Arizona republican., 1897-11-23
CRITICAL STRUGGLE
Insur5' ntS Preparing for $ Con-
 Vilcing Effort
BEFORE CONGRESS MEETS
in Hope that 1t May Produce
 Desired Recognition
Blanco's Went Of "a ti in Anything Less than Divine Providence Which a priast Says is Uravaila- ble-CCng gosto'S Folly.

Wn.Cn a TT ScT says IS U a.esllSs-
 ble-CCngos Folly.
 Havana, Nov. 22-If current repo. ts among the friends of the insurgents are to be believed, the revolutionary leaders hope to strike a decisive blow at Spain before congress meets, as an encouragement to their friends in the United States who are urging recog- milton upon the part of the United States government of the belliger5ncy of the insurgents in Cuba.
 Dr. Jose Congosta, formerly Spanish consul at Philadelphia and now secre- tary-general of Cuba, is continuing to lose ground in public favor as the re- suit of some extraordinary statement S which he has made to Spaniards he1a. Senor Santos Guseman considers him self and his family much insulted by certain remarks of Dr. Congosta. who is also alleged to be displaying con- siderable ignorance of administrative affairs and to have in consequence failed to fulfil many of the duties of his office. Finally the utterances of Dr. Congosta, if correctly reported, are likely soon to be sharply resented in Madrid. He is alleged to have re- marked that Spain had until now fol- lowed a policy of spoilation in Cuba and that the insurgents were justified in doing as they have
 Regarding his political utterances, a statement made by Marshal Blanco shortly after his arrival here is being much commented upon. It seems that when the superior of religious order, residing at Guaynobacoa, near this city, called upon the new captain-gen- eral to welcome him to Cuba, Marsh al Blanco during the conversation which followed, said: "Only Divine Provi- dence is able to save Cuba" where upon the distinguished priest retorted, eff We must confide only in Divine Providence and have no other means to conquer the insurgents, then we are lost" The insurgents and their sym pathizers have been making capital out of this incident, claiming that the captain-general has no faith in the success of his mission.
 READY TO STRIKE.
 Havana, Nov. 22.-General Pando started from this city by train last Saturday, according to official an- nouncement, to take charge of the cam paign against the insurgents. He was accompanied by his full staff and was escorted by company of artillery. But it is stated on good authority that General Pando has been commissioned by General Blanco, captain general, to enter into communication with the in surgent leaders with a view of ar ranging for peace.
 General Pando has been, and still is in negotiations with three leaders of the Cuban revolution and has been endeavoring to induce them to go to different insurgent camps, there to use their influence to bring about peace, on the promise of Cuba being accorded really an autonomous form of government. Those three man were also offered money for themselves and were to have been furnished with large sums of money to distribute among their friends. But it is under stood that they have declined to be- come agents of General Pando, alleging as their reason that they have no in f1uence with insurgent leaders of the present day and that they would be .risking their lives if they ventured into the insurgent camps.
 In some quarters it is believed this refusal to accept the overtures of Gsn- eraI Pando are due to the fact that the insurgents are anticipating some strong step in their favor when the United States congress meets. It is generally admitted that General Pando is some what mortified at the non-success Of his plans up to the present and has 1n- formed the three ex-insurgent leaders referred to that he doubts their sim cerity and he indirectly gave them ito understand that he was Of the opin- ion that they were opposed to the sov- ereignty of Spain over Cuba and have no desire to assist the Spanish in their efforts to bring about peaceful set clement of the troubles
 The Cubans proteste d that they were sincere and repeated the excuses they had already made for their non-com- plianlce with the requests of the Span ish general. The latter, although somewhat disappointed, will continue his efforts to come to an understand ing with the insurgents and military authorities believe the best way to do this is to inf1ict on the enemy a signal defeat, which General Pando hopes to accomplish.
 THE CUBAN TARIFF.
 Madrid, Nov. 22 The new Cuban tariff is the subject of considerable heated discussion here. Cuban F.