CUBA. 



211 



have never yet in a single instance retaliated death 

 for death, even in cases of the most provoking na- 

 ture. 



Because the Spanish authorities have almost in- 

 variably brutually murdered the soldiers of the armies 

 of the republic who have surrendered to them, and 

 have recently issued an official order requiring their 

 military forces hereafter instantly to kill and murder 

 every prisoner of the republic who surrenders. This 

 is done, the order cheerfully tells us, " to save trouble 

 and vexation to the Spanish civil authorities." This 

 is an outrage the civilized nations of the earth ought 

 not to allow. 



Because the United States is the nearest civilized 

 nation to Cuba, whose political yastitutions strike a 

 responsive chord in the hearts of all Cubans. The 

 commercial and financial interests of the two peoples 

 being largely identical and reciprocal in their natures, 

 Cuba earnestly appeals for the unquestionable right 

 of recognition. 



Because the arms and authority of the Republic of 

 Cuba now extend over two-thirds of the entire geo- 

 graphical area of the island, embracing a very great 

 majority of the population in every part of the island. 



Because she has a navy in course of construction 

 which will excel in point of numbers and efficiency 

 that heretofore maintained by the Spanish authori- 

 ties in these waters. 



Because these facts plainly show to the world that 

 this is not a movement of a few discontents, but the 

 grand and sublime uprising of a people thirsting 

 for liberty, and determined with this last effort to 

 secure to 'themselves and their posterity those un- 

 questioned rights liberty of conscience and freedom 

 of the individual. 



Finally, because she is following but in the footsteps 

 of Spain herself in endeavoring to banish tryannical 

 rulers, and in their stead place rulers of her own 

 choice, the people of Cuba having a tenfold more 

 absolute and potent right than Spain had, because 

 Cuba's rulers are sent without her voice or consent 

 by a foreign country, accompanied by and with 

 swarms of officials to fill the various offices created 

 only for their individual comfort, drawing their sus- 

 tenance and support from the hard earnings of the 

 natives of the soil. 



Allow us' to add, with the greatest diffidence and 

 sensitiveness, that the difference between the rebel- 

 lion in the United States and the present revolution 

 in Cuba is simply that in the former a small minority 

 rebelled against laws which they had a voice in 

 making and the privilege of repealing 5 while in the 

 case of Cuba we are resisting a foreign power in 

 crushing us to the earth, as they have done for cen- 

 turies, with no appeal but that of arms open to us, 

 and appointing, without pur knowledge, voice, ad- 

 vice, or consent, tyrannical citizens of their own 

 country to rule us and eat out our substance. 



" Patria y libertad ! " 



Approved by the_Supreme Junta and ordered pro- 

 mulgated by SENOR GENERAL CESPEDES, 



Commander-in-Chief Republican Forces of Cuba. 



HEADQUARTERS IN THE FIELD, March 1, 1869. 



On March 7th the Spaniards attacked the in- 

 surgents intrenched at Macaca and succeeded in 

 dislodging and routing them. General Velos- 

 ca's column marched toward Mayari against 

 General Cespedes, and to operate in conjunc- 

 tion with Lopez, who entered Mayari after a 

 desperate struggle. The insurgents made an 

 attack on Jiguani, Count Valmaseda's position, 

 hut were repulsed and retired to the mountains. 



On March 12th, 1,200 additional troops ar- 

 rived from Spain, who, with the remainder of 

 the Spanish troops, advanced against the rebels 

 in every direction. The rebels who were de- 

 feated at Mayari moved toward Holguin. 



In the middle of March, Captain-General 

 Dulce issued a proclamation making important 

 changes in taxation. The direct taxes on plan- 

 tations, cattle, and country real estate, and 

 the. war-tax recently imposed on merchants 

 and tradesmen, were reduced fifty per cent., 

 and no government contribution payable with- 

 in the last quarter of the fiscal year of 1868-'69 

 was to be collected. To compensate the Treas- 

 ury for the loss of revenue incurred by these 

 reductions, the following new duties were im- 

 posed: On muscovado sugar shipped under 

 the Spanish flag, sixteen cents, and, under a 

 foreign flag, twenty cents per 100 pounds ; on 

 every box of sugar under the Spanish flag, 

 seventy-five cents ; under foreign flag, eighty- 

 seven cents ; on every hogshead of sugar under 

 Spanish flag, one dollar; under foreign flag, 

 one dollar and seventy-five cents : on molasses, 

 fifty cents per hogshead ; on rum, one dollar 

 per hogshead. 



Meanwhile the insurgents carried out the'ir 

 plan of burning and devastating plantations 

 everywhere. They brought off the slaves and 

 made them soldiers. An engagement took place 

 near Alvarez, on March 18th ; the insurgents 

 were routed and divided, one force fleeing tow- 

 ard Macagua and the other toward Jocuri 

 Grande. In another engagement, at Guara- 

 cabuya, 136 insurgents were killed (according 

 to official accounts). The number of insur- 

 gents in the Sagua and Eemedios districts, at 

 this time, was estimated at from 7,000 to 

 9,000 men, mainly engaged in burning planta- 

 tions and destroying railroads and telegraphs. 



On March 20th a fleet of transports, with 

 about 300 state prisoners on hoard, sailed for 

 Fernando Po, convoyed by the Spanish frigate 

 Lealtad. An artillery column, under Morales 

 de los Rios, with a squadron of cavalry, came 

 up with 2,000 rebels of Villa Clara, at Potre- 

 rillo, under Generals Morales, Villamil, and 

 others, and completely routed them, killing 205, 

 wounding 300, and capturing twenty-one pris- 

 oners, some horses, arms, etc. Thirty Span- 

 ish were also retaken. The troops lost one 

 lieutenant and one man. According to official 

 accounts, General Letona arrived at Villa Clara 

 on March 14th, after a number of encounters 

 with the rebels, in all of which he is said to have 

 punished them severely. The Government di- 

 rected the concentration of all its forces in the 

 Villa Clara district, including those under Le- 

 tona, Pelaz, and Puello, with the artillery col- 

 umn of Colonel Morales de los Eios and a con- 

 siderable force of cavalry, estimated to number 

 in all 10,000 men. The insurgents, in despite 

 of their inefficiency and the disadvantage of 

 want of organization, arms, and artillery, were 

 fighting with great bravery and desperation. 



As yet no regular civil government existed 

 in the districts held by the insurgents, and no 

 formal attempt was made to organize one. In 

 the Central Department General Quesada's 

 authority was respected, while in the East 

 General Cespedes was looked upon as the 



