elegraph communication
with Havana was cut, save that by submarine cable. The city was not
merely in a technical state of siege but was actually besieged, and if
Jose Maceo and Jesus Rabi, who were on the eastern border of the
province, had been able promptly to join Gomez and Bandera, Havana would
probably have been captured. In this state of affairs the Spanish
inhabitants of the city were frantic with fear, and with faultfinding
against Campos for his inability to protect them from the
revolutionists. The Volunteers mutinied outright refusing to serve
longer under his orders unless he would alter his policy to one of
extreme severity. The Spanish political leaders openly inveighed against
him.

In these circumstances Campos invited the leaders of the various
parties, the very men who shortly before had pledged their support to
him, to meet him again for a conference. They came, but in a different
spirit from before. Santos Guzman was first to speak. He declared that
the Constitutionalists had lost confidence in the Captain-General and
did not approve his policy, and that they could no longer support him.
The spokesman of the Reformists was less violent of phrase but no less
hostile in intent and purport. From neither of the factions of the
Spanish party could Campos hope for further support. There remained the
Cuban Autonomists, and with a constancy which would have been sublime if
only it had been exercised in a better cause, they reaffirmed their
loyalty to Campos and to his policy and renewed their pledges of
support. But this was in vain. Campos realized that a Spanish
Captain-General who had not the support and confidence of the Spanish
party would be an impossible anomaly. He would not resign, but he
reported to Madrid the state of affairs, and placed himself, like a good
soldier, at the commands of the government; excepting that he would not
change his policy for one of ruthless severity. If he was to remain in
Cuba, his policy of conciliation, in cooperation with the Autonomists,
must be maintained.

The answer was not delayed. On January 17 a message came from Madrid,
directing Campos to turn over his authority to General Sabas Marin, who
would exercise it until a permanent successor could be appointed and
could arrive; and to return forthwith to Spain. Of course there was
nothing for him to do but to obey. In relinquishing his office to his
temporary successor he spoke strongly in defence of the policy wh