“All good causes must finally triumph, and ours is a good cause.  It is the cause of justice treated with contempt, of right suppressed by force, and of the dignity of a people offended to the last degree.

“We Cubans have a thousandfold more reason in our endeavors to free ourselves from the Spanish yoke than the people of the thirteen colonies had when in 1776 they rose in arms against the British government.

Comparisons with the American colonies.

“The people of these colonies were in full enjoyment of all the rights of man; they had liberty of conscience, freedom of speech, liberty of the press, the right of public meeting and the right of free locomotion; they elected those who governed them, they made their own laws and, in fact, enjoyed the blessings of self-government.  They were not under the sway of a captain-general with arbitrary powers, who at his will could imprison them, deport them to penal colonies, or order their execution even without the semblance of a court-martial.  They did not have to pay a permanent army and navy that they might be kept in subjection, nor to feed a swarm of hungry employes yearly sent over from the metropolis to prey upon the country.

“They were never subjected to a stupid and crushing customs tariff which compelled them to go to the home markets for millions of merchandise annually, which they could buy much cheaper elsewhere; they were never compelled to cover a budget of $26,000,000 or $30,000,000 a year, without the consent of the tax-payers, and for the purposes of defraying the expenses of the army and navy of the oppressor, to pay the salaries of thousands of worthless European employes, the whole interest on a debt not incurred by the colony, and other expenditures from which the island received no benefit whatever; for out of all those millions only the paltry sum of $700,000 was apparently applied for works of internal improvement and one-half of this invariably went into the pockets of the Spanish employes.

“We have thrown ourselves into the struggle advisedly and deliberately; we knew what we would have to face, and we decided unflinchingly to persevere until we should emancipate ourselves from the Spanish government.  And we know that we are able to do it, as we know that we are competent to govern ourselves.

“Among other proofs which could be adduced of the ability of the Cuban white and colored to rule themselves, is the strong organization of the Cuban revolutionary party in America, It is composed of more than 20,000 Cubans, living in different countries of the new world and formed into clubs, the members of which yearly elect their leader.  This organization has been in existence over five years, during which every member has strictly discharged his duties, has respected without any interruption the regulations and obeyed the elected delegate loyally and faithfully.  Among the members of the clubs there are several Spaniards,