The San Juan islander. [volume] (Friday Harbor, Wash.) 1898-1914, 1906-12-01

armies were made or tried nghterS.
The Spanish were raw levies, constant
" renewed. Production Of sugar began
to lessen, and agriculture generally was
on the wane. Spanish reforms took the
shape of more obnoxious taxes, until
the Cuban paid $S4 yearly, while the
Spanish in their own land paid 81.
In 1871 the Cubans had issued an
appeal to civilization, showing the con-
ditions that had grown from the dec1ar-
alton of independence at Manzanillo
in 1868. 1t was an appeal to touch the
heart of humanity, and perhaps it did.
but to no practical effect. The Mama
milo declaration but embodied the SEN
timent sought to be put into practice by
Lopez in 1848. In that year Lopez
had landed with small expedition and
met defeat. In 1850 be made a second
essay, and was again defeated. His
third attempt resulted in his capture.
and he was executed. Vain also were
the efforts Of Gen. Quitman in 1855. but
the seed such men sowed was ripening
for the harvest
A Real Leader Arises.
1t was in October, 1868. that Carlos
Manuel de Cespedes, a lawyer, raised
the standard of revolt He had but
few hundred followers. and they but
partly armed A month later his army
consisted Of 10000 men. They won vic
tory after victory. Man for man the
Spanish were no match for them, and
so the regiments were poured in to
perish Of battle and disease. When
Cespedes captured a town, and found
that he could not hold 1t, with the full
consent of the inhabitants, 1t was his
wont to destroy it before abandonment.
so that into the hands of the enemy
there fell naught but ruins. Don Do
mingo Dulce, the Spanish commander.
made overtures of reconciliation. Mes
sengers sent to confer with him were
and negotiations fell
through. The war degenerated into a
guerrilla strife, as was unavoidable.
and for long years the Spanish were
harassed by foe they could not sub
due and never did subdue. For decades.
with intermittent periods Of a peace
that but presaged fresh outbreak. the
contest went on. Then opposition to
Spanish rule became implacable. The
time for the final struggle had arrived.
The War of Yesterday.
That which followed Is remembered
as but of yesterday. The women and
children of the patriots were herded In
camps, there to die Of famine. Want
stalked through the fertile island be-
cause there was none to do the work.
The pillow rusted and the hoe was idle.
The mill turned no more. But the pat
riots would not yield. though the whole
fair island be desolated and the last
Cuban. give hts life for liberty.
What would have been the outcome
had not the United States ordered
Spain back to her own continent and
driven her hence no man can say. That
there would have been practical exter-
mination Ia hardly to be doubted. In
the conduct of the Spanish there was
no hint Of mercy or compromise. Wey-
Ter, placed In supreme control. was a
man with soul untouched Of pity, a
brutal nature dominating his
every move. He claimed the right to
make war in his own. fashion. and the
United States arbitrarily took the right
from him. For this Cuba had been
for weary, almost hopeless,
years.
When liberty was first an accomplish
ed fact the Cubans chafed under the
benign rule Of the liberators. They
could not understand that there should
be restraint upon them. Had they not
devoted their lives to securing freedom,
and where was the freedom? The Gu
ban, whatever his precise lineage, re-
coils now from anything that seems in
the least to curtail his prerogative as
freeman.