kindness.

The treatment of those poor people was precisely what on a larger scale
has been shown to her colonies. England wins and holds her dependencies
through her liberality and justice; Spain repels hers through her
treachery, falsehoods, and injustice. As a consequence, England has
become one of the mightiest nations in the world, while Spain has
steadily declined to a fourth-rate power. With the example of the
results of her idiocy, to say nothing of its dishonor, ever before her,
she has persisted in that idiocy, never learning from experience, but
always selfish, short-sighted, cruel, treacherous, and unjust.

The steadiness with which Cuba clung to the mother country won for her
the title of the "Ever Faithful Isle." Had she received any
consideration at all, she still would have held fast. She poured
princely revenues into the lap of Spain; when other colonies revolted,
she refused to be moved. It required long years of outrage, robbery, and
injustice to turn her affection into hate, but Spain persisted until the
time came when human nature could stand no more. The crushed worm turned
at last.

When Napoleon Bonaparte deposed the Bourbon King, Ferdinand VII., in
1808, and placed his brother Joseph on the throne of Spain, Cuba
declared her loyalty to the old dynasty, and the king made many promises
of what he would do to prove his gratitude when he should come to his
own. This took place five years later, whereupon the king violated every
pledge he had made.

The truth gradually worked its way into the Cuban mind that the only
thing a Spaniard could be depended upon to do is to violate his most
solemn promises. Secret societies began assuming form in the island,
whose plotting and aim were to wrest their country from Spain, on the
ground of the non-fulfillment of the pledges made by Ferdinand VII. of
what he would do when he came to the throne.

Preparations were made for a revolt, whose avowed object was the
establishment of a Cuban republic. A certain night in 1823 was fixed
upon for a general uprising, but there were traitors in the councils,
who notified the authorities, and, before the date named, the leaders
were arrested and the revolt quenched ere a blow could be struck.

These severe measures could not quell the spirit of liberty that was
abroad. It was not long before the Black Eagle Society was formed. It
included many hundred members, had its headquarters in Mexico, and
boldly secured recr