Richmond dispatch. [volume] (Richmond, Va.) 1884-1903, 1898-04-10
The Rccontrndos.
CNow York Times.)

|
| 2. v,ss the condition OF the reconcen-
| trados that brought on the latest Crisis
| Ia Cuhan affairs. The crisis mas sun
| boon rendered much more acutc 10y N"
| destruction Of the Maine. but uhuoupI-
Cdiv fbe two chief factors IN the produc-
| ION Of the present temper Of the Amerl-
can people are the official report whie'l
| dealt with the destruction OF the Maine
and what was virtually l"s Clhcldl iSpCi !
| OF Senator Proctor upon the ccnIluon
| Of the reconccntrados. Upon TINS SuDJect
fhero are many other reports, formaiIy as
well as virtually official. tron our Con
suls in Cuba in the possession OF the
President lie has not yet transmitted
them To Congress for two reasons almost
equally obvious. one Is Il at as soon as
they are published the lives OF thelr au-
thors would no logger be s9.e IN Clba.
The other Is that the disclosures tney
make are such that as soon as ,hey AZ :
published there VII b. no holding the
American people. and the reports are
withheld as inham.nato-y matter.
But meanwhile the point is raised that
the reconcentradOs would he worse OIL IN
case Of war than they are now. Inns ms
point Is raised ny persons wn"se poSluVh
is entitled 20 every respect. ana dIso py
persons whose position IS entitled 10 no
respect. II IS raised by those VINO are
deeply impressed. as indeei every sane
adult must be. by n sense or Ire MOI fors
Of war. and who stil believe tnat we
propose to ourselves to gam by war. IL
is raised also by those whose position Is
mere opposition, and VINO are always
moved TO take the other side.
II rs the latter class that Is entltled 10
no respect while the former is entitled 10
every respect For these II is worth
while to explain that in the event or war
the opening of some Cuban port or ports
through which our supplies WCulu icdch
the Insurgents. and Therefore the recon-
would a
weeks and scarcely Of days. Inc span
ish navy's patrol of the coast OF Cupa
has been entirely Intellectual, even against
the CubanS. one of the spanish gre
vances against us is that we have rot en-
tirely succeeded in stopping all point OF
our coast to prevent the escape 81 MI
clustering expeditions" although II is no
torious that all that has been eHecuNely
done in this direction has been Done py
us As soon as q tug escapes our paTol
her VOYAGE was as good as successfully
ended. tor the Spanish patrol could not
prevent her from reaching her desIna-
ton. Does anybody imagine that Wnat
the Spanish navy could not do against
the opposition of the insurgents It can
do against the opposition of the insur-
gents aided by the United states navy!
Without doubt we could at once take
possession Of Cuban ports and send sup
plies to Cuban nOn-combatants with even
less resistance than we have hitherto en-
countered. The Spanish officials have
not had the face directly TO resist our
efforts to ameliorate the condition OF
these wretched people. They have even
been shaped by us into pretending 10 APP
propriate Spanish money for their relief.
But in indirect ways. such as complain
ing that smuggling was covered under the
mantle of American charity. they nave
INSTRUCTED our efforts 10 administer re
lief. For each reconcentrado who might
suffer from a declaration of war it seems
safe to say that there are five who would
he rescued from suffering by an open
declaration of war which should put an
end 10 the state ST things of which Sen
ator Proctor said: "It is not peace, nor
is il war. It is desolation and distress,
misery, and starvation"