The Indianapolis journal. [volume] (Indianapolis [Ind.]) 1867-1904, 1900-11-17
BUTCHER WEYLER TALKS
VENTS HIS SPLEEN AT THE UNITED
STATES AND BRITAIN.
Says He Is Not as Cruel n Monster as
Lord ROberts-HOw He Would Have
Whipped the Americans.

NEW YORK, Nov. ia dispatch to the
Herald from Paris says: General Weyler
has emerged from his shell and fires some
hot shot at Anglo-Saxons in general in an
interview given TO the Figaro's correspond
ent. He opened by saying that he once
more protested against the abominable rep
utation created for him by the American
and English journals for political purposes.
He continued:
when l was governor general of Cuba,
and was defending the sovereignty of Spain
In that colony, the least of my acts of war
was distorted by the press of the English
speaking nations. L never troubled mysen
about that, for L always did only my duty
as soldier, without lending ear 70 the
rumors OF what was going on outside my
province. i have noted since with sorrow
that these lying stories. these calumnieS,
have found an echo in Europe. 1t has re-
quired the events in the Transvaal and the
stories of the real cruelties committed upon
the Beers by Lord Roberts and the Eng
lish for European military writers TO ac-
knowledge that 1 never conducted myself
in Cuba as the British have done in South
Africa. People are now beginning to do
justice.
The truth of the matter is that 1 car
ried on the war in Cuba with the rigor
which war requires. You cannot run tits
OF courtesy and generosity with rebel ana
half-civilized negroes, like our revolted
Cubans who were accustomed to massacre.
In horrible fashion, the soldiers they had
captured.
People should have seen our poor Span
ish soldiers, those brave little soldiers of
nineteen and twenty years of age, fighting
with the Cubans, to understand the real
horror of that war. People would have
10 nave seen the excuses of which the
Cubans were guilty in the treatment of
their prisoners, to have seen them tortur-
ing them and putting them through a slow
bodies, to understand the peculiar char
acter Of that war. But never mind that.
l did my duty as a soldier, and am ready
to do ii again. My best reply to my ira
ducers is the esteem and affection in which
/ am held by the whole Spanish army-the
marks of devotion which have always been
lavished upon me by my companions in
arms, both those in Cuba and those of the
peninsula
Explaining his presence in the Liberal
party, General Weyler remarked that it
Canovas were living l should be at his side.
l should be a soldier, pure and simple But
there are cases when the safety of one s
country obliges one to stifie ones feelings
or repugnance and to undertake a task
which one would prefer 10 leave in the
hands of others. If / had been able to
gather together 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 Amer
leans into the sea. The hasty levies of
Americans would never have been able to
cope with the Spaniards. | should never
Rave asked for fleet to be sent to me.
Ny resources down there Gn Cuba) were
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 Americans.
| 1t would have been easy to save Santiago
by dispatching there reinforcements at
| an earlier stage and with greater rapidity.
But III is too late now. What's the good
OF crying over split milk? Politics lost us
our colonies. No blame whatever can at
| tach TO the army. All that it did was to
| for disasters.
To-day if it pe necessary for the good
of Spain for me to give my assistance and
my personal support to a political party
| will certainly do so. If the Liberal party
needs me TO reconstitute and undertake a
! campaign in conformity with its traditions
| TO the Liberal party, but L will consent
| To be politician for six or eight months
| only. Immediately afterward I will once
| again become a soldier--that and nothing
| more. 1t is my opinion that If Marshal
| Martinez Campos had remained purely
and simply soldier his fame would have
| So far as the Carlist movement is con-
| cerned General Weyler says 1t is doomed
10 failure. particularly in Catalonia. Carl
| ISM" said he. mo longer has many parti-
/ sans in Catalonia, and the reason is this:
| 7 he peasants and the people living in the
| country were generally and still more
| inclined to Carlist ideas than all the others:
now the greater part of the agricultural
districts, and particularly the wine growing
| districts, have become, owing to the revival
| of The vineyards of France and to the
| rhylioxers, which has been prevalent i'm
Spain since 1890. industrial districts. The
| peasant has become an artisan. and from
q Carlist he has developed into a Socialist
| Republican, tinged. il may be. with an
| archism. Consequently Don Carlos will not
| find him inclined to follow his flag I be-
| iieve the present Carlist movement to be
| an absolute failure. IL / am mistaken and
| there should be rising so much the worse.
| Measures of strong repression will be
| necessary. 1t must be stifed without the
| loss of moment and with the most pitt
| less energy. j will see to that"