Essex County herald. [volume] (Guildhall, Vt.) 1873-1964, 1873-12-06
The Spanish Warfare.


Hon. S. s. Cox, in his address to the
Cuban meeting, said:
This question is one which concerns
our Government and flag. 1t does not
go to the reimbursement of Cuba.
That is incidental and consequential.
It has in it none of the elements of
sympathy. What, then, is the repara-
ton e? Is the loss of the vessel only to
be made good Are the lives of the
butcher Burriel and his mob of volun-
teers to be demanded? VIII that re-
store the life of Fry or of Ryan or the
men who were sacred under our flag ?
Is not the remedy one which reaches
further? Is our flag nothing? Nothing
to commerce Is it only dish-rag, or
an emblem of power? This inquiry is
one that turns us back to the peculiar
rule of Spain in Cuba. The power of
Spain has been for a century dying on
our continent; but as she has retreated
from the hemispherehers skirts have been
bedragged and clogged with gore. The
last massacre is but the horrible and
damnable iteration of thousands of
other butcheries. Since October, 1868,
when the insurrection began, Spain has
waged relentless war. In 1869 we had
the record then of 1910 Spanish
troops sent out to conquer 1900 600
people. There were infantry, cavalry,
artillery, engineers, marines, and vol
unteers, not to speak of fifty vessels of
war with over 200 guns, and since then
probably as many troops more. In such
a warfare, so extensive and prolonged,
one might have supposed that the laws
of moderation and humanity, as laid
dewn by Vattel for such cases, would
obtain. But it has been a war
without pity, without remorse. Rapac-
ity and despotism, confscation and
butchery, have added daily significance
to the flag of Spain, which-red and
yellow-is a river of blood between mar
gins of gold. There are no prisoners
in this war. Whether taken on sea or
land, death-sudden and horrible
death with mutilation, death without
even the consultations of religion to the
condemned. These volunteer fiends
would not even allow the Bishop sent
from Spain to land at Havana, because
he believed in giving to the dying
patriot the holy sacrament. Look at
this book of blood which l hold in my
hand" Martyrs of Liberty in Cuba p
See the numbers of those executed
from 1868 to 1871. There are 1928,
whose names and residences are given,
and from the Spanish official record.
Here are $3.50 names whose fate is I'M
recorded. Sixty-one dedicated in death
to the garrotte The rest of the list
are of the condemned and transported.
Bloody annals. How much of terrible
suffering do these victims represent I?
God knows Nearly 5000 persons not
killed on the battlefield. Others con-
demned who are absent among them
both sexes, many of them upon the
chain-gang. Do you wonder, then, at
such atrocities as those the other day at
Santiago? Wonder no more when you
read the sanguinary orders of the vari-
GUS Captains General. On March "a,
1869, Dulce orders all vessels Gin
Spanish waters or upon the high seas
near the island" to be seized and the
men on board to be treated as pirates,
oNINt1 "1UA1Ouo ICSo"IOt w OICll uuIlOSl1 w
be Immediately executed. In April fol-
lowing the Tiger of Jiguani, Valmaseda,
at Bayamo, issues an order that "every
man above fifteen years of age, away
from home and without justified mo-
tive, shall be shot" The habitations
are to be burned and the women to be
forcibly elected if found away from
their homes, and what not of brutal
despotism. 1t curdles the blood to
read or ponder over these diabolical
orders, SO internally executed. Was
there no protest made by our Govern
ment ? Yes. In the following August
Gen. Grant instructed our Minister to
say to Spain that the time had come
when the struggle should be carried on
in a more humane manner. In o.
tober, 1869, Mr.. Fish told the Spanish
Minister that on the score of humanity
and neighborhood foreign intervention
was justifable. So, too, there was
special protest against seizure on the
high seas, emphatic and cogent, on
paper.