The Spanish slave code, by which the slave trade, which had formerly been a monopoly, was made free, had given a great stimulus to the importation of slaves. It was almost brought to an end, however, by the energetic efforts of Captain-General Valdez. But the increased consumption of sugar in Great Britain, owing to reduction of duty and the placing of foreign and British sugars on the same basis gave a new stimulus to the traffic; and, in their own pecuniary interest, ever more prominent with them than any question of humanity, the Spanish relaxed their efforts, and the slave trade attained greater dimensions than ever before. In 1844 there occurred an uprising which was more serious than any which had preceded it. The slaves on the sugar plantations in the neighborhood of Matanzas were suspected of being about to revolt. There was no real proof of this, and in order to obtain evidence a large number of slaves were tortured. It was evident that Spain was still ready, if in her opinion occasion required it, to have recourse to the barbarities of the old Inquisitorial days. By evidence manufactured by such outrageous methods, one thousand three hundred and forty-six persons were tried and convicted, of whom seventy-eight were shot, and the others punished with more or less severity. Of those declared guilty, fourteen were white, one thousand two hundred and forty-two free colored persons, and fifty-nine slaves. The project of annexation to the United States was first mooted in 1848, after the proclamation of the French republic. The people of the slave States, in view of the increasing population and the anti-slavery feeling of the North and West were beginning to feel alarmed as to the safety of the "peculiar institution," and there was a strong sentiment among them in favor of annexing Cuba and dividing it up into slave states. President Polk, therefore, authorized the American minister at Madrid to offer one hundred million dollars for Cuba; but the proposition was rejected in the most peremptory manner. A similar proposal was made ten years afterward in the Senate, but after a debate it was withdrawn. The next conspiracy, rebellion or revolution (it has been called by all these names according to the point of view and the sympathies of those speaking or writing of it) broke out in 1848. It was headed by Narciso Lopez, who was a native of Venezuela, but who had served in the Spanish army, and had attained therein the rank of major-general. This was of considerable more importance than any of the outbreaks that had preceded it. The first attempt of Lopez at an insurrectionary movement was made in the centre of the island. It proved to be unsuccessful, but Lopez, with many of his adherents, managed to escape and reached New York, where there were a large number of his sympathizers. Lopez represented the majority of the Cuban population as dissatisfied with Spanish rule, and eager for revolt and annexation to the United States.