his was effected. An assembly met, at
Jimaguayu, in Camaguey, on September 13, 1895. It consisted of twenty
members, representing nearly all parts of the island. Its purpose was the
organization of a Cuban Republic. On the 16th, it adopted a Constitution
and, on the 18th, elected, as President, Salvador Cisneros Betancourt, and
as Vice-President, Bartolome Maso. Secretaries and sub-secretaries were
duly chosen, and all were formally installed. Maximo Gomez was officially
appointed as General-in-Chief of the army, with Antonio Maceo as Lieutenant
General. Tomas Estrada y Palma was chosen as delegate plenipotentiary
and general agent abroad, with headquarters in New York. Both civil and
military organizations were, for a time, crude and somewhat incoherent. It
could not be otherwise. They were engaged in a movement that could only
succeed by success. Arms and money were lacking. The civil government was
desirable in a field that the military arm could not cover. Action lay with
the military and with the Cuban Junta in the United States. The latter
organization immediately became active. Calls were made for financial
assistance and liberal responses were made, chiefly by Cubans. In 1896
and 1897, bonds were issued and sold, or were exchanged for supplies and
munitions of war. For a number of years scandalous stories were afloat
declaring that these bonds were printed by the acre, and issued, purely for
speculative purposes, to the extent of millions upon millions of dollars.
The truth is that every bond printed, whether issued or unissued, has been
fully accounted for, the actual issue being about $2,200,000. Provision was
made in Cuba's Constitution for the recognition of this indebtedness, and
it has since been discharged, while the plates and the unused bonds have
been destroyed. There may have been speculation in the bonds, as there was
in the bonds issued by the United States during the Civil War, but Cuba's
conduct in the whole matter has been honest and most honorable. In that
matter certainly, its detractors have been confounded. The principal
difficulty encountered by the _junta_ was the despatch to Cuba of the men
and the munitions so greatly needed by those in the field. That, however,
is a story that I shall endeavor to tell, in part, in another chapter. It
cannot now, if ever, be told in full.

Meanwhile, a complicated political situation developed. The story is too
long and too complicated for review in detail.