The Portland daily press. [volume] (Portland, Me.) 1862-1921, 1898-03-25
disciplined American

90, 900 well disciplined American
| soldiers"
| OF the Spanish soldiers, he said that
they, of all people on earth, would most
gladly welcome any result which would
| enable them to return to their homes.
The pictures in the American newspapers
of the starving reconcentrados are true:
| They can all be depicted by thousands. L
never saw, and, please God, may never
again see, SO deplorable sight rs the re-
concentrates in the suburbs OF MatanZas
l can never forget to my dying day the
| hopeless anguish in their despalrlng eyes
Huddled about their little bark huts they
raised no voice of appeal to us for aims as
we went among them. Men, women ano
children stand silent, furnishing. Their
only appeal comes from their snd eyes,
through which one looks as through an
open window into their agonizing SOULS
| In Matanzas the people had done all
they possibly could do for the reconcen'
trados, but it was too true that many
Matanzas people who resided in Il ne
houses scarcely knew where their own
next meal was to come from. The gov
ernor of Matanzas, Mr.. Ihurston said.
could see no end to this condition of
affairs, and could suggest no relief except
through the United States.
| The government of Spain has not and
| will not appropriate one dollar to save
these people. They are now being at
| tended and nursed and administered to
| by the charity of the United States.
Think of the spectacle. We are eding
| those citizens of Spain; we are nursing
their sick; we are saving such as can be
| saved, and yet there are those who will
say it is not right for us to send food but
we must keep hands off.
| say that the time has come when
| muskets ought to go with the food.
1 shall refer to these things no further.
They are there. God pity me. 1 have
| seen them. They will remain in my mind
| forever, and this is almost the twentieth
century. Christ died 1900 years ago and
| Spain is a Christian nation; she has set
up more crosses in more lands, beneath
more skies, and under them has butchered
more people than all the nations COM
bined
Europe may tolerate her existence as
long as tho people of the Old World wish.
God grant that before another Christmas
morning the last vestige Of Spanish
tyranny and oppression will have
vanished from the western hemisphere.
| Twice within the past two years, Mr..
Thurstcn said, he had voted for resolu-
| ton recognizing the belligerency OF the
Cuban insurgents, but he was satisfied it
was now too late to accord them bell1ger-
emit rights or even merely to recognize the
ind dependence of the Cuban republic. The
Republican platform, he said, demanded
that the United States shall actively use
it's influence for the independence OF the
| island. I am not here to criticise the
present administration. yield to no man
living in my respect, my admiration for
and my confidence in the Judgment. the
wisdom, the patriotism, the Americanlsm
of William Mckinley.
| Mr.. Thurston then recounted the steps
which the President has taken upon the
Cuban question, during the past year.
cit was the policy of the President to
give the liberal ministry of Spain a liberal
time in which to test it proposed
autonomy. That time has been given.
Autonomy is conceded the wiue world
over to be a conspicuous failure. The
situation in Cuba has only changed for
| the worse.
Sagasta is powerless; Blanco is power
less to put an end to the conflict, to
establish the island or to relieve the
| suffering, starvation and distress.
The time for action has then come No
| greater reason for it can exist tomorrow
than exists today. Every hours delay
only adds another chapter to the awful
story of misery and death. Only one
power can intervene, the United States of
America. Ours Is the one great nation of
| the world, the mother of American re-
publics. She holds position of trust and
responsibility TOWARDS the people and the
affairs of the whole western hemisphere.
1t was her glorious example which in
spired the Cubans to raise the flag of
| liberty in ner eternal hills. We cannot
refuse to accept this responsibility which
| the God of the universe has placed upon
he, as the one great power in the new
world. We must act.
"What shall te our action?''
| Mr. nthurx on hripfiv advarted IN fha r,r0-
positions of recognizing the belligerency
or the independence of the Cubans only
| to say that it was too late for either. As
to annexation ne said: "God forbid.
would. oppose annexation with my last
breath. The people of Cuba are not our
people; they cannot assimilate with us !;
and beyond all that l am utterly and
unalterably opposed to any departure from
the declared policy of the fathers which
would start this republic for the first time
\ upon a career of conquest and dominion
| utterly at variance with the declared pur-
poses and the manifest destiny OF popular
government. Let the world understand
that the United States does not propose to
annex Cuba, and it is not seeking a foot
of Cuban soil or a dollar of Spanish
| treasure
| He said the Cubans themselves would
never listen to the proposition to secure
peace by broad autonomy. Any at,
| tempt to enforce such a plan. would
| simply transfer the subjuRation of the
| Cuban patriots to the armies of the
| United States.
AS to the plan of the United States to
guarantee Cuban purchase bonds, Mr..
Thurston declared:
1.-THE American people will never con-
sent to the payment of one dollar, to the
guaranteeing of one bond, as the price
paid to Spain for her REIMBURSEMENT of
| the island she has so wantonly outraged
and devastated.
"Mr. President. only one action is possible.
| if any is taken, that is Intervention for the
| independence of the island-intervention
| that means the landing of an American
army ON Cuban soil the donloYing of an