San Antonio daily light. [volume] (San Antonio, Tex.) 1886-1907, 1897-11-06
IIUBA' 5 MANIFESTO.
She Answers The AutOnO-
mist Proposition.
"A SUMMARY OF WHAT CUBANS
HAVE SUFFERED AT THE
-.-:''i HANDS OF SPAIN.
A Patriotic Message From The
Heart Of Cuba To CuDanS Ev-
erywhere-The HOIlOWneSS
Of The Spanish Pretence
Set Forth.

New York, Nov. 6-The Herald pub
fishes the Cuban manifesto, which is
regarded as the most important docu-
ment ever issued by the Cubans. The
manifesto will be submitted to Cuban
colonies and Cuban groups all over the
world for signatures. 1t is as follows:
Nearly three years have elapsed
since the iniquities and corruption of
the Spanish administrative policy i'm
PEELED the people of Cuba to launch
themselves into a desperate war that
has been the wonder of the world.
From the first moment the government
of Spain inundated our territory with
soldiers, proclaimed with barbarous
rigOr its martial law and determined
to drown in seas of blood the legiti-
mate aspirations of the colony, weary
of bribery, monopoly, outrageS and
dishonor, against the acclamations of
the entire nation, the Spanish soldiers
have endeavored to make of Cuba a
desert, strewn with corpses. They
have laid waste our fields and have
killed our animals, as If they purposed
to stamp out all life on our soil. They
have butchered our unarmed men,
even when found Frustrated in bed
even when protected by the sacred
shelter of the hospital. They have
driven the families from their homes
and have huddled them together in
filthy and unwholesome places, in or
der that hunger and pestilence may
complete the work of iron and fire.
''Sileh barbarity has proved ineffect-
ual. Cuba has resisted with an in
domitable spirit. In vain has Spain
multiplied her armies, ravaged by the
lead of the patriots and annihilated by
the rigors of the climate. Spain has
at last become convinced that she
could not subdue us by force and she
has attempted to employ other arms,
to obtain by deceitful fiattery the tenn
porary prolongation of her descrepit
sovereignty.
She first begged for the support
even though it might only be moral, of
the European powers, which turned a
deaf ear to SPANS petition. She then
endeavored to gain over by wiles the
friendship of the United States, offer
ing them the exploitation of our mar
ket, but she encountered the indigna-
ton of this great people against
Spain's horrible policy of extermina-
ton.
1T then became necessary for Spain
to change her method, at least in form
to conciliate in some way the world at
large, and to introduce differences of
opinion and enmity among the ranks
of the patriots and their supporters in
the revolution"
The manifesto declares that the po-
litical reform, or autonomy offered to
Cuba by the Spanish statesmen to be
efficacious, should have the spontan-
eous product of the national con-
science. 1t says, however, that it is
but an eNpedient to which the Madrid
government has recourse now that it
has exhausted all the means of vio-
lence and crime, and adds:
mo political change can be stable or
fruitful under these conditions. What
is granted through fear or coercion, is
withdrawn at the earliest opportunity.
But leaving aside these considerations,
which are so essential, the so-called
reform is unacceptable to the Cubans
because it does not respond to their
necessities, satisfy their aspirations or
recognize the fullness of their rights.
Cuba must so organize the economic
life that she shall obtain the legitimate
remuneration for her labor, within the
general laws that govern production
and trade and with respect to her spe-
cial industrial conditions. Her polit-
ical connection with Spain would i'm
pose upon Cuba a fiscal system which
would render the fulfillment of this
essential condition an utter impossible
fly now and for a long time to come.
Spanish domination means in the first |
place and at the very least, the pay |
debt, the cost of a large army OF oc-
cupation, of a navy and a bureau
cracy, whatever may be the term I'M
der which it will be disguised. |
''The Cubans, no longer willing to |
suffer a foreign guardianship, aspire |
to govern themselves. But a Cuban |
surrounded by Spanish |
bayonets, watched by a Spanish navy |
stationed along the coast of our terri |
tory: whose laws, If the power of leg
islation he conceded to it, must be APP
piled by Spanish tribunals, and whose |
relations with other countries must |
run along the channels of Spanish di-
plomacy, could not be free.
The essential rights of citizen may
be summarized in the full liberty of
suffrage, his eligibility without willy
and a system of individ-
ual guarantees, that shall protect him
against all usurpation which may af-
feet his person, his goods or his civil
capacity. So long as there shall exist
in Cuba a governor, responsible solely