Washington sentinel., 1898-06-11
SPANISH FKRocITY
MorNing--LoHd0n.

L HACffttfeg - LCffLCHs
Now that hOstilities have actual,
begun, 1t will be interesting to note the
extreme ferocity which has been showr
by the Spaniards in wars so recent a.
our own century. On July 10, 1903, Gen
Dupont, who had greatly distinguished
himself by his services IN Holland, Italy
Austria and Germany, in command of a
French army corps composed chiefly o
| young conscripts, encountered neal
Baylen Spanish army under Redig, a
Swiss general. and Castanos, the general
IN chief. For ten hours there was fierce
fighting, when Dumont asked for an
armistice He had been expecting rein.
forcements from two French corps,
which were in the neighborhoOd, one
commanded by Dafour, the other by
Vedel. Attracted to the spot by the
noise of artillery, Vedel made hIs ap.
pearance, and at once prepared to charge
the Spaniards. But Dupont forbade him
to do so. They had been surrounded
by Castanos, and, when no chance OF
escape was left, finally surrendered, and
twenty thousand Frenchmen and seven
generals became prisoners war. By
the terms of the captulation they we're
to be marched to Cadiz, and thence sent
by sea to France.
Elizabeth WOrmley Latimer, whose
father at that time was a lieutenant in the
royal navy, serving on one of the English
ships lying off Csdiz harbor, says that
when the Government of Spain refused
10 ratiiy the Capitulation, these unfortu.
nate prisoners were put on board of
hulks and kept in horrible captivity.
Her father used to describe their march
as lone of the saddest sights he ever
saw, the mob hooting and insulting
them, pelting them with stones, and
rushing at them with knives, the women
splitting in their faces, the children cast
ing mud" OF their fate she says:
From Cadiz, after about six months.
six thousand men of the division Of
Vedel were embarked IN ships and sent
they hoped to France, but knew not
whittier. At Palma, in the island of
MajOrca, after a suspense of forty DAYS,
they learned thar their destination was
the desert island of Cabrera. AT Cab
rera the most tried courage sank under
the horrors of the situation. Upon
pile of barren mountain ridges and sharp
rocks six thousand men were landed,
almost without clothes, and before long
many we're absolutely naked. Scarcely
a third of their number, after a residence
OF three years on the island left its
shores. No babtation was to be found
there save the ruins of castle built by
the Moors, nor had the French soldiers
any means of building more than few
wretched huts of branches. brought with
great labor from a few stunted trees
that grew in a remote corner'of the ISL
and. They had but bare suficiency of
water to sustain life. aud even that was
precarious one. Provisions were sent
to them every four days from Majorca,
but were sometimes delayed, either by
Indifference to their sufferings or by the
weather. Then hundreds, already weak,
died Of famine. Their allowance at the
best was only six ounces Of bread and
handful of dried beans"
The news of the Suferings Of these
men reached Sir Charles Cotton, the
English admiral at Minorca, and though
according to International law il was 40
affair OF his, he sent Mrs. L.atimer's
father, then in command OF the Minorca,
sloop of war, to make a report to him
on the subject. She thus describes theit
sufferings: "Almost all OF them were
naked. Two French officers, a MAJOR
and captain, swan OFF to the ship as
she approached the landing place; they
were taken on board, fed, clothed, made
comfortable, and my father gave them
passage to MInorca, where Sir Charles
soon afterward arranged for their ex-
change. The sailors OF the Minorca.
struck with pity and horror, subscribed
three days' rations for the sufferers. Sir
Charles Cotton, on hearing the report,
at once had the Minorcs's deck loaded
with black cattle, and sent her back 10
land them at Cabrera. She reached the
island at one of those periods when the
bread boat had been DELAYED, and as the
English ship approached, every tack she
made, which seemed to take her out of
her course, was watched with the utmost
agitation. The sick and dying had been
brought down to the seashore By their
dsbilitated comrades, and were encour
aged to FIX their eyes upon her approach
that they might live till food arrived.
She le: go her anchor within two hun
dred yards of the little beach, and in
moment the sea was alive with men
swimming out to her. Not only were
the cattle landed, with a supply of food
for immediate use, but slops were served
out to many a wretch wholly destitute
OF clothing" This horrible condition
of affairs was brought to the attention
OF the government of Spain by england,
and matters improved in Cabrera during
the few months the prisoners remained
upon the island. After the treaty OF
Valencay' at the close of 1873, they we're
released. In describing the cruelties
practised on French prisoners by the
Spanish Deasantry, Thiers says that they
were sometimes put between two pIanks
and sawn asunder they were mutilated
and tortured in every way; sometimes
they were hung up by the arms, while
fire was lighted beneath their feet; and
other similar atrocities were committed.
During the first Carhst war, when
Carnicer was succeeded by Cabrera, the
war became a scandalous butchery. In
an article In BIaekV00a'S Magazine,
September, IS46, the writer says:
"Thencetorward the infant in the cradle,