in the Spanish Cortes, was also tardily fulfilled, but more in appearance than in fact. The constitutional rights of Spaniards were extended to Cubans, but there was an inconsistent definition, in 1878, of the powers of the Spanish governor-general. He was to have all the authority of a captain-general of other days. So the old evils went on. Offices were held by Spaniards as before, the governorgeneral named the representatives to the Cortes, and the former corrupt and unscientific methods in taxation and judicial procedure were continued. The debt occasioned by the Ten Years' War was saddled upon Cuba. Just before 1895, for example, it is said that but $746,000 out of twentysix millions in taxes were employed on internal improvements. The remainder went to the Spanish army and administration and to payments on the debt. From about 1880, therefore, an autonomist, or home rule, movement developed in Cuba. Many who despaired of the possibility of a separation from Spain regarded this as the only solution for Cuban ills. Beyond the growth of a strong autonomist party, nothing was accomplished, for Spain was slow, as usual, to meet the wishes of her colonists. Naturally, therefore, many Cubans began to consider a fresh attempt to gain independence. The Ten Years' War had taught Spain nothing.

Americans and Cubans both were concerned over the restrictive Spanish commercial policy and the annoying methods of enforcing trade regulations. Seventy-five per cent of Cuba's exports went to the United States, and were paid for mostly in cash, because the Spanish tariff laws hindered the purchase of American goods. In sixteen years, 1876 to 1891 inclusive, the United States bought Cuban products to the extent of some $924,000,000 worth, and sold an amount valued only at about $189,000,000, leaving a balance of trade against the United States that was in fact quite as

unfavorable to the Cubans as it was to the American merchants. It was cheaper to ship flour from the Mississippi valley to Spain, paying a duty there, and thence back to Cuba, than it was to send it direct to Havana. There were similar burdensome duties on other articles that had to be imported into Cuba, such as butter, lard, boots, and calicoes, to mention only a few. Even such American goods as were shipped in were always subject to exactions by grafting Spanish officials. Heavy penalties were inflicted for mere verbal inaccuracies or failure to observe trivial requirements. In 1881, for example, an American cattle vessel, which normally would have paid $14.90, was taxed $387.40, because it had some lumber on board. An agreement was made in 1884 removing some of the restrictions on American commerce, but President Cleveland had to protest, in 1886, that the treaty was not being observed. A reciprocity arrangement was made in that year, but in 1890 Spain suddenly increased the duties on American goods. The United States then offered Spain a more than usually broad reciprocity treaty, and there was a considerable Cuban agitation. in favor of it. So the Spanish government yielded, and the new schedules were adopted in 1891. American commerce with Cuba took an immediate jump. In 1894 the volume of trade was $105,000,000, as against seventy-six millions in 1880. In that same year, however, the treaty was withdrawn.

Unsatisfactory commercial relations, such as those just mentioned, together with a continuance of the old evils in Cuba and the tardiness of Spain in settling American claims, caused some Americans and many Cubans to wonder whether annexation to the United States might not, after all, be the most desirable outcome of the Cuban problem. John Sherman visited Cuba in 1887, and was impressed by what

he considered to be the deplorable conditions there. The inhabitants were, almost to a man, in favor of annexation, he said, but he felt that they were not ready for self-government, and was opposed to annexation. That same year the Englishman Froude visited the West Indies, spending some time in Cuba.

"The opinion of Cuba was and is that America is the residuary legatee of all the islands, Spanish and English," he said, "and that she will be forced to take charge of them in the end, whether she likes or not . If I were a West Indian, I should feel that under the Stars and Stripes I should be safer than I was at present from political experimenting." Under President Cleveland (1885-1889) there was a momentary return of the traditional Democratic desire for the annexation of Cuba. Some overtures for a purchase were made to Spain, but were rejected. The next administration took the opposite stand, however, and in this it probably reflected American opinion more accurately than its predecessor had, because of the strong social objection to incorporating Cuba, with its motley and ill-prepared population, into the American Union. The United States wished for an end to the bad situation in Cuba, but hoped for some way out of it other than by annexation.

It was now time for Cuba to settle matters in her own fashion. On February 24, 1895, the revolution began. Spanish authorities looked on it as little more than a riot. One officer said that he did not like the prospect of chasing mountain goats. In fact, however, the "grito," or cry, of '95 was to be the death-knell of Spanish rule in the island.10

10 The principal work on this sub- The diplomacy of the United States ject is Callahan, Cuba and interna- in regard to Cuba in Latané, John tional relations, Baltimore, 1899. This Holladay, The United States and is an exceedingly meritorious study. Latin America (New York. 1920), 83There is an excellent chapter entitled 143.

CHAPTER IV

THE CUBAN WAR OF INDEPENDENCE, 1895-1898

WHY did the last war for Cuban independence commence when it did? It is customary to recite a long list of causes, all of which may, indeed, have had their share of weight. There were the oft-given promises of reform, but a continuance of old evils. The world panic of 1893 may in a sense be said to have "caused" the outbreak of war. The price of sugar fell, and, as always happens in such an event in Cuba, it was followed by acute economic distress. The people looked to the government for help, but, as one writer has put it, they might as well have looked "at the moon.' It is doubtful whether the authorities could have provided any noteworthy assistance, but they seemed to have taken the opposite course in 1894, when they cancelled the reciprocity treaty with the United States. But to say that the panic of 1893 or the various specific grievances of the Cubans were the vital factor in the background of independence would be like insisting that the murder of Sarajevo caused the World War of 1914. Indeed, it is all too easy to overemphasize the harshness of Spain. Veteran residents of Cuba in the foreign colony usually speak favorably of the days before '95. The following is a sample comment by an American who lived in Cuba in the early '90s:

"The Spanish period was an Acadia. Don't you believe the stories of Spanish oppression. Furthermore, the Spaniards were the ones who paid the taxes, as they were the principal element in business."

This may be an exaggeration in the opposite direction, but in point of fact it is not necessary to belabor Spain in connection with the outbreak of 1895. The war came because a great many Cubans wanted independence irrespective of the character of Spanish rule. The only way Spain could have prevented it would have been by a free grant of complete home rule at the least, and probably of independence. The war started at the precise time it did, because of the organizing genius of José Martí, famed Cuban patriot and poet, the hero and martyr of the revolution.

Cuban opinion was not more than usually hostile to Spain in the years just prior to 1895, despite the discontent over economic and political affairs. Possibly the majority among the educated classes would have been satisfied with autonomy for the island, though there were widely differing views as to the form it should take. In 1895 the Spanish government enacted a Cuban home rule law which may very well have been a sincere attempt to meet the Cubans part way. It was provided that the island was to be ruled by the governorgeneral (still to be appointed by the king) in conjunction with an insular Council, all of whose members were to be Cuban inhabitants, half of them appointed by the crown, and the other half elected by the Cuban people. Obviously this left control in the hands of the king, but it was only with difficulty that the Spanish loyalists in Cuba would consent to even this much of the home rule principle. The law was passed in February 1895, but never went into effect, for in that same month the revolution began. After all, the law of 1895 was merely an incident of no particular importance, for the revolution had really "begun" at least as far back as 1868. The defeat in the Ten Years' War and the failure of subsequent uprisings represented a mere interruption of the program in the minds of the leaders of the movement. They