The Anderson intelligencer. [volume] (Anderson Court House, S.C.) 1860-1914, 1898-03-16

In case of Il war between the nitcd
States and Spain the island If Cuba
would be freed irom Spanish rule
much more easily than is ally
imagined This country would not
need to send Il larrc army t. the is
land to fight the Spaniard: in the
field. Neither would it need to bonn
Lard llabaua nor attack it in any other
way. Perhaps the war would end a.
far - Cuba is concerned, without the
Americans firing Il single shot either
- land or sea. Though these state
ncnts may at first appear astonishing,
:hcy are the mere logical conclusion
20 be derived from the knowledge Of
.hc real state Of affairs in the etrug
elin@ island.
The Spaniard> with an army of 100.
sec men. of which not I'll. UU0 are reg
ular troops, all that is left Of tIlc20O,-
noO soldiers sent from Spain since
1888. and decimatcd by battle and
sickness. control only the scapnrts
and the strongly Fortified towns Of the
interior. The country from east to
west is in the hands Of the insurgents.
The eastern part Of the island, includ-
ing Santiago lie Cuba and Puerto
Principe, is held By the Cuban gcncr-
ais, Calixto Garcia, Jesus l'abi and
Lopc liccio Loynaz. There the Gu
bans are stronger than in any other
section Of the island. They have in
these two provinces 2 1000 lncn at
least, armed and with plenty Of am
munition. There they hold the Span
the recent defeats Of t;cn. Pando in
Santiago lie Cuba, at the entrance Of
the Cauto river, and Of Gen. Jimcncz
0astlcllanos at La Espcranza, almost
within sight Of Puerto Principe city,
show conclusively what the power Of
the Eubans is iii the east.
The central part Of the island, that
is to say, the province of Santa Clara,
is controlled by Gen. Maxine Gomez.
The Cuban chief has at
least 10000 men there under his or
dcrs, with Carrillo, Mo%ntcagudo, AL
varcz and several others as subordi-
nate commanders.
There are about 5000 insurgents in
the provinces Of Mantanzas and Ila-
hama. This is where the Cubans arc
weakest, the Spanish fortified towns
being nearer to Ii another and the
Spanish army more numerous. But
nevertheless they have strength
enough to keep up a very lively gucr-
rilla warfare, raiding almost daily the
most important towns and making
dasiling attacks on the outskirts of
lIabana city itself. The recent death
of their plucky leader, Gen. Arangu-
ren, has not abated their ardor. Gen.
Be%tancourt, Gen. Alexandra Rodri-
guez, Gen. Rafael de C~ardcnas, and
Coils. Davalos, Collaxo and others are
cutting out a great deal Of work every
day for the Spanish and guerrillas in
the Iiahana and Mantanxas provinces.
Pinar del Rio province, the western
extremity, is a Cuban stronghold.
The Cubans there are as .,trong as in
Santa Clara and hold the long and i'm
pregnable chain Of mountains extend
ing through the province. They do
not allow the Spaniards to get out of
their towns ticns. Delgado and Du-
east are the principal Cuban leaders in
that province.
The result Of this situation is that
the Spaniards cannot exist OIL the pro
ducts Of the country in any part OF
the island. The country near the
towns was laid waste by Gen. Wcyler
and the gaunt spectre Of famine stalks
all over Cuba. The determination of
the peaccable inhabitants by hunger
is going on rapidly. All these facts
are too notorious to be denied ut this
time. The reconeentraaos, Or NON
ccmhstasts, starye aud die by tkeus-
anas emily because the country M
which they exclusively depend, is not
producing food. The insurgents keep
Genes Of cultivation Of their own,
where they raise vegetables and store
their cattle. but they do act divide
their provisions with the nen-con-
hatants, nor dc they allow vegetables
to be raised or cattle Kept by IN one
but themselves, because it 10 sheir
Peliey to prevent the Spanish array
fron obtaining any kind Of resources
in the country.
The Spanish army, therefore, ex-
elusively depends upon the provisions
ina ported from abroad. Kiee. hean,