The Indianapolis journal. [volume] (Indianapolis [Ind.]) 1867-1904, 1899-01-02
GEN. BROOKE BEGINS WELL.
His Suppression of Insurgents a
Proper Step.
Washington Post.

Washington Post.
1t is refreshing TO see that we have at
least one official in Cuba--and he, fortu-
nately, in supreme authority-who is in
disposed to encourage the pretensiOnS Of
the insurgent rabble, and who has the cour-
age and the firmness to snub them as they
properly deserve. Ever since war was de-
CIared and our forces began to invade Cuba,
we have been afflicted and embarrassed
by the insurgent leaders and their so-called
armies. Invisible SO long as the Spaniards
were in evidence, they Sprang up as II by
magic by every American Victory-sprang
UP open mCuthed and clamoring for spoilS
They were in evidence with Skaters army,
but only as camp-followerS and jackalS
They have been multiplying ever since, in
the ratio of Spanish retirement And now
they swarm in and about Havana, minis
ters of evil and disorder thirsting for the
lives of soldiers they never dared to meet
in hattie, and willing, when baffied in that
foul enterprise, to loot defenseless trades.
men or foment pestiherous disturbances Of
the peace.
These Soldiers" most of them carrying
arms which the United States government
imprOvidently gave them, and resenting
nothing much as the regime of law and
order which that government has pledged
itself to establish in the island-theSe SOL
diers, we say, have been planning great
demonstration in Havana on the LIST of jan
uary and had arranged to use the American
flag as q cover for their barbariC and venge-
full violence General Lee had agreed to
permit their participation in the parade,
and General Ludlow was reported as nav
surgent chieftain, Maxine Gomez, was 10
have emerged from that mysterious and
reconcile jungle in which, for the past three
years, he has been conducting his barmeclde
military operations, and the occasion was
to have been transformed into an 1nSurgent
apotheoss. But General Brooke, who hap
pens to rank both Lee and Ludlow, ana
who is apparently gifted with more Wis
dom than both of them put together, has
mand by forbidding the vicious nonsense
that had been projected, and by oTdalnlnS
that none of the proposed insurgent demon
strations shall be permitted. Maxine Co
mez is not to preside over a victory achieved
by American arms, and the insurgent
armies. sprung out of traps, like clowns IN
a Christmas pantomime, viii not parade
themselves as the allies and wards OF the
United States government on Jan. i. Inc
occasion will be strictly representative OF
the new dispensatiOn of law and order. me
enemies Of that dispensation will either be-
have themselves or be disciplined according
to their deserts.
the debut of General Brooke as the United
States officer in supreme command over
Cuba. We have had quite enough OF peril
Gus folly in the island since the CONCLUSION
of the war. We are ashamed and sick or It,
and the knowledge that the highest author
ity there has called a halt upon 1t Will be
welcomed and applauded throughout the
land. What astonishes US is the fact that
any United States officer in Cuba has ever
contemplated, much less assented to-, the
slightest recognition of the insurgent chleI-
tains as representatives of the Cuban popu-
laton. or as competent spOkesmen Tor thelr
interests and wishes. The President made
it perfectly clear to all the world, before the
war began, that he did not intend TO recog-
nize in any way the so-called Cuban repub-
lie and that fact alone should have been
enough to dissuade his subordinates from
doing So even by indirecton. Thus TAR
nothing but humiliating failure has attended
any effort to employ the insurgents as agen-
cies of order and civilization; The Casuilos
and the Valientes have realized our most
unpleasant expectations, and their follow
ers have shown that their only estimate OF
official authority amounted TO a license for
violence and rapine.
General Brooke has begun we'll. II re-
mains only for him TO convince his subord-
mate officers that their mission confines
them to the preservation of order and the
maintenance of civilized institutions. That
much assured, the rest of the problem VIII
be simplified. We shall have trouble with
the insurgents, of course. We shall ma
them quite as hostile to our law as they
were to Spanish law for their aspirations
contemplate the humiliation of order and
the precipitation of social chaos. But we
can deal with them much more effectively
as open enemies than as pretended allies,
and the sooner the alignment is fixed the
better for our national honor and renown-