eventually succeeded in crossing the Cauto. The Cubans saw the
hopelessness of defending the place against such superior numbers, and,
rather than have it fall into the hands of the enemy, burned the city.

In December, General Quesada, who afterward played a most prominent part
in the war, landed a cargo of arms and took command of the army at
Camarguey.

Before the close of the year, Spain, realizing how desperate was to be
the struggle, had under arms nearly forty thousand troops which had been
sent from Europe, besides twelve thousand guerillas recruited on the
island and some forty thousand volunteers organized for the defense of
the cities. These latter were in many respects analogous to the National
Guard of the United States. They were raised from Spanish immigrants,
between whom and the native Cubans have always existed a bitter enmity
and jealousy.

In the spring of 1869, the revolutionists drew up a constitution, which
provided for a republican form of government, an elective president and
vice-president, a cabinet and a single legislative chamber. It also made
a declaration in favor of the immediate abolition of slavery. Cespedes
was elected president and Francisco Aquilero vice-president.

It is said that at the beginning of the war, before being driven to
reprisals, the Cubans behaved with all humanity. They took many Spanish
prisoners of war, but paroled them. On the other hand, the Cuban
prisoners were treated with the utmost treachery and cruelty. In all
parts of the island, no Cuban taken a prisoner of war was spared; to a
man they were shot on the spot as so many dogs.

Valmaseda, the Spanish general, in April, 1869, issued the following
proclamation, which speaks for itself:

"Inhabitants of the country! The re-enforcements of troops that I have
been waiting for have arrived; with them I shall give protection to the
good, and punish promptly those that still remain in rebellion against
the government of the metropolis.

"You know that I have pardoned those that have fought us with arms; that
your wives, mothers and sisters have found in me the unexpected
protection that you have refused them. You know, also, that many of
those I have pardoned have turned against us again.

"Before such ingratitude, such villainy, it is not possible for me to be
the man I have been; there is no longer a place for a falsified
neutrality; he that is not for me is against me, and that my soldiers
may know how to