The age-herald., 1898-04-12


 United States consul at Matanzas of an ''extensive and dangerous conspiracy under the ex-governor of the province directed against Americans, action against them to be contingent on the movement of the United States government in favor of the independence of Cuba"
 Under date of December T. General Lee sent a communication to the department regarding the motives for the relief of the reconcentrados, much of which Is not made public. In the portion given out General Lee says:
 "I see no governmental distribution to the reconcentrados I am informed that only s12,600 in Spanish silver has been dedi- cated to the Habana province out of the $100,000 said to have been set aside for the purpose of relieving them in the island and that reports from all parts of the province Show that 50 per cent. have al- ready died and that many of those left will die and most of these are women and children.
 q am informed that an order has been issued in some parts of the island suspend ing the disposition to reconcentrados.
 1.-The condition of these people Is simply terrible I hear of much suffering in the Spanish hospitals for want of food.
 Ruse of the Merchants
 'I hear also that the Spanish merchants in some parts of the island are placing their establishments in the names of for eigners to avoid having their provisions purchased on credit by the military admin istration. In some parts of the island am told there is scarcely any food for sol- diers or citizens and that even cats are used for food purposes, selling for 30 cents apiece. It is fair inference to draw from existing conditions that it is not possible for the governor-general to relieve the present situation with the means at his disposal.''
 December 13, came the following:
 Against autonomy, first, are the insur- gents, with or without arms, and the Cu- ban non-combatants. Second, the great mass of the Spanards, bearing non- bearing arms-the latter desiring if there must be change, annexation to the United States, indeed, there Is the great est apathy concerning autonomy in any form. No one asks what it will be, or when, or how it will come.
 ''I do not see how 1t could be even put into operation by force, because as long as the insurgents decline to accept it. so long the Spanish authorities say the war must be continued"
 December fl, General Lee sends another communication, saying that the total num- Der of reconcentrados in Havana province will reach 15o,000 and that the death rate from starvation alone would be over 50 per cent.
 December 17, General Lee makes the first
 
 tonomy. He says he has been informed that the authorities are engaged in forming an autonomistfc cabinet, arranging for the members to take the required oath on Jan- uary 1, and "also for an election thirty days thereafter My present information is that most of the Spaniards will refrain from voting.1
 The same day General Lee acknowledges receipt of President McKinley's proclama- ton calling upon the people of the United States to make charitable contributions for the relief of the distress in Cuba. Other telegrams follow during the next few days as to the class of contributions which would be most valuable in relieving the suffer- ing.
 January 8, General Lee makes the follow ing report:
 1T have the honor to state as a mat ter of public interest that the 'reconcen- trado order of General Weyler, formerly governor-general of this island, trans formed about 400, 900 self-supporting people, principally women and children, into null titude to be sustained by the contribution of others or to die of starvation or levers resulting from low physical condition and being massed in large bodies without change of clothing and without food. Their homes were burned, their field and plant beds destroyed and their live stock driven away or killed. I estimate that 100000 of
  Pinar del Rio, Habana, Matanzas and Santa Clara have died of starvation or resultant causes and the deaths of whole families almost simultaneously or within few days of each other, and of mothers praying for their children to be relieved of their hor- rble sufferngs by death, are not the least of the many pitiable scenes which were ever present. In the provinces of Puerto Princpe and Santiago de Cuba, where the .reconcentrado order could not be enforced, the gerat mass of the people are self-sus- taining.
 "A daily average of ten cents worth of food to 200 .000 people would be an eXpendi- ture of s20,000 per day and of course the most humane efforts upon the part Of our citizens cannot hope to accomplish such gigantic relief, and a greater portion of these people will have to be abandoned to their fate.
 On the eighteenth General Lee sent dis patch marked confidential, regarding the rioting. It is as follows:
 Disorders in Havana
 "Sir-The recent disorders in this city. are to be properly attributed to a group of Spanish officers who were incensed at ar ticles appearing in some of the newspapers of Habana Fl Reconcentrado, La Discuss sion and Fl Diario de la Marina. The first was very pronounced against General Wey- Ter and his methods. La D.scussi )n had
  ton was permitted to be resumed by Blan- co. and the last had been an ultra-Spanish organ but had been converted by the pres ent authorities to autonomy. It is possible that the Spanish officers were provoked by the denunciations of Weyler in the columns of these papers and they determined to stop it, and afterwards, being supported by the mob, turned the demonstration into an anti-autonomistic affair"
 On February 10 General Lee sent to the state department a statement of the condi- tion in the towns in the neighborhood of the city of Havana made by a person he had sent to those places for the purpose of inspecting the number and condition of the starving The statement covers four towns in the neighborhood of Havana, and is largely repition of the awful tale of suf- fering which came from the other portions of the island. At Me ena del Sur, Il sta'e ment says it is impossible for the mNycr, owing to the unhealthy conditions prevail ing and want of resources, to relieve the people, "who die in great numbers from starvation, fever and small pox." Not Allowed to Leave Towns At Cataline de Guines the statement re- ports the condition of the reconcentrados as sad and desperate There are, it, SayS