The semi-weekly messenger. [volume] (Wilmington, N.C.) 1897-1908, 1898-04-15


ed with the devastation of the depopu-
lated areas of production, restitution
and want became misery and sudrva-
ton. Month by month the death rate
increased by am alarming ratio. By
March, 1897, according to conservative
estimates from official Spanish ource
the mortality among the
trados, from starvation and the dis
eases thereto incident, exceeded 80 per
centum of their total nlBmbe No
practical relief was accorded to the
destitute. The over-burdened towns,
already suffering from the general
dearth, could give no aid. So-called
zone of cultivation established with
in the immediate area of effective mill
tary control about the cities and forti-
fed camps proved illusory as a remedy
for the suffering. The u~nfortunateS,
being for the most part women and
children, with aged and helpless men,
enfeebled by disease and hunger, could
not have titled the soil, without tools,
seed or shelter, for their own support
or for the supply of the cities. Recon-
centration, adopted avowedly as a war
measure in order to cut the
of the insurgents, worked it's predestin-
ed results. AS I said in my message of
last December, 1T WAS NOT CIVILIZ-
ED WARFARE; TT WAS EXTERM-
NATION. THE ONLY PEACE IT
COULD BEGET WAS THAT OF THE
WILDERNESS AND THE GRAVE.
Meanwhile, the military situation in
the island had undergone a noticeable
change. The extraordinary activity
that characterized the second year of
the war, when the insurgents invaded
even the hitherto unharmed fields of
Pinar del Rio and carried havoc and
destruction up ito the wallis of the city
of Havana itself, had ,relapSed into a
logged struggle in the central n
eastern provinces. The Spanish arms
regained a measure of control i'm Pinar
/ del Rio and parts of Havana, but, I'M
der the existing conditions of the, rural
country, without immediate improve
merlr, of their productive situation.
Even thus. partially restricted, the revo-
lutionists held their own and their con
quest and submission, put forward by
Spain as the essential and sole baSi
of peace, seemed as far distant as at
the outset.
In this state of arraTrs, my admins
traltion found itself confronted with the
grave problem of it's duty. My mes
sage of last December reviewed the
situation and narrated the steps taken
with a view to relieving it's acuteness
and opening the way ito some form of
honorable settlement. The aSsassina-
ttion OF the prime minister, CanOvas,
led to a change of government in
Spain. The former administration
pledged to s~ubjugatiOn without cOnces
sion gave place to a more liberal par
ty, committed long i'm advance to a
policy of reform involving the wider
principle of home rule for Cuba and
Puerto Rico. The OVertureS of this
government, made through it's new en-
voy, General Woodford, and looking to
an immediate and effective ameliOra-
tion of the condition OF the island, all
though not accepted to the extent of
admitted mediation in any shape, were
met by assurances that home rule, in
an advanced phase, would be forthwith
offered to Cuba, without waiting for the
val to end, and that more humane
methods should henceforth prevail in
the conduct of hostilities. Coinciden-
tally with these declarations, the new
government of Spain continued and
completed the policy already begun by
it's predecessor, of testifying friendly
regard for this nation by releasing
American citizens held under one
charge or another connected with the
instruction, so that, by the end ol
in any way to our national protection
remained in a Spanish prison.
PROTRACTED NEGOTIATIONS.
While these negotiations were il
progress, the increasing deStitutiCn O
the unfortunate r~ecOncentradCS anG
the alarming mortality among then
claimed earnest attention. The success
which had attended the limited meas
ure of relief extended to the SufferinE
American citizens among them by tn
judiciOus expenditure Through the o
sular agencies of the money appropi
ated expressly for their succor by tn,
joint resolution approved May "a, 1897
prompted the humane extension of
similar scheme of aid to the great bod
of sufferers. "A suggestion to this ems
was acquiesced i'm by the Spanish au
thorities. On the oath of December las
l caused to be issued an appeal to TIL
American people, inviting contribution
in money or in kind for the succor o
the starving sufferers i'm Cuba, follow
ing his on the 8th of january by
similar public announcement of the for
nation of a central Cuban relief com
mictee, with headquarters in New YoTi
city, composed of three members repre-
Senting the american National Re
Cross n the religious n bushes
elements of the community. The ef
: forts Of that committee have beer vi
firing and have accomplished muc1
: Arrangements for free transportatio
l to Cuba have greatly aided the char
eebpie 'WOTh. 1Ilc pTSSluSIlG Oh Cl
American Red Cross, and representa-
tives of other contributory organiza
f tfons have generously visited Cuba an
= cO-Operated with the consul generG
= and the local authorities to make e1
= fective distribution of the relief CO
i lected through the efforts of the Ger
[ tral committee. Nearly 5000, 900 in mon
S ey reached the sufferers and more
t Forthcoming. The supplies are admit
i ted duty free, and transportation to tn
interior has been arranged 50 that til
relief, at first necessarily confined /
Havana and the larger cities, is no
: extended through most, if not all, (
r the towns where suffering exists. ThoI
a sands of lives have already been saves
r. The necessity for a change in til
|. condition of the reconcentrados Is II
r ~cognized by the Spanish government
d Within a few days past, the orders ,
If General Weyler have been revoked
the r-econcentrados are, it is said, ITO Il
] permitted ITO return to their homes, an