pend its operations;[5]
disobey with impunity any regulation emanating from the Spanish
government; to dispose of the public revenues at his will; and, finally,
to act according to his pleasure, winding up with recommending a
moderate use of the confidence evinced by the sovereign in according
power so ample.

Although the captains-general of Cuba have always been invested with
extraordinary power, we believe that these items of unlimited authority
were first conferred upon Vivez in 1825, when the island was menaced by
an invasion of the united forces of Mexico and Columbia. In these
circumstances, and emanating from an absolute authority, like that of
Ferdinand VII., a delegation of power which placed the destinies of the
island at the mercy of its chief ruler might have had the color of
necessity; but to continue such a delegation of authority in time of
peace is a most glaring and inexcusable blunder.

Meanwhile Tacon assembled a column of picked companies of the line, the
provincial military and rural cavalry, and placed them, under the orders
of General Gascue, in the town of Guines, hoping by this great parade
and preparation to impose on General Lorenzo, and strike terror into the
inhabitants of the whole island. He also adroitly worked by secret
agents upon the forces at Santiago de Cuba, and thus by cunning and
adroitness brought about quite a reaection in the public sentiment.

Under these circumstances, if General Lorenzo, master of the eastern
department, with two regiments of regular troops, all the national
militia, all devoted to the new order of things and ready to obey his
will, had marched upon Puerto Principe, the capital of the centre, where
the garrison was not strong enough to oppose him, and had there
proclaimed the constitutional code through the authority of the royal
_Audiencia_, Gen. Tacon would unquestionably have desisted from his
opposition, and relinquished the command of the island. Cuba would then
have enjoyed the same political rights as the rest of Spain, and have
escaped the horrors of tyranny which have since weighed her down. But
Gen. Lorenzo proved weak, let slip the golden opportunity of triumphing
over Tacon, and returned to Spain in the vain hope that the supreme
government would sustain him. In the mean time, Tacon sent his body of
soldiery to Santiago, their arrival being signalized by the
establishment of a military commission to try and punish all who had
been engaged inn