lic 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 the
standing army, which are kept in their country at an enormous
expenditure from their own wealth to make them bend their knees and
submit their necks to the iron yoke that disgraces them; hence the
grinding taxation under which they labor, and which would make all
perish in misery but for the marvelous fertility of their soil."

The opportunity was a golden one for Spain to win back the affection of
Cuba by generosity and justice. What steps did she take to do so?

Although the Cubans were ground to the very dust by taxation, levied in
all cases by Spaniards, and not by their own officials, Spain proposed,
in 1868, to add to the burden. In October of that year Carlos M. de
Cespedes, a lawyer of Bayamo, raised the standard of revolt, placed
himself at the head of a handful of patriots, which were soon joined by
thousands, and in April, 1869, a republican constitution was adopted,
slavery declared abolished, Cespedes was elected president, Francisco
Aguilero vice-president, and a legislature was called together.

There never was hope of this insurrection securing the independence of
Cuba. The patriots were too few in number, too badly armed and equipped,
and not handled so as to be effective. But they caused great suffering
and ruin throughout the island. They instituted a guerrilla system of
warfare, and cost Spain many valuable lives. The wet and rainy seasons
came and went, and still the savage fighting continued, until at last
the rebels as well as the Spaniards were ready to welcome peace.

Martinez Campos was the Spanish commander, and he promised General
Maximo Gomez, leader of the insurgents, that the reforms for which he
and his comrades were contending should be granted on condition that
they laid down their arms. The pledge was a sacred one, and no doubt
Campos meant honestly to keep it. Unfortunately, however, there were
higher powers than he behind him. Gomez accepted the promises of a
brother soldier, and on February 10, 1878, the treaty of El Zanjon was
signed.

This treaty guaranteed representation to the Cubans in the Spanish
Cortes, and all who took part in the insurrection were pardoned.

Now the lesson of all this was so plain that the wayfaring man, though a
fool, had no excuse for erring. Spain had bi