In 1895 it was alleged that the custom house frauds in Cuba, since the end of the Ten Years War, amounted to over one hundred millions of dollars. It is enough to make one hold one's breath in horror. And, remember well, there was absolutely no redress for the suffering Cubans by peaceful means. One more quotation. Rafael de Eslara of Havana, when speaking of the misery of the island, thus summed up the situation: "Granted the correctness of the points which I have just presented, it seems to be self-evident that a curse is pressing upon Cuba, condemning her to witness her own disintegration, and converting her into a prey for the operation of those swarms of vampires that are so cruelly devouring us, deaf to the voice of conscience, if they have any; it will not be rash to venture the assertion that Cuba is undone; there is no salvation possible." Taxation on all sides was enormous, the two chief products of the island, sugar and tobacco, suffering the most. While other countries gave encouragement to their colonies, Spain did everything she could to discourage her well-beloved "Ever Faithful Isle." The Cuban planter had to struggle along with a heavy tax on his crop, an enormous duty on his machinery, and an additional duty at the port of destination. America once rose in wrath against unjust taxation, but her grievances were as nothing in comparison with those of--we had almost written--her sister republic. May the inadvertency prove a prophecy! To show how the products of Cuba, under this ghastly extortion have declined, we make the following statement, based on the most reliable statistics. In 1880 Cuba furnished twenty-five per cent. of all the sugar of the world. In 1895 this had declined to ten and a half per cent. In 1889, the export of cigars rated at forty dollars per one thousand amounted to ten millions, nineteen thousand and forty dollars. In 1894 it was five millions, three hundred and sixty-eight thousand, four hundred dollars, a loss of nearly one-half in five years. Then besides all this, Cuba had to pay the high salaries of the horde of Spanish officials, nothing of which accrued to her advantage. There can be no doubt but that the treaty of El Zanjon was a cheat, and its administration a gigantic scandal. Can any fair-minded person think then that the Cubans were wrong, when driven to the wall, oppressed beyond measure, goaded to madness by an inhuman master, they broke out once again into open revolt, determined this time to fight to the death or to obtain their freedom? CHAPTER VII. SOME CUBAN HEROES. Although the natural resources of Cuba are remarkable, as will be demonstrated later, and more than sufficient for all her people, a large number of Cubans have, either of their own free will or by force become exiles. Besides over forty thousand in the United States, there are a large number in the islands under British control, as well as throughout the West Indies and in the South American republics.