Herald and news. [volume] (West Randolph, Vt.) 1878-1943, 1898-04-12

congress:
The Congress of the United States:
Obedient to that precept Of the con-
stitution which commands the presi-
dent to give from time to time the con-
| gress information of the state of the
union. and TO recommend to their con-
sideration such measures as he shall
judge necessary and expedient. II be-
comes my duty now 10 address your body
with regard TO the grave crisis that has
| arisen 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.
/ do so because OF the intimate connec-
tion Of the Cuban question with the
| state of our union and the grave rela-
tion the course which II is now incum-
bent upon the nation to adopt must
needs bear to the traditional policy OF
our government IL IL is to be In accord
with the precepts laid down by the
founders of the republic and religiously
observed by succeeding administrations
to the present day.
| The present revolution Is but the sue
cessor OF other similar Instructions
which have occurred In Cuba against
the dominion of Spain. extending over
period of nearly half a century. each of
which. during its progress has subject
ed the United States to great effort and
expense in enforcing its neutrality laws,
caused enormous losses to American
trade and commerce. caused irritation,
annoyance and disturbance among our
citizens, and by the exercise of cruel.
ho, ,.l<. 9
warfare, shocked the sensibilities and
offended the humane sympathles OF our
people.
Since the present revolution began in
February, 1895. this country has seen
the fertile domain at our threshold raw
aged by fire and sword in the course of n
struggle unequalled In the history of
the island and rarely paralleled as to the
humber of the combatants and the Bit
rerness of the contest by any revolution
of modern times. where a dependent peo-
pie. striving to be free. have been OPP
posed by the power of the sovereign
state. Our people have beheld a once
prosperous community reduced to COM
parative want, its lucrative commerce
virtually paralyzed. its exceptional pro-
ductiveness diminished, its fields laid
waste, its mills In ruins and its people
perishing by tens OF thousands from
hunger and destitution We have
found ourselves constrained, in the OBJ
servance of that strict neutrality which
our laws enjoin and which the law of ma
tions commands. to police our own wa
tiers and watch our own seaports in pre-
vention of any unlawful act in aid of
the Cubans Our trade has suffered the
capital invested by our citizens in Cuba
has been largely lost. and the temper
and forbearance of our people have been
so severely tried as to beget a perilous
unrest among our own citizens, which
has inevitably found expression from
time to time in the national legislature.
SO that issues wholly external to our
own body polite engross attention and
stand In the way of that close devotion
TO domestic advancement that becomes
a self-contained commonwealth. whose
primal maxim has been the avoidance of |
all foreign entanglements. All this
must needs awaken and has indeed
aroused the utmost concern on the part
OF this government as well as during my |
predecessors term as my own.
In April. 1896. the evils from which our |
country suffered through the Cuban
war became so onerous that my prede- |
cessor made an effort to bring about a |
peace through the mediation of this gov |
ernment in any way that might tend to |
an honorable adjustment of the contest |
between Spain ard her revolving colony. I
on the basis of some effective scheme of |
self government for Cuba under the flag /
and sovereignty of Spain. 1t failed. !
through the refusal of the Spanish gov
ernment then in power to consider any |
form OF mediation or. indeed. any plan |
of settlement which did not begin with
the actual submission of the insurgents
to the mother country. and then only on
such terms as Spain herself might see At
to grant. The war continued unabated.
The resistance of the insurgents was In
no wise diminished
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 unprecedented in the
modern history of civilized Christian
peoples. The policy OF devastation and
inaugurated by the cap
tain general. Bando. OF Oct. 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 arms
was able to reach by occupation or by
operations.
The peasantry. including all dwelling
n the open agricultural interior, were
driven into the garrison towns or iso-
ated places held by the troops. Tho
raising and movement of provisions of
All kinds were interdicted. The fields
we're laid waste. dwellings unroofed and
1red. mills destroyed. and. in short. ev-
.rything that could desolate the land and
render il unfit for human habitation or
support was commanded by one or the
1ther of the contesting parties and exc
Iuted by all the powers at their dis
nosal