diced b Jos e S. Arc a, - non

alien to those which produced the Cuban insurrection."67 They knew that theNorth American promise to work for that island's independence was one ofthe causes that energized or sustained the revolt Prim's letter, dated at Vichy,10 September 1869, to Governor Caballero de Rodas of Cuba gives an ideaof the importance of these gestures. The Marquis of Castillejos wrote:It is indispensable that, as the superior authority over the Island, Your Excellencyhave exact knowledge of the gestures by the United States before theGovernment, and at the same time you must give your opinion regarding certainserious and urgent matters. Your Excellency will not ignore from the newspapersand the communications of our representative in Washington that it was beingsaid General Sickles was coming to Madrid with a special mission to obtain thedeclaration of independence of the island of Cuba.Indeed, hardly did he present his credentials when he brought up the question,stating his government could not resist the pressure of those who opposed nonrecognitionof the Cuban insurgents as belligerents, unless Spain agreed todeclare the independence of the island through an indemnization.66It was, however, not just the weak North American government thatcould not resist the thinking created by a press skillfully directed by certainbusiness concerns exploiting the old canard of the black legend with whichAmerican public opinion had been warped. The small Scandinaviancountries, yesterday as today, proceeded also to manifest their unfriendlinessin words and deeds. In 1871, it was discovered that the "consul of Swedenand Norway in La Havana, John Niiminger" was shielding the insurgents.Proofs were sent to the Overseas Ministry by General Valmaseda..These factors convinced the Ministry in Madrid that the Cavite mutinyhad foreign links.CONFIDENTIAL CIRCULAR FROM ALAMINOSGeneral Juan Alaminos succeeded Izquierdo as Governor of thePhilippines, and was involved in the successive conflicts created by theforeign powers in Jolo, Mindanao, and Paragua [Palawan] to usurp thesouthern islands of the Spanish colony.In his official letter dated 21 March 1873, Alaminos 'forwarded to theOverseas Ministry the information prepared by the Marine in connectionwith the libelous charge submitted by the Consul General of Great Britain inLabuan to the British Minister of Foreign Affairs, the Count of Granville,namely, that the entire crew of a merchant boat had died aboard a Spanish19