“The neighbors and all the civil and military authorities know everything that has been related here, but such is the state of affairs on the island that General Weyler has no objection to appointing this monster, Colonel Jull, Military Governor of Matanzas.  Such deeds as those enumerated are common.  The people of the town of Matanzas, with Jull as Governor, and Arolas at the head of a column, will suffer in consequence of their pernicious and bloody instincts.

“That the readers may know in part who General Arolas is, it may be well to relate what has happened in the Mercedes estate, near Colon.  It having come to his knowledge that a small body of rebels was encamped on the sugar estate Mercedes, of Mr. Oarrillo, General Arolas went to engage them, but the rebels, who were few in numbers, retreated.  Much vexed at not being able to discharge one shot at them, he made prisoners of three workmen who were out in the field herding the animals of the estate and without any formality of trial shot them.  When the bodies were taken to the Central they were recognized, and to cover his responsibility somewhat, General Arolas said that when he challenged them they ran off, and at the first discharge of musketry they fell dead.”

Life, liberty and property sacrificed.

Life, liberty and property have all been sacrificed by these determined patriots for the sake of the cause they love.  Their towns have been burned, their homes pillaged, their wives and children starved, and in many sections of the island nothing but ruin and waste meets the eye.  Even their sick and wounded are not safe from the oppressor’s sword, and wherever the insurgents have a hospital, they have a garrison to protect it.  Each of the six provinces has an insurgent hospital, with a staff of physicans and nurses, and a detachment of the army.

The largest of these lies in that part of Santa Clara called the Isthmus of Zapata.  It is a wild, swampy region, through which the natives alone can distinguish those precarious tracks, where the slightest deviation means being engulfed in the treacherous morass.

A determined resistance.

A prominent Cuban, who may be said to speak for his entire race, makes this declaration: 

“The population of the island is, in round numbers, 1,600,000, of which less than 200,000 are Spaniards, some 500,000 are colored Cubans, and over 800,000 white Cubans.  Of the Spaniards, a small but not inconsiderable fraction, although not taking an active part in the defense of our cause, sympathize with, and are supporting it in various ways.  Of the Cubans, whether colored or white, all are in sympathy with the revolution, with the exception of a few scattered individuals who hold positions under the Spanish government or are engaged in enterprises which cannot thrive without it.  All of the Cubans who have had the means and the opportunity to join the revolutionary army have done so, while those who have been compelled for one reason or another to remain in the cities are co-operating to the best of their abilities.  If the people of the small section of the western part of the island, which yet remains quiet, were supplied with arms and ammunition they would rise, to a man, within twenty-four hours.