The Hawaiian gazette., 1900-11-27
WEYLER UNLIMBERS
HIS WORD BATTERY
The Butcher of Cuba Claims
That lie Was Lied
About.

! NEW YORK, Nov. GA dispatch to TN
Herald from Paris says:
Gen. Weyler has emerged from his She
and fires some hot SHIT at Anglo saxon
I'M general ia an interview given to IN
Iigaro's correspondent. He opened b.
saying that he once more protested
against the abomiuab.s reputation c.e
ated for INN by the American and Eng
ian Journals for political purposes. li'
continued:
" hen | was Governor General Of Gu
ba and was defending the sovereignty o
Spain in that colony, the least OF my act.
OF war was distorted by the press Of IN,
neutrality-suspicious. nations. / never trou
blod myself about that, for | Always dit
only my duty as soldier, without lend
nS ear to rumors of what was going OF
outside my province.
Il have noticed since with sorrow
that these lying stories, these calumnies
have found an echo in Europe. 1t has re-
CURED the events in the Transvaal and
the stories of the real cruelties committed
upon the Beers by Lord Roberts and the
English for European military writer's to
acknowledge that | never conducted my
self in Cuba as the British have done in
South Africa. People are now beginning
to do me justice.
I THE truth of the matter is that ! car
ried on the war in Cuba with the rigor
which war requires. You cannot run
tits of courtesy and generosity with rebel
and half-civilized negroes like our revolt
Ing Cubans, who were accustomed to mas
sacre, in horrible fashion, the soldiers
they had captured.
People should have seen our poor Span
ish soldiers, those brave little soldiers
of 10 or 20 years of age, fighting with the
Cubans, to understand the real horror of
that war. People would have to have
seen the eXcesses of which the Cubans
We're guilty in the treatment of their pris-
oners, to have seen them torturing them
and putting them through a slow martyr
dom and mutilatinG their dead bodies to
understand the peculiar character of that
war.
b But never mind that. | did my duty
as a soldier and am ready to do it again.
My best reply to my traducers is the es-
TEEN and affection in which | am held by
the whole Spanish army-the marks of
devotion which have always been lavish
ed upon me by my companions in arms,
both those in Cuba and those of the PENN
sula."
Explaining his presence in the Liberal
party, General Weyler remarked that it
was the result of recent events.
IF Canovas We're living l should be at
his side l should be soldier pure and
simple. But there are cases when the
safety of ones country obliges one to
stite ones feeAngs of repugnance and to
undertake a task which one would prefer
to leave in the hands of others
If | had been able to gather together
a strong conservative party after the
death of Canovas | should have prevented
the loss of Cuba. AT the head of the
Spanish troops which Were then in the
island l should have driven the Americans
intp the The lD 81 lnNiac nj A m
cans would never have been able to cope
with the Spaniards. | should never have
asked for a fleet to be sent to me. My re-
sources down there Gn Cuba) We're quite
ample.
General Blanco made terrible mistakes.
He concentrated all his troops in Havana,
instead of adopting tactics which would
have permitted him to devote his efforts
to the points threatened by the Ameri-
cans. IL would have been easy to save
by despatching their reinforce
mcnts at an earlier stage ana with great
cr rapidly
But it is too late now What's the
good of crying over split milk? Politics
lost us our colonies. No blame whatever
can attach to the army. All that it did
was to obey orders 1t was in no wise re-
7ponsible for our disasters.
To-day, if II be necessary for the good
Of Spain for me to give my assistance and
my personal support 20 political party,
Will certainly do so. If the Liberal par
~ needs me to reconstimtc and under
lake campaign In conformity with its
traditions of liberty and progress, | viii
give my help 10 the Liberal party, but |
VIII consent 10 be politician for six or
light months only Immediately after
ward | win once again become a soldier
that ana nothing more
'Ii Us my opinion that N Marshal Mar
lnoZ Campns had remained purely and