The evening times., 1898-12-06
an achievement that should be his
boast and his fortress
The Horrors of Havana.


Among the inexplicable mysteries Of
the war, the conditions of the surren-
der of Manila are not the most perplex-
ing and exasperating. The apparent in
difference or impotence of this Govern
ment as to the situation at Havana ever
since the signing of the protocol Is
easily first in Importance, chief in the
seriousness of its consequences and un-
paralleied in the absence of a conceiv-
able cause The protocol provided for
the immediate evacuation of Cuba by
the Spanish army. American title was
established by the signing of that docu-
ment by M. Cambon. That the Presi-
dent regarded his authority as instantly
supreme appears from the directions
which he issued for the admission Of the
supplies for the starving carried into
Havana harbor by Miss Barton and a
little later by agents of the Govern
ment. The refusal of Blanco to admit
the supplies except under impossible
conditions is known to have angered
the President who proposed to make
practical assertion of his authority, but
did not do so. When Blanco Of
fered TO allow the provisions to enter
as a matter of favor the President de-
clined, refusing to acknowledge Spanish
sovereignty and its power to confer
favor, affirming that it was this nation
that was alone supreme in Cuba
Yet in spite of this attitude, he sent
the supplies elsewhere, leaving the
wretched of Havana to starve. He left
Blanco in full command to insult, over
ride and ignore the American Commits
sioners; TO sell public property that no
longer belonged to Spain; to collect i'm
ports on duties and local taxes that be-
Ionged to Cuba; to rob the banks keep
political prisoners in jail and arrest
Cubans who cheered the American flag:
TO persist in the Weyler policy of murder
by starvation; 10 prohibit business and
prevent the Cubans from working their
farms; to issue proclamations slander-
ing the American nation, promote dis
trust and hatred of Americans and dis
tribute arms among the Cubans to en-
able them to resist American occupa-
tion. Bianco maintained the unsanitary
conditions which threatened the lives of
natives and Americans and which MUIR
dered Colonel Waring. His troops and
the undisciplined volunteers were per-
mitted TO terrorfZe the community and
threaten the looting and destruction Of
the city. When, at last, the rebellion of
his unpaid regulars frightened him, he
I resigned, gathered up his plunder and
with a parting expression Of his veno-
nous hatred and defiance of everything
American, fed to Spain. He left the
community in a horrible plight. Besides
the unpaid regulars, liable at any mo-
ment to become riotous and massacre
TIE people, he failed to disarm the un-
| paid and undisciplined volunteers who
! are worse even than the Spanish SOL
/ diers. Among the police inspectors he
| left the worst criminals who had been
! imported from the penal colonies to ter
/ roriZe Havana.
/ His going did not make any change in
! the intolerable situation. Our Govern
ment, through its Commission, has
/ recognized his successor to exercise the
] sovereignty oI SPAN, anu has SlON ii ilO
disposition to rescue the wretched city
from its suffering and its increasing
! great danger. 1t seems that we are not
TO interfere with the progress of Wey-
! lerism until the Spanish troops are en-
barked for Spain. The conditions TO
cure which We entered into a war with
that country have been allowed to con-
tinue four months after the signing of
the protocol, which provided for the
immediate surrender of Cuba. Thou
| sands Of Cubans have died and other
thousands have suffered the persecu-
tions that spurred us to war, during
these four months. Why?
The news from Havana gives a
faint indication of the situation.
A little child is brutally murdered by a
Spanish soldier for singing a Cuban
song, and the fiend is acquitted by the
Spanish courts. Where that is possible.
what undescribed horrors must there
be? Why they are permitted nobody
| has attempted to explain.