much discussion and
numerous measures in Congress. Diplomatic communication was constantly
active. In his message of December 7, 1875, President Grant said: "The past
year has furnished no evidence of an approaching termination of the ruinous
conflict which has been raging for seven years in the neighboring island
of Cuba. While conscious that the insurrection has shown a strength and
endurance which make it at least doubtful whether it be in the power of
Spain to subdue it, it seems unquestionable that no such civil organization
exists which may be recognized as an independent government capable of
performing its international obligations and entitled to be treated as one
of the powers of the earth." Nor did he then deem the grant of belligerent
rights to the Cubans as either expedient or properly warranted by the
circumstances.

In 1878, Martinez Campos was Governor-General of Cuba, and Maximo Gomez
was Commander-in-Chief of the Cuban forces. Both parties were weary of
the prolonged hostilities, and neither was able to compel the other to
surrender. Spain, however, professed a willingness to yield an important
part of the demands of her rebellious subjects. Martinez Campos and Gomez
met at Zanjon and, on February 10, 1878, mutually agreed to what has been
variously called a peace pact, a treaty, and a capitulation. The agreement
was based on provisions for a redress of Cuban grievances through greater
civil, political, and administrative privileges for the Cubans, with
forgetfulness of the past and amnesty for all then under sentence for
political offences. Delay in carrying these provisions into effect gave
rise to an attempt to renew the struggle two years later, but the effort
was a failure.

Matters then quieted down for a number of years. The Cubans waited to see
what would be done. The Spanish Governor-General still remained the supreme
power and, aside from the abolition of slavery, the application of the
Spanish Constitution and Spanish laws to Cuba, and Cuban representation
in the Cortes, much of which was rather form than fact, the island gained
little by the new conditions. Discontent and protest continued and, at
last, broke again into open rebellion in 1895.

The story of that experience is told in another chapter. In 1906, there
came one of the most deplorable experiences in the history of the island,
the first and only discreditable revolution. The causes of the experience
are not open to our critici