New Orleans Republican. [volume] (New Orleans, La) 1867-1878, 1873-12-20
HuMANITY'S CAUSE.

Cuba is that of humanity, and wherever
I humanity has strength enough to make
its voice heard it will be found speaking
in undisguised terms Of the barbarities OF
Spanish rule in Cuba. The REPUBLICAN,
though it has already said much upon
this subject, can not refrain from allud-
ing, even at time when peaceful solu-
ton to the Virginius difficulties seems
certain, to mass meeting that was held
at the Cooper Institute, in the city Of
New York, on the evening Of the twelfth
instant. The Tribune says a noticeable
and praiseworthy feature OF this great
meeting, the watchword Of which was
Humanity for Cuba" was its orderly
character and the spirit of harmony and
reason which pervaded the entire assem-
blage. The meeting was composed Of
some of the most substantial and intiuen-
tial men of the metropolis, who met to
speak in the name of humanity for those
poor, oppressed Cubans who have boldly
taken o stand to free Cuba OF Spanish
| rule barbarously enforced. 1t was organ
lied with much spirit and genuine good
feeling, fully aroused to the Importance
| of the occasion without the aid OF
martial music or other appliances,
commonly used to bring men together,
and addressed by several speakers, proIli-
nent among whom were General John
Cochrane and the Rev. George H. Hep
worth. In the course of the latter gen.
tleman's speech, he asked why the Amerl-
can people are startled to the very centre
Of their souls by their long experience OF
acts unbecoming a nation living in the
nineteenth century. He said the question
answers itself. We have only to look to
Spain for few moments to see that it has
not yet crawled out of the darkness OF
the middle ages into the light and
day of this age Of practical phi
lanthropy and Of inevitable progress He
did not give that as simple assertion,
but proceeded to give the following facts
to sustain what he said: There are pres
ent in Spain, said the speaker, about If
teen million inhabitants, and Of that i'm
mense number twelve millions can neither
read nor write. There are present In
Spain, he continued about four thou
sand hamlets, villages, towns and cities.
Those four thousand congregations Of
people are presided over by mayors, two
thousand of whom are unable to sign
their names to any public docu-
ment. He thought these simple
statements of the truth sufficient
to give an idea of what Americans have
right to expect logically from Spain. AS
to Cuba, the speaker said Spanish rule
there had been iron-handed from the be-
ginning. 1t has been as aggressive as
tyranny and despotism always are. MIR.
Hepworth thought the people of the
United States of America not mean and
selfish, and, having reached the higher
plane in social life, they were bound to
reach down their hands and lift their
neighbors to where they may breathe the
air of nobler independence. Nor was
the speech of General Cochrane less de
cided as to the duty and necessity
of the Intervention of civilized ma
tons to put stop to the bar
barous warfare that Spanish rule is now
waging in Cuba. Abiding to the struggle
of Cubans for freedom, he said: There
is Cuba aroused to the death, carrying
havoc, ordering dismay, producing con-
fusion and securing victories from month
to month. And can that be called mere
tumult, mere commotion? No. They
are engaged in civil war and in that
civil war they are entitled to all the con-
siderations of such struggle. All the
potentates of the world, said the speaker,
acknowledge this. The object Of the war
is not only to relieve from the burden
of tyranny nine hundred thousand
Cubans, but to strike the chains from two
hundred thousand slaves. General Coch-
rane concluded by saying: You have re-
solved that you will petition Congress to
acknowledge the belligerency Of Cuba
Where is the representative who will dare
to refuse this request? He was prepared
to 60 further. He thought it was the duty
of civilized nations to take that vengeance
which hurls the m;sdeed with the misdoer
down into the bottomless pit.
The memorial addressed to Congress by
the meeting enters into brief history of
the struggle for freedom in Cuba, showing
that it has been maintained for five years,
and that during that time nearly three
thousand political prisoners have been |
shot Or otherwise executed, many of them |
without any form of trial; that nearly five |
thousand prisoners have been taken, |
whose fate-probably worse than death
is unknown save to their captors; that,
worse still, over three hundred women
and children have been driven to the |
woods without food or shelter, the inhabi-
tants forbidden to communicate with or
assist them under penalty of death-nay,
more, they have been hunted, torn and
mutilated by bloodhounds and sacrificed
to the lust of cruel and unrestrained sol
diery, acting in the name of the govern
ment.
What horrible picture of life in the
century, and that, too, right
under the nose Of republican America.
For five long years have civilized nations
silent observers of this savage
warfare Not content with shooting their