was that the Liberals
had apparently gained their ends. The majority of thoughtful and
patriotic Cubans had expected the intervention of the United States to
result in the upholding of law, order and justice in the support of
President Palma and his administration. They had expected that Mr. Taft
would take time to investigate the case thoroughly, and that he would
insist at the outset, as an indispensable preliminary to his entering
into conference with them, that the Liberal insurgents should surrender
their arms and ammunition, return the property which they had stolen,
and submit themselves loyally to the constitutional government of the
island; and that after that, but only after it, he would see to it that
justice was done to them as to all parties and all people. That course
was unfortunately not taken. Mr. Taft entered into conference with
unrepentant and defiant rebels whose followers were at the moment in
arms, threatening and preparing to make further criminal assaults upon
property and life. He regarded or at least treated them as no less
worthy of a hearing and of being taken into conference than the
President himself; and despite his protests he concluded the sorry
performance by practically ousting President Palma and his cabinet at
the behest of these lawless insurgents.

The sequel was tragedy. Estrada Palma died, not of pneumonia but of a
broken heart. Nor was that all. Encouragement was given to the lawless
and criminal elements of the island, and to those who resort to
violence, insurrection and revolution as the means of attaining their
political ends, which has been felt ever since and which has repeatedly
given rise to attempts to repeat the performance which then was so
successful. Recognition was given to the Liberals, through what were
doubtless good but certainly were mistaken motives, and the Liberals
insisted upon maintaining that recognition and profiting from it. So
when a Council, or Consulting Board, of eleven members was formed with
General Enoch H. Crowder as chairman, it contained only two
Conservatives and one man of doubtful affiliations. Three members,
Senors Garcia Kohly, Viondi and Carrera, did not belong to the August
revolutionists but were members of the Moderado party, which had
supported Estrada Palma. They acted as "Independents" on the
Commission, though they were intimately associated with the Liberals,
and as "Independents" they participated in the municipal elections. B