THEyears following the close of the Civil War in the United States were marked with momentous occurrences in various other countries, particularly in Cuba, and the two nations with which she had long been intimately connected, Mexico and Spain.
The beginning of the year 1866 in Peninsular Spain saw General Prim heading a revolutionary body of troops at Aranjuez and at Ocana. These operations caused great excitement, and feeling ran high throughout the kingdom, for they were generally regarded as indicative and provocative of a radical change of government. Martial law was, however, promptly proclaimed at Madrid, and thus countless sympathizers with the revolution were restrained from taking an active part in it. The army of the government, under General Zabala, hastened to the scene of the insurrection, and pursued the revolutionary troops with such vigor that the latter, including General Prim himself, were compelled to retreat across the Portuguese frontier near Barracas, since they were, in fact, only about six hundred strong and were not prepared to make a resolute stand. In the same month, January, 1866, other revolutionary bodies were dispersed in Catalonia and Valencia.
So confident was the royal government of its security, and of the completeness with which the incipient revolution had been quelled, that on March 17 it repealed the decree of martial law at the capital. It was, however, cherishing a fool's paradise. The spirit of revolution was at work, and was bound soon to reassert itself. Itsnext manifestation occurred in June, when two regiments of soldiers in Madrid itself mutinied and repudiated their officers, who had refused to join them in their action. These troops were well armed, having twenty-six cannon, and were soon reinforced by large numbers of volunteers from the populace, so that it was only by a supreme effort that the government troops were able to defeat and disperse them.
At the same time, a corresponding movement took place in the garrison at Gerona, where a considerable body of troops revolted and, when attacked by government forces, conducted a successful retreat across the French frontier. Having crossed the boundary, they laid down their arms, but the larger proportion of them soon found their way back into Spain to join the impending revolution. Other outbreaks occurred at other points, all of which were suppressed with difficulty, but with great severity, many of the leaders being summarily shot as a deterrent example. But this action instead of being deterrent was provocative. The next revolutionary manifestation was the formation of a junta at Madrid, which issued a proclamation setting forth the complaints of the insurgents against the government, in part as follows:
"Savage courts have led hundreds of victims to sacrifice, and a woman has contemplated passively and even with complacency, the scaffold which has been erected.
"The Cortes have abjectly sold to the government the safety of the individual, the civil rights and the well-being of the commonwealth. The government has overthrown the press and rostrum, and has entrusted the administration of the provinces to rapacious mandarins and sanguinary generals; military tribunals have despoiled the rich and transported the poor to Fernando Po and to the Philippines.
"The laws of the Cortes have been replaced by decrees squandering the resources of the country by means of obscure and ruinous laws, trampling under foot right and virtue, violating homes, property and family; and during all this time, Isabella II, at Zuranz, and Madrid, meditating a plot against Italy, our sister, for the benefit of the Roman curia, participating meanwhile in the depredations of violence of the pachas in Cuba, who tolerating the fraudulent introduction of slaves, are outraging public sentiment both in the Old and in the New World, and causing an estrangement between Spain and the great and glorious Republic of the United States."
Thereafter, a reasonable degree of quiet prevailed throughout the Kingdom, which was merely a lull before the renewal of the storm. On New Year's day of 1867, the Junta at Madrid issued another proclamation, announcing to the people of Spain that another revolutionary movement was about to begin, and inviting them to join it, and share its success. To this there was not apparently a sufficient response to seem to warrant action, and it was not until the following August that anything more was heard of the revolution. The revolutionists, however, were merely outwardly quiet. Propaganda and organization were being systematically carried on, and the way was being paved for a really effective revolt, which would have widespread and far-reaching results in purging Spain of a tyrannous rule and substituting in its place republican justice. When the time seemed propitious, in August, General Prim issued a third proclamation, calling the people to arms, the chief result of which was an increased degree of vigilance and severity on the part of the government. Many of the revolutionary leaders were apprehended and expelled from Spain on suspicion of sympathy and complicity with the revolution.Among this number were Generals Serrano, Cordova, Duke, Bedoya, and Zebula, and persons of no less high standing than the Duke and Duchess of Montpensier.
It is curious that all through history, movements like that which had gained such force and impetus in Spain have been met with the high hand of oppression. Instead of endeavoring to get at the root of the evil, to realize that since there was so persistent a dissatisfaction there must be real causes for grievance the removal of which would work toward a harmonious solution, it has seemed to be impossible for those born in the purple to understand the problems of the common people, and so when the latter have risen in revolt, cruelty and injustice, if not actual outrages, have marked the attempts to extinguish the trouble. The result has ever been the same. The story of the attempts to suppress the revolt in Spain differs not at all from the same story written on the pages of the history of other nations. The increased oppression on the part of the government only served to fan the smouldering fire into flame. The popular wrath and indignation against the queen and her underlings bade fair to burst into a huge conflagration.
In consequence, when the next overt act of insurrection occurred, at Cadiz, on September 17, there was a very general response throughout the Kingdom. General Prim was again at the head of the movement, supported by General Serrano and the other officers, to whom the sentence of banishment had not proved effective, since they had found their way back into Spain. Revolutionary Juntas were formed in almost all of the provinces, and in a number of the most important cities, and in the course of a few days the insurgents were in control of a considerable part of the Kingdom.
The City of Santander was seized for the revolution on September 21, but they were obliged to relinquish it to superior forces on September 24. However, the revolutionists were far from discouraged by this momentary reverse, and four days later they rallied for their first important victory, which was followed by a general revolt of the troops in and about Madrid, and General Concha, the commander of the royal forces, was compelled to resign. The revolution was now in full swing and gaining impetus and strength every hour. General Serrano at the head of a revolutionary army entered Madrid in triumph, followed four days later by General Prim. Their reception exceeded their wildest expectations. The city was on fire with revolt. The people greeted them with the warmest fervor, with shouts of welcome and rejoicing. They were hailed as the saviors of the nation, as the embodiment of Spain's hope for the future, and hourly their forces were increased by the addition of volunteers from all walks of life.
It is evident that Queen Isabella had not found Madrid a comfortable abiding place. There is no doubt that she entertained fears for her personal safety long before it was actually in jeopardy. Some time previous to these happenings she had, on some pretext, removed the court from Madrid to San Sebastian, in the Pyrenees, near the French frontier, and when news of the capture of the Spanish capital reached her, she lost no time in making her escape across the frontier into France, where she was met and welcomed by Emperor Napoleon III, at Hendye. Queen Isabella had good reason to fear the vengeance of the Spanish mob, for she had long been unpopular, an object of widespread hatred. She therefore had no intention of returning to Spain while matters were in such aturbulent condition, and shortly after her arrival in France, she proceeded to Paris, where she decided to make her home.
The Juntas which had been established throughout the Kingdom of Spain were amalgamated by the formation of a National Junta, on October 8, at Madrid, and a ministry was organized with General Serrano as Prime Minister, General Prim as Minister of War, Admiral Topete as Minister of Marine, Señor Figueroa as Minister of Finance, Señor Lorensano as Minister of Foreign Affairs, Señor Ortiz as Minister of Justice, Señor Sagasta as Minister of the Interior, Señor Ayala as Minister for the Colonies and Señor Zorilla as Minister of Public Works.
The next day, the United States Minister at Madrid, Mr. Hill, notified General Serrano that his government has given official recognition to the new order of affairs in Spain, being the first in the world to take this action. Such was the state of affairs in Spain at the beginning of the great struggle in Cuba known as the Ten Years' War.
Conditions in Mexico likewise deserve passing attention. For a number of years that country had been in a greatly troubled state. Years of successive revolutions had been followed by the military intervention of France, and the creation, under the protection of the French army, of a pinchbeck "empire," with the Archduke Maximilian of Austria as Emperor. The Mexican people, under the leadership of one of their greatest statesmen, Benito Juarez, never gave their allegiance to this usurping government, but maintained a more or less open resistance to it, and it was sustained for a few years only by the presence of a considerable French army.
The United States of America, at this time, was engaged in its great Civil War, and was therefore unable to do more than to register a formal protest against French aggressions,which were recognized as a great violation of the Monroe Doctrine. But when, in the spring of 1865, the Civil War ended, the triumphant federal armies were moved toward the Mexican frontier, and the United States Government sent to the French Government what was practically an ultimatum, requiring it to withdraw its forces from Mexico. Napoleon III demurred, temporized, and at length offered to withdraw if the United States would recognize Maximilian as the lawful emperor of Mexico. This the United States, with great promptness, refused to do, and the French army was thereupon unconditionally withdrawn, and the capture and military execution of Maximilian soon followed, the final tragedy occurring on June 19, 1867. This left the United States with its prestige immeasurably enhanced and free to pay such attention as might be necessary to the affairs of Cuba, the only part of the western hemisphere in which European despotism was still maintained.
The policy of the United States Government, and the sentiment of the people of that country toward Cuba, had been materially modified by the Civil War and its results. There was, of course, no longer any thought of acquiring Cuba for the sake of expanding and fortifying the slave power, but on the contrary, American influence was now exerted, so far as it could properly be, toward prevailing upon the Spanish Government to abolish slavery in Cuba. The Cuban revolutionists were almost without exception in favor of such emancipation of the negroes, and that fact caused them to be regarded with increased favor in the United States, both officially and popularly. American influence was also exerted toward the persuasion of Spain to give Cuba a more liberal and beneficent government and to improve the commercial relations between that island and the United States, for thebenefit of both parties. There was some expectation in both Cuba and the United States—a very plausible belief—that the revolutionary movement in Spain, liberal and democratic in character, and aiming at the establishment of a republic in place of the Bourbon monarchy, would be accompanied by the grant of liberal institutions and democratic freedom to Cuba; but such was not the case.
During the Civil War, because of the suspension of the sugar industry in the southern part of the United States, there had been a vast and immensely profitable development of the sugar industry in Cuba, and this seemed to be dependent for its success upon the continuance of slave labor. These conditions strengthened the Spanish party in Cuba, which was equally devoted to the maintenance of slavery and to Spanish domination in the Island.
The Spanish party in Cuba, at this time, as we have seen, was known as the "Peninsulars," and it comprised a great majority of the office holders and wealthy planters and slave-holders. It was well organized throughout the Island for the assertion of political influence, and for the suppression of insurgent movements. Its central authority was in a wealthy club at Havana, called the "Casino Espagnol," and similar clubs on a more modest scale, existed in other cities and important towns throughout Cuba, and from these, and under their control, there arose a body known as the "Volunteers." This was ostensibly a military organization to whose battalions all white men in the Island were eligible, but as a matter of fact, membership in the Volunteers was substantially confined to conservatives, loyalists and Spanish sympathizers. The Volunteers, except in a few special cases, did not go into the field, but left the actual fighting with insurgents to be done by regular Spanish troops. They gave their own attention chiefly to the overawing of the inhabitants of thecities and towns, and to restraining them from joining the revolutions. They also acted as spies, discovering and reporting to the Spanish Government the doings of Cuban patriots. The leaders of the organization formed a "Council of Colonels," meeting at the Casino Espagnol, and forming a sort ofimperium in imperio.
During the progress of the Ten Years' War, however, the Volunteers were organized and placed under the command of General Lersuno, and thereafter exerted a much more militant power than ever before. They were not under the direct orders of the Captain-General, but enjoyed an independent authority, and yet they were presently entrusted with the garrisoning of forts and cities, so that the regular Spanish troops could go into the field. They exercised far more military, naval and civil authority than the Captain-General and other royal officials. They actually compelled the retirement of General Dulce from the Captain-Generalship because they regarded him as too kindly disposed toward the Cubans. They similarly drove Caballero de Rodas from office, and they gave Valmaseda and Ceballos, who followed, to understand that the success of their administration depended upon their compliance with the demands and policies of the Volunteers.
It was due to their opposition that the so-called Moret law, which provided for the gradual abolition of slavery in Cuba, remained a dead letter, and was not even published in the Island for several years after the outside world had supposed it to be in force. The Volunteers were also responsible for the numerous cases of violence against the patriot party, the most flagrant of which was the execution of eight Cuban students of the University of Havana.
There is no reason to suppose that there was any complicityor cooperation between the revolution in Spain and the outbreak of the Ten Years' War in Cuba. Nevertheless, the former practically gave the signal, for the result of the Spanish revolution was indeed regarded by Cuban patriots with much satisfaction and enthusiasm. Cries of "Hurrah for Prim!" "Hurrah for Serrano!" and "Hurrah for the Spanish Revolution!" were mingled with cries of "Viva Cuba Libre!" and it did not take long for the disappointed realization to dawn upon Cuba that liberalism in Spain did not necessarily imply the granting of freedom to Cuba, but that on the contrary the "Peninsular" revolutionists were scarcely less intent that the Bourbons had been upon retaining Cuba as an appanage, and especially as a source of revenue for Spain.
CUBANindependence was proclaimed on October 10, 1868, at the Yara plantation. That was the natal date and that was the natal place of the Republic of Cuba. The event was made known to the world in a Declaration of Independence, which was issued at Manzanillo, and which was as follows:
"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 liable to entail considerable disturbances upon the present, will insure the happiness of the future.
"It is well known that Spain governs the Island of Cuba with an iron and blood-stained hand. The former holds the latter deprived of political, civil, and religious liberty. Hence, the unfortunate Cubans being illegally prosecuted and thrown into exile or executed by military commissions in times of peace. Hence, their being kept from public meetings, 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 skill themselves in the art of government. Hence, the restrictions to which public instructions with them is subjected, in order to keepthem so ignorant as not to be able to know and enforce their rights in any shape or form whatever. Hence, the navy and standing army, which are kept upon 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 the soil.
"On the other hand, Cuba cannot prosper as she ought to, because white immigration that suits her best is artfully kept from her shores by the Spanish Government, and as Spain has many a time promised us Cubans to respect our rights without having hitherto fulfilled her promise, as 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 further Spanish domination; as we have reached a depth of degradation utterly revolting to manhood; as great nations have sprung from revolt against a similar disgrace, after exhausted pleadings for relief, as we despair of justice from Spain through reasoning and cannot longer live deprived of the rights which other people enjoy, we are constrained to appeal to arms and to assert our rights in the battle-field, cherishing the hope that our grievances will be a sufficient excuse for this last resort to redress them and to secure our future welfare.
"To the God of our conscience, and to all civilized nations, we submit the sincerity of our purpose. Vengeance does not mislead us, not is ambition our guide. We only want to be free and to see all men with us equally free, as the Creator intended all mankind to be. Our earnest belief is that all men are brethren. Hence our love of toleration, order and justice in every respect. We desirethe gradual abolition of slavery, with indemnification; we admire universal suffrage, as it insures the sovereignty of the people; we demand a religious regard for the inalienable rights of men as the basis of freedom and nation greatness."
Following the Declaration of Independence, the provisional government of the Republic of Cuba was organized at Bayamo. The most prominent figure in the organization of the Cuban revolutionists and the first really constructive leader of the Cuban insurrection was Carlos Manuel Cespedes, a native of Bayamo. At this time he was in the prime of life, being forty nine years of age, a man of brilliant intellect and of fine culture, for he had been educated at the University of Havana, and had, in 1842, received his degree and license in law from the University of Barcelona, in Spain.
Cespedes's openly expressed zeal for the emancipation of the oppressed Cubans, and the earnest efforts which he had long exerted in their behalf, had won for him such widespread recognition as a patriot that he was, without a dissenting voice, chosen for the head of the provisional government. By nature and training he was admirably suited for the position, for from boyhood he had been not only enthusiastically devoted to the cause of Cuban independence, but he had more than once, under circumstances where his outspoken advocacy of his principles actually placed his life in jeopardy, proved himself a worthy champion of freedom, not only for his fellow citizens, but for Spanish subjects wherever they were being trodden beneath the iron heel of Spanish oppression. His love of liberty was not a mere enthusiasm, something superficial and acquired, but it was inborn, a fundamental part of his character, firmly knit into the very fibre of his life and its activities.
While a student in Spain, he had joined the forces of General Prim, during the latter's first attempt to establish a republic in that country, and because of his complicity in that revolt, Cespedes had been banished from Spain. Returning to Cuba, in 1844, he settled at Bayamo, and took up the practice of law, where his skill as an advocate soon won him recognition as one of the foremost lawyers of the Island. But again his hatred of tyranny thrust him forth from the peaceful occupation of amassing a fortune in the pursuit of jurisprudence. He could not tranquilly pursue his daily course when he saw injustice and misrule rampant around him, and so, in 1852, he made a speech, fervidly denouncing Spain, and calling on high Heaven to aid the independence of Cuba, which was considered by the authorities to be so incendiary that he was arrested as a dangerous character, and subsequently suffered a five months' imprisonment in Morro Castle, at Havana.
Opportunity soon came to Cespedes to give actual proof that his principles were not abstract but concrete. The acid test was to be applied and he was not to be found wanting, for immediately upon the declaration by the Cuban republic of its principles of freedom and equal rights for all men, he voluntarily exemplified their operation, so far as lay in his individual power, by emancipating all the slaves on his own estate.
CARLOS MANUEL DE CESPEDESCARLOS MANUEL DE CESPEDES
The supreme chieftain of the Cuban patriots in the Ten Years' War was Carlos Manuel de Cespedes y Borges, who before becoming a soldier was eminent as an advocate, poet, and man of letters. He was born at Bayamo on April 18, 1819, and completed his education at the University of Barcelona, Spain. Then he settled in Madrid, became associated with General Prim, and was implicated in his first attempt at revolution. For that he was banished to France, and later he was imprisoned for his Liberal utterances. Returning to Cuba, he personally started the Ten Years' War, with the story of which as elsewhere related he was inseparably identified as President of the Cuban Republic. On February 27, 1874, he was betrayed to the Spaniards by a servant who thus sought to save his own life, and after desperate resistance was wounded, captured, and put to death.
The supreme chieftain of the Cuban patriots in the Ten Years' War was Carlos Manuel de Cespedes y Borges, who before becoming a soldier was eminent as an advocate, poet, and man of letters. He was born at Bayamo on April 18, 1819, and completed his education at the University of Barcelona, Spain. Then he settled in Madrid, became associated with General Prim, and was implicated in his first attempt at revolution. For that he was banished to France, and later he was imprisoned for his Liberal utterances. Returning to Cuba, he personally started the Ten Years' War, with the story of which as elsewhere related he was inseparably identified as President of the Cuban Republic. On February 27, 1874, he was betrayed to the Spaniards by a servant who thus sought to save his own life, and after desperate resistance was wounded, captured, and put to death.
The first decree of the provisional government was issued by General Cespedes on December 27. It was a proclamation of emancipation, as follows:
"The revolution of Cuba, while proclaiming this independence of the country, has proclaimed with it all the liberties, and could not well commit the great inconsistency, to restrict them to only one part of the population of the country. Free Cuba is incompatible with slaveCuba, and the abolition of the Spanish institutions must include, and by necessity and by reason of the greatest justice does include, the abolition of slavery as the most odious of all. Abolition of slavery has, therefore, been maintained among the principles proclaimed in the first manifesto issued by the revolution, and in the opinion of all Cubans, truly liberal, its entire realization must be the first of the acts for which the country employs its conquered rights. But as a general measure it can only be fully effected when the country in the full use of its conquered rights can, by means of universal suffrage, make the most suitable provision for carrying it through to real advantage, both for the old and the new citizens. The subject of the present measure is not, nor can it be, the abrogation of a right which those who are at present directing the operations of the revolution are far from believing themselves entitled to invade; thus participating the solution of so difficult a question. On the other hand, however, the provisional government could not in its turn oppose the use of a right which our slaveholders possess in virtue of our laws, and which many of them wish to exercise, namely, to emancipate their slaves at once. It also sees how desirable it is to employ at once in the service of the country the freedmen, and how necessary to make haste to prevent the evils which they and the country might receive from a failure to employ them immediately. The government, therefore, urges the adoption of provisional dispositions, which are to serve as a rule for the military chiefs in the several districts of this department, in order to solve the questions presented to them. Therefore, availing myself of the faculties with which I am invested, I have now resolved that the following articles be observed.
"I. Free are the slaves whom their masters at once presentto the military chief for this purpose, the owners reserving, if they choose, a claim to the indemnification which the nation may decree.
"II. The freedom shall, for the present, be employed in the service of the country in such a manner as may be agreed upon.
"III. To this end a committee shall be appointed to find for them employment, in accordance with regulations to be issued.
"IV. In other cases, the slaves of loyal Cubans and of neutral Spaniards and foreigners shall continue to work, in accordance with the principle of respect for property proclaimed by the revolution.
"V. The slaves of those who have been convicted of being enemies of the country and openly hostile to the revolution, shall be confiscated with their other property and declared free without a right to indemnity, utilizing them in the service of the country.
"VI. The owners who shall place their slaves in the service of the revolution without freeing them for the present, shall preserve their right as long as the slaving question in general is not decided.
"VII. The slaves of the Palisades, who may present themselves to the Cuban authorities, shall at once be declared free, with a right either to live among us or to remain among the mountaineers.
"VIII. The isolated refugees who may be captured, or who may, without the consent of their masters, present themselves to the authorities or military chiefs, shall not be received without consulting their masters."
Now this first government, of which Cespedes was made the chief, was merely, after all, a temporary affair, organized to provide ways and means for creating a more permanent body. Accordingly, on October 30, 1868, lessthan a month after the Declaration of Independence, Cespedes issued a proclamation declaring that his election to office had been only to provide for the time being an acting head of the provisional government; that he believed that the organization should at once take on the character of permanency; that he had no thought of imposing his will upon Cuba; that he realized that he had not been elected to his place by the suffrage of the Cuban people, and that he had no assurance that, had they been given an opportunity to individually express themselves, he would have been their choice; and that, therefore, since it was practicable for all loyal Cubans to assemble in their respective communities and by their suffrage constitute a permanent government, he would gladly abide by their decision, and, if they desired, relinquish the power with which they had entrusted him.
In response to this patriotic utterance, a convention was called, on April 10, 1869, at Guaimaro. The leaders of this first representative body of the Cuban people were the following: Miguel Gutierrez, Eduardo Machado, Antonio Lorda, Tranquilino Valdez and Arcadio Garcia, representing Villa Clara; Honorato Castillo, representing Sancti Spiritus; José Maria Izaguirre, representing Jugari; Antonio Alcada and Jesus Rodriguez, representing Holguin; and Salvador Cisneros, Francisco Sanchez, Ignacio Agramonte Loynaz, Miguel Betancourt Guerra and Antonio Zambrana, representing Camaguey.
At this convention, Cespedes resigned his position as provisional head of the government and commander-in-chief of the army, in order that some one might be regularly elected in his place, and in doing so he addressed his colleagues in the following memorable terms:
"Now that the House of Representatives, gathered from all parts of the Island, has been happily inaugurated inGuaimaro, it becomes from the moment of its organization the supreme and only authority for all Cubans, because it constitutes the depository of the people's will, sovereign of the present and controller of the future. All temporary power and authority ceases to have a rightful voice in Cuba from the very moment in which the wise democratic system, laying its solid foundations beneath the gigantic shadow of the tree of liberty, has come to endow us—after suffering the most iniquitous rule—with the most beautiful and magnificent of human institutions—a republican government.
"Unfeigned gratitude I owe to the destiny which afforded me the glory of being the first in Yara to raise the standard of independence, and the still greater though less merited satisfaction, to see crowded around me my fellow-citizens in demand of liberty, thus sustaining my weak arm and stimulating my poor efforts by their confidence. But another glory was reserved for me, far more grateful by my sentiments and democratic convictions—that of also being the first to render homage to the popular sovereignty.
"This duty fulfilled, having given an account to the fatherland of its most genuine representation of the work which with the assistance of its own heroic sons I had the good fortune to have commenced, it still behooves me, fellow-citizens, to fulfill another, not less imperious to my heart, of addressing my gratitude to you—to you, without whom my humble, isolated efforts would not have produced other fruit than that of adding one patriot more to the number of preceding martyrs for independence—to you, who, recognizing in me the principle rather than the man, came to stimulate me by your recognition of myself as chief of the provisional government and the liberating army.
"Fellow citizens of the Eastern Department, your efforts as initiators of the struggle against tyranny, your constancy, your sufferings, your heroic sacrifices of all descriptions, your privations, the combat without quarters which you have sustained and continue to sustain against an enemy far superior in armament and discipline, and who displays, for want of the valor which a good cause inspires, all the ferocity which is the attitude of tyranny, have been witnessed by myself, and so will remain eternally present to my heart. You are the vanguard of the soldiers of our liberties. I commend you to the admiration and to the gratitude of the Cubans. Continue your abnegation of self, your discipline, your valor, and your enthusiasm, which will entitle you to that gratitude and that admiration.
"Fellow citizens of the Western Department, if it has not been your good fortune to be the first in grasping arms, neither were you among the last in listening to the voice of the fatherland that cried for revolution. Your moral aid and assistance responded from the very outset to the call of your brethren of the Eastern and Central Departments. Many of you hastened to the scene of revolution to share our colors. At this moment, despite the activity displayed by the Spanish Government in your districts, where its resources and the number of its hosts render more difficult the current of the revolution, that same Government trembles before your determined attitude, from the Las Villas to Havana, and from Havana to the western boundary, and your first deeds of arms were the presage to you and the brave and worthy sons of the Eastern and Central Departments of new and decisive triumphs.
"Fellow citizens of all the Island: The blood of the patriots who have fallen during the first onset of the struggle has consecrated our aspirations with a gloriousbaptism. At this moment, when destiny has been pleased to close the mission of him who was your first leader, swear with him by that generous blood, that in order to render fruitful that great sacrifice you will shed your own, to the very last drop, in furtherance of the consummation of our independence, proclaimed in Yara. Swear with me to give up our lives a thousand times over in sustaining the republic proclaimed in Guaimaro.
"Fellow citizens, long live our independence. Long live the popular sovereignty! Long live the Cuban Republic! Patria and liberty!"
The convention before proceeding to the election of officers of the Republic, drafted and adopted the first Constitution of Free Cuba, as follows:
"Article I. The legislative power shall be vested in a House of Representatives.
"Article II. To this body shall be delegated an equal representation from each of the four states into which the Island of Cuba shall be divided.
"Article III. These states are Oriente, Camaguey, Las Villas and Occidente.
"Article IV. No one shall be eligible as representatives of any of these states except a citizen of the Republic, who is upward of 20 years of age.
"Article V. No representative of any state shall hold any other official position during his representative term.
"Article VI. Whenever a vacancy occurs in the representation of any state, the executive thereof shall have power to fill such vacancy until the ensuing election.
"Article VII. The House of Representatives shall elect a President of the Republic, a General-in-Chief of its Armies, a President of the Congress and other executive officers. The General-in-Chief shall be subordinateto the Executive, and shall render him an account of the performance of his duties.
"Article VIII. The President of the Republic, the General-in-Chief and the Members of the House of Representatives are amenable to charges which may be made by any citizen to the House of Representatives, which shall proceed to examine into the charges preferred; and if in their judgment it be necessary the case of the accused shall be submitted to the Judiciary.
"Article IX. The House of Representatives shall have full power to dismiss from office any functionary whom they have convicted.
"Article X. The legislative acts and decisions of the House of Representatives, in order to be valid and binding, must have the sanction of the President of the Republic.
"Article XI. If the President fails to approve the acts and decisions of the House, he shall, without delay, return the same with his objections thereto, for the reconsideration of that body.
"Article XII. Within 10 days after their reception, the President shall return all bills, resolutions and enactments which may be sent to him by the House for his approval, with his sanction thereof, or with his objections thereto.
"Article XIII. Upon the passage of any Act, Bill or Resolution, after a reconsideration thereof, by the House, it shall be sanctioned by the President.
"Article XIV. The House of Representatives shall legislate upon Taxation, Public Loans, and Ratification of Treaties; and shall have power to declare and conclude War, to authorize the President to issue letters of marque, to raise troops and provide for their support, to organizeand maintain a Navy, and to regulate reprisals as to the public enemy.
"Article XV. The House of Representatives shall remain in permanent session from the time of the ratification of this fundamental law by the People until the termination of the war with Spain.
"Article XVI. The Executive Power shall be vested in the President of the Republic.
"Article XVII. No one shall be eligible to the Presidency, who is not a native of the Republic, and over 30 years of age.
"Article XVIII. All treaties made by the President may be ratified by the House of Representatives.
"Article XIX. The President shall have power to appoint Ambassadors, Ministers-plenipotentiary, and Consuls of the Republic, to foreign countries.
"Article XX. The President shall treat with Ambassadors, and shall see that the laws are faithfully executed. He shall also issue commissions to all the functionaries of the Republic.
"Article XXI. The President shall propose the names of the members of his Cabinet to the House of Representatives for its approval.
"Article XXII. The Judiciary shall form an independent co-ordinate department of the Government, under the organization of a special law.
"Article XXIII. Voters are required to possess the same qualifications as to age and citizenship as the members of House of Representatives.
"Article XXIV. All the inhabitants of the Republic of Cuba are absolutely free.
"Article XXV. All the citizens are considered as soldiers of the Liberating Army.
"Article XXVI. The Republic shall not bestow dignities, titles, nor special privileges.
"Article XXVII. The citizens of the Republic shall not accept honors nor titles from foreign countries.
"Article XXVIII. The House of Representatives shall not abridge the Freedom of Religion, nor of the Press, nor of Public Meetings, nor of Education, nor of Petition, nor any inalienable Right of the People.
"Article XXIX. The Constitution can be amended only by the unanimous concurrence of the House of Representatives."
MANUEL QUESADA
The next day the Convention proceeded to the election of officers of the House of Representatives. Salvador Cisneros was elected President; Ignacio Agramonte Loynaz and Antonio Zambrana were elected Secretaries, and Miguel Betancourt and Eduardo Machado, Vice-Secretaries.
MANUEL QUESADAManuel Quesada, for a time military head of the Ten Years' War, was born in Camaguey in 1830. He was banished for political reasons and went to Mexico, where he fought under Benito Juarez. In 1868 he joined the patriot army and became one of its leaders; in 1870 being its commander in chief. Failing to carry the war into Pinar del Rio, he went on a trip to Venezuela, and trying to return was pursued by a Spanish cruiser and took refuge in Santo Domingo. On his final return to Cuba he was deposed from his command for being too ambitious and autocratic, whereupon he went to the United States and thence to Venezuela, where he died in 1886.
MANUEL QUESADA
Manuel Quesada, for a time military head of the Ten Years' War, was born in Camaguey in 1830. He was banished for political reasons and went to Mexico, where he fought under Benito Juarez. In 1868 he joined the patriot army and became one of its leaders; in 1870 being its commander in chief. Failing to carry the war into Pinar del Rio, he went on a trip to Venezuela, and trying to return was pursued by a Spanish cruiser and took refuge in Santo Domingo. On his final return to Cuba he was deposed from his command for being too ambitious and autocratic, whereupon he went to the United States and thence to Venezuela, where he died in 1886.
The seventh article of the Constitution was immediately put into practice, when the convention, constituting itself a House of Representatives, confirmed the confidence of the Cuban peoples in Cespedes, by appointing him President of the Republic of Cuba, while Manuel Quesada wasmade Commander-in-Chief of the Army. President Cespedes immediately assumed his office and issued this proclamation:
"To the People of Cuba:"Compatriots: The establishment of a free government in Cuba, on the basis of democratic principles, was the most fervent wish of my heart. The effective realization of this wish was, therefore, enough to satisfy my aspirations and amply repay the services which, jointly with you, I may have been able to devote to the cause of Cuban independence. But the will of my compatriots has gone far beyond this, by investing me with the most honored of all duties, the supreme magistracy of the Republic."I am not blind to the great labors required in the exercise of the high functions which you have placed in my charge in these critical moments, notwithstanding the aid that may be derived from other powers of the state. I am not ignorant of the grave responsibility which I assume in accepting the Presidency of our new-born Republic. I know that my weak powers would be far from being equal to the demand if left to themselves alone. But this will not occur and that conviction fills me with faith in the future."In the act of beginning the struggle with the oppressors, Cuba has assumed the solemn duty to consummate her independence or perish in the attempt, and in giving herself a democratic government she obligates herself to become Republican. This double obligation, contracted in the presence of free America, before the liberal world, and, what is more, before our own conscience, signifies our determination to be heroic and to be virtuous."Cubans! On your heroism I rely for the consummation of our independence, and on your virtue I count toconsolidate the Republic. You may count on my abnegation of self."Carlos de Cespedes."Guaimaro, April 11, 1869."
"To the People of Cuba:
"Compatriots: The establishment of a free government in Cuba, on the basis of democratic principles, was the most fervent wish of my heart. The effective realization of this wish was, therefore, enough to satisfy my aspirations and amply repay the services which, jointly with you, I may have been able to devote to the cause of Cuban independence. But the will of my compatriots has gone far beyond this, by investing me with the most honored of all duties, the supreme magistracy of the Republic.
"I am not blind to the great labors required in the exercise of the high functions which you have placed in my charge in these critical moments, notwithstanding the aid that may be derived from other powers of the state. I am not ignorant of the grave responsibility which I assume in accepting the Presidency of our new-born Republic. I know that my weak powers would be far from being equal to the demand if left to themselves alone. But this will not occur and that conviction fills me with faith in the future.
"In the act of beginning the struggle with the oppressors, Cuba has assumed the solemn duty to consummate her independence or perish in the attempt, and in giving herself a democratic government she obligates herself to become Republican. This double obligation, contracted in the presence of free America, before the liberal world, and, what is more, before our own conscience, signifies our determination to be heroic and to be virtuous.
"Cubans! On your heroism I rely for the consummation of our independence, and on your virtue I count toconsolidate the Republic. You may count on my abnegation of self.
"Carlos de Cespedes.
"Guaimaro, April 11, 1869."
This was followed two days later by General Quesada's proclamation:
"Citizen Chiefs, Officers and Soldiers of the Liberating Army of Cuba: When I returned to my country to place my sword at your service, fulfilling the most sacred of duties, realizing the most intense aspiration of my life, the vote of the Camagueyans, to my surprise, honored me by conferring on me the command of their army. Notwithstanding my poor merits and capacity, I accepted the post because I expected to find and did find in the Camagueyans civic virtues well established, and this has rendered supportable the charge of the responsibility which I assumed."Now the legislative power of the Republic has filled me with a greater surprise, promoting me to the Command-in-Chief of the liberating army of Cuba. The want of confidence in my own resources naturally moves me anew upon stronger grounds, although it also strengthens the conviction that the patriotism of my brethren will supply the insufficiency of my capacity."Camagueyans! You have given me undoubted proofs of your virtues. You are models of subordination and enthusiasm. Preserve and extend your discipline!"Soldiers of the East! Initiators of our sacred revolution! Veterans of Cuba! I salute you with sincere affection, counting on your gallant chiefs, in order that they may aid me in realizing the eminent work which we have undertaken, and I hope that union will strengthen our forces."Soldiers of the Villas! You have already struggled with the despot. I felicitate you for the efforts made and invite you to continue them. You are patriots. You will be victors."Soldiers of the West! I know your heroic exploits, and venerate them. I am well aware of the disadvantage of the situation in which you find yourselves, in contrast with our oppressors, and it is our purpose to remedy this. Accept the homage of my admiration and the succor of my arms."Citizen chiefs, officers, and soldiers of the Cuban Army! Union, discipline, and perseverance!"The rapid increase which the glorious new Cuba has taken frightens our oppressors, who now are suffering the pangs of desperation, and carrying on a war of vengeance, not of principles. The tyrant Valmaseda rages with the incendiary's torch and the homicidal knife over the fields of Cuba. He has never done otherwise, but now he adds to his crime the still greater one of publishing it by a proclamation, which we can only describe by pronouncing it to be a proclamation worthy of the Spanish Government. Thereby our property is menaced by fire and pillage. This is nothing. It threatens us with death; and this is nothing. But even our mothers, wives, daughters, and sisters are menaced with resort to violence."Ferocity is the valor of cowards."I implore you, sons of Cuba, to recollect at all hours the proclamation of Valmaseda. That document will shorten the time necessary for the triumph of our cause. That document is an additional proof of the character of our enemies. Those beings appear deprived even of those gifts which Nature has conceded to the irrationals—the instinct of foresight and of warning. We have to struggle with tyrants, always such; the very same ones ofthe Inquisition, of the Conquest, and of Spanish dominion in America. In birth and in death they live and succeed; the Torquemadas, the Pizarros, the Boves, the Morillos, the Tacons, the Conchas, and the Valmasedas. We have to combat with the assassins of old women and of children, with the mutilators of the dead, with the idolaters of gold!"Cubans! If you would save your honor and that of your families; if you would conquer forever your liberty, be soldiers. War leads you to peace and to happiness. Inertia precipitates you to misfortune and to dishonor. Viva Cuba! Viva the President of the Republic! Viva the Liberating Army! Patria and Liberty!"Manuel Quesada."
"Citizen Chiefs, Officers and Soldiers of the Liberating Army of Cuba: When I returned to my country to place my sword at your service, fulfilling the most sacred of duties, realizing the most intense aspiration of my life, the vote of the Camagueyans, to my surprise, honored me by conferring on me the command of their army. Notwithstanding my poor merits and capacity, I accepted the post because I expected to find and did find in the Camagueyans civic virtues well established, and this has rendered supportable the charge of the responsibility which I assumed.
"Now the legislative power of the Republic has filled me with a greater surprise, promoting me to the Command-in-Chief of the liberating army of Cuba. The want of confidence in my own resources naturally moves me anew upon stronger grounds, although it also strengthens the conviction that the patriotism of my brethren will supply the insufficiency of my capacity.
"Camagueyans! You have given me undoubted proofs of your virtues. You are models of subordination and enthusiasm. Preserve and extend your discipline!
"Soldiers of the East! Initiators of our sacred revolution! Veterans of Cuba! I salute you with sincere affection, counting on your gallant chiefs, in order that they may aid me in realizing the eminent work which we have undertaken, and I hope that union will strengthen our forces.
"Soldiers of the Villas! You have already struggled with the despot. I felicitate you for the efforts made and invite you to continue them. You are patriots. You will be victors.
"Soldiers of the West! I know your heroic exploits, and venerate them. I am well aware of the disadvantage of the situation in which you find yourselves, in contrast with our oppressors, and it is our purpose to remedy this. Accept the homage of my admiration and the succor of my arms.
"Citizen chiefs, officers, and soldiers of the Cuban Army! Union, discipline, and perseverance!
"The rapid increase which the glorious new Cuba has taken frightens our oppressors, who now are suffering the pangs of desperation, and carrying on a war of vengeance, not of principles. The tyrant Valmaseda rages with the incendiary's torch and the homicidal knife over the fields of Cuba. He has never done otherwise, but now he adds to his crime the still greater one of publishing it by a proclamation, which we can only describe by pronouncing it to be a proclamation worthy of the Spanish Government. Thereby our property is menaced by fire and pillage. This is nothing. It threatens us with death; and this is nothing. But even our mothers, wives, daughters, and sisters are menaced with resort to violence.
"Ferocity is the valor of cowards.
"I implore you, sons of Cuba, to recollect at all hours the proclamation of Valmaseda. That document will shorten the time necessary for the triumph of our cause. That document is an additional proof of the character of our enemies. Those beings appear deprived even of those gifts which Nature has conceded to the irrationals—the instinct of foresight and of warning. We have to struggle with tyrants, always such; the very same ones ofthe Inquisition, of the Conquest, and of Spanish dominion in America. In birth and in death they live and succeed; the Torquemadas, the Pizarros, the Boves, the Morillos, the Tacons, the Conchas, and the Valmasedas. We have to combat with the assassins of old women and of children, with the mutilators of the dead, with the idolaters of gold!
"Cubans! If you would save your honor and that of your families; if you would conquer forever your liberty, be soldiers. War leads you to peace and to happiness. Inertia precipitates you to misfortune and to dishonor. Viva Cuba! Viva the President of the Republic! Viva the Liberating Army! Patria and Liberty!
"Manuel Quesada."
The proclamation of Count Valmaseda, to which General Quesada referred, had been issued at Bayamo on April 4, and was as follows: