Both focussed, in a somewhat general way, the political aspirations and the economic desires of the Cuban people, much the same aspirations and desires that had been manifested by complaint, protest, and occasional outbreak, for fifty years.  National independence had no place in either.  That came later, when an army in the field declared that if Spain would not grant independence, the island would be made so worthless a possession that Spain could not afford to hold it.  A few years after their organization, the Liberals became the Cuban party, and so remained, and the Union Constitutionals became the Spanish party, the party of the immediate administration.  Later on, the Liberal party became the Autonomist party, but Spain’s concession of the demands of that group came too late, forced, not by the Autonomists but by the party of the Revolution that swept the island with fire and sword from Oriente to Pinar del Rio.  The Autonomists sought what their name indicates; the Revolutionists demanded and secured national independence.

Shortly before the final dispersion of the Army of the Revolution, there was organized a body with the imposing title of La Asamblea de Representantes del Ejercito Cubano, or the Assembly of Representatives of the Cuban Army.  It was composed of leaders of the different military divisions of that army, and included, as I recall it, thirty-one members.  This group made no little trouble in the early days of the American occupation.  It gathered in Havana, held meetings, declared itself the duly chosen and representative agent of the Cuban people, and demanded recognition as such by the American authorities.  Some of its members even asserted that it constituted a de facto government, and held that the Americans should turn the whole affair over to them and promptly sail away.  But their recognition was flatly refused by the authorities.  At the time, I supported the authorities in this refusal, but afterward I felt less sure of the wisdom of the course.  As a recognized body, it might have been useful; rejected, it made no little trouble.  Transfer of control to its hands was quite out of the question, but recognition and co-operation might have proved helpful.  That the body had a considerable representative quality, there is no doubt.  Later, I found many of its members as members of the Constitutional Convention, and, still later, many of them have served in high official positions, as governors of provinces, members of Congress, in cabinet and in diplomatic positions.  I am inclined to regard the group broadly, as the origin of the present much divided Liberal party that has, from the beginning of definite party organization, included a considerable numerical majority of the Cuban voters.  In the first national election, held December 31, 1901, this group, the military group, appeared as the National party, supporting Tomas Estrada y Palma as its candidate.  Its opponent was called the Republican party.  Realizing its overwhelming