without even the pretense of a trial, they were taken two at a time into a ravine near the fort, where a trench had been lately dug, and in spite of the most pitiful pleas for mercy, they were shot down in cold blood by the cruel guards, who seemed to take fiendish delight in their work of blood.

The following statement was seat by Cuban, patriots, with the request that it be given the widest publicity possible, among the people of the United States:

"If the government that unhappily rules the destinies of this unfortunate country should be true to the most rudimentary principles of justice and morality, Colonel Jull, who has been recently appointed Military Governor of Matanzas province, should be in the galleys among criminals. It is but a short time since he was relieved by General Martinez Campos of the military command at Cienfuegos, as he had not once engaged any of the insurgent forces, but vented all his ferocious instincts against innocent and inoffensive peasants.

"In Yaguaramas, a small town near Cienfuegos, he arrested as suspects and spies Mr. Antonio Morejon, an honest and hard-working man, and Mr. Ygnacio Chapi, who is well advanced in years, and almost blind. Not being able to prove the charge against them, as they were innocent, he ordered Major Moreno, of the Barcelona battalion, doing garrison duty at Yaguaramas, to kill them with the machete and have them buried immediately. Major Moreno answered that he was a gentleman, who had come to fight for the integrity of his country, and not to commit murder. This displeased the colonel sorely, but, unfortunately, a volunteer sergeant, with six others, was willing to execute the order of the colonel, and Morejon and Chapi were murdered without pity.

"The order of Jull was executed in the most cruel manner. It horrifies to even think of it. Mr. Chapi, who knew the ways of Colonel Jull, on being awakened at three o'clock in the morning, and notified by the guard that he and Morejon had to go out, suspected what was to come, and told his companion to cry out for help as soon as they were taken out of the fort. They did so, but those who were to execute the order of Jull were neither moved nor weakened in their purpose.

A HORRIBLE SIGHT.

"On the contrary, at the first screams of Chapi and Morejon they threw a lasso over their heads, and pulled at it by the ends. In a few moments they fell to the ground choked to death. They were dragged on the earth, without pity, to the place where they were buried. All this bloody scene was witnessed by Jull from a short distance. Providence had not willed that so much iniquity should remain hidden forever. In the hurry the grave where these two innocent men were buried was not dug deep enough, and part of the rope with which they were choked remained outside. A neighbor, looking for a lost cow, saw the rope, took hold of it, and, on pulling, disinterred the head of one of the victims. He was terror stricken, and immediately gave notice to the judge, who, on ascertaining that the men had been killed by order of Colonel Jull, suspended proceedings.

"The neighbors and all the civil and military authorities know everything that has been related here, but such is the state of affairs on the island that General Weyler has no objection to appointing this monster, Colonel Jull, Military Governor of Matanzas. Such deeds as those enumerated are common. The people of the town of Matanzas, with Jull as Governor, and Arolas at the head of a column, will suffer in consequence of their pernicious and bloody instincts.

"That the readers may know in part who General Arolas is, it may be well to relate what has happened in the Mercedes estate, near Colon. It having come to his knowledge that a small body of rebels was encamped on the sugar estate Mercedes, of Mr. Carrillo, General Arolas went to engage them, but the rebels, who were few in numbers, retreated. Much vexed at not being able to discharge one shot at them, he made prisoners of three workmen who were out in the field herding the animals of the estate and without any formality of trial shot them. When the bodies were taken to the Central they were recognized, and to cover his responsibility somewhat, General Arolas said that when he challenged them they ran off, and at the first discharge of musketry they fell dead."

LIFE, LIBERTY AND PROPERTY SACRIFICED.

Life, liberty and property have all been sacrificed by these determined patriots for the sake of the cause they love. Their towns have been burned, their homes pillaged, their wives and children starved, and in many sections of the island nothing but ruin and waste meets the eye. Even their sick and wounded are not safe from the oppressor's sword, and wherever the insurgents have a hospital, they have a garrison to protect it. Each of the six provinces has an insurgent hospital, with a staff of physicians and nurses, and a detachment of the army.

The largest of these lies in that part of Santa Clara called the Isthmus of Zapata. It is a wild, swampy region, through which the natives alone can distinguish those precarious tracks, where the slightest deviation means being engulfed in the treacherous morass.

A DETERMINED RESISTANCE.

A prominent Cuban, who may be said to speak for his entire race, makes this declaration:

"The population of the island is, in round numbers, 1,600,000, of which less than 200,000 are Spaniards, some 500,000 are colored Cubans, and over 800,000 white Cubans. Of the Spaniards, a small but not inconsiderable fraction, although not taking an active part in the defense of our cause, sympathize with, and are supporting it in various ways. Of the Cubans, whether colored or white, all are in sympathy with the revolution, with the exception of a few scattered individuals who hold positions under the Spanish government or are engaged in enterprises which cannot thrive without it. All of the Cubans who have had the means and the opportunity to join the revolutionary army have done so, while those who have been compelled for one reason or another to remain in the cities are co-operating to the best of their abilities. If the people of the small section of the western part of the island, which yet remains quiet, were supplied with arms and ammunition they would rise, to a man, within twenty-four hours.

"This revolution of the whole Cuban people against the government of Spain is what the Spanish officials are pleased to describe as a disturbance caused by a few adventurers, robbers, bandits, and assassins! But they have a purpose in so characterizing it, and it is no other than to justify, in some way, the war of extermination which the Prime Minister of Spain himself has declared will be waged by his government against the Cuban people. They are not yet satisfied with the rivers of human blood with which in times past they inundated the fields of Italy, of the Low Countries, of our continent of America, and only a few years ago, of Cuba itself. The Spanish newspaper of Havana, 'El Pueblo,' urges the Spanish soldiers to give no quarter, to spare no one, to kill all, all without exception, until they shall have torrents of Cuban blood in which to bathe themselves. It is well. The Cubans accept the challenge, but they will not imitate their tyrants and cover themselves with infamy by waging a savage war. The Cubans respect the lives of their Spanish prisoners, they do not attack hospitals, and they cure and assist with the same care and solicitude with which they cure and assist their own, the wounded Spaniards who may fall into their hands. They have done so from the beginning of the war, and they will not change their humane policy.

"The Spanish officials have also attempted to convince you that the Cuban war is a war of races. Of what races? Of the black against the white? It is not true, and the facts plainly show that there is nothing of the kind. Nor is the war waged by Cubans against the Spaniards as such. No. The war is waged against the government of Spain, and only against the government of Spain and the officials and a few monopolists, who, under it, live and thrive upon the substance of the Cubans. We have no ill feeling against the thousands of Spaniards who industriously and honestly make their living in Cuba.

"But with the Spanish government we will make no peace, and we will make no compromise. Under its rule there will be nothing for our people but oppression and misery. For years and years the Cuban people have patiently suffered, and in the interests of the colony, as well as in the interests of the metropolis, have earnestly prayed for reforms. Spain has not only turned a deaf ear to the prayers, but instead of reforming the most glaring abuses, has allowed them to increase and flourish, until such a point has been reached that the continuation of Spanish rule means for the Cuban people utter destruction."

CHAPTER XXV.

FITZHUGH LEE TO THE FRONT.