Richmond daily palladium. [volume] (Richmond, Ind.) 1876-1904, 1898-05-17

soldier In the army to help the gIorfou.
j republic avenge that national disgrace
"You Americans make great mis-
take If you think that You can drive
| Spain off this island within q shor,
| time. IL will take six months at least,
perhaps longer. No one knows bettel
/ than l the ability of the Spaniards a.
fighters. Spaniards are fools They are
cruel animals. They are quiSotic. But
| they are brave. Oh, yes. they are brave
They Will fight 10 the bitter end. Moth
| ing but the Aercest kind of fighting can
drive them out of Cuba. / fear tina,
Americans will exercise too much leni
ency and forbearance in dealing with
the Spaniards. When did Spaniards ev-
er show any leniency or humanity in
war or at any other time for that mat
ter: Why should Americans treat them
in any other way than that in which
they have always treated Cubans and
every other people whom they have
come in contact with? This blockading
Of seaports is all right as far as it goes.
but ii does not go far enough. l do not
believe that is will evar make Spain let
go her grip on Cuba. at least for long
time. The navy will go on blockading
for the next six months. Nothing will
have been accomplished. The Ameri-
cans viii be tired and disguised, and
then Spain will ask for an armistice
The United states will grant it. and
that will put an end TO the war.
DO you want American infantry to
help the Cubans?'' the correspondent
asked.
General Gomez twirled his beard for
moment before he answered;
We don't want them now; perhaps
we shall later on, but certainly not at
present. When the rainy season is be-
ginning. as it is at present, American
soldiers would die of fever as fast as the
Spaniards have done. Then, after all,
what do we want of American soldiers
anyway: If the Americans will only
take the seaports. the Cubans can take
care of the rest-if they only have the
necessary arms and ammunition. That
Is what we want from the United
States-ammunition, not men. 1t is not
necessary to specify what kind. Any
ammunition that they Will send us will
be thankfully received Yes, we want
artillery. We want rif1es-Remington
for Mausor bullets. Our men are most
accustomed TO THESE, ana we want car
tridges. We want clothes. too, but not
so badly as guns and ammunition. Let
them be sent at once and in large guam
titles and we will take care of the
Spaniards in the interior of Cuba l am
ready to change my mode of warfare.
There will soon be a union of my forces
with those of General Garcia. and we
expect to have some pitched battles with
the Spaniards We shall probably move
westward toward Havana in the near
future, but none of this can be accom-
plisbed until we have ammunition. Tell
the Americans TO send us ammunition. ~
General Gomez S views regarding the
landing of American troops are not
shared by many of his officers. The ma
jority of them told the commission that
they would welcome American infantry
as they would Cubans. What we want
to see is American soldiers and we can
not see them any too soon, said a colo
nel of the staff. MY only fear is that
a good many Cubans would leave their
and join the Americans. |
where they know they could obtain
plenty of food and ammunition without
any difficulty