The Globe-republican., 1898-04-14

WASHINGTON, April 1.-The Pres
ident to-day sent the following mes
sage to the Congress of the United
States:
Obedient to that precept OF the constitu-
ton which commands the President to
give from ii me to time the Congress infor-
nation of the state of the union and to rec
ommend to their consider alton such meas
ures as he shall judge necessary and expe-
dent it becomes my duty now to address
your body with regard to the grave crisis
that has arts. n 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
Duty to tho Country's Traditions.
lido so because of the intimate connec-
ton of the CubaE question with the state OF
our own union and the grave relation the
course which IS now incumbent upon the
nation to adop: must needs bear to the ira
ditional 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 generations to the
present day.
Fifty Years Of Insurrection.
The present revolution il but the success
sor of other similar instructions which
have occurred in Cuba against the domin-
ion of SPAIN extending over a period OF
nearly half a century, each OF whlc n. dur
ing its progress has subjected the United
States to great effort and expense in en-
forcing its ne utr atty laws, caused enOr-
nous losses to the American trade and
commerce caused irritation. annoyance
and disturba nee among our citizens and,
by the exercise of cruel. barbarious and
uncivaliZed practices of warfare, shocked
the s.nsibilities and offended the human
sympathies of our people.
Devastation at Our Threshold.
Since the present revolution began in
February. 1895, this cOun ~ has seen the
fertile donna in at our reshO.d ravaged bv
fire and sword in the course OF struggle
uneQualed in the history of the island and
rarel. aralleled as to the nuWb:r of the
combatants and the bi terne,S of the con-
test by any revolution f modern times
where a dependent people, striving to be
free. have been opposed by the power of the
sovereign state.
Our people have beheld a once prosperous
community reduced to comparative want,
its commerce virtually paralyzed. its ex-
ceptiOnal productiveneSS diminished its
fields laid waste. its mills in ruins ard its
people perishing bv the tens of thousands
from hunger and restitution
The Cost to Anne RIGA
We have found ourselves constr iined. in
the observance of that strict neutrality
which our laws enjOin and which the law
Of nations comma ids to police our own
waters and watch our own seaports in pre-
vention of any unlawful act in aid of the
CubanS
Oar trade has suffered: the capital in
vested by our citizens in Cuba has beef
I L., 1pcs Hn Tow Nd fowl
aace of our people have been SO sorely tried
as to begeta perilous unrest among our
own citizens. which has inevitably found
its expression from tim. to tim- in the ma
tional legislature. so that issues wholly eX-
ternal to our own body polite engrosS at
tentIon and stat in the way of that close
devotion to domestic adva zee meat that be-
comes Self-cOntented commonwealth
whose primal maxim has been the avoid
ance of all foreign ENHANCEMENT.
All this must needs awaken and has, in
deed, aroused the utmost concern on the
part or this government. as we'll during my
predecessor as my own
Spain Refused Mr.. CIeveland's Offer.
In April 1896. the evil from which our
country suffered through the Cuban war be-
came 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 honorable adj
justment of the contest between Spain and
her revOlted colony. on the basis of some
effective scheme of self government for
Cuba under the flag and sovereignty of
Spain.
spain's War Unreasonable
1t failed. through the refusal of the Span
ish government then in power to consider
any form of medi alton or indeed any plan
of settlement that did not begin with the
actual submission of the insurgents to the
mother country, and that only on such
terms as Spain herself might see 1T to
grant The war continued undated The
resistance OF the insurgents was in nowise
diminished.
Weylers Campaign OF Horror.
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
of a new and inhuman phase happily un-
precedented in the modern history of CIV
iiized Christian peoples The policy of
devastation and concentra alton. inaugural
by the captain generals bando of OCTOBER
81, 1896, In the province of Pinar del Rio
was thence extended to embrace all of the
island to which the power of the Spanish
armies was able to reach by occupation or
By military operations.
A Coastry Laid Wasta
The peasantry. including all dwelling in
the open agricultural interior, were driven
into the garrisonS towns or isolated places
by troops. The raising and movement of
provisions of all kinds were interdictcd.
The fields were laid waste. dwellings un-
rooted and fred. mills DESTROYED. and in
short everything that could desolate the
land and render it UNIT for human habita.
. ton or support was commanded by one or
the other of the contending parties. and
executed by all the powers at their disposal
AsAe 100000 Dsseituea
By the time the present administration
took once year ago. Observation-Disclosures.
caled-hAd been made effective over the
better part Of the four central and western
provin. q. Santa Clara, Natanzas. Havana
and P1nar del Rio The Agricultural popo-
or Uar& Was hee1e1 vithln the towao an1'
thetr tnneaiaee steiaa&e. derived 81 ~