The record-union., 1897-11-16
eral Pando, Chief Of Captain General
R1anpo'S staff saws.

eral Pando, Chief Of Captain General
Blanco's staff, says:
II am identified with the Government
and with the illustrious General Blanco
because both represent tolerance with
out debility and energy without cruelty.
1 have always believed that policy Is
factor in the plans of every General-in-
Chief, and the policy Of to-day COM
patible with an energetic military ac-
ton consists in being generous with
the repentant and inexorable with the
impenitent traitors This is the policy
of the Government and of General
Blanco. which 1 propose to follow, sec
onding it with the loyalty which has
always characterized my public ac
tions.
Il cannot, nor do I wish to, concur
with the foolishness of making declara-
tions, but, without wishing that it
should be taken as a professional faith,
l should say that I have always been
inspired with sympathy toward ad
ministrative autonomy of our basque
provinces. This opinion is not new, be-
cause in the Spanish Cortes I have al
ways favored the greatest decentraliza-
ton in administrative colonial func-
tions.
1T is very grave error to suppose
that the political concessions of the
Spanish Government have been given
to an enemy to secure peace. They are
given to the loyal and to the repentant,
but for the incendiaries, the dynamit-
ers, Spain reserves the action of force,
energetic and without temporizins
measures.
Cuba, then, to avoid being chaos
or theater of bloody strife, ought to
remain Spanish, because only by be-
longing to Spain can she be guaran-
teed her commercial relations with the
civilized world, especially so when the
Isthmus of Panama shall be no longer
an isthmus or the two oceans Joined
in some manner.
THE United States is more interested
than any other nation in Cuba remain
ing under the Spanish flag, because the
Americans prefer to assure the pros
perlty of their commerce to making
enemies of Europe About independ-
ence let us not speak. because no per-
son of sane judgment ought to take in
to consideration such an hypothesis" !"
BLANCO'S ORDERS AS TO GRIND
ING.
NEW YORK, Nov. ia dispatch to
the Herald" from Havana says:
Much increulty is expressed pub
licly as to the ability of the Govern
ment to persuade or compel grinders to
resume planting and to afford them
protection. The action of the insur-
gents does not seem to have been taken
into consideration, and without their
consent, in exchange for tribute, no
amount of Government protection can
suffice to prevent the burning of cane
Already the work of incendiarism is
said to have begun Smoke has been
rising tC the southwest of Havana, dis
tant apparently about twenty miles,
and it is reported that the rebels are
burning plantations. Even assuming
that the reyolutionists would permit
reconcentradoes to flock to the planta-
tions, it is said to be impossible to har-
vest the crop, owing to the extermina-
ton of oxen.
Application to the decree of amnesty
still hangs fire. General Blanco is
anxious to get the American prisoners
off his hands, but is fettered by red
tape, the Competitor prisoners being in
the hands of the naval authorities, and
many formalities must be gone through
before they are released. 1t is expected,
however, that they will soon be at
liberty. Louis Someillan, who is a pris-
oner here, is in the same predicament,
being in the hands of the civil authori-
ties. The only other two Americans
are in Santiago de Cuba, and their re-
lease has been ordered
o.
the condition of Spain's army in Cuba
have already revealed a deplorable con-
dition of affairs. Not only are frauds
in connection with the payment of
troops being brought to light, but proof
is being obtained that of the 300 900
men sent to General Weyler only a
small percentage are now fit for actual
service. The towns are garrisoned
principally by convalescent soldiers. too
weak in many instances to offer more
than a feeble resistance to the attacks
of the rebels.
One CT the first army surgeons SAYS
that one of the most difficult tasks of
the new administration will be to care
for Spain's invalid troops. In not one
of the many hospitals in Havana, for
example, are there any available beds.
On November 9th the military Cover
nor of this city received a message to
the effect that 500 sick and wounded
soldiers We're on their way to Havana
He communicated this fact to the hos
pital authorities, only to receive the re-
ply that ii was absolutely Impossible to
receive another man.
The military commander in Gulines
reports that patients in the military
hospital there are entirely without
medicines and other necessaries, and
that the food supply is entirely in
adequate.
Proprietors of stores have notified
the hospital authorities that they will
not furnish any more goods on credit.
| In other towns the condition of affairs
is similarly indicative of the growing
feeling in Havana against the United
States. Your correspondent is able to
state that the chief of the Volunteer
Fire Brigade in this city, on Friday,
dismissed from the ranks two natural
/ lied American citizens These two men
were Cuban born, but hold naturaliza-
tion papers.