370 MEXICO, CENTEAL AMERICA, WEST INDIES. 



of the privilege. The island was virtually under martial law, and the captain 

 general was permanently invested with the powers of a commander of a besieged 

 citadel. But this dictator himself was a mere tool in the hands of a secret power, 

 the " Casino espanol," that is, a combination of the great slave-owners. Thanks to 

 its wealth, this association easil}^ controlled the legislature, bribed venal governors 

 and crushed those opposed to its policy, which aimed at the maintenance of the 

 slave trade and of slavery. 



Hence the object of the first insurrection about the middle of the century 

 was not to abolish slavery, but on the contrary to annex Cuba, the " Lone Star," 

 to the other American " stars," and add half a million of slaves and the powerful 

 body of the Cuban planters to the political empire of the Southern States. The 

 Washington Government, at that time in the hands of the slave party, winked 

 at or even encouraged the expeditions fitted out in its ports. Nevertheless, they 

 all failed, and Lopez and his filibusters were unable to hold out for two days at 

 Cardenas, where they had landed in 1851. A second attempt was equally 

 unsuccessful, and Lopez was put to the sword, with fifty of his followers. 



Still the country remained in a chronic state of revolution, and after Spain's 

 indignant refusal to sell the island to the States for £40,000,000, the great 

 insurrection of 1868 broke out at Yara, in the same eastern district where so many 

 risings had already taken place. The movement, which this time aimed at the 

 abolition of slavery, spread from the Sierra Maestra over nearly half the island, 

 and the mambi, as the rebels were called, kept the field for ten years. Its sup- 

 pression cost Spain altogether nearly 100,000 men, and an expenditure of about 

 the very sum offered by President Buchanan for the purchase of Cuba. 



A main object of the revolt was also effected, and in 1880, two years after the 

 capitulation of the last republican leaders, the Government found itself compelled 

 to pass a law decreeing the gradual extinction of slavery, while safeguarding the 

 interests of the great landowners. Cuba is henceforth an integral part of the 

 monarchy and at present Spain seems less threatened with the loss of her '^ pearl " 

 than she was fifty years ago. 



Topography. 



The present capital, Ilahana or Havana, that is, according to Bernai Diaz, the 

 " Savanna," was not the first Sjoanish settlement, nor does it even occupy the site 

 where it was originally founded. Coming from Espanola the conquerors naturally 

 began by securing a footing in the eastern district, where they made choice of 

 Baracoa, near Cape Maisi. Then moving westwards they reached the far more 

 convenient port of Santiago de Cuba, which was afterwards replaced as the capital 

 by the inland town of Bayamo. The first Havana, lying in the western district 

 on Broa Bay, east of the present town of Batabano, was the fourth capital, but 

 it was of difficult access and stood on marshy soil. 



Hence in 1519, seven years after the foundation of Baracoa, the centre of 

 administration was removed to the narth coast, where the first buildings were 

 erected at the mouth of the Chorrera, or " Ravine," called also Al>nendares, where 



