The daily morning journal and courier., 1896-11-25
" REBELS WILL NOT FIGHT, "
SAYS GEN. WEYLER, WHO COULD
 NOT FIND MACEO.

Report That Competitor Prisoners Have
 Been Retried is Untrue-Spanfsh Cap-
 tafn-General May Soon Return to His
 Troops-Cubans' Supplies Destroyed
 Rigid Press Censorship.
 Havana, Nov. 24-The report circu- lated by the New York World to the ef- feet that the men captured on the American schooner Competitor had been re-tried by a court martial, de- spite protest filed by Consul General Lee prior to his departure from Ha- vana, is absolutely without word of truth. Only the preliminary exanina- tion of the prisoners on their second trial, as ordered by the supreme mill- tary and naval tribunal in Madrid have as yet occurred. It Is not known when the trial will take place.
 Every effort has been made to learn the true reasons for the return of Cap- tain General Weyler from the province of Pinar del Rio, but nothing definite has transpired. All that is known is that he came here on the gunboat Le- gazpi from Mariel, accompanied by only one adjutant The rest of the staff came by railway from Artemisa. General Weyler has made no official declaration concerning the condition of affairs in the province of Pinar del Rio In an interview had with him just be- fore he left Artemisa to board the Le- gazpi at Mariel he said he was satis- fled with his campaign. He had cross- ed to the south and had expected to meet Maceo and give him combat. He had, however, met only small bands of rebels, who disappeared when the Spanish troops came near to them When questioned concerning the where abouts of General Maceo, General Wey- Ter said:
 T do not know where he is. It is cer- tain that I did not meet him in either the hills or dales of Pinar del Rio. De- spite their bravadoes the rebels never fight but always flee upon the ap- proach of our troops"
 General Weyler added that the SUD- piles of cattle that had been obtained by the insurgents were disappearing. the troops capturing and destroying all that they saw. The military combina- tions planned by him had resulted as he had expected. All these combina- tions were not finished but there would be much less to do at the end of the year.
 The press comments on the return of the captain general are very guarded, as is natural under the strict censor { I-.- At he will soon return to the field. One re- port has 1t that the chief reason for his return to Havana was pressing govern- ment business, which demanded his personal attention. However, nothing really definite is known, and events in the near future are anxiously awaited. Some dissatisfaction Is quietly express ed even by royalists that General Wey- Ter, after his long preparations to in- fict a crushing blow on Maceo should now come back to the capital without even catching sight of the main body of the rebels. The rebel sympathizers are jubilant, believing that Weyler's return signalizes the abandonment of his per- sonal leadership of the campaign.
 Madrid, Nov 24.-A dispatch to the
 
 an interview General Weyler stated that he had returned from the province of Pinar del Rio owing to the necessity of settling the question of the new issue of notes by the Spanish bank and other urgent matters. After these were set tied he would be ready to return to the field. He added that he did not be- lieve that Maceo had more than 6,000 men, and that there were scattered in remote positions. The object of the re- cent Spanish operations had been the occupation of the hills and passes and the cutting off of the supplies of the in- surgents.
 A few insurgents in the provinces of Las Villas and Havana were easily kept in check. There were more rebels in Camaguey than in Las Villas and Havana, but the Spaniards had little to lose there. Moreover, the object of the insurgents in gathering there might be to distract from Maceo in Pinar del Rio. At any rate, he would crush the rebellion in the latter province before dealing with the insurgents elsewhere.
 Records of the Rebellion.
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