The New York herald. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1840-1920, 1873-05-29
ssIncoun m n nicadO."

There is q certain pOmp of sound about this
word which is finely Spanish. 1t means, when
used of man or woman, in the land of the In
QUESTION of Torquemada. that a citizen has
been flung into prison and all commu-
ncation with the outer world cut away.
Man or woman the prisoner may Ian
guish, may die, but the dearest friend is
made none the wiser The prisoner, incom-
m,,nicado. is placed in the grave, 80 far as hui
manity concerns him. He may be tortured,
poisoned or strangled, according to the old
Spanish rule, but his groans will not pierce
the wallis or fall on friendly ear. His spirit
may 60 out from his wasting clay; then he is
incOmmunicado in the sense dearest to the heart
of vindictive Spaniard. In the sgood old
times" this was common practice. To ar
rest man without making any charge; to
keep him ;ncommunicado for years without q
trial or an explanation to himself or his
friends; to kill him in prison or to let him go,
as the mood went, were all the unquestioned
privileges of those who ruled in the name Of
the Spanish King. Wherever Spain has
spread the shadow of her flag the
same customs have obtained. They have a
hobble-gaited republic now in Spain; but they
have not forgotten or failed to use the old in
strument that survived the Inquisition there.
They may throw off the monarchy, but the
brutal strain of the Cloths and Moors in their
blood is not so easily let out The cruel in
stinct of maltreating what is in their power,
their barbarous delight in the physical pain of
men or animals, are their tempters when a man
is in their clutches. The prisoner incommuni-
codo had often better be in the lair of hungry
wolf than where he is.
Mr.. Leopold A. Hce, an American citizen
and correspondence the HERALD in Havana,
was arrested there on the 2lst instant, at five
o clock in the morning and hurried to Fort
Cabana For a week no soul outside the
prison was allowed to communicate with
fused to give the reasons for his arrest or the
charges made. The HERALD first learned of the
fact through the kindness OF Consul General
Torbert, who stated in addition that the
charges were unknown. Day after day the
Consul General sent us the stereotyped de-
SphJCu Judt u0 udu Dctu IcluSou per
mission to see the prisoner; that the
charges were unknown. From any less official
source we might well doubt that this was all
that could be learned by the representative of
the government of the United States from the
authorities Of bankrupt, tottering Power,
existing, SO far as its American possessions
are concerned, on the sufferance of the United
States. We shall not here indulge any classic
regrets that Marcy does not direct the State
Department we shall simply point to the
fact that this state OF things was allowed
to continue for week. We hear that
the Secretary of State telegraphed to Consul
General Torbert but that he had been
unable to obtain reply. The Consul Gene
raj could, however, telegraph to the HERALD
the impotency of the name of the United
States to obtain him an interview with the
imprisoned American citizen. If the
Spaniards in Cuba intercepted the dispatches
Of Secretary Fish or the Consul Gene
rails reply, there were surely ships Of war;,
monitors and so forth that could with great
effect have been used as despatch boats in
O'Kelly informed us that the dispatches of
the British Vice Consul at Manzanillo had
been similarly intercepted; but the English
sent gunboat thither and the telegraph
wires were opened once again. With almost
any other nation than Spain the policy of
waiting awhile might be tolerated. Spain,
materially the weakest European Power to-
day, should not cause single tremor to the
most nervous American Secretary Of State
that convention of patients recovering from
question, which we may presume does not
weigh much one way or the other, the real
danger of allowing a citizen to remain ire
sponsibly in the hands of the Spaniards lies
in the mysteries of Spanish character itself
1t is not safe to trust Spaniard with pris-
oner who owes allegiance to another State,
unless he is made to feel at once that some
regard must be had for law in the case, and
that he will be held responsible for all evil
that may overtake the untried. 1t is shameful
and scandalous, then, that this American citi-
zen was allowed to lie in Spanish prison
without prompt demand for justice from
nation like America. Is the American citizen
on Spanish soil to be an Ishmael, without a
flag or friend?
The latest despatch from Consul General
Torbert informs us that Mr.. Price has been at
last allowed to communicate" and that he
has been examined before Spanish Fiscal
The charge on which this outrage was founded
appears to relate to Mr.. Prices communication
with our imprisoned commissioner, Mr..
O'Kelly. That it is paltry and unworthy
conspiracy on the part of some pettifogging
officials to injure the HERALD commissioner we
have little doubt. We are also assured that it
will fail. As if to compensate Spanish dig