The Montgomery advertiser., 1904-06-11
The 4sO Year. War Ended.

MOOlle RRRlSIeE.
 Our dispatches of June tell of the end of the longest war known in his- tory, a war which for duration mokes the Thirty Years War appear but an fifty-five years after the discovery of America by Columbus and has been waged with more or less energy down to our own time, nd even down to this present summ-f of 1904,
 The war was begun by the Spaniards Tn Yucatan when they found that the Maya Indians were too independent to submit quietly to their control. There separate expeditions or invasions were necessary before the Spaniards gained a foothold in the country, and the com plete pacification of the native popula- tion became an unsettled problem, ana remained to until the beginning of the twentieth century, when the Mexican government undertook systematic campaign.
 While the four hundred and fifty years war has been on there has grown up in Yucatan native and mixed population that is civilized. Christian. industrious and very far removed from the "savages" of the back country who have always contended for inde- pendence, and who are now reported as at last reduced to subjection. At one time. and even so late IS the early part of the last century, the independ- ent race, now called aboriglnes or saV- ages, were dominant among the nat ives, and led in the many revolts against the Spanish or ruling class. In 1S46 there was general native up rising and the aid of the Mexcans was called in by the ruling class, whereby the peninsula lost its autonomy, and In 1861 was divided into two states, Yu- | catan and Calnpeche. The rebellion. even with Mexico's aid, was not then entirely suppressed, and meany natives, withdrawing eastward to the cost lands bey ond the Sierra Alta. Ilefied for years all the forces sent against tn em. l The campaign has been relentlessly | pushed in recent years. many prisoners | being taken, These natives, male and | female, have been brought inside the | zone of civilization and placed on the l haciendas to learn the language. man. | ners and customs of modern Yucatan | This Is what Is meant by the Mayas are the despatch many of the Mayas are | now peacefully at work on the plantaf | ions and have settled doWn to clVlliz'
 A Mobilian recently described the | looks of these captlves when first In | troducad to civilizations:
 As our party entered the penlten' | Jiary) there met us a number of wild
 bareheaded Indians. large, strong
 savage looking fellows These rushed
 up to us, guarded though they were
 by a detail of soldiers, stopped 1T
 front of us an instant, making a Drus
 que inclination of the head in a defian
 kind of way, and then were driven or
 blythe guard. We were told that thes'
 were now capuVeS From pahu O.
 wild Indians of the interior that al
 Mexico had not been able to conque
 tpacify is the word used) and that re
 gently this particular lot had murdered
 an entire village of whites ant
 Christian natives. The commandan
 had just ordered them to his office TO
 examination. and, meeting us, the!
 imagined we were the authorities, ant
 stopped before us by mistake.
 The tragedy of people unable [
 mantain their freedom and unt1t l.
 live in a civilized way, has ended b. the capture an dispersion of the las of the fighting force; and the war is
 last ended The length of the contes
 is d tribute to the superior courage an
 ability of Hhe Indians, vine are gener ally conceded to have sbeen, in thei prime, the largest and most pertec , examples of physical manhood to b
 found among the aborigines of tn , American continent. whether north O
 south of the equator.