CHAPTER IX

THE OLD WORLD AND THE NEW

THE attention of the world became suddenly aroused by the outbreak of a new, and at the time an unexpected, international quarrel. The rival Powers concerned in this dispute were Spain and the United States-the typical Old World and the typical New World. When it is said that the outbreak of this struggle was at the time unexpected, it has to be said also that for many years it had been growing more and more evident to thinking minds that the contact into which the old European Monarchy and the new American Republic were brought by Spain's dealings with her West Indian possessions could not continue much longer without some complete change in its conditions. Spain was exercising a system of Old-World absolute and tyrannical domination over Cuba and her other West Indian possessions within sight of shores which are a part of the United States. Cuba and the Philippine Islands were in a constant state of revolt against the rule of Spain, and the sympathies of a large proportion of the American population went with the subjected islanders and against the Spanish rulers. The United States had always professed a deep interest in the condition of all the countries belonging to the New World, and professed not merely an interest in their welfare but at least a moral right to exercise some influence on their behalf. It could hardly be contended that the Monroe doctrine was to be cited

as strictly bearing on the question at issue between the United States and Spain, for the Monroe doctrine was understood to apply only to new Governments set up by European Powers in either of the American Continents. The rule of Spain over Cuba could not be regarded as standing on quite the same footing as the rule that Louis Napoleon endeavored to set up over Mexico and against which the Government of the United States issued the protest which proved fatal to the enterprise.

Cuba had been for a long time a subject of rival claims, and rival attempts among European Powers to get possession of the island and expel the Spaniards from it. For generations it had remained in the possession of Spain, but the Spanish domination was unceasingly resisted by native insurrections, and these insurrections found many sympathizers among the populations of the Southern States of America. The Lone Star expedition was the most celebrated among the modern attempts made to free the island from the yoke of Spain. The Lone Star was a secret society formed in 1848, an era of revolution all over the world, for the annexation of Cuba and other islands to the United States. The organization was got up chiefly in Alabama and some neighboring States of the Union, and it issued a somewhat magniloquent proclamation announcing that its object was "The extension of the institutions, power, influence, and commerce of the United States over the whole of the western hemisphere and the islands of the Atlantic and Pacific Ocean.” Cuba was to be the first acquisition of this kind, and others were to follow in due order. The President of the United States not only refused to give any countenance to this project, but he issued a proclamation denouncing the object of the invaders as a breach of international law, and calling upon all loyal American citizens to use their best influence for the prevention of the scheme. The

expedition made its attempt, nevertheless; under the command of General Lopez, whose name became famous at the time, it effected a landing on the shore of Cuba. It was defeated by the Spanish troops, but Lopez and most of his comrades were enabled to escape. After little more than a twelvemonths' pause a second expedition was planned by the same leader, and it too succeeded in effecting a landing on Cuba. The second attempt was a more complete failure even than the first. Lopez was defeated, and he himself, with a large number of his followers, became captives in the hands of the Spaniards. Lopez was put to death by the garrote, and some fifty of his followers were shot.

This defeat, and the sentences which followed it, did not have the slightest effect in preventing further outbreak of revolution, or the enterprises of invading expeditions. Almost immediately after the execution of Lopez some projects were started for an attempt to free the island from Spanish rule. Before three years had passed the President of the United States had received information that a very large expedition was in course of preparation, and that many American sympathizers were giving it their countenance and their help. Once again a proclamation was issued from Washington, in the name of the President, to warn all loyal American citizens that they must not join in warlike measures against a Government with which the United States was at peace. Then another step was taken by the Washington Government. Three United States envoys were sent to Europe to look into the whole question raised by the unceasing insurrections in Cuba against Spanish dominion, and to report as to the possibility of coming to some agreement with Spain by which peace might be restored. The American envoys made a very practical, and, what might be, under certain conditions, a very reasonable and

promising recommendation. The plan they proposed for the restoration of peace in Cuba was simply that the United States should buy the island from Spain and govern it as a part of the American Republic. But here again the New World came into direct antagonism with the traditions of the Old. The pride of ancient Castile revolted against this proposal for a transaction of purchase and sale as resolutely as Cuba revolted against the Spanish dominion. The Spanish Prime Minister declared in the Cortes that the sale of Cuba to the United States would be the sale of Spanish honor.

Then the history of Cuba continued to repeat itself in the usual way. There were almost incessant insurrections-it would, indeed, be more correct to say that the island was in a state of continual insurrection. The efforts of the Spanish authorities to repress those insurrections were marked by ever-increasing and equally unavailing severity. Orders were given that no quarter should be shown to any rebels taken in arms, and these orders were carried out with unrelenting literalness. The longer this struggle went on the more severe became the Spanish measures of repression, and the more determined was the spirit of resistance among the Cuban population and the larger the number of American sympathizers. Apart from all feelings of humanity and common brotherhood, and apart from all American sympathies with populations rightly struggling to be free, it was every day becoming more difficult for the Government of the United States to maintain an attitude of neutrality between the Cuban insurgents and the Sovereign of Spain. Cuba had become to the United States very much the same sort of trouble that Crete had been for a long time to Christian Europe. As Crete might be said to be within sight of southern shores of the European Continent, so Cuba was within sight of some southern shores of the American

Republic. The horrors perpetrated day after day in Cuba were creating a storm of passionate indignation throughout some of the American States, and throughout the whole of those States there was a sincere and warm sympathy with the suffering Cubans, and an earnest desire to help them. There were many deeds done by the Cubans in arms which could not be justified by any rules of military warfare, but it would have been idle to expect that, where remorseless and savage measures of repression were in daily use by the constituted authorities, there could be invariable respect for the laws of humanity showed by the resisting Cubans.

It must have been evident to the eyes of all observers that the Cubans would never submit to Spanish rule so long as there remained any Cubans to carry on the struggle. It was equally evident that the United States could never consent to have that terrible trouble going on so near to their own shores without taking decided steps sooner or later towards bringing it to an end. We can understand the full nature of the daily difficulty imposed upon the American Republic if we form to ourselves a picture of what English feeling might be under similar conditions. Let us suppose that the Channel Islands were held to-day under the Government of some foreign State detested by the population of those islands. Let us suppose that the foreign State-assume it to be Spain. for the sake of the illustration-was perpetually engaged in endeavoring to crush out the risings of the Channel Island people against their tyrannical masters. Let us suppose that the English newspapers were filled every day with shocking and sickening accounts of the slaughter carried on by well-armed Spanish troops among the brave and indomitable but badly armed islanders; that in the mean time there were constant expeditions going on in which English sympathizers were shedding their