The weekly intelligencer. [volume] (Lexington, Mo.) 1891-1901, 1898-04-16
BIESSAGE SENT IN.
The President Declares FIatly That
War in Cuba Must Stop.

Wll Ill CuDl NuSI olOD.
The Issue Now with Congress-Argues
Against Recognizing Independence
nf Cubn-Io|s of Maine Made
Part of Indictment.
WASHINGTON, April !2.-The pres!-
dent yesterday sent the following mes
sage to the congress of the United
States:
Ohedient 10 that prccert OF the constitution
which commands tEr president to give from
time to time the congress information of tha
state of the union ana 10 recommend to their
consideration such measures a he shall Judge
necessary and cNpedient. it becomes my duty
now to address yOur body with regard to the
grave crisis that has arisen in the relations OF
The United States TO Spain hy reason OF the
warfare that for more than three years has
RACED in the urighbOrng island OF Cuba. / do
so because of the intimate connection of the
Cuban question with the state OF our own union
and the grave relation the course which is now
incumbent upon the nation to adopt must needs
bear to The traditional policy Of our govern
ment is 10 accord with the precepts laid down
by the founders OF the republic and relgiOusly
observed by succeeding administrations to the
present day The present revolution Is
but the successor OF other similar
inSurrections which have occurred in Cuba
against the dominion of Spain extending over
period of nearly half a century. each of which.
during its progress, has subjected the United
States to great effort and expense In enforcing
its neutrality laws. caused enormous losses to
the American trade and commerce, caused irri-
tation. annoyance and disturb hauce among our
citizens. and by the exercise of cruel barbar-
Gus and uncivilized practices OF warfare,
shocked the SCnSlOIlltleS ana oHended the hu-
name Sympathies OF our people. Since the
present revolution began in February, 1895.
this country has seen the fertile domain ut our
Threshold raVaged by fire and sword iTa the
course OF Il struggle Unequaled in the history OF
the island and rarely parallcled as to the num-
Der OF the cOmbatantS and the bitterness OF
the contests by any revolution of modern times
where a dependent people, striving TO he free,
have been opposed by the power OF the sovereign
state Our people have bchelu \ once prosperous
community reduced to comparative want, its
commerce virtually paTalyZed. its exceptional
productiVeneSS diminished. its fields laid waste,
its mills in ruins and its people perishing by
tens of thousands from hunger and deStitution.
We have found ourselves constrained in the
observance of that strict neutrality which our
laws en- iOin ana which the law OF nations COM
mands. to police our own waters and watch our
own seaportS in prevention of any unlawful act
in aid of the Cubans. Our trade has suffered;
the capital invested by our citizens in Cuba has
been largely lost, and the temper and forbcar-
ance of our people have been so sorely tried as
to beget a perilouS unrest among our own citi-
zcnS which has inevitably found its expression
from time to time in the national legislature
so that issues wholly external to our own body
polite engrOss attention and stand in the way
Of that close devotion to domestic advancement
fliat becomes a self-contented commonwealth
whose primal maxim has been the avoidance OF
al foreign entanglementS All this must
needs awaken and has indeed aroused the ut
most concern on the part OF this government as
we1I during my predecessors as my own.
Efforts to Bring About Peace.
in April 1896 the evils from which our cOun-
try suffered through the Cuban war became so
onerouS that my predecessor made an effort to
bring about a peace through the mediation of
this government in any way that might tend to
an honorable al iustment OF the contest be-
tween Spain ana her reVolted colony, on the
basis OF some effective scheme of Self-9overn-
lnent for Cuba under the flag and sovereignty
of Spain. IL failed, through the refusal of the
Spanish government, then in power. to consid-
er any form OF mediation or indeed any plan OF
settlement which did not begin with actual
submission OF the insurgents to the mother
country. and then only on such terms as Spain
herself might see ft TO grant. The war con-
tinued unabated. The resistance or the in-
surzents was IL no wise diminished
Policy of Devastation.
The enorrs OF Spain we're increased, both by
the dispatch OF fresh leyles to Cuba and by the
addition to the horrors OF the strife OF new
ana inhuman phase happily unprecedented in
the modern history OF civilized Christian peo-
pies. The policy OF devastation and concentra-
tiOu, iuauEurated 10y the captain generals
bando Of October 81 1885, in the province OF
Pinar del Rio was then extended to embrace all
of the island to which the power or the Spanish
arms was able 10 reach by occupation or mill
tary operations. The peasantry, including all
dwelling in the open agricultural interior, were
driven into the garrison towns or Isolated
places held by the troops. The raising and
movement Of provisions OF all kinds we're In
terdicted. The fields We're laid waste, dwell
ings unrOofed ana fired, mills destroyed, and, In
short. everything that could deSolate the land
and render it unfit for human habitation or
support was commanded by one or the other OF
the contendlng parties, ana executed by all the
powers at their disposal
BY the time the present administration took
Office a year ago RECOMMENDATION, so called
mad been made effective over the better part
~ the four central and western provinces
Santa Clara, Matanzas, Havana and Pinar del
Rio The agricultural population TO the es-
timated number OF SOC, 00J more was de-
prIved OF the means OF support, rendered destl-
tute of shelter left poorly clad and exposed to
the most unsunitury conditions. AS the scar
city of food increased with the devastation of
the depopulated areas OF production, deStitu-
tiou and want became misery and starvation
Month by month the death rate increased in
an alarming ratio BY March. 1897, according
TO conservative estimates from official Span
ish sources, the mortality aplong the reconcen-
trados from starvation and the diseases there
10 incident. exceeded 80 per cent OF their total
number No practical relief was accorded to
the destitute. The ov erbUrdened towns, al
ready suffering from the general Gearth, could
give no aid So-called zones OF cultivation,
esia blIShed within the immediate area of ef-
fcctiNe military control about the cities
and fortified camps proved illuSOTy a rem
rdy for the suffering. The unfortu-
n>ltes being for the most part women and chill
dreSf with aged and helpless men, enfeebled by
disease and hunger. could not have titled the
soil WITHOUT tools. seed or shelter for their
own support or for the supply Of the cities.
RECOMMENDATION adopted aVOwedly as a war
in order to cut on the resources OF the
insurgents. worked its predcstined results As
! said in my message OF last December IL was
not civilized warfare; il was determination.
The only peace it could beget that OF the
wilderness and the grave.
ReIapsed into "a DOgged Struggle
Meanwhile the military situation in the is
land had undergone q noticeable change The
extraordinary activity that characterized the
second wear OF the war, when the insurgents in
yaded even the hitherto unharmed heldS OF
Pima del Rio and carried havoc and destitution
up TO the walls of the city OF Havana llSelt,
had relapSed into Il dogged struggle in the CEN
tral and eastern provinces. The Spanish arms
Tcguiued a measure of control IN Pinar
del Rio and parts OF Havana but, under
fhe existing conditions OF the rurat country
without immediate improvement OF their pro-
ductiye situation. Even thus partially rediS-
tricted the revoutionists had their own ana
their submission, put forward by Spain as the
essential ana sole basis of peace, seemed as far
distant as at the outset In this state OF aHalrs
my administration found itself confronted
with The grave problem OF its day.
OVertures Made last December.
NV message OF last December reviewed the
and detailed the steps taken with
view OF relieving It's acuteness and opening the
way to some form Of honorable settlement
The assassfuatiOn Of the prime minister, Cano-
yass led TO a change Of government in spain
The former administration pledged TO suhju-
cation without concessioH gave place to that OF
a more liberal party, committed long III ad-