ple to become a nation.

We have said that the War of Independence was inevitable. That was
manifestly so because of the determination of the Cubans to become
independent. It was also because of the failure of the Spanish
government to fulfil the terms and stipulations of the Treaty of Zanjon,
concerning which we have hitherto spoken. It must remain a matter of
speculation whether that government ever intended to fulfil them. It is
certain that few thoughtful Cubans, capable of judging the probabilities
of the future by the actualities of the past, expected that it would do
so. We may also regard it as certain that even a scrupulous fulfilment
of those terms, while it might have postponed it, would not and could
not permanently have defeated the assertion of Cuban independence.

[Illustration: RICARDO DEL MONTE

Journalist, critic, poet and patriot, Ricardo del Monte was born at
Cimorrones in 1830, and was educated in the United States and Europe. In
Rome he was attached to the Spanish embassy. In Spain he was a
journalist with liberal and democratic tendencies. He returned to Cuba
in 1847 and edited several papers in Havana, including, after the Ten
Years War, _El Triunfo_ and _El Pais_, the organ of the Autonomists. He
was a writer in prose and verse of singular power and grace, his works
ranking in style with the best of modern Spanish literature. He died in
1908.]

The Cuban Revolutionary Party, which as we have said never went out of
existence, was reorganized for renewed activity in New York in April,
1892; from which time we may properly date the beginning of the War of
Independence. Its leader was Jose Marti, of whom we shall have much more
to say hereafter; but he did not accept the official headship of the
Junta. That place was taken by Tomas Estrada Palma, the honored veteran
of the Ten Years' War, who at this time was the principal of an
excellent boys' school at Central Valley, New York. He was the President
of the Junta. The Secretary was Gonzalo de Quesada, worthy bearer of an
honored name; a fervent patriot and an eloquent orator. The Treasurer
was Benjamin Guerra, an approved patriot, and the General Counsel was
Horatio Rubens. This New York Junta, meeting at No. 56 New Street, New
York City, was the real head of the whole movement. But it was
supplemented by many other Cuban clubs elsewhere. There were ten in New
York, 61 at Key West, Florida; 15 at Tampa, two at Ocala, two in
Philadelphia, and one