This totally unjust and fatally unwise action on the part of the Crown stirred the existing discontent to boiling point and thereafter the revolutionary movement assumed a much more menacing aspect. During the succeeding decade a number of uprisings occurred in such widely separated parts of the country as to clearly indicate that the entire Island was disaffected. The lack of connection between these outbreaks and their quick subsidence also showed an absence of organization or concerted plan. In 1847, however, a more serious revolutionary conspiracy, and one which was destined to have far-reaching effect, was set on foot by Narcisco Lopez. The movement was intelligently planned and contemplated the annexation of Cuba to the United States. The conspiracy was betrayed to the Spanish authorities--no uncommon occurrence in the early revolutionary period--and Lopez, with the chief figures in the affair, fled to America. In 1850 Lopez with six hundred men landed at Cardenas and captured the fortress. Failing, however, to receive expected support, he immediately sailed to Key West. The following year Lopez landed another expedition in Cuba near Bahia Honda. This occasion was memorable on account of the fact that the force included one hundred and fifty men under Colonel Crittenden of Kentucky. Disaster quickly overtook this attempt. The mistake was made of immediately dividing the force after landing. Lopez with one body of men advanced on Las Pozas, leaving Colonel Crittenden, with the remainder, in El Morilla. A detachment of Spanish troops overtook and defeated Lopez, after a gallant fight. The leader was captured, carried to Habana, and promptly garroted. Crittenden and his men attempted to escape by sea but were surrounded and forced to surrender. All were subsequently shot at the Castle of Atares. This incident aroused among the people of the United States an interest in Cuban affairs, out of which there grew a sympathy for the insurgents that never abated. Several futile efforts followed the Lopez affair, and then came the revolution of 1868, which had its inception at Yara, in the Province of Camaguey. It is generally referred to by the Cubans as the “Ten Years War,” although no battles were fought. There were, however, many deaths from disease, especially among the Spanish troops, and the cost of the contest was three hundred million dollars, which amount was charged to the Cuban debt.