actured by such outrageous
methods, one thousand three hundred and forty-six persons were tried and
convicted, of whom seventy-eight were shot, and the others punished with
more or less severity. Of those declared guilty, fourteen were white,
one thousand two hundred and forty-two free colored persons, and
fifty-nine slaves.

The project of annexation to the United States was first mooted in 1848,
after the proclamation of the French republic. The people of the slave
States, in view of the increasing population and the anti-slavery
feeling of the North and West were beginning to feel alarmed as to the
safety of the "peculiar institution," and there was a strong sentiment
among them in favor of annexing Cuba and dividing it up into slave
states. President Polk, therefore, authorized the American minister at
Madrid to offer one hundred million dollars for Cuba; but the
proposition was rejected in the most peremptory manner. A similar
proposal was made ten years afterward in the Senate, but after a debate
it was withdrawn.

The next conspiracy, rebellion or revolution (it has been called by all
these names according to the point of view and the sympathies of those
speaking or writing of it) broke out in 1848. It was headed by Narciso
Lopez, who was a native of Venezuela, but who had served in the Spanish
army, and had attained therein the rank of major-general.

This was of considerable more importance than any of the outbreaks that
had preceded it.

The first attempt of Lopez at an insurrectionary movement was made in
the centre of the island. It proved to be unsuccessful, but Lopez, with
many of his adherents, managed to escape and reached New York, where
there were a large number of his sympathizers.

Lopez represented the majority of the Cuban population as dissatisfied
with Spanish rule, and eager for revolt and annexation to the United
States.

In 1849, with a party small in numbers, he attempted to return to Cuba,
but the United States authorities prevented him accomplishing his
purpose.

He was undaunted by failure, however, and the following year, he
succeeded in effecting another organization and sailed from New Orleans
on the steamer Pampero, with a force which has been variously estimated
at from three to six hundred men, the latter probably being nearer the
truth.

The second in command was W. S. Crittenden, a gallant young Kentuckian,
who was a graduate of West Point, and who had earned his title o