Arizona republican., 1898-03-27

could keep up with the cavalry on a long march and come in fresh at night.
 AUTONOMY A FAILURE.
 "The dividing lines between parties are the most straight and clear cut that have ever come to my knowledge. The division in our war was by no means so clearly defined. It is Cuban against Spaniard. It is practically the entire Cuban population on one side and the Spanish army and the Span ish citizen on the other. I do not count the autonomists in this division, as they are far too inconsiderable in numbers to be worth counting. Gen. eral Blanco filled the civil offices with men who had been autonomists and were still classed as such. But the march of events has sufficed to show most of them that the chance for au- tonomy came too late. It falls, as talk of compromise would have fallen the last year or two of our own war If 1t succeeds it can only be by armed force, by the triumph of the Spanish army, and the success of Spanish arms would be easier by Weyler's policy and method, for in that the Spanish army and people believe. There is no doubt that General Blanco is acting in entire good faith, that he desires to give the Cubans fair measure of au- tOnomy, as Campos did at the close of the ten years war. He has, of course, few personal followers, but the army and Spanish citizens do not want genuine autonomy, for that means government by the Cuban peo- pie.
 And it is not strange that the Gu bans say it comes too late. I have never had any communication, direct or indirect, with the Cuban junta in this country, or any of it's members, nor did I have with any of the junta which exists in every city and large town of Cuba None of the calls I made were upon parties of whose sym pathies I had the least knowledge ex- cept that I knew some of them were classed as autonomists. Most of my informants were business men who had no side, and rarely expressed themselves. I had no means of guess ing in advance what their answers would be, and was in most cases great ly surprised at their frankness.
 SENTIMENT OF BUSINESS MEN. 'I inquired in regard to autonomy of men of wealth and men as prominent in business as any in the cities of Ha- vana, Matanzas and Sagua-bankers, merchants, lawyers and autonomist officials, some of them Spanish born but Cuban bred, one prominent Eng lishman, several of them known as autonomists, and several of them tell ing me they were still believers in au- tonomy if practicable, but without ex- 1 ception they replied that it was too late for that. Some favored a United | States protectorate, some annexation i some free Cuba-not one has been counted favoring the insurrection at i first. They were business men and wanted peace, but said it was too late for peace under Spanish sovereignty 1 They characterized Wey1er's order in i far stronger terms than I can. I could not but conclude that you do not have to scratch an autonomist very deep to find Cuban. There is soon to be an election, but every polling place must be inside fortified town Such cleo tions ought to be safe for 'ins.'
 THE STRONGEST APPEAL.
 q have endeavored to state in not | incorporate mood what I saw and heard and to make no argument there on, but leave every one to draw his own conclusions. To me the strongest appeal is not the barbarity practiced by Weyler nor the loss of the Maine, if our worst fears should prove true, ter rible as are both of these incidents, but the spectacle of a million and a half of people, the entire native popu- lation of Cuba, struggling for freedom and deliverance from the worst mis- government of which I ever had knowledge.
 But whether our action ought not to be influenced by any one or all these things, and if so, how far, is another