St. Johnsbury Caledonian. [volume] (St. Johnsbury, Vt.) 1867-1919, 1898-08-31

Importance and the condition Of your
command daily General Miles then
reported the condition Of affairs to the
lecretary Of war, with whom he had
been In conference.
I'm one of his kilograms to General
Miles Secretary Alger says: AS soon
as Santiago falls, the troops must all
be put In camp as comfortable as they
can be made and remain, l suppose,
until the fever has had its rum Cen
eral Miles did not agree with Alger, Tor
on July Il, In letter, the general COM
handing urged the return OF the army
to the United States as soon as possible
July II, after the surrender was COM
plete, General Shafter wired as follows
to General Miles: Letters and orders
In reference to movement OF camp re-
celved and will be carried out. No one
Is more anxious to get away from mere
than myself. 1t seems from your or
ders given me that you regard my
forces as a part of your command.
Nothing would give me greater pleasure
than serving you, general, and I shall
comply with all your requests and di-
rections; but was told by the secretary
that you were not to supersede me In
command here.
General Miles very promptly replied
as follows: Have no desire and have
earthly avoided any appearance of su-
rerseding you. Your command Is a
part of the United States army, which
/ have the honor to command, having
/ l,,lx, nd oI
by the president to go wherever l
thought my presence required and give
such general directions as l thought
best concerning military matters, and
especially directed to go to Santiago
for specific purpose. You will also
notice that the orders of the secretary
of war, of July Is left the matter to my
discretion. 1 should regret that any
event should cause either yourself or
any part of your command to cease to
be part of mine
I'm view Of the situation as revealed
| by the above kilograms, the following
statement contained in the New York
Herald of recent date is quoted: If
my cablegrams to Major General Shafter
informing him that Major General Miles
was not sent to supersede him in SUI
preme command of the troops in the field
at Santiago de Cuba prevented the
storming of the city on the day of it's
surrender, thus resulting in the saving
OF lives, which otherwise would have
been lost In the attack, then l am re-
paid for sending it thousand fold. My
cablegram to General Shafter was
simply due to my desire to assure him
that l intended to be absolutely fair
Before his departure from Washington,
General Miles and had talked the mat
ter over, and he started for Cuba, know
ing that he was not in any way to inter-
fere with the operations which We're
under the control of General Shafter.
That there could be no doubt whatever,
] cabled General Shafter, informing him
that General Miles had left for Cuba
with instructions not to in any manner
supersede him as commander of the
troops in the field at Santiago de Cuba,
and. as l have said, If my message pre-
vented a battle on the morning of the
day the city surrendered, then l am re-
paid a thousandfold.'
Distress In Russia.
st. Petersburg, Aug 29.-Owing to the
failure of the harvests in seven districts
OF the government of Kazan and in the
provinces of Samara, Saratof Simbrik
Vitaka and Perm where the crops are
almost worthless, and even the landed
gentry are beginning to ask the govern.
ment for relief the government is adopt
ing measures to relieve the sufferers
But the distress is becoming more acute
every day. The peasants are denudine
their cottages of the thatches in orde
10 feed the stock. In spite of this, cattl,
and horses are dying in great numbers
The government officials are very SLOW
In putting the relief measures into eff
feet, and the only relief thus far ha
been the granting of permission to tn,
peasants to gather faggots in the wood
for fuel and to collect dried leaves 70
fodder. The peasants are exhausted
from lack of food, and unless the prom
ised supplies are speedily sent to then
the suffering among the peasantry will
be terrible.