Our War with Spain for Cuba's FreedomWhite, Trumbull
History
Our War with Spain for Cuba's Freedom
White, Trumbull
Cuba -- History; Spain -- Foreign relations -- United States; Spanish-American War, 1898; United States -- Foreign relations -- Spain
For accomplishing its work the Junta has in no way been restricted
in authority, the Cuban government having even granted special
authority allowing Mr. Palma to issue a limited amount of bonds,
coin money, and grant letters of marque.
It has further been the business of the Junta--attended by risk of
life to its agents--to keep in communication with the insurgents.
This has been done by secret agents who come and go from New York
to Key West, from Key West to Havana, from Havana into Spanish
cities of Cuba and through the provinces of the island.
The headquarters of the Junta bears no outward sign except that
the stars and stripes and the single starred flag of Cuba wave
from the third-story window, where is Mr. Palma's office. A narrow
hall and tortuous stairs lead to the office of the delegate, where
on every side are signs of active business, with shelves, tables,
and desks holding heaps of letters, books of accounts, and
documents of various sorts. Here the delegate works, receives his
friends, coworkers, and agents.
Off the main room is a private office, where secret agents report
and are instructed, and where councils of moment are held and
decisions of vital import to the Cuban cause reached, to be
followed by orders that are of immense importance to the army of
liberation.
The Cuban Junta, with its headquarters, represents the legation of
the Cuban republic abroad, and the head of the Junta, as it is
called, is T. Estrada Palma. Properly speaking he is the delegate,
and with the members of his ministerial and diplomatic household
constitutes the delegation of the Cuban republic.
The term "Junta" has been applied because such a body or council
was attached to the diplomatic department of Cuba during the Ten
Years' war. As the authority of the Junta frequently restricted
the action of the delegate, the promoters of the present
revolution decided to eliminate it; yet the name remains, and is
used and accepted to designate Mr. Palma and his associates.
AUTHORITY OF THE JUNTA.
This Junta, as the representative of the Cuban republic, acts on
high authority, for the delegation was appointed on September 19,
1895, by the Constituent Assembly that formed the government and
commissioned Maximo Gomez chief commander of the Cuban army. At
the same time it made Mr. Palma delegate and Cuban representative
abroad, with authority to appoint ministers to all governments and
to have control of all of Cuba's diplomatic relations and
representatives throughout the world. Besides this, Mr. Palma is
the duly accredited minister from Cuba to the United States, and
in the event of the Cuban republic being recognized would be
received as such.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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