The Valley Virginian. [volume] (Staunton, Va.) 1865-1895, 1871-12-14
CUBA.

1
condition Of their people. and the vigor Of their
organisms, are capable of administering relief
under the International Code, to those whose
lives, treasures and liberty have been ruth
lessly seized upon and destroyed.
The history Of Cuba is history Of blood
shed and oppression, effected through the
minions Of the. Spanish Government.
The echoes of revolutionary cannon have
hardly been lost among her hills and noun.
tains, and the blood Of patriotic victims is
scarcely dry upon her soil, when there comes
to US from Cuba a dispatch, supervised, too,
by the Spanish Grown, publishing another
act of infamous atrocity, committed under
governmental orders. a.a
This dispatch informs us of the shooting to
death Of eight students, and the Imprisonment
Of thirty-nine others for the terms respective
ly of fve and six years, by the authorities Of
Spain. asA
The alleged crime for this murder was the
demolition of the grave of Castanon, former
editor of the Pa de Cuba. This is denied,
and the more probable explanation given, that
these students were allowed to enter the
Cemetery, at Havana, by the Priests is
under ecclesiastic contrel,- and what then ?
Some of them scratched, in an improper man
ner, the slab that covers the remains Of Cas-
tauon. According to Spanish authority, the
punishment was so far beyond the offence that
its authors were guilty Of murder. If the last
statement made here is correct, the act was
murder under circumstances Of excessive bru.
tally.
4 The New York Sun affords the following
summary of antecedent brutalities:
ssThe Sun has frequently proved SPANS re.
sponsibility for and completely in the vandal-
ism she feigns to regret. And now the Ha-
vana press, including the official papers in
which the edcts of the home Government
are promulgated, openly advocate the exter-
mination Of the Cuban race and the forfeiture
to the crown Of all property held by Cubans
Promotion in the Spanish army in Cuba, is
obtained only by deeds of surprising brutali-
| ty. Gen. Gonzales Beet was proved guilty
by court-martial Of repeated robberies and
cold-blooded murders. lie vas acquitted
because his counsel threatened to prove that
his client only acted in compliance with or
position where his ferocity may have a
broader sweep. Col Canizal strangles with
his own hands defenceless old man sixty
years Of age because he refuses to ransom,
himself for fifty thousand dollars, and he is
forthwith sent by Valmascda to execute,
without even the form Of trial, tho whole
Common Council Of Jiguani Col. Acosta
: Y Alvear is promoted to be Brigadier be-
, cause he witnesses, with smile on his lips
. the assassination by his men at Lazara of two
defenceless Cuban ladies' and their four chill
dren, comprising the !Mola family. Captain
Jose Dominguez, in the jurisdiction of Car
oenas, invites some brother officers to break
fast upon the ears and tongue of Cuban
prisoner whom he had executed the day be-
fore, and after bcin. sentenced to death 70,
the crime he is pardoncd by the King Of
Spain and restored to his command. Du.
ra'te, a noted highwayman, under the guist
: of Captain of Chapelgorris, arrests and shoots
every one who refuses to pay ransom. Du.
. ramona spends week in Pinar del Rio and
executes twelve people .for fear that they
t may be insurgentsl" 50
Rewards have been showered by the KING
ofSpain on all, high and low, in the Spanish
: army in Cuba, exactly in proportion to The
brutality evinced by them. Count vama.
; seda was appointed Captain General Of The
+ Island solely by reason of a decree Of hi
, which has been universally stigmatized as {
disgrace to the civilization Of the age
But not only does the King Of Spain re
ward the acts ofcruelty and brutality which
e he pretends to regret, but he disgraces all VIII
refuse to assist in the exterminatica of til
: Cubans. We publish in another column tn,
: history of the degradation of a Spanish off
Ger by royal order, for. declining to be an &C
complies IN the cold-blooded murders Q
! which Cuba forthree years has been the field.
It is charged that there have been gros
acts Of injustice perpetrated on American
= citizens. Ofthis we know nothing but
2 the Spanish government has been Ku Klur
: ing Our citizens, of course we shall deman'
: indemnity for the past and security for tn
e future-if not, the proposition remains to b
K considered whether this perfdious govern
: ment shall be allowed to continue piratice
: career, commencing at a date whereof tt
= memory of man runneih not to the contrary
e eliminating in the reign of Philip II, whel
Holland and the Netherlands, uuder the rule O
a the Duke of Alya, were made the slaughte
: place Of patriotism, and still persisted in no,
9 in her decline and downfall, when Spain is
: nation of beggars, her very name as natio
preserved alone through the balance Of pow
a er policy Of Europe.
: Cuba, the brightest jem in the spanisl
$ crown, is but pleasant sail from New Or
! leans, Savannah or Key West. The mos
Q beautiful, Of all the Caribbean group, blessed
t with genial climate, under whose sun ripper
: all the fruits of the tropics, this Island ha
: long been esteemed by American statesmen
. an attractive object Of acquisition.
: Gen. Grant has his hand in now in throt
4 Ting helpless States He has we'll nigh fin
ished all the South, and Will, we imagine, no
torr 1onc hy h., 81, I'll