The Portland daily press., 1899-04-03
GOMEZ AND ASSEMBLY.
Rebel Chiefs Experience with Ridicu.
Ious Cuban Body.

Havana, April To-day as under the
| Spanish regime, bribery and fraud direct
the Cuban courts. This is the firm con-
viction Of the military administration.
Governor General Brooke is taking the
matter up and intends to clean out the
corruption. to revise the judicial proce-
duIe, to change the court personnel and
to abolish the barbarous practice of In.
communicate. by which judge may i'm.
prison for life a person ignorant of the
accusation, against him and of the names
Of his accusers.
Gen. Maxine Gomez. .in long letter
directed to his wife In Santo Domingo,
reviews his differences with the so-called
military assembly. He begins by describ-
ing the situation as 1t was when Mr..
Robert =. Porter as the special represen-
tativs of President Mckinley, visited
Cuba after the assembly's representa-.
tives at Washington had obtained prom
ise of $1,000. 600 from the President. The
writer, proceeding says:
"This action OIL the part of the assem-
bly's committee, Ilapproved. 1t was then
that MIR. Porter appeared and asked me
as commander in chief to decide to accept
the 100000 to hid in its distribution
and In the disarming of the army and to
proceed forthwith to Havana to assist the
United States military governor, Ger reral
Brooke. / agreed, and on arriving at
Havana l conferred with Gan. Brooke,
concerning the payment and the disarma
ment. 1t was decided that Gen. Brooke
should request Washington to ship to
" ha fhn = Htol. ks.sl Ax..u -.
tained by the representatives of the as
ssmbly.
l saw to the adjustment of all the ques-
tons that led up TO u termination of the
ridiculous armed situation and began
to entertain hopes of an early return to
Santo Domingo.
1.-The assembly then called upon me to
visit its president, saying that the object
sought WAS an unofficial exchange Of
ideas. But they placed me upon the
bench Of the accused my crime being that
was inclined to accept the So. O00, ,0)0
which the assembly itself, through its rep
ressntatives had induced President Nc
kinley to promise, matter as to which
l had not been consulted. Is appeared
that had broken Off negotiations for
Sl3, 900, 600. To all this l replied that /
had acted In the best faith. but that
nothing had been lost as | would with
draw the acceptance / had given. Then
tUbf EcQuCbtcu lHIThy Jif SILL Ou
their side in order to give strength to
their claims. ! answered that / had al
ways done SO and would continue to do so
except in cases where the course of the
assembly was opposed to my conscience,
to my sense of Justice and to my idea OF
the best interests of Cuba.
"Regarding the matters under corsid-
Grafton said had no hope of obtaining
more thnn the $1,000, 900 from the United
States and disapproved asking charity,
contending that tho only method left was
to raise loan, for which the assembly
lacked adequate authorization. Further
more, pointed out that the soldiers could
not wait, that already they were too great
d burden upon the people of Cuba and
that longer delay appeared to me to DO
cruel.
1.-The conference ended without accom-
plishing anything. 1 saw l could not
make myself understood by the assembly
and decided not to be mixed up in its
doings, but to await developments. A
few days later three men whom did
not know, visited me ard said that sew
eral millionaires stood ready to fsoilitate
loan of many millions, but that the
matter was only possible with my co.
operation. l answered that L could not
consider any proposition of the kind and
regard it as strange that any body would
be willing to lend money without guar
sntee. My visitors replied that the city
council could arrange guarantee. Then
q committee of the assembly approached
me asking Inc to support the assembly's
effort to obtain a loan. To this | replied
that Cuba could not make q loan as she
lacked the necessary authority. The
next day the assembly deposed ine. 1
consider that have acted honorably and
my strongest desire Is now to return
home."