GENERAL CALIXTO GARCIA.
Hero of three wars for Cuba's freedom.
Died of pneumonia in Washington,
D.C., December, 1898.
Naturally the affairs of Cuba from its proximity were always of great interest to the United States, and a number of filibustering expeditions landed on the island and aided the Cubans in their futile revolts against Spain. These attempts at their best could only keep the island in a turmoil, and give Spain the pretext for using the most brutal measures of repression.
In 1868 a revolution occurred in Spain itself, and Queen Isabella, one of the worst rulers that sorely accursed country ever had, was driven into exile. Cuba had not forgotten the lesson of the opening of the century, and, instead of proclaiming her loyalty to the deposed dynasty, she seized what promised to be a favorable opportunity for gaining her own independence.
One of the fairest and most impartial publications anywhere is the Edinburgh Review, which used the following language in giving the reasons for the Cuban revolt of 1868:
"Spain governs the island of Cuba with an iron and blood-stained hand. The former holds the latter deprived of political, civil, and religious liberties. Hence the unfortunate Cubans being illegally prosecuted and sent into exile, or executed by military commissions, in times of peace; hence their being kept from public meetings, and forbidden to speak or write on affairs of State; hence their remonstrances against the evils that afflicted them being looked upon as the proceedings of rebels, from the fact that they are obliged to keep silence and obey; hence the never-ending plague of hungry officials from Spain to devour the product of their industry and labor; hence their exclusion from the art of government; hence the restrictions to which public 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.