Washington sentinel., 1898-04-30
The End of a Black Era.

With the advent of the Ameri
can army Of occupation in Cuba
will end the history of four hum
dred years of oppression, plunder
and iohumanity. The era OF Span
ish rule in Cuba has been the long
est period OF foreign misgoveru-
ment in the civilized world, out
side of Turkey.
Before the landing of Columbus
the island was inhabited by an in
telligent and gentle race OF Indians,
who welcomed the white invaders
as gods. The Spaniards enslaved
the kindly natives and treated
them with such relentless cruelty
that in few years the entire In
dian population OF 900, 900 was ex-
tinct and negroes had to be i'm
ported to take their PLACES.
For the next three hundred
years Cuba was treated as fenced
plantation. No trade was allowed
except through the feet author
ICED by the Government, and
Spanish officials enriched them
selves out of the opportunities Of
their positions There was one
briel period Of good government,
however. and it happened to come
just in time to preserve tranquil
lily in Cuba when all the other
Spanish colonies in America were
revolving. The delighted Span
iards rewarded Cuba's loyalty with
the title OF "The Ever Faithful
Isle" and a decree which put the
people under the absolute arbi-
trary power OF the Captain Gen
eral. This decree was issued in
1895, and under its provisions
martial law has prevailed in Cuba
for over seventy years.
Since that ti"e there have never
been twenty years of consecutive
peace in Cuba, and sometimes
revolutions have succeeded each
other at the rate OF one every six
years. In all these Spanish war
fare has been marked by char
acteristic trail Of bloody ferocity.
The proclamation Of Valmaseda
IN 1869, the first year oil the Ten
Years War, is a fair example of
theamethods adopted by he Span
ish commanders for suppressing
rebellion:
I. Every man, from the age OF
fifteen years upward, found away
from his habitation, and who does
not prove a justified motive there
for, will be shot.
q. Every habitatiol unoccupied
will be burned by the troops.
3. Every habitation from which
does not float a white flag, as
signal that its occupants desire
peace, will be reduced to ashes.
4. Women that are not living in
their own homes, or at the houses
oil their relatives, will collect in
the town of Jiguani, or Bayamo,
where maintenance will be pro-
vided. Those who do not present
themselves will be conducted fore
IDLY.
Evidently WeVler's warfare on
paci6cos and women was no nov
city.
The men who failed to conquer
the Cubans by rapine and murder
ended the Ten Years War in 1873
by soft promises Of local self-gov-
ernment. Those promises were
broken, and the old course Of op-
preston was resumed. That is
why, when the patriots again took
up arms in 1895, they resolved that
this time there should be no more
deceptive compromises, but that
the new war should end in a final
settlement.
The Spaniards on their side un-
dertook the suppression oI the rev.
olution in a spirit of barbarous
ferocity that the Kurds OF Armenia
never matched. Unable to con-
quer the Cubans in arms, they de-
liberately adopted the policy oI
exterminating the race by starving
their women and children to death
and then repeopling the depopula.
ted fields with fresh colonists from
Spain. In pursuance oil this afro.
eious programme they have mur.