New-York tribune., 1871-12-29
SPAIN IND CT 81


| The Suauish Government i placed ~ 4
painful position by the present situation IN
Cuba. II is impossible to approve the doing,
of Nalmaseda and his associates. Admlra,
| Topetc. the Minister of the Colonies, miI>i fee!
the same Indignation and disgust at the bru-
talitics Of the Captain General which onr own
Farragut would have shown under similar
| circumstances He Is brave officer and 4
| Christian gentleman, and if hc were at liberty
would hold no relations, personal or official.
with "A red handed rufan like Eamaseda But
| hr sees as plainly we do the grave difficult
| ties which lie in the way of any change. The
| Volunteers of Havana will accept No. ruler
except one who shall be agreeable to them
| selves They sent away Ducc with ScOrnful
promptness. They accepted Caballero de
! Vodas because he bad good character for
- and fcrocity. Mdta mucho. he is i
killer, was the eulogy one heard of him every
day in the cafes of Havana after his appoint
ment was announced. For a while Cabalero
deserved this praise But he could not keep
up with the progress of the PcninSular mind.
He grew tired of killing, tired of robbery and
outrage, tired of a war without glory or sue
cess. He was a man sufficiently unprinciplcd,
IA Spanish politicians go, but the shreds of
decency and honor which still hung about him
were enough to cause him to fall gradually
into disfavOr with the armed mob which he
ruled. He grew conscious of this, and wishing =
to escape such thanklcSs service and to return
once more to the milder amuscments of in
trigue and insurrectiOn in Spain, he repeatedly
rendered his resignation. But for 4 long time
IL. =, Il. IL. k,
peculiar circumstances which again at this time
confront the Government. Gen. de COrdova.
Inspector General of Infantry. one of tho
most justly respected officers in the service.
was designated to succeed Caballero, but it
ws plain both to him and the Government
u. no one of bis character and antecedents
could for a moment expect to agree with or
to control the turbulent Volunteers. There
was not enough force in Havana to
make them obey him, and he would not
obey them. Ii was only too evident IN
Spain that the CaptainGeneral whom the
Volunteers desired was the man made in their
own image, the Count of Valmascda. There
was not Il crime nor meanness of which
they were capable which ne would not readily
commit. The Government, when CubalerO
went home, surrendered tho last preten.e of
Independence and made Ialmascda Yicrroy-
in fact, the absolute despot Of tho unhappy
island.
His acts since his accession to power have
been marked with cOwardicc toward the
mob and a ferocity toward the Cubans which
seem almC Incompatible with the Possession
of reason. He is saved from rcmorse by an
utter absence OF moral perceptions, and pro-
tccted from the reprobaton of the world by
hi, narrOwness and ignorance. To any one
out of the Havana the decree of exter-
mination which we published yesterday
seems like the work of a drllnkard or q
ma,lman. But doubtless to Valmasela and
his surroundings it implies nothing but Wig
Or0us and energetic enuncation of an entirely
unobjcctonablc policy. Murder has ceased to
have abv meaning for them. They have como
to regaid lhc native population Of Cuba a.
noxiOus game, good for nothing but " W.