ocently in establishing the fallen constitution. The
commandant Moya presided, and the advocate Miret was held as counsel.

No sooner had this barbarous tribunal commenced its proceedings, than no
Creole belonging to families of influence could look upon himself as
safe from persecution, since nearly all of them had hastened to obey the
orders of General Lorenzo, and, like him, taken oath to the
constitution. Many men of rank, reputation and education, including
several respectable clergymen, fell under the ban of the military
commission. Some were thrown into the prisons of Santiago de Cuba, some
banished for a given period, and many emigrated to avoid the horrors of
a Spanish dungeon, and the greater part in one way or another were torn
from the bosoms of their families. Of the soldiers who faithfully obeyed
their officers, about five hundred were condemned to work in the streets
of Havana, with their feet shackled. Such are the measures meted out by
despotism to those who have the misfortune to live under its iron yoke.

Tacon triumphed, yet the Cubans did not utterly despair. They cherished
the hope that the Spanish government would recognize the legality of
their proceedings in the eastern department; but they were doomed to
disappointment. The Cuban deputies presented themselves in the Spanish
capital, and offered their credentials. But they were referred to a
committee of men profoundly ignorant of the feelings, opinions and
condition, of the Cuban people, or deriving what few notions they
possessed from those interested on the side of Tacon. The deputies were
not allowed a seat in the Cortes, and the government decided that the
provisions of the constitution should not apply to Cuba, but that it
should be governed by special laws. Since then, the island has been
ruled by the arbitrary will of the captains-general, without
intervention of the Spanish Cortes, without the intervention of the
island, and, what is almost inconceivable, at first thought, without the
direct action even of the sovereign authority.

Tacon, now that the royal authority had sustained his action, was more
despotic than ever. It is true that he introduced some legal and
municipal reforms; that he embellished the capital, and improved its
health; but under him the censorship of the press was almost
prohibitory. The local _ayuntamientos_, which, at the most despotic
epoch, had frequently produced happy effects, by representing to the
soverei