The evening telegraph. [volume] (Philadelphia [Pa.]) 1864-1918, 1870-06-14
C U b A.
Message Of the President Of the United States
upon the ia pediency Of Granting BelIigerent |
Rights-A Careful Resume of the Situation.

following message 70 Congress late this afternoon:
TO the Senate and House of Representatives., ,, In
my annual message TO Congress &C the beginning
of its present session, referred TO the contest
which then for more than year existed IN the
and the government of Spain, and TO the teelngs
and sympathies Of the people ana g0Vernment m zen % 9I
peoples struggling for liberty and selfgovernment,
and said that the contest mas s. at no time me assumed
international law, or which would show the exist
of de fdcto political organization of the in
surgents sufficient to justify recognition of bell-
sgnvi snnriSa the six months which have passed since
the date of that message, the condition of the in
surgents has not improved, and the nsurrecton it
self, although not subdued, exhibits no signs of
advance, but seems to be confined to an irregular
system of hostilites carried on by small and lily
ermed bands Of men,, roaming without concentra,
ton through the woods and the scarcely populated
regions of the island, attacking, from ambush, con-
voys and small bands of troops burning planta-
tons and the estates of those not mpathizing with
But If the insurrection has not gained ground, it
is equally true that Spain has not suppressed it.
Climate, disease, and the occasional bullet have
worked destruction among the soldiers of Spain;
and although the Spanish authorities have possess
sion of every seaport and every town on the island,
they have not been able to subdue the hostile feel
ing which has driven considerable number of the
native inhabitants of the island to armed resistance
against Spain. and still leads them to endure the
dangers and privations of a roaming life OF guerilla
On either side the contest has been conducted,
and Is still carried on, with lamentable disregard
of human life and of the usages and practices which
modern civilization has prescribed in mitigation of
Spaniard and Cuban are alike carrying devas-
taton over fertile regions; murderous and revenge
full DEGREES issued and executed by both parties
Count Valmaseda and Colonel Boet, on the part of
Spain, have each startled humanity, and aroused
the Indignation of the civilized world, by the
cution each of a of prisoners at time while
Quesada, the Cuban chief coolly and with appa-
act, has admitted the slaughter by his own delbe-
rate order in one day of upward of six hundred and
A summary trial, with few, if any, escapes from
conviction, followed by immediate execution, is
the fate OF those arrested on either SIDE, on susp-
of infdelity to the cause of the party making
the arrest Whatever may be the sympathes OF
the people or OF the government me & or the United
the people of Cuba understood to have put
themselves in armed resistance to the government
of Spain, there can be no Just sympathy in con-
ict carried on by both parties alike in such bar
barous violation of the rules of civilized nations
and with such continued outrage upon the planest
principles of humanity.
We cannot discriminate in our censure of their
mode of conducting their contest between the
Spaniards and the Cubans. Each commit the same
atrocities and outrages against the established
rules of war. The properties of many of our citi-
zens have been destroyed embargoed, the lives
of several have been sacrificed; and the liberty of
others has been restrained In every case that has
come to the knowledge of the government an early
and earnest demand for reparation and indemnity
has been made and most emphatic remonstrance
has been presented against the manner in which
the strife is conducted, and against the reckless
disregard of human life, the wanton destruction of
material wealth, and the cruel disregard of the
tablshed rules of civilized warfare.
have, since the beginning of the present session
of Congress. communicated to the House of Repre-
sentatives upon their request, an account of the
steps which 1 had taken in the hope of bringing
this sad conflict to end, and of securing to the
people of Cuba the blessing and the right of inde-
failed, but not without an assurance from Spain
that the good offices OF this government might still
avail for the objects to which they had been ad-
dressed During the whole contest the remarkable
exhibition has been made OF large numbers OF
Cubans escaping from the is Island ana and aySiding the
distance from the scene of danger, and endeavor-
ing to make war from our shores, to urge our peo-
r,la infn a oh which they avoid. pmDrOil
this government in complications and possible hos
1t can scarcely be doubted that this last result is
the real object of these parties although carefully
covered under the deceptive and apparently
plausible demand for a mere recognition of beli-
gerency, 1t is stated. on what have reason to
gard as good authority, that Cuban bonds have
been prepared TO a large amount, whose payment
is made dependent upon the recognition by the
United States of either Cuban belligerency or in
dependence. The object of making their value thus
entirely contingent upon the action of this govern
ment is a subject for serious reflection.
In determining the course to be adopted on the
demand thus made for a recognition of bellige-
rency, the liberal and peaceful principles adopted
statesmen of his day, and followed by succeeding
chief magistrates and the men of their day, may
furnish safe guide to those of us now charged
with the rection and control of the public safety
From 1889 to 1915, the dominant thought of our
statesmen to keep the United States out of the
wars which were devastating Europe.
The discussion of measures of neutrality begins
with the State papers OF Mr. Jefferson, when Secre-
tary of State. He shows that they are measures of
national right as well as OF national duty. That
misguided individual citizens cannot be tolerated IN
making war according to their OVID caprice, pas
sions and interests, or foreign sympathies. That
the agents OF foreign governments, recognized or
unrecogniZed cannot be permitted to abuse our
hospitality by usurping the functions of enlisting
or equipping military or naval forces within our
territory.
washington inaugurated the policy of neutrality
and of absolute abstinence from all foreign
tangling alliances, which resulted in 1894 in the
first municipal enactment for the observance of
neutrality. The duty of opposition to hlibusterng
has been admitted by every President. Washing
ton encountered the efforts OF Genet aud the
French revoutionists; John Adams, the projects of
Miranda Jefferson, the schemes of Aaron Burr.
Madison and subsequent presi dents had to deal
with the question of foreign enlistment or equip
ment in the United States and since the days of
John Quincy Adams it has been one of the con-
slant cares of government in the United States
TO prevent piratical expeditions against the
feeble South American republics from leaving
sheres.
In no country are men wanting for any enter
prise that holds out promises of adventure gain.
In the early days of our national existence the
whole continent of America outside OF the United
States, and all its islands, in colonial depen-
dence upon European powers. The revolution
which from 1910 spread almost simultaneously
through all the Spansh-American continental
colonies, resulted In the establishment OF new
States like ourselves, of European origin, and in
terested in excluding European politics, and the
questionsof dynasty and of balances of power from
further influence in the new world. The American
policy OF neutrality, important before, became
douby 30, from the fact that IL became applicable
TO the new republics as we'll as to the mother
country.
1t then devolved upon us to determine the great
international question, at what time and under
what circumstances to recognize a new Power as
entitled to a place among the family of the ma
tions, as we'll as the preliminary question of the
atutnde 70 pe oDserUeu Dy snis government yer toward
Mr.. Monroe concisey expressed the rule which
has controlled the action of this government with
reference to revolving colonies pending their strug-
hx,ca 80 Aoa aaf IA mo