ervient to the Crown, and
that circumstance, together with the veto power, would prevent the
possibility of any legislation not entirely pleasing to Madrid. That
made the thing quite unacceptable to all Cubans whose aim was the
independence of the island or even genuine autonomy and home rule. The
other flaw was the fact that while Cuban Loyalists and Autonomists were
called into consultation over the bill, and gave it their approval,
Cuban advocates of Independence were not called; they would not have
entered into conference; and they were irrevocably committed against any
scheme that did not provide for the complete separation of the island
from Spain and the creation of an entirely independent government. The
bill was adopted by the Spanish Chamber of Deputies by a practically
unanimous vote, on February 14, 1895, and was likewise adopted by the
Senate. In Cuba it was regarded by the Autonomists as not satisfactory,
in that it retained too much power for the Crown. As for the party of
Cuban Independence, it looked upon it as unworthy of serious
consideration. Ten days after its passage by the Chamber of Deputies,
the Cuban Revolution was proclaimed.

The reproachful comment has been made by some writers that the Cuban
leaders started the revolution at that date, February 24, 1895, in order
to defeat the beneficent designs of Spain in granting autonomy to the
island, and that if they had not done so, the Abarzuza law would have
been generally accepted and successfully applied, and Cuba would have
remained a colony of Spain, contented, loyal and prosperous. For this
strange theory there is no good foundation. It had been made perfectly
clear for more than two years preceding that no such arrangement--indeed,
that nothing short of complete separation from Spain--would satisfy the
Cuban people. Moreover, preparations had been copiously made for the
revolution, long before the passage of this measure. Cubans in the
United States, of whom there were many, had contributed freely of their
means for the purchase of arms and ammunition. There were considerable
stocks of arms in Cuba which had remained concealed since the Ten Years'
War, and these had been added to by surreptitious shipments from the
United States. It is a matter of record that considerable quantities of
first rate Mauser rifles were obtained from the arsenals of the Spanish
government, being secretly purchased from custodians who were either
corrupt or in symp