The morning news. [volume] (Savannah, Ga.) 1887-1900, 1898-05-29
A RECORD OF CRUELTY.
historic BARBARITIES PRACTICED
BY SPAIN.
Treachery at La Guayra and Puerto
CaveIIO-Spain in MexicO-The Ris-
ing Under HidnIgO.

\
much-mixed blood of Spain comes from
the old Iberian or Celtic stock or from the
/ invading Vandals, Goths and Visgoths, or
the iater infusion from Northern Africa,
/ or whether it is a result of the mixture,
there is no doubt that it exists and is al
most as malignant to-day as it showed it
self centuries ago. Weyler's atrocious pol
| icy of massacre and starvation in Cuba,
of the cruelty of which he and his admir-
ers in Spain seem to be quite unconscious,
is not the only evidence of its persistence.
We need not recall the historic barbara
ties of the old conquestadors like Cortez
and Pizarro, the horrors of the Duke of
Alvas rule in the Netherlands when 1t
was subject to Spain. or the abominable
incidents of the expulsion of the Moors
These things occurred centuries ago. but
when the corrupt and oppressive rule of
Spanish authority produced the insurrec-
ton OF the South American provinces there
HAD been no improvement. It is shown by
Spanish official documents that in Vene-
zUela, New Grenada, and Ecuador $1,000
! prisoners of war We're sacrificed in cold
blood by hanging, shooting, and other
MODES OF execution This is apart from
NAAC A4NlNiiSSS slaughter III captured towns.
where, il is declared in official dispatches
that sueh or such pueblo with ali its
/ inhabitants has disappeared from the face
OF the earth" When the Venezuelan
chet, Miranda, surrendered to Gen Mon
teVerde in 1872, 1000 revolutionists deliver
ed up their arms under an express stipula-
ton OF amnesty and oblivion of the past
ana OF security to life and property. How
! Spanish faith was kept is related in this
| historical account of the sequel:
As soon as the revolutionary troops
were disarmed throughout the province
Monteverde sent parties of dissolute SOL
! dlery to seize almost every respectable
| Creole in the province They
! Were torn from the arms of
| wives and children. bound to
horses tails, and thus brought TO the City
| of Caracas After being exposed to tb,
SCOTS and insults of a brutal soldiery. thew
| were thrown into close and damp dungeons
! crowded together In manner more dread
tui than the victims who persisted in the
! Black Hole of Calcutta.
| ABOUT l5O0 Creoles of the highest respec-
| liability in the country were chained in
! pairs, conducted TO the horrid dungeons
OF La Guayra and Puerto Cavello where
IN a Few weeks many of them persisted by
suffocation and diseases"
OF the city was literally overlooking with
ui2tlon disclaimed a Madrid? On the con-
trary, II was distinctly approved and
decree of the Cortes dated April 10, 1873
mas been preserved, which declared: THAT
II was derogatory to the majesty of the
national congress to CONFIRM a capitula-
'ion made with malignant Insurgents"
When Bolivar as chief of the revolu-
uohary forces in Venezuela, had gained
ascendency in most of The country he
held over 1900 Spanish prisoners, whom he
oUered TO exchange for about $50 pa,
trIots' in the hands of the royal com
mandant at Puerto Cavello The offer was
rot
Creole" prisoners were shot daily ON tbe
ramparts until all We're killed as an os-
tentatious display of mplacable cruelty
In June, 1916, the Spanish Gen. Morillo
entered Bogota, the capital of New Grena-
da, and he declared in one of his own dis
patches that "all persons, of either sex,
capable of reading or writing were treated
as rebels" and that he hoped "by cutting
OFF all who could read or write effectually
10 arrest the spirit of revolution" A writ
er OF the times says: every person in
Santa Fe (de Bogota) and in Carthegena
who had been distinguished for their
learning or their eminence In science, or
who had he'd stations in the provincial
administratiO and in the Congress- with
their wives and daughters, were thrown
into ioathsome dungeons. Six hundred of
them were hanged or shot and their bodies
exhibited on gibbets. All the females who
were accomplished in literature, of which
there were many, suffered the same fate"
Among the victims We're the learned
and benevolent Mulis, of whom Humboldt
mad spoken in terms of admiration; Loza-
no and CaldoS, who were his disciples in
philosophy; distinguished chemist and
several other men of science who had not
borne arms nor held any public trust ." In
answer to remOnstrance and appeal in be
half of the venerable Muljs Gen Morillo
declared that learned Creoles were more
dangerous enemies than the insurgents in
arms.
Similar deeds characterize the efforts 10
suppress revolution in the provinces fur
ther south. A manifesto issued by the
Congress of the Rio de la Plata provinces
at Buenos Ayres in October, 1876 contains
a statement Of the dongs of the royal
commandant Goyeneche, from which the
following quotations are made: "Wher-
ever this Nero went death and devastat ton
marked his path. A gesture, a couded
visage, an indiscreet word, a tear stealing
down the cheek was crime of state . = $
In the district of Vale Grande they in
| dulged themselves in the brutal sport Of
| cutting off the ears of the natives and
transmitting a pannier full of them to
| headquarters. They afterWard destroyed
| the town by fire, burnt about forty popu-
lous villages of Peru, and took a helllsh
| pleasure in shutting up the inhabitants
in their houses before setting them on fire
10 order that their unhappy victims might
be burnt alive
A rare book, written by an American cit
izen named Robinson. who escaped from
Mexico during the revolution there, after
being kept in a foul dungeon for months
! in violation of a royal indulto" granted
TO him by the Spanish commander, relates
| many scenes in the revolt which led to the
independence of Mexico that wildly illus
trate the innate and incurable cruelty Of
the Spanish character. The book was pub
lished ia Philadelphia in 1920. before Next
can independence had been established
and few copies now exist.
AT ,the time of the rising under Hidalgo
in 1910 Nanegas was the Spanish Viceroy
and decreed that whoever should be TAX
en- with arms in their hands should be
shot whether they were clergy or not, or
| IN whatever numbers" The Archbishop Of
Mexico declared all the insurgents to be
hcretics" and the Corenlado, or Board OF
| Trade. of Mexico. composed of European
! members, afterward solemnly declared, in
| a DOCUMENT sent 20 the Spanish Cortes and
there seriously received, that the Amer
leans were a race of monkeys, filed with
vice and ignorance-automata. unworthy
M