Relampago's men or of those belonging to the Centinela escaped unwounded. The commander and the second engineer, with three seamen of the Relampago, were killed; also the Centinela's boatswain.

The

A railway train from Havana for Guanabacoa was derailed near Cambute, just outside of the capital, January 16; and the passengers were first put under arrest and then liberated by the young insurgent leader, Nestor Aranguren. Near the scene of this daring coup stood a small fort or blockhouse, with a Spanish garrison. Among the passengers were ten military officers and several soldiers. first report of the affair that reached Havana told of the summary execution of these military passengers, in retaliation for atrocities committed in Guanabacoa by Colonel Fondeviela, their commander. But they were set free without conditions; and Captain Blaul, one of the officers captured, was loud in praise of the humanity and courtesy of Colonel Aranguren. The prisoners were escorted to the vicinity of their own posts. The effect of this generous behavior was regarded at Havana as highly favorable to the cause of the revolutionists both in Cuba and abroad.

"By this act of self-restraint," writes the New York Herald's correspondent at Havana, "under terrible temptation, for the officers who were captured had all been concerned in Fondeviela's treatment of pacificos, which has been undeniably atrocious, Aranguren has achieved the belligerency of the Cubans and a status for them not only as legal combatants, but as soldiers who are capable of exercis ing the power of mercy when, humanly speaking, it must have been difficult. This will be recognized by the civilized world, and does not require the sanction of the United States senate, or any assem blage however august."

A week later an attempt, which was nearly successful, was made to capture the Spanish commander-in-chief, General Weyler. Weyler, with the column of Colonel Segura, having destroyed by fire the village of Quatro Caminos, proceeded toward Gopaste, eight miles out on the road to Guines. Gopaste was reached at nightfall; and a corps of guides was sent forward to reconnoitre, while General Weyler and the main force halted outside the place. Colonels Aranguren and Arango had ordered a number of insurgents to conceal themselves in the houses in the town and await the signal for action. The accidental discharge of a rifle gave the alarm to the royalist scouts, and the plan was frustrated. General Weyler arrived in Havana, March 4, from his reconnoisance in force through the provinces of Matanzas and Santa Clara. The military situation in those provinces was very little altered by his military operations there. On March 21 the capt

ure of the important town of Holguin by the insurgents was announced from Havana via Tampa, Fla.

The insurgent general, Rivera, was made prisoner, March 28. He had with him a guard of about 100 men at Cabezedas, in Pinar del Rio, and was surprised and overpowered by a strong Spanish force under General Hernandez Velasco. General Rivera was severely wounded in the action. It was ex

pected that he would be tried by drumhead court-martial and immediately executed. But at Madrid a disposition was shown to procure his conviction for murder and incendiarism and then to pardon him. His fate was not yet decided when the first quarter of the year as closed.

Calixto Garcia in the eastern department, but soon engaged in active service as commander of the Holguin battalion. His feats of arms were such as reflected lustre on the poet and soldier. His services in the present war commenced September 10, 1896, when he landed an expedition on the coast of Pinar del Rio.

On

All official announcements regarding the condition of affairs in Pinar del Rio have for two or three months represented that province as definitely pacified. But evidence has meanwhile not been lacking that the insurgents there are about as active and enterprising as ever. February 1, a pilot engine pulling an armored car was wrecked completely at Bacunagua by the explosion of two dynamite bombs under a culvert. A captain, five soldiers, and four civilians were killed. All trains running to

Guanabacoa were carrying armored cars filled with troops. General Weyler's columns in Santa Clara province were having daily encounters with bands of insurgents, who dared even to fire on the main body of the Spanish army. The losses on either side were inconsiderable; but the continual molestation of the captain-general's troops gave proof that the rebels had not lost heart. The outcome of General Weyler's campaign in the eastern provinces is regarded by the Havana correspondent of the London Times as not very encouraging to the Spaniards:

"The events of the past three months," the correspondent writes, "leave serious doubt as to the ability of the Spanish commanders to cope successfully with the difficulties before them. After the death

of Maceo a couple of weeks of comparative inaction followed. General Weyler completely failed to take advantage of the shock caused to the rebels by the loss of their boldest leader. Then the Spanish commander-in-chief decided that, Maceo being dead, the rebels in Pinar del Rio were no longer an important factor, basing his assumption on the fact that the insurgents made no further attempt to concentrate. A more fatal error General Weyler could not have committed. No rebels in Pinar del Rio have surrendered, no arms have been captured, only some 250 men have been killed or taken prisoners by the Spaniards. General Weyler is, however, acting as though the rebels had suffered a decisive defeat, and is withdrawing some 27,000 men from Pinar del Rio for service in Havana, Matanzas, and the eastern provinces. Reliable information from Pinar del Rio is to the effect that, once the withdrawal of these 27,000 Spaniards is effected, the rebels will assume a more aggressive policy, the more especially so as they have been reinforced by over 1,000 men from the east. In the province of Matanzas there are some 8,000 rebels scattered over the country in small groups, in Havana about 6,000, in Santa Clara probably 10,000 or more. The instructions issued by the rebel commander-in-chief to the different commanders of these districts are of a most positive character. The insurgents are to avoid fighting on all possible occasions; they are only to return fire when such is absolutely necessary in self defense; wherever they can do so they are to prevent any work being done on plantations; they are to harass columns of troops when such can be done without any great danger to themselves."

Resources of the Insurgents.-A special correspondent of the New York Herald, at the end of February, made a report on the resources of the Cubans in war material, food, and medicines, which may aid in forming a judgment as to their ability to continue the war.

He puts at 125,000 the number of soldiers and civilians dependent on the insurgents' commissariat for food supply. In the eastern provinces, where the Spanish columns operate only when necessity compels, the inhabitants are in no danger from want of provisions. Nevertheless in Santiago the cattle have practically disappeared; but of potatoes, yucca, and yams, there is abundance. There is no shortage of cattle in Camaguey, but there vegetables are scarce. The same may be said of Las Villas. In Matanzas the food supply of the

insurgents is nearly exhausted, while Havana and Pinar del Rio are steadily approaching the same condition. The insurgents, wherever they are in control, compel all pacificos to labor two hours each day in the clearings reserved for raising vegetables for the active forces. This does well in the east, but is hardly practicable in the west, where the situation of the insurgents is more precarious. In Camaguey General Gomez's requisitions on the local authorities cannot with impunity be disregarded; and supplies of vegetables, cattle, and salt are usually forthcoming. Luxuries-coffee, sugar, tobacco, rum -are in plenty in most of the camps.

The outfit of the soldier is largely obtained from the workshops set up by the insurgents in the eastern districts. Hides are collected and tanned; and saddles, shoes, belts, cartridge boxes, scabbards, etc., are manufactured. In the armory works, arms are made and repaired. The supply of clothing is far below a decent minimum, and no means exist in the country for bettering the conditions in this respect.

Scarcity of medicines prevails everywhere. The chief of the medical corps has endeavored. not without success, to provide indigenous substitutes for the ordinary medicinal agents. He claims to have discovered a valuable febrifuge; and an extract of cedar wood gives good results in pulmonary complaints. A preparation of the fibres of the ceiba tree serves very well in the lack of absorbent cotton.

A very important addition was made to the insurgents' stores of war material toward the end of March, when the steamer Laurada landed at the port of Banes on the north coast of Santiago three dynamite guns, one Hotchkiss gun, twelve pieces of field artillery, 2,000,000 cartridges, together with torpedoes.

A Project of Reform.-The queen regent of Spain signed a decree, February 4, instituting certain reforms of government in Cuba. The salient features of the proposed reforms are these:

Formation of a council of administration, to consist of thirty-five members, of whom twenty-one are to be chosen by popular vote; six by municipal and provincial authorities; the rest will represent the magistracy, the church, the university, and the legislative body (senators or deputies). If the governor-general disapproves any measure desired by the municipal and provincial councils, there is appeal to the council of administration and finally to the Spanish minister for the colonies. The municipal judges are named by the municipal and provincial councils. The budget and the customs are under the control of the council of administration, but imports from Spain must have a protection of forty per cent against foreign goods. The customs officers must be Cubans. The higher officials are to be appointed by the governor-general: they must be Cubans or Spaniards of two years' residence in Cuba.

In the summary of the decree as telegraphed from Madrid, is this clause:

"The government reserves full power to maintain public order, and may adopt measures even against these reforms whenever such measures may be needed to suppress rebellious movements."

The scheme made a bad impression in Spain: it is

deemed a surrender of the whole cause to the Cubans.

The United States and Cuba.-In support of the judgment of Mr. Olney regarding the power of the president of the United States in the matter of recognition of the Cuban republican government (Vol. 6, p. 807), a memorandum prepared in the department of state was presented to the senate, January 5, giving a history of the recognition of new governments by the United States from

1789 to 1897.

The document goes to show that in the act of recognition the executive is not the organ of the legislative but exercises an original and independent authority. The first act of recognition was the reception by President George Washington of Mr. Genet, in 1793, as representative of the French republic. There was no consultation with the senate, no direction given by the senate, no approval asked of the senate: the act was the act of the president only. In 1804 the state department, without advice or consent of the senate, dispatched, in the name of the president, to Mr. Armstrong, American minister at Paris, credentials in blank, which he was to fill out in due form and present to the Emperor Napoleon when satisfactory evidence should approve that the empire was in possession of the powers of the government of France. A similar course was pursued ten years later on the restoration of the Bourbons. The French republic of 1848, while yet the government was only provisional, was recog nized by the American minister, Mr Rush, without awaiting instruc tions from Washington. When the president was advised of Rush's action, he approved it and commended the minister's alacrity in being the first of the foreign ministers in Paris to recognize the new republic. When that republic gave way to the empire under Louis Napoleon, Mr. Rives, American minister at Paris, was instructed by the secretary of state at Washington to renew to the new head of the French nation the assurance that "the United States gladly recognizes the right of every nation to determine its own form of government.' After the downfall of Napoleon III. in 1870, Mr. Washburne, American minister at Paris, was instructed by the secretary of state to recGognize ambetta's provisional government if found to be "in possession and control" of the powers of the French state.

Very many other instances are cited of similar action by the executive at Washington in recognizing new governments without any reference to the senate.

Ricardo Ruiz, a physician resident in Guanabacoa and a citizen of the United States, died in the prison of that place under suspicious circumstances: his friends charged that he had been for weeks treated with inhumanity by his jailors. Soon after Ruiz's death, Mr. Olney, on February 21, directed the American minister at Madrid, Mr. Taylor, to demand of the Spanish government a full inquiry into the case.

While in the United States senate a joint resolution was under consideration, demanding the immediate and unconditional release of Julio Sanguily, American citizen,