Memphis daily appeal. [volume] (Memphis, Tenn.) 1847-1886, 1873-11-23

duced TO ashes. Further DEGREES by
Dulce ordered that every family which
could not account satisfactorily for thl
absence of any of its male member
should be bRnished from the island, anC
their property eonfiscated. Under thest
DEGREES, hundreds of families were rem
dered destitute, and were driven to va
! riOus adjoining islands, and to the
! United States. Over two thousand per.
sons emigrated to.Key West, FlOridl
and there established cigar manufacto-
ries. Tie first pitched battle of any
consequence took place in April, 1859
at Altagracia, in which about three
thousand men were engaged on each
| side. The result was = draw, the
| Spaniards being repulsed, but the Gu
bans withdrew the following night. In
May, battle was fought at Las Minas,
in which the Spaniards were de-
feated with loss of over four hundred
men. In June, Captain-General Dulce
was arrested in his palace in Havana by
the volunteers, forced to resign, and to
leave the island. General Espinar was
temporarily chosen to take his place.
The former had failed to satisfy the vol
unteers by reason of his mildness, and
some more cruel governor was desired.
Accordingly, the Spanish government
sent General Caballero de Codas to Ha-
vana with absolute power to proceed as
he saw fit. This officer had acquired in
Spain the nickname of the Butcher of
Cadiz," from his brutality in crushing
the Cadiz insurIectiOn, and it was sup
posed that he would not only speedily
put an end to the Cuban insurrectiOn,
but that he would also be able to control
the volunteers. His first act, on arriv-
ing in Havana in July, 1859, was the
promulgation of a decree declaring all
the south coast and most of the north
coast of the island, except certain ports,
in state Of embargo. The other arti-
cles of his decree have an important
bearing upon the case of the Virginius;
they were as follows:
Article Vessels carrying gunpOw-
der, arms, and warlike stores, will be
Judged in accordance with the law.
Article 3-The transportation of indi-
viduals in the service of the insurgents
is far more serious than that of contra
band of war, and will be deemed an act
of decided hostility, and the vessel and
crew regarded as enemies of the State.
Article 4-Should the individuals re-
ferred to in article third come armed,
this will be regarded de fdctO as proof of
their intention, and they will be regard
ed as pirates, as will also be the case
with the crew.
In MAY the Cuban republic had been
recognized as a belligerent by Chill and
Peru, then at war with Spain. During
the winter of 1870 the Lloyd Aspinwall,
an American Northumberland, carry
ing dispatches from Rear-Admiral Poor,
in Port-au-Prince, to the United States
in Havana, was cap
tured as a prize by Spanish war-ship
and carried into Havana. This capture
in considerable diplomatic cor
between the two govern
but finally Admiral Poor pro-
ceeded to Havana with a frigate and
two monitor ironelads, and took the
Aspinwall out from under the guns of
the Spanish fleet and forts, having pre-
viOusly announced his intention of fight
ing if interfered with. In this winter
(1S7O) the Cubans defeated
the Spaniards in two pitched battles at
Najasa and Guaymaro, and, at the end
Of the year DeROdas, having been as
as Dulce, was relieved by
Valmaseda. The cost of the war
the budget presented to the Spanish |
eOrtes, to amount to sixty-two millions |
Of dollars. The number of troops sent |
to Cuba since the outbreak of the insur-
rection is little over eighty thousand. |
During the whole of these years the
Spanish volunteers have had uncon- !
rolled possession of the island, and
have committed innumerable Outrages /
-
In November, 1871, they executed eight
medical students for a trifling matter
which had no political significance
whatever. Since then the volunteers
have been kept in the large towns as
ysrrisons, and the regular troops have
net with varying success in the field.
If defeated in one place the insurgents
appear in another, and have hitherto
leld just about as much territory as
hey started with.
SEIZURE OF AN ALLEGED FILIBUSTER
STEAMER.
While the United States government |
S busy attending to the Cuban affair
)ur navy in Central American waters is
things in that quarter.
For some time the shaky condition OF
he governments in the petty republics
has invited fiibustering exploits, the
atest of which was that of SeDOr Pala-
,ios, a native OF Guatemala, who has |
1een trying by turns to upset the gov
srnment in his own country and that in
he neighbOring State of Honduras.
The American steamer, General Sher-
nan, now the Colonel Aria, was osLen-
iibly purchased by PAlacios to aid him
n his expeditions, but failing to gain
ooting in either republic, he returned to
his apparent base of opera
ions, on the third instant, and hOisted /
he Honduras flag. Captain Gushing,
If the United States steamer Wyoming,
hereupon took possession of the steamer
or using illegal ship papers and sailing
lnder the Honduras flag, while it is
proved she never changed her nation
lliLy and is still legally an American
lessel, since the only legal papers pos
essed by her were and are American.
The question involved has a bearing
lpon the case of the Virginius in re-
pect to the right of that vessel to carry
he United States flag and the conse-
luent right Of the United States gov
,rnment to reclaim her.