The American People Favor Cuba—Influence of the Press—Hatred ofWeyler—General Lee's Reports of the Horrors of the War—TheQuestion of Annexation—Spanish Soldiers Oppose American Aid forthe Suffering—Consular Reports From the Island.
The people of the United States, from the commencement of the war, have been deeply interested in the success of the Cuban cause. The leading journals, with hardly an exception, have upheld the revolutionists, and have been largely instrumental in arousing our government to action. The following editorial is one of many on the subject which voiced the popular feeling, and gave hope to the struggling band of patriots, both in the United States and Cuba:
"Cuba bleeds at every pore, and Liberty goes weeping through a land desolated by cruel war and throttled by the iron hand of a foreign despotism. We hold that this government would be justified not only in recognizing Cuban belligerency, but also in recognizing Cuban independence, on the sole ground of the rights and claims of outraged humanity. … In consequence of Weyler's barbarous decrees the most harrowing scenes of savagery and brutality are of almost daily occurrence in this beautiful island, which is situated a hundred miles from our Florida coast line. In the midst of these horrifying and terrorizing spectacles Cuba extends her hand in supplication to this land of boasted freedom, asking only for a kindly glance of friendly recognition.
"Shall we refuse this small crumb of comfort from our bounteous board? Spain may have the right to expect American neutrality, but she has no right to demand indifference on our part to the fate of a brave people, whose territory almost touches our own, and is nearer to our national capital than are a number of the States of the Union, and whose heroic struggle for liberty was largely inspired by our glorious example of beneficent free institutions and successful self-government.
"Spanish rule in Cuba has been characterized by injustice, oppression, extortion, and demoralization. She has fettered the energies of the people, while she has fattened upon their industry. She smiled but to smite, and embraced but to crush. She has disheartened exertion, disqualified merit, and destroyed patience and forbearance, by supporting in riotous luxury a horde of foreign officials at the expense of native industry and frugality.
"Irritated into resistance, the Cubans are now the intended victims of increased injustice. But the inhuman design will fail of accomplishment. Cuban patriotism develops with the growth of oppression. The aspiration for freedom increases in proportion to the weight of its multiplied chains. The dawn of Cuban liberty is rapidly approaching."
General Lee's reports cover the period from November 17, 1897, to April 1, 1898. Much of the correspondence is marked confidential. Only excerpts are given in many instances. General Lee's first dispatch related to the modifying of General Weyler's concentration order by General Blanco. In his communication he says:
"First. The insurgents will not accept autonomy.
"Second. A large majority of the Spanish subjects who have commercial and business interests and own property here will not accept autonomy, but prefer annexation to the United States rather than an independent republic or genuine autonomy under the Spanish flag."
The remainder of the letter is devoted to plans for the relief of the reconcentrados.
"In this city," he writes, "matters are assuming better shape under charitable committees. Large numbers are now cared for and fed by private subscriptions. I witnessed many terrible scenes and saw some die while I was present. I am told General Blanco will give $100,000 to the relief fund."
General Lee writes on December 13:
"The contest for and against autonomy is most unequal. For it there are five or six of the head officers at the Palace and twenty or thirty other persons here in the city. Against it, first, are the insurgents, with or without arms, and the Cuban non-combatants; second, the great mass of the Spaniards bearing or not bearing arms—the latter desiring, if there must be a change, annexation to the United States. Indeed, there is the greatest apathy concerning autonomy in any form. No one asks what it will be, or when or how it will come.
"I do not see how it could even be put into operation by force, because as long as the insurgents decline to accept it, so long, the Spanish authorities say, the war must continue."
General Lee then describes the efforts to form an autonomistic cabinet in Cuba and the public disapprobation of the people.
On January 8 General Lee makes the following report:
"Sir—I have the honor to state, as a matter of public interest, that the reconcentrado order of General Weyler, formerly governor-general of this island, transformed about four hundred thousand self-supporting people, principally women and children, into a multitude to be sustained by the contributions of others, or die of starvation or of fevers resulting from a low physical condition and being massed in large bodies, without change of clothing and without food.
"Their homes were burned, their fields and plant beds destroyed, and their live stock driven away or killed.
"I estimate that probably two hundred thousand of the rural population in the provinces of Pinar del Rio, Havana, Matanzas, and Santa Clara have died of starvation or from resultant causes, and the deaths of whole families almost simultaneously, or within a few days of each other, and of mothers praying for their children to be relieved of their horrible sufferings by death are not the least of the many pitiable scenes which were ever present. In the provinces of Puerto Principe and Santiago de Cuba, where the 'reconcentrado order' could not be enforced, the great mass of the people are self-sustaining. …
"A daily average of ten cents' worth of food to two hundred thousand people would be an expenditure of $20,000 per day, and, of course, the most humane efforts upon the part of our citizens cannot hope to accomplish such a gigantic relief, and a great portion of these people will have to be abandoned to their fate." …
On January 12, 13, 14 and 15 General Lee sent brief cablegrams to the department in regard to those rioting and the demonstrations against autonomy and Blanco and the three newspaper offices.
January 13 he said some of the rioters threatened to go to the United States consulate. "Ships," he said, "are not needed, but may be later. If Americans are in danger ships should move promptly for Havana. Uncertainty and excitement widespread." The rioting ceased the next day and General Lee reported all quiet.
On March 1 General Lee reports that the distribution of food, medicines, and clothing to the destitute is proceeding satisfactorily. The work, he says, has been well organized and systematized under the supervision and direction of Miss Clara Barton, president of the Red Cross of the United States, and her active, able, and experienced assistant. He inclosed a letter on March 14 from Consul Barker, of Sagua, who requests him to transmit the following letter, which is addressed to him (General Lee):
"Dear Sir—I will thank you to communicate to the department as quickly as possible the fact that military commander and other military officers positively refuse to allow the reconcentrados, to whom I am issuing food in its raw state, to procure fuel with which to cook the food.
"In addition, they prohibited this class of people (I am only giving food to about one-fifth of the destitute—the authorities have quit altogether) from gathering vegetables cultivated within the protection of the forts, telling them 'the Americans propose to feed you, and to the Americans you must look.'"
General Lee reports on March 28 that "instructions have been given, by the civil government of Havana that the alcaldes and other authorities shall not give out any facts about the reconcentrados, and if any of the American relief committees should make inquiries concerning them, all such inquiries must be referred to him."
General Lee's dispatches end with a dispatch under date of April 1, transmitting the decree of the governor-general terminating the concentration order.
Consul Barker covers the conditions existing in Santa Clara province in several communications, beginning on November 20, 1897, and closing on March 24 last. His letters constitute one long story of distress, of sickness, destitution and death, until, indeed, the picture, even as drawn in the plain language of official communications, is revolting.
Mr. Barker devoted comparatively little space to political questions. Only one or two of his letters are along these lines. Probably the most notable of these is his communication of January 10 last:
"When Spain will admit defeat," he writes, "no mortal, in my humble judgment, dare predict. That her plan of settlement— autonomy—is a failure, and that with this failure passes from under her dominion the island, is not to be questioned. Pending this admission on her part thousands of human beings, guiltless of bringing on or having any part in the insurrection, are dying for want of sustenance."
Mr. Barker then suggests that residents in Cuba be allowed to take out first papers under the naturalization laws before a consul in Cuba, and that by this scheme, he thinks, Spain will be rebuked and change her laws.
He adds that the relief from the United States must be continued or the people must starve, so long as there is an armed Spanish soldier in the country, "since these people, for fear of being murdered, do not go to their country homes."
On January 15 Mr. Barker writes: "In this consular district a reign of terror and anarchy prevails, which the authorities, if so disposed, are utterly powerless to control or in any measure to subdue. Aside from the suffering and desperation caused by the unparalleled destitution, I regard the situation as rapidly assuming a critical stage. As stated heretofore, in no way have the authorities departed from the policy pursued by the late, but not lamented, General Weyler. Spanish troops, as well as the guerrillas under the cruel chiefs Carreraz, Clavarrietta, and Lazo, continue to despoil the country and drench it with the blood of non-combatants. Although the 'bando' of the captain-general provides that laborers may return to estates, it restricts their operations to those having a garrison. Last week a number belonging to the 'Sta. Ana' estate, located within a league of Sagua, and owned by George Thorndike of Newport, were driven off after returning, and refused a permit as a protection by the military commander, Mayor Lemo, one of the trusted officers under the Weyler regime."
Mr. Barker says that from February 15 to March 12 he cared for twelve hundred persons, increasing the number on the relief list after that date to two thousand.
On March 24 Mr. Barker increased his estimate as to the amount of food necessary to keep life in the people of that province. He said that one hundred and fifty tons a month were needful for that time, and that the distress was far greater than his former reports had shown. In the letter of this date he recounts the particulars of a visit to Santa Clara, where, he says, he learned from his own agents and also from the governor of the province that the number of persons in actual want exceeded any estimate which he had previously sent to the government He had said only three days before that he thought twenty tons a month should be added to the eighty tons previously suggested. In a communication of March 20 Mr. Barker says: "The distress is simply heart-rending. Whole families without clothing to hide nakedness are sleeping on the bare ground, without bedding of any kind, without food, save such as we have been able to reach with provisions sent by our own noble people; and the most distressing feature is that fully 50 per cent are ill, without medical attendance or medicine."
Mr. Barker adds that if $5,000 could be sent to Consul GeneralLee, blankets, cots, and medicines could be purchased in SantaClara, and thus save thousands who must die if compelled to awaitthe sending of these supplies from the United States.
"I have," he says, "found the civil governor willing to lend every aid in his power, but he admits that he can do nothing but assist with his civil officers in expediting relief sent by the United States. The military obstruct in every way possible."
Writing on December 5, Mr. Hyatt said: "The reconcentration order is relaxed, but not removed; but many people have reached a point where it is a matter of entire indifference to them whether it is removed or not, for they have lost all interest in the problem of existence. A census of the island taken to-day, as compared with one taken three years ago, I feel confident would show that two-thirds of the residents are missing, and the Spanish army would make no better showing."
On December 14 Mr. Hyatt wrote: "The order of reconcentration practically has been wiped out, and, so far as the Spanish government is concerned, men go about nearly as they please. The insurgents and their sympathizers will unquestionably take advantage of the revocation to get from the towns and cities what they need and otherwise strengthen their cause. The effects on agricultural pursuits will be disappointing, because the great majority of those who would or should take up the work joined the insurgent forces when compelled to leave their homes, and the portion which came within the lines of reconcentration are women, children, old and sickly people, most of whom seem to have little interest in the problem of life. There is no one to take these people back to the fields and utilize their remaining strength. Their houses are destroyed, the fields are overgrown with weeds, they have no seeds to plant, and, if they had, they could not live sixty or eighty days until the crop matured; which, when grown, would more than likely be taken by one or the other of the contending parties."
"As I write," Mr. Hyatt closes this communication, "a man is dying in the street in front of my door, the third in a comparatively small time."
Mr. Hyatt's letter of December 21 deals largely with the sickness and the death rate on the island, which he characterizes as appalling. "Statistics," he says, "make a grievous showing, but come far short of the truth. The disease is generally brought on by insufficient food. It is sometimes called paludal fever, and at others la grippe, and it is epidemic rather than contagious. From 30 to 40 per cent of the people were afflicted with it."
He also reported smallpox and yellow fever as prevailing, and said that out of a total of sixteen thousand soldiers recently sent to Manzanillo, nearly five thousand were in hospitals or quartered on the people. He says that Dr. Gaminero, United States sanitary inspector, reported at that time that there were more than twelve thousand people sick in bed, not counting those in military hospitals. This is at least 35 per cent of the present population. Mr. Hyatt adds that quinine, the only remedy of avail, is sold ten times higher than in the United States. He says that steamers coming into port give out soup once a day to the waiting throngs, and that fresh meat sells at from 50 cents to $1 a pound.
Every ten days or so crowds of handcuffed men are driven through the streets of Havana, which they will never tread again, on their way to the transport ship which will convey them to the penal settlements on the African coast. Many of these men represent the elite of Cuban society. Seldom is a direct charge brought against them. Police spies denounce them as Cuban sympathizers. They are given no trial, that they may prove the charges false. On administrative order they are sentenced to exile for life, and frequently the source of their misfortune can be traced to private revenge or personal feeling. Since the beginning of the war at least ten thousand prominent citizens have been torn from their native island, families and friends, and sent to life exile in the filthy, overcrowded, deadly swamps of Fernando Po. With a little money and good health it is possible to survive in Ceuta, but none ever returns from Fernando Po. On the 23d of March a large party of citizens of the Matanzas district passed through Havana on their way to the transport. It was a sad procession. Hopeless, jaded, despairing men, with arms tied behind them and feet shackled, forced to leave Cuba and face a slow, horrible death. On the train from Matanzas two of these unfortunates were literally shot to pieces. The guards reported they tried to escape and were shot in the attempt. Their fellow-prisoners told a different story. "The two men were deliberately taken out on the platform between the cars and fired upon. And the soldiers would give no reason." The action could likely be traced to personal revenge.
For three-quarters of a century the misgovernment of Spain in Cuba was a neighborhood shame and scandal to the people of the United States. Warning off the interference of any other foreign nation, under the policy known as the "Monroe Doctrine," the American people witnessed the repeated efforts of a less favored nation of this hemisphere to release itself from the grasp of the oppressor. They witnessed at the periods of each of these revolts their own ships of war patroling the southern coast and the waters adjacent to Cuba to intercept any young Americans whose sympathies might lead them to join the Cuban cause, and they acquiesced, because the law as it stood exacted it. They witnessed in more than one of these revolts, when some young Americans, who had eluded the vigilance of United States cruisers, landed on the island and were captured by Spanish troops. These young men stood against the walls of Morro Castle and were shot like dogs, because their government was powerless under the law to aid them. They witnessed the offers on the part of their government at various times to terminate the continued scandal upon civilized government at one of the doorways of their country by the purchase of the island for a generous sum of money, and the rejections of such propositions by Spain.
The American people finally realized that peace could never come to Cuba until it was imposed by the action of the United States, and the opinion gradually grew that neither international obligations nor a desire for the maintenance of friendly relations with Spain could justify our government in permitting these outrages to continue at our doors.
How Spain Pays Her Debts—An Old Soldier's Experience—The Caseof Pedro Casanova—Destruction of Property—Robbery and Murder—ACruel Attack—The Insurgents to the Rescue—Hiding in a CaneField—The Appeal to the Consul—Intervention Justifiable.
Many American citizens in Cuba have been confined in Spanish prisons, a number have been sent to the penal colonies, the property of some has been confiscated, and others have been murdered in cold blood. A celebrated case, which shows how slowly the wheels of justice sometimes revolve, was that of Antonio Maximo, a naturalized American citizen. He was condemned to death, and his estates declared the property of the government, by order of a court-martial, in 1870. He was charged with participating in the revolution then going on in Cuba and convicted, in spite of the fact that he was not residing on the island. The United States demanded restitution and indemnification, and in 1873 the Spanish republic admitted that the claim was just. The decree was confirmed in 1876 by the royal government, but the authorities in Cuba delayed its execution until the estates were in ruins. Spain finally offered the sum of 1,500,000 pesos as indemnity, and this offer was accepted in 1886. The Cortes, however, made no appropriation for the payment, and in 1888 the Spanish minister of state attempted to affix to the agreement the new condition that certain claims of Spanish subjects should be adjudicated and settled simultaneously. Secretary Bayard rejected the proposition, and our government continued to urge the Spanish authorities to fulfill their contract. On June 12, 1895, Secretary Olney instructed Hannis Taylor, United States minister at Madrid, to ask Spain to give assurances that she would settle the claim within two months. The Spanish government then offered to pay the principal of the claim, and the claimant agreed to forego the interest. On September 14, the original claimant having died, the Spanish government paid $1,499,000, equal to 1,500,000 pesos, in settlement of the long-standing claim.
William Ewing, of Buffalo, New York, served in the Seventeenth United States infantry all through the civil war, and is a member of the G. A. R. He went to Cuba, and invested $7,000, all the money he had, in a sugar plantation, and with his wife and daughter and his brother-in-law, William Hamilton, he took up his abode on the island.
Finally, owing to the unsettled conditions resulting from the war, he sent his family back to the United States, and joined the insurgent army. His brother-in-law also espoused the Cuban cause, and was killed in battle. Discouraged by his reverses, he decided to return to his native land, and made his escape from the island by boarding a blockade runner, which landed him at Atlantic City, from where he walked to New York. Grand Army comrades gave him food and shelter, and assisted him to reach his family. This man has a personal interest in the success of the cause, for when that time comes he hopes to regain possession of his property.
Pedro Casanova, a citizen of the United States, resided near the little railway station of San Miguel de Jaruca with his family, which consists of his wife and three children and his nephew, the latter born in the United States. He told the story of his wrongs at the hands of the Spaniards to a representative of the New York Herald in the following words:
"I have suffered great outrages from the Spanish soldiers. The soldiers recently passed on the road, and my wife called my attention to the fact that they had broken into a vacant house where valuable property was stored, and were pulling things in pieces. Just then I saw two officers coming toward the house. I was very glad, and went out to meet them, and invited them to enter the house and refresh themselves. They accepted, and said they liked coffee. While they were drinking, one or two soldiers came and spoke to the captain, who asked me, 'Who are the men in the sugar house?' 'My employes,' I replied, 'including one engineer. The others are engaged in repairs.'
"The captain said: 'I hear rebels are hidden there. I must take the men before the major for examination; the major himself will be here to-morrow.'
"After he left I found the door of the house on the hill broken open. A quantity of bottled beer had been taken, also my saddles and bridles, and many other things. Gloves and other articles of woman's apparel were tossed in the yard. I went to the station. The drug store looked as if it had been visited by a mad bull. All the shelves and drawers were thrown out and smashed. An empty store opposite was in the same condition. The counter was thrown down and the door posts hacked by machetes. The large coffee mill was broken, and all was in disorder. An account of this work was what the soldiers had whispered to the captain. The officer had remarked to me with a sneer: 'The insurgents are very kind to you, as no harm has been done here.'
"I was surprised on the following Wednesday morning to hear shots as of several volleys of musketry. About three hundred soldiers— infantry and cavalry—were, in fact, outside, having surrounded my house. More soon appeared under command of Captain Cerezo Martinez. In most brutal and vulgar terms he ordered all in the house to go outside. The soldiers rushed in and dragged me out by the coat collar. My wife, with her baby, was taken out, a rifle being pointed at her breast. Eleutrie Zanabria, a negro servant, who was badly frightened, tried to hide. He was pulled to the front, and before my eyes a soldier struck him a heavy blow with his machete, cutting him deep in the head and arm, leaving a pool of blood on the floor. The wound was serious.
"An order was then given to take into custody all men on the estate. Near a tree beyond the hill, one hundred yards from the house, I stopped, about forty paces from the others, to talk to the captain, who had been at the house the week before. At that moment a young negro, Manuel Febels, made a dash to escape. Some cavalrymen rushed after him, firing. He fell, and they mutilated his body, taking out his eyes. The officer, enraged at the negro's flight, pulled out his sabre, and shouted to the others of the party: 'Get down on your knees!' They obeyed and he had them bound and kept in that position a quarter of an hour.
"While I was talking to the captain my wife and five-year-old child were begging for mercy for me. The cavalrymen helped themselves to corn for their horses, and finally started. The officers told me that my nephew's life and my own were only spared because we were Americans, and they did not want to get into trouble with the United States. They then ordered me to leave San Miguel without waiting a moment.
"Their explanation of the raid was that the rebels had fired upon the troops, and that they saw one man run, as he fired, into my house, and that, under the major's instructions, the whole family should have been killed. My wife and children were in agony while I was away. My employes were all taken away by the troops.
"An officer of high rank in the Spanish army passed my place after I left, came to me here, and said: 'I know what has happened. The man in command is unfit to be an officer of Spain.' I heard that my men had been taken to the Spanish camp and shot while eating breakfast."
The brothers Farrar, in presenting their claim for indemnity, made the following statement:
"On Saturday, March 21, the dwelling house of the coffee plantation Estrella was the object of a wanton attack by the column of Gen. Bernat, operating in that region. The said building received cannon shots of grape and cannister, breaking the door, one window, several piazza columns, and greatly endangering the lives of the families of my brothers, Don Tasio and Don Luis Farrar, both American citizens. There were two small children in the house. From my information it appears that the troops mentioned had sustained fire with a rebel band in Paz plantation, a quarter-league from Estrella. The rebels having fled to Pedroso and Buena Esperanza plantations, the government troops advanced toward Estrella in quite an opposite direction from that taken by the rebels. On arriving at the borders of Estrella plantation the Spanish column began firing cannon at the dwelling house, and it was immediately invaded by the soldiers, who ransacked it, carrying off wardrobes, all jewelry and men's clothing which they contained, as well as the sum of about $60 in money. They also took away everything found in workmen's dwellings, arresting at the same time twelve of the occupants, whom they conducted to Alquizar as insurgents. It should be observed that the cannon were fired solely at the dwelling house of the owners, although there were twenty other buildings on the plantation, and the place was entirely clear of insurgents.
"In consideration of all the above, and particularly on account of the danger to which his relatives were exposed, and also for the unjustifiable looting on the part of the regular troops in the service of a constituted government, the undersigned does most solemnly protest, and asks an immediate indemnity for the damages suffered, which he values at $5,000, as all work has been stopped on the plantation and everything abandoned."
The case of Dr. Deligado is a particularly pathetic one. His home was in New York, where he was a practicing physician, but he went to Cuba to take possession of some property which he had inherited. His father told the story of their sufferings to a correspondent, and his account was supplemented by additional particulars from the doctor himself. The elder gentleman said:
"Our plantation is called Dolores, the old name being Morales. It was about half past one on the 4th day of March when a regiment of rebels, about four hundred or five hundred men, invaded the place. They told us they were Maceo's men, and soon after them came Maceo, with twenty-four women, sixteen whites and eight mulattoes. I understood that these women were the wives of the officers.
"Maceo shook hands politely and asked if I would allow them to take breakfast with us. Of course there was nothing to do but say yes, and the men spread themselves over about seventy acres of the plantation, the officers and ladies coming into the house. They had provisions with them, but desired to cook and serve them, which they did. They sat down at the table and were soon joking and laughing. Suddenly we heard rifle shots. Hernandez yelled to his wife to hand him his machete. Then all went out and found that the firing had come from what seemed to be an advance guard of the Spanish troops. There was some skirmishing at a distance, and the insurgents rode away. They did not wish to fight on the plantation, as they were on another mission.
"The Spaniards had fired the cane, thinking there were other insurgents hiding there. Spanish bullets rattled on the tiled roof of the house, and farm hands who were plowing back of the house got frightened and wished to come in.
"After a while I opened the window to see how matters stood and saw two cavalrymen and a captain, with two soldiers. My son and the farm hands went out toward the burning cane in an attempt to save some oxen that were near the cane. When the captain saw them he shouted: 'Who are those people?' I told him they were our workmen, and he then gave orders to clear the house. They rushed their horses right through the house, the captain leading them. I took out my American papers and showed them to him to prove that I was a peaceful citizen. 'They are the worst documents you could have,' said the captain. They answered my son in the same way, and the captain repeated the order to clear the house. Then they ordered us to march on as prisoners and told the women to stay back. My son asked them to let me stay back with the women, and they allowed me to do so. Of course the women were panic-stricken and screaming when they saw their husbands being taken away.
"We heard shots and then a second volley. One of the women cried out: 'They have killed my husband!' Her words were true. After about three hours I ventured out, and I saw coming towards the house the old farm hand, a man of about seventy. He seemed to be holding a red handkerchief over his arm, but when I got nearer I saw that it was covered with blood. He cried out when he saw me: 'They have killed them!' 'My son! My son!' I cried. 'He was the first one they killed,' he said.
"I took the man in the house and tried to bind up his arm, which had been shattered by a bullet. I endeavored to pacify the women, and told them they should go to the nearest neighbors for help. The two white farm hands, who had been hiding in the cane, then came over toward the house, while I was trying to quiet the women. They were afraid to move, panic-stricken, and would not go for help.
"Suddenly a young man dashed up to the house at full gallop. He drew his revolver and told the farm hands to get cots and pillows and medicine to bring to the missing men in case any of them should be still alive. He said he would shoot them if they disobeyed, and they did as he directed. They made up a litter, and we walked on till we found the place where the men lay in a pool of blood.
"I looked into my son's face and cried out: 'My son, my son!' He opened his eyes and whispered: 'Father, they have killed us.'"
The old gentleman broke down in a passion of weeping at these recollections of the awful scene, and the son gave his account of the horrible butchery:
"They marched us along," said the Doctor, "and I spoke to the general: 'General, I am an American citizen, and here are my papers from Mr. Williams.' 'They are the worst things you could have,' he said. 'I wish the Consul were here himself, so that I could treat him thus,' and he struck me three times in the face. Then he sounded the bugle calling the volunteers, and ordered us taken to the rear guard. Of course, we knew that this meant death. They tied us in a line with our hands pinioned. I knew the sergeant and said to him: 'Is it possible that you are going to kill me?' 'How can I help it?' he answered. Then the order was given and the soldiers rushed upon us with machetes. Their knives cut our ropes as we tried to dodge the blows, and the soldiers fired two volleys at us. The first shot grazed my head, and I dropped to the ground as though dead. The old farm hand also threw himself to the earth. This act saved our lives.
"The other four men who tried to fight were killed. At the second discharge a bullet pierced my side. When we all lay as though dead they came up and turned us over and searched our pockets—mine first, of course, as I was better dressed than the other men. One of the soldiers noticed that my breast moved and shouted out: 'This fellow is not dead yet. Give him another blow,' and he raised his machete and gave me a slash across the face and throat. Then I became unconscious."
Delgado's father took up the story as his son left off: "The brave young man who brought us to the place where my son was, now jumped from his horse and gave orders to the men to lift my son on the litter, as we found he was the only man still living. We put a pillow under his head, and the two farm hands lifted the litter and carried it into the cane field. Meanwhile the women relatives of the dead men came up and began to wail and cry. The young man, whom we afterwards found was an insurgent leader, told them they should be quiet, as their lamentations would bring the Spanish troops upon the scene again.
"Then the litter was carried into the cane field. This young man said: 'You must immediately write to the American consul. I will furnish you with a messenger, and you may rest safely in this cane field with your son. I will put a guard of 500 men around it so that they cannot burn it, as they do when they know people are hiding in the cane.'
"For five days I was in the cane field with my son. It rained upon us, and then I put the pillows over my son's chest, in order to protect him. I suffered greatly from rheumatism. Only the young man appeared and said that General Maceo had sent a guard to escort me back to my home. With my boy we were taken there and guard kept around our house. The messenger came back from the Consul, and I came on to Havana to see General Weyler, who had my son brought here to the city."
Stories of outrages on Americans that are unquestionably true might be furnished in numbers sufficient to more than fill this entire volume, but enough have been given to convince the most skeptical that the demand for intervention was justified on our own account, as well as for the sake of the people of Cuba.
McKINLEY SUCCEEDS CLEVELAND.
The Cuban Question Not a New One—The Efforts of FormerAdministrations to Bring About a Settlement—President Cleveland'sMessage—Recommendations of President McKinley—The SpanishMinister's Insulting Letter—His Resignation Accepted—The Apologyof the Spanish Government.
For more than ninety years the United States government has been confronted with a Cuban question. At times it has disappeared from our politics, but it has always reappeared. Once we thought it wise to prevent the island from winning its independence from Spain, and thereby, perhaps, we entered into moral bonds to make sure that Spain governed it decently. Whether we definitely contracted such an obligation or not, the Cuban question has never ceased to annoy us. The controversies about it make a long series of chapters in one continuous story of diplomatic trouble. Many of our ablest statesmen have had to deal with it as Secretaries of State and as Ministers to Spain, and not one of them has been able to settle it. One President after another has taken it up, and every one has transmitted it to his successor. It has at various times been a "plank" in the platforms of all our political parties—as it was in both the party platforms of 1896—and it has been the subject of messages of nearly all our Presidents, as it was of President Cleveland's message in December, 1896, in which he distinctly expressed the opinion that the United States might feel forced to recognize "higher obligations" than neutrality to Spain. In spite of periods of apparent quiet, the old trouble has always reappeared in an acute form, and it has never been settled; nor has there recently been any strong reason for hope that it could be settled merely by diplomatic negotiation with Spain. Our diplomats have long had an experience with Spanish character and methods such as the public can better understand since war has been in progress. The pathetic inefficiency and the continual indirection of the Spanish character are now apparent to the world; they were long ago apparent to those who have had our diplomatic duties to do.
Thus the negotiations dragged on. We were put to trouble and expense to prevent filibustering, and filibustering continued in spite of us. More than once heretofore has there been danger of international conflict, as for instance when American sailors on the Virginius were executed in Cuba in 1873. Propositions have been made to buy the island, and plans have been formed to annex it. All the while there have been great American interests in Cuba. Our citizens have owned much property and made investments there, and done much to develop its fertility. They have paid tribute unlawful as well as lawful, both to insurgents and to Spanish officials. They have lost property, for which no indemnity has been paid. All the while we have had a trade with the island, important during periods of quiet, irritating during periods of unrest.
The Cuban trouble is, therefore, not a new trouble, even in an acute form. It had been moving forward toward a crisis for a long time. Still, while our government suffered these diplomatic vexations, and our citizens these losses, and our merchants these annoyances, the mass of the American people gave little serious thought to it. The newspapers kept us reminded of an opera bouffe war that was going on, and now and then there came information of delicate and troublesome diplomatic duties for our Minister to Spain. If Cuba were within a hundred miles of the coast of one of our populous States, and near one of our great ports, periods of acute interest in its condition would doubtless have come earlier and oftener, and we should long ago have had to deal with a crisis by warlike measures. Or if the insurgents had commanded respect instead of mere pity, we should have paid heed to their struggle sooner; for it is almost an American maxim that a people cannot govern itself till it can win its own independence.
When it began to be known that Weyler's method of extermination was producing want in the island, and when appeals were made to American charity, we became more interested. President Cleveland found increasing difficulty with the problem. Our Department of State was again obliged to give it increasingly serious attention, and a resolute determination was reached by the administration that this scandal to civilization should cease—we yet supposed peacefully—and Spain was informed of our resolution. When Mr. McKinley came to the Presidency, the people, conscious of a Cuban problem, were yet not greatly aroused about it. Indeed, a prediction of war made at the time of the inauguration would have seemed wild and foolish. Most persons still gave little thought to Cuba, and there seemed a likelihood that they would go on indefinitely without giving serious thought to it; for neither the insurgents, nor the Cuban junta, nor the Cuban party in the United States, if there was such a party, commanded respect.
PRESIDENT McKINLEY'S MESSAGE.
President McKinley sent a message to Congress a few weeks after his inauguration, in which he recommended the appropriation of $50,000 for the relief of American citizens in Cuba. It read as follows:
"Official information from our Consuls in Cuba establishes the fact that a large number of American citizens in the island are in a state of destitution, suffering for want of food and medicines. This applies particularly to the rural districts of the central and eastern parts. The agricultural classes have been forced from their farms into the nearest towns where they are without work or money. The local authorities of the several towns, however kindly disposed, are unable to relieve the needs of their own people, and are altogether powerless to help our citizens. The latest report of Consul-General Lee estimates that 600 to 800 are without means of support. I have assured him that provision would be made at once to relieve them. To that end I recommend that Congress make an appropriation of not less than $50,000, to be immediately available for use under the direction of the Secretary of State.
"It is desirable that a part of the sum which may be appropriated by Congress should, in the discretion of the Secretary of State, also be used for the transportation of American citizens who, desiring to return to the United States, are without means to do so."
The joint resolution offered by Senator Gallinger, which embodied the recommendations of President McKinley, passed both Houses without a dissenting vote.
An influential journal printed the following editorial concerning this measure:
"It is an essentially new departure in international affairs, and it is in order for the sticklers for precedent to enter fussy protestation, as they did in connection with the Venezuelan question, against the Monroe doctrine, declaring it was not to be found in the code of international law. It is certainly very unusual, if not unprecedented, for the government to make a relief appropriation for its own people in some foreign land. The truth is, this Cuban situation is wholly exceptional. Here is a little island in a state of civil war. It is largely a sectional war, one part of the island being in possession of one of the belligerents, and the other section in possession of the other belligerent.
"Several hundreds of our American citizens are in that section of the island occupied by Spanish armies, and are suffering, in common with the Cubans themselves, from a deliberate policy of starvation. Weyler is trying to conquer by famine. That is his fixed purpose, and, from the nature of the case, no discrimination is made between Spanish subjects in rebellion and American citizens sojourning in the island. If the policy of starvation cannot be maintained without this indiscrimination then so much the worse for Weyler and his policy. Congress has only to make the appropriation asked for, and the relief will go forward, without regard to any collateral consequences."
One of the most sensational incidents in connection with Spanish affairs prior to the destruction of the Maine was the publication of a letter, which fell into the hands of the Cuban Junta, written by Senor Dupuy De Lome, the representative of the Spanish government in Washington, to the editor of a newspaper at Madrid. A translation of the letter is given:
My Distinguished and Dear Friend:
You need not apologize for not having written to me. I ought to have written to you, but have not done so on account of being weighed down with work.
The situation here continues unchanged. Everything depends on the political and military success in Cuba. The prologue of this second method of warfare will end the day that the Colonial Cabinet will be appointed, and it relieves us in the eyes of this country of a part of the responsibility of what may happen there, and they must cast the responsibility upon the Cubans, whom they believe to be so immaculate.
Until then we will not be able to see clearly, and I consider it to be a loss of time and an advance by the wrong road, the sending of emissaries to the rebel field, the negotiating with the autonomists, not yet declared to be legally constituted, and the discovery of the intentions and purposes of this government. The exiles will return one by one, and when they return will come walking into the sheepfold, and the chiefs will gradually return.
Neither of these had the courage to leave en masse, and they will not have the courage to thus return. The President's message has undeceived the insurgents, who expected something else, and has paralyzed the action of Congress, but I consider it bad.
Besides the natural and inevitable coarseness with which he repeats all that the press and public opinion of Spain has said of Weyler, it shows once more what McKinley is—weak and catering to the rabble, and, besides, a low politician, who desires to leave a door open to me and to stand well with the jingoes of his party. Nevertheless, as a matter of fact, it will only depend on ourselves whether he will prove bad and adverse to us.
I agree entirely with you that without military success nothing will be accomplished there, and without military and political success there is here always danger that the insurgents will be encouraged, if not by the government, at least by part of the public opinion. I do not believe you pay enough attention to the role of England. Nearly all that newspaper canaille, which swarm in your hotel, are English, and while they are correspondents of American journals, they are also correspondents of the best newspapers and reviews of London.
Thus it has been since the beginning. To my mind, the only object of England is that the Americans should occupy themselves with us and leave her in peace, and if there is a war, so much the better. That would further remove what is threatening her, although that will never happen. It would be most important that you should agitate the question of commercial relations, even though it would be only for effect, and that you should send here a man of importance, in order that I might use him to make a propaganda among the senators and others, in opposition to the Junta and to win over exiles. There goes Amblarad. I believe he comes too deeply taken up with political matters, and there must be something great or we shall lose. Adela returns your salutation, and we wish you in the new year to be a messenger of peace and take this new year's present to poor Spain. Always your attentive friend and servant, who kisses your hand,
As soon as this letter was made public, De Lome cabled his resignation to the Spanish government, and withdrew his passports from the State Department in Washington, thus saving himself the mortification of a dismissal. The Spanish government at Madrid sent the following communication to Minister Woodford regarding the affair:
The Spanish Government, on learning of the incident in which Minister Dupuy De Lome was concerned, and being advised of his objectionable communication, with entire sincerity laments the incident, states that Minister De Lome had presented his resignation, and it had been accepted before the presentation of the matter by Minister Woodford. That the Spanish Ministry, in accepting the resignation of a functionary whose services they have been utilizing and valuing up to that time, leaves it perfectly well established that they do not share, and rather, on the contrary, disauthorize the criticisms tending to offend or censure the chief of a friendly State, although such criticisms had been written within the field of friendship and had reached publicity by artful and criminal means.
That this meaning had taken shape in a resolution by the Council of Ministers before General Woodford presented the matter, and at a time when the Spanish Government had only vague telegraphic reports concerning the sentiments alluded to. That the Spanish nation, with equal and greater reason, affirms its view and decision after reading the words contained in the letter reflecting upon the President of the United States.
As to the paragraph concerning the desirability of negotiations of commercial relations, if even for effect and importance of using a representative for the purpose stated in Senor Dupuy De Lome's letter, the government expresses concern that in the light of its conduct, long after the writing of the letter, and in view of the unanswerable testimony of simultaneous and subsequent facts, any doubt should exist that the Spanish Government has given proof of its real desire and of its innermost convictions with respect to the new commercial system and the projected treaty of commerce.
That the Spanish Government does not now consider it necessary to lay stress upon, or to demonstrate anew the truth and sincerity of its purpose and the unstained good faith of its intentions. That publicly and solemnly, the Government of Spain contracted before the mother country and its colonies a responsibility for the political and tariff charges which it has inaugurated in both Antilles, the natural ends of which, in domestic and international spheres, it pursues with firmness, which will ever inspire its conduct.