Manchester Democrat. [volume] (Manchester, Iowa) 1875-1930, 1906-10-10

appeal TO civilization, showing the con.
ditions that had grown from the declar-
alton Of independence at Manzanillo
in 1868. 1t was an appeal to touch the
heart of humanity, and perhaps it did,
but to no practical effect. The Mama.
Milo declaration but embodied the SEN
timent sought to be put into practice by
Lopez in 1S4S. In that year Lopez
had landed with small expedition and
met defeat. In 1850 he made second
essay, and was again defeated. His
third attempt resulted In his capture,
and he was executed. Vain also were
the efforts of Gen. Quitman in 1856, but
the seed such men sowed was ripenlng
for the harvest.
A Real Leader Arises.
1t was in October, 1868, that Carlos
Manuel de Cespedes, lawyer, raised
the standard of revolt. He had but a
few hundred followers, and they but
partly armed. A month later his army
consisted of $1,000 men. They won vic
tory after victory. Man for man the
Spanish were no match for them, and
SO the regiments were poured in to
perish of battle and disease. When
Cespedes captured town, and found
that he could not hold it, with the full
consent of the inhabitants, 1t was his
wont to destroy 1t before abandonment,
so that into the hands of the enemy
there fell naught but ruins. Don Do
mingo Dulce, the Spanish commander,
made overtures of reconciliation. Mes
sengers sent to confer with him were
assasslnated, and negotiations fell
through. The war degenerated into a
guerrilla strife, as was unavoidable,
and for long years the Spanish were
harassed by foe they could not sub
due and never did subdue. For decades.
with intermittent periods of peace
that but presaged fresh outbreak, the
contest went on. Then opposition to
Spanish rule became implacable. The
time for the final struggle had arrived.
The War of Yesterday.
That which followed is remembered
as but of yesterday. The women and
children of the patriots were herded in
camps, there to die of famine. Want
stalked through the fertile island be-
cause there was none to do the work.
The pillow rusted and the hoe was idle.
The mill turned no more. But the pat
riots would not yield, though the whole
fair island be desolated and the last
Cuban give his life for liberty.
What would have been the outcome
had not the United States ordered
Spain back to her own continent and
driven her hence no man can say. That
there would have been practical exter-
mlnation is hardly to be doubted. In
the conduct of the Spanish there was
no hint of mercy or compromise. Wey-
Ter, placed in supreme control, was a
man with soul untouched of pity, q
Ihardened, brutal nature dominating his
every move. He claimed the right lht to
make war in his own fashion, and the
United States arbitrarily took the right
from him. For this Cuba had been
imploring for weary, almost hopeless
years.
When liberty was first an accomplish.
ed fact the Cubans chafed under the
benign rule of the liberators. They
could not understand that there should
be restraint upon them. Had they not
devoted their lives to securing freedom,
and where was the freedom? The Gu.
ban, whatever his precise lineage, re.
coils now from anything that seems in
the least to curtail his prerogative as a
freeman. He does not understand poll.
tics as older peoples accept this, and
the quiet opposition of speech and bal
lot is alien to his promptings. To fight
has been the basic part of his educa-
ton, and with no foreign hosts to meet,
lie readily turns his prowess against
the neighbor who may have failed to
agree with him.
Cuba's career has been a series of
tragedies. The struggles of the Cubans
would form the subject for glorious
epic. They have emerged triumphant,
and If SO be the consciousness of victory
has turned the heads of a few of them,
what is the marvel?