The herald., 1898-04-12
RECOGNITION IS NOT NOW fXPfDIENT
Spain Having Shown Her Inability to Subdue
the Instruction or to Keep Order on the
Island, the President Asks for
Authority to Intervene

WASHINGTON. April 1.-THE President
today sent the following message to the
Congress of the United States:
Obedient to that precept of the consti.
tuition which commands the President tc
give from time to time the Congress In
formation of the state of the Union and
to recommend to their consideration such
measures as he shall judge necessary and
expedient, 1t becomes my duty now to ad-
dress your body with regard to the grave
condition that has arisen in the relation OF
the United States to Spain by reason Of the
warfare that for more than three years
has ragged in the neighboring island of
Cuba. do so because of the intimate
connection Of the Cuban question with the
state Of our own Union and the grave re-
lation the course which is now incumbent
upon the nation to adopt must needs bear
to the traditional policy of our government
II 1t Is to accord with the precepts laid
down by the founders of the republic and
religiously observed by succeeding admin
istrations to the present day.
The Cuban Rebellion
The present revolution is but the sue
cessor Of other similar instructions which
have occurred in Cuba against the domin-
ion OF Spain, extending over a period of
nearly half century, much of which.
during its progress, has subjected the
United States to great effort and expense
in enforcing its neutrality laws, caused
enormous losses to the American trade and
commerce, caused irritation. annoyance
and disturbance among our citizens and by
the exercise OF cruel barbarous and unciv-
ilized practices Of warfare. shocked fhe
sensibilities and offended the humane SYM
pathies of our people.
Since the present revolution began In
February, 1895, this country has been the
fertile domain at our threshold ravaged
by fire and sword in the course Of strug-
gle unequaled in the history Of the island
and rarely paralleled as to the number
of the combatants and the bitterness of
the contest by any revolution Of modern
times where dependent people, striving
to be free. have been opposed by the pow
er of the sovereign state. Our people have
beheld once prosperous community re-
duced to comparative want, its commerce
virtuallx paralyzed, its exceptional pro-
ductivehess diminished, it's fields laid
waste, its mills in ruins and it's people
perishing by tens of thousands from hun
ger and destitution. We have found our
selves constrained in the observance of
that strict neutrality which our laws en-
Join and which the laws of nations COM
mand, to police our own waters and
watch our own seaports in prevention of
any unlawful 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 sorely tried as to be-
get perilous unrest among our own citi-
zens, which inevitably found it's expression
from time to time in the National Legisla-
turc. That issue is wholly external to our
own body polite, engrosses attention and
stand In the way of that close devotion to
domestic advancement that becomes a
seif-contented 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 gov
ernment as we'll during my predecessors
rs my own administration.
Offer Of Mediation
In April, 1895, the evils from which our
country suffered through the Cuban war
became SO onerous that my predecessor
made an effort to bring about a peace
through the mediation of this government
In any way that might tend to an hon
orable adjustment of the contest between
Spain and her revolving colony, on the basis
OF some effective scheme of self-govern-
ment for Cuba under the flag and soyer-
signty of Spain. 1t failed, through the
refusal Of the Spanish government then
n power to consider any form of media
tion or. indeed. any plan Of settlement
which did not begin with the actual sub
mission Of the insurgents to the mother
country, and then only on such terms "A
Spain herself might see fit to grant. The
war continued unabated. The assistance
Of the insurgents was in no wise dimin-
ished.
Horrors Increase
The efforts Of Spain were increased. both
by the dispatch Of fresh levIes to Cuba
and by the addition to the horrors Of the
strife.
The new and inhuman phase, happily
unprecedented in the modern history Of
civilized Christian people, the policy of
devastation and concentration. inaugurat-
ed by the Captain-General's bando Of
October q, 1895. In the province of Pinar
del Rio, was thence extended to embrace
all of the island to which the power of
tho Spanish arms was able to reach bv
occupation or by military operations. The
peasantry. including all dwelling in tho
open agricultural interior, were driven
into the garrison towns or isolated places
held by the troops. The raising and move
ment OF provisions of all kinds were in
terdicted. The fields were laid waste.
dwellings unroofed and fired, mills de-
stroyed and, In short, everything that
could desolate the land and render II unfit
for human habitation or support was
commanded by one or the other of the con-
tending parties. and executed by all the
powers at their disposal.
BY the time the present administration
TOOK office year ago, a Recommendation
so-called, had been made effective over the
better part of the four central and west
ern provinces, Santa Clara Matapxas. Ha-
vana and Pinar del Rio. The aericultura,
population to the estimated number of 800
eW or more. was hsrdsd within the towns