The Abbeville press and banner. [volume] (Abbeville, S.C.) 1869-1924, 1896-05-06

the armv....,,.....,...... 5000
Volunteers of Habana........ 1900
Volunteers sent from Spain. -. 2,5UO
Criminals pardoned in Spanish
prisons and enlisted as SOL
diers. ................. $500
NtissSes the Sssd. cane. %. ~ $4,000
New reserves called out at the
end of 1885,. 5................ o,OOU
Total men. 2,z9S
TO these may be added the expedl.
ton of $4,000 men sert to the island
in February, 1896, and not included
in the estimate of Senor Solderilla,
which refers to the year 1895, and the
$4,000 volunteers employed for the
garrison of Habana and the principal
towns of Cuba. That makes total OF
23S,29 men in arms on the Spanish
side. And it was said lately, that
General Weyler had asked Tor more
re-enforcements.
The above figures are eloquent to
prove that the revolution is not a ne
gro movement and an uprising of out
laws, having against them the large
majority of the Cubans, as the Span
ish government usually states. They
prove also that the Cuban army is not
a band of bandits without military
organization and intelligent leaders.
A band of bandits does not require
23S, ,295 soldiers, under the command
of the best Spanish generals to sup
press it.
The Cuban army number As, 1000
men, as stated before in The Sun. 1t
is divided in five army corps, the first
four operating in the provinces Of
Santiago de Cuba, Puerto Principe,
Las Villas and Ma:anzas, and the last,
called also the invading army, oper-
ating 10 Habana and Pinar del Rio.
At the present moment the Cuhans
are in possession o. the six provinces
in which the island is divided, with
the exception of the seaports and the
principal towns in the interior. Out
side the towns the Spanish have no
control. The soldiers hold only the
land on which they step as they pass
from one town to another. The
whole country is in the hands of the
patriots, and In some parts of the Is
land, as in the Orient, their troops are
undisturbed. General Calixto Garcia,
with the men OF the Bermuda expedi.
ton, landed there. He is unmolested
by the Spanish, and employs his time
at present in or yanizing and training
his troops for an attack upon the enc
my.
People not conversant with Cuban
affairs cannot easily understand two
things: First, how it is that the Gu
bans are not in possession of an i'm
portant town or seaport, and, second,
how with only As, 900 men, and not SC
well armed as the Spanish, they can
stand successfully against 23S, ,295 men.
With regard to the interior towns the
situation is explained by the fact that
in an attack upon them many Cuban
families, including those of some of
the Cubans in the army would perish
either from Spanish revenge from
bullets of the patriots. When the rev
olution broke out Cubans and Span
iards lived together in the towns. The
Cubans for the most part were married
or had parents and relatives. while
the Spaniards were single, having their
parents and relatives in Spain. The
Cubans left in the towns their families
when they went to the country to join
the insurgent army. Having rcmem:
brance of the experience of the war OF
1868, when the women who took the
field proved burden for the Cuban
soldiers, and some of them were the
victims of infamous outrages by the
Spanish, they preferred to leave their
families in the towns, where cruelties
cannot be committed openly without
arousing public indignation and per-
haps inviting the protest of foreign
representatives. But Notwithstanding
the danger of their families, the Gu
pans would seize an important town,
especially a seaport, if they had bel
hgerent rights and were in possession
of navy which would enable them
to keep it. At present the Cubans
cannot hope to possess war ships. The
American public is we'll aware of how
many difficulties the Cubans encount.
er in sending even an expedition to
Cuba. Their ships are liable to seizure
and detention, and have to sail as
merchant steamers when at last they
find chance to start. 1t is mistake,
therefore, to compare the situation of
the Cubans with that of the Confeder-
ates during the civil war in this coun-
try. The seaports of the Confederacy
were not occupied by the Federals
when the war began. 1t was strug.
gle of the south against the north,
each side having its own territory and
its own cities. Cuba's war is the up
rising of colony against It's govern:
ment, of the natives of an island
against their oppressors, with the lat
ter possessing all the benefits of bel
igerency.
The following sketch of the progress
of the revolution from its humble be-
ginning until December, 1885, is taken
from book by Senor Fidel G.. Pierra
uroer the title of Cuba, Physica!
Features of Cuba: Her Past, Present