The evening telegraph. [volume] (Philadelphia [Pa.]) 1864-1918, 1870-01-03
MONDAY, JANUARY 8, 1870.
COLLAPSE or THE CUBAN REBEL
LION

The Havana journals of the LIST instant an
nounce that the leaders of the Cuban Junta
in New York have issued a circular directing
the insurgents to lay down their arms for the
present and to submit to the Spaniards, in
order TO avoid further bloodshed. A des-
patch from London of the same date alleges
that the British Secretary of Foreign Affairs
has acknowledged to the Spanish Minister
that he was satisfied, from official ipforma-
tion, that the Cuban rebellion was declining
in strength veiy rapidly. This intelligence
corresponds substantially with the previous
advices received in this country, and there
can be little doubt that the RECONSTRUCTED
gunboats which are about to sail from New
York TO. Cuba will, after their arrival in the
ever-faithful isle, speedily extinguish the ex-
piring embers of the rebellion. The contest
was substantially decided before their de-
parture from our shores was authorized, and
during its continuance the Cubans derived
m aterial assistance from this country, so that
the incidental aid granted to their oppressorS
ct a period when it was no longer needed is
more than counterbaanced. The sympathies
of the American people were with the insur-
gents, but after it became evident that they
were putting forth only small share of their
energies, and trusting to Americans to tight
their battles rather than to their own good
right arms, there was but little cause to hope
for the overthrow of Spanish ascendancy.
The number of sincere, resolute, courageous,
and self-sacrifcing patriots was, after ALL but
limited. There were thousands who longed
for deliverance from hated yoke, thousands
ready to intrigue or to pay for independ-
ence, but when it came to filling up
the ranks of armies, maintaining them in the
field through a series of years, and inuring
them to toll, exposure, disease, and danger,
the patriotic Cubans were unable to cope
with their formidable antagonists The chief
reason of their failure, however, is to be
found in the abandonment or desertion of the
island by thousands whose presence in the
patriotic camp would have formed the very
soul of the revolution The achievement of
national independence is no holiday task to
be performed in the hotel and boarding house
parlors of foreign cities. To win such a
boon men must not only pledge ''their lives,
their fortunes, and their sacred honors," but
lose them, if need be, and fight on through
good and evil report, in the full conviction
that there is no alternative be-
tween victory and death. The
Cubans infused some of this spirit, but not
enough, into their conflict, and they have
but limited number of resolute and reliable
copavriots from whom recruits could be
drawn. A large proportion of the slaves Of
the island continued to toll peacefully upon
the plantations, the native Spaniards rallied
with desperate courage and wondrous
unanimity around the loyal standard, and as 6
large proportion Of the Creoles who escaped
massacre, baaishment, or imprisonment fec
for safety to more hospitable coasts, the sup
preston of the revolt is a perfectly natura
result; and however much we may regret it,
il was, under the circumstances, inevitable.