Vermont phÅ“nix. [volume] (Brattleboro, Vt.) 1834-1955, 1898-04-15

rIuluu which commands the prcSi-
dent To give from time to time the con-
.,rss information of the state of the
uni5u. and to recommend to their CON
sheraton such measures as he shall |
Judge necessary and eXpedient, it be-
comes my duty now to address your body |
with regard to the grave crisis that has |
arisen in the relations of the United |
states to Spain by reason of the war
fare that for more than three years has |
ragged in the neighboring island of Cuba. |
/ do So because of the intimate connec- |
uon Of the Cuban question with the |
state of our union and the grave rela-
ton the course which it is now incum-
bent upon the nation to adopt must
needs bear to the traditional policy of
our government if it is to be in accord
with the precepts laid down by the
founders of the republic and reigiously
Observed by succeeding administrations
to the present day.
The present revolution is but the sue
crssor Of other similar instructions
which have occurred in Cuba against
the dominion of Spain, extending over a
period of nearly half a century, each Of
which, during it's progress has subject
81 the United States to great effort and
expense in enforcing its neutrality laws
caused enormous losses to American
trade and commerce, caused irritation,
annoyance and disturbance among our
citizens, and by the exercise of cruel.
harbarous and uncivilized practices of
warfare, shocked the sensiblities and
offended the humane sympathies of our
people.
Since the present revolution began in
February, 1885, this country has seen
la i,, Of 4
aged by fire and sword in the course of
struggle unequalled in the history of
the island and rarely paraleled as to the
humber of the combatants and the bit
teruess of the contest by any revolution
of modern times, where a dependent peo-
pie, striving to be free, have been OPP
posed by the power of the sovereign
state. our people have beheld once
prosperous community reduced to com
paratiVe want, its lucrative commerce
virtually paralyzed, its exceptional pro-
ductiVeness diminished it's fields laid
waste, its mills i'm ruins and its people
pershing by tens of thousands from
hunger and restitution. We have
found ourselves constrained, in the OBJ
servance of that strict neutrality which
cur laws enjoin and which the law of ma
lions commands, to police our own wa
ttlS anu watch OuI OWN SedIOIlS III pre-
Vention of any unlawful act in aid of
the Cubans. Our trade has suffered; the
capital invested by our citizens in Cuba
has been largely lost and the temper
and forbearance of our people have been
SO severely tried as to beget perilous
unrest among our own citizens, which
has inevitably found expression from
time to time in the national legislature.
So that issues wholly external to our
own body polite engross attention and
stand in the way of that close devotion
10 domestic advancement that becomes
self-contained commonwealth whose
primal maxim has been the avoidance Of
all foreign entanglements. All this
must needs awaken and has indeed
aroused the utmost concern on the part
of this government as well as during my
predecessors term as my own.
In April, 1896, the evils from which our
country suffered through the Cuban
war became so onerous that my prede-
cessor made an effort to bring about a
peace through the mediation of this gov
eminent in any way that might tend to
an honorable adjustment of the contest
between Spain and her revolving colony,
on the basis OF some effective scheme of
self government for Cuba under the flag
and sovereignty of Spain. 1t failed,
through the refusal of the Spanish gov
eminent then in power to consider any
form of mediation or, indeed any plan
Of settlement which did not begin with
the actual submission of the insurgents
10 the mother country, and then only on
such terms as Spain herself might see fit
TO grant The war continued unabate
The resistance of the insurgents was In
no wise diminished.
The efforts of Spain were increased
both by the dispatch of fresh levies tc
Cuba and by the addition to the horrors
Of the strife of a new and inhumaI
phase happily unprecedented in the
modern history of civilized Christian
peoples. The policy Of devastation and
concentration inaugurated by the cap,
tain general Bando, of oct. 81, 1896, il
the province of Pinar del Rio, was thence
extended to embrace all of the island K
which the power of the Spanish arms
was able to reach by occupation or b!
military operations.
The peasantry, including all dwellin!
In the open agricultural interior, wer
driven into the garrison towns or iso
lated places held by the troops. TIL
raising and movement of provisions o
all kinds were interdicted. The field
We're laid waste, dwellings unroofed ant
fired, mills destroyed, and in short, ev
erything that could desolate the land an
render it unfit for human habitation o
support was commanded by one or tn
other of the contesting parties and exc
tuted by all the powers at their dis
posal.
by the time the present administratio
took office, a year ago, recommendation
50 called-had been made effective owe
the better part OF the four central an
western provinces, Santa Clara, Ma
tauzas, Havana and Pinar del RIO IN
agricultural population on the est
mated number of 100000 or more wa
herded within the towns and their III
mediate vicinage, deprived of the mean
support, rendered destitute OF shelte
lei poorly clad and exposed to the mos
unsanitary conditions. AS the scare
ity Of food increased with the az
vastaton of the depopulated area
OF production, restitution and wal
became misery and starvation Moh'
by month the death rate lncreas'
In an alarming ratio. BY Marc
1877, according to conservative ess
mates from official Spanish sources, u
mortality among the reconcentrauoe
nom starvation and the disease Inc
cent thereto. exceeded 80 per centum