\ 
 
 OF J. 
 
 F 1784 
 .B55 
 Copy 1 
 
 ("ECTS OF J. S. THRASHER, ESQ. 
 
 ADDRESSES 
 
 DELIVERED AT THE 
 
 CELEBRATION OF THE THIRD ANNIVERSARY 
 
 IN HONOR OF THE 
 
 MARTYRS FOR CUBAN FREEDOM 
 
 By GASPARx^ETANCOURT, Esq., 
 
 PRESIDENT OF THE 6TJBAN REVOLUTIONARY OTNTA, 
 AND 
 
 J. S. THRASHER, Esq., 
 
 MECHANICS' INSTITUTE HALL, 
 
 New Orleans, Sept. 1, 1854. 
 
 NEW ORLEANS: 
 
 PRINTED BY SHERMAN, WHARTON & CO., 
 
 Corner Gravier and Camp street. 
 
 1854". 
 
r 
 
 ADDRESSES 
 
 \ 
 
 \ 
 
 DELIVERED AT THE 
 
 CELEBRATION OF THE THIRD ANNIVERSARY 
 
 IN HONOR OE THB 
 
 By GrASPAR BETAff COURT, Esq, 
 
 PRESEDEKT OF SHB COBAN REVOIOMOMART JCKTA, 
 
 \ 
 AND 
 
 J. S. THRASHER, Esq., 
 
 AT THE 
 
 fECHANICS' INSTITUTE HALL 
 
 New Orleans, Sept. 1, 1854, 
 
 NEW ORLEANS: 
 
 PRINTED BY SHERMAN, WHARTON k 00.. 
 
 Corner Gravier and Camp uteest. 
 
 18541 
 
•B55 
 
 ADDRESS OF J. S. THRASHEB, Esq. 
 
 The circumstances under which we meet to-night, my hearers, are such as n 
 the most profound sympathies of the human heart. Cuba mourns her glorious d 
 Cuba mourns her glorious dead, and a land which she cannot yet call bj 
 endearing name of brother, gathers the fast-falling tears in her bosom, whih 
 sea-girt home of our brethern still groans beneath the oppression of Euro 
 despotism. The heroes whom we to-day honor, shed their life-currents, anc 
 tered the sombre portals of death in their devotion to the cause of Cuban freed 
 and the hearts of the sons and daughters of Cuba swell with gratitude to J 
 memories, and every lip utters their names with praise. 
 
 Cuba mourns her glorious dead ! Her children, who have preferred to clrinl 
 bitter cup of exile even to its very dregs, assemble here to-night to do hon 
 their names ; but their brethren, bound by a thousand ties to their native he 
 can render a willing homage to their memories only in the deepest recess 
 the soul. Their hopes wither, and their free impulses are hidden before the 
 present power of the tyrant ; but from every] Cuban home, from every palace 
 from every cottage within the borders, there goes forth to-night a wail fo 
 Hero-dead, and thousands upon thousands of heart-breathed prayers ascend i 
 throne of grace on their behalf. To-day every Cuban heart is draped in woe 
 upon its every alter burns the bright sacrificial flame in secret homage t 
 Martyrs for Cuban Freedom. , 
 
 But it is not the Cubans alone that do honor to their memories. The hea 
 the American people lift a grateful incense to their names, and the spectacle 
 is presented here to-night in the gathering of the freemen of America, in 
 with the sons and daughters of Cuba, is a living evidence of that great unio 
 sympathy that exists between the aspirations of Free Cuba, and the gloria 
 tainments of our patriot fathers. ; 
 
 The crimson currents that have poured down the hill-sides of Caseorn 
 rSiguanea, of Candelaria and Atares, have flown froin American and from ( 
 bosoms, and, uniting in one glorious stream in the plains of Cuba, will col 1 
 to flow, bearing the germs of freedom onward, until it unites with that d. 
 torrent that waters the tree of Liberty in the history of this fair land. 1' 
 union of the freemen of America and Cuba, who meet to do honor to those - 
 bands that have unfurled the banners of liberty upon the hills of the Pair 
 isle _to render a grateful homage to the heroes of a still struggling caust 
 renew the memories of heroic deeds that are equally common and equally gr 
 to both,— is but the type, the cheering type, of that great sympathy and 
 that common brotherhood, which shall yet exist, and gladden the hearts ol na 
 who have a separate and different origin, but who are all animated by one coj 
 impulse, and who have all one common ?dm. 
 
 3- R.yjpg> 
 
t-l<] 
 
 When this band of brothers united in life in their glorious and holy effort to 
 tevate the people of Cuba to the plain of human freedom, and to open for it a 
 weer upon the pathway of Progress and Liberty, they bound Free Cuba, at the 
 ery moment of her birth, to the heartfelt sympathies of the American people ; 
 ad, united in their death, their memories shall ever continue to strengthen the 
 ands that should exist between the freemen of either land. 
 
 What Cuban heart does not swell with pride as memory recurs to the past, and 
 le scenes of Cascorra and Guinia de Miranda, of Las Pozas and Frias, leaping to 
 fe upon the living page of history, fill the contemplation with the remembrance 
 'the heroic deeds of those whose names we are here to honor? 
 
 What Cuban heart does not -swell with burning desire of vengeance upon the 
 
 yrmidons of Spain, as memory recurs to the slaughters of Puerto Principe and 
 Bnidad, of Atares and the patriot scaffolds of Havana? And in these sentiments 
 aether they be those of joy or hate, how many American hearts beat in unison 
 iththe patriot impulses of Cuba ! How many are there, whether they contem- 
 ate the noble deeds of that gallant band that drove the serried hosts of the tyrant 
 ,ck, and were overcome only by the elements ; or whether, they look with horror 
 ton the inhuman butchery on the hill of Atares, who at once exclaim : I, too, 
 id a Mend and brother there ! 
 
 It is this union for love or for hate, for glory or for vengence, that constitutes 
 s true union of the living before the tomb of the glorious dead ; and the remem- 
 ance of their heroic deeds and united martyrdom shall ever live, green in our 
 imories, and perpetuate and endear the bands of our common brotherhood. It 
 their union in death that constitutes our union in life. When this band of 
 jthers elapsed hands to strike a common blow for liberty, and together entered 
 tie'dark valley of the shadow of death," they left to us, and to each of lis, an 
 mortal legacy, to which it is impossible that either can prove recreant. 
 
 The advocates of European conservatism and the defenders of the divine right 
 kings may inculcate a division of the races ; may teach that the descendants of 
 
 Saxon and of the Iberian can never entertain any other sentiment towards each 
 er than that of hatred ; that the races are intuitively antagonistic, and that 
 y can never meet but in the strife for mutual extermination ; but here is the 
 of, here in this common tomb, and in these common glories, we have the perfect 
 lonstration that the Iberian and the Saxon can unite. Here we learn that, in 
 ir great love of liberty, they are animated by one common impulse, and have 
 
 one common aim. If we imitate their example, and, doing as they did, lay 
 le the petty prejudices that would arm us against each other, aud contemplate " 
 f our mutual love of freedom, there is no antagonism, there is no war of races ; 
 
 Northern and Southern America would stand united before the world upon 
 
 noblest sentiment that can animate the heart of man : liberty and the eleva- 
 
 of the masses. 
 
 his band of heroic martyrs has solved for us the great questions of American 
 ;ress, and of the regeneration and perpetuity of the descendants of the Iberian 
 upon this continent. It is the only solution consistent with our precepts and 
 c honor, with our interests and their welfare, with our institutions and their 
 rations. 
 
 single glance at history is sufficient to demonstrate this great truth. Our 
 atkers, fleeing from the tyranny of European king-craft, founded upon these 
 as new social institutions and political theories, based upon the sacred, right 
 ilf-govemment. Their children went on subduing the wilderness and taming 
 avage plain, founding new" states upon the most perfect political theories the 
 :1 has ever known, and under their beneficent influences, the intelectual and 
 ical development of man has surpassed anything the most civilized nations 
 urope can show. 
 
f 4 1 
 
 Mere man is prosperous, because his enterprise and his labour are untrainmelecil 
 here man is happy because he is free. And is all this prosperity and happineS 
 for mankind to be restricted and -walled in by imaginary lines drawn upon pape 
 maps ? Are the sacred precepts of that great charter of liberty, the Declaratio 
 of our Independence, to remain for ever the exclusive right and privilege of thii 
 confederacy ? Is their influence ended and our mission fulfilled, when there sha II 
 be no more wilderness or savage plain within our borders ; "No!" shouts ever 
 American lip; and "No!" echoes back every American heart. Our example :..* 
 before them, and our sympathies are with them, -when ever a people strive \ 
 imitate the labors of our fathers. 
 
 They have striven to imitate them. From the Sabine to Cape Horn the Spanis! \ 
 colonists have hugged those glorious precepts to their hearts, and everywhere havi 1 
 driven the slaves of tyranny from the Continent. Inexperienced in the art of self- 
 government, and unacquainted with its practical working, they have committed 
 many errors, and have suffered and are suffering much. Giving undue heed to the 
 teachings of the despot's minions, they have sedulously avoided the only true 
 brotherhood that possesses any sympathy for them, the brotherhood of the free- 
 men of North America. 
 
 Tor Cuba, the last remnant of the Spanish power in the New World, was reserve) 
 the glorious task of avoiding the errors of her elder sisters, and of initiating th 
 true theory of their regeneration and welfare. She has perceived their errors, am 
 wishing to avoid them, invites the brave and lion-hearted among ourselves to ai 
 her in her glorious struggle for freedom. Let us have mutual sufferings an ! 
 mutual glories, she exclaims. Let us unite in one common blow for liberty, tha 
 the memory of our united deeds shall awaken a sentiment of national pride in tr. 
 Cuban heart, while the contemplation of their glorious results shall bring a glo > 
 of joy to the American bosom. So shall our children unite in one common brothi 
 hood, and a common pride and a common joy shall destroy the last refuge of M 
 tyrant's precept of a war of the races. 
 
 Such was the aim and such the mission of our hero-dead. This is the precic-is 
 legacy they have left to us. Brothers, shall we carry it out to its glorious en 
 Or shall we rather, in violation of every precept our fathers bled to establish, de 
 the right of the people of Cuba to strike for liberty, and recognize no right in i 
 warm and brave hearts of these republics to aid them in their holy cause ? 
 
 Yes ! That mission will be carried out. The blood of the martyrs for Cul 
 freedom has cemented the union of the races. Their bright example sheds a n 
 light upon the freemen of this fair land, and in obedience to their desires s 
 their destiny they will gladly carry the blessings of their free institutions, f : 
 the guarantees of their practical experience, not only to the wilderness and I 
 desert but also to already organized communities that first contemplate, then admi 
 and finally thirst for the harmonious freedom that we enjoy. And when Ci 
 shall be free, and from her borders the messengers shall go forth, bearing^ the j 
 ful tidings of union and peace, liberty and happiness, to the struggling childrer 
 her elder sisters, the glad peans of regenerated millions shall proclaim : I 
 Union of the Martyrs was the Union of the Races! 
 
ADDRESS. OF GASPAR BETANCOURT, Esq., 
 
 PRESIDENT OF THE CUBAN JUNTA. 
 
 Gentlemen — This morning we have congregated in the Catholic i Church to fill 
 a religious duty ; to-night, we meet in this hall to fill our duty as patriots. This 
 morning we implored the Divine clemency and mercy for the repose of the souls 
 of our brethren. To-night, we come here to commemorate the anniversary of the 
 death of the heroes and martyrs who have yielded up their lives to the cause of 
 Cuban liberty and independence. Each in its proper place is best placed; to 
 heaven that which belongs to heaven, and to the world that which belongs to the 
 world. ~ .-' 
 
 These religious and patriotic acts ; this ardor and enthusiasm with which the 
 Cuban people hastens to render its homage of admiration and gratitude to the 
 heroes who have sacrificed their lives for the freedom of our country ; these acts, 
 gentlemen, do honor to the Cuban people, for besides demonstrating the religious 
 feeling, the patriotism and civilization of the Cubans, it revives and strengthens 
 in the heart the hope, that the cause for which Lopez, Aguero, Armenteros, 
 Crittenden and their companions suffered, is neither dead nor hopeless. A religious 
 patriotic and enlightened people, may be confident that the cause to which it 
 devotes its heart and -soul must ever triumph. 
 
 Gentlemen, unhappily great men have died ; but great ideas, the great causes 
 that glitter in the brain and move the hearts of these men, can never die. 
 
 This truth, so simple that even the children who hear me may comprehend it, 
 has, notwithstanding, been ever beyond the comprehension of the Spanish Govern- 
 ment ; for had it comprehended it, Cuba would not to-day be in the position in 
 ivhich she is placed. Though Spain has struggled for fifty years with the revolu- 
 tionists of America, she does not yet comprehend, gentlemen, nor has she ever com- 
 prehended the canses of those revolutions, nor has she found a remedy for them. 
 Headstrong in her self-conceived policy, and confident in the only measures she 
 inows to secure her power, she has believed that in murdering men, She murders 
 thought and the ideas that interest the nations. 
 
 All despotisms, are stupid and sanguinary; but Spanish despotism, besides 
 Deing stupid and sanguinary,is incorrigible. Neither the fifty years of revolution 
 n America, nor the experience of its own misfortunes and losses, nor the situation 
 nto which its errors have dragged it, nor anything whatever, has been sufficient 
 ;o induce it to change its policy, to alter its measures for securing its dominion: 
 tnd all that it has done before in America, upon the continent, it is now repeat- 
 ng in Cuba — nay, I err ; I say but little, and I wish to say ail — in Cuba she , 
 wishes to add to Spanish barbarity, African ferocity. It is well that the Cubans 
 should know it, and so understand it. 
 
 It remains for me, gentlemen, to prove what I have affirmed ; and for this pur- 
 pose, let us throw a rapid glance upon the events cf the Cuba revolution. 
 
 The subiime idea, the noble sentiment of liberty and independence for Cuba 
 rarsts forth in the Central department in the city of Puerto Principe ; a handful of 
 , T oung men, with their noble chief Joaquin de Aguero, pronounce the Govem- 
 nent forces, a hundred fold their number, pursue them, and the chief and three 
 )thers are captured ; upon the execution ground they are shot in order to warn 
 md to terrify the people. What is the result ? The sublime idea leaving those 
 'our dying heads, seeks refuge in those of forty thousand men in that juris- 
 liction, and these to-day think and feel as Aguero, Zayas, Benavides and Bentan- 
 jourt thought and felt. ■ 
 
 Soon after, the same idea breaks out in the city of Trinidad, Armenteros and 
 mother handful of brave men pronounce. The Government with its numerous 
 brces gets them into its power, and the chief and two others are shot upon 
 i scaffold. What is the result ? Through three men murdered by the Government, 
 iurty thousand minds receive the idea, and thirty thousand hearts beat for the 
 
[6] 
 
 same cause that was defended by Armenteros, Hernandez and Arcis. 
 
 Later still, Gen. Lopez lands 400 brave men at Playitas. Crittenden is separated 
 from the main "body, and with fifty of his companions falls into the power of the 
 
 Spanish Government. It prepares the horrid spectacle— a butchery of men a 
 
 scene fit only for canibals in the eyes of the civilized and christian world — and 
 shooting fifty Americans whose hearts and minds glowed with the idea of the 
 independence of Cuba, it believes it has assured" its triumph. Well? Fifty 
 thousand men around Atares are to-day animated by the same spirit, and disposed 
 to defend the cause for which Crittenden and his companions died. 
 
 Finally, the Government takes prisoner the chief of chiefs, and, erecting an 
 ignominious scaffold, it congratulates and felicitates itself ; for how, in laying Ioav 
 the head that contained the entire programme of Cuban revolution, it believes that 
 it will murder the cause of Cuban Independence. And what is the result? From 
 Cape San Antonio to that of Maisi, there is not a Cuban heart that is not moved in 
 the cause for which Narciso Lopez died ; and in 1854 there are more men, more 
 hearts, more sympathies, more resources and means ready to be sacrificed for the 
 cause of Cuban independence than Narciso Lopez had in 1851 ; and never more 
 clearly than to-day has the Government revealed its fears and its impotency to 
 maintain its unjust dominion. 
 
 National independence, civil, religious and commercial liberty — these, gentle- 
 men, are the four articles of the revolutionary programme of Cuba, the four cor- 
 ner stones upon which the magnificent structure of the Cuban Republic must be 
 built. 
 
 I believe, gentlemen, that it will not be inconsistent with the object of our as- 
 semblage here, to emit a few ideas upon the articles of this programme. I believe t 
 that in serving the cause of Cuba and freedom, whether it be in person, or with the 
 mind or with money, be it in whatever mode it may, it is a rendering of honor to the 
 memory of Lopez, and of the martyrs who have died for Cuba and her freedom. 
 
 National independence for Cuba is the first article of our revolutionary pro- 
 gramme. In this you will perceive how far from the thought of Narciso Lopez and 
 the leaders of the revolution was the idea of annexing Cuba to the United States 
 by measures that are unworthy, humiliating and derogatory to the dignity of the 
 people of Cuba. In this you will comprehend how great must be the pain, and 
 how just the indignation of every sensible and high-minded Cuban to see that it 
 is the Government of the United States, that it is the government of the model re- 
 public, where we, the Cubans, have strengthened our souls with the solid principles 
 of independence, of liberty, of the rights and dignity of man, that it is the Ameri- 
 can Government which endeavors to acquire possession of Cuba by means of a 
 purchase, as if it were a grazing farm of vile cattle, that it may improve the breed. 
 Spain, gentlemen, is an unjust mether; Spain is a cruel and unnatural mother ; 
 but still she is a mother, and the stripes, the insults, and the oppression of a moth- 
 er have never brought infamy to her innocent children. The Spanish Government 
 in Cuba is the thief that robs and despoils Cuba of all she possesses, but the Gov- 
 ernment of the United States is the rJmsher that violates and dishonors her. I, in 
 the name of Narciso Lopez, in the name of the people of Cuba, in th«S bosom of 
 this assembly, and in the presence of Almighty God, make this solemn protest 
 against the ravisher and violator of Cuba. 
 
 If the idea of the annexation of Cuba to the United States has ever had the 
 slightest consideration in the revolutionary programme of the chiefs and apostles 
 of the revolution, it has always been with the understanding that this attainment 
 shoidd be the result of the sovereign will of the Cuban people, without stain or 
 dishonor to Cuba; that, as a beafutiful and rich maiden emancipated from the pa- 
 ternal authority, she may select from her admirers the bridegroom that best 
 pleases her, and thus fill the station of a lady, and not that of a sad, redeemed 
 slave. If such were the destiny of Cuba, if such were the will of the Cuban peo- 
 ple in full possession of their territory, and in the use of their proper sovereignty, 
 I surely, will not be he that shall censure or regret it. But Cuba bought, Cuba 
 sold like a vile cattle farm, to be improved ! Rather let it sink into the abysses 
 
m 
 
 of the Carribean sea and the Gulf of Mexico, than that the true and honor-loving 
 sons of Cuba shall thus contemplate their own dishonor. * 
 
 There is another "point of our revolutionary programme upon 'which I would 
 improve the present occasion to emit a few ideas, that I consider of the highest 
 importance now, and of the greatest transcendency in the not very distant future 
 of our beloved country. v 
 
 On other anniversaries of the 1st of September, as on the present, I have heard 
 among the Cubans, I will not say censure, but certainly heartfelt complaints that 
 the Catholic church has not permitted us to honor the martyrs for Cuban freedom 
 with those funeral ceremonies that we are accustomed to see in Catholic coun- 
 tries, with the ostentation and pomp that we have desired. Upon this point I 
 wish to be very explicit. - 
 
 At the present time,, when we are on the eve of our revolution, and of the es- 
 tablishment of a Democratic Republican Government, it is necessary that some 
 Cuban should have the courage or the rashness to say in the midst of a Cuban as- 
 sembly, that there can be no independence, that there can be no civil liberty, 
 where there is not religious independence and freedom. Wherever and however 
 the church is connected with the State, and that which is called the religion of the 
 State is established, there and then no other end can be attained than a change in 
 the form of slavery. Be the religion whatever it may, Christian Catholic, Chris- 
 tian Protestant, Christian Greek, Hebrew or Mahometan; and under whatever 
 form of government, absolute, monarchy, constitutional aristocracy, democratic 
 republican, it is the same thing, for wherever the state and the church are leagued 
 together there must necessarily exist a double, a political and religious slavery; 
 there shall we behold a people oppressed by tyrants and deceived by impostors. 
 
 This principle of the independence or separation of church and State, is the more 
 necessary in a republic, from the fact that it is rigorously in accordance with the 
 doctrine of him of Nazareth. "My kingdom," he says, "is not of this world;" and 
 when he was asked if tribute) should be paid to Csesar, he said conclusively, "Ren- 
 der unto Csesav the things which be Csesar's, and unto God the things which be 
 God's." In whatever manner the direction and doctrine of Christ be violated, and 
 the church mixes itself in political affairs, uniting with the Government, then the 
 church exists in a state of concubinage, in a state of adultery which is worse than 
 concubinage, separated from her legitimate husband, and delivered up to the em- 
 braces of the temporal power, in order to serve its views, its caprices, its machi- 
 nations, and worldly interests. Those whom Jesus Christ intended should be fish- 
 ers of souls, Governments have converted into fishers of bodies, into bailiffs and 
 catchpoles, informers, and inquisitors of men. Permit the church and state to 
 league together, and you will then see the cathedra of the Holy Ghost transform- 
 ed into a tribune from which to pronounce funeral orations and panegyrics with 
 fulsome praise of kings and emperors, of great captains and conquerors, whom 
 none of vis perhaps would wish to imitate, for the greater number of them have 
 been the scourge and terror of humanity. Then you will not be permitted to cel- 
 ebrate with panegyric and funeral ceremonies the defenders of the rights of the 
 people, nor those who sacrifice their lives for the cause of liberty. Woe to Cuba, 
 gentlemen, if she establishes the not less impolitic than impious creation of a State 
 religion, and if she does not establish as her fundamental political law the abso- 
 lute separation of the church from the Government of the Republic! 
 
 It is not only the material force of arms that is employed to perpetuate the 
 dominion of Spain in Cuba, and to frustrate every project for a revolution. Other 
 arms even more terrible are used against Cuba and the Cubans. Diplomacy and 
 logic are set to work to maintain what is called order, or the staius quo in Cuba. 
 We have already seen the Government of the United States interfering on more 
 than one occasion in favor of Spain, to make abortive the plans and projects for 
 liberating Cuba. At this very moment, with the project of purchasing Cuba, we 
 see it flattering and consulting the wishes of the Queens and Kings of Europe, 
 withovit even deeming the wishes and interests of the people of Cuba — of the le- 
 gitimate owners of the soil, and who are, according to the American theory or 
 
[8] / 
 
 decaldgue, the true fountain of sovereignty — worthy of being consulted, even in. 
 an indirect manner. We have just seen France and England soliciting more al- 
 lies in order to guarantee to Spain the possession of Cuba, t» cut off all progress 
 in her revolution, and to interfere with her social condition and economic inter- 
 ests, which the Cubans and only the Cubans have the right to regulate. To this 
 same end the opposition press lends its assistance, employing its logic to discredit 
 the Cuban revolution, to destroy the prestige of its leaders and apostles, using 
 now sophistry, now diatribes, and even ridiculing the people of Cuba. 
 
 Among its sophisms, that which has been most often repeated against the Cu- 
 ban revolution, is the following : 
 
 That the people of Cuba are not prepared for liberty, nor are they capable of 
 directing their own interests. 
 
 If the people of Cuba are not prepared for liberty and are not capable of direct- 
 ing their own interests, what then has Spain taught us in the three hundred and 
 sixty years that she has been schooling us ? Whose is the fault — the master's or 
 the pupils ? And would it not be madness to continue to pay, and to pay so dear- 
 ly, a master who does not know the art he professes to teach, not even enough to 
 apply it in his own house? The truth is, the poor Spanish people have beer 
 struggling for fifty years for freedom and a popular representative Government, 
 and even now has launched itself into a revolution to revalidate the few rights i1 
 had conquered at the cost of its blood and the most generous sacrifices. The ar. 
 gument which is made against the independence and self-government of the Cu 
 bans is the one that best proves the necessity of their discharging the master ant 
 learning to govern themselves, beginning by establishing the most complete civil 
 religious and commercial freedom. 
 
 Another of the charges that is made against the people of Cuba is, that they an " 
 a vile and cowardly people, incapable of conquering their freedom. 
 
 This is another sophism, gentlemen, which I propose to confute by a single fac 
 •which the Spanish Government, and those who serve its policy have taken gooi 
 care to hide. Thisfactis, that among so many Cubans as those who have died ii 
 defence of the cause of their country, be it on the field of battle, be it on th 
 saffold, neither the Spanish government, nor any of its creatures have been able t 
 denounce one single coward. Those who died on the field of battle fell like brav 
 men, fighting, one against ten ; and those who died upon the scaffold, fror 
 Joaquin de Aguero to Narciso Lopez, died like '-the man resolved and stead; 
 to his trust," sung in the sublime verse of Horace. 
 
 "Should the whole frame of nature round him break, 
 
 In ruin and confusion hurled, 
 He, unconcerned, would hear the mighty crack, 
 And stand secure amid a falling world." 
 . ^Thus do not die the sons of a coward people. It is time I should conclude 
 These funeral honors, these civic ceremonies, to manifest the love and gratitude c 
 the people of Cuba, surely do them much honor . But this is not all our duty, no 
 is it what will appease the manes of the heroes and martyrs for the independenc 
 and freedom of Cuba. We have something else to do, that the spirit of Narcfl 
 Lopez shall not remind us from heaven of the words of the prophet Isaiah : "Th 
 people draweth nigh unto me with their mouth, and honoreth me with their lipi 
 but their heart is far from me." We have to fulfill in all its parts the programme wri 
 ten in the blood of the heroes and martyrs for Quban freedom ; we have to crow 
 the work begun by them. Yes, I expect it; the world expects it from the Cuba 
 people. But to obtain this it is necessary that the Cuban people present to tl 
 world the sublime spectacle of a people of united brothers, with one only wil 
 one only spirit, one only sentiment, and one firm purpose of liberating their caj 
 tive mother. It is necessary that the Cuban people make great sacrifices, ar 
 that they shall deem all as little, if they attain in return their independence ai 
 freedom. And, finally, it is necessary that every Cuban who would merit t] 
 great and noble name of patriot, should forget himself, take up the cross of Na 
 eiso Lopez, and carry it even unto Golgotha. Then shall we see realized the gre 
 revolutionary programme, the redemption of Cuba, and the most beautiful Cl'eati* 
 of the nineteenth geatury— -the Republic of Cuba l 
 
LIBRARY OF CONGRESS^ 
 
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