y any proper use of the term, be called revolutions. This
statement, of course, disputes a widely accepted notion, but many notions
become widely accepted because of assertions that are not contradicted.
That a strong undercurrent of discontent runs through all Cuba's history
from 1820 to 1895, is true. That there were numerous manifestations of that
discontent, and occasional attempts at revolution, is also true. But none
of these experiences, prior to 1868, reached a stage that would properly
warrant its description as a revolution. The term is very loosely applied
to a wide range of experiences. It is customary to class as revolution all
disorders from riots to rebellions. This is particularly the case where
the disorder occurs in some country other than our own. The _Standard
Dictionary_ defines the essential idea of revolution as "a change in the
form of government, or the constitution, or rulers, otherwise than
as provided by the laws of succession, election, etc." The _Century
Dictionary_ defines such proceedings as "a radical change in social or
governmental conditions; the overthrow of an established political system."
Many exceedingly interesting parallels may be drawn between the experience
of the American colonies prior to their revolution, in 1775, and the
experience of Cuba during the 19th Century. In fact, it may perhaps be
said that there is no experience in Cuba's history that cannot be fairly
paralleled in our own. In his _History of the United States_, Mr. Edward
Channing says: "The governing classes of the old country wished to exploit
the American colonists for their own use and behoof." Change the word
"American" to "Spanish," and the Cuban situation is exactly defined. The
situation in America in the 18th Century was almost identical with the
situation in Cuba in the 19th Century. Both, in those respective periods,
suffered from oppressive and restrictive trade laws and from burdensome
taxation, from subordination of their interests to the interests of the
people of a mother-country three thousand miles away. Unfortunately for the
Cubans, Spain was better able to enforce its exactions than England
was. Cuba's area was limited, its available harbors few in number, its
population small.

Not until the years immediately preceding the revolutions by which the
United States and Cuba secured their independence, was there any general
demand for definite separation from the mother-country. The desire in bot