Even after her signature is affixed the Cortes has the power to lay the
measure aside and prevent its ever becoming a law.
It is therefore hinted in Cuba that the offers of reform may after all
mean nothing but an endeavor to gain time, and prevent the United States
from going to the assistance of Cuba.
The reforms offered are not at all acceptable to Cubans, because they
find that they will be expected to pay the whole of the debt caused by
the war, which now amounts to nearly six hundred million dollars.
Furthermore, the captain-general who will rule over the island as
governor will have the right to veto every act of the legislature. The
Cubans therefore feel that the Home Rule offered is not a genuine reform
which will bring them relief from the abuses from which they rebelled
against Spain, but a sort of game, invented to keep them good tempered,
which is as unlike real Home Rule as playing with a doll is unlike
nursing a real baby.
It is stated that the Cuban people in the field and in the cities do not
believe in the offered Home Rule, and are determined not to accept it.
A proclamation to that effect has come from Cuba.
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