The herald., 1896-03-03
THE CUBAN REBELLION

The Cuban rebellion naturally has at
trscted great attention in all parts of tn,
United States. Cuba is only 1870 milel
from Florida. A steamer as fast az one o
the Atlantic liners could cover the distanc,
between the United States and this Span
| ish possession in six hours.
Cuba is the largest, the richest and thu
most beautiful of all the West Indit
islands. 1t is about the size of the state o.
Pennsylvania and has length of 63(
miles. 1t is more than four times as large
as the kingdom of Holland or the king
| dom of Belgium, and lacks but little Of be
| ing as large as England. 1t is the mos
important colonial possession of Spain
| Spain once owned all of South America ex
Mexico, which then included Texas
| California, Oregon, Nevada, Utah, Colo
| ra To, New Mexico and Arizona, and also
| Lad large possessions in the West Indies
| Or all this magnificent colonial empire in
America only Cuba and the much smaller
| island of Porto Rico remain. So you can
see why Spain hangs on like grim death tc
Cuba. She thinks that if she loses Cuba
too, her reputation as q nation, which has
so long been declining, will be gone en-
tirely.
Cuba alone is lordly possession. Be.
sides its great size it has great variety OF
rich productions. 1t is the finest cane
sugar country in the world. 1t is cele-
brated everywhere for its fine cigar leaf
exceedingly valuable timber. and great
mineral resources which have as yet been
scarcely touched. Havana, the capital of
the island, is nearly as large as New Or
leans, and, next to New York, is the great
est seaport in America.
Cuba was settled by the Spaniards
nearly century before the English settled
in Virginia, and had risen to great inn
portance while as yet our states were in
FAINT colonies.
Now it is worth while to inquire why the
Cubans are so often rebelling against Spain.
Last week while discussing the British en-
pire we told how the great colonies OF
England were practically independent. 1t
ia not so with the Spanish colonies, and
there we get at the secret of the Cuban
hatred OF Spain. For centuries Spain has
ruled Cuba for the exclusive benefit
of Spain and the Spaniards.. She
sends over a captain-general, who re-
sides in Havana, and who has a
despotic authority over Cuba. he Is
both the civil and military head of the
island. Cuba is divided into departments.
and over each of these departments is
placed lieutenant of the captain-general,
The lieutenants themselves have subordi-
mates and 30 on down the line. All these
offices, great and small, are filled by Span
iards, never by native Cubans, and these
Spaniards, one and all, are in Cuba merely
to get rich as soon as possible, and go back
to Spain. The administration from the
captain.general down is exceedingly
corrupt. The captain-generals usually re-
turn to Spain after few years with enor-
nous fortunes which they have stolen from
the public revenues. The Spanish govern
ment knows this and winks att Until re-
cent years the receipts from imports and
taxes in Cuba greatly exceeded the ex-
penditures. But the balance was not ex-
pended in Cuba or retained in the Cuban
treasury. 1t was shipped over to Spain. In
fact, the Spanish government of Cuba has
been exceedingly oppressive. Moreover,
the Spaniards affect to despise the Cubans
as their interiors, and neglect no appor-
tunity to show 1t. 1t is perfectly natural
that the Cubans should revolt against
such rule, and we do not think we
make mistake in saying that the SYM
pathies of ninety.nine out of one hum
dred Americans are with them. There
are many Cubans IN this country who aid
their brethren all they can. The cities of
Key West and Tampa, Fla, are largely
made up OF Cuban ciglr makers, and they
spend their money freely to aid Cuba.
This, however, is done secretly, as under
the law of nations the United States gov
ernment is bound to prevent the citizens
from in any way helping the Cubans until
they are formally recognized by some
other nation as belligerants. When any
portion of a country rebels against gov
ernment it has no standing among ma
tons until those rebelling are able to
show that they have regularly Or
ganized army and government, with a
country and a capital city. Then the
neutral nations by formal vote recognize
the fact. The men in rebellion who were
before mere outlaws, according to the law
powers to treat with other nations, buy
arms from them. etc. This usage has