These outbreaks were all more or less localized, and it was not until 1868 that a revolution broke out, destined to involve the entire island, and to occupy long and weary years in suppressing, if, indeed, the smoking embers can be said ever to have been quenched. It was undoubtedly instigated by the American Civil War, which had ended in the uncompromising abolition of slavery, and so raised the hopes of the friends of liberty in Cuba. Though the planters and slave-owners ranged themselves, as was natural, on the side of law and order, their enthusiasm was no longer of the keenest. They realized that the institution to which they clung so tenaciously was doomed, and it became a question with them of doing the best they could for themselves. Emancipation in the British West Indies had for a time added enormously to their prosperity, until the value of slaves underwent so great an appreciation that it no longer became profitable to purchase them, and only actual owners derived any benefit. For, it must be remembered, there was a distinct difference between the slave-trade and slavery, and long after public opinion revolted against, and prohibited the kidnapping and traffic in human flesh, it continued to tolerate its ownership, and recognized natural increase as legitimate property. That African negroes were smuggled into Cuba is tolerably certain; nevertheless, the numbers were too small to prevent the gradual increase in value of an able-bodied male slave from $250 to something like $1,750 or $2,000. This was the surest means of eventual abolition; for while this high price set upon the black made him valuable property, and insured his better treatment, it tended to make the luxury too costly, and one that could eventually no longer be indulged in, as the point must be reached where free labor would become cheaper.