Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1878-03-02
The End of Notable Rebellion.

Lie SVDAn TtDtlllOu, III nOi utdu. - DIT It's
asst gasp. Yesterday the Spanish COrtes went
in body to congratulate the King and Queen
on the happy event. 1t is announced that the
Cuban central committee, the executive, the
chiefs, and the inSurgent troops in various
parts of the island have surrendered. 1t rests
with Spain to decide whether there shall be
merely a temporary suspension of rebelliOuS
hOStilties or permanent peace. She has learn
ed costly lesson, and one that she should not
forget. Oppressive government over a colony
has drained her treasury of more than hun
dred million dollars; has diminished the num-
Der of her subjects by many tens of thousands,
and has desOlated, and nearly lost to her, near
~ fifty thousand square miles of valuable ter
ritory. From the very first, she ruled Cuba
harShly. By 1884, the native race which well
coined Columbus, was nearly eXterminated.
In III, the population of the island had be-
come sufficiently large to make rebellion pos
sible; so the people revOited and have been
revolving at intervals ever since. There
have been rare and short periods of
justice and good treatment, as during
the administration of Las CasaS begin
ming i'll 1890, but otherwise Cuba has
been the victim of unremitting and mercileSS
tyranny. The fault is in the system of govern
ment, which places the island completely in
the power of captain general, with unlimited
authority, accountable only to the home gov
ernment whose principal occupations ap-
pears to have been, to plumber his subjects i'm
time OF peace and to barbarOuSly murder
them when they rebelled against uncomfortable
oppression. The formidable instruction
which has just been checked may be said to
have got fairly under way in 1862 when a
national convention was held, and CeSpedes
chosen president and QueSada cOmmander-in-
Chief; though slight revolutionary movements
for before prpS9pp1 piypH
rebellion. The insurgents in their ten years
war have Won many victories, and are sub
dued at last after prOtracted and desperate
resistance. only by overwhelming numbers.
In the early part of the struggle Falmaseda,
the Spanish captain general issued a prOcla-
nation that every male person over fifteen
years of age found away from home without
juStitable cause should be shot and that every
house on which white flag was not displayed
should be burned and in 1872 more than forty
five thousand captured CubanS had been put
to death. The effects of such tactics inevta-
bly, react against the side which adopts them.
The insurgents were made desperate, and
sympathy for them was aroused in other cOun-
tries which found expression i'm substantial as
SStance. A milder policy has brought the re-
belliOn to a close The uprising, though re-
pressed has been successful. 1t has impressed
upon Spain the necessity of wise moderation
IN ner treatment OF the Island. Nothing but
blind and fatal stupidity can ever replace that
uncomfortable system OF oppression against
which the CubanS rebelled
The insurgents have had, generally speak
ing, the sympathy of this country in their
brave struggle. Perhaps our interest in the
rebellion has not been wholly uncOnnect-
ed with considerations as to Cuba's future
The United States has from time to
time cast more than one cOvetOus
glance on the long, narrow, fertile island, oc-
cupying so important position at the mouth
OF the Gulf of Mexico. Even now, though we
have no reason to be otherwise than content
that Spain should hold it, We would make the
strongest opposition to its acquisition by any
other great power. Spain refused our offer
of a hundred million dollars for the island in
Folks presidential term; she has expended
more than that sum in retaining possession
since. Her West Indian investment will never
pay respectable interest, and will make no
returns at all unless an entirely different plan
OF developing and managing the islands re-
sources is employed. Cuba is luxury for
Spanish pride, but a drain on Spanish re-
sources. She can be profitable possession
only to us, and her strategic position gives
her, as far as the United States is concerned,
an additional value.