Year: 1873

dom for Cuba.


When the intelligence Of the seizure Of the
Virginius and the swift murder of some of her
the indignation of the American nation the
HERALD called upon our government to take
such decisive action as, under like circum-
stances, would have been taken by England,
Germany or any other great Power. We in
sisted that it was within the province, as it
was the duty, of the President, without the
previous authorization of Congress, to reclaim
our property to guard our flag from further
| insult aud to protect the lives of the unfortu-
nate beings who still remain alive in the
hands of the Spanish butchers. We urged
that this could not be effectually done unless
such vessels as could be Immediately pressed
into service were sent to Santiago to en-
force the demand for the surrender Of
the virginius and her people. The
President and his advisers preferred to at
tempt the accomplishment of these ends
through diplomatic negotiations with Madrid,
and forthwith we were assured from official
quarters that the CASTELAR, government repu-
dated the action of the Cuban authorities,
had despatched orders to the Captain General
to suspend further executions and was pre-
pared to make reparation for the injuries we
had suffered. While the partisan organs of
the administration and the Hessan press, sub
sidized by Spain, were clarifying this prospect
of a peaceful and honorable termination of
the difficulty, we cautioned the President
and his advisers that any paper settlement
they might make with the authorities at
Madrid would be torn to pieces and scattered
to the winds by the volunteers and the ruffians
of the Casino Espanol. We insisted that the
only way to insure the safety of the remaining
prisoners, to secure reparation for the present
outrage and protection tor the future, was to
occupy, with our own forces, the island of Cuba
The first proof of the soundness of our posi-
ton came in the intelligence of the slaughter
of poor Fry and his fellow victims; the next
through our valuable special dispatches from
Madrid, which set forth the demands made by
our government and disclosed the opposition
they had encountered from some of the men,
bers of the Spanish Cabinet, as well as from
the Spanish mob. Our citizens will recall the
stupid efforts of the Cheap Jack journals to
discredit our information efforts which were
not abandoned until the recapitulation of the
demands in the Preside its Message confirmed
our correspondents dispatches. When we
knew the terms that had been submitted to
Madrid as the conditions of peaceful settle
ment we applauded the honorable position
taken by our government and professed our
willingness to do all in our power as the lead
ing journal of the United States to strengthen
its hands. We decried any further criticism
of the acts of the administration, since it
seemed resolved to maintain the national
honor, and we declared it to be the duty of
all good citizens to give the government in
the hour Of danger a generous, confding and
hearty support.


At the same time we had no faith in the
power of the CASTELAR, government to enforce
the terms of the proposed settlement in Cuba,
even if they should be accepted in Madrid.
We again cautioned Mr.. Fish that Spain holds
no real power in Cuba; that the volunteers
and the pirates and slavers of the Casino
Espaflol-as has been said in the Spanish





after the settlement had been made on paper
it would still have to be enforced with cam
non and bayonets at Havana When the Fish
Polo protocol appeared when it was known
that we had retreated from our demands and
made a compromise unsatisfactory to the
people, insufficient for the vindication either
of honor or justice, damaging to the princi-
pies we had upheld at the cost of war, and
destitute Of security for the future, we saw
with pain that our government had degraded
the nation for the sake of securing a hollow
truce. Peace it could not be called for
the outrages and insults for which it
was to be an insufficient atonement might be
repeated by the Spanish Cubans before the
ink with which the protocol was written had
dried on the page. But we repeated our
warnings to the administration at Washington
that the conditions of the protocol, tame and
dishonorable as they are, would not be COM
piled with at Havana, and that the outlaws
who had insulted our flag and butchered those
who had trusted their lives to its protection
would not hesitate to resist forcibly the orders
of their own authorities


What picture is presented to Us to-day?
While our people have been surfeited with
rose-colored 'ties diplomatic" from official
sources at Washington, and nauseated with
the fulsome praise bestowed upon the admin
istration by its organs for its honorable set
tlement'' of the virgnius difficulty, our
special dispatches from Havana and Santiago
de Cuba afford US glimpse of the condition
of affairs in those cities. The people in
open revolt against the home government
the Colonial Minister told that the
orders he brings from Madrid will not be
obeyed the volunteers holding councils of
war and debating terms to Spain and the