ecution of any order whatsoever, or any general provision made
concerning any branch of the administration as your excellency may think
most suitable to the royal service."

For over one hundred and seventy years these orders have received little
or no change, and they still remain practically the supreme law of Cuba.

This was the way that magnanimous, grateful, chivalrous Spain began to
reward "The Ever Faithful Isle" for its unparalleled loyalty and
devotion.

And Heaven save the mark! this was only the beginning.

"That precious island," says the royal decree. Precious! There was never
a truer word spoken. For Spain has always loved Cuba with a fanatical,
gloating passion, as the fox loves the goose, as Midas loved gold, and
as in the case of Midas, this love has eventually led to her
destruction.

CHAPTER III.

CUBA'S EARLY STRUGGLES FOR LIBERTY.

It was in 1813 that the Bonapartist regime came to an end in Spain, and
Ferdinand VII. reascended the throne. In the very beginning he paid no
attention to the Constitution; he dissolved the Cortes and did his best
to make his monarchy an absolute one.

Again, as has been said, Cuba felt the yoke of his despotism, all
previous promises, when the aid of the island was to his advantage,
being as completely ignored as if they had never been made.

In Spanish America, revolutionary movements had been begun some three
years before, and after stubborn warfare, Buenos Ayres, Venezuela and
Peru finally succeeded in obtaining complete independence from Spanish
authority.

From all these countries, swarms of Spanish loyalists made their way to
Cuba, and were ordered to be maintained at the expense of the island.

Spain also desired to make of Cuba a military station, whence she could
direct operations in her efforts to reconquer the new republic. This
plan was vehemently opposed by the Cubans.

Discontent rapidly fomented and increased throughout the island.
Numerous secret political societies were formed, and there arose two
great opposing factions, the one insisting that the liberal
constitution granted by the Provisional Government of Seville at the
time the Bourbon king was deposed should be the fundamental law of Cuba,
while the other proclaimed its partisanship of rigid colonial control.

In 1821, Hayti declared its independence of Spain, and in the same year
Florida passed into the possession of the United States.

Both these events increased the fee