But the vengeance that was meted out to Spain for the treachery of her murderous [The Maine was Avenged.] sons, was sweeping and most complete in its character. Our martyrs of the Maine have been avenged. Spain has learned along with the rest of the nations, that America is slow to anger but swift and terrible in her vengeance; from the punishment of Spain the world has learned a Yankee lesson that will be remembered in all time to come. Apart, however, from the castigation of Spain, America had a duty to perform in the liberation of Cuba. From the date of the arrival of the first shipload of Spaniards in 1492 to the departure of the last load of Spanish officials and soldiers in 1899, Cuba had rested under a cloud. Prosperity under Spanish rule, from Valesque in 1510 to Blanco in 1898, appeared to be an impossibility. From Christopher Columbus to Admiral Cervera, the first and the last Spanish navigators dispatched by the crown of Spain to Cuba, the life-blood of that fair isle had been wasted away. Its history may fitly be written in blood. Such condition of affairs could not be endured always at the threshold of a vast, liberty-loving Republic and Cuba's loud appeals for aid stirred America to action. War was declared after a formal demand upon Spain for the liberation of Cuba. The result of the war of 1898 was that Spain stood up to the front just long enough to get kicked into tatters. On the 1st day of January, 1902, the military occupation of Cuba by the troops [A Civil War in Cuba.] of the United States terminated and the government passed into the keeping of the Cubans. The Cuban government, under President Gomez, was beset with difficulties from the start. It was found difficult to bridle and keep down jealousies and partisan feelings among the Cubans themselves. They appeared to detest one another under their native government as cordially as they did their former task-masters, the Spaniards. As soon as the Cubans established their own government, love of country vanished from among them; there appeared to be no unity of purpose. In 1907 a civil war broke out in the fair but unfortunate isle, and during the summer of that year the terrible scenes of the last struggle with Spain, under Weyler, were again re-enacted. During that year and the two following years of 1908-09, the gleaming machette once again performed its deadly work. This fratricidal war came to an end early in 1910, when the Cubans by a plebicite, or popular vote, rendered an almost unanimous vote in favor of the annexation of Cuba to the United States. This important decision was ratified by Congress and received the official signature of President George Dewey, the hero of Manila, at noon on the 24th day of December, 1910. CHAPTER IV. Keynote of American Expansion.