The daily morning journal and courier. [volume] (New Haven, Conn.) 1894-1907, 1898-03-08

ably fed, beaten with whips and bella
bored with swords for any petty Of
Tense. / am told that the Spanish
heart is afiame with patriotism; that
boys barely out of petticoats are wild
to come to Cuba, or to fight the United
States for alleged interference; and
that mothers, who have already lost
sons on the battlefield and in the hos
pitfalls of this refractory island, are
eager to give all the rest in defence of
the honor of Spain. But the soldiers
themselves do not look it. Understood,
undrilled and dispirited, their appear
ance is not calculated to strike terror
to the hearts of any foe. On the con-
trary, many of them are really pitia-
BILE objects. OF the forty thousand sol
diers of Spain who are now in the hos
pitfalls of Cuba, more than half are
there from weakness and exhaustion,
the result of insufficient nourishment.
They have not been paid for months,
and it is impossible to find food for all
in this overcrowded and impoverished
island. 1t is a common spectacle to see
a beggar in the uniform of the royal
army; and often when the starving
| Reconcentrados have received their
weeks supply from the bounty of the
United States, it is taken from them
by physically stronger, but almost
equally hungry soldiers. Yet 10000 new
soldiers are expected to arrive this
week from Spain and preparations
are being made to receive them with
the usual fuss and feather. Always
when a new regiment comes the hous-
es of Havana are bedecked with flags,
bands play, men embrace and kiss one
another after the effusive Spanish
fashion and shouts of viva espanaw
fill the air; the newly arrived officers
are wined and dined and each private
is presented with silver dollar. Poor
lads, 1t is the last prso they will
see for many a day and more of them
will succomb to smallpox, yellow
fever and calentura than will die on
the field of battle-far more than will
ever see home again.
There is always more or less yellow
fever in Havana, but at this time of
| year it is not considered contagious.
In the hospital de San Ambrosio,
where have gone every day for a
week to visit the few wounded men of
the Maine who yet remain here,
there are at present only five cases of
| yellow fever in it's wards-much below
| the usual percentage, it is said. AS to
smallpox, there is to-day hardly a
case of it in the city; yet-''for the
| protection of the United States" so
say the extremely impolite doctor in
charge of that branch of Uncle Sam S
| interest-all persons leaving for that
| country must be vaccinated four days
in advance of departure, or exhibit
satisfactory marks of recent VAGINA
| ton. Nobody's word for it will an
swer, nor the certificate of any repu-
table physician; each must go to the
| consulate and expose him or herself
| then and there, or remain in Cuba. If
that sort of thing is insisted on the
year around, proper conveniences
should be provided for the victims, at
least private room to which ladies
| may retire while taking off their bas-
| ques. The office is large public room
on the ground floor, with windows
| open to the street, clerks sitting at
| desks and men constantly coming and
going, the only attempt at privacy be-
| ing a little screen behind which one
| may partially hide.
4 Yesterday went out on the bay in a
steam yacht, with a party Of Cuban
ladies and gentlemen, to get a near
view of the wreck of the Maine
Such a melancholy heap of old iron as
is our once beautiful war vessel, with
a single spar standing upright, on
| which a ragged American flag floats
at half mast. There are yet bodies
underneath it, probably so or more
and the swarm of black vultures, the
scavenger- birds of Cuba, which cir
Gle around it and perch upon every
available point, offer gruesome sug-
gestions. A diver was going down as
we approached, after the two officers
who are supposed to lie near the
strong box, and a nearby boat bore
several collins ready to re-
ceive any remains that might be
brought up. 1t is inconceivable how
the big, beautiful war-vessel could be
reduced in the twinkllng OF an eye to
!, such a pile of rubbish. The great ca
tastrophe is still the talk of the hour in
Havana and has greatly intensified
the bitter feeling between the races.
Many declare with certainty that the
Cubans did 1t in order to force the
United tates to make war upon Spain
and SO aid the cause of Cuba Libre;
while others assert with equal posi-
tiveness that the Spaniards were re-
4 sponsible for the disaster with the
same end in view, becausa-since they
cannot overcome the rebels, they wish
to lose the island with less dishonor to
Spain, through being conquered by a
stronger foreign power. Officers of the
Maine say that 1t was not possible for
bomb to have been put beneath her,
large enough to have any effect upon
that enormous mass of steel and iron
as her keel lay within two feet of the
mud at the bottom of the harbor. On
that dreadful night of the explosion
when the air was filled with the
shrieks of the wounded and groans OF
the dying, some lunatic on the wharf
raised the cry of death to the Ameri-
cans" There are cranks everywhere
you know, and a nation cannot be
made responsible for them. But since
then many Spaniards have been heard
to say exultantly that now 'the Yam
KEGS" have no more gunboats thar
1 b.