were tried and condemned to various terms in prison. Various other plots were formed, none of which was successful.

As a natural result of the revolution started a few days before, the two additional elections ordered by the Supreme Court, were necessarily postponed, since the island had been thrown into a turmoil by the action of General Gomez. They were, however, afterwards held, and resulted in decided Conservative majorities, which were carried by the electoral boards to the Central Electoral Junta, presided over by the Chief Justice of the Supreme Court, Señor Pichardo, and justified that body in announcing the election of General Menocal to a second term as President. In spite of this decision of the courts, which General Menocal had previously agreed to abide by, the insurrectionary elements of the Liberal party still insisted that General Menocal's second term was secured through deliberate and carefully planned frauds and intimidation of the voters at the polls. The fact is that the election laws of Cuba forbid and prevent any soldier from standing even in the doorway of a polling place. He cannot approach nearer than the corner of the building in which the votes are being deposited, nor can he leave his post and come closer to the polls, unless some serious disturbance, where lives are threatened, occurs, with which the police of the district cannot cope. Since the minority is represented during the time of voting, and during the count by a man selected for that purpose, no fraud could

well be perpetrated without the consent of someone responsible to the opposition.

The army officers who had been led by José Miguel Gomez to revolt, had been captured with arms in their hands, fighting to overthrow the constitutional government of the island; a purpose of which they had made no secret. They were therefore guilty of sedition and treason, and were subject to trial by court martial and to capital punishment upon conviction of their crime. They were thus tried, and some were condemned to death and others to long terms of imprisonment; but the extreme sentence was never executed upon one of them, while many of the prison sentences were shortened and some of the men were pardoned outright. This generous action of President Menocal's was performed through the same spirit of magnanimity that moved Estrada Palma to like clemency, years before; and it was as ill requited. Some of the men whom he had thus saved from the gallows or the firing squad promptly resumed criminal conspiracies against him; while the Liberal party as a whole demanded that the pardoned officers should be at once reinstated in the army with full rank and back pay for the time which they had spent in insurrection and in prison, and railed against President Menocal for not granting that additional act of grace!

The government of the United States is naturally always on the side of law and order among its neighbors, and while it of course scrupulously refrains from meddling in their affairs unless under intolerable provocation, as in the case of Cuba in 1898, it has always given and doubtless will always give its sympathy and moral support to those who are striving for peace and progress and the security of life and property. Toward Cuba its atti

tude is more marked than toward other states, because of the special relations which exist between the two countries. We have seen how it intervened in Cuban affairs for what it supposed to be the restoration of tranquillity in 1906. While unfortunately its influence was on that occasion made to appear as though given to the revolutionary rather than the legitimate side, its intent was unmistakable. In spite of the advantage which they took of its intervention at that time, the Liberal leaders in Cuba have since felt much aggrieved at it for standing in the way of their designs on more than one occasion when they wished to revolt against constitutional order.

The United States did not intervene in 1917. It was not, as President Menocal confidently assured it, necessary for it to do so. But it is pleasant to recall that it stood ready to do so, and there is of course no possible doubt as to what the purport of its intervention would have been. During that episode no fewer than five messages were addressed to the people of Cuba by the government of the United States, warning them against any attempt at forcible revolution. They breathed the spirit of the epigram of John Hay in 1903: "Revolutions have gone out of fashion in our neighborhood." Thus on February 19, 1917, the United States made it known to the Cuban government and through it to the Cuban people that

"The American Government has in previous declarations defined its attitude respecting the confidence and support it gives the constitutional governments and the policy it has adopted toward any disturbers of the peace through revolutionary ventures. The American government again wishes to inform the Cuban people of the attitude it has assumed in view of the present events:

"First-The government of the United States gives its support to and stands by the Constitutional Government of the Republic of Cuba.

"Second-The present insurrection against the Constitutional Government of Cuba is regarded by the American Government in the light of an anti-constitutional and illegal act, which it will not tolerate.

"Third-The leaders of the revolt will be held responsible for the damages which foreigners may suffer in their persons or their property.

"Fourth-The government of the United States will examine attentively what attitude it will adopt respecting those concerned in the present disturbance of the peace in Cuba, or those who are actually participating in it."

At the beginning of March American Marines and Bluejackets were landed at Santiago, Guantanamo, Manzanillo, Nuevitas, and El Cobre, for patrol duty for the protection of American interests.

Again, on March 24 the American government sent a note saying:

"It has come to the knowledge of the United States Government that in Cuba propaganda persists that in response to efforts of agents against the constitutional government the United States is studying the adoption of measures in their favor."

It was quite true. The remaining insurgents-Gomez and the other principal leaders had already been captured-were declaring that just as in 1906 American intervention had meant the success of the revolution, so now the United States was about to intervene again to the same effect. Wherefore this American note continued:

"The constitutional government of Cuba has been and will continue to be sustained and backed by the gov

ernment of the United States in its efforts to reestablish order throughout the territory of the republic.

"The United States government, emphasizing its condemnation of the reprehensible conduct of those rising against the constitutional government in an effort to settle by force of arms controversies for which existing laws establish adequate legal remedies, desires to make known that until those in rebellion recognize their duties as Cuban citizens, lay down their arms and return to legality, the United States can hold no communication whatever with any of them and will be forced to regard them as outside the law and unworthy of its consideration."

That was plain talk, and it had its effect. But the climax was yet to come in a final message which stated that if destruction of property, disturbance of public order and deliberate attempts to overthrow the established government were continued, Cuba being an ally of the United States, the United States would be compelled to regard the doers of such deeds as enemies and to proceed against them as such. At that time both the United States and Cuba were at war with Germany, and were therefore allies in offense and defense, and it was quite logical for one ally to regard as its enemy any enemy of the other ally. In brief, any one waging war against the Cuban government was in effect waging war against the government of the United States. That stern logic put a quietus upon the attempted insurrection. "Our last recourse,' said one of the rebel leaders, "has been taken from us. There is no use in starting a revolution if it is to be doomed to failure before it begins."