The Wheeling daily intelligencer. [volume] (Wheeling, W. Va.) 1865-1903, 1895-04-23

smoke tliom to death, or dsted Thorn Ia
tho opcn yoga and died liko wild beasts
a. bay. Matanza, n field Of slaughter
iron mn,ar. 10 kill or ulay, whonco
inatador aud Mntamora. moor killet').
10 tho namo reported In the topography
oil every Spanish.Amerlcan settlement
from Cuba to Torra dol Fuego.
IL Ia trno that tho priests oitnn did
their best TO mitigate tho martyrdom Of
tho plantation slaves. and succeeded In
converting and baptixing thousands Of
Indian youngsters. but oyon on the
mission farms those converts had 10
pay n tuition foe In tho form OF hard
labor, and tho artist Of tho Truthsoek0r
graphically sums M tho history Of tho
native Americans In two cartoons. ono
representing tho unroclailned savage, n
chubby urchin In o hammock, Graded
by the breo1es Of a sylvan lake; tho
other, tho Convert" n living skeleton,
wearing n lfty.pound ball and chain
and swallowing a doso Of dogma, whilo
the instructor koepsa business grip in
tho pupils hair.
Tho warlike Caribs defended thoir
homes with tho courage Of despair, but
their valor was unavailing against tho
advantages OF Their steel.clad aggressors.
and some OF the moro p%rotracted
Matanras involved tho loss OF several
thousand human lives. The story OF
Porto Rico 10 an cpitome oil tho whole
chronicle OF tho West Indian murder
campaigns. At the timo OF It's discov.
cry In 1909, tho island, with m area OF
5000 English square miles. had popu-
lation variou'ly estimated at from 700..
900 to 100000. But even on tho basia
Of tho lowest computation theoxtermin.
alton OF tho natives by oyerwork. starv.
alton and direct murder must havo pro.
ceedod at tho ratio OF 1900 a year, for in
lSJS-L O., less than fifty years after the
arrival OF tho frat colonssts-the race OF
the aboriginal midas had become wholly
extinct.
In 1865 the population consisted Of
about 500 whites, $50 hall breeds and
some $500 negroes, altogether less than
5000, or hardly one human being per
English square mile. Ton years after
tho importation oil African slaves began
in earnest, tho c%heapnoss OF land ut.
trac.od settlers from Cuba and Hayti.
aud the population thon rose till in 1885
it attained its maximum OF $40, 1000,
though large tracts oil fertile lands on
tho cast coast have never been cult
waited since the massacre OF their orig.
inal owners. The upland valleys have
been likewise neglected, and there Is no
reason to doubt that under happier aus.
pices the population Of the island e1.
| raadaIA 7 mn mn and chat thn rvartr nf
ma~uslaughter. direct and indirect, must
have been carried on ut the rate OF 90.
900 n year.
HOW INSTRUCTIONS WERE SUPPRESSED.
The negroes OF San Domingo were
only saved by tho transfer Of tho island
to the colonial possessions Of France.
There is no doubt that the new govern.
ment was more than once inclined to
suppress rebellion at the price OF every
insurgents life. and the secret instruc.
lions OF Governor Clarke seem 10 imply
that the first consul had made up his
mind to sanction a policy Of that sort.
But the French mau hunters lacked the
qualifications OF their Spanish OK.
enplars, and the war Of races ended
with the victory Of the acclimatcd
darkies.
The negro instruction recently re-
ported from Santiago do Cuba Is not the
first rising OF that sort which the Span
ish shareholders have contrivcd to quel.
by methods Of their own. "How can
We expect a poor distric. like this to
furnish oats enough for the support Of
u cavalry? p u French officer asked
Marshal Davoust in northern Poland.
~ don't expect 1t myself" confessed
the marshal, "but It is q good plan to
demand the impossible to insure tho
performance OF tho practicable" In a
similar spirit Of bravado the command
ers Of the Spanish Cuban troops or
dered their men to urn the lands OF the
rebel into q desert. and thus bullied
many OF tho insurgents to accept the
terms Of subsequent offers OF compro-
misc. Besides. instead OF hiding their
barbarities, the Spanish campnigners
took care to give them the utmost posi-
bio publicity. or wen exaggerated them
in bulletins intended TO fall into the
hands OF the repels, on the plan recon.
meuded by the Duke OF Alba in tho
plan for the suppression OF the revolt in
the Netherlands.
In l525 the population OF Cuba had
already been reduced two-thirds. when
King Charles V. published an edict
prohibiting the c~olonists' practice OF
taking the law into their own hands,
and ordering that Indian deserters and
insurgents shonld thereafter be tried in
due form Of law. after having been
regularly indicted aud committed to
prison.
But the result Of that we'll meant
ukase was only n modification OF tho
customary sentences Of death. In the
foul atmosphere OF the prisons tho ma
tive prisoner died as fast as they had for.
nerly died in the camp Of tho orc mines
and it would really seem as il tho on.
tire race OF the American aborigines
was specially liable to lung diseases rs d
result OF protractsd indoor life. ''The
natives Of Terra dol Fuogo." says j. R.
Spears in his article on the End OF Our
Continont.' shave been ruined by their
friends. The Indians who have thrived
whom naked and living on seal bIubber,
persisted in tho farmhouses OF tho mis-.
sion settlements. Their children, who
had been sturdy aud strong in twig wig.
wams, died In tho we!l.warned orphan.
age. Every child taken into it died.
Pneumonia and consumption became
epidemic plaques"
In the sultry air Of Cuba epidemic, Of
that sort proved even more speedily
fatal, and between ovcrwork, dungeon
mir. starvation aud the iaugs OF tho
b%loodhounds, varied by occasional fusil-
lndos and autos.da.ic, tho native popu-
lation of tho island meltod away with
aver increasing rapidly, and the victims
Of tho Mntnnzay perpeLrntod In tho