numerous were the dangers of a new insurrection, nevertheless the sufferings of the entire native population were such that the popular sentiment became irresistible, and after a few fruitless outbreaks the war was renewed in 1895. [Illustration: SKETCH MAP OF THE PROVINCE OF PINAR DEL RIO.] The long contest between Spain and Cuba has been finally decided by American intervention, without which the war must have been protracted until the Island was completely devastated and ruined; and even then Spain would never have given it up. Not from patriotic motives, but simply and solely because it yielded revenue to Spain's depleted treasury, and gave her sons an opportunity for pillage and plunder. The tenacity with which these officials have clung to the offices, and the difficulty which the United States Commissioners encountered in obtaining a relinquishment of the custom-houses, all point to the cupidity of the Spanish, and show that they were in Cuba for revenue exclusively. Considering now the political aspect of Cuban affairs after the protocol of August 12, 1898, it will be found that no well-defined scheme of political organisation exists in Cuba, and that the only really popular and, it may be said, unanimous feeling is that liberty, in all the legitimate meanings of this word, is necessary. The actual situation may be compared to an anarchy, for there is really no supreme authority. How to discuss and establish any political laws in the midst of this existing legal anarchy and complete lack of political experience, is the question confronting the United States Government. This situation and many other conditions that are the natural consequences of the last events point out the necessity of forming provisionally a strong government in Cuba, under the guidance and protection of the United States. Under such protection the work of rebuilding the industries destroyed, and of once more making productive the fields burned and the plantations dismantled and devastated, can be carried on, and in no other way.