The Stourbridge Observer, Cradley Heath, Halesowen & District Chronicle.
Stourbridge, West Midlands, England, 1873-11-29 00:00:00

THE SANTIAGO EXECUTIONS.
TIMES " TELEUREM.)

PHILAnELPHIA, Nov. 23. —The Cabinet has decided
that the Virvinitts legally carried an American regls.
ter. General Sickles' instructions substantially are
to request Spain to surrender the Viegiatus to the
United atAtem with the survivors of the crew and
paesengers, to apologia° for the insult to the United
State*, to indemnify the relatives of the slain, to punish
the ezecutionere or to gurrender them for punishment,
and to enforce immstliately the &ere.. liberating
American confiscated property. He is also instructed
to communicate the strong desire of the American
Government for the ab liii. n of slavery.

- -
Tors reporie i indignities offered to General Sickles
by thellkladrid mob have been considered by the Cabinet,
but no cc ion has been taken, the Spanish Government
having protected the Minister. The belief prevails in
official quarters that diploroscy will settle the diffi-
culty, out the situation is still very critical.
Popular reeling is not intensely warlike, although
some newspapers are making prodigious efforts
to create excitement. Naval preparations cantinue to
be made. A Hort of forty-nine vessels, with 6-13 gene,
Is ordered to be prepared. Some ships are returning
from foreign stations. Twenty veseels wi I be in Cuban
water, within three weeks. The Army acid Ordnance
Bureau is actively engaged. A comprehensive plan for
strengthening the coast defences will be immediately
adopied.

The New York Herald In a leading article commenting
upou the III•ZlidJ113, ways :

'There are crimes which outrage humanity and
exhaust the patience of the civilised world ; crimes
which by their enormity prompt the aprieing of vigil-
ance eommitteee and the swift punishment of the
ffenders without the tardy precises of the machinery
of the law. Of such • chaarseter jt the hurried
butchery at Santiago de Cuba of 56 of the persons cap-
tured on the Virgin ilia and carried into that port by •
Spanish war. The atrocity of the act iseo
great WI to render it difficult to write of it diepa-sion•
ately and with that calmness of judgment necessary in
the consideration of queetione involving great national
iutereete. The first impu se of the Aurericau people
will be to avenge the murders that have been c inimitted
and the insult that has bee n offered tone as • nation by
retribution aa swift and terrible as the crimes by which it
hag been provoked. The popular voice would applaud
the action of the Peeled nt if he should send • fleet of
ironcluls to Santiago de Cuba to demaud the surrth der
of the Spanish butcher Burriel and of the commander of
the To) ',ado. to be dealt with according their deserts,
under toe penalty ,d the destruction of the town and the
sinking ef every Spanish wee veseel in the harbour in
case of retueaL The long list of outrages by which this '
lard crime had b -en preceded has deprived the Spanish
rule in Cuba of the sympathy of all Chrot tan people, and
the world would rejoice if its career of rutitisadam and
blood should ba andrienly Forman to a cl,,e by the just
vengeance of an I ,llriant s,a,ioo hut we have dunes
r,tpra silt, it i.e wrb chryik. 1,1 t di r• fled
is ILL n. . ,4,10, Vet L. 0.4,1 ,11 ilont V., Vl4
lent, should tempt us to tweet. Oar gleat strength
as auction and the feeb.eness of the tottering Govern-
merit which has offered to no the insult render it
the more incumbent upon us to exercise some degree
of patience and to be calm as well as ffien in our
demand for reparation. Fifty nix of the people found
tin board the Virginias have been murdered by the
Spanish butchers in Curt& We LIAO the term murdered
advistd.y, for they had no trial and were under
the lawful protection r'f the Americon ft g, r-f which
they could not be !egret), d -paved until the Vieginrue
had been ;Nosed b.frrsaoompntewt Court to have
been other than an American vowel eutiCed to the pro-
tection of the 'Jailed Stoup. The evidence that the
murder was a wilful oaf), committal with the full
knowledge of the character of the crime. is prived by
the worde of the Governor of Sautiago de Cuba, who
declared that the prisoner@ 'bald be slaughtered
before any outside interference c mid he effered, by
the iuterception of the telegram of the acting American
Consul at Santiago de Cube to our Consul at Jamaica,
*rod by the cutting of the telegraph wires to prevent
the reception of any orders tie day the execution.
from the Captain General at Havartnah or the Horne
Government at Madrid. There eras not a pretence of
law, therefore, to warrant the killing of the men, and
the words and acts of the murderers prove that they
were sensible that the crime would he prevented if
time should be allowed for legal interference. Nothing
that may hereafter be proved against the ileginiee
can salter these facto. But we now have mre
mown than ever to believe that the capture°, the vessel
was in violiatit in of Treaty obligation, and International l
Law, provided she was of American ownership. From
all the accounts of the time consumed in the chase,
and the position of the Vtrginitie when captured, it
is certain that see was not in Spanieh watere, but on
the high seek when sighted by the Tornado. Such
being the fact, she was not liable to capture in time
of peace, and her carte is pre timely similar to that of the
Deerhound. Spain has persisteni le denied the ex-
istence of a state of belligerency in Cuba, arid a nation
must accept all the consequences ot the position she
choo-es to assume. There can be no articles contra-
band of war it war dote not exist, and unless the Vir-
ginius had been canght by the Spanish authorities
violating any of the municipal lawa or regulations of
their ports, she was not, according to the argument
of Secretary Fish, liable to search and seizure on the
high seas, although she might have landed anns and wee
on Cohen soil • hundred tiMillt We have, then, the
facts that the capture of the Virginius, if an Amen'
can vessel, was in violation of Internationel Law and
Treaty obligations, and that 'he wboleeede butchery of
56 of her passengers and crew was, under any circum-
stance., • brutal murder. We have furthermore, the
knowledge that the swift PI brighter of the victims was
designedly an insult to the United States, as wel WI an
act ef bloodthirsty vengeance against the Cubans.
What is to be our action as auction? Secret try Fish
has long been doing his utmost to exhaust the patience
of the Amerioan people and to bring the foreign policy
of the Administration into contempt. We have no hope
from him; for if hie influence is to prevail we may rather
expect to be called upon to apologize to Spain
for the trouble we have occasioned, than to ex-
pect a firm demand for reparation for the
outrage the authorities in Cuba have committed.
We look to General Grant for the vindication of the
national honour. HUI words have been welcomed with
joy by the American navies. He recognised the duty
of the United States.' Government, in the interred,' of
civilisation and humanity, to stop the savage herbaria
ties of the Cuban war. He cannot, at the head of an
enlightened netion, overlook the butchery of those de-
fenceless prlonere without a trial, or wish prosperity
to a Government that owes it 8110Ce/O1 to such a bar-
berione policy. Ile maintains the principle that this
nation is it. own j,idge when to accord the rights of
belligerency to the struggling Cubans. Under hie influ-
ence the aluggishnewe of the spiritless State Department
paean away, an I activity is manifested by our naval
authoritiee. This is President Grant'e opportunity. May
we hope that hia stinging words will only be the pre.
lode to prompt and bold action, and that from this
moment will take date the instant recognition f Cuban
belligerency as on imperative necea,ity. It is de-
manded, not for Cube, not for Spain, but for the vindi-
cation of our own right, and for the protection of our
own citizens. The terrible occurrences of the past week
prove t h itsucha policy s h ould long ago h av e been ad-opted
by our Government. and that our luta est. should have
been protected by the presence of armed veseels at Sans I
tin° de Cuba as well as at Havannah. But the post is
gone by for ever. Let no guard against outrage and in-
sult for the future. Witten we remold 'the belligerency
of the Cubans, we define the duties and the rights of
our citizens, and are no longer groping in the dark-
subject to the caprice and brutal violent. of a Govern,
merit of cut-throsts. A fleet of ironclads must be sent
at once to Havannah and Santiago del Cuba to protect
the lives and guard the interests of American citizens.
We Can no lousier fount to diplomatic protest and
Madrid orders. Oar safety must be in the weight of our
metal and the bravery of oar vailorsfor theontrage of the
murders at Santiago de Cuba, probably. For the illegal
capture of the Virginias we must demand prompt and
ample reparation, and the prinithment of the com-
mander of the Tornado acid of the bloodthirsty
Governor of Santiago de Cuba. For the future we
usual insist upon a cessation of the savage barbarity
which has marked the prosecution of the Cuban war,
and upon a civitzsd rule on the island. We have a
right to lurks this demand in the interest of civili-
zation mod humanity, as well as for our own protection.
This is the least our Government can do conatiotently
with Its own honour, and this must be done promptly
and firmly to satisfy a justly inceneed people."

An observing lady Days that if yon wish to see a toe
nosy of diamonds upon the human form you moat procure
an Introduction to the ugtted woman to be found it a
Issldomable watering-Nam