upon its purposes and its magnitude, but not upon its ultimate success or failure. The purposes commend this war to our respect at least. Its magnitude is equal to the territorial control of more than half the area of Cuba and more than half the people of the island.

In this war, unlike that of the war of 1867 to 1878, few native troops have fought in the field under the Spanish flag. Some of them have been enlisted as volunteers, quite a number of them probably under duress, but they have put a condition in the enlistment that they were to be home guards; that they were not to enter the field; that they were to guard the plantations and the railway stations and towns, villages, and cities.

The great body of the native people are in sympathy with the republic, though the repression of any such avowal, in act or word, is the relentless purpose of Weyler's cruel code. This code may again smother the fires of liberty, of which Gomez speaks in his letter of November 13, 1895, in which he says:

We can truthfully say that, even if Spain sends thousands of her children to their death, we have already established the basis of the Cuban Republic, and that republic will be a fact, no matter how many of us may fall.

There are few Americans who do not accept that result as inevitable, and the Weyler code will serve only to remind him hereafter that no grasp of tyranny can be strong enough to repress the fires of liberty, though it may silence the tongues of its votaries for the time.

The victories won over the Spaniards by the Cubans at Los Negros, at Iobito, at Bayamo, where Campos and his staff sought safety in flight, on foot and in the nighttime, at Cascorra, at Sao Del Indio, and in many minor engagements, and the splendid march through Cuba from east to west and from north to south are lessons of skill and evidences of military power, and proofs of valor and endurance that do not presage the ultimate defeat of the Cuban army. Spain has sent to this conflict up to this time 61 vessels of war, all heavily armed, but in the 2,200 miles of Cuban coast there are 200 harbors and sheltered places of landing, and in all the guns sent there by Cuban agents not one rifle has yet been lost. Spain has sent to Cuba 110,000 men, and has 80,000 volunteers for garrison duty, yet with this enormous force she has not been able to keep Gomez out of hearing of the morning and evening guns that are fired at Habana. Their armies grow while the armies of Spain perish and decrease from losses in the field and hospital.

The organization of the Cuban army was conducted in eastern Cuba, and the first and hardest battles were fought there. Then Gomez and Maceo invaded western Cuba to burn cane fields and to recruit their forces.

A comparison of the statements of our consuls, made from time to time, shows a tremendous rapidity of increase of the forces and war material of their commands.

It is through the reports of the consuls of the United States sent in by the President to Congress that we derive that better statement of facts to which Gomez refers and which will be referred to in a paper that I will presently have read at the desk, in which it is said that doubtless the Government of the United States knows more of the actual facts of the progress and development of the war than the Captain-General of Cuba or the Government of Spain. These consuls, situated in Cuba at three of the most important points, all of them being men of intelligence, ability, and faithful

public service, have from time to time sent the best information available to them in respect to the condition of the country surrounding them and the progress of the armies in that country.

I therefore read extracts from these reports to the Senate with a view of getting what I conceive to be an authentic statement upon this subject of the magnitude of the war, the character of the war, the progress of the war, the character of the army that conducts the war, and the policy of the men in rule and authority there who manage and control the army. It is from these facts that we are to derive a sound and solid judgment upon which we will feel authorized to act.

I have mentioned already in the speech I made last Thursday the reluctance with which I proceeded to investigate this question, because of the uncertainty of the evidence upon which we had to rely. I was not aware how very certain, how very strong it was, until I took up these consular reports and was able to compare them also with the reports in newspapers and reports from private sources; and I find that we are in possession of an authentic history of the rise and progress of the present revolution.

On the 23d of February, 1895, just a year ago, Mr. Pulaski F. Hyatt, writing to Mr. Uhl, says:

CONSULATE OF THE UNITED STATES, Santiago de Cuba, February 23, 1895. SIR: I have the honor to advise you that grave apprehensions are felt of a revolution breaking out here. Rumors are rife, and it is difficult to get at exact facts.

The people are very much frightened, and those of the country are moving to the city in large numbers for safety. The banditti element in the mountains is being augmented by certain parties hostile to the Spanish Government.

Information has come to the consulate that the Government has notified certain Cubans, known to have been prominently in favor of the island's freedom, that if there is trouble they will be held responsible and shot, and a number, said to be 27, of the members of leading families who were spotted have left for parts unknown.

The military governor, Lachambre, has had his home in the country guarded by 250 soldiers, and he gave notice to a number of American engineers and workingmen, living in a house close by, and here for the purpose of constructing railroad bridges, that if they had cause to go to their yard in the night, to carry a lantern as a preventive against being shot.

That is the outbreak of it a year ago; that is the form in which it presented itself to Mr. Hyatt, who was living in the country where the first organization took place and where the feeling of the Cubans was most intense. On the 26th day of the same month he says:

The insurrectional movements that have given rise to the measures of the governor-general seem to be limited to a very small number of persons, as shown by the prompt action of the three political parties above mentioned engrossing the major part of the population, and which really represent the entire planting, industrial, and commercial interests, as well as the professional classes of the island, though it can not be denied that poverty, induced by the cumulative effects of the erroneous economic system long established here, has brought about discontent among the working classes since the principal exportable products of the island, sugar and tobacco, are very depressed in their exchangeable values. This has brought on low and precarious wages, while at the same time imported provisions and clothing are very high and in unfavorable disproportion to the earnings of the workmen.

Those workmen, starving men, got to thinking and feeling, and they bared their shoulders to the burdens of the revolution; really they started it.

Now, writing again on March 1, he says:

On the 27th ultimo the governor-general of the island issued a decree, copy inclosed being extract from official bulletin, declaring this province in a state

of war, giving the military authorities control of all matters appertaining to public order, and giving insurgents eight days to present themselves and be exempt from punishment.

Now, I wish to connect that statement with one that I made in the opening of my remarks, when I called attention to the fact, which nobody has denied or can deny, that for more than two centuries the Captain-General of Cuba has had the power to put any province in that whole island into a state of siege, to declare military law as prevailing, and to declare a state of war as existing. In this province our consul affirms that the governor of this particular province has declared that a state of war exists. What kind of a war is that? An insurrection? An émeute? A mere rebellion? A mob? A sedition? No; he declared that war existed; and he put the laws and powers of war at work there by changing the whole legal situation from one of peace to that of war. I should like to know, after that declaration on his part, followed up, as it has been, by declarations of a like kind by the Captain-General in three of the provinces of eastern Cuba, more recently made, how they can hold up their heads and look the world in the face and say to us that we have no right to recognize that a war exists when they proclaim it and enforce it? Our consul says, further on in the same article:

There have been a number of scrimmages with troops in the province, and several on both sides killed and wounded. The insurgent element so far is confined mostly to the negro population, which predominates. The whites and property owners hope that the reforms promised by the Government will be put into effect and that the movement will be suppressed before much property is destroyed and lives lost.

A strong reenforcement of Spanish troops is daily expected.

The last letter was on the 1st of March. Thirty days later, on the 30th of March, he says:

I have the honor to report further on the situation in the province of Santiago as follows: On Monday, March 24, 900 troops were landed from Spain, which, with the 2,437 recruits which landed last week, make a total of 3,337 additional Spanish forces landed at this port. After arrival these troops were newly uniformed in linen suits and straw hats,

A battle occurred near Manzanillo on Sunday between 300 Government troops and 500 Cubans. The Government claims 50 of the enemy killed, while the Cubans claim a victory.

(a dark night) about 9 o'clock sharp musketry firing was distinctly heard from this consulate, which lasted forty-five minutes, when a heavy rain set in. I afterwards learned that a body of insurgents were waiting in ambush for the outgoing troops and fired on them from behind rocks and trees, causing a loss of 50 killed on the Spanish side, including one captain.

Men are constantly leaving the large centers of population to join the insurgents, and public opinion is rapidly in their direction.

Then again he writes on April 4:

With starvation facing them on one side; with relations, friends, and companions on the other, fighting for the independence of their country, it will readily be seen how the present uprising may become one that will defy the efforts of Spain to subdue.

It is safe to say that there are at present large bodies of insurgents under arms in the jurisdiction of Santiago de Cuba. Spain must have to meet these twice their number, as the country is an ideal one in which to harass regular troops who are not familiar with the country.

Another important factor to be considered is the ravages that will be made among the Spanish soldiers during the summer months by yellow fever, which will far exceed their losses in action.

To check and end the present uprising it will be necessary for Spain to concentrate all her forces at Santiago de Cuba, Puerto Principe, and to act promptly and decisively, for as each day the rebellion continues lessens her

chances for subduing the same, and, as before stated, she must accomplish the subjugation of those in revolt before the present crop is finished, or their accessions will be so great that her dominion over this island will be in great jeopardy, if not lost."

Then, on the 5th of April, he writes again:

On April 2 the insurgents entered the town of Carney, about 6 miles from here, where they captured about 50 guns, some horses, and, it is said, about 2,500 cartridges.

On April 3 the Government forces met the insurgents at Socorro, about 18 miles from here. The insurgents are said to have been defeated with 10 lost and many wounded.

The Spanish Government is now employing Cubans at $30 per month to join the guerrilla forces against the insurgents, and naturally these accessions against the cause of the revolutionists are looked upon with great hatred by the other Cubans.

Private advices from parties capable of speaking are to the effect that the territory between here and Manzanillo and along the Canto River is alive with insurgents. Their cavalry are said to be in a very excellent condition, well armed, and well mounted. Pending the arrival of Martinez Campos, the war seems to be in a quiescent state.

Campos had not yet landed. Then again he writes on the 13th of April:

On Thursday a battle was fought near Bayamo. The number of troops and results are not definitely known. The work of the insurgents seems to be more along the line of gathering arms and ammunition rather than seeking conflict, while the Government troops do not seem desirous of forcing a fight, but rather to guard important points from attacks while they await the arrival of Martinez Campos, who is expected to land at this port on the 16th instant. Preparations are in progress to give him a big reception.

The sugar planters complain that whenever they pay off their hands large numbers leave to join the insurgents, thus crippling work. It is estimated that the population of Santiago has been increased by 15,000 people, mostly old men, women, and children, who have left the country and are quartered on anybody that will keep them. Beggars are very numerous. The death statistics for the first fifteen days of March was 32, and jumped to 62 for the last half of the month, there being 8 deaths from yellow fever, 5 deaths from paludal fever, and 1 from diphtheria. I am informed by a physician that smallpox in a mild form has also appeared.

Now, on the 28th of April he writes:

SIR: I have the honor to report that on Sunday, the 21st instant, a fight took place near Songo, this province, between about 500 Cubans and 800 Spanish troops, which resulted eventually in the Cubans retiring from the field. A major and chaplain of the Spanish forces were killed. Other losses unknown.

Two thousand and fourteen new Spanish recruits arrived at this port from Spain on the 22d instant, and it is reported that 20,000 more will arrive during the next six weeks.

Rebels burned the town of Ramon de Yaguas on Monday last, killed Captain Miranda of the Spanish forces, took 16,000 rounds of ammunition and a quantity of arms from the fort.

Lieutenant Gallego, on the part of the Spanish troops, surrendered the fort, for which he was court-martialed and ordered to be shot. The sentence was commuted to life imprisonment by cablegram from the Queen.

Then he adds as a postscript:

Lieutenant Gallego was shot at Habana on May 1, after having attempted suicide on the passage from Manzanillo to Habana.

This consul goes on to speak of other battles from time to time. May 11 he says:

Monday night the rebels attacked Cristo, a town 10 miles distant, on the Sabanilla and Maroto Railroad, derailed an engine, and burned two bridges. The road is operated and owned mostly by American citizens. Martinez Campos has recommended Government aid to this road for the purpose of extending the same and furnishing employment to the many men who will soon be thrown out of employment by the shutting down of sugar mills, and it is feared that without work the men will drift into the rebel army. * * * Friends of the insurrection claim that they are as far advanced now at the end of three months as they were at the end of three years in the former rebellion. They claim now to have 10,000 men under arms in the province of Santiago, and to have 4,000 more doing effective work.

That is from the time of this first dispatch, which was February 23, 1895, down to the date of this letter, which is May 11, 1895, a rise in their power from nothing to 14,000 troops in the field. In my observation, few countries have ever been able to recruit an army as rapidly out of their own legitimate resources, arm them and equip them, and put them in the field as these Cuban rebels have done during that period from the 23d day of February down to the 18th day of May-three months! Again, he says on the 18th of May:

On Monday, the 13th, 400 men are said to have left Holquin in a body to take up arms against the Government.

Four hundred leaving one place.

Perhaps the most sanguinary battle that has taken place up to the present time occurred on the 13th and 14th instant, near Guantanamo. The Spanish authorities claim that with 400 men they put to rout the enemy, 3,400 strong, inflicting severe loss on the rebels.

The rebels claim that there were over 2,000 Spaniards engaged in the first day's battle, and that they punished them severely, driving them into the town and inflicting a loss of over 200 in killed and wounded, including among the killed the commander, Colonel Bosch, and several other officers, while their own loss was insignificant; but finding that on the second day the Government forces had been strengthened, they thought it prudent to retire.

He says in the same letter-in fact, it turned out to be truethat 400 convicts are enlisted in the next shipment of soldiers to arrive at this place from Spain.

These convicts and others from Africa have been pardoned for the worst of crimes committed in Cuba and armed as bands of guerrillas to destroy the people they had formerly assailed with brigandage, robbery, and murder. Yet it is not more surprising that convicted robbers should be turned loose to war against Cuba than that unconvicted and titled robbers should use them for like purposes.

I will omit to read quite a number of these reports, although they all contain very strong corroborative testimony to the continual and steady progress of this revolution. On July 13 Mr. Hyatt says:

I have the honor very respectfully to report in reference to the further uprising in the eastern end of Cuba that Saturday, July 6, a battle of considerable importance occurred near Manzanillo, in which it appears that the Government forces, made up mostly of "guerrillas" (home guards), were, to the number of 100 or more, cut to death with machetes.

Continuous fighting between Manzanillo and this place has been kept up all of the week, with uncertain results.

The case of Dr. Joaquin Castillo, reported in my dispatch of July 6 (No. 149), is a peculiar case, and is, perhaps, worthy of further mention. The Doctor, a man of commanding appearance, is one of a numerous and highly respectable family, born on this island, but who have sought and obtained naturalization in the United States, and by marriage related to Spanish officers of high rank. The Doctor served as surgeon to our Jeannette polar expedition. It appears that some five years ago Gen. Antonio Maceo (who was famous in the previous insurrection) came to Santiago, and was quietly feasted and toasted by a number of prominent people, among them Dr. Castillo. In the hilarity of the occasion they promised Maceo that when he came to Cuba again on business they would be with him. On Maceo's return to the present conflict he notified these gentlemen that he was here, and expected them to remember and keep their promise. Some of them were slow to respond, and the Doctor among the number, because a lucrative practice and the large possessions of his wife made it inconvenient to respond. A second notice is said to have been sent, which contained no threats, but interpreted by those capable of reading between Cuban lines that it would not be well for the Doctor to delay his coming, and he went.

Numerous young men have left lucrative positions and cast their lots with the insurgents.