The Republican journal. [volume] (Belfast, Me.) 1829-current, 1873-11-20
The Virginius fair.


nation flashes up n, the outrage upon the
people OF the unfortunate Firginius The
act was 50 cruel, cowardly and bloodthrsty
that the recital is revolving to every civil
lied mind. There is not SO much OF an
outrage upon the flag Of this country, TOR
the fact has vet to be established that the
vessel was warranted She may have
been really the property Of the Cuban
revolutionistS. engaged in their service
by transporting arms and men tor the iii
surgents. In either case she would occupy
much the same position with the blockade
runners upon our southern coast in the
late war, and be liable Ia capture. But
TO parallel the case of the Nirginius BY
anything in our war experience we should
have to be shown a record Of the condem-
nation Of a captured vessel without a trial
and the massacre of almost the whole
ships company in forty eight hours there
after, Such was not our warfare - such
is not the method Of any nation deserving
10 be called civilized
The first question that arises is the one
that asks where We shall lay the RESPONSE
bility Of this inhuman affair. We should
naturally fix it upon the home govern
ment Of which Cuba is dependency
Here we find it 10 be Il fact that the mas
sacre was not only without sanction from
Spain, but in spite of its official inStruc-
tion,, The telegraph line at Santiago
was cut that nothing in regard TO the dis
posal Of the prisoners might be received
until after they were dead The real
authors OF the bloody decree. then, We're
the Spanish authorities Of Cuba, who in
the present disturbed condition of Spain,
arr acting pretty much rs they please.
They cling in sympathy to the old mon
archy, and hate the new Spanish republic
only a little less than they hate that which
the revolutionists are proclaiming in Cuba.
And their prime object of hatred and blind
vengeance is an American citizen, because
he is an American citizen.
The relations Of the government of the
United States with the new republic of
Spain. are peculiar and delicate President
Castelar, is = warm friend and admirer of
this country and its institutions We were
the first to recognize the government of
which he is the head, and our ministers at
authorities there which probably no other
foreign representative enjoys, 70 precip-
ltate i war with Spain on account Of the
misconduct Of its Cuban subordinate would
be bad policy. when we stand on such di-
plomatic footing with the chief authority
Equally 50 would be the seizure OF the
island But We can make a demand at
once for 4 prompt and full investigation
into the outrage, and the punishment of
every official or private citizen who has
been concerned in the affair, if it shall be
proved that an American vessel or m
American cNlZen mas nefn fOullN uclIt
with.
II il quite time, in the interests of hui
manity, that Spanish authority was extin-
guished in and about this continent. Since
the discovery by Columbus, for nearly four
hundred years, Spanish rule has been but
the history Of brutal, bloody domineering
1t has written in characters of gore the an
rails Of the most cowardly and treacherous
power that ever bore sway in the western
world It's types have been Cortez and
rizarro. But luckily we are not MeXicans
nor Pcruvians, and need be good Yankee
Shot and she'll will make itself felt in
Cuba. There is no need Of haste. When
we are sure that the Virginius was an
American vessel, or that American citizens
We're wantonly buchered, then lei the dig
nifty and force Of our government be felt.