to go in armed bands to Cuba, proceeded thither unarmed themselves to take personal part in the struggle for independence, it is possible that the result would have been different in Cuba, and it is certain that there would have been a more ardent feeling in the United States in favor of their cause, and more respect for their own sincerity and personal courage."'

But the Secretary, as if foreseeing the emergency that confronted President McKinley, twenty-eight years after, remarked over the contention. regarding the belligerency demanded, for and against:

"Should Spain, after her great and exhaustive effort, fail to restore a state of peace on the island, the President must reserve to himself a complete liberty of action in that event."

The favored Spanish method of putting down rebellion, the knowledge of which, no doubt, caused the inquiries of Secretary Fish about troops from Spain to pacificate Cuba, is found in the following proclamation of evil fame: (From the Diario de la Marina, April 29, 1869-Translation.)

"The Redactor (of St. Jago de Cuba), in its number of 21st instant, publishes the following important proclamation of General Count Valmaseda:

"Inhabitants of the country! The reinforcements 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 that 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 I have pardoned have turned against us again.

"Before such ingratitude, such villainy, it is not possible for me to be the man that 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:

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

"2d. Every habitation unoccupied will be burned by the troops.

"3d. 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 at their own homes, or at the house 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 VALMASEDA.

"BAYAMO, April 4, 1869."

This proclamation offered an ample reason for the objection, which was regarded as somewhat obstinate, of the insurgents to throw down their arms, if promised by Spain "simultaneous amnesty." However "liberal," according to their views, the Spanish ministers and commanding officers in the army might be, there were many things that displayed the implacable temper of the populace of Spain, and of the Spanish volunteers in Cuba. The spirit of the volunteers was shown in deposing Captain General Dulce June 2, 1869. Mr. Hall, consul at Matansas, reported the governor of that important jurisdiction thrown out by the volunteers because he was a friend of Dulce and refused to deliver up to them an insurgent; and it appeared to be a part of their programme to displace every Cuban holding any official position whatever, as also every "peninsular" Spaniard whose family connections might lead him in any way to sympathize with the natives of Cuba. These incidents identify the character of the Cuban insurrection with the movements in continental colonies. Mr. Plum, Consul at Havana, wrote Mr. Fish, two days after the deposition of Dulce:

"On the 2d instant, a captain-general of Cuba was displaced from his command by the resident Spaniards of the island. This event, without precedent here, opens an epoch in the history of this Spanish possession. Some fifty years ago a similar event occurred in Mexico. An insurrection had been for some time in progress there, and either induced by the course of events at home, or from dissatisfaction at the conduct of the war, the resident Spaniards deposed the viceroy. A new viceroy was sent out, but arrived too late, and no other representative of the mother country ever succeeded to the place. The resident Spaniards there, as soon as they cut loose from entire obedience to the home authorities, turned the scale in favor of independence." The core of the subject was stated by Mr. Plum, describing the business men of the island: "They incline to the idea of taking the management of affairs here, in the name of the mother country, more or less in their own hands. They are residents, identified to a great extent with the prosperity of the

island, having their business and their property here, and as the island has to pay its own expenses, contributing largely, many of them, to the burden. of the support of the war, both by their money, and now by their time as volunteers. They desire to see the war ended, and to have the former tranquillity, upon which their prosperity depends, restored. They may believe, especially as liberal institutions are urged in Spain, that they have as full right and are as capable to manage the affairs of the island, of which they are the loyal residents, as officials without any local interests or responsibilities, sent out from home to make their fortunes from the public revenues, not in commerce and industry, here. Yet, until now the resident Spaniards in business or having property here have had little more chance than the native Cubans to participate in the government of the island. All the offices, mainly, have been filled by frequently renewed officials, sent out for the purpose from Spain. The consequence has been that the public burdens are felt to be unnecessarily increased, and now the feeling has been engendered that the military operations against the insurrection have not been energetically conducted by those who, if they fail here, not having any identification with the island, simply return home to the mother country, leaving the Spanish residents to their fate, or, in some instances, it may be believed that these officials have been too lenient, or have inclined too much in favor of the insurrection, which, if it is successful, would place the control of the island in native Cuban rather than resident Spanish hands."

It is in these men, not of the Spanish residents, the volunteers or the professional rural insurgents, that the United States will find the people of Cuba capable of political organization and policy. It should be the popular understanding in this country that there is a distinction between the people of Cuba and the representatives of the New York Junta, a community of Cubans who should not be allowed to monopolize the patriotism of the island or to have exclusive charge of its resources.

The American Minister to Spain in our Centennial Year Feared War.

A Remarkable Correspondence-Suggestive of the Doom of Spanish Rule-The Gradual Approaches of the Spanish War-A Circular Claiming the Cuban Rebellion was Crushed Cushing as Master of Ceremonies-General Grant's Personality.

Mr. Cushing attached the greatest importance to the meeting of General Schenck and Lord Derby, even disturbing Secretary Fish with a lurid dream of war, if England did not stand shoulder to shoulder with us. This was a matter evidently in which Mr. Cushing took his intellectual exercises too seriously. He conferred fully with the British Minister to Spain, on the evening of December 5, 1875, and the Minister, whose words were expected to be so momentous, was found of the opinion that "the present is a very unfavorable moment for attempting intervention, friendly or other, between Spain and the insurgent Cubans. People in Spain are now animated and hopeful as to both civil wars, in view of the large reinforcements recently sent to Cuba, of the pacification of Valencia and Cataluna, and of the extensive military preparations for moving on the positions of the Vasco-Navarrese. Spain needs, he thinks, to be left to try the experiment of the operations of this winter. They are not likely to succeed, at least not in Cuba; and if interfered with now, she will attribute the failure which is to come not to her own weakness or the strength of the insurgents, but to the disturbing action of the United States. But, left to herself, and thus failing, she will then feel discouraged in proportion as she now feels exalted, and will be in the mood. to listen to judicious counsels, whether coming from the United States or from Great Britain.

"These remarks of Mr. Layard could not fail to impress me, and so much the more, in consonance as they were with the views expressed in my note of the 30th of October.

The impression which Lord Derby's observations to General Schenck

make on my mind is that of a disposition on the part of the British government to aid us in a mediatory form rather than as a coöperator in the exercise of forcible pressure on Spain.

"Our advance to Great Britain in the present question insures good offices at least, and may go further."

Nothing turned out precisely as Mr. Cushing feared and prophesied, but there was no effacement of his superb complacency, and no abatement in the course of his admirable confidence. January 4th he wrote in his international capacity to the State Department:

"Speculation is active as to the ultimate question of what the United States will do if left alone by other powers-whether the President will intervene by force, and if so, whether in armed alliance with Spain, or whether in arms against her and in aid of the insurgents, which it is assumed would be Observation of what is going on at the present time in Constantinople respecting Bosnia and Herzegovina, and what occurred there formerly in the matter of Greece, leads many persons to anticipate the development of a similar series of incidents at Madrid as respects Cuba."

war.

Nothing in the newspapers escaped Mr. Cushing. The journals of Madrid, Paris, London and New York were searched with ceaseless assiduity. One day Mr. Cushing reviewed the London Times, the next the Madrid sheets were scrutinized and annotated. The Galignani Messenger and the Havas Agency were mustered in and reviewed. Even the dispatches from Philadelphia to the London Times could not escape, and at last the Minister appeared as a New York newspaper expert in the paragraph annexed:

"A letter, purporting to be addressed from Madrid to the New York Herald of the 15th ultimo, puzzles me. Supposing that the pretense of interview with Mr. Cánovas del Castillo and Mr. Ruiz Gomez, two of the Spanish gentlemen plainly alluded to, is fictitious, yet the fact remains that although the Herald has a correspondent here, yet he did not arrive until after the date of this letter; and no American has been here capable of entering so minutely or intelligently into the question at issue. On the other hand, it is not easy to suppose (although it is possible) that with the aid of some Spaniard of considerable political and juridical experience, such as are continually passing between Spain and Cuba, the letter may have been got up in New York.

"On the whole, although the letter contains errors of fact and of language