Evening star., 1898-02-03
CASTELAR, ON THE CUBAN WAR.


time past, is able to be out again.
CASTELAR, ON THE CUBAN WAR.
He Compares 1t With the Former War
and Declares 1t Is Worse.
From the New York Tribune.
Emilio CASTELAR,, the great statesman and
writer, who was PRESIDENT of the Spanish
republic in 1873, las been for some years
ard is still, the principal contributor to the
"Nouvelle Revue Internationale," publish.
ed by Nine. Letizia Rattazi de Rute. Ir
the latest number Of that review CASTELAR,
continues on the Cuban question the series
of his articles. from which the following
paragraphs merit special attention:
We can affirm that never before has this
Cuban question, now of so exceptional
gravity, troubled our souls, agitated ou,
nerves. alarmed our interests and absorbed
our home and foreign policy SO much as II
does at the present hour. III revolutionary
times We did not bleed the country with
those numerous armies as we do now, which
came SO near wearing out the flower Of
youth in the desolated ambUShes of Cuba
In the revolutionary times We left to the
Island the duty of sustainr g the war at It's
own expense, and We contributed only tG
the recruiting of volunteers, who were al
ways well paid and quite satisfied. In the
revolutionary times We were not dividet
at out the Cuban question, because we con-
s.dered 1t as an eminently national ques
ton. In the revolutionary times we isolat
ed the war in the eastern part of tine island
and made it impossible to invade the fer.
tile plantations of tobacco, coffee and SUI
gar cane. which were sheltered by a wise
defense during the whole period of the rev.
clution. In the revolutionary times we an
sv cred the United States with the noble
pride of eCple conscious of It's strength
ard we confined the transatlantic wal
" h n mol hnIr dc hat
OF the limits of an ordinary riot, though II
vas the source of some injury to the moth.
er country. In those times there was a
fine crsaniz ation. Patrician families of the
old colonial and prc-slavery regime directed
1t: 1t was governed by the most experienc.
cd men in administrative affairs: a very
weli-made constitution formulated it's prin.
cipies, and a well-orgaT lied party supplied
the war with soldiers and money contribu-
ions. And we so well knew how to sur
mount all obstacles by keeping the wal
within the narrowest limits, that, thanks
to its little Importance II could hardly be
compared with the struggle maintained
CT ring some thirty years by the Dutch al
ST matra-
But We are now in an epoch when there
is blowing over Europe the wind Of a mania
FOR territorial extension. = Canovas
del Castillo left to us. the day of his
death. the Cuban question submerged in a
Pcol OF tears and of blood. . In Ed
rope the climate is neutral between the
coinbatants, while in America it fights
against us, in favor OF cur enemies
When we send our soldiers there it is to
tight against men: and it happens that
these unfortunate heroes and martyrs must
fSht. at the same time, against the ele-
ments. Nothing exciteS the enthusiasm OF
the Spanish soldier more than to have liz
front Of him tangible and palpable ene-
y: the contrary nothing ciscoura ees
ara u-nerves him more than to nave in
stead of armed rebels, to fight invisible mi
crobes.
We must consider these tropical wars
subjected to other rules than those prac-
tced in European conflicts. They are main
tained upon inaccessible mountains favor
ed by :nextricable defiles and accompanied
by the cholera in the water, by miasmatic
feverS in the air. or by devastating and
frightful sunstrokes. When it is Impossible
to arrive in time: when one does not re-
ce:ve any challenge, and when space is in
Sufficient to assemble for fighting: when an
enemy fieeS away in all directions and
when you are exposed to diseases caused
by heroic fights, it is necessary to accom-
nodate to such unfavcrable circumstances
the plan of war in which our experience
cannot help US. which our tactics cannot
know because the law Of the great number
decisive in all great fights, is in Cuba gen
orally impotent in the pursuit of rebels
1t is Indispensable, at first, to get accli-
mated, to adapt ones self to the surround
ing conditions, to possess colonial army
constituted on the basis and the model OF
tEcse heroic Cuban volunteers and the Phil
II pine nilitias, which were so useful re-
Gently in sustaining cur tropical wars,
where new soldiers are marching like sheel
or running like shadows. There is no doubt
that our Cuban war, which must and will
end in tn victory of the peninsula over its
unsratefl colonists. would have avoided
numerous evils and had n less acute phase
II, instead of transporting from the old
world into the new an agglomeration OF
soldiers such as history has never before
chrcn'cled we had confined ourselves to
guarding our villages and opposing with in
trcnchments and ether defensive works an
impassaDle barrier to the rebels who were
tempted to pass from the sterile regions of
the eastern part of the islend to the more
fertile oEes of the western part.