Cuba Part 15

The traitor Zertucha surrendered to the Spanish by whom naturally he was treated with the utmost kindness and consideration.

Afterwards Zertucha attempted to blacken Maceo's memory by declaring that he was disheartened and desperate, and that his death was the result of his own folly.

Senor Palma says of this:

"General Maceo was loved and supported by all men struggling for Cuban independence, whether in a military or civil capacity. If a man was ever idolized by his people, that man was General Maceo. Dr. Zertucha knows that, but perhaps he has an object in making his false a.s.sertions."

An object? Of course he had an object--the currying of favor with the Spaniards, the saving of his own wretched carca.s.s and the obtaining of the blood-money due him.

So perished the last of the Maceos, eight brothers, all having died before him in the cause of Cuban liberty.

The following poem on Maceo's death appeared in the New York Sun:

Antonio Maceo.

"Stern and unyielding, though others might bow to the tempest; Slain by the serpent who cowered in hiding behind thee; Slumber secure where the hands of thy comrades have laid thee; Dim to thine ear be the roar of the battle above thee.

Set now is thy sun, going down in darkness and menace, While through the thick-gathering clouds one red ray of vengeance Streams up to heaven, blood red, from the place where thou liest.

Though the sword of Death's angel lies cold on thy forehead, Still to the hearts of mankind speaks the voice of thy spirit: Still does thine angry shade arrest the step of the tyrant.

"V. B."

Maceo's death was a terrible blow to the insurgents, but, with indomitable spirit they rallied and plunged with renewed energy into the fray.

Maceo was succeeded by General Rius Rivers, who does not seem to have been in any way the equal of his predecessor.

Having accomplished by low treachery what he had not succeeded in doing by open, honorable warfare, Weyler increased his efforts to put down the rebellion in Pinar del Rio, where Maceo had been in command.

The trochas now became of advantage, and Weyler succeeded in confining Rivera's scattered bands to the province. Early in 1897, Rivera was made a prisoner, and since then nothing of importance, from a military standpoint, has occurred in Pinar del Rio.

In 1897 there were but few incidents of interest in the war. The Cubans were holding back, evading conflicts wherever they could, and waiting for the long-delayed interposition of the United States.

Guines, however, was taken by them, and General Garcia captured the fortified post of Tunas after a fight of three days. The Spanish commander and about forty per cent. of his force were killed. Finally the remainder of the garrison surrendered. The spoils which fell into the hands of the Cubans comprised a large amount of rifles and ammunition, besides two Krupp guns.

The victory was a notable one, especially as Weyler had cabled his government that Tunas was impregnable. Its fall gave rise to much harsh criticism and bitter feeling in Spain.

Weyler was constantly proclaiming the "pacification" of certain provinces, statements that were most transparently absurd and false. He even immediately followed up his proclamations by the most severe and brutal measures in those very provinces.

Finally even Madrid, to whom it would have mattered little if the policy had proved a success, became convinced that Weyler's savage procedure was a failure.

The butcher had gained absolutely no advantage, but had simply been the cause of untold and undeserved suffering.

The insurrection, taking it all for all, was just as strong, if not stronger, than it was the day Weyler arrived in Cuba.

So, in October, 1897, he was withdrawn from his post, and summoned back to Spain.

It is to be hoped that the world will never again witness such a shameful and shameless exhibition as was his administration.

Before dismissing him from these pages, let us quote from Stephen Bonsal, with whose words no unprejudiced person can quarrel.

Mr. Bonsal says:

"Should they be wise, and they will have a moment of clairvoyance soon, or they will disappear as a nation, the Spaniards should seek to cast a mantle of oblivion and forgetfulness about the wretched name of Weyler and all the ign.o.ble deeds that have characterized his rule. While it cannot be expected that the bishop will be displaced by the butcher, there is one whom Weyler will displace upon his unenviable pinnacle of prominence in the temple of infamy, and that is Alva. His name is destined to become in every tongue that is spoken by civilized people a synonym of b.l.o.o.d.y, relentless and pitiless war waged upon American soil, upon the long-disused methods of the Vandals and the Visigoths; and Alva, who had the cruel spirit of his age and a sincere fanaticism as his excuse, will step down and out into an oblivion which will doubtless be grateful to his shade, and most certainly so to those who bear his execrated name.

"I could ask no more terrible punishment for him (Weyler) than many years of life to listen to the voices of despair he has heard ring out upon his path through Cuba; to hear again and ever the accusing voices which no human power can hush, and to review the scenes of suffering which he has occasioned which no human power can obliterate from his memory."

CHAPTER XIII.

AMERICA'S CHARITY AND SPAIN'S DIPLOMACY.

The new governor-general of Cuba was Don Ramon Blanco, as to whose character accounts differ. It is probable that while he is not the high-minded, honorable gentleman that Campos was, he is far, very far from being such an unmitigated beast as his predecessor.

Before he reached Cuba, which was the last of October, 1897, he stated in an interview:

"My policy will never include concentration. I fight the enemy, not women and children. One of the first things I shall do will be to allow the reconcentrados to go out of the town and till the soil."

This sounds very just and right, but, as a matter of fact, the policy enounced was never carried out, not even in minor particulars. The persecution of the pacificos remained as bitter and relentless as ever.

Perhaps General Blanco is not entirely to blame for this, as the pressure brought to bear against his expressed ideas both by the home government and by the "peninsulars" in Havana, who had been in full accord with the methods of the "Butcher," was so strong as scarcely to be resisted.

Blanco issued an amnesty proclamation soon after his arrival in Havana, but the insurgents paid little or no attention. Their experience in such matters in the past had been too stern to be forgotten.

In the field, Blanco was also most unsuccessful, gaining nothing but petty victories of no value whatever. The pay of the Spanish soldiers was terribly in arrears, and their rations were of the most meagre description. No wonder that they were disheartened, and in no condition to fight.

In a word, Blanco absolutely failed, as completely as had his predecessors, in quelling the rebellion.

The people of the United States were becoming more and more enraged at the atrocities committed at their very door, and more and more anxious that the Cubans should have the independence which they themselves had achieved.

Moreover, there was a large number of Americans in the island who were made to suffer from the policy of reconcentration. Citizens of the United States, a large number of them being naturalized Americans, were constantly being seized and imprisoned, on suspicion alone, no proof whatever being advanced, of their furnishing aid and comfort to the insurgents. They were placed in filthy cells, no communication with the outside world being allowed them. This is what the Spaniards term "incommunicado."

No writing materials were allowed them and nothing whatever to read. The windows were so high up that no view was to be obtained. The cells were damp with the moisture of years and had rotten, disease-breeding floors, covered with filth of every description. Moreover, they were overrun with c.o.c.kroaches, rats and other vermin.

The sustenance furnished the prisoners was wretched, and even such as it was, it was not given to them regularly. More often than not, they were left for long hours to suffer the pangs of hunger and thirst.

A notable instance of Americans being seized and imprisoned in these loathsome dungeons is the following:

A little schooner called the "Compet.i.tor" attempted to land a filibustering expedition. She was captured, after most of her pa.s.sengers had been landed, and her crew, numbering five, were tried by a court which had been instructed to convict them, and sentenced to death. They would undoubtedly have been executed, as some years before had been the prisoners of the ill-fated Virginius, had it not been for the prompt intervention of the United States, spurred thereto by General Fitz Hugh Lee.

The conviction was growing stronger and stronger in the United States that something should be done to mitigate the terrible suffering in Cuba.

The Red Cross a.s.sociation, a splendid charitable organization, at the head of which was Miss Clara Barton, undertook this n.o.ble work of relief. The government of the United States lent its a.s.sistance and support. Large sums of money and tons of supplies of food were contributed throughout the Union, both by public and private donations.

The newspapers everywhere, North, East, South and West, did magnificent service in furthering the good work.

Spain, instead of showing grat.i.tude, rather resented this, and there was considerable difficulty to prosecute the labor of charity. Still, the efforts, in the interests of suffering humanity were by no means unavailing.

President McKinley speaks of the movement as follows: