The Politics of Intervention

The Revolt That Never Was 171

turbed conditions, among them large numbers of the irresponsible

blacks without families or property.^6

Havana was the seat of annexationist agitation and criticism

of the Provisional Government. Among the Americans there,

James Runcie, a former Army officer and one-time Wood

confidant before he embarrassed the general with his annexa­

tionist propaganda, formed the Good Government League.

The goals of the League were unclear. The American minister

admitted that Runcie could be simply trying to interest busi­

nessmen in politics, but he thought it more likely that the

League was a cover for the annexationists.

(^7) The Americans
were reluctant to sponsor a conservative party because they
feared that the emergence of such a party would speed the
withdrawal of American troops. The Army's continued pres­
ence was essential if a protectorate was to be established.^8
The Spaniards, on the other hand, worked to discredit the
Provisional Government by accusing it of ignoring the advice
of the Havana financiers and merchants, and all those of
"pure Latin stock."^9
If the annexationist spirit or the dissatisfaction it fed upon
had been limited to the salons and counting houses of Havana,
Taft and Magoon easily might have coped with it. Troubling
reports from other parts of the island, however, flowed into
the Governor's office. After returning from a trip through
Cuba in December and January (1906-7), the Reverend
Albion W. Knight, Episcopal Bishop of Cuba, told Magoon
of conditions and attitudes much like those Atkins reported
to Taft. The Americans he had seen, Bishop Knight said,
favored annexation or a protectorate, but stood aloof from
politics. Bishop Knight characterized the typical American's
attitude:
He does not hesitate to express his opinion, but he does not assert
or inject his activity into the situation. He leaves the matter in the
hands of the Government and the Cuban people. I do not mean to state
that it is due altogether to indifference or to delicacy of feeling, but
more to a well grounded belief that to leave the people of the Island to