212 



CUBA. 



leader. There was little communication be- 

 tween the several departments, and no concert 

 of action. The only aim seemed to be war 

 with the Spaniard. The insurgents in the 

 Villa Clara district held their organization 

 distinct from those of Cespedes and Quesada. 



On March 20th an engagement took place 

 between 300 troops, some mobilized sharp- 

 shooters and other volunteers, and 3,000 rebels, 

 intrenched at Placetas, provided with cannon 

 and a large number of cavalry. An advanced 

 force of 200 rebels was met at Nagareno and 

 driven into their camp. As the troops ap- 

 proached, the rebels opened a heavy fire, which 

 lasted three hours, including artillery, not 

 badly directed. The troops replied with am- 

 munition, and finally charged with the bayonet, 

 dislodging the enemy and capturing their three 

 mountain-pieces. The enemy had 136 killed 

 and many wounded. The troops captured an 

 immense quantity of arms, horses, flags, etc. 

 They lost but one wounded. 



In April, representatives from all parts of 

 the island met at Guaimaro, a small town of 

 the Central Department, about twenty leagues 

 east of Puerto Principe. On April 10th Gen- 

 eral Cespedes resigned his provisional authority 

 as General-in-Chief and Chief of the Govern- 

 ment by an address, in which he says : 



Now that the House of Eepresentatives, gathered 

 from all parts of the isknd, has been happily in- 

 augurated in Guaimaro, it becomes from the moment 

 of its organization the supreme and only authority 

 for all Cubans, because it constitutes the depository 

 of the people's will, sovereign of the present and 

 controller of the future. All temporary power and 

 authority ceases to have a rightful voice in Cuba 

 from the very moment in which the wise democratic 

 system, laying its solid foundations beneath the 

 gigantic shadow of the tree of liberty, has come to 

 endow us after suffering the most iniquitous rule 

 with the most beautiful and magnificent of human 

 institutions a republican government. 



Unfeigned gratitude I owe to the destiny which 

 afforded me the glory of being the first in Yara to 

 raise the standard of independence, and the still 

 greater, though less merited satisfaction, to see 

 crowded around me my fellow-citizens in demand of 

 liberty, thus sustaining my weak arm and stimulat- 

 ing my poor efforts by their confidence. But another 

 glory was reserved for me, far more grateful to my 

 sentiments and democratic convictions that of also 

 being the first to render homage to the popular 

 sovereignty. 



This duty fulfilled, having given an account to the 

 fatherland in its most genuine representation, of the 

 work which, with the assistance of its own heroic 

 sons, I had the good fortune to have commenced, it 

 still behooves me, fellow-citizens, to fulfil another, 

 not less imperious to my heart, of addressing my 

 gratitude to you to you, without whom my humble, 

 isolated efforts would not have produced other fruit 

 than that of adding one patriot more to the number 

 of preceding martyrs for independence to you who, 

 recognizing in me the principle rather than the man. 

 came to stimulate me by your recognition of myseli 

 as chief of the provisional government and the lib- 

 erating army. 



Fellow -Citizens of the Eastern Department: Your 

 efforts as initiators of the struggle against tyranny, 

 your constancy, your sufferings, your heroic sacri- 

 fices of all descriptions, your privations, the combat 

 without quarter which you have sustained and con- 

 tinue to sustain against an enemy far superior in 



armament and discipline, and who displays, for want 

 of the valor which a good cause inspires, all the 

 ferocity which is the attribute of tyranny, have been 

 witnessed by myself, and so will remain eternally 

 present to my heart. Ye are the vanguard of the sol- 

 diers of our liberties. I commend you to the admira- 

 tion and to the gratitude of the Cubans. Continue 

 your abnegation of self, your discipline, your valor, 

 and your enthusiasm, which well entitle you to that 

 gratitude and that admiration. 



Fellow- Citizens of the Western Department: If it 

 has not been your good fortune to be the first in 

 grasping arms, neither were you among the last in 

 listening to the voice of the fatherland that cried for 

 revolution. Your moral aid and assistance responded 

 from the very onset to the call of your brethren of 

 the Eastern and Central Departments. Many of you 

 hastened to the scene of revolution to share our 

 labors. At this moment, despite the activity dis- 

 played by the Spanish Government in your districts, 

 where its resources and the number of their hosts 

 render more difficult the current of the revolution, 

 that same Government trembles before your deter- 

 mined attitude, from the Cinco Villas to Havana, and 

 from Havana to the western boundary, and your first 

 deeds of arms were the presage to you and the brave 

 and worthy sons of the Eastern and Central Depart- 

 ments of new and decisive triumphs. 



Fellow- Citizens of all the Island: The blood of 

 the patriots who have fallen during the first onset of 

 the struggle has consecrated our aspirations with a 

 glorious baptism. At this moment, when destiny 

 has been pleased to close the mission of him who was 

 your first leader, swear with him by that generous 

 blood, that in order to render fruitful that great 

 sacrifice you will shed your own, to the very last 

 drop, in furtherance of the consummation of our 

 independence, proclaimed in Yara. Swear with me 

 to give up our lives a thousand times over in sus- 

 taining the republic proclaimed in Guaimaro. 



Fellow- Citizens : Long live our independence! 

 Long live the popular sovereignty ! Long live the 

 Cuban republic I Patria and liberty. 



CAELOS MANUEL D^ CESPEDES. 



GTTAIMABO, April 10, 1869. 



The Congress with great unanimity pro- 

 claimed " the Kepublic of Cuba," elected Carlos 

 M. de Cespedes President of the Kepublic, and 

 General M. Quesada Commander-in-Chief of the 

 Forces. General Cespedes, on assuming the 

 presidency, issued the following proclamation : 



To THE PEOPLE or CUBA: 



Compatriots : The establishment of a free govern- 

 ment in Cuba, on the basis of democratic principles, 

 was the most fervent wish of my heart. The effective 

 realization of this wish was, therefore, enough to 

 satisfy my aspirations and amply repay the services 

 which, jointly with you, I may have been able to de- 

 vote to the cause of Cuban independence. But the 

 will of my compatriots has gone far beyond this, by 

 investing me with the most honored of all duties 

 the supreme magistracy of the republic. 



I am not blind to the great labors required in the 

 exercise of the high functions which you have placed 

 in my charge in these critical moments, notwith- 

 standing the aid that may be derived from other 

 powers of the state. I am not ignorant of the grave- 

 responsibility which I assume in accepting the presi- 

 dency of our new-born republic. I know that my 

 weak powers would be far from being equal to the 

 demand if left to themselves alone. 



But this will not occur, and that conviction fills me 

 with faith in the future. 



In the act of beginning the struggle with the op- 

 pressors, Cuba has assumed the solemn duty to con- 

 summate her independence or perish in the attempt ; 

 and in giving herself a democratic government she 

 obligates herself to become republican. 



