"Art. VIII--This pact with the Committee of the Central Department shall be deemed to have been made with all the departments of the island which may accept the conditions."
In addition to this, there were reported to have been secret agreements, which provided for "a civil governor with duties distinct from those of a military governor; a provincial parliament in each of the three departments; popular elections for municipal officers; the inclusion of the war debt in the public estimates of the island; the dissolution of the Volunteer Corps of Havana, and the organization of a new militia to be composed alike of Cubans and Spaniards; a representation of the island in the Cortes; a recognition of the military rank of the insurgent chiefs and officers, and those accredited with foreign commissions, their rank 'to be effective only in the list of the Spanish army in Cuba,' and the complete abolition of slavery in five years, with indemnity."
Both parties disregarded the terms of the treaty. Doubtless the Cubans would have played with entire fairness, had it not been for the fact that the Spaniards at once demonstrated that they did not intend to keep their promises. General Garcia retained the title of "President of the Republic," and the House of Representatives continued, until 1869, to meet somewhere in the wilderness. General Campos made a bid for popular favor, and went on record as advocating a peace which would be lasting. The Spaniards had good cause not to desire resumption of warfare, and the Cubans were too worn out to start any serious trouble. Campos wrote a report to the Spanish government, couched in florid language and breathing benevolence:
"I do not wish to make a momentary peace. I desire that this peace be the beginning of a bond of common interests between Spain and her Cuban provinces, and that this bond be drawn continually closer by the identity of aspirations and the good faith of both.
"Let not the Cubans be considered as pariahs or minors, but put on an equality with other Spaniards in everything not inconsistent with their present condition.
"It was on the other hand impossible, according to my judgment and conscience, not to grant the first condition; not to do it was to postpone indefinitely the fulfilment of a promise made in our present constitution. It was not possible that this island, richer, more populous, and more advanced morally and materially than her sister, Porto Rico, should remain without the advantages and liberties long ago planted in the latter with good results; and the spirit of the age, and the decision of the country gradually to assimilate the colonies to the Peninsula, made it necessary to grant the promised reforms, which would have been already established, and surely more amply, if the abnormal state of things had not concentrated all the attention of government on the extirpation of the evil which was devouring this rich province.