SPAIN. 



709 



released, though over two hundred were re- 

 served for trial. 



On the 10th of October, an insurrection broke 

 out in the island of Cuba. The movement had 

 been prepared, even before the beginning of 

 the Spanish revolution ; but the latter hastened 

 and matured the plans of the leaders. A dec- 

 laration of independence was issued, dated 

 Manzanillo, October 10th, which thus stated the 

 reasons for and the objects of the movement: 



In arming ourselves against the tyrannical Govern- 

 ment of Spain we must, according to precedent in all 

 civilized countries, proclaim beforethe world the cause 

 that impels us to take this step, which, though likely 

 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 for- 

 mer ^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 wnte on affairs of state ; hence their re- 

 monstrances 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 sta- 

 tions and want of opportunity to skill themselves in 

 the_ art of government. Hence the restrictions to 

 which public instruction with them is subjected, in 

 order to keep them 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 expen- 

 diture from their own wealth to make them bend their 

 knees and submit their necks to the 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 marvellous 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 Span- 

 ish Government, and as Spain has many a time pro- 

 nounced us Cubans to respect our rights without hav- 

 ing hitherto fulfilled her promises ; 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 proper- 

 ty, our lives, and our honor under further Spanish 

 domination ; as we have reached a depth of degrada- 

 tion 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 Sprain through reasoning, and cannot 

 longer live deprived of the rights which other people 

 enjoy, we are constrained to appeal to arms 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 secure our future welfare. 

 < To the God of our conscience and to all civilized na- 

 tions we submit the sincerity of our purpose. Ven- 

 geance does not mislead us, nor is ambition our guide. 

 "We only want to be free and 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 desire the 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 man as the basis of freedom and national 

 greatness. 



The movement rapidly spread over the whole 

 of the eastern and central departments. Ten 

 days later, the general-in-chief of the Cu- 



ban forces, Carlos Manuel Cespedes, and the 

 members of the Provisional Government ad- 

 dressed a letter to the Government of the Uni- 

 ted States, in which they asked for recognition 

 as belligerents, and gave the following account 

 of their strength : 



"We now hold much more than fifty leagues of the 

 interior of this island in the eastern department, 

 among which are the people (or communities) of 

 Jiguani, Tunas, Baire, Yara, Barrancas, Datil, Cauto, 

 Embarcadero, Guisa^and Homo, besides the cities 

 of Bayamo and Holguin, in all numbering 107,853 in- 

 habitants, who obey us, and have sworn to shed to 

 the last drop of blood in our cause. 



In the mentioned city of Bayamo we have estab- 

 lished a provisional government and formed our gen- 

 eral quarters, where we hold more than three hun- 

 dred of the enemy prisoners, taken from the Spanish 

 army, among whom are generals and governors of 

 high rank. All this has been accomplished in ten 

 days, without other resources than those offered by the 

 country we have passed through, without other arms 

 than those taken from the enemy, and without other 

 losses than three or four killed and six or eight 

 wounded. 



Numerous engagements occurred between 

 the Cubans and the Spanish forces, as at Tunas 

 (October 26th), Villa del Cobre, at the foot of 

 Mount Alta Garcia (between Puerto Principe 

 and Nuevitas), and Moran. The Cubans, being 

 badly armed, were unable to drive the Span- 

 iards out of the towns ; but they maintained a 

 control over a very large portion of the central 

 and the eastern departments. "Well-informed 

 correspondents of American newspapers in Ha- 

 vana estimated their strength at about 50,000. 

 The Spanish Captain-General Lersundi found 

 the forces at his command insufficient to sub- 

 due the revolt, and he urgently asked for and 

 received numerous reinforcements. In the last 

 days of December the Spanish General, Count 

 Valmaseda, advanced with four thousand 

 troops to attack Bayamo, the seat of the Pro- 

 visional Government. 



In the first manifesto which the Cubans 

 issued, the abolition of slavery was mentioned 

 among the reforms which the successful revo- 

 lution would effect. The sentiments of the 

 Cubans on this subject became gradually more 

 outspoken, and on the 27th of December Gen- 

 eral Cespedes issued the following proclama- 

 tion of emancipation : 



The revolution of Cuba, while proclaiming the in- 

 dependence 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 incompat- 

 ible ^ith a slave Cuba, and the abolition of the Span- 

 ish 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. Aboli- 

 tion of slavery has, therefore, been mentioned among 

 the principles proclaimed in the first manifesto issued 

 by tne revolution, and in the opinion of all Cubans, 

 truly liberal, its entire realization must be the first 

 of the acts tor which the country employs its con- 

 quered 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 suf- 

 frage, make the most suitable provision for carrying 

 it through to real advantage, both for the old and the 

 new citizens. The object of the present measure is 



