“This revolution of the whole Cuban people against the government of Spain is what the Spanish officials are pleased to describe as a disturbance caused by a few adventurers, robbers, bandits, and assassins!  But they have a purpose in so characterizing it, and it is no other than to justify, in some way, the war of extermination which the Prime Minister of Spain himself has declared will be waged by his government against the Cuban people.  They are not yet satisfied with the rivers of human blood with which in times past they inundated the fields of Italy, of the Low Countries, of our continent of America, and only a few years ago, of Cuba itself.  The Spanish newspaper of Havana, ‘El Pueblo,’ urges the Spanish soldiers to give no quarter, to spare no one, to kill all, all without exception, until they shall have torrents of Cuban blood in which to bathe themselves.  It is well.  The Cubans accept the challenge, but they will not imitate their tyrants and cover themselves with infamy by waging a savage war.  The Cubans respect the lives of their Spanish prisoners, they do not attack hospitals, and they cure and assist with the same care and solicitude with which they cure and assist their own, the wounded Spaniards who may fall into their hands.  They have done so from the beginning of the war, and they will not change their humane policy.

“The Spanish officials have also attempted to convince you that the Cuban war is a war of races.  Of what races?  Of the black against the white?  It is not true, and the facts plainly show that there is nothing of the kind.  Nor is the war waged by Cubans against the Spaniards as such.  No.  The war is waged against the government of Spain, and only against the government of Spain and the officials and a few monopolists, who, under it, live and thrive upon the substance of the Cubans.  We have no ill feeling against the thousands of Spaniards who industriously and honestly make their living in Cuba.

“But with the Spanish government we will make no peace, and we will make no compromise.  Under its rule there will be nothing for our people but oppression and misery.  For years and years the Cuban people have patiently suffered, and in the interests of the colony, as well as in the interests of the metropolis, have earnestly prayed for reforms.  Spain has not only turned a deaf ear to the prayers, but instead of reforming the most glaring abuses, has allowed them to increase and flourish, until such a point has been reached that the continuation of Spanish rule means for the Cuban people utter destruction.”

CHAPTER XXV.

Fitzhugh lee to the front.

Importance of the American Consulate at Havana in a Critical Time—­General Fitzhugh Lee the Man for the Place—­Sketch of the Life of Lee—­A Nation’s Confidence in Its Popular Hero—­How He Left Havana and How He Promised to Return Wife and Family of General Lee—­His Place During the Early Period of the War.