Vicksburg weekly herald. (Vicksburg, Miss.) 1868-1883, 1870-03-19

6EANA A~f A@A 50 AANGAfANW VI ~
hour duration with the Senate
COMMITTEE, on Military affair, and
Others, nRpberiRg twelve Senators
an all. The arrangements for
meeting With the Committee were
made by one Of its members
vino takes a deep interest in the
the cause Of Cuba. Having met
General Quesada privately and
heard his story, he concluded
that the Military Committee ought
TO hear It. All the membsrs Of the
Committee were present except
Senator Abbott. General Quesa.
ia, after being introduced to the
members of the committee, ex,
pressed his thanks for being per.
mitted 10 appear before them and
represent the patriot Cubans. He
intended, he said to state the con.
dition Of affairs in Cuba as they
were, because there was nothing
to be gained by Misrepresentation.
The facts were sufficiently favOra-
bic to the Cubans, and they we're
not compelled to circulate false
reports; that, they would leave to
to their enemies. General Que.
sada produced a map Of
Cuba, which, he said, had been
prepared with great care and acCu-
raey, showing the ports Of the
island occupied by the Cnbans
and those held by the Spaniards.
The committee would see, he
said, that the Cubans held at least
two-thirds of the island. Instead.
Of losing they had steadily been
gaining ground, It had been OBJ
jected that the Cubans did not
possess any seaport town or any
Of the chief cities of the island.
To this he would answer that the
, chief difficulty with the Cubans
since the revolution began was
want OF arms and ammunition.
They had force enough TO move
upon and capture Havana or any
OF the other seaports Of the
island, but owing 10 their lack OF
artillery they could not hold them
against the enemy, who in this re-
spect were we'll equipped. They
had no desire to destroy the cit
les, and had they captured them
this would have been their only
method of keeping the enemy
from again retaking them. The
Cuban army amounted to between
fifty and sixty thousand effective
men. a large number Of these,
however, were armed with nothing
but swords and sabres, and were
useless il an open SIGHT with we'll
armed infantry. The great wan
of the Ciban army was arms
Could they be supplied with thes'
the contest with the Spaniard'
would be brief. They would n
once assume tie aggressive ant
capture Havana and other sea
ports, This was the reason VIII,
the Cabans asked the United
I, States to recognize them as bel
ngerents. They could then pur
| chase arms aud send thcm I,
! Cuba.
In reply to u question from
!. member Of the committee Genera
Quesada said the patriots hal es
tablished a regular government
, with Cespedes rs President. Thei
Legislature was something likI
our old Continental Congress. II,
saidfthe stories Of the resignation
Of General Jordan were SIT ahoa
; by the Spaniards. He had inior
nation to that effect. Genera
Jordan was very popular with III
patriot army and with Cubani
generally. He was enthusiastic il
the cause aud had a firm belief il
its ultimate success. With Ne
gard to the mode in which th,
Spaniards conducted the war Gen
cral Qucseda said their barbaristI
was unprecedented. .sNothine
eQualled It except the Indian say.
agery of the plains. 1t was Gus
toInary for them to mutilate th'
dead. lie had himself seer
Cubans killed in battle witt
their ears cut off and theiI
PERSONS otherwise horribly mu
Theytilated. were in thu
habit Of butchering their prison
ers without mercy and very few
Cubans taken in battle had ever
been exchanged. Thus far the
III Huhouu had NOT daatrorad nronpp