The weekly register. [volume] (Point Pleasant, Va. [W. Va.]) 1862-1909, 1898-04-13
INTERVENTION To FoRcE PEAcE.
Recognition of the Republic Of Cuba
Just Now Is Opposed.
LESSON OF THE MAINE DISASTER.
washington. April 1.-THE presI-
dent sent the following message to the
congress of the United States:

washington. April 1.-THE presi-
dent sent the following message to the
congress of the United States:
obedient TO that precept of the constitu-
tIon which commands the president to give
from time to time to the congress informR-
ton of the state of the union ana to recon-
mend to their consideration such measures
rs he shall judge necessary and expedient
1t becomes my duty now to address your
body with regard tO the grave crisis that
has arisen In the relations or the United
States to Spain by reason OF the warfare
that for more than three years has ragged
In the neighboring island of Cuba.
do so because of the Intimate connec-
ton OF the Cuban question with the state
OF our own union and the grave relation
the course which 1t Is now Incumbent upon
the nation to adopt must needs bear to
the traditional policy of our government,
II 1t Is to accord with the precepts laid
down by the founders OF the republic and
religiousIy observed by succeeding admin
lstrations to the present day.
The present revolution Is Dut the sue
cessor of other similar Instructions which
have occurred In Cuba against the donin-
lon of Spain, extending over period of
nearly half century, each OF which, dur
Ing its progress, has subjected the United
States to great effort and expense In in
forcing It's neutrality laws, caused enorm-
merce, cause Irritation, annoyance and dis
turbance among our citizens. and by the
exercise of cruel. barbarous and unclY-
ilIzed practices of warfare. shocked the
sensIbilities and offended the humane sym
pathies of our people.
History OF Present Trouble.
Since the present revolution began In
February, 1895, this country has seen the
fertile domain OF our threshold ravaged by
dre and sword in the course OF struggle
unequalIed in the history OF the island,
and rarely paralleled to the number OF
the combatants and the bitterness OF the
contest by any revolution of modern times,
where a dependent people, striving to be
free. have been opposed by the power of
the sovereign state
Our people have beheld once prosper
Gus community reduced to comparative
want, its lucrative commerce virtually par
alyzed, its exceptional productiveness d.
minished. Its fields laid waste. It's mills
In ruins, and its people perishing by tens
OF thousands from hunger and restitution.
In the observance OF the strict neutrality
which laws enjoln and which the law
of nations command, to police our own
waters and watch our own seaports in
prevention of any unlawful act In aid of
the Cubans.
ed by citizens In Cuba has been largely
lost, and the temper and forbearance OF
our people have been so sorely tried as to
beget n perilous unrest among our own
citizens. which has Inevitably found its
expression from time to time In the ma
tlonal legislature, so that issues wholly
external to our own body polite engross
close devotion to domestic advancement
that becomes a self-contained common
wealth, whose primal maxim has been the
avoidance OF all foreign ENGAGEMENTS.
All this must needs awaken and has In
deed aroused the utmost concern on the
part OF this government, well during
my predecessors term as In my own
Mediation Rejected.
,E.f,
country suffered through the Cuban war
became so onorous 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
adjustment OF the contest between Spain
and her revoIted colony, on the basis of
some effective scheme OF self-government
for Cuba under the nag and sovereignty
of Spain.
1t failed through the refusal OF the Span
lsh government then In power to consider
any form of mediation, or indeed any plan
of settlement which did not begin with
the actual submission of the insurgents
to the mother country, and then only on
such terms as Spain herself might see hit
The war continued undated. The resist
ance of the insurgents was In no wise
diminished.
The efforts of Spain were Increased, both
by the dispatch of fresh -levIes to Cuba
and by the addition to the horrors to the
strife Of a new and inhuman phase, hap:
Of civilized Christian peoples
Devastating Policy.
The policy of devastation and -coneentHa-
zion, inaugurated by the caDtain generals
bando OF Oct. 21, 1896, in the province of
Pinar del Rio, was thence extended to en-
brace all of the island to which the power
Of the Spanish arms was able TO reach by
occupation or by military operations.
The peasantry, including all dwelling in
the open agricultural Interior, were driven
into the garrison towns isolated places
held by the troops.
The raising and movements of provisions
OF all kinds were interdicted. The fields
were laid waste, dwellings unroofed and
hred, mills destroyed, and, In short, every
thing that could desolate the land and rem
der 1t unfit for human habitation or sup
port was commanded by one the other
of the contendlng parties, and executed by
all the powers at their disposal.
BY the time the present administration
took office n year ago. reconcentration-
| Bo-caIled-had been made effective over the
better part of the four central and west
ern provinces, Santa Clara. MantanZas,
Havana and Pinar del Rio.
The agricultural population to the esti-
mated number of 100000 more, was
herded within the towns and their imme-
dlate vIcinage. deprived OF the means of
support, rendered destitute of shelter. left
poorly clad and exposed to the most un-
sanitary conditions
Misery and Starvation.
As the scarcity of food Increased with
Ine devastation OF inc 0epOpulated areas
of production, destitution and want became
misery and starvation. Month by month
the death rate increased In an alarming
ratio. BY March, 1897, according TO con-
servatiye estimates from Official Spanish
sources, the mortality among the reconcen-
trados, from starvation and the disease
thereto Incident, exceeded so per cent OF
their total number. No practical relief was
accorded TO the destitute. The oyerbur-
! dened towns. already suffering from the
| general dearth. could give no aid. So-called
zones OF cultivation established within
the Immediate area OF effective military
control about the cities and fortified camps
proved Illusory as a remedy for the suf-
fering.
The unfortunates. being for the most part
women and children. with aged and help
less men, enfeebled by disease and hun
/ ger, could not have titled the soil without
! tools, seed shelter for their own sup
port or for the supply OF the cities.
REORGANIZATION, adopted avotvedly' as a
i war measure. In order TO cut on the re
sources OF the Insurgents, worked its pre-
] destined result.