**',*; - .V ...PICTORIAL HISTORY... OF OUR WAR WITH SPAIN A THRILLING ACCOUNT OF THE LAND AND NAVAL OPERATIONS OF AMERICAN SOLDIERS AND SAILORS IN OUR WAR WITH SPAIN, AND THE HEROIC STRUGGLES OF CUBAN PATRIOTS AGAINST SPANISH TYRANNY. INCLUDING A DESCRIPTION AND HioTORY OF CUBA, SPAIN, PHIL- IPPINE ISLANDS, OUR ARMY AND NAVY, FIGHTING STRENGTH, COAST DEFENSES, AND OUR RELA- TIONS WITH OTHER NATIONS, ETC., ETC. TRUMBULL WHITE, THE WELL KNOWN AND POPULAR AUTHOR, HISTORIAN AND WAR CORRESPONDENT. ELABORATELY ILLUSTRATED WITH PHOTOGRAPHS AND DRAW- INGS OF BATTLES, ON SEA AND LAND, WAR SHIPS, ETC., FROM LIFE. MANUFACTURED AND SOLD BY MONARCH BOOK COMPANY, CHICAGO, ILL. PHILADELPHIA. PA. I/ I . COPYRIGHTED BY K. T. BO LAND 1898 CKAKPTON AMCROFT UBBAIY ur Hmertcan IDolunteera GENERAL JOSEPH C. WHEELER GENERAL WESLEY MERRITT THEODORE ROOSEVELT GENERAL JOHN R. BROOKE CAPTAIN-GENERAL AUGUSTI ADMIRAL CAMARA PREFACE. Information concerning the island of Cuba has been of an exceed- ingly unsatisfactory character until the search-light of American inquiry was thrown upon it from the beginning of the war for Cuban liberty early in 1895. Although our next-door neighbor to the south, with a perfect winter climate and a host of interesting and picturesque attractions for travelers, tourists had been comparatively fe\v, measured by the numbers that might have been expected. All of the reasons for this were those which naturally followed the characteristic Spanish rule of the island. Publicity was not welcomed, inquiry was not welcomed, travelers were not welcomed. The cities and the accommodations they offered were in many ways far behind those of like a.ge and size in the other countries of the globe. Kailway construc- tion and the making of highways had lagged disgracefully, because the exorbitant taxes collected were looted by the officers of the govern- ment as their own spoils. No other country so near to the highways of ocean commerce and so accessible from the United States was so little known. A few travelers had journeyed to Cuba and had written books descriptive of their experiences, which were read with interest by those who had access to them. But these books were usually simply descrip- tive of the people, the manner of life, the scenery, and the things of surface interest. It is proverbial that Spanish rule conceals the re- sources of a country instead of exploiting them. The person of inquir- ing mind had no way in Cuba to obtain prompt information concerning the material facts of the island's wealth of resource, because the Spanish authorities themselves knew nothing about it. Spanish statistics are notoriously unreliable and incomplete. No census of Cuba worthy the name ever has been taken, and there are few schools and few sources of accurate information. With all this handicap it was a foregone conclusion that the casual traveler should confine him- self to the things that were visible and that were near to the usual paths of travelers. So until the beginning of the Cuban war for liberty no book could be obtained which told the things which one really cares i* 14 PKEFACE. to know. Picturesque descriptions there were, more than one, of con- siderable interest, but the information was scattered. Demand always creates supply, even if material is scant. When the war began, the people of the United States wanted to know some- thing of the people who were striving for their freedom, of their characteristics, their conditions and their personality. Moreover, it was an immediate necessity to know the geography of Cuba, its history, its natural conditions, its material resources, and a host of things that unite to make a comprehensive knowledge of any country. There were men who knew Cuba from years of residence there in industrial and commercial enterprises. They were drawn upon for their knowledge. Then the newspapers of the United States gave another demonstration of their unvarying enterprise and covered the points of interest in the insurrection most exhaustively. Their correspondents shared the camps of insurgent chiefs, witnessed the daring machete charges of the Cubans, saw every detail of armed life in the field. Others kept close watch of the movements of the Spanish forces in Havana and the fortified towns, as well as in the field. One was shot in action. Another was macheted to death after his capture, by a Spanish officer who waited only to be sure that the prisoner was an American before ordering him to death. Others were incarcerated in Morro and Cabanas fortresses and in the other Spanish prisons in Cuba because they insisted on telling the truth to America and the world. They were the ones who told of the horrors of reconcentration under that infamous order of Captain General Weyler. They have been the real historians of Cuba. It is to all of these sources and others that the information con- tained in the present volume is owed. The writer takes pleasure in acknowledging the courteous permission to use salient facts contained in some volumes of merit published prior to this time. But more than all the obligation is to the newspaper correspondents who worked with him in Cuba in the days when the war was but an insurrection and afterward when the insurrection became our own war against Spain for the liberty of Cuba. They are the ones who have gathered the most exhaustive information on the whole subject of Cuban affairs. They have been able by virtue of their intimate knowledge of Cuba and the Cubans to be of invaluable assistance to the commanders of army and navy alike, not only in advice as to the forming of plans, but in executing them. One who has seen the things knows that to exag- PEEFACE. 15 gerate the horrors of Spanish cruelty and the oppression of Spanish rule in Cuba is an impossibility. No newspaper could have printed the plain truth of a score of shocking affairs, simply because the public prints are no place for the exploiting of such tales of vicious crime against humanity as have been perpetrated. The most sensational tales have never reached the limits of the truth. It is hoped that the reader will find in this volume not only a com- prehensive current history of our war with Spain for Cuba's freedom, but also much of the other mattter that will be of interest and value in considering the future of the liberated island. Its history, its people, its resources and other salient subjects are included, with certain matter on Spain and her own affairs, with Puerto Rico and the Philippine islands, which chapters serve to make the volume a work for general reference and reading on the whole subject of the war. < a. U w u j_ X ** uj o 5 5 j 2 g" b ^ 8 s QL CO U E oa I PL, CQ 5 u UH O g H LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS. Photograph Group President McKinley and His Cabinet. Photograph Group Dewey, Sampson, Evans, Schley, and Gridley. Photograph Group Shafter, Merritt, Wheeler, Brooke and Koosevelt. Photograph Group Sagasta, Weyler, Don Carlos, August! and Camara. Fierce Fighting at El Caney, showing the Block House. Services at the Burial of the "Maine" Victims. Headquarters of Cuban Patriots Key West. Cuban Soldiers and Recruiting Officer in the Insurgent Army Cuba. A Cuban Home. Harbor View San Juan. Panoramic View of San Juan. Main Business Street in Manila. Patrol Boats Guarding American Fleet at Night. The Heroic Dash of the Seventy-First New York Volunteers. An Artillery Dash. Troop Transports leaving San Francisco for Manila. Field Practice with Artillery and Surgical Work. Clara Barton and Her Work in a Cuban Hospital. U. S. Artillery to the Front. Captain Sigsbee of the Ill-fated "Maine." General Stewart L. Woodford Late TJ. S. Minister to Spain. General Nelson A. Miles. United States Soldiers Marching to the Front. General Fitzhugh Lee, Ex-Consul General to Havana. General Fitzhugh Lee's Departure from Havana before the War. General Maximo Gomez. General Maceo. The Battleship "Maine" Previous to Her Destruction. Harbor of Havana, showing Ports, Sand Batteries, etc. Morro Castle and Fortress Havana. City of Havana and Harbor. The Harbor Entrance to Havana. Machine Gun and Operator. Admiral Cervera. A Common Scene in Havana. Blanco. 21 22 LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS. A Street Scene among the Poor Cuba. Alfonso, King of Spain. Royal Palace Madrid. Hotel Inglaterre and Central Park Havana. The Valley of Yumuri Cuba. Armored Cruiser "New York." Armored Cruiser "Brooklyn." Battleship "Oregon." Battleship "Texas." Battleship "Iowa." Forward Deck of the "Indiana." Coastline Battleship "Indiana." Coastline Battleship "Massachusetts." Naval Battle at Manila. Double-Turreted Monitor "Terror." Wreck of the Battleship "Maine." Battle of Mobile Bay, where Dewey got His First Experience in Naval War- fare. Protected Cruiser "Minneapolis." Protected Cruiser "San Francisco." Protected Cruiser "Boston." Protected Cruiser "Atlanta." Gunboat "Nashville." Gunboat "Yorktown." Torpedo Boat "Ericsson." Dispatch Boat "Dolphin." Gunboat "Concord." Protected Cruiser "Chicago." Protected Cruiser "Columbia." Protected Cruiser "Philadelphia." Clara Barton, the Angel of the Sick-room. Departure of Third Relief for Manila. Lieutenant Hobson and the Scenes of his Heroic Exploits. Entrance to Harbor Santiago de Cuba. Destruction of Cervera's Fleet. A Cuban Cavalry Surprising and Capturing a Spanish Camp. Heroic Dash of American Soldiers Near Santiago. The Company Cook Colored. Types of the Philippines No. 1. Types of the Philippines No. 2. A Sugar Factory in Manila. Lamp Helio. Scene in the Turret of a Battleship during Engagement. Nickel Steel Ingot for Tube of a 16-inch Breech-Loading Rifle. Cast-Iron Projectiles. Loading Siege Guns on Transports TABLE OF CONTENTS. Chapter Page I. A War for Liberty and Humanity 33 II. How Columbus Found the "Pearl of the Antilles" 63 III. Spain's Black Historical Record 73 IV. Buccaneering in the Spanish Main 83 V. Commercial Development of Cuba 94 VI. Beauties of a Tropical Island 109 VII. Wealth from Nature's Store in the Forest and Fields of Cuba. 116 VIII. The Cubans and How They Live 124 IX. Havana, the Island Metropolis 133 X. The Cities of Cuba 139 XI. Mutterings of Insurrection 151 XII. Outbreak of the Ten Years' War 156 XIII. Massacre of the Virginius Officers and Crew 159 XIV. Operations of the Ten Years' War 168 XV. The Peace of Zanjon and Its Violated Pledges 171 XVI. Preparations for Another Rebellion 175 XVII. The Cuban Junta and Its Work 179 XVIII. Key West and the Cubans 191 XIX. Another Stroke for Freedom 196 XX. Jose Marti and Other Cuban Heroes 205 XXI. Desperate Battles with Machete and Rifle 211 XXII. Filibusters from Florida 218 XXIII. Weyler the Butcher '. 226 XXIV. Cuba Under the Scourge 233 XXV. Fitzhugh Lee to the Front 240 XXVI. Americans in Spanish Dungeons 245 XXVII. Maceo Dead by Treachery 254 XXVIII. Weyler's Reconcentration Policy and Its Horrors 257 XXIX. American Indignation Growing 269 XXX, Outrages on Americans in Cuba 279 21 24 TABLE OF CONTENTS. Chapter Page XXXI. McKinley Succeeds Cleveland 286 XXXII. The Case of Evangelina Cisneros 294 XXXIII. Work of Clara Barton and the Red Cross 301 XXXIV. The Catastrophe to the Maine 308 XXXV. Patience at the Vanishing Point 314 XXXVI. Events in the American Congress 320 XXXVII. President McKinley Acts 324 XXXVIII. Strength of the Opposing Squadron and Armies 331 XXXIX. Battleships and Troops Begin to Move 348 XL. Diplomatic Relations Terminate 356 XLI. First Guns and First Prizes of the War 361 XLII. Declaration of War 367 XLIII. Call for the National Guard, Our Citizen Soldiery 372 XLIV. Blockade of Cuban Ports 378 XLV. Spanish Dissensions at Home 383 XLVI. The Philippines, Puerto Rico, and Other Colonies of Spain . . . 395 XLVII. Progress of Hostilities 408 XLVIII. Sea Fight off Manila, Americans Victorious 415 XLIX. Hawaii, and Our Annexation Policy 430 L. Continued Success for American Soldiers and Sailors 443 LI. The Invasion of Puerto Rico 503 LII. The, Surrender of Manila 510 LIIL Victorious Close of the War 523 LIV. Personal Reminiscences . 530 >- 5 CQ ;3 '.3 C s a " *o -Q * O "H o o OQ o ^> O O """ I Q W h S x x W Q Z W U z H 2 w (X w w 2 < 1/3 > ff t *-y > -r W S w Uu INTRODUCTION. When, on the 22d day of April, 1898, Michael Mallia, gun -captain of the United States cruiser Nashville, sent a shell across the bows of the Spanish ship Buena Ventura, he gave the signal shot that ushered in a war for liberty for the slaves of Spain. The world has never seen a contest like it. Nations have fought for territory and for gold, but they have not fought for the happiness of others. Nations have resisted the encroachments of barbarism, but until the nineteenth century they have not fought to uproot barbarism and cast it out of its established place. Nations have fought to pre- serve the integrity of their own empire, but they have not fought a foreign foe" to set others free. Men have gone on crusades to fight for holy tombs and symbols, but armies have not been put in motion to overthrow vicious political systems and regenerate iniquitous govern- ments for other peoples. For more than four centuries Spain has held the island of Cuba as her chattel, and there she has revelled in corruption, and wantoned in luxury wrung from slaves with the cruel hand of unchecked power. She has been the unjust and merciless court of last resort. From her malignant verdict there has been no possible appeal, no power to which her victims could turn for help. But the end has come at last. The woe, the grief, the humiliation, the agony, the despair that Spain has heaped upon the helpless, and multiplied in the world until the world is sickened with it, will be piled in one avalanche on her own head. Liberty has grown slowly. Civilization has been on the defensive. Now liberty fights for liberty, and civilization takes the aggressive in the holiest war the world has even known. Never was there a war before in which so many stimulating deeds of bravery were done in such a short time, and this in spite of the fact that the public has been restless for more action. It is almost worth a war to have inscribed such a deed of cool, intelligent heroism as that of Hobson and his men with the Merrimac, in the entrance to the harbor of Santiago de Cuba. That is an event in world history, one never to be forgotten, and in the countries of Europe quite as generously recognized as by our own people. There is a word to say for the Spanish admiral. 27 28 INTEODUCTION". In his chivalry after that act of heroism, Cervera proved himself a worthy adversary, who could realize and admire bravery in a foe, even when it had been directed against himself with such signal success. Not every commander would be great enough in that circumstance to send a flag of truce to the opposing admiral, in order to inform him that his brave men were safe and that they were honored as brave men by their captors. Of another sort was the bravery of Dewey at Manila, more notable in its results but in no other way surpassing that of Hobson and his men. Dewey went forward in spite of unknown dangers of torpedoes, to engage an enemy in the place it had selected as most favorable for Spanish arms, an enemy with more ships, more men, more guns than had the American. A day later the nation was at the feet of Dewey and the United States had taken a position among the powers of the world never before admitted by them. In larger degree than ever before, from that moment the United States became a factor in the international history of the world. At this, writing one cannot tell what will be the end of the relations of the United States to the Philip- pines and the Orient, but the solution cannot fail to be of profit to this nation. This was a holy war for the liberty of Cuba, but like many another good deed it is bringing its additional rewards. Cuba, Puerto Rico, the Philippines and the Caroline islands are to be liberated, four colonies of Spain instead of one, and the direct and indirect profit, looked at from a purely commercial basis, will be far more than enough to compensate the United States for the cost of the war. The annexa- tion of the Hawaiian islands as a war measure must be credited to the same cause, for the success of that effort under any other circumstances was problematical. Yet another sort of bravery was that in the harbor of Cardenas when the little torpedo boat Winslow lay a helpless hulk under the rain of fire from the shore batteries, without rudder or engine to serve, and the Hudson, a mere tugboat with a few little guns on deck, stood by for forty minutes to pass a hawser and tow the disabled vessel out of range. Both were riddled, the Winslow had half her total complement of men killed and wounded by a single shell, but there was no faltering, and they all worked away as coolly as if nothing were happening. If one started to catalogue the instances of personal bravery that the war brought out in its first few months, the list would be a cum- bersome one. It is enough here to say that there have been a hundred INTKODUCTION. 29 times when personal courage was needed to be shown, and never a moment's hesitancy on the part of any man to whom the call came. Furthermore, in every case in which a particularly hazardous under- taking was contemplated, and volunteers were called for, the number offering has been in every instance far more than was needed. This was eminently notable on the occasion of Hobson's sinking of the Merrimac, when more than a thousand in the fleet volunteered for a service requiring but six, and from which it seemed impossible that any could come out alive. The public must know all about the war, and the only avenue of information is the press. Never before has any war been covered as to its news features with the accuracy and energy which have characterized this. American journalism has outstripped the world. The expense of a news service for this war is something enormous, with little return compensation. Yet the work is done, metropolitan papers have from ten to twenty correspondents in the field, and the public has the benefit. Dispatch boats follow the fleets and are present at every battle. They must be near enough to see, which means that they are in as much danger at times as are the ships of the fighting squadron, far more if one remembers that the former are in no way protected. Some of them are heavy sea-going tugs and others are yachts. The expense of charter, insurance and running cost amounts to from $200 to f 400 a day each, and yet some metropolitan newspapers have fleets of these boats to the number of six. All the foregoing facts are related in detail in the volume which these paragraphs introduce. The only object in reiterating them here is that they are entitled to emphasis for their prominence, and it is desired to call special attention to them and their accompanying matter when the book itself shall be read. The number of those who believe we are engaged in a righteous war is overwhelming. The records of the brave deeds of our men afloat and ashore will inspire Americans to be better citizens as long as time shall last. The country has proven its faith in the cause by giving to the needs of war hundreds of thousands of young men to fight for the liberty of others. From every corner of the land regiments of volunteer soldiers have sprung in an instant at the call of the President, while as many more are waiting for another call to include those for whom there was not room the first time. The country which can show such an inspiring movement has little to fear in the race of progress among the nations of the world. w 2 o X PANORAMIC VIEW OF SAN JUAN HARBOR VIEW, SAN JUAN OUR WAR WITH SPAIN. CHAPTER I. A WAR FOR LIBERTY AND HUMANITY. Again at War with a Foreign Power Spain's Significant Flag Three Years Without an American Flag in Cuban Waters Visit of the Maine to Havana Harbor The Maine Blown Up by Submerged Mine Action of President and Congress Spain Defies America Martial Spirit Spreading First Guns Are Fired Cuban Ports Blockaded Many Spanish Ships Captured -Excitement in Havana Spain and the United States Both Declare War Internal Dissension Threatens Spain President McKinley Calls a Volunteer Army. Civilization against barbarism, freedom against oppression, educa- tion against ignorance, progress against retrogression, the West against the East, the United States against Spain. In this cause the flag of freedom was again unfurled in the face of a foreign foe, and our nation entered war against the people of another land, carrying the star spangled banner through successive victories in the name of liberty and humanit} 7 . It is a proud banner, which stands the whole world over for freedom and right, with few stains of defeat or injustice upon its folds. The great heart of the nation swelled with pride at the righteousness of the cause, with an assurance that eternal history would praise America for the unselfish work. On land and sea the boys in blue gave new fame to the flag, and their proud record in the past was more than justified by the honors that they won. Two wars with Great Britain and one with Mexico were the more notable predecessors of this conflict with Spain. If to these should be added the hostilities between the United States and the Barbary pirates of Algiers, Morocco and Tripoli, and the scattered brushes w T ith two or three Oriental and South American countries, the list might be extended. But those affairs are not rememberer! as wars in the true sense of the word. 33 34 A WAR FOR LIBERTY AND HUMANITY. Except for protection against Indian outbreaks, the United States had been at peace for thirty years, when the war cloud began to loom in the horizon. It, was with a full realization of the blessings of peace that the American people yielded to the demands of humanity and righteous justice, to take up arms again in the cause of liberty. There w T as no haste, no lack of caution, no excited plunge into hostilities with- out proper grounds. The nation made sure that it was right. An intol- erable condition of affairs resulting from years of agony in a neighbor island, with half a dozen immediate reasons, any one sufficient, was the absolute justification for this holy war. Spain is the Turk of the West. Spain is an obsolete nation. Living in the past, and lacking cause for pride to-day, she gloats over her glorious explorations and her intellectual prowess of the middle ages when much of Europe was in darkness. Then Spain's flag led pioneers throughout the world. But her pride was based on achievements, man} 7 of which, to the people of any other nation, would have been the disgrace of its history. No indictment of Spain can ever be more severe, more scathing, if its true significance be considered, than the famous phrase which one of her proudest poets created to characterize her flag of red and yellow. "Sangre y oro," he said, "blood and gold a stream of gold between two rivers of blood." It is almost a sufficient characterization to indicate the whole na- tional spirit of Spain, to recall that this phrase is the proud expres- sion used by the Spanish people to glorify their own flag. That senti- ment is in no stronger contrast to the American phrase, "the star-span- gled banner," than are the people of Spain to the people of the United States. "Remember the Maine." From the day of the outbreak of the Cuban revolution, early in 1895, until nearly the end of January, 1898, there had been no flag of the United States seen in any harbor of Cuba except upon merchant vessels. Always before, it had been the policy of our government to have ships of w r ar make friendly calls in the harbors of all countries of the world at frequent intervals, and Cuban waters had shared these courtesies. So careful were the officers of the Cleveland administration to avoid the appearance of offense or threat against the authority of Spain, with which we were living in amity, that immediately upon the outbreak of hostilities in Cuba this practice was suspended, so far as it applied A WAR FOB LIBERTY AND HUMANITY. 35 to that island. Our ships cruised through the oceans of the world and called at all ports where they were not needed, but the waters of Havana harbor for three years were never disturbed by an Amer- ican keel. Out of deference to the expressed wishes of the local Spanish author- ities in Havana, Dr. Burg-ess, the splendid surgeon of the United States Marine Hospital service in Havana, who for thirty years has guarded our southern ports from the epidemics of yellow fever and smallpox, which would invade us annually as a result of Spanish misgovernment in Cuba, except for his watchfulness, ceased flying the American flag on his steam launch, by means of which he carried out his official duties in those foul waters. The American flag was a disturbing influence upon the minds of the Cubans who might see it flashing in the clear sunlight of the tropic sky, suggested the Captain General. It must have been the language of diplomacy that was in mind, when the satirist explained that "language was intended as a medium for concealing thought." President McKinley, in his message to Con- gress transmitting the report of the naval board concerning the catas- trophe to the Maine, explained that for some time prior to the visit of the battle-ship to Havana harbor, it had been considered a proper change in the policy, in order to accustom the people to the presence of our flag as a symbol of good will. The decision to send the vessel to that harbor was reached, it was explained, after conference with the Spanish minister, and, through our diplomats, with the Spanish author- ities at Madrid and Havana. It was declared that this intention was received by the Spanish government with high appreciation of the cour- tesy intended, which it was offered to return by sending Spanish ships to the principal ports of the United States. We are bound to accept this expression from the officials on both sides as frankly indicative of their feelings* But it is just as necessary to recognize that to the mass of the people in both countries, the signifi- cance of the Maine's courtesy call was very different. Americans be- lieved that it indicated a changed policy on the part of the national government at Washington which would be more strenuous and more prompt in resenting outrages against the life and property of Amer- ican citizens in Cuba. The people of the Cuban republic believed that the change meant an expression of sympathy and friendship for their cause, with probable interference in their behalf, and took courage from that sign. Finally, the people of Spain resented the appearance of the Maine in the harbor of Havana as an affront, and a direct threat 36 A WAR FOR LIBERTY AND HUMANITY. against them and in favor of the insurgents. If the policy of making frequent calls in warships had never been interrupted, they would not have had this sentiment in the matter, but the resumption of the practice after three years' cessation, carried a threat with it in their minds. Treacherous Destruction of the Maine. The Maine entered the harbor of Havana at sunrise on the 25th of January and was anchored at a place indicated by the harbor-master. Her arrival was marked with no special incident, except the exchange of customary salutes and ceremonial visits. Three weeks from that night, at forty minutes past nine o'clock in the evening of the 15th of February, the Maine was destroyed by an explosion, by which the entire forward part of the ship was wrecked. In this frightful catas- trophe 264 of her crew and two officers perished, those who were not. killed outright by the explosion being penned between decks by the tangle of wreckage and drowned by the immediate sinking of her hull. In spite of the fact that the American public was urged to suspend judgment as to the causes of this disaster, and that the Spanish authori- ties in Havana and in Madrid expressed grief and sympathy, it was impossible to subdue a general belief that in some way Spanish treach- ery was responsible for the calamity. With the history of Spanish cruelty in Cuba before them, and the memory of Spanish barbarities through all their existence as a nation, the people could not disabuse their minds of this suspicion. One month later this popular judgment was verified by the finding of the naval court of inquiry which had made an exhaustive examina- tion of the wreck, and had taken testimony from every available source. With this confirmation and the aroused sentiment of the country con- cerning conditions in Cuba, the logic of events was irresistibly drawing the country toward war with Spain, and all efforts of diplomacy and expressions of polite regard exchanged between the governments of the two nations were unable to avert it. For a few weeks, history was made rapidly. Conservative and emi- nent American senators visited Cuba in order to obtain personal infor- mation of conditions there, and upon their return gave to Congress and to the country, in eloquent speeches, the story of the sufferings they had found in that unhappy island. The loss of the Maine had focused American attention upon the Cuban situation as it had never been be- fore, and though there were no more reasons for sympathetic interfer- A WAR FOR LIBERTY AND HUMANITY. 37 ence than there had been for many months, people began to realize as the} 7 had not before, the horrors that were being enacted at their thresholds. The sailors who died with the Maine, even though they were not able to fight their country's foes, have not died in vain, for it is their death that will be remembered as the culminating influence for American intervention and the salvation of scores of thousands of lives of starving Cuban women and children. Vessels were loaded with supplies of pro- visions and clothing for the suffering and were sent to the harbors of Cuba, w^here distribution was made by Miss Clara Barton and her trusted associates in the American National Red Cross. Some of these vessels were merchant steamers, but others were American cruisers, and Cubans were not permitted to forget that there was a. flag which typified liberty, not far away. The strain upon the national patience increased every day, and w^as nearing the breaking point. President and Congress Act. After a period of restlessness in Congress w T hich was shared by the whole country, the President finally transmitted an important message. It included a resume of the progress of the Cuban revolution from its beginning and considered in some detail the workings of that devastat- ing policy of General Weyler, known as reconcentration. The message related the progress of diplomatic negotiations with Spain, and dis- closed a surprising succession of events in w T hich the Spanish govern- ment had submitted to various requests and recommendations of the American government. The message ended with a request that Con- gress authorize and empower the President to take measures to secure a full and final termination of the intolerable conditions on the island of Cuba. Having exhausted the powers of the executive in these efforts, it was left to the legislative authority of the American people to estab- lish such policies as would be finally efficient. Congress rose to the occasion. The facts were at command of both houses, their sj^mpathies were enlisted at the side of their reason and there was little time lost in acting. The House and the Senate, after mutual concessions on minor details, passed as a, law of the land fox' the President's signature, an act directing him and empowering him to require Spain to withdraw her troops and relinquish all authority over the island of Cuba,. The President was authorized to employ the army and navy of the United States for the 'purpose of carrying into 38 A WAR FOR LIBERTY AND effect this instruction and the interference was directed to be made at once. Best of all, from the point of view of the Cuban patriots, the act declared that the people of Cuba are and ought to be free and inde- pendent. But a few days more of diplomacy, and war was to begin. Spain Defies America. It was hardly to be expected that the Spanish government and the Spanish people would yield to the demands of the United States with- out a protest. So feeble is the hold of the present dynasty upon the throne of Spain, that it was readily understood that any concession upon the part of the Queen Kegent would arouse Spanish indignation beyond the limits of endurance. The Queen-mother had to think of her baby son's crown. If she were to yield to the superior power of the United States without a struggle, Spanish revolutionists would over- throw the dynasty before he could come to the throne. However well she might know that the logical outcome of a, war would be overwhelm- ing defeat to Spanish arms, political necessities compelled her to take the position dictated by Spanish pride. The Spanish Cortes met in special session at Madrid, and on the 20th of April the Queen .Regent delivered her speech before that legis- lative body and declared that her parliament was summoned in the hour of peril to defend her country's rights and her child's throne, whatever sacrifice might be entailed. It was on that same day that President McKinley presented the ultimatum of the United States to Spain, in language diplomatic in form, but carrying with it a definite notice to yield Cuba's freedom and relinquish her pretense of authority in that island without delay. A copy of the ultimatum was forwarded to the Spanish ambassador at Washington, Senor Polo y Bernabe, w r ho responded by asking for his passports and safe conduct out of the country. Having reached the point where diplomacy no longer availed, the Spanish government for the first time made an aggressive move against the United States. Instead of waiting for the transmission of the ulti- matum by American Minister Stewart L. Woodford, the ministry fore- stalled him and dismissed him from Madrid without affording him an opportunity to present that important document. It had been trans- mitted to Madrid by cable from the Spanish Minister in Washington, and the government felt no need to wait for formal messages from the enemy's representative in Spain. Minister Woodford left Madrid with- A WAR FOR LIBERTY AND HUMANITY. 39 out delay, and finally reached the French frontier, after being subjected to many insults and attacks upon his train during the journey from the Spanish capital. Martial Spirit Spreading. A wave of national patriotic enthusiasm swept over the United States. North and South, East and West, there was hardly a discord- ant note in the great chorus of fervent applause which rose when it was understood that at last the forces of the nation were to be united in the cause of liberty and humanity. But sentiment could not fight battles, unless backed by material equipment. The nation was preparing for war. From all parts of the United States the troops of the regular army were hurried by special trains southeastward to camps at Chickamauga and Tampa. In every navy yard work was hurried night and day upon all incomplete battle- ships and cruisers. Already the fleets of the American navy had been concentrated at points of vantage so that little was left to be done on that score. Congress lost no time in providing the sinews of war by generous appropriations for the regular channels of supply, in addi- tion to one passed by unanimous vote of both houses granting $50.000,- 000 as a special fund to be at the disposal of the President. The war appropriation bill and the naval appropriation bill carried with them emergency clauses. Preparations were made for the reorganization of the regular army to more than double its normal size, and the President was authorized to call for a volunteer army of 125,000 men. Looking to the future, and the possibility of a long and expensive conflict, finan- cial measures were prepared which would raise war revenues through the regular channels of taxation and the issue of bonds. Americans were ready to put their hands in their pockets and pay for the privi- lege of teaching a worthy lesson to the world. American sense of humor never fails, and even in this period of stress the people took time to smile over the story of the Spanish Min- ister's journey from Washington to Canada, In Toronto, Senor Polo sought to discredit the ass-aults that had been made on Minister Wood- ford's train in Spain, and related that he himself had been the victim of assaults at two or three important cities on his journey through New York, which threatened great danger to himself and the train on which he was riding. Upon inquiry it was revealed that the assaults which had aroused 40 A WAR FOR LIBERTY AND HUMANITY. his fear were not quite as hostile as he believed. At the division sta- tions on the line, the railway employees, according to custom, passed along the cars^ tapping the tires of the wheels with steel hammers to test them for a possible flaw or break in the wheel, and it was this that made the Spanish Minister believe that he was the victim of an American outrage. First Guns Are Fired. The United States cruiser Nashville of the North Atlantic squadron, with headquarters at Key Wesft, had the honor of firing the first shot in our war with Spain. Early on the morning of Friday, April 22, the American fleet sailed from Key West, and, steaming southward across the straits of Florida, came in sight of Havana, and the frowning fortifications of Morro Castle before six o'clock the same afternoon. The sailing of the fleet, as dawn was creeping over the Florida keys, was a beautiful sight and a significant one, for from the time the first signals were hoisted until many days after, there was hardly an hour of inactivity. It was at three o'clock in the morning that the signal lights began to flash from the New York, Admiral Sampson's flagship. Answering signals appeared on the warships all along the line, and in a few moments black smoke began to belch from the funnels of all the ships and the crews woke from quietness to activity. As soon as day began to break, the cruisers and gunboats inside the harbor hoisted anchors and moved out to join the big battleships which were already lined outside the bar. At five o'clock, when all the fleet were gathered around the battleships, Captain Sampson signaled from the New York to go ahead. The formation of the line had been agreed upon some time before and each vessel was in position for line of battle, the New York in the center and the Iowa and Indiana on either beam. The ships presented a most beautiful appearance as they swept out on the ocean without a vestige of anything not abso- lutely necessary on the decks. They were stripped of all useless super- structure, awnings, gun-covers and everything that goes to adorn a ship. Officers paced the bridge, marines were drawn up on deck and every man was at his post. They appeared as they were, grim fighting machines, not naval vessels out on cruise nor a squadron of evolution and maneuver, but warships out for business. O 03 II great degree, which surrounds women in Cuba with etiquette, iron bars and formality. This would seem to apply to the natives only, for nothing can be kinder, more friendly and courteous than the manners of the Cuban ladies to strangers, at least, judging from what is seen. It may be as a lady with whom I was arguing the point said: 'It is very differ- ent with strangers, Senor, and particularly with the Americans, who are celebrated for their chivalric gallantry to ladies.' Now I call that a very pretty national compliment. "Taking the arm of my friend, we walk up and down to see, as he expresses it, 'who there is to be presented to,' and faith, if beauty is to be the test, it would seem to be a hard matter to make up one's mind, 142 THE CITIES OF CUBA. there is so much of it, but after a turn or two around the room, this form is gone through with, and one begins to feel at home and ready to enjoy one's self. "When one finds ladies (and-there are numbers) who have been edu- cated abroad, either in the United States or Europe, he finds them highly accomplished and entertaining. Several that I had the pleasure of meeting on this and other occasions spoke French perfectly, some English, and one or two both of these in addition to their native tongue. "But let us return to the ball, which is all the time going on with great eclat. It opens with the advent upon the stage of a dozen or more young men, under the direction of a leader, in some fancy costume very handsomely made, who, after making their bow to the audience, go through some novel kind of a dance. The performers take this means of filling up the intervals of the general dance, and amusing the audi- ence. "It is now getting late, and the rooms are terribly w T arm. The fans of the long rows of lovely sitters, who have not moved out of their places the whole evening, keep up a constant flutter, and one begins to sigh for a breath of fresh air, and relief from the discomforts of a full dress suit. But the grand affair of the evening is yet to come off, we are told, so we linger on, and are finally rewarded by the grand ceremony of the 'Pinata/ from which the ball takes its name. This word I can hardly give the meaning of as applied to this ceremony, which consists in having pendent from the ceiling a form of ribbands and flow T ers, the rib- bands numbered and hanging from the flowers, the rights to pull which are draw r n like prizes in a lottery. Of these ribbands, one is fastened to a beautiful crow r n of flowers, which, when the ribband to which it is attached is pulled, falls into the hands of the lucky person, who has the privilege of crowning any lady he may deem worthy of the honor 'Queen of the Ball/ to whom every one is obliged to yield obedience, homage, and admiration. There is, also, the same opportunity afforded to the ladies to crown a king. The whole ceremony is 1 pretty, and creates much merriment and amusement. "This ceremony over, at midnight we sally out into the open air. But what a sight greets us there! Lights blaze in such profusion that it seems more- than day. Music and dancing are everywhere. Songs and mirth have taken complete possession of the place, while people of all ages, sexes and colors are mixed together, in what seems inextricable confusion, intent upon having a good time in the open air while their THE CITIES OF CUBA. 143 masters and betters are doing the same thing under cover. This is a carnival sight indeed, and only to be seen in a tropical clime." Guantanamo, the Home of the Pirates. Approaching Cuba as Columbus did across the narrow stretch of sea from San Domingo you first sight the long, low promontory of the eastern tip, which the discoverer named Point Maysi. So different is the prospect from that seen at the other end of the island, as you come down in the usual route from New York or Florida, that you can hardly believe it is the same small country. From Maysi Point the land rises in sharp terraces, backed by high hills and higher mountains, all so vague in mist and cloud that you do not know where land ends and sky begins. Coming nearer, gray ridges are evolved, which look like cowled monks peering over each other's shoulders, with here and there a majestic peak towering far above his fellows like the Pico Turquino, 11,000 feet above the sea. Sailing westward along this south shore, the "Queen of the Antilles" looks desolate and forbidding, as compared to other portions of the West Indies; a panorama of wild heights and sterile shores, and surge-beaten cliffs covered with screaming sea birds. At rare intervals an opening in the rock-bound coast betrays a tiny harbor, bordered by cocoa palms, so guarded and concealed by hills, and its sudden revelation, when close upon it, astonishes you as it did the first explorer. According to tradition, everyone of these was once a pirate's lair, in the good old days we read about, when "long, low, suspicious-looking craft, with raking masts," used to steal out from sheltered coves to plunder the unwary. Each little bay, whose existence was unknown to honest mariners, has a high wooded point near its entrance, where the sea robbers kept perpetual watch for passing merchantmen and treas- ure-laden galleons, their own swift-sailing vessels safe out of sight within the cove; and then, at a given signal out they would dart upon the unsuspecting prey like a spider from his web. Among the most notorious piratical rendezvous was Gauntanamo, which our warships are said to have shelled two or three times of late. In recent years its narrow bay, branching far inland like a river, has become of consider- able consequence, by reason of a railway which connects it with Santi- ago, and also because the patriot army, hidden in the nearby mountains, have entertained hopes of overcoming the Spanish garrison and making 144 THE CITiES OF CUBA. it a base for receiving outside assistance. Before the war there were extensive sugar plantations in this city, now all devastated. The Cobre mountains, looming darkly against the horizon, are the great copper and iron range of Cuba, said to contain untold mineral wealth, waiting to be developed by Yankee enterprise. In earlier days 14,000,000 a year was the average value of Cuba's copper and iron exports; but in 1867 6,000,000 tons were taken out in less than ten months. Then Spain put her foot in it, as usual. Not content with the lion's share, which she had always realized in exorbitant taxes on the product, she increased the excise charges to such an extent as to kill the industry outright. For a long time afterward the ore lay undisturbed in the Cobre "pockets," until the attention of Americans was turned this way. Their first iron and copper claims in these mountains were recognized by the Cuban government about seventeen years ago. Three Yankee corpora- tions have developed rich tracts of mining territory hereabouts, built railways from the coast to their works on the hills and exported ore to the United States. The oldest of these companies employed 2,000 men, and had 1,600 cars and a fleet of twenty steamers for the transportation of its output. The Carnegie Company, whose product was shipped to Philadelphia, also employed upwards of a thousand men. Santiago de Cuba. At last an abrupt termination of the stern, gray cliffs which mark this shore line indicates the proximity of Santiago harbor, and a nearer approach reveals the most picturesque fort or castle, as well as one of the oldest, to be found on the western hemisphere. An enormous rounding rock, whose base has been hollowed into great caverns by the restless Caribbean, standing just at the entrance of the narrow channel leading into the harbor, is carried up from the water's edge in a suc- cession of walls, ramparts, towers and turrets, forming a perfect picture of a rock-ribbed fortress of the middle ages. This is the famous castle of San Jago, the Moro, which antedates the more familiar fortress of the same name in Havana harbor by at least a hundred years. Words are of little use in describing this antique, Moorish-looking stronghold, with its crumbling, honey-combed battlements, queer little flanking turrets and shadowy towers, perched upon the face of a dun-colored cliff 150 feet high so old, so odd, so different from anything in America with which to compare it. A photograph, or pencil sketch is not much bet- THE CITIES OF CUBA. 145 ter, and even a paint brush could not reproduce the exact shadings of its time-worn, weather-mellowed walls the Oriental pinks and old blues and predominating yellows that give it half its charm. Upon the lowermost wall, directly overhanging the sea, is a dome-shaped sentry box of stone, flanked by antiquated cannon. Above it the lines of masonry are sharply drawn, each guarded terrace receding upon the one next higher, all set with cannon and dominated by a massive tower of obsolete construction. It takes a good while to see it all, for new stories and stair- ways, wings and terraces, are constantly cropping out in un- expected places, but as it occupies three sides of the rounding cliff and the pilot who comes aboard at the entrance to the chan- nel guides your steamer close up under the frowning battlements, you have ample time to study it. Window holes cut into rock in all directions show how extensive are the excavations. A large garrison is always quartered here, even in time of peace, when their sole business is searching for shady places along the walls against which to lean. There are ranges above ranges of walks, connected by stairways cut into the solid rock, each range covered with lolling soldiers. You pass so near that you can hear them chattering together. Those on the topmost parapet, dangling their blue woolen legs over, are so high and so directly overhead that they remind you of flies on the ceiling. In various places small niches have been excavated in the cliff, some with crucifixes, or figures of saints, and in other places the bare, un- broken wall of rock runs up, sheer straight 100 feet. Below, on the ocean side, are caves, deep, dark and uncanny, worn deep into the rock. Some of them are so extensive that they have not been explored in gen- erations. The broad and lofty entrances to one of them, hollowed by the encroaching sea, is as perfect an arch as could be drawn by a skillful architect, and with it a tradition is connected which dates back a couple of centuries. A story or two above these wave-eaten caverns are many small windows, each heavily barred with iron. They are dungeons dug into the solid rock, and over them might well be written, "Leave hope behind, ye who enter here!" A crowd of haggard, pallid faces are pressed against the bars; and as you steam slowly by, so close that you might speak to the wretched prisoners, it seems as if a shadow had sud- denly fallen upon the bright sunshine, and a chill, like that of coming death, oppresses the heart. Since time out of niind, the Moro of Santi- 146 THE CITIES OF CUBA. ago has furnished dungeons for those who have incurred the displeasure of the government infinitely more to be dreaded than its namesake in Havana, Had these slimy walls a tongue, what stories they might reveal of crime and suffering, of tortures nobly undergone, of death prolonged through dragging years and murders that will not "out" until the judgment day. Against that old tower, a quarter of a century ago our country- men of the Virginius were butchered like sheep. Scores of later patriots have been led out upon the ramparts and shot, their bodies, perhaps, with life yet in them, falling into the sea, where they were snapped up by sharks as soon as they touched the water. The narrow, winding channel which leads from the open sea into the harbor, pursues its sinuous course past several other fortifications of quaint construction, but of little use against modern guns between low hills and broad meadows, fishing hamlets and cocoanut groves. Presently you turn a sharp angle, in the hills and enter a broad, land- locked bay, inclosed on every side by ranges of hills with numerous points and promontories jutting into the tranquil water, leaving deep little coves behind them, all fringed with cocoa-palms. Between this blue bay and a towering background of purple mountains lies the city which Diego Velazquez, its founder, christened in honor of the patron saint of Spain, as far back as the year 1514. It is the oldest standing city in the new world, excepting Santo Domingo, which Columbus him- self established only eighteen years earlier. By the way, San Jago, San Diego and Santiago, are really the same name, rendered Saint James in our language; and wherever the Spaniards have been are num- bers of them. This particular city of Saint James occupies a sloping hillside, 600 miles southeast from Havana, itself the capital of a depart- ment, and ranks the third city of Cuba in commercial importance Matanzas being second. As usual in all these southern ports, the water is too shallow for large vessels to approach the dock and steamers have to anchor a mile from shore. While waiting the coming of health or customs officials, these lordly gentlemen who are never given to un- dignified haste, you have ample time to admire the prospect, and if the truth must be told, you will do well to turn about without going ashore, if you wish to retain the first delightful impressions for this old city of Spain's patron saint is one of the many to which distance lends en- chantment. Red-roofed buildings of stone and adobe entirely cover the hillside, w j H en < O a THE CITIES OF CUBA. 149 with here and there a dome, a tower, a church steeple shooting upward, or a tall palm poking its head above a garden wall the glittering green contrasting well with the ruddy tiles and the pink, gray, blue and yel- low of the painted walls. In the golden light of a tropical morning it looks like an oriental town, between sapphire sea and turquoise moun- tains. Its low massive buildings, whose walls surround open courts, with pillared balconies and corridors, the great open windows protected by iron bars instead of glass, and roofs covered with earthen tiles are a direct importation from Southern Spain, if not from further east. Tan- giers, in Africa, is built upon a similar sloping hillside, and that capital of Morocco does not look a bit more Moorish than Santiago de Cuba, On the narrow strip of land bordering the eastern edge of the harbor, the Moro at one end and the city at the other, are some villas, embowered in groves and gardens, which, we are told, belong mostly to Americans who are interested in the Cobre mines. The great iron piers on the right belong to the American mining companies, built for loading ore upon tbeir ships. Cardinas. Fifty miles east of Matanzas is the city of Cardinas, the last port of any consequence on the north coast of the island. It has a popula- tion of 25,000, and is the capital of a fertile district. It is one of the main outlets of Cuba's richest province, Matanzas, and is the great rail- road center of the island, or, more properly speaking, it ought to be, as the railroads of the country form a junction fifteen miles inland, at an insignificant station called Jouvellenes. In time of peace Cardinas enjoys a thriving business, particularly in sugar and molasses, its exports of the former sometimes amounting to 100,000 tons a year. To the west and south stretch the great sugar estates which have made this section of Spain's domain a prize to be fought for. The water side of the town is faced with long wharves and lined with warehouses, and its extensive railway depot would do credit to any metropolis. There are a few pretentious public buildings, including the customs* house, hospital and college. Its cobble paved. streets are considerably wider than those of Havana, and have two lines of horse cars. There is gas and electric light, and more two-story houses than one is accus- tomed to see on the island. But, notwithstanding the broad, blue bay in front, and the Paseo, 8 150 TUP] CITIES OF CUBA. whose tall trees seem to be touching' finger tips across the road, con- gratulating each other on the presence of eternal summer, Car.dinas is not an attractive town. One misses the glamor of antiquity and his- toric interest which pervades Havana, Matanzas and Santiago, and feels somehow that the town is new without being modern, young but not youthful. Other Cities of Importance. Puerto Principe, or to give it its full name in the Spanish tongue, Santa Maria de Puerto Principe, is the capital of the Central depart- ment, and is situated about midway between the north and south coasts, 305 miles southeast of Havana, and forty-five miles southwest of Nue- vitas, its port, with which it is connected by railroad. Its population is about 30,000 and it is surrounded by a rich agricultural district, the chief products of which are sugar and tobacco. The climate is hot, moist and unhealthy. It was at one time the seat of the supreme court of all the Spanish colonies in America. One of the most attractive cities of Cuba is Trinidad, which lies near the south coast, three miles by rail from the port of Casildas. It is beautifully situated on high land overlooking the sea, and on account of its mild and very equable climate it is a favorite resort for tourists and invalids. Nuevitas, Sancti Espiritu, Baracoa and Cienfuegos are all centers of population with many natural advantages, and with a just form of government, and the advent of American enterprise and capital, they might become prosperous, attractive, and of great commerical import- ance. CHAPTER XI. MUTTERINGS OF INSURRECTION. Blavery in Cuba Horrible Tortures Inflicted The Conspiracy of Lopez The United States Interferes Lopez Captured and Executed Seizure of American Ships Our Government Demands and Secures Indemnity From Spain Enormous Salaries of Cuban Officials Oppressive Taxa- tion. Slavery was a demoralizing influence to Cuba as it has been to every other country in which the system has existed, and to its pres- ence was traced one of the most sensational episodes in all the sensa- tional history of the unhappy island. It is impossible to know to what extent the suspected insurrection of sla,ves on the sugar plantations about Matanzas was an actual threat. So horrible were the charges made by the accusers that it is almost impossible to believe them. At any rate, such an insurrection was anticipated, and the authorities took measures to crush it out, more severe than any such govern- mental movement has been since the days of the Spanish Inquisition itself. It was impossible to obtain witnesses, by ordinary methods, so the most shocking forms of torture were employed. Those who refused to confess whatever charges happened to be brought against them were tortured till they did confess, and then probably executed for the crimes which they admitted under such circumstances. By such "judicial" processes, 1,346 persons were convicted, of whom seventy- eight were shot and the others punished less severely in various ways. Hundreds of others died from the tortures to which they were sub- jected, or in the foul prisons in which they were confined, and of these we have no record. Of those convicted and punished under the alleged forms of law, fourteen were white, 1,242 were free negroes, and fifty- nine were slaves. The negroes of Cuba have never forgotten the bar- barities to which their parents were subjected in that trying year. The most notable outbreak of Cuban insurrectionary forces prior to that of the Ten Years' war, which began in 1868, was that known as the conspiracy of Lopez. 151 152 MUTTERINGS OF INSURRECTION. As early as May, 1847, Narcisso Lopez and a number of his asso- ciates who had planned an insurrection in the central part of the island, were pursued to the United States by Spanish agents, who had kept track of their conspiracy. The Lone Star Society was in close sympathy with these refugees, and to a certain extent the two were co-existent. Lopez, in 1849, organized a military expedition to invade Cuba. By the exertions of the officers of the United States govern- ment the sailing of the expedition was prevented. Notwithstanding the activity of the government, however, Lopez, in the following year, got together a force of 600 men outside of the United States, shipped arms and ammunition to them from this country, and on May 19, 1850, made a landing at Cardenas. The United States authorities had put the Spanish government in Cuba on the alert for this expedition. President Taylor had issued a proclamation warning all citizens of the United States not to take part in such an expedition or to assist it in any way. The expedition was driven out to sea from Cardenas a few days after it landed, sailed for Key West, and there disbanded. Meantime there were a number of uprisings in the island between groups of unhappy natives who had not the wisdom to co-operate in the effort to resist the oppressive hand of the Spaniards. In August of 1851, Lopez eluded the United States authorities at the port of New Orleans, and sailed out into the Gulf of Mexico with an expedition 450 strong. His lieutenant on this expedition was a Colonel Crittenden, a native of the State of Kentucky. They landed near Bahia Honda, about thirty miles west of Havana, and found the government forces waiting for them. Colonel Crittenden, with a sub- division of 150 men, was compelled to surrender, and the rest were scattered. Lopez, with fifty others, was captured, taken to Havana, and there executed. The circumstances attending the Lopez failure, and several Span- ish outrages against American citizens and vessels, aroused deep feel- ing in the United States, and the sentiment was growing rapidly that it was a national duty to our own peace, to do something that would make the troublesome neighbor a pleasant one. It was fifty years before action was taken, but, once begun, it was well done. It w r as in 1848, prior to the Lopez invasion, that President Polk made the first approaches to the Spanish government with a sugges- tion to purchase the island for |100,000,000, but was refused with MUTTEKINGS OF INSURRECTION. 153 scant consideration. A few years later came the succession of attacks on American merchant vessels by Spanish ships of war, on the pre- text that the intercepted craft were in filibuster service. Some of these were fired on, and the American mail bags opened, the steam- ships Falcon and Crescent City being in this list. The most flagrant case was that of the Black Warrior, a large steamer in coasting trade between New York and Mobile. In February, 1850, while in the har- bor of Havana, she was stopped, her cargo confiscated, and a fine of twice its value declared. Her captain hauled down the colors, and taking them with him, left the vessel as a Spanish capture. After five years of "diplomacy," Spain paid an indemnity of $300,000 for the out- rage. It was in 1852 that the governments of Great Britain and France tried to draw the United States into an agreement on the question of Cuba, which was happily refused on genuinely American grounds. It was suggested that all the parties should be bound not to acquire Cuba themselves, nor to permit any other power to do so. Our gov- ernment gave the proposal respectful consideration, but declined to enter into any such arrangement, on the ground that we prefer to avoid entangling foreign alliances, that it would be unwise, if not unconstitutional, to tie our hands for the future regardless of what might happen, and that on geographical grounds, while England and France were making very slight concessions, we were asked to make a very important one. The United States came as near to the purchase of Cuba in 1854 as it ever was, but Spain gave the plan little encouragement. Three 'American ministers to European countries, Messrs. Buchanan, Mason and Soule, met at Ostend and formulated a plan for the purchase, sign- ing and issuing what came to be known as the Ostend manifesto. They recommended the purchase of the island for $120,000,000, and that in no event should it be allowed to come under the power of any other European government than the one by which it was held. At this time, and afterward, while filibustering expeditions were fre- quent and disorder constantly threatening in Cuba, the subject of the acquisition of Cuba was discussed in Congress, but no headway was made in the matter. At last, conditions in the island became intol- erable to the patriots there, and the Ten Years' war began. It is necessary at this point to relate some of the causes of the fre- quent disorders and uprisings in the islnnd of Cuba. Some of the 154 MUTTERINGS OF INSURRECTION. features of Spanish, misgovernment in the colony have been named, but the catalogue is far from complete. The most judicial writers, however bitterly they condemn Spain, admit that that peninsular kingdom has itself suffered and that the people have suffered almost beyond endurance themselves. Cuba is not the only land with which we may share a little of our sympathy. But sympathy for Spain must come from other things than oppression from without. Her oppression is within her own borders, and her authorities have tried to shift the burden of it to the colonists across the sea. The debt of Spain has reached enormous proportions, and having fallen from her high estate as a commercial nation, it has become impossible for the great interest charges on her floating debt to be paid by ordinary and correct methods. Says one writer: "To pay the interest necessitates the most grinding oppression. The mov- ing impulse is not malice, but the greed of the famishing; and oppressor and oppressed alike are the objects for sympathy." The annual revenue raised in the island of Cuba had reached nearly $26,000,000 by the time of the outbreak of the Ten Years' war, and preparations were in progress for largely increasing the exac- tions. The large revenue raised was expended in ways to irritate the Cubans or any one else who had to help pay it. The annual salary of the captain general was $50,000, when the president of the United States was getting only $25,000 a year. Each provincial governor in Cuba got a salary of $12,000, while the prime minister of Spain received only half that. The bishop of Havana and the archbishop of Santiago de Cuba each received a salary of $18,000. All offices, civil, military and eccle- siastical, were productive of rich perquisites, except in those cases where stealing was simpler. Wholesale corruption in the custom houses was generally known and admitted by all. The thefts in the custom houses in Havana was estimated at forty per cent, and in Santiago at seventy per cent of the entire revenue. All offices except the very lowest, in church and state alike, were filled by men sent from Spain, with the frank understanding that as soon as he could, each new appointee could garner a fortune by fair means and foul combined, he should retire and let another be sent over to have a turn at the plunder. The result of this was that strangers were always in authority, men with no sympathy for local need, and no local reputa- MUTTEBINGS OP INSURRECTION. 155 tion to sustain. It is perfectly obvious what sort of a public service such conditions would create. As might have been expected, the result was the growth of two parties, one the native-born Cubans, and called the insulares, the other of those from Spain, and their adherents, known as the peninsulares. The line between them has been sharply drawn for many years, and they are on opposite sides of everything. It is from the ranks of the continentals that the volunteer corps of Cuba has been drawn, one of the most aggravating and threatening of all influences against peace in Cuba. Spain imposed differential duties in such a way as to virtually monopolize the trade of the island. At the same time the prices of all imports to Cuba were forced to an unnatural figure, to the great dis- tress of the people. Petty oppression in postage and in baptismal fees multiplied, so that instead of petty it became great. The increase in taxation, of Cuba for use in Spain in two years prior to the outbreak of the Ten Years' war was more than $14,000,000, and the next year it was proposed to increase it still more. The cities were hopelessly in debt and unable to make the most ordinary and most necessary public improvements. What few schools there had been were nearly all closed. Lacking insane asylums, the unfortunate of that class were kept in the jails. The people saw a country separated from them but by a narrow stretch of water, where freedom reigned. They saw that they were being heavily oppressed with taxation for the benefit of the people of Spain, and that, in addition, they were being robbed mercilessly for the benefit of the authorities who were placed over them temporarily. If the money collected from them had been expended for their benefit in the island, or had been expended hon- estly, the case might have been different. As it was, however, an intolerable condition had been endured too long, and they rose against it for the struggle known to history as the Ten Years' war. CHAPTER XII. OUTBREAK OF THE TEN YEARS' WAR Cuba Again Stirred to Turmoil The Taxes of the Island Increased A Declaration of Independence Civil Government Organized Meeting of the Legislature, and Election of Officers The Edict of a Tyrant. Before the outbreak of the Ten Years' War, the reform party in Cuba, which included all the most enlightened, wealthy and influential citizens of the island, had. exhausted all the resources at their com- mand to induce Spain to establish a more just and equitable adminis- tration of affairs, but all to no avail. It was proposed that Cuba receive an autonomist constitution. The abolition of the supreme power of the Captain General, the freedom of the press, the right of petition, the regulation of the chief frauds by which elections were so arranged that no Cuban could hold govern- ment o s ffice, the right of assembly, representation in the Cortes, and complete local self-government were among the reforms asked for. The plans were considered in Spain and were reconsidered, and con- sidered again, and that was about all that ever came of them, except that in June, 1868, Captain General Lersundi was permitted to raise the direct taxes on the island ten per cent. Finally, driven to a point where they could endure it no longer, they made the start, for freedom, and began to fight for it, as brave men should do and have done through the history of the world. Several months before the revolution in Spain and the abdication of Isabella, measures had been taken to prepare for the effort to achieve independence. At last matters progressed so rapidly in the mother country that the Cubans dared not wait for the completion of their plans, but on October 10, 1868, began the hostilities. On that day, Carlos M. de Cespedes, a lawyer of Bayamo, took the initiative with 128 poorly armed men, and issued a declaration of independence at Yara. This declaration justified itself by referring in the following terms to the grievances that have been outlined: "In arming ourselves against the tyrannical government of Spain, we must, according to precedent in all civilized countries, proclaim 156 OUTBREAK OF THE TEN YEARS' WAR. 157 before the world the cause that impels us to take this step, which, though likely to entail considerable disturbances upon the present, will ensure the happiness of the future And as Spain has many a time promised us Cubans to respect our rights, without having fulfilled her promises; and she continues to tax us heavily, and by so doing is likely to destroy our wealth ; as we are in danger of los- ing our property, our lives and our honor under Spanish dominion," etc. Within a few weeks Cespedes was at the head of 15,000 men, ill- prepared for war, so far as arms and equipment were concerned, but well provided with resolution, bravery and a just cause. A civil gov- ernment was organized, and a constitution drawn up, providing for an elective president and vice-president, a cabinet, and a single legislative chamber. It also declared the immediate abolition of slavery. This constitution was promulgated at Guaimaro in Central Cuba, on the 10th of April, 1869. The legislature met soon after, and electee!. Ces- pedes president, and Francisco M. Aguilero vice-president. This insurrection soon assumed formidable dimensions, and the following edict was issued by General Balmaceda: Inhabitants of the country! The reinforcement of troops that I have been waiting for have arrived. With them I shall give protection to the good, and punish promptly those that still remain in rebellion against the government of the metropolis. You know that I have pardoned those who have fought us with arms; that your wives, mothers and sisters have found in me the unexpected pro- tection that you have refused them. You know, also, that many of those we have pardoned have turned against us again. Before such ingratitude, such villainy, it is not possible for me to be the man I have been; there is no longer a place for a falsified neutrality; he that is not for me is against me; and that my soldiers may know how to distinguish, you hear the order they carry. 1st. Every man, from the age of fifteen years upward, found away from his habitation (finca), and who does not prove a justified motive therefor, will be shot. 2nd. Every habitation unoccupied will be burned by the troops. 3rd. Every habitation from which does not float a white flag, as a sig- nal that its occupants desire peace, will be reduced to ashes. Women that are not living in their own homes, or at the houses of their relatives, will collect in the town of Jiguani, or Bayamo, where maintenance will be provided. Those who do not present themselves will be conducted forciblv. 158 OUTBREAK OF THE TEN YEARS' WAR. The foregoing determinations will commence to take effect on the 14th of the present month. EL CONDE DE BALMAGEDA. Bayamo, April 4, 1869. Even Wej'ler, the "Butcher," has never succeeded in concocting a manifesto that surpassed this in malicious excuses for the ancient Spanish amusements of pillage, incendiarism and murder. The Cause a Just One. It is now conceded by high Spanish authorities that the insurgents had just grounds for this revolt, and Senor Dupuy de Lome, formerly the Spanish minister to the United States, admits in a letter to the New York Herald that a very large majority of the leading citizens of the island were in sympathy witli the struggle for liberty. The new government received the moral support of nearly all of the South American republics, but as many of them were troubled with internal dissensions, and uncertain of their own security, they were not in a condition to furnish assistance of a more practical nature, and the revolutionists were left to work out their own salvation. In an exhaustive review of the trouble between Spain and her Cuban possessions, published in 1873, the Edinburg Review said: "It is well known that Spain governs the island of Cuba with an iron and bloodstained hand. The former holds the latter deprived oi civil, political and religious liberty. Hence the unfortunate Cubans being illegally prosecuted and sent into exile, or executed by military commissions in time of peace; hence their being kept from public meeting, and forbidden to speak or write on affairs of state; hence their remonstrances against the evils that afflict them being looked upon as the proceedings of rebels, from the fact that they are bound to keep silence and obey; hence the never-ending plague of hungry officials from Spain to devour the product of their industry and labor; hence their exclusion from public stations, and want of opportunity to fit themselves for the art of government; hence the restrictions to which public instruction with them is subjected, in order to keep them so ignorant as not to be able to know and enforce their rights in any shape or form whatever; hence the navy and the standing army, Avhich are kept in their country at an enormous expenditure from their own wealth, to make them bend their knees and submit their necks to the iron yoke that disgraces them; hence the grinding taxation under which they labor, and which would make them all perish in misery but for the marvelous fertility of their soil." CHAPTER XIII. THE MASSACRE OF THE VIRGINIUS OFFICERS AND CREW. Bxertement in the United States over a Spanish Outrage of Twenty-five Years Ago The Virginius a Blockade Runner Severity of the Spanish Court Martial Insolence to the American Consul Indignation in the United States Negotiations Between Washington and Madrid Settlement an Unsatisfactory One to Most People No Just Retribution Ever Made. It was less than twenty-five years before the destruction of the Maine, that another vessel whose crew met its fate in a Spanish port in Cuba was the subject of as intense public interest in the United States as that created by the catastrophe of 1898. The hopeful progress of the Cuban revolution of 1868-78 had stimulated their friends in the United States to aid the insurgents in every way possible, by money, men and the munitions of war. Filibustering was constant and. scarcely discour- aged by the people of the United States, in spite of the protest of Spain. It was as a result of this condition that the terrible affair of the Virgin- ius occurred. The case of the Virginius had in it elements of tragedy that made it more spectacular and dramatic than that of the Maine, aCnd American spirit was worked to an even higher tension than it is now, before diplo- macy and caution averted a war between the United States and Spain. In the case of the Virginius the facts of Spanish aggression were in no way denied, but, on the contrary, avowed for a time with pride, until the authorities at Madrid subdued their people, who were making a set- tlement more difficult by their talk. The only controversy was as to whether or not Spam's action in the matter was within its rights. But the settlement, however it might have left the rights of the vessel still unsolved, was a rebuke to Spain, and for its execution of American citi- zens with scarcely a formality of law Spain has never been forgiven by those who remember it, whatever diplomacy decided as to being satis- fied. The Virginius was originally an English-built sidewheel steamer called the Virgin, and during the war between the States was one of the most famous of blockade runners until captured by a vessel of the 159 160 THE MASSACRE OF THE VIKGINIUS. United States. In 1870 she was sold in Washington to an agent of the Cuban Junta at New York, her name was changed to Virginius, and she cleared for Curacoa in the West Indies. From that time till her un- happy fate she was never in United States waters. At Aspinwall and in the ports of Venezuela and the West Indies she was known for three years as the most daring and the most successful of filibusters, making repeated landings on the Cuban coast with supplies of arms, ammuni- tion, food and clothes for the insurgents who were then fighting the Ten- Years' war. In all her filibustering it was claimed, however, that the Virginius never lost her character as an American ship, though the Cuban flag was kept at the masthead whenever that practice served any good purpose. The vessel sailed on the fatal voyage from Kingston, Jamaica, Octo- ber 23, 1873, having cleared at the United States consulate as a United States vessel bound for Port Simon, Costa Kica. The commander was Captain Joseph Fry, a citizen of the United States. The cargo was made up of munitions of war for the Cuban insurgents, and the crew was part of Cuban and part of American citizens. There were also on board a, number of enlisted men on their way to join the insurgent army. It was not until October 31 that the Virginius approached the coast of Cuba to make her landing, and was intercepted by the Spanish gun' boat Tornado. The Tornado had been built by the same English firm that constructed the Virginius, also for blockade running, but in the race that followed the Virginius was unable to equal the speed of her Spanish pursuer. The chase lasted eight hours. Finally, at 10 o'clock at night, the Virginius was stopped and surrendered in response to the cannon shots of the Tornado, which had come in range. The captain protested that his papers were regular and that the Virginius was "an American ship, carrying American colors and papers, with an American captain and an American crew." In response he was told that he was< a pirate, his flag was lowered and trampled upon, and the Spanish flag w T as hoisted in its place. During the chase after the Virginius, the passengers and crew of the fated vessel were in a state of panic. The cargo, which was made up of war material, was thrown overboard, and all persons on the vessel emptied their trunks of whatever might be considered suspicious. Almost from the instant of the capture the fate of the unfortunate men was assured, and they soon realized the extent of the danger that threat- ened them. THE MASSACRE OF THE ViRGINIL'S. 161 Verdict of the Spanish Court-Martial. When the Tornado and the Virginius reached Santiago de Cuba the next day the 155 men captured were placed in close confinement and a court-martial was convened at once. The various courts-martial con- demned most if not all of the prisoners to death, this summary proceed- ing being, as was alleged, in accordance with Spanish laws, so far at least as the character of the court and the nature of the judicial forms were concerned. The first executions were on the morning of November 4, when four men were shot, one of them being Brigadier Washington Ryan, who claimed British citizenship, as a Canadian, although he had served in the Union army during the late war. The victims were shot in the back, and their bodies were afterward beheaded, the heads dis- played on spikes and the trunks trampled by horses. George W. Sher- man, the correspondent of the New York Herald, tried to sketch the scene and was imprisoned for four days for his attempt. A guard kept the American consul in his house, so he could not appear to protest. As the Virginius had displayed the American colors and was char- tered and cleared as an American vessel, she had a prima facie claim to protection as such, until her right should be disproved. Hence Mr. E. G. Schmitt, the American vice-consul at Santiago, was prompt and urgent in demanding access to the prisoners, with a view to protecting the rights of the vessel and any on board who might be American citizens. He was treated with great discourtesy by the provincial governor, who told him in effect that it was none of his business, and persisted in de- claring that they were all pirates and would be dealt with as such. Mr. Schmitt was even refused the use of the submarine cable to consult with the consul at Kingston, Jamaica. He would thus have been left entirely helpless but for the friendly aid of the British and French con- suls. On the 8th of November twelve more men were executed, and on the 13th thirty-seven were executed, this last batch including the officers and crew of the Virginius and most of the American citizens. At 4 o'clock in the afternoon the condemned men were marched to the place of execution, passing and saluting the American consulate, where the flag was not flying from its staff.. Captain Fry was shot first, and was the only man, though the soldiers stood but ten feet away, who fell dead at the first volley. The majority of the poor fellows, as the firing continued, were wounded, and 162 THE MASSACRE OF THE VLBGLN1US. killed as they lay on the ground by the usual Spanish fashion of firing: rifles in the mouths of those who were disabled. The second engineer of the Virginius was among those executed. He had made a declaration to the Spanish that he had tampered with the engines and cut down the speed of the vessel so that she could be captured, and was marched witk the rest to prevent his comrades from knowing that he was to be spared. He was shot by mistake while making frantic protests and explanations, but, as he was a traitor in one wa}^ or the other, his death was the only one of all that was never regretted. Protests Were Unheeded. During all this time the consuls at Santiago were not idle, but they were helpless. E. G. Schmitt, the American vice-consul, and Theodore Brooks, the British vice-consul, made all sorts of protests that were un- availing. Schmitt was not permitted to see the prisoners before or after the court-martial, until the very end, when he reached Captain Fry and signed his protest with him. He was not permitted the use of the tele- graph in order to communicate with the government at Washington by way of Kingston, Jamaica. He wrote repeated notes to Gen. Burriel, the Spanish commander at Santiago, getting no answer to them, until at last an answer came that was more irritating than silence. Burriel told him that he should have known that the previous day was a day of religious festival, during which he and all his officers were engaged in "meditation of the divine mysteries," and could not consider temporal affairs. He also informed the consul that he might be expelled from the island for trying to em- broil the United States and Spain in difficulties if he were not careful. Then came the only bright spot in the whole affair. News of what was going on reached Jamaica, and the British gunboat Niobe, Captain Sir Larnbton Lorraine, left for the scene of massacre, sailing in such a hurry that he left some of the crew ashore. The Captain landed at San- tiago before his ship was anchored, and demanded that the slaughter be stopped instantly. He declared that he represented the United States as well as, England, and that he would bombard the city if there wa another American citizen executed. Ninety-three men were under sen- tence of death, many of whom were Americans, but the sentences were immediately suspended and the lives were saved. The Spanish after- ward asserted that the executions were stopped because of orders re- ceived from Madrid. THE MABSACKE OF THE VIRGINIU8. 1G3 The next time Sir Lambton Lorraine was in New York he was offered a reception, which he declined. He was presented, however, with a silver brick, on which were engraved the words: "Blood is thicker than water." A resolution of thanks to him was laid on the table in the House of Representatives and never passed. American Demands for Vengeance. When the news of all this reached the United States, public indigna- tion rose rapidly. Mass-meetings were held demanding vengeance on Spain. President Grant sent special messages to Congress, and the state department began diplomatic negotiations. Hamilton Fish, secretary of state, declared that the Virginius, having been registered as an American vessel carrying official documents regular upon their face and' bearing the United States flag, was entirely beyond the jurisdiction of any other power on the high seas in the time of peace; that if she had secured fraudulent entry or committed any other fraud against the laws of the United States it was for her to be turned over to the United States courts for punishment, and not for her to be captured and punished by some other power. The Spanish minister of foreign affairs at that time was Admiral Polo dfc Bernabe, father of the new Spanish minister who succeeded Dupuy de Lome. He wanted to submit the matter to arbitration, and Secretary Fish replied to him that the "United States was ready to refer to arbitration all questions properly subjects for reference, but that the question of an indignity to the flag of the nation and the capture in time of peace on the high sea,s of a vessel bearing that, flag and having also the register and papers of an American ship, is not deemed to be one referable to other powers to determine. A nation must be the judge and custodian of its own honor." Most of the men were executed after protests to Madrid began to b** made* Madrid mobs made a demonstration against the American min- ister, General Sickles. November 4, Secretary Fish cabled Sickles: "In case of refusal of satisfactory reparation within twelve days from this date close your legation and leave Madrid." Ten days later, when the executions were over, he telegraphed: "If Spain cannot redress these outrages, the United States will." Ten days after that he wired : "If no settlement is reached by the close of to-morrow, leave." Next day Spain became tractable and war was averted. 164 THE MASSACRE OF THE VIRGINIUS By his conduct in Madrid at that time General Sickles made many friends of those Americans who wanted to see energetic action, and many enemies among those who wanted peace at any price. It was alleged afterward that the latter influence became dominant, and that his recall from that post was the result of their work to punish him for his energy that was not always diplomatic in its forms. Settlement of the Trouble. The terms of settlement of the trouble were that the Virginius should be surrendered to an American warship, with the survivors of those who had been captured with her, and that on December 25 the United States fla,g should be saluted by the Tornado. The surrender was made in the obscure harbor of Bahia Honda, December 16, the Spanish having taken the Virginius there to avoid the humiliation of a surrender in Santiago or Havana, where it should have been made. Captain W. D. Whiting, the chief of staff of the North Atlantic Squad- ron, was appointed to receive the surrender of the Virginius, and the gunboat Dispatch was sent to Bahia Honda with him for that purpose. Lieut. Adolph Marix was the flag lieutenant of the Dispatch, the same who was afterwards the judge-advocate of the court of inquiry on the Maine disaster. The Virginius was delivered with the flag flying, but she was unseaworthy, and, struck by a storm off Cape Hatteras, was sunk on her way to New York. The salute to the flag that had been ar- ranged was waived by the United States because the attorney-general gave an opinion that the Virginius had no right to fly the American flag when she was captured. Major Moses P. Handy, afterwards famous as a journalist, was pres- ent at the surrender of the Virginius to the American men of war in the harbor of Bahia Honda, and gives a graphic account of the circum- stances attending that ceremony. In concluding the tale he says: "The surrender of the surviving prisoners of the massacre took place in the course of time at Santiago, owing more to British insistence than to our feeble representation. As to the fifty-three who were killed, Spain never gave us any real satisfaction. For a long time the Madrid govern- ment unblushingly denied that there had been any killing, and when forced to acknowledge the fact they put us off with preposterous ex- cuses. 'Butcher Borriel,' by whose orders the outrage was perpetrated, was considered at Madrid to have been justified by circumstances. It was pretended that orders to suspend the execution of Ryan and his THE MASSACRE OF THE VIRGINIUS. 167 associates were 'unfortunately' received too late, owing to interruption of telegraph lines by the insurgents, to whose broad and bleeding shoul- ders an attempt was thus made to shift the responsibility. "There was a nominal repudiation of Borriel's act and a promise was made to inflict punishment upon 'those who have offended,' but no pun- ishment was inflicted upon anybody. The Spanish government, with characteristic double dealing, resorted to procrastination, prevarication and trickery, and thus gained time, until new issues effaced in the Amer- ican mind the memory of old wrongs unavenged. Instead of being de- graded, Borriel was promoted. Never to this day has there been any adequate atonement by Spain, much less an apology or expression of regret for the Virginius massacre." The amount of money paid to the United States government for dis- tribution among the families of American sufferers b} 7 this affair was $80,000. And that is the extent of the reparation made for the shocking crime. The Virginius, although the most conspicuous, was not the only American victim of Spanish misgovernment in Cuba during the Ten Years' war. In 1877 the three whaling vessels, Kising Sun, Ellen Kiz- pah, and Edward Lee, while pursuing their legitimate business under the American flag, outside of Cuban waters, were fired upon and de- tained for days, with circumstances of peculiar hardship and brutality. The United States government investigated the outrage with care, and demanded of Spain an indemnity of $19,500. The demand, however, was not enforced, and the sum of $10,000 was accepted as a compromise set- tlement. CHAPTER XIV. OPERATIONS OF THE TEN YEARS' WAR. The Two Wars Compared The Havana Volunteers The Slaughter at the Villaneuva Theater The Court Martial of the Students A Holiday in Havana The Close of the War The Treaty of Zanjon. The reader who has watched closely the struggle in Cuba for the past three years need not be told that Spain has had every advantage in men, money, arms and ammunition. The same state of affairs ex- isted during the Ten Years' War. In fact, the inequality was even greater, for the Spanish army was then composed of experienced sol- diers who were well fed, well clothed and paid regularly. In the pres- ent conflict many of them are boys who have been sent from home to make targets for insurgent bullets. They know comparatively noth- ing of military tactics, they have not been paid for months, and they lack food and clothing. The equipment of the insurgent forces in the former rebellion was even more limited than it has been in this one. While they did not experience serious difficulty in obtaining food, the implements of war in any quantities were beyond their reach. But the same spirit that gave courage to our American heroes in revolu- tionary times was in them, and for ten years they struggled bravely against overwhelming odds. It is not possible to tell in detail of the monstrous cruelties practiced by the Spanish army during those years of carnage. Here is the testi- mony of one officer: "We captured seventeen, thirteen of whom were shot outright; on dying they shouted, 'Hurrah for Free Cuba, hurrah for independence/ A mulatto said, 'Hurrah for Cespedes/ On the following day we killed a Cuban officer and another man. Among the thirteen that we shot the first day we found three sons and their father. The father wit- nessed the execution of his sons without even changing color, and when his turn came he said he died for the independence of his coun- try. On coming back we brought along with us three carts filled with women and children, the families of those we had shot, and they asked 168 OPERATIONS OF THE TEN YEARS' WAR. 16l> us to shoot them, because they would rather die than lire among Span- iards." Another wrote: "Not a single Cuban will remain in this island, because we shoot all that we find in the fields, on the farms and in every hovel. We do not leave a creature alive where we pass, be it man or animal. If we find cows we kill them, if horses, ditto, if hogs, ditto, men, women or children, ditto. As to the houses, we burn them. So every one receives his due, the men in balls, the animals in bayonet thrusts. The island will remain a desert." In the cities, outrages equally barbarous were committed. The Havana Volunteers. The Havana volunteers, made up of the Spanish-born residents, in whose favor the government of the island has always been arranged, took possession of Havana, and put it under mob rule. In May, 1870, they marched out in front of the Villaneuva theater and fired volleys into the crowds that were entering. They had reason to believe, some of them said, that the performance to be given there was to raise funds for the insurgent cause. So powerful was this organization that shortly after this outrage they placed the Captain-General of the island under arrest, and finally shipped him to Spain, sending word to the home government that he was not severe enough in his rule to suit their views, and suggesting that in case there were no Peninsulars who had the necessary stamina to govern Cuba according to their ideas, they might feel it advisable to assume command themselves* On another occasion the dead body of one of these volunteers was placed in a public tomb in Havana, and the repository was found to have been defaced by scurrilous writing on the glass of the door. For no known reason, except a blood-thirsty desire for vengeance on some- one, no matter whether guilty or innocent, it was claimed that the outrage was committed by some of the students of the university, and on complaint of the volunteer corps, forty-three of these young meni were arrested. They were arraigned before the military tribunal, and so mani- festly unjust was the accusation that an officer of the regular army of Spain volunteered to defend them. There was absolutely no proof against them, and they were acquitted. But the volunteers were deter* 170 OPERATIONS OF THE TEN YEARS' WAR. mined that their victims should not escape, and taking advantage of the fear in which they were held, even by the Havana officials, they forced the Governor-General to issue an order for a second court- martial. At this examination they manipulated matters so that two thirds of the members of the trial board were connected with their organization, and a verdict of guilty was quickly rendered against all of the prisoners. Eight of them were sentenced to be shot, and the others to long terms of imprisonment at hard labor. The day of the execution was a holiday in Havana. Bands of music paraded the streets, followed by the volunteers, 15,000 strong, while behind them, bound in chains, and under military guard, came the eight boys who had been condemned to die. Conscious of their inno- cence of any crime, they did not falter, but marched bravely to the place of execution, where they faced their murderers and fell, riddled fey bullets from the rifles of the volunteers. The report of this affair sent a thrill of horror throughout the whole of the civilized world, and the perpetrators of the outrage were severely censured by the Span- ish Cortes, but there was no attempt at punishment, nor were the ones who had been imprisoned released. Meantime the war was being carried on in the provinces with vary- ing success, but dissensions finally arose between the civil and mili- tary authorities of the republic of Cuba, and as "a house divided against itself cannot stand," the effectiveness of the campaign was destroyed, and, in 1878, concessions were offered by the Spanish government, which were accepted by the revolutionists, and the struggle was aban- doned. What the outcome of the contest might have been, could it have been continued with the leaders united for its success, is an open ques- tion. As the years went by the rank and file of the Cuban army seemed to be more determined than ever to throw off the yoke, and the gov- ernment in Spain became less prompt in sending supplies of men and money to carry on the war. They eagerly seized the opportunity to bring it to a close, and the treaty of Zanjon, which was signed by Gen- eral Martinez Campos, the Spanish Governor-General of the island, and General Maximo Gomez, Commander-in-Chief of the Cuban army, promised many reforms, and gave amnesty to all who had taken part in the rebellion. CHAPTER XV. THE PEACE OF ZANJON AND ITS VIOLATED PLEDGES. Spanish Hypocrisy and Deceit Cubans Denied Representation Increase of Taxation The Royal Edicts A Plausible Argument, Which Is Not Borne Out by Facts Spain's Promises Always Broken. If Spain had been sincere in the promises of reform she made her Cuban colony when the treaty of Zanjon was signed, it is probable that the present war would have never occurred. For while a few of the leaders notably General Maceo refused to become pacified, the great majority of the better classes were glad to accept a peaceful set- tlement on terms that gave them, in fact, if not in name, nearly every concession for which they had fought. But it did not take them long to learn that they had been duped. Spain granted to Cuba the liberties of Puerto Eico, which had none. On this deceitful ground was laid the new situation, through which ran a current of falsehood and hypocrisy. Spain, whose mind did not change, hastened to change the name of things. The captain-general was called the governor-general. The royal decrees took the name of authorizations. The commercial monopoly of Spain was named coasting trade. The right of banishment was transformed into the law of vagrancy. The brutal attacks of defenseless citizens were called "componte." The law of constitutional guarantees became the law of public order. Taxation without the consent or knowledge of the Cuban people was changed into the law of estimates (budget) voted by the representatives of Spain. The painful lesson of the Ten Years' War was entirely lost on Spain. Instead of inaugurating a redeeming policy that would heal the recent wounds, allay public anxiety, and quench the thirst for jus- tice felt by the people, who were desirous to enjoy their natural rights, the Peninsula, while lavish in promises of reform, persisted in carry- ing on, unchanged, its old and crafty system, namely: to exclude every native Cuban from every office that could give him any effective influence and intervention in public affairs ; the ungovernable exploita- tion of the colonists' labor for the benefit of Spanish commerce and 171 172 TilE PEACE OF /AN JON. Spanish bureaucracy, both civil and military. To carry out the latter purpose it was necessary to maintain the former at any cost. Mr. Clarence King, a recognized authority on political subjects con- nected with Cuban affairs, says: "The main concession for which the insurgents accepted peace was the promise of constitutional reform, ^s a matter of fact, there promptly followed four royaJ edicts as follows: June 9, entitling Cuba to elect deputies to the Cortes, one for each 40,000 people; June 9, dividing the island into the present six provinces; June 21, instituting a system of provincial and municipal government, followed on August 16 by the necessary electoral regulations. But the system was imme- diately seen to be the shadow without the substance of self-govern- ment. The Provincial Assembly could nominate only three candidates for presiding officer. It was the inevitable governor-general who had the power to appoint, not necessarily one of the three nominees, but any member of the Assembly he chose. But all this provincial machin- ery is in reality an empty form, since expressly by law the governor- general was given the power to prorogue the assemblies at will. The deputies have never been able to accomplish anything in the Cortes. Moreover the crux of the whole financial oppression tariff, taxes, and absolute control and expenditure of the revenue remained with Spain." The loyal Spaniard insists that every agreement entered into by his government was faithfully carried out; that the Cubans were given from time to time even greater liberties than the treaty promised them ; and that in several matters of importance, immunities have been granted them that the people of the mother country did not share. The Assistant Colonial Secretary of Spain concludes a voluminous defense of the policy of his government in Cuba as follows: There is thus no reason in Cuba to complain of the illiberality of the laws. If there has been any shortcoming in respect to morals, the nation is not to blame; none but the colonial provinces are to blame for this; if we proposed to seek comfort in comparisons, it would not be necessary to look for them in South America, in the countries that have emancipated themselves from the Spanish mother-country, be- cause examples (some of them very recent) of acts of violence, anarchj and scandalous outbreaks c.ould be found in the States of the Union itself. In respect to another matter, a great deal of foolish talk is indulged in. From the statements of some people it would appear that Cuba THE PEACE OF ZANJON. 173 does nothing but contribute, by the taxes which it pays, to alleviate the burdens of the peninsular treasury, whereas, in reality, just the contrary is the truth. The nation has, of late, guaranteed the conver- sion of Spanish debts in Cuba, which took place in 1886 and 1890. Owing to these operations, and to the fact that all taxes which did not have to be met directly by its government have been rigorously elim- inated from the budget of Cuba, it was possible to reduce the Cuban budget from forty-six and one-half million dollars, which was its amount at the close of the former war (for the fiscal year of 1878-79) to a little more than twenty-three millions of dollars, as appears from the budget of 1893. The financial laws have been assimilated, and if the system of taxa- tion has not been entirely assimilated, this is because of the fact that direct taxes are very repugnant to the popular feeling in Cuba, espe- cially the tax on land, which is the basis of the Peninsular budget. It appears, however, that our Cuban brethren have no reason to complain in this respect. The direct tax on rural property is two per cent, in Cuba, whereas in Spain it is seventeen, and even twenty per cent. It is evident that every budget must be based on something; in Cuba, as in all other countries in which the natural conditions are similar, that something must necessarily be the income from customs duties. Not- withstanding this, it may be remarked that in the years when the greatest financial distress prevailed, the Spanish Government never hesitated to sacrifice that income when it was necessary to do so in order to meet the especial need of the principal agricultural product of Cuba. Consequently the Spanish commercial treaty with the United States was concluded, which certainly had not been concluded before, owing to any fault of the Spanish Government. Under that treaty, the principal object of which was to encourage the exportation of Cuban sugar, which found its chief market in the States of the Union, many Spanish industries were sacrificed which have formerly supplied the wants of the people of Cuba. That sacrifice was unhesi- tatingly made, and now that the treaty is no longer in force, is due to the fact that the new American tariff has stricken sugar from the free list Attention may also be called to the fact that the colonial provinces alone enjoy exemption from the blood tax, Cuba never having been obliged to furnish military recruits. The disqualifications of the Cubans to hold public office is purely a myth. Such disqualifications is found on the text of no law or regula- 174 THE PEACE OF ZANJON. tion, and in point of fact there is no such exclusion. In order to verify this assertion it would be sufficient to examine the lists of Cuban officers, especially of those employed in the administration of justice and in all branches of instruction. Even if it were desired to make a comparison of political offices, even of those connected with the func- tions which are discharged in the Peninsula, the proportion would still be shown in which Spaniards in Cuba aspire to both. The fact is that a common fallacy is appealed to in the language habitually used by the enemies of Spain, who call persons "Peninsulars" who were not born in Cuba, but have resided there many years and have all their ties and interests there, and do not call those "Cubans" who were born there and have left the island in order to meet necessities connected, per- haps, with their occupation. This was done in the Senate, when the advocates of the separation of Cuba only were called "Cubans," while those only who refused allegiance to the Spanish mother-country were called patriots. In conclusion, I will relate a fact which may appear to be a joke, but which, in a certain way, furnished proof of what I have just said. When Kafael Gasset returned from Habana, he came and asked me for some data showing the proportion of Cubans holding office under our Government. I asked him, as a preliminary question, for a definition of what we were to understand by "Cuban" and what by "Peninsular!" He immediately admitted that the decision of the whole question was based upon that definition, and I called his attention to the fact that here, in the Ministry of the Colonies, at the present time, there are three high governmental functionaries. One is a representative from Habana, being at the same time a professor in its University, and another, viz., your humble servant, is a Spaniard because he was born in Habana itself. Is the other man a Peninsular, and am I not a Cuban? GUILLERMO. Assistant Colonial Secretary of Spain. This is the argument from the Peninsular standpoint, and it is prob- ably made in good faith. But while the Spanish rule in Cuba may seem to be just and equitable in theory, it is oppressive and tyrannical in fact. While the government may have partly carried out the letter of its promises, there has been no effort to fulfill the spirit of the com- pact in the slighest degree, and the violated pledges of the treaty of Zanjon only add new chapters to the long record of Spanish treachery and deceit. CHAPTER XVI. PREPARATIONS FOR ANOTHER REBELLION. Spam's Policy of Distrust The Cost of the Ten Years' War Work of the Cuban Exiles Revolutionary Clubs in the Western Hemisphere An Expedition Checked Heroism of Cuban Women The Struggle Begun. Ever since Spain lost her colonies on the American continent the Cubans have striven to gain their independence. The Ten Years War cost the mother country 300,000,000 pesetas and 100,000 men, most of them victims of yellow fever. When slavery was abolished in 1880 fresh disturbances ensued. The majority of slave holders, who received no compensation, joined the party of independence. Spain, adhering to her old policy of distrust, retained a large army in Cuba and a navy round about her shores, the expenses of which caused the budget to amount to $46,594,000 at a time when two-thirds of the island was nothing but a mass of ruins, and when Cuba was beginning to feel the effects of the competition with other sugar-producing countries. W r hile the European manufacturers received important bounties those of Cuba had to pay export duties on their sugar, and the impor- tation of all agricultural and industrial implements was subjected to a tariff almost prohibitive. Two laws were enacted in 1882 to regulate commerce between Cuba and Spain. By the provisions of these laws the import duties on all Spanish products were to be gradually diminished until their importa- tion in Cuba became entirely free, while the Cubans had to pa}^ on their imports to Spain duties which practically closed the Spanish market to all their products. Spanish goods, as a rule, are much inferior to those of English, French or American manufacture, but the Cuban consumer was forced to buy Spanish goods or pay an exorbitant price for those which he would have preferred to buy at a fair price. An instance will suffice to illustrate this: When the present war began in 1895 the duty on a hundred kilogrammes of woolen cashmere was fifteen dollars and forty- 175 376 PREPARATIONS FOR ANOTHER REBELLION. seven cents if Spanish, three hundred dollars if foreign. These differ, ential duties opened a reign of prosperity for industry in Spain, where foreign goods were imported or smuggled, to be later sent to Cuba an Spanish. The injustice of these commercial laws was so evident and so det- rimental to the interests of Cuba that in 1894 the Planters' Association, the president of which, the Count de Diana, was a Spaniard, referred to them as "destructive of our public wealth, a source of inextinguish- able discontent and the germ of serious dissensions." The insular budgets could never be covered, and the result was that the public debt was kept on the increase. The expenditures were classed as follows: For army and navy, 36.59 per cent of the budget's total; for the debt, 40.89; for justice and government, 19.77, and for pub- lic works, 2.75. No public work of any kind was begun in the seven- teen years which intervened between the two wars. The Cuban Treasury, between 1823 and 1864, sent to &pain $82,165,436 in gold. This money entered the Spanish Treasury a "Colonial surplus," but as a Spanish writer (Zaragoza) says in his book, " Las Insurrecciones de Cuba," it was absurd to speak of a surplus when not even the opening of a bad road was undertaken. Politically, the condition of the Cubans after the restoration of peace in 1878, was as bad as it had been before. Laws existed which might lead unobserving persons to believe that the Cubans enjoyed every liberty, but as a matter of fact the Cubans were kept under the most unbearable vassalage. The Spaniards in Cuba before this war numbered only 9.30 per cent of the island's population, but, availing themselves of a law which gave to them a majority in the electoral census, they were to return twenty-four of the thirty deputies which the island then sent to the Spanish Cortes. So restrictive was the electoral law that only 53,000 men were qual- ified to vote in the entire island, although its population was 1,762,000. Jn the municipal district of Guines, with a population of 12,500 Cubans and 500 Spaniards, the electoral census included 400 Spaniards and thirty-two Cubans. This is one among many similar instances. The Board of Aldermen in Havana, the capital city of the island, has for years been made up entirely of Spaniards, and the same may be said of Cienfuegos and other important cities. Despite all constitutional provisions the governor-general of the island had the power to deport from the island, without a trial, anj PREPARATIONS FOB ANOTHER REBELLION. 177 person whose presence there he considered dangerous to the security of the State. The island was at peace when Cepeda, Lopez de Brinas and Marquez Sterling, all journalists, were deported. The liberty of the press Avas and still is a myth. El Pais, the Autonomist organ, was criminally prosecuted in 1889 because it denounced the appointment of one of the sons of the president of the Havana Court of Appeals to a place which he could not lawfully hold. What liberty of association the Cubans enjoyed may be judged from the fact that a delegate of the government had to be present at their meetings, with power to dissolve them whenever he saw fit to do so. No Cuban was able to obtain a place in the administration unless he was rich enough to go to Madrid and there become acquainted with some influential politician. Even so, Cubans seldom succeeded in being appointed to places of importance. The Cuban exiles in Key West, New York and other cities in the United States, and in Costa Rica, Honduras, Santo Domingo and other parts of Spanish America, had been planning a new uprising for several years. The desire of the Cubans for national independence was quick- ened by what they suffered from Spain's misgovern ment. For two or three years the exiles in the United States and Spanish American countries, veterans of the war of 1868-78, and younger champions of free Cuba, organized clubs, collected a war fund, purchased munitions of war and laid plans with their compatriots in Cuba for a new struggle for independence. There were 140 revolutionary clubs in North and South America, Cuba and other West India islands, affiliated under the name of the revolutionary party, ready to support an uprising with financial and moral aid. Cuban working-men in the United States prom- ised to contribute a tenth of their earnings, or more if necessary. There were firearms on the island that had remained concealed since the former war, some had been bought from corrupt custodians of the gov- ernment arsenals, who, finding it impossible to get pay due them from Spain, took this method of securing what was rightfully theirs. An Expedition Checked. An expedition that planned to sail in the yacht Lagonda from Fernandina, Fla., on January 14, 1895, was broken up by the United States authorities. General Antonio Maceo, its leader, with Jose" Marti, the political organizer of the new government, went to Santo Domingo, "where they could confer with the revolutionist leaders living in Cuba. 178 PREPARATIONS FOR ANOTHER REBELLION. There Marti found Maximo Gomez, the veteran of a dozen struggles and a brave and able soldier, and offered him the command and organiza- tion of the army. Gomez accepted and began at once to arrange his programme. The plan of the revolutionists was to rise simultaneously in the six provinces on February 24. The leaders on the island and the organizers abroad had a thorough understanding. Heroism of Cuban Women. The men of Cuba were not alone in their plans for independence, for their wives and sisters, mothers and sweethearts, were enthusiastic and faithful allies. The island was full of devoted women reared in indolence and luxury who were tireless in their successful efforts to get word from one scattered rebel band to another, and to send them food, medicines and clothing. These women were far better con- spirators than .their fathers and brothers, for Cuban men must talk, but the women seem to know the value of silence. Beautiful and delicate senoritas would disguise themselves in men's attire and steal out at night to the near-by haunts of lover or brother in the "Long Grass," as the insurgents' camps are called, with food secreted in false pockets, or letters, whose envelopes had been dipped in ink, hidden in their black hair. Medicines were carried in canes, and cloth for clothes or wounds was concealed in the lining of coats. One girl, disguised as a vender, frequentty carried to the woods dynamite in egg shells deftly put together. She had many thrilling experiences, but her narrowest escape was when a Spanish soldier by the roadside insisted on taking from the basket an egg, to let its contents drop in a hot and ready pan. He was with difficulty persuaded to forego the meal. The dynamite was made by another woman, who carefully obtained the ingredients at various times and at widely scattered drug stores. And so, with almost every Cuban man, woman and child united in a fixed determination to make the island one of the free and indepen- dent nations of the earth, the final struggle was begun. CHAPTER XVII. THE CUBAN JUNTA AND ITS WORK. Organization Which Has Represented the Insurgents in the United States Splendid W r ork Done by Senor Tomas Estrada Palma and His Staff Sources of the W T ar Funds Generosity of Cuban Cigar Makers Who Have Supported the Revolution Liberal Gifts from Americans Some Inside Facts about Filibustering American Sailors Do Not Like to Capture Insurgent Supplies Palma's Address to the American People. From the moment of the first outbreak of insurrection in Cuba, in February, 1895, the name of the Cuban Junta has been a familiar phrase to everyone in the United States, and yet its functions and its organiza- tion have been by no means well understood. There have been those in Congress and elsewhere who have spoken of it slightingly as an or- ganization banded together for its own profit in some way, not realizing that its members were the trusted representatives abroad of the whole Cuban people. The parallels between the Cuban insurrection and that of the Ameri- can colonies against Great Britain in 1776, are far more numerous than has been recognized. The Cuban army has been poorly clothed and scantily fed at times, and equipped with all sorts of obsolete weapons of offence. But these things are no disgrace, and indeed are the basis of much of the pride that Americans take in the splendid work which their ancestors did in that other insurrection, which, having resulted success- fully, is now known as the American Revolution. There have been sneers at the government of the Cuban republic because its officers have had to move from place to place at various times, in order to avoid threatened capture by the Spanish forces. But was there ever a more peripatetic national government than that of the American colonies during the Revolution, when the legislature and its officers sat succes- sively in Philadelphia, Germantown, Princeton, New York and several other places, driven out of each in turn by the same fear of capture by British troops? Finally, it ought to be remembered, though it may not be, that the 179 ISO THE CUBAN JUNTA AND ITS WOKK colonies maintained an organization exactly similar to that of the Cuban Junta in New York, for the purpose of securing money and support from the people and the governments of Europe, to whom they were ac- credited. The only country which gave them welcome encouragement was France. But Benjamin Franklin's position in Paris as the head of what was virtually the American Junta was then and is now an honor to his name and his countrymen. It enlisted the same aid from France and French citizens that the Cuban Junta in New York has enlisted from the United States and American citizens, and there is no reason to form any less creditable judgment of the latter enterprise than the former. Character of the "Work of the Junta, The Junta is the organization through which Cuba's friends reach the Cubans in the field. In many places these friends are banded to- gether and work for the Cuban cause as organizations. In the United States and Europe there are 300 Cuban revolutionary clubs, with a membership of more than 50,000. These clubs were the outcome of a suggestion originating with Jose Marti, and their organization has been accomplished by the delegation, with whom they are all in closest touch, to whom they all account, and through whom they all make con- tributions in money, clothing, provisions, arms, and munitions for those who are enduring the hardships of the war. Before the revolution be- gan these clubs had $100,000 in bank as a war fund. These most vital contributions must reach the army in the field, and it is the business of the delegation to see that they get there. And they have been getting there under most adverse and trying circumstances, and amid perils of land and sea where enemies are watching and where a friendly government has had to guard against the violation of neutral- ity laws. For accomplishing its work the Junta has in no way been restricted in authority, the Cuban government having even granted special author- ity allowing Mr. Palma to issue a limited amount of bonds, coin money, and grant letters of marque. It has further been the business of the Junta attended by risk of life to its agents to keep in communication with the insurgents. This has been done by secret agents who come and go from New York to Key West, from Key West to Havana, from Havana into Spanish cities of Cuba and through the provinces of the island. THE CUBAN JUNTA AND ITS WORK. 181 The headquarters of the Junta bears no outward sign except that the stars and stripes and the single starred flag of Cuba wave from the third-story window, where is Mr. Palma's office. A narrow hall and tor- tuous stairs lead to the office of the delegate, where on every side are signs of active business, with shelves, tables, and desks holding heaps of letters, books of accounts, and documents of various sorts. Here the delegate works, receives his friends, coworkers, and agents. Off the main room is a private office, w T here secret agents report and are instructed, and where councils of moment are held and decisions of vital import to the Cuban cause reached, to be followed by orders that are of immense importance to the army of liberation. The Cuban Junta, with its headquarters, represents the legation of the Cuban republic abroad, and the head of the Junta, as it is called, is T. Estrada Palma. Properly speaking he is the delegate, and with the members of his ministerial and diplomatic household constitutes the delegation of the Cuban republic. The term "Junta" has been applied because such a body or council was attached to the diplomatic department of Cuba during the Ten Years' war. As the authority of the Junto frequently restricted the ac- tion of the delegate, the promoters of the present revolution decided to eliminate it; yet the name remains, and is used and accepted to desig- nate Mr. Palma and his associates. Authority of the Junta. This Junta, as the representative of the Cuban republic, acts on high authority, for the delegation was appointed on September 19, 1895, by the Constituent Assembly that formed the government and commis- sioned Maximo Gomez chief commander of the Cuban army. At the same time it made Mr. Palma delegate and Cuban representative abroad, with authority to appoint ministers to all governments and to have control of all of Cuba's diplomatic relations and representatives throughout the world. Besides this, Mr. Palma is the duly accredited minister from Cuba to the United States, and in the event of the Cuban republic being recognized would be received as such. Under his authority Mr. Palma has appointed sub-delegates, or diplomatic agents, in France, Italy, Mexico, and the Central and South American republics. Cuba's independence not being acknowledged by these nations, her ministers are not officially recognized, but are often 182 THE CUBAN JUNTA AND ITS WORK. unofficially received at the "back door," and exert an influence for the benefit of Cuba in the countries to which they are appointed. Mr. Palma is in reality the head of the Cuban revolutionary party abroad, which is one of the three departments of the Cuban revolution- ary government, the two others being the civil government and the army of liberation. This Cuban revolutionary branch was founded by Jose Marti, who is regarded by the Cubans as the apostle and master mind of the Cuban revolution. Mr. Palma is not only the head and front of the Junta, but he is the one person in whom its authority is centered. He was born in Cuba about sixty years ago, and in his tender youth imbibed the spirit of lib- erty for the island, a spirit which grew with him until it influenced his every word and act, and finally received his entire devotion. So direct, gentle, yet determined are his methods, and so unassuming and plain is he in speech and manner that he soon became known as the "Cuban Franklin," and more firmly has the name become attached to him since the potent influence of his policy has been felt throughout the world. During the Ten Years' war Mr. Palma was President of the Cuban re- public; was made prisoner by Spanish troops, and sent to Spain, where he was imprisoned until the close of the conflict. While in Spain, abso- lutely suffering under the hardships of imprisonment, he was offered freedom if he would swear allegiance to the Spanish crown. "No!" was his answer. "You may shoot me if you will, but if I am shot it will be as the President of the Cuban republic." Besides Mr. Palma, the only members of the delegation appointed by the Cuban government are: Dr. Joaquin D. Castillo, the sub-dele- gate; Benjamin J. Guerra, treasurer of the republic abroad, and Gon- zalo de Quesada, charge d'affaires at Washington. Dr. Castillo is vice-delegate and would take Mr. Palma's place in case of his death or inability to act. Sources of the War Funds. The Junta, whose duty it has been to provide the funds for the carry- ing on of the war, has had various sources of income, all of them dis- tinctly creditable, both to the integrity of the Cuban authorities and to the sentiments of those who have contributed the money. The larger portion of the cash has come in small contributions from Cubans living ADMIRAL PASCUAL DE CERVERA 69. HAVANA. A CUBAN WINDOW. A COMMON SCENE IN HAVANA CUBA THE CUBAN JUNTA AND ITS WORK. 185 in the United States. The cigarmakers of Key West, Tampa, Jackson- ville, New York and other cities where large Cuban colonies have con- gregated, have proven their patriotism and their adherence to the cause by giving more generously of their earnings than has ever been done before by the people of any country struggling for freedom. There is scarcely an exception to the assertion that every Cuban in America has shared in contributions to the war fund. The minimum contribution has been ten per cent of the weekly earn- ings, and this has brought an enormous sum into the coffers of the Junta for war purposes. It is true that a war chest of $50,000 or $100,000 a week would be hardly a drop in the bucket for the conduct of the war after the established methods of organized armies. But this has been a war for liberty, and the conditions have been unique. No soldier in all the armies of Cuba Libre has ever drawn one dollar of pay for his service. Thousands of them have been fighting from the first outbreak of insurrection, without receiving a cent of money for it. If the pay of an army be deducted from the expenses of a war, the largest item is saved. Nor has it been necessary to purchase many clothes, owing to the mildness of the Cuban climate, which fights in favor of those who are accustomed to it. The commissary department, too, has been almost non-existent, and the soldiers in the field have lived by foraging and by collecting the vegetables and fruits saved for them by the women and children, whose hearts are as deep in the conflict as are their own. The principal demand for money has been to procure arms, ammunition and medical and surgical supplies. In addition to the contributions which have come from patriotic Cubans, another large source of income to the Junta has been the silent liberality of many American citizens, who have proved their practical sympathy to the cause of freedom by giving of their wealth to aid it. Outside of these sources, the only income has been from the sale of bonds of the Cuban republic, a means of obtaining money which has been used conservatively, so that the infant republic should not be sad- dled with a heavy debt at the outset of its career as an independent na- tion. Aside from the contributions of money to the Cuban powers, enor- mous quantities of medical and surgical supplies and hospital delicacies have been offered by the generous people of the United States, or- ganized into Cuban Auxiliary Aid Societies in the various cities of the 186 THE CUBAN JUNTA AND ITS WORK. country. American women have taken a prominent part in this mare* ment and have won thereby the undying gratitude of the Cubans. Some Facts About Filibustering. The sailing of vessels from New York and other ports with cargoes of supplies for the Cuban revolutionists has been a frequent occurrence, far more so than has been known to the public. Filibustering is a phrase that has gained honor during these three years, such as it never had before. Carried on in the cause of humanity and liberty, its motives justified its irregularities, and there have been few to condemn the prac- tice. In the fogs of an early morning, some fast steamer would slip away from an Atlantic port, loaded with arms, ammunition, quinine, and all sorts of hospital, medical and surgical supplies, accompanied usually by a band of Cuban patriots, seeking the first opportunity to re- turn to their beautiful island and take up arms for its liberation. There have been a few such expeditions captured, but for everyone captured a score have reached their destination on the Cuban coast without inter- ruption, and have landed their cargo in safety in insurgent camps. The United States government, in recognition of its diplomatic obli- gations, spent millions of dollars prior to the outbreak of our war with Spain, in carrying on a patrol sendee on the Atlantic coast and the Gulf of Mexico, to prevent the sailing of filibustering expeditions. Now that the day of such patrol service in the aid of Spain is ended forever, there can be no harm in telling some of the details that might have been com- promising before. American cruisers and gunboats were stationed in the harbors around the coast, from New York to New Orleans, and particularly on both sides of the Florida peninsula. To one of these vessels would come the news that a suspected filibustering craft was likely to sail from a certain place at a certain time, and orders would be given to intercept the rover if possible. To one who did not know the temper and the spirit of American sailors from highest to lowest in the service of the navy, the actions that followed might have been puzzling. In spite of the proverbial alacrity and readiness with which an American vessel can make sail, there was always a delay at such times. It was almost certain that something would be wrong that would require some time to correct before the anchor could be weighed. It might be necessary to buy provisions or to take on coal before sailing, and then, more than THE CUBAN JUNT^ ^ND ITS WORK. 187 once after the anchor was weighed and the actual start begun, it would be discovered that some minor accident had occurred to the machinery, which would require another halt to repair it. Finally at sea, the cruiser would steam away at full speed in the direction of the reported filibuster, until her hull and even her smoke disappeared far down in the horizon. Capturing of Filibustering Vessels. What happened after that no one ashore could know. But more than once there were grave suspicions that other delays occurred as soon as the vessel was well out of sight, or that the course was changed in pursuit of some other passing vessel, until after a few hours' chase it would be discovered to be an unoffending craft, and the course would be resumed towards the goal, as first ordered. However these things may be, it is certain that the capture of a fili- bustering vessel before her cargo was discharged was an almost un- known event, and that the capture of such a craft after her cargo was discharged could in no way be disastrous to the Cuban cause when noth- ing could be proved against the boat or her men. Certain it is that no officer or sailor in the American navy ever wanted to capture a fili- buster. To an American it was a blot on the honor of the ship that it should be used to intercept arms and ammunition on their way to an oppressed people struggling for their freedom. It is safe to siay that the two or three captures which, were made of filibusters at such a time that their confiscation and the conviction of their officers could not be avoided, was a distinct grief to every man who participated in the chase and the punishments that followed. No one can deny the integrity or the ability of the men who are en- listed in the cause of Cuba as the New York Junta, who knows the facts as to their personality and the work they have done. Some of the diplo- matic and state papers which have been issued by Senor Palma are worthy to take rank with the utterances of any American who has gained fame in national history for similar work. A notable instance of the dignity and the eloquence with which he speaks, is found in the proclamation to the people of the United States which he issued but a few weeks before the outbreak of our war with Spain. He said : Senor Palma on the Spanish Concessions. "The persistency with which the American press has during the last few days been treating of supposed administrative reforms to be in- 188 THE CUBAN JUNTA AND ITS WOKK. troduced in Cuba by the government of Spain, compels me to request the publication of the following declarations, which I make in behalf of my government, of the army of liberation of Cuba, and of the Cuban revolutionary party. "The question of the proposed reforms is not a matter which at all concerns those who have already established an independent govern- ment in Cuba and have resolved to shrink from no sacrifice of property or life in order to emancipate the whole island from the Spanish yoke. If the Spanish residents of the island who are favored by the Spanish government with all sorts of privileges and monopolies, and if the handful of Cubans, too pusillanimous or too proud to acknowledge their error, or a few foreigners guided only by selfish interests, are satisfied that Cuba should remain under Spanish domination, we who fight under the flag of the solitary star, we who already constitute the Republic of Cuba, and belong to a free people with its own government and its own laws, are firmly resolved to listen to no compromise and to treat with Spain on the basis of absolute independence for Cuba, "If Spain has power to exterminate us, then let her convert the island into a vast cemetery; if she has not and wishes to terminate the war before the whole country is reduced to ashes, then let her adopt the only measure that will put an end to it and recognize our independence. Spain must know by this time that while there is a single living Cuban with dignity and there are many thousands of them there will not be peace in Cuba, nor even hope of it "All good causes must finally triumph, and ours is a good ca,use. It is the cause of justice treated with contempt, of right suppressed by force, and of the dignity of a people offended to the last degree. "We Cubans have a thousandfold more reason in our endeavors to free ourselves from the Spanish yoke than the people of the thirteen colonies had when in 1776 they rose in arms against the British govern- ment. Comparisons with the American Colonies. "The people of these colonies were in full enjoyment of all the rights of man; they had liberty of conscience, freedom of speech, liberty of the press, the right of public meeting and the right of free locomotion; they elected those who governed them, they made their own laws and, in fact, enjoyed the blessings of self-government. They were not under the sway of a captain-general with arbitrary powers, who at his will THE CUBAN JUNTA AND ITS WORK. 189 could imprison them, deport them to penal colonies, or order their execu- tion even without the semblance of a court-martial. They did not have to pay a permanent army and navy that they might be kept in subjec- tion, nor to feed a swarm of hungry employes yearly sent over from the metropolis to prey upon the country. "They were never subjected to a stupid and crushing customs tariff which compelled them to go to the home markets for millions of mer- chandise annually, which they could buy much cheaper elsewhere; they were never compelled to cover a budget of $26,000,000 or $30,000,000 a year, without the consent of the tax-payers, and for the purposes of defraying >the expenses of the army and navy of the op- pressor, to pay the salaries of thousands of worthless European em- ployes, the whole interest on a debt not incurred by the colony,. and other expenditures from which the island received no benefit whatever; for out of all those millions only the paltry sum of $700,000 was ap- parently applied for works of internal improvement and one-half of this invariably went into the pockets of the Spanish employes. "We have thrown ourselves into the struggle advisedly and delib- erately; we knew what we would have to face, and we decided unflinch- ingly to persevere until we should emancipate ourselves from the Span- ish government. And we know that we are able to do it, as we know that we are competent to govern ourselves. "Among other proofs which could be adduced of the ability of the Cuban white and colored to rule themselves, is the strong organization of the Cuban revolutionary party in America, It is composed of more than 20,000 Cubans, living in different countries of the new world and formed into clubs, the members of which yearly elect their leader. This organization has been in existence over five years, during which every member has strictly discharged his duties, has respected without any interruption the regulations and obeyed the elected delegate loyally and faithfully. Among the members of the clubs there are several Span- iards, who enjoy the same rights as the Cubans, and who live with them in fraternal harmony. This fact and that of the many Spaniards in- corporated into our army, fully demonstrate that our revolution is not the result of personal hatred, but an uprising inspired only by the natural love of liberty and free institutions. The war in Cuba has for its only object the overthrow of Spanish power, and to establish an inde- pendent republic, under whose beneficent laws the Spaniards may con- tinue to live side by side with the Cubans as members of the same com- 190 THE CUBAN JUNTA AND ITS WORK. munity and citizens of the same nation. This is our programme and we strictly adhere to it. "The revolution is powerful and deeply rooted in the hearts of the Cuban people, and there is no Spanish power, no power in the world, that can stop its march. The war, since General Weyler took command of the Spanish army, has assumed a cruel character. His troops shoot the Cuban prisoners, pursue and kill the sick and wounded, assassinate the unarmed, and burn their houses. The Cuban troops, on their part, destroy, as a war measure, the machinery and buildings of the sugar plantations and are firmly resolved not to leave one stone upon another during their campaign. "Let those who can put an end to this war reflect that our liberty is being gained with the blood of thousands of Cuban victims, among whom is numbered Jose Marti, the apostle and martyr of our revolution. Let them consider that before the sacred memory of this new redeemer there is not a single Cuban who will withdraw from the work of eman- cipation without feeling ashamed of abandoning the flag which on the 24th of February, 1895, was raised by the beloved master. "It is time for the Cuban people to satisfy their just desire for a place among the free nations of the world and let them not be accused if to accomplish their noble purpose they are obliged to reduce to ashes the Cuban land. Tomas Estrada Palma." CHAPTER XVIII. KEY WEST AND THE CUBANS. Cuban Refugees in Key West Their Devotion to the Cause Peculiarities of the Town Odd Sights and Sounds Filibusters and Their Work The First Authorized Expedition It Is a Failure The Second More Successful Landing Supplies for the Insurgents Captain Jose La- cret, and Some of His Adventures. The island of Key West lies sixty miles south of Cape Sable, the most southerly point of the mainland of Florida, and is seven miles long and from one to two miles broad. The city covers nearly one-half of the island and has a population of about 25,000. Key West has been described as being "to Cuba what Gibraltar is to Ceuta, to the Gulf of Mexico what Gibraltar is to the Mediterranean." It is one of the chief naval stations of the United States and is strongly fortified. The most important industry is the making of cigars, which gives employment to thousands of Cubans, who make up a large majority of the population, and many of whom are refugees, charged with political crimes, with a price set upon their heads. One of the moat important diA'isions of the Cuban Junta of the United States has its headquarters here. Almost every Cuban in Key W 7 est gives regularly a portion of his earnings to the cause, and many cargoes of arms, .ammunition and sup- plies have been sent to the insurgents by their brethren on this little island. The city is unique in many respects. It is made up of innumerable little wooden houses, without chimneys, but crowded in irregular groups. Many of the houses have wooden shutters in place of glass windows. On most of the streets there are no sidewalks, but people stumble over the jagged edges of coral rock. There are a great number of public vehicles, and one can be hailed at any corner and engaged for 10 cents. Some of these carriages are quite respectable in appearance. They are generally double-seated affairs, which have been discarded in the north. The horses are wrecks, and they show by their appearance that fodder is dear and that they are not half fed. 192 KEY WEST AND THE CUBANS. One of the sounds of Key West is the whacking of the horses which draw the carriages and the mules which move the street cars from place to place. The street cars look as if they had been dug up from the neighbor- hood of the pyramids. Ropes are used for reins, and the only sub- stantial thing about the whole outfit is the great rawhide whip, with which the street-car driver labors incessantly. The people, as a rule, are opposed to excessive exertion, but they make an exception in the case of labor with a whip. Journalism, Climate and Dogs. The town has one struggling newspaper, which is worthy of a better support. It is told of the editor that he came to Key W r est a barefooted boy from Georgia, and worked his way up to his present eminent po- sition of instructor in etiquette and ethics to the four hundred. Hundreds of dogs, cats, roosters, goats, and "razorbacks" run at large through the streets, and the three former combine to make night hideous. In the early evening the sound of negro meetings and jubila- tions predominates. Then the cats begin where the shouters leave off. Later, the dogs, sneaking and sore-eyed, and more numerous than any other species, take up the refrain. They howl and bark and keep on howling and barking, until sleep seems impossible. At last, when the wakeful man thinks the row is over, the roosters, the meanest, skinniest, loudest-mouthed roosters in the world, continue the serenade until death seems a welcome, especially the death of the roosters, Negroes Alone are Patriotic. There is a strange mixture of races at Key West, but the negroes are the most patriotic class. They alone celebrate the Fourth of July and other national holidays. W T hile the town has its enlightened and re- spectable people, it also has a shoddy class, whose ignorance of the rest of the world carries them to grotesque extremes in their efforts to pro- claim their greatness. Even in its schools Key West is peculiar. The schoolhouses are built like cigar factories, and each has mounted upon the roof the bell of an old locomotive. When the school bells are ringing it is easy to close your eyes and imagine yourself in one of the great railway depots of the north. KEY WEST AND THE CUBANS. , 193 The First Authorized Expedition. Prior to the commencement of our war with Spain the United States authorities kept a close watch on the Cubans in Key West, and made every effort to prevent the shipment of supplies to the insurgentSw But as soon as the conflict was begun there was a change in the policy and the government assisted the work in every possible way. The first ex- pedition was a failure. Under command of Captain Dorst of the United States army the transport steamer Gussie sailed from Key West with two companies of infantry, on board, in charge of 7,000 rifles and 300,000 rounds of ammunition, intended for the insurgents of Pinar del Rio. The supplies were to be conveyed to General Gomez by a force of in- surgents encamped three miles back from the coast. But the cargo was not landed, for the reason that the insurgents were unable to meet the landing party at the rendezvous, and Captain Dorst was compelled to return to Key West with his cargo. The second attempt was more successful. Nearly 400 men, with a pack train and a large quantity of arms and ammunition, sailed on the Plant line steamer Florida from Key West, on the night of May 21. These men and the equipment constituted an expedition able to operate independ- ently and to defend itself against any body of Spanish troops which might oppose it. The expedition was under the command of Captain Jose Lacret, formerly insurgent commander in Matanzas province. He assumed the direction of affairs immediately on the landing of the expedition. Un- til then General Joaqnin Castillo was in control. In the landing of the expedition the United States army was rep- resented by Captain J. A. Dorst, and Tomas Estrada Palma was repre- sented by J. E. Cartaya, who has been the landing agent of nearly every filibustering expedition for more than a year. Messrs. Castillo, Cartaya and Dorst returned to Key West. General Julio Sanguilly, on his way to report to General Maximo Gomez, was also on the boat. Most Powerful of Them All. This was the most powerful anti-Spanish expedition sent to Cuba up to that date. About 300 of the men were Cubans, the others Ameri- cans. The engineer corps of the expedition was composed entirely of Americans under Aurelian Ladd. The men were dressed in canvas uniforms furnished by the United 194 KEY WEST AND THE CUBANS. States government, and the commissary department had rations enough to last fifteen days after the landing. The pack train consisted of seventy-five mules and twenty-five horses. The expedition carried 7,000 rifles and 3,000,000 rounds of ammunition for General Calixto Garcia. General Sanguilly's Return. General Sanguilly's return to Cuba is a remarkable incident in his extraordinary career. His gallant services in the Ten Years' War, his arrest in Havana at the beginning of the present insurrection, his sen- tence to death and his release at the intercession of Secretary Sherman on a promise to remain outside of Cuba have made him a conspicuous man. The expedition was convoyed by the cruiser Marblehead, the torpedo- boat destroyer Eagle and other warships. Two younger brothers of the late General Nestor Aranguren are with the expedition. Some of Lacret's Adventures. When the present revolution in Cuba began General Jos Lacret Morlot, by which title he is popularly known, secured passage on the steamer Mascotte for Jamaica on his way to Cuba. The English gov- ernment had information regarding La,cret's movements and prevented his sailing for Cuba from Jamaica. He then went to Mexico and later to New York. At the latter place he consulted with the junta and re- turned to Tampa. Here he embarked on the steamer Olivette for Havana in the garb of a priest. Still in this disguise he boarded a train for Sagua la Grande. Ac- companying him were a large number of Spanish soldiers. His being highly educated, a man of good presence and a "padre" were sufficient to give him entrance into the best Spanish society of Sagua la Grande. Lacret stopped at the finest hotel, and when in the cafe sat at the al- calde's right hand. After communicating with the insurgents the "padre" suddenly dis- appeared from the hotel. He joined the insurgents, and, throwing off his priestly disguise, has since performed valorous service for the cause of Cuban freedom. He was transferred to the province of Matanzas soon after his arrival, and his career there will form an interesting chap- ter in the history of Cuba. From Matanzas province he was sent to the eastward as a delegate to the assembly held in Puerto Principe last February, at which the new government was formed. From this as- KEY WEST AND THE CUBANS. 195 sembly lie was directed to come to this country as a bearer of dispatches to the junta. When the Florida, escorted by the Osceola, drew up close to the shore at the place selected for the landing, she sent scouts to see if all was clear. These scouts were greeted by Generals Feria and Rojas, with about 1,500 armed insurgents. Therefore, far from there being any hos- tile demonstration upon the part of the Spaniards, the landing of the expedition was in the nature of a triumphal invasion. The Cubans, who were in waiting for the party, had a brass band and welcomed the new- comers with national airs. The work of unloading the cargo of the Florida w r as promptly begun and carried on by the 432 men composing the expedition. There was nothing in the nature of interruption and the work was soon finished. Had It All Their Own Way. While the cargo was being unloaded the Osceola, an auxiliary gun- boat, with her guns ready for action, scouted about the vicinity looking for an enemy. But the Spaniards apparently had no suspicion of what was taking place. So easily was the dangerous mission accompli shed that while some members of the party were getting the supplies ashore others were providing themselves with fruit, sugar and other products of the landing place, a large stock of which was brought back for Key W T est friends. The moment the work was concluded the Florida and the Osceola slipped away, leaving the insurgents to convey their re-enforcements into the interior, which was done without any casualty. The returning members of the Florida party brought with them sev- eral hundred private letters, which give a complete insight into the conditions prevailing in the blockaded island. CHAPTER XIX. ANOTHER STROKE FOR FREEDOM. The Beginning of the Revolt Martial Law Declared in Santiago and Ma* tanzas Arrival of Campos The Blacks as Soldiers No Caste Preju- dices General Santocildes Killed A Story of Maceo Campos' Cam- paign Fails He Returns to Spain. It was the intention of the insurgents to begin operations in the six provinces on the same date, but at the appointed time three of them failed to carry out the plan, and in only one was the aspect at all threat- ening. In Havana and Matanzas the Spanish officials had no difficulty in suppressing the insurrectionists, and the leader in the former prov- ince, the editor of a newspaper, accepted a pardon and returned to his work. In Santiago, however, which is thinly settled, the movement gained ground steadily. The landing of a party of revolutionists from San Domingo aroused the patriots, and were welcomed warmly, being sup- plied with re-enforcements wherever they appeared. The government professed to be merely annoyed, nothing more, and pretended to look upon the patriots as mere brigands. Calleja became alarmed at last when the determination of the insurgents became known, and pro- claimed martial law in Santiago and Matanzas, and sent forces to both provinces. He could put only nine thousand men in the field, however, and had only seven gunboats for coast duty at his command. The commissary arrangements were miserable, and frequently caused the interruption of important movements. The insurgents were most ubiq- uitous, and would appear here and there without the slightest warning, making raids on plantations, which they plundered, and from which they enticed away the laborers, disappearing in the swamps, where pur- suit was impossible, and appearing again in a day or so in some unex- pected spot, and repeating the same maneuvers. In this manner they terrorized the loyalists, and ruined their prospects of raising a crop, and as many depended solely upon the soil for their living this method of warfare struck them a vital blow. At the end of March, 1895, Antonio Maceo, with sixteen comrades, ANOTHER STROKE FOR FREEDOM. 197 sailed from Costa Ilica and landed at Baracoa, on the eastern end of the island. They were surprised by a Spanish cavalry, but kept up an intermittent fight for several hours, when Maceo managed to elude his enemies and escape. After living in the woods for ten days, making his way westward, he met a party of rebels, was recognized and welcomed with great enthusiasm. He took command of the insurgents in the neighborhood and began to get recruits rapidly. He engaged in sev- eral sharp encounters with the Spanish and did such effective service that the moral effect was noticed immediately. He and his brother Jose were made generals. About the middle of April Maximo Gomez and Jose Marti landed from San Domingo at about the same point where the Maceos had landed. For days they were obliged to secrete themselves in a cave on account of the presence of the enemy's pickets, but they finally reached an insurgent camp, and Gomez entered upon his duties as commander- in-chief. The insurgents now had an experienced leader at their head, re-enforcements poured in, and they soon had a force of six thousand men. Arrival of Campos. The government had issued new calls for troops, and in April no less than twenty-five thousand men were raised. Martinez Campos came over from Spain, arriving at Santiago on April 16, and went at once to Havana, where he relieyed Calleja as captain-general. Campos was a veteran, and expected to crush the insurrection at once, but day by day his task grew more difficult. Gomez and Maceo, instead of being driven hither and thither, led Campos a dance, and he was prevented from solidifying the two trochas he had formed. Gomez never attempted pitched battles or sieges, but harassed the enemy in every way possible, cutting off their convoys, picking them off in detail, getting up night alarms, and in every way annoying them. His hardened soldiers, especially the negroes, could stand hardships and still keep in good fighting condition, but with the Europeans, what between yellow fever and the constant alarms of war, it was a different story. No European soldier could live under the hard- ships and exposures which seemed to put life into the negro soldiers. No Caste Prejudices. It must be understood that there is no caste feeling between the negro and the pure-blooded Cuban. They march, eat and sleep side 198 ANOTHER STROKE FOR FREEDOM. by side. Moreover, the negroes make excellent soldiers, with finer physique than the Cubans themselves, and equal powers of endurance. The Cuban is small in stature compared to the American soldier, but he is well set up, wiry, and apparently has unlimited staying powers. He frequently lives on one meal a day, and that a poor one, but he shows no signs whatever of being ill-fed; in fact, he seems to thrive on it, and he has an uncomfortable habit of marching six hours in the morning on an empty stomach, which would be fatal to the or- dinary Anglo-Saxon. About the first of July, Maceo, still in the province of Santiago, con- centrated the forces in the Holguin district and moved against Bayamo, capturing one provision train after another that were en route to that place. Campos took fifteen hundred men, with General Santocildes sec- ond in command, and went to the relief of Bayamo. About the middle of July he was attacked several miles from Bayamo by Maceo with twenty-seven hundred rebels. He and his entire staff narrowly escaped capture, and only the bravery of General Santocildes averted this catas- trophe. The brave general lost his life and the Spaniards were forced to fly, after having fought for five hours, surrounded on all sides by the rebels. They finally made their escape to Bayamo, the rear guard cov- ering their retreat with great difficulty. Flor Crombet had fallen in battle several w r eeks before this fight and Marti had been killed in an insignificant fight at Dos Rios. Gomez had passed into Camaguay to add fire to the insurrection and Maceo had been left in command in the province of Santiago. To him was Campos indebted for his defeat. He escaped capture as if by intuition. A new snare had been spread for him by Maceo after the death of Santo- cildes, and he was already within its meshes, when, intuitively divining the situation, he came to an about face and fled to Bayamo by an unused road, covered by impassable thickets in the rear of Maceo's victorious troops. The Spaniards were rapidly re-enforced after the escape to Bayamo, and Maceo, with Quintin Bandero, began to fall back to his impregnable mountain retreat at Jarahuica. This was in the heart of Santiago de Cuba, over a hundred miles east of Bayamo and twenty-five miles north- east of the port of Santiago. His war-worn army needed rest, recruits, and supplies. Once in his mountain fastness, he was perfectly secure, as no Spanish army would trust itself in the rocky range. News of his movements had reached Santiago .and a strenuous effort was being ANOTHER STROKE FOR FREEDOM. 199 made to head him off at San Luis, a railroad town fifteen miles north- west of that city. Nothing, however, escaped the observation of the Cuban general. With wonderful prescience he anticipated .the move- ments of the Spaniards. His troopers were armed with machetes and the infantry with rifles and ammunition captured at Paralejo. Bandera commanded this band of blacks. The march had been terrific, and horses and men were nearly fagged. With sparse supplies the pace had been kept up for hours. The sun had gone down and the moon was flooding the fronds of the palms with pale, silvery light. Maceo held a short conference with Quintin Bandera, and not long afterward the blacks wheeled in column and disappeared. Meantime the Cuban cavalry continued its course. By midnight it had reached Cemetery Hill, overlooking the town of San Luis. The moon was half way down the sky. Maceo sat upon his horse surveying the scene below him long and silently. The little town was aglow with electric lights and the whistle of locomotives resounded in the valley. Over three thousand Spanish troops were quartered in the town and their movements were plainly discernible. Trains were arriving hourly from Santiago, bearing strong re-enforcements. Through a field-glass Maceo watched the stirring scene. He turned the glass beyond the town and gazed through it patiently, betraying a trace of anxiety. Final- ly he alighted and conferred with Colonel Miro, his chief of staff. A moment afterward came the order to dismount. Three hundred troop- ers obeyed and were about to tether their horses when they were called to attention. A second order reached their ears. They were told to stand motionless, with both feet on the ground, and to await further orders with their right hands on their saddles. In the moonlight be- neath the scattered palms they stood as silent as if petrified. A Story of Maceo. Among them there was a newspaper correspondent who had known Maceo many years, and who had parted with him at Port Limon, in Central America, a few months before. He had joined the column just after the battle of Paralejo. In obedience to orders he stood with his arm over the back of his horse, blinking at the enlivening scene below him. Exhausted by the day's march, his eyes closed and he fourd it impossible to keep awake. A moment later he fastened the bridle to his foot, wrapped himself in his rubber coat, placed a satchel under his head, and fell asleep in the wet grass. The adjutant soon awoke him, 200 ANOTHER STROKE FOK FREEDOM. telling him that he had better get up, as they were going to have a fight. He thanked the adjutant, who told him there were over three thousand Spanish soldiers in San Luis and that it was surrounded with fourteen blockhouses. The correspondent soon curled himself on the grass a second time and was in a sound slumber, when he was again aroused by the adjutant, who told him he was in positive danger if he persisted in disobeying the order of General Maceo. A third time his heavy eye- lids closed and he was in a dead sleep, when startled by a peremptory shake. Jesus Mascons, Maceo's secretary, stood over him. "Get up this instant," said he. "The general wants to see you immediately." In a few seconds the correspondent was on his feet. The whistles were still blowing and the electric lights still glowing in the valley, and the moon was on the horizon. He went forward in some trepidation, fancying that the general was going to upbraid him for disobeying his orders. He was surprised to find him very pleasant. Maceo always spoke in a low tone, as he had been shot twice through the lungs. "Are you not hungry?" he asked. "No," the correspondent replied, wondering what was in the wind. "I thought possibly you might want something to eat," General Maceo said, with a smile. "I have a boiled egg here and I want to divide it with you." As he uttered these words he drew out his machete and cut the egg straight through the center. Passing half of it to the corre- spondent, he said: "Share it; it will do you good." The newspaper man thanked the general and they ate the egg in silence. He said after- ward that the incident reminded him of General Marion's breakfast with a British officer. He had read the incident in Peter Parley's his- tory of the revolution, when a schoolboy. Marion raked a baked sweet potato out of the ashes of a camp fire and divided it with his British guest. The officer regretted the absence of salt, and the correspondent said he experienced the same regret when he ate his portion of General Maceo's egg. After munching the egg both men sat for some time observing the stirring scene in the valley below them. The moon had gone down, but in the glow of the electric lights they could see that the activity among the Spaniards was as great as ever. Suddenly Maceo turned to the correspondent and said abruptly: "Were you asleep when Jesus called you?" "Oh, no," the correspondent replied, "I was not asleep; I was only just tired that was all." BLANCO GOVERNORxGENERAL OF CUBA Generally known as the softest-hearted soldier in Spain g 2 a o z I w ANOTHER STROKE FOR FREEDOM. 203 The general looked at him searchingly and. then said: "Don't worry; it is all right. We are going through that town in a few minutes. There may be a fierce fight, and you will need a clear head. The egg will give you strength." Within twenty minutes the little columns of three hundred men were on the move. They led their horses down the hill a,bout an hour before daybreak, with the general in the lead. Silently and stealthily they entered the outskirts of the town. The columns passed two block- houses without being observed and at the break of day were beyond the town on the main road to Banabacoa, Meantime the Spaniards had discovered them. The town was aroused and a hundred and fifty Span- ish cavalry headed the pursuit. The road wound through fields of cane. A strong column of Spanish infantry followed the cavalry. Maceo held his men in reserve and continued his march, the Spanish troopers trailing after them like so many wildcats. Suddenly, to their astonishment, Quintin Bandera's infantry arose on either side of the road and almost annihilated the pursuing column. Those who escaped alarmed the columns of infantry, who returned to San Luis to fortify themselves. Maceo and Bandera camped on the estate of Mejorana, about six miles away. It was here that Marti, Gomez, the two Maceos, Crombet, Guerra, and Rabi met not long before this to inaugurate the new revolution. Bandera and Maceo found plenty of provisions at the estate, but no bread. A small Cuban boy was sent to the Spanish commander at San Luis with a note requesting him to be so kind as to send some bread to visitors at the Mejorana plan- tation. The boy delivered the note and the Spanish commander asked who sent him. Without a moment's hesitation he replied: "General Maceo." The Spanish official laughed and replied: "Very well, a sup- ply of bread will be sent. It will not be necessary for Maceo to come after it." What is more remarkable is the fact that Maceo told the correspondent beforehand that the bread would be sent, as the Span- iards had been so frightened by Bandera on the previous day that they did not want to invite another attack. That very evening the boy re- turned, conveying many bags of bread. The Spaniards remained withi a the town until Maceo had rested his army and departed for Jarahuica. Campos' Campaign Fails. Before the end of the year Campos' campaign was admitted to be a failure. He could not depart from his humane policy, however, and at 11 204 ANOTHER STROKE FOR FREEDOM. the beginning of the year 1896 he returned to Spain. The rabid Spaniards of Havana, having compelled Campos to tender his resigna- tion, demanded from Canovas a captain-general framed in the old iron cast of the Spanish conquerors, not to fight battles and risk his life in the field, but to exterminate the native population. In their belief, women, children, everyone born in Cuba, should be held responsible for the situation. They did not like a soldier with a gallant career and personal courage. They wanted an executioner. Canovas satisfied them and appointed Don Valeriano Weyler y Nicolau to succeed Mar- tinez Campos. The question may be asked why the insurgents after so many vic- tories did not invest the city of Havana, and end therewith the Spanish dominion. The answer is very clear. After the battle of Coliseo General Gomez reviewed his troops and found that each soldier had only three cartridges. The Cubans in the United States were making vain efforts to send a big expedition to the insurgents, but the policy of our government was non-interference, and they were checked in their plans. At Guira de Melena, on January 4, 1896, the Cubans had to fight with their machetes to enter the Province of Havana. If history does not afford a parallel of the stern resolution displayed by the Cubans to die or to win in a struggle with all the odds against them, neither does it present a case of stubborn resistance to justice and human rights, and of barbarous cruelty, which equals the record of Spain in Cuba. CHAPTEK XX. JOSE MARTI AND OTHER CUBAN HEROES. A Cuban Patriot A Life Devoted to the Cause First Work for Cuba Banished From His Native Land He Returns to Fight for Freedom His Death Maximo Gomez, General-in-Chief of the Cuban Forces His Methods of Warfare Antonio Maceo, the Colored Commander Other Military Men of Note in the Cuban Army. When the day comes that Cuba shall take her place among the free and independent nations of the earth, Jos6 Marti, who probably did more than any other one man to arouse the insurgents to make the final struggle for liberty, will not.be among them to share their triumphs. Struck down by a Spanish bullet, almost at the commence- ment of the last revolution, he sleeps beneath the southern skies, and neither the clash of swords nor the thunder of the cannon over his grave can distrub his rest. , Born in Havana, the son of a Spanish army officer, he was taught from his childhood days that the friends of Cuba's caiuse were rebels, deserving of death. But as he grew older he commenced to think for himself, and the more he learned of Spanish robbery, injustice and cruelty, the more determined he became to devote his life to the cause of his native land. While yet a mere boy, he began the work. He published clan- destine circulars, he wrote a play in which he depicted the wrongs inflicted upon the island people; "Free Cuba" was his thought by day, his dream at night. Through imprisonment and exile, in Spain, Mex- ico and the United States, every action of his life was guided by the one ambition. On April 14th, 1895, in company with Maximo Gomez, Marti landed on the coast of Cuba, at Cobonico. His coming gave the insur- gents new courage, and their numbers increased rapidly. He was made a Major General of the army, and in company with Gomez, who had seen service in the previous campaign, he led a number of suc- cessful attacks against detachments of the Spanish forces. 205 206 JOSE MAKTI AND OTHER CUBAN HEROES. After organizing an expedition that was to march to Puerto Prin- cipe under Gomez's command, Marti intended to go to the seacoast in order to return abroad and continue his work there in favor of the secessionist revolution. About this time a man named Chacon was captured by Colonel Sandoval, of the Spanish forces, and letters from the rebels were found in his possession, and some money with which he was going to make purchases for the insurgent chiefs. This man gave information re- garding the enemy's location, and acting upon this knowledge, Colonel Sandoval, on the 19th of May, brought his army to La Brija, The Hernan Oortez squadron, under Captain Capa, was in vanguard, and attacked a band commanded by Bellito, which had come to meet the column. When Colonel Sandoval heard of it, he advanced, up to the plain of Dos Rios, and ordered his infantry to open fire. A spirited combat ensued, with fatal results to the insurgents, as the Spanish guide, Antonio Oliva, running up to help a soldier who was surrounded by a large group of the enemy, fired his rifle at a horseman, who fell to the ground, and was found to be Jos Marti. Captain Enrique Satue was the first to recognize him. A fight took place upon the spot, the rebels trying hard to carry the corpse away, but they were repulsed. Maximo Gomez was wounded in the encounter, which for some days led to the belief that he too was dead. According to one narrative, Gomez was in the midst of the battle from the beginning, and while hurrying to recover the corpse of Marti, he was slightly wounded. Others say that the famous chief, had already taken leave of Marti to go to Camaguey, when, passing at some distance from Dos Rios, he heard the report of musketry. He imagined what was happening, and ran to rescue the civil chief of the revolution, but when he airived, Marti had been killed. Gomez being wounded, Borrero took him on his own horse, and in this manner carried him to a place of safety. The Spaniards, after their victory, moved to Remanganagaus, where the corpse of Marti was embalmed. From the latter town it was taken to Santiago de Cuba, and while on the way there, the troops had to repel an attack from the rebels, who intended to carry off the coffin. On arriving at the city, the remains of Marti were exhibited at the cemetery. Colonel Sandoval presided over the funeral ceremonies,, and the dead leader was given a decent resting place. Here are San- doval's words on the occasion: JOSE MARTI AND OTHER CUBAN HEROES. 207 Gentlemen: In presence of the corpse of him who in life was Jose Marti, and in the absence of any relative or friend who might speak over his remains such words as are customary, I request you not to consider these remains to be those of an enemy any more, but simply those of a man, car- ried by political discords to face Spanish soldiers. From the moment the spirits have freed themselves of matter they are sheltered and magnanimously pardoned by the Almighty, and the abandoned matter is left in our care, for us to dispel all rancorous feelings, and give the corpse such Christian burial as is due to the dead. Maximo Gomez, the General-in-Chief. t " The General-in-Chief of the Cuban forces is Maximo Gomez, a man of scholarly attainments, great intellect, and long experience in mili- tary affairs. Formerly an officer of Spain, he explains his present posi- tion in the following words: "When I gave up, in 1868, my uniform and rank as a Major of the Spanish Army, it was because I knew that if I kept them I would have some day to meet my own children in the field, and combat against their just desire for liberty. Now, with my many years, I have come to lead and counsel the new generation to ultimate victory." Of his methods in war, Thomas Alvord says: "General Gomez never has more than 300 or 400 men with him. His favorite camp is near Arroyo Blanco, on a high plateau, difficult to approach, and covered with dense thicket. He posts his outer pick- ets at least three miles away, in directions from which the enemy may come. The Spaniards, whenever possible, march by road, and, with these highways well guarded, Gomez sleeps secure. He knows that his pickets will be informed by some Cuban long before the Span- ish column leaves or passes the nearest village to attack him. A shot from the farthest sentry causes little or no excitement in Gomez's camp. The report throws the Spanish column into fears of attack or ambush, and it moves forward very slowly and carefully. Two pick- ets at such a time have been known to hold 2,000 men at bay for a whole day. If the column presses on, and General Gomez hears a shot from a sentinel near by, he will rise leisurely from his hammock and give orders to prepare to move camp. He has had so many expe- riences of this kind that not until he hears the volley-shooting of the oncoming Spaniards will he call for his horse, give the word to march, and disappear, followed by his entire force, into the tropical under- brush, which closes like curtain behind him, leaving the Spaniards to 208 JOSE MARTI AND OTHER CUBAN HEROES. discover a deserted camp, without the slightest trace of the path taken by its recent occupants. "Sometimes Gomez will move only a mile or two. The Spaniards do not usually give chase. If they do, Gomez takes a keen delight in leading them in a circle. If he can throw them off by nightfall, he goes to sleep in his camp of the morning, happier than if he had won a battle. The Spaniards learn nothing through such experiences. Gomez varies the game occasionally by marching directly towards the rear of the foe, and there, reinforced by other insurgent bands of the neighborhood, falling upon the column and punishing it severely. While his immediate force is but a handful, the General can call to his aid, in a short time, nearly 6,000 men." A Colored Commander. As soon as the rebellion had assumed such proportions as to make it possible to arrange a regular military organization among the insur- gents, Antonio Maceo was made the second in command, under Gen- eral Gomez, with the title of Lieutenant General. He had risen from the ranks to the position of Major General in the Ten Years' war, where, notwithstanding his colored blood, he had shown unusual abil- ity as a leader of men. Sons of the first families of Cuba were proud to enlist under his banner, and to recognize him as their superior officer. Space is devoted in another part of this volume to an account of the treacherous manner of his death. The following letter, written by him to General Weyler, soon after the arrival of the latter named in Cuba, shows that he could fight with his pen as well as with his sword: Republic of Cuba, Invading Army, Second Corps, Cayajabos, Feb. 27, 189G. General Valeriano Weyler, Havana: In spite of all that the press has published in regard to you, I have never been willing to give it belief and to base my judgment of your conduct on its statements; such an accumulation of atrocities, so many crimes repugnant and dishonoring to any man of honor, I thought it impossible for a soldier holding your high rank to commit. These accusations seemed to me rather to be made in bad faith, or to be the utterances of personal enmity, and I expected that you would take care to give the lie in due form to your detractors, rising to the height required of a gentleman, and saving yourself from any imputation of that kind, by merely * JOSE MARTI AND OTHER CUBAN HEROES. 209' adopting in the treatment of the wounded and prisoners of war, the generous course that has been pursued from the beginning by the revolutionists towards the Spanish wounded and prisoners. But, unfortunately, Spanish dominion must always be accompanied by infamy, and although the errors and wrongful acts of the last war seemed to be corrected at the beginning of this one, to-day it has become manifest that it was only by closing our eyes to invariable personal antecedents and incorrigible traditional arbitrariness that we could have imagined Spain would forget forever her fatal characteristic of ferocity towards the defense- less. But we cannot help believing evidence. In my mareh during the period of this campaign I see with alarm, with horror, how the wretched reputation you enjoy is confirmed, and how the deeds that disclose your barbarous irri- tation are repeated. What! must even the peaceful inhabitants (I say noth- ing of the wounded and prisoners of war), must they be sacrificed te the rage that gave the Duke of Alva his name and fame? Is it thus that Spain, through you, returns the elemency and kindness with whick we, the redeemers of this suffering people, have acted in like cir- cumstances? What a reproach for yourself and for Spain! The license t burn the huts, assassinations like those at Nueva Paz and the villa El (Jato, committed by Spanish columns, in particular those of Colonels Molina and Vicuna, proclaim you guilty before all mankind. Your name will be forever infamous, here and far from here, remembered with disgust and korror. Out of humanity, yielding to the honorable and generous impulses which are identified with both the spirit and the tendency of the revolution, I shall never use reprisals that would be unworthy of the reputation and the power of the liberating army of Cuba. But I nevertheless foresee that such abom- inable conduct on your part and on that of your men, will arouse at no dis- tant time private vengeances to which they will falJ victims, without my being able to prevent it, even though I should punish hundreds of innoeent persons. For this last reason, since war should only touch combatants, and it is inhuman to 'make others suffer from its consequences, I invite you to retrace your steps, if you admit your guilt, or to repress these crimes with a heavy hand, if they were committed without your consent. At all events, take care that no drop of blood be shed outside the battle field. Be merciful to the many unfortunate citizens. In so doing you will imitate in honorable emula- tion our conduct and our proceedings. Yours, A. MACEO. This letter could have been written by none but a brave and honor- able soldier, resolved to present the cause of the oppressed non-com- batants, even when he probably knew that his appeal was powerless to lessen their sufferings in the slightest degree. 210 JOSE MARTI AND OTHER CUBAN HEROES. Love and War. Among the many brave leaders of the insurgents there is perhaps none who has shown more heroism than young De Robau. After the breaking out of the revolution he was one of the first to join the stand- ard of independence. At that time he was engaged to be married, yet with him the call of duty was paramount over every selfish considera- tion. After having served for some months with conspicuous credit, he was sent with his command into the neighborhood of his fiance". The men hitherto, it may be imagined, had not paid much atten- tion to their appearance, but now there was a regular conventional dress parade. A barber was requisitioned, accoutrements were fur- bished up, and weather-beaten sombreros were ornamented with bril- liant ribbons. When the metamorphosis was complete, De Robau placed himself at the head of his dashing troop, and went in state to call upon the lady of his affections. His march was a triumph, as everywhere he was attended by crowds of enthusiastic people, who had long known him, and who now hailed him as a distinguished champion. How he sped in his wooing may be gathered from the fact that an orderly was soon dis- patched for the villa cura, and that there was a wedding which fairly rivaled that of Camacho, so often and so fondly recalled by the re- nowned Sancho. Since then the Senora de Robau has accompanied her husband throughout the campaign, sharing the hard fare and the dangers of the men, and adding another to the noble band of patriotic Cuban women, who vie with their husbands and brothers in fidelity to their native land. * Other Commanders of Note The cause has many other brave leaders, among whom may be mentioned General Oalixto Garcia, General Serafin Sanchez, Fran- cisco Corrillo, and Jose Maria Rodriguez. They are all veterans of the war of 1868-1878, and are ready to sacrifice their lives in the struggle for liberty. CHAPTER XXI. DESPERATE BATTLES WITH MACHETE AND RIFLE. The Sword of Cuba Battle Cry of the Revolutionists Cavalry Charges The Strategies of War Hand-to-Hand Encounters Maceo at the Front Barbarities of the Spanish Soldiers Americans in the Cuban Army A Fight for Life A Yankee Gunner How a Brave Man Died. There is a story told of a great Roman General who, after having conquered in many battles, beat his sword into a plowshare, and turned from war's alarms to the peaceful pursuit of agriculture. The Cuban has reversed the story. When he left his labors in the forests and fields to fight his oppressors, he carried with him the implement with which he had cut the sugar cane on Ms plantation, and made paths through dense tropic vegetation. The machete is the sword of the Cuban soldier, and it will be famous forever. Its blade is of tempered steel, curved slightly at the end, with one edge sharp as a razor. It has a handle of horn, and is carried in a leather scabbard, attached to a narrow belt. The weapon in the hands of one who understands its use is terribly effective. Instances have been known where rifle barrels have been cut in two by it, and heads have been severed from their bodies at a single stroke. Its name, shrieked in a wild ferocious way, is the bat- tle cry of the insurgents, and when shouted from an hundred throats, it carries with it so awe-inspiring a sound, that it is little wonder that the enemy is stricken with fear, for it means in reality "war to the knife." Cavalry Charges. The Cubans are among the most skillful and daring rough riders of the world, the equals of the cowboys of our western States, and the far-famed Cossacks of Russia. The horses' backs have been their cra- dles, and here they possess a decided advantage over their Spanish foes, who know as little of the equestrian art as they seem to under- stand of other's rights, or the amenities of war. A mounted band of 211 212 BATTLES WITH MACHETE AND RIFLE. insurgents, rushing down on a detachment of the enemy, waving aloft the terrible machete, will carry with them terror and death, and con- quer twice their number. The heroic mulatto brothers, Antonio and Jos6 Maceo, adopted this manner of fighting on every possible occasion, and it is a coincidence worthy of note that they both met their death while leading machete charges against their hated foes. 'Lack of Ammunition in the Cuban Ranks. The lack of ammunition is one of the weaknesses of the insurgents. Courage, ability and men they possess in abundance, but the lack of cartridges has interfered with many of their best laid plans, and has often prevented them from availing themselves of favorable opportuni- ties. Three or four rounds a man is nothing in action, especially when the Spaniards are always so abundantly supplied. However they are determined, and as Spanish incapacity becomes daily more apparent, they feel that it is only a question of a few months until the cause for which they have so long and bravely fought will be gloriously woa, Maceo at the Front. Within three months of the time that Gomez and Maceo landed at Baracoa they had all Santiago and Puerto Principe in a state of insur- rection. They started out with comparatively a handful of men. The most reliable sources agree that there were not more than 300, but they were quickly joined by thousands of Cubans, who brought out from hiding places arms and ammunition which they had been collect- ' ing and concealing for years. General Campos, the Spanish commander, had declared that Puerto Principe would never rise against Spain, and he proposed at once a plan to make it doubly sure. He procured special concessions from Madrid for the foreign railroads, permitting them to import iron bridges to replace their wooden structures, and pledging them $20,000 a month until they had extended their lines and made connections to complete a continuous road through the country, using the money to employ the natives. This was to insure the peace of Puerto Principe and Santa .Clara, both considered conservative, and to prevent the people joining the revolutionary party. BATTLES WITH MACHETE AND RIFLE. 213 After the plan was announced, the revolutionists burned out the wooden bridges, tore up the tracks in many places, and the roads have been, for all practical purposes, in their hands ever since. Campos, meantime, to prevent Gomez moving eastward, placed 10,000 troops on the border between the provinces of Puerto Principe and Santiago, but Gomez crossed the line on May 19th, after a battle at Boca del Dos Rios, where a loss was suffered in the death of General Marti, which was so great a blow to Cuba that Campos announced that the "death blow to the bandits had been struck." In Puerto Principe Gomez captured every town he attempted to take, among them Alta Gracia, San Jeronimo and Coscorro. He took Fort El Mulato, and in all the places secured large quantities of ammu- nition. So enthusiastic was his reception in the provinces of Puerto Principe and Santa Clara that in the latter 400 Spanish volunteers joined him with their arms. The most important battle of the summer occurred at Bayamo in July, just as Gomez was near the Spanish line between Santa Clara and Puerto Principe, where, in an engagement between the two armies, with about 3,000 men on either side, the Spanish forces were completely routed. From that time on through the summer and far into the autumn, every day was marked by skirmishes, the taking of important places, and the threatening of the larger towns. It kept the Spanish columns moving constantly, and the exposure in the rainy season killed thou- sands. Maceo now separated his forces from Gomez's command, and marched westward, fighting as he went, and everywhere meeting with success. He established the new government in the cities and towns of Mantua, San Cristobal, Eemates, Palacios, Paso Eeal de San Diego, Guane, Consolacion del Sur, Pilotos, Alonso de Eojas, San Luis, San Juan y Martinez, and others of less importance. Pinar del Bio City, the capital of the province, was the only city of importance that held out, but it was cut off with communication with its port, Colon, and was short of provisions. One supply sent by the Spanish for its relief, 100,000 rations, fell into Maceo's hands. In San Cristobal the Spanish flag on the government building was replaced by the emblem of the new republic, a mayor and ?ity officials were appointed, resolutions were adopted by the new autho nties, and, after all the arms in the town had been collected, Maco remained a 214 BATTLES WITH MACHETE AND RIFLE. day to rest his men and horses, and moved on the following morning at daybreak. Generals Navarro and Luque were ordered to crush the insurgent army at all hazards. Their combined forces consisted of 5,000 infan- try, 200 cavalry, and 11 pieces of artillery. After a two-days' march they were joined by General Arizon's command, which had encoun- tered Maceo's rear guard the previous day, with disastrous results. Near Quivera Hacha, Navarro's skirmishers encountered a small band of insurgents, and fearing that all of Maceo's army was near, lines of battle were quickly formed. The engagement lasted for less than half an hour, when the insurgent forces withdrew, without serious losses on either side. General Navarro finally discovered that the principal part of Maceo's forces was at the Armendores estate, and the seat of operations was changed. General Luque succeeded Navarro in command, and several days now passed without any conflict of note. Finally Luque led a charge upon Maceo's vanguard, in the vicinity of Pinar del Kio, but the moment the attack was made he found himself under fire from the top of low hills on both sides of the road, where the insurgents were well protected, and he sustained severe losses with- out inflicting much injury upon the enemy. So hot was the encounter that Luque withdrew and prepared to charge upon two points where the enemy were making a stand. He held the road with one battalion, sending a detachment to the right, and another to the left. The attack was successful. The Spanish made a magnificent effort under with- ering fire, and swept Maceo's forces before them, not, however, until they had left the field scattered with their own dead and wounded. For some reason the cavalry had not been used. The artillery was just coming up when the action had reached this point. The Spanish found that the enemy had, instead of being routed, simply fallen back and taken a position on another hill, and scattered firing went on for a considerable time, while Luque prepared to attack again. Then, against 2,000 of Maceo's men, was directed all of Luque's command, over 4,000 infantry, 200 cavalry, and eleven pieces of artillery. At least half of Maceo's army, certainly not less than 2,000 cavalry, had been moving up to Luque's rear and came upon him, surprising him just as this second attack was being made. For a tr ie it was a question whether Luque's command would not be wiped -/at. They were practically surrounded by Maceo's men, and for fully an hour and a half the fighting was desperate. It is impossi- BATTLES WITH MACHETE AND RIFLE. 215 ble to unravel the stories of both sides so as to arrive at a clear idea of the encounter. When the cannonading ceased, four companies of infantry charged up the hill and occupied it before the insurgents, who had been driven out by the artillery, could regain it. Shortly the hill on the left of the road was taken in the same way, and Luque, although at a great loss, had repelled Maceo's attack from the rear. The battle had lasted for a little over two hours. Maceo had about forty of his men wounded and left four dead on the field, taking away ten others. Twenty or more of his horses were killed. The Spanish reported that he had 1,000 killed, the next day reduced the number to 300, and finally to the statement that "the enemy's losses must have been enormous," the usual phrase when the true number is humiliat- ing. Luque's losses have never been officially reported, but it is variously estimated at from seventy-five to a hundred men. The Work of Fiends. The Cubans give horrible details of a battle at Paso Real, between General Luque's army and a division of Maceo's forces under Benuu- dez. Witnesses of the encounter claim that the Spaniards invaded the hospital and killed wounded insurgents in their beds, and that Bermudez, in retaliation, formed a line, and shot thirty-seven Span- ish prisoners. Luque says in his report of this engagement: "The rebels made a strong defense, firing from the tops of houses and along the fences around the city. The Spanish vanguard, under Colonel. Hernandez, attacked the vanguard, center and rear guard of the rebels in the cen- tral streets of the town, driving them with continuous volleys and fierce cavalry charges into the outskirts of the town. Up to this point we had killed ten insurgents." The people of Paso Real say this report is true, as far as it goes, but that Luque neglects to add that he then attacked the hospital, and murdered twenty-eight wounded men, firing at them as they lay on their cots, through the windows, and finally breaking down the door, and killing the rest with the bayonet. Under date of February 8th we have an account of the operations of the Spanish General Sabas Marin, who left Havana a short time before. His campaign in search of General Gomez was disastrous, and 1216 BATTLES WITH MACHETE AND RIFLE. the official reports of Spanish victories were misleading. There were losses on both sides, but Marin accomplished absolutely nothing of what he intended to achieve. The first misfortune which overtook the Spaniards was the rout of Carnellas, on the very day on which Marin left Havana. Gomez sent a detachment under Pedro Diaz to intercept him, and this force reached Saladrigas in the early morning. In this section the country is cut into small fields, divided by stone fences, and facing the road there is *. high fence, with a ditch in front of it. Diaz placed 400 infan- try behind this fence, and waited himself with 1,000 cavalry back of a hill close by. When the Spanish forces appeared, the advance guard was allowed to pass, and as soon as the main body was fairly in the trap, volleys were poured into them, literally mowing them down. At the sound of the first gun, Diaz led his thousand horsemen upon the enemy's flank and rear. The charge was irresistible. Half of Diaz's men did not even fire a shot, but yelling "machete," they rode furiously upon the Spanish lines, cutting their w T ay through, and fighting with terrible effect. The Spanish issued no official report of this battle. So far as the records show, it never occurred. One of the Spanish officers, who fought in it, conceded a loss of 200 men, but it is probable that twice that number would be nearer the correct figure. Americans in the Cuban Army. Colonel Frederick Funston, who returned to New York in January, 1898, told an interesting story of brave Yankee boys serving under General Gomez and General Garcia in Eastern Cuba, and also gave an account of the sad death of W. Dana Osgood, the famous football player, formerly of the University of Pennsylvania. Colonel Funston was with Gomez's army when they attacked Gui- maro. They had with them a twelve-pound Hotchkiss rifle and four American artillerymen, Osgood of Pennsylvania, Latrobe and Janney of Baltimore, and Devine of Texas. They attacked Guimaro in the morning, at ranges of from 400 to 600 yards, the infantry being protected by a breastwork of earth, in which openings were left for the guns. The Spanish garrison consisted of 200 men in eleven forts, and they maintained a hot fire all day. Gradually, however, the Hotchkiss BATTLES WITH MACHETE AND KIFLE. 217 rifle, the fire of which was directed by Osgood, made the largest and nearest fort untenable, and it was abandoned by the garrison. No sooner had the Spanish forces left it than a band of the insurgents took possession, and from this point of vantage the fighting was continued with renewed vigor. As soon as darkness came on one of the Cuban guns was moved forward and stationed in this fort, and on the following day a storm of shot and shell was directed at the other forts. Naturally the rifles of the garrison were trained most of the time upon the man sighting the Hotchkiss in the captured fort, and there, leaning over his gun in the early morning, the intrepid Osgood was shot through the head. He was carried off by his comrades under fire, and died four hours later. The death of this gallant young soldier was universally lamented, and the Cubans honor his memory as one of the first Americans to give his life while fighting for their cause. With Gomez, with Garcia, and with Maceo, in every insurgent camp, there were brave men, American born, who fought for the flag of Free Cuba, side by side with the native soldier, and who gave their lives in the war against Spanish tyranny and misrule. CHAPTER XXII. FILIBUSTERS FROM FLORIDA. First Expeditions Expense to the United States President Pierce's Action The Uprising in 18GS The Patrol of the Coasts An Expedition on the "Three Friends" Arms and Ammunition for the Insurgents Des- perate Chances A Successful Landing. The record of the last fifty years is the clearest and most convinc- ing evidence that can be offered against the Spanish contention that the' United States is not concerned with the question of government in Cuba, and has not been tremendously injured by the inability of Spanish administration to furnish the Cubans with a peaceful and satisfactory government. The first bit of evidence to be submitted comes from away back in 1848, when President Polk, on behalf of the United States, announced that while the United States was willing that Cuba should, be continued under Spanish ownership and govern- ment, it would never consent to the occupation of the island by any other European nation. It was pointed out a.i that time by the American government that were the United States to admit that Cuba was open to seizure by any government that was able to throw Spain out the fact that it was nearly surrounded, in Central and South America and in other West Indian islands, by territory belonging to twelve other nations would make it the ground of interminable squabbles. And these squabbles were not matters which would be without interest and damage to the commerce and peace of the United States. This was followed by an offer of |100,000,000 to Spain for the island of Cuba, The offer was promptly declined, and the United States was informed that Cuba was not on the market. First Filibustering Expedition. Nevertheless, there was formed in the United States the Lone Star Society, which had as its object "the acquisition of the island of Cuba as part of the territory of the United States." The "Conspiracy of Lopez," which is fully treated of in previous 218 LITTLE KING ALFONSO OF SPAIN, WHOSE THRONE IS TOTTERING W u U s "S W l| P Is O(/i t/> i FILIBUSTERS FROM FLORIDA. 221 pages of this work, was the first filibustering expedition that attracted particular attention from the authorities, and it was hoped that its disastrous end would deter others from like attempts. But the hope was a- vain one, for within two years a similar expedition, led by Gen- eral Quitman of Mississippi, was organized in the United States. Many men were enlisted and vessels chartered, but the expedition was suppressed by the government of the United States. f Expense to United States. It will thus be seen that the fact that Spain had not been able to govern Cuba peaceably has caused the United States great expense and irritation for a much longer period than is usually taken into consid- eration in these days. It is not the fault of the United States that its citizens have been stirred to sympathy with the victims of the Span- ish policy of government by robbery and murder. It is not the fault of the United States that this country has been the refuge of men who have been outlawed from the country of their birth because their pres- ence there meant the irrepressible working in them of a desire for freedom, a desire intolerable to Spanish institutions. It is not the fault of the United States that these refugees, living in the land of civil liberty, should desire to return to their native coun- try and drive out those who made it miserable. But it would have been the fault of the United States, under international law, if these exiled Cubans were permitted to carry out their very natural and laudable desire in concert with the Americans whose sympathy had been stirred by the story of Spanish wrongs. To ferret out the plans for expeditions conceived with such determination and perseverance was not only a task requiring tremendous expenditure of money and energy, but it was a miserably disagreeable and unpopular work for the government to engage in. On the 31st of May, 1854, President Pierce issued a proclamation instructing citizens of the United States as to their duties in refrain- ing from encouragement, aid, or participation in connection with the Cuban insurrections. The Uprising in 1868. In the fall of 1868, after scattering uprisings and several battles during the preceding year, plans for a concerted insurrection were arranged. The plan was discovered and the insurrection was started 12 222 FILIBUSTERS FROM FLORIDA. prematurely. There followed a campaign in which Spanish forces, amounting to 110,000 men, were unable to hold in check the Cuban force of about 26,000. In May the filibustering expeditions, that were to prove such an immense expense and annoyance to the United States, began again. The Spanish navy co-operated with the United States government in the efforts to suppress these expeditions, but many of them eluded the authorities, and aided the insurgents with arms and provisions. This was irritating to Spain and the United States alike, because it cost just as much to keep up an unsuccessful anti-filibustering pa- trol as it did actually to catch filibusters, and, moreover, every suc- cessful expedition weakened the authority of the Federal government. That authority in the Southern States just after the war was none too strong, and it was not a good thing that the spectacle of defiance to the United States should be flaunted along the Southern coast. From 1878 until 1895,when the present insurrection gained strength to become openly active, the island is supposed to have been at peace, but in the latter year the open war and filibustering expeditions began again. The name of President Cleveland was added to the list of Pres- idents whose duty it was to interfere with efforts to aid Cuban liberty. He issued appropriate proclamations on June 12, 1895, and July 30, 1896. Eevenue cutters and warships constantly patrolled the Florida coast and, indeed, all the waters of the gulf, and sometimes New York harbor, to head off filibustering expeditions. It is said to have cost more to suppress the natural desire of citizens of the United States) to relieve the political distress in Cuba than it has cost to enforce cus- toms regulations from the same territory. The Voyage of the "Three Friends." As evidence of the fact that Cuban sympathizers have been suc- cessful in escaping the patrol on American coasts and the enemy's battleships in Cuban waters, we give the report of one of many expe- ditions that have been made during the past three years. The steamer "Three Friends," of Jacksonville, Florida, in command of Captain Napoleon B. Broward, returned to Jacksonville on March 18th, having succeeded in landing in Cuba, General Enrique Collazo, Major Charles Hernandez, and Duke Estrada, besides fifty-four men taken off the schooner "Ardell" from Tampa, and the entire cargo of arms and ammunition of the schooner "Mallory" from Cedar Key. It FILIBUSTERS FROM FLORIDA. 223 was by long odds the most important expedition that has set out from this country, and the Cubans at Jacksonville, when they learned that the "Three Friends" had safely fulfilled her mission, shouted "Viva Cuba!" until they were hoarse. They declared that it would change the character of the whole war, as the unarmed men would now be armed, and that Maceo, who had before been wary and cautious, would be more aggressive than he had ever been before. The cargo of arms landed by the "Three Friends" and the "Mallory" was as follows: 750,000 rounds of car- tridges, 1,200 rifles, 2,100 machetes, 400 revolvers, besides stores, re- loading tools, etc. The "Three Friends" met the "Mallory" at Alligator Key. The "Ardell" had just finished transferring the men to her. While they were rendezvoused there behind the pines in a deep coral-walled creek, three big Spanish men-of-war steamed slowly by, but they did not dis- cover that there was anything suspicious looking in shore, although with a glass men could be seen in their look-outs scanning the horizon, as well as searching the shore. Sunday, about noon, no vessels being in sight, the "Three Friends" took in tow the "Mallory" and steamed southward under a good head of steam. The "Three Friends" is a powerful tug, and by Monday night was close enough to the Cuban' shore to hear the breakers. Several ship- lights to the west were seen, one of which was evidently a Spanish man-of-war, for she had a search-light at her bow, and was sweeping the waves with it, but the "Three Friends" was a long way off, and had no light, and so was out of the neighborhood of the Spaniard. A Successful Landing. At ten o'clock that night, by the aid of a naphtha launch and two big surf boats, which had been taken out of Jacksonville, the "Three Friends" landed the men and ammunition from her hold, and from that of the "Mallory." It took four and a half hours to complete the job. There were hundreds of men on shore to assist, and they did it silently, appreciating the peril of the position. The Cubans on shore recognized General Collazo immediately, and no words can describe their joy on seeing him. He is; a veteran of Cuban wars, and one whom Spain fears. In fact> it is known that during his sojourn in Florida he was shadowed by detectives^ who had been instructed to spare no expense to keep Collazo from reaching 224 FILIBUSTERS FROM FLORIDA. Cuba. When it was whispered that Collazo was really among them, they seemed not to believe their ears, but came forward and looked, and, seeing that there was really no mistake, threw up their arms and wept for joy. Major Charles Hernandez and Duke Estrada were also enthusiastically welcomed. It was reported that night that Maceo had received the arms of the first expedition that set forth three days before the "Three Friends" landed. They were not from the "Commodore," for they reported that they were now on the lookout for that vessel. They said, too, that at the end of the week four expeditions were afloat. Two, including the "Three Friends," had landed, and two more were on the way. Tues- day morning, as the "Three Friends" was returning, she sighted a steamer that answered to the description of the "Commodore." She was headed 'southward, and pushing along apparently at the rate of fifteen knots an hour. Here is the story of the capture of an expedition, by Commander Butron, of the Spanish gunboat "Mensagera": "The 'Mensagera' was directed to watch the coast between Cayo Julia and Morrillo, about one hundred miles. It was heard on the afternoon of April 25 that a suspicious schooner had been seen near Quebrados de Uvas. The gunboat followed, and found the 'Competi- tor.' The usual signals were made, but the schooner tried to get closer in shore, so as to land a rapid-fire gun. "The 'Mensagera' was then moved forward and fired a shot, which struck the schooner and exploded a box of cartridges which the men were trying to take ashore. Several occupants of the schooner became alarmed, and threw themselves into the water, feaHng an explosion of dynamite. The gunboat's crew seized rifles and began shooting, kill- ing three men. Several others reached shore. "Three men were aboard the schooner when it was overhauled, and they surrendered without resistance. Among them was Owen Milton, editor of the Key West Mosquito. Sailors were sent ashore to capture the arms landed. In the skirmish, two men, supposed to be filibusters, and a horse were killed. They secured several abandoned cases of cartridges. A body of insurgents had come to watch the land- ing of the boat's crew. The 'Mensagera' came to Havana with the arms and prisoners, who were very seasick. The schooner was towed to Havana by the gunboat 'Vicente Yanez.' It is regarded as an object of great curiosity by the crowds. It had the Spanish flag floating FILIBUSTERS FROM FLORIDA. 225 when captured. It is a neat, strong boat, and looks fast. One of the prisoners captured steadily refuses to give his name." An account of the trial, as sent from Havana, May 8th, reads as follows: "The court opened at the Arsenal. The prisoners were Alfredo Laborde, born in New Orleans; Owen Milton, of Kansas; William Kinlea, an Englishman, and Elias Vedia and Teodore Dela Maza, both Cubans. Captain Ruiz a.cted as president of the court, which con- sisted of nine other military and naval officers. The trial of the five filibusters captured aboard the 'Competitor' was proceeded with against the formal protest presented by Consul General Williams, who declared that the trial was illegal and in violation of the treaty between Spain and the United States. "The prisoners^ were not served with a copy of the charges against them and were not allowed to select their own counsel, but were represented by a naval officer appointed by the government. They were not permitted to call witnesses for their defense, the prosecution calling all the witnesses. Owen Milton, of Kansas, testified through an interpreter that he came on the expedition only to correspond for a newspaper. William Kinlea, when called, was in his shirt sleeves. He arose and said in English, 'I do not recognize your authority, and appeal for protection to the American and English consuls.' " Fortunately for these prisoners, the United States government in- terfered, and they were eventually released. CHAPTER XXIII. WEYLER THE BUTCHER. His Ancestry A Soldier From His Youth He Succeeds General Campos A Master of Diplomacy A Slave of Spain His Personal Appearance His Interview With a Woman His Definition of War His Resig- nation. Early in 1896, when the Spanish government began to realize that the insurrection was assuming serious proportions, arrangements were made for the recall of General Campos, then Governor-General of the island, and General Weyler was sent to assume the duties of the office. It was the opinion in Spain that Campos was too mild in his treatment of the rebels, and as Weyler was known to have no lamb- like qualities, he was regarded as the ideal man for the position. That he did not succeed in putting down the rebellion was certainly not due to any lack of extreme measures on his part. He is known as the "Butcher," and his management of affairs in Cuba certainly gives him every right to the title. Valeriano Weyler y Mcolau, to give him his full name, is only half a Spaniard. His father was a Prussian, though Weyler himself was born in Cadiz in 1839. His parents were in very moderate circum- stances and not of noble birth. What Weyler has won he has acquired through his own efforts. He has made his way single-handed. He graduated from the infantry school at Toledo in 1857 and was at once sent to Cuba as a subaltern. He was quickly made a captain and his first work was to subdue a small revolt in San Domingo. He rose rapidly in rank, and during the first Cuban revolt he was in command in the province of Santiago, where he earned the title that has since made him famous in the eyes of his supporters, but infamous from a civilized point of view. But he put down the revolt. He was rewarded' with the appointment of captain general of the Canary islands. His administration was so successful that he was created Marquis of Teneriffe. He was then barely thirty-nine years old. He distinguished himself in the Carlist war and at its conclusion he was made captain general of the Philippines, where he quelled an insur- 226 WEYLEB THE BUTCHER. 227 rection and admittedly gave the islands the best administration they had ever known. He returned to Spain in 1889 and was in command at Barcelona until the present Cuban revolution began. Here is a mental photograph of him by a newspaper correspond- ent: "Most men resemble their reputations, and if a life famously spent is in the mind of one who visits a character of world-wide repute, he quite naturally discovers peculiarities of facial expression and physique which appear to account for the individuality of the man, fighter, philosopher, criminal, reformer or whatever he may be. "All this is true of General Weyler. He is one of those men who create a first impression, the first sight of whom can never be effaced from the mind, by whose presence the most careless observer is im- pressed instantly, and yet, taken altogether, he is a man in whom the elements of greatness are concealed under a cloak of impenetrable obscurity. Inferior physically, unsoldierly in bearing, exhibiting no trace of refined sensibilities nor pleasure in the gentle associations that others live for, or at least seek as diversions, he is nevertheless the embodiment of mental acuteness, crafty, unscrupulous, fearless and of indomitable perseverance. "I have talked with Campos, Marin and Weyler, the three Captain- Generals to whom Spain has intrusted (thus far unsuccessfully) the reconquest of Cuba. Keconquest seems an ill-chosen word, but one of General Weyler's staff has so denominated this war, and Cuban revo- lutions can be settled only by conquests, Campos was an exceptional man. Marin was commonplace. Weyler is unique. Campos and Marin affected gold lace, dignity and self-consciousness. Weyler ignores them all as useless, unnecessary impediments, if anything, to the one object of his existence. Campos was fat, good natured, wise, phil- osophical, slow in his mental processes, clear in his judgment, em- phatic in his opinions, outspoken, and, withal, lovable, humane, con- servative, constructive, progressive, with but one project ever before him, the glorification of Spain as a mother-land and a figure among peaceful, enlightened nations. "Weyler is lean, diminutive, shriveled, ambitious for immortality, irrespective of its odor, a master of diplomacy, the slave of Spain, for the glory of sitting at the right of her throne, unlovable, unloving, exalted, and doubtless justly, in self-esteem, because he is unmistaken in his estimation of his value to his Queen. His passion is success, 228 WEYLEB THE BUTCHER. per se, foul or fair consequences or the conventional ideas of human- ity notwithstanding. "He is a little man. An apparition of blacks black eyes, black hair, black beard, dark, exceedingly dark, complexion^ a plain black attire, black shoes, black tie, a very dirty shirt and soiled standing collar, with no jewelry and not a relief from the aspect of darkness anyw^here on his person. "It is not remarkable that I momentarily hesitated to make cer- tain that this was actually Weyler. Doubt was dispelled with a look at his face. His eyes, far apart, bright, alert and striking, took me in at a glance. His face seemed to run to his chin, his lower jaw pro- truding far beyond any ordinary sign of firmness, persistence or will- power. His forehead is neither high nor receding, neither is it that of a thoughtful or philosophic man. His ears are set far back, and what is called the region of intellect, in which are those mental attributes that might be defined as powers of observation, calculation, judgment, and execution, is strongly developed. The conformation of his head, however, is not one that is generally accepted as an indication of any marked possession of philoprogenitiveness or its kindred emotions and inclinations. His nose is aquiline, bloodless and obtrusive. When he speaks it is with a high nasal enunciation that is not disagreeable, because it is not prolonged, and his sentences justify every impression that has already been formed of -the man. They are short, crisp, em- phatic and expressive. " 'I have an aversion to speech,' he said. 'I am an enemy of publica- tions. I prefer to act, not to talk. I am here to restore peace. When peace is in the land I am going away. T am a soldier. When I am gone, politicians will reconstruct Cuba, and probably they will upset things again until they are as bad as they are now. I care not for America, England, anyone, but only for the treaties we have with them.' They are the law. I observe the law, and every letter of the law. I have my ideas of Cuba's relation to Spain. I have never ex- pressed them. Some politicians would agree with them, others would not. No one would agree with all of them. I know I am merciless, but mercy has no place in war. I know the reputation which has been built up for me. Things that are charg'ed to me were done by officers under me, and I was held responsible for all things in the Ten- Years' war, including its victorious end. I do not conceal the fact that I am here solely because it is believed I can crush this insurrection. I WEYLER THE BUTCHER. 229 care not what is said about me, unless it is a lie so great as to occasion alarm. I am not a politician. I am Weyler.' " A Woman's Interview with Weyler. The following interview with the "Butcher" is by Mrs. Kate Mas- terson, who bearded the lion in his den for an American newspaper: "His Excellency, Captain-General Weyler, graciously gave me an audience to-day. He received me with most charming courtesy, escorted me through his apartments and presented me with a bunch of roses from his own table. Before I left he had honored me with an invitation to dine with him at the Palace. "'Your Excellency/ I said to him through my interpreter, 'the American women have a very bad opinion of you. I am very much afraid of you myself, but I have come to ask the honor of an interview with you, in order that I may write something which will reassure the women of America that you are not treating women and children un- mercifully.' " 'I do not give interviews/ he said. 'I am willing, however, to answer any question you wish to ask.' " 'In the United States/ I said, 'an impression prevails that your edict shutting out newspaper correspondents from the field is only to conceal cruelties perpetrated upon the insurgent prisoners. Will your Excellency tell me the real cause?' " 'I have/ replied the General, 'shut out the Spanish and Cuban papers from the field, as well as the American. In the last war the correspondents created much jealousy by what they wrote. They praised one and rebuked the other. They wrote what the prisoners dictated, instead of facts. They even created ill-feeling between the Spanish officers. They are a nuisance.' " 'Then I can deny the stories as to your being cruel?' "The General shrugged his heavy shoulders as he s&id carelessly: 'I have no time to pay attention to stories. Some of them are true and some are not. If you will particularize I will give direct answers, but these things are not important.' " 'Does not your Excellency think that prisoners of war should be treated with consideration and mercy?' "The General's eyes glinted dangerously. 'The Spanish columns attend to their prisoners just as well as any other country in time of 230 WEYLEE THE BUTCHER. war,' lie replied. 'War is war. You cannot make it otherwise, try as you will.' " 'Will not your Excellency allow me to go to the scene of battle under an escort of soldiers, if necessary, that I may write of the situa- tion as it really is, and correct the impression that prevails in Amer- ica that inhuman treatment is being accorded to the insurgent pris- oners?' " 'Impossible/ answered the General. 'It would not be safe/ " 'I am willing to take all the danger, if your Excellency will allow me to go,' I exclaimed. "General Weyler laughed. 'There would be no danger from the rebels,' he said, 'but from the Spanish soldiers. They are of a very affectionate disposition and would all fall in love with you.' " 'I will keep a great distance from the fighting, if you will allow me to go.' "The General's lips closed tightly, and he said: 'Impossible! Im- possible!' " 'What would happen,' I asked, 'if I should be discovered cross- ing the lines without permission?' " 'You would be treated just the same as a man.' "'Would I be sent to Castle Morro?' " 'Yes,' he replied, nodding his head vigorously. That settled it. I decided not to go. " 'Why,' I asked him, 'is the rule incommunicado placed upon pris oners? Is it not cruel to prevent a man from seeing his wife and chil- c dren?' " 'The rule incommunicado,' said the General, 'is a military law. Prisoners are allowed to see their relatives as a favor, but we exercise discretion in these cases.' " 'There are stories that prisoners are shot in Castle Morro at day- break each morning, and that the shots can be plainly heard across the bay. Is this true?' "The General's eyes looked unpleasant again. 'It is false!' he said shortly. 'The prisoners go through a regular court-martial, and no one could be shot at Morro without my orders, and I have not given orders to shoot anyone since I have been here.' " 'Do you not think it very cruel that innocent women and children should be made to suffer in time of war?' " 'No innocent women and children do suffer. It is only those who WEYLEB THE BUTCHER. 231 leave their homes and take part in battle who are injured. It is only the rebels who destroy peaceful homes.' " 'It is reported/ I said, 'that thirty women are fighting under Maceo. Is this true?' " 'Yes,' replied the General. 'We took one woman yesterday. She was dressed in man's clothes and was wielding a machete. She is now in Morro Castle. These women are fiercer than men. Many of them are mulattoes. This particular woman was white.' " 'What will be her fate?' " 'She w r ill go through the regular form of trial.' " 'Will no mercy be shown her?' " 'Mercy is always shown to a woman. While the law is the same for both sexes, there is a clause which admits of mercy to a woman.' " 'There are several Cuban women insurgents in Morro and the Cabanas. Would your Excellency,' I asked, 'allow me to visit them?' " 'No,' he said. 'There is a law that no foreigner shall enter our fortresses. It is a military law. We can make no exceptions. You understand that I do not wish to be discourteous, senorita.' " 'Some of these women,' I continued, 'are said to be imprisoned for merely having Cuban flags in their homes. Is this possible?' " 'Treason,' exclaimed the General, 'is always a crime, punishable by imprisonment.' " 'There is a newspaper correspondent at present in Morro. What was his crime?' "The General shrugged his shoulders again. 'I know nothing about him,' he said. 'I think he has been freed.' " 'Do you not think the life of a newspaper correspondent in Havana is at present a most unhappy one?' " 'I think it must be, for they make me unhappy. If they were all like you it would be a pleasure.' " 'Is it true that thumbscrews are used to extort confessions from prisoners?' " 'Not by the Spaniards. Rebels use all these things, similar to those that were used in the Inquisition tortures.' " 'What does your Excellency think of the Cubans as a race? Do you not think them progressive and brave?' " 'With the progress of all nations the Cubans have progressed,' he replied. 'There are many Cubans in sympathy with Spain, but this insurrection is a blot upon the Cuban race which nothing can ever 232 WEYLER THE BUTCHER. erase. It is a stain made with the blood of the slain and the tears of the women. It injures the Cubans themselves more than any other.' " In spite of Weyler's boasts when he assumed command of the Spanish forces in Cuba that he would quickly put down the insurrec- tion, his failure was as complete as that of General Campos had been, and his recall was finally demanded. In his letter of protest to the home government he said: "If the functions with which the government had entrusted me had been merely those of Governor General of Cuba, I should have hastened to resign. But the twofold character of my mission and my duty as commander-in-chief in the face of the enemy prevent my tendering a resignation. "Nevertheless, although I can rely upon the absolute, unconditional support of the autonomist and constitutional parties, as well as upon public opinion, this would be insufficient without the confidence of the government, now more than ever necessary to me after the censure of which I have been made the object by the members and journals of the Liberal party and by public opinion in the United States, which latter is largely influenced by the former. This confidence would be necessary to enable me to put an end to the war, which has already been virtually concluded from our lines at Jucaro to Cape Antonio." Senor Sagasta replied: "I thank you for your explanation and value your frankness, I wish to assure you that the government recognizes your services and values them as they deserve, but it thinks a change of policy, in order to succeed, requires that the authorities should be at one with the ministry." CHAPTER XXIV. CUBA UNDER THE SCOURGE. The Civil Guards and Their Crimes Horrible Murder of Eight Innocent Men A Man After Weyler's Own Heart How the Spanish Gain "Victories" Life, Liberty and Property Sacrificed The War Not a Race War Resistance to the Bitter End. Cuba has been under martial law for over fifty years, and its en- forcement by the Civil guards (as the officers appointed by the Spanish government are called) has been responsible for innumerable out- rages against the lives and property of the inhabitants. These officials have been guilty of every crime in the calendar, but protected by their positions they have escaped legal punishment, and it has only been on occasions when, driven to desperation, the people have acted as judges and executioners by taking the law into their own hands that any re- dress has been possible. If for any reason these guards wish to persecute a man, the fact that he is a non-combatant is no protection to him, nor to his family. They have been the means of adding to the ranks of the insurrection- ists, for frequently the man who has seen his relatives and friends shot before his eyes, to satisfy some personal spite, or in order that some officer may get credit for a battle, has left his fields and gone to strike a manly blow for his country and his home. The story of eight peaceable white men, who* were shot without trial, at Campo Florida, near Havana, will serve as an example of the work of these fiends. These poor fellows were arrested, their arms were tied, and they were taken to the police station. One of them had just completed a coffin for a woma