The Anaconda standard. [volume] (Anaconda, Mont.) 1889-1970, 1896-03-21
OFFICIAL CUBAN NEWS.
Does Weyier, the Butch II, Think lie Is
Drceiv.ng Any one.


New York Times.
The fine old crusty seventeenth CEN
fury Castilian view of the functions as
Spanish viceroy taken by the new
captain general of Cuba may meet the
appreciation of the more hide-bound of
hcial circles of Madrid. The French
branch of the Bourbon family is toler-
ABLY set in its way, but it cannot alto
gether evade the fact that this is the
nineteenth century. 1t was ridiculous
enough to describe the late Comte de
Paris as Philippe VII. and to pretend
that he was king of France by the
grace or God and without any reference
10 the Will of the French people But
even the people who made that pre-
tense were aware that it was looked
upon by the great majority of their
"concitoyens, whom they would hu-
morously have described as tr-ir fell
low subjects. as merely a hul joke,
and they could not remain wholly in
sensible to the comic aspects of the
situation. In Madrid it is much easier
than in Paris to play" that rulers who
are in fact the creatures of compro-
mise nevertheless rule by divine right,
and that the people have nothing to do
in the premises but TO obey. There
seems to be no way for the dissatis-
fed classes in Spain to inculcate
different view except by exploding dyn-
amite in the streets of the satisfied
classes.
As representative in Cuba of the
Spanish Bourbons who have learned
nothing and forgotten nothing, Weyler
is an extremely curious and interesting
specimen. His appearance as a dis
patcher of news of the insurrection is
especially curious. In the first place
Weyler causes to be sent out of the
island all persons who show a DISPOSE
ton to tell what is happening in Cuba.
Next he issues proclamations setting
forth that anybody who shall belittle
the Spanish troops or exalt the Cuban
troops shall suffer death And finally.
he appears as an author of military
news.
OF course, the news is dfscredited in
advance Nobody wants to know the
Spanish official view of what is hap
pening in Cuba. What people want to
know is what is really happening i'm
Cuba, and nobody expects Weyler to
tell them that. 1t is painful to remark
that Weyler's news is precisely what
the official news was before Weyler's
advent. Spanish detachments attack
or are attacked by insurgent forces
from four to ten times their number
and disperse and rout the same with
frightful slaughter. they themselves
suffering few or no casualties. The OBJ
that il is monotonous, is that nobody
will believe il. Also that IL reflects
upon its author. If Spanish troops.
which outnumber the insurgents on the
whole, four or five to one. are outnum-
bered in detail whenever they meet the
how incompetent must their
general be! If the insurgents. besides
being fewer in number. are beaten i'm
every engagement, how does IL happen
that the insurrection has extended from
the eastern end of the island to the
walls of Havana? These are questions
raised by Weyler's dis
patches. as well as by those authorized
by his predecessor. Weyler talks more
than his predecessor, but
his actions do not seem TO be any more
SO far. the difference be-
tween him and and Campos consists in
his greater willingness to kill non-com-
not in his greater ability in the
way OF killing combatants.