The Cuban Rebellion

Te Aroha News, Volume XIV, Issue 2076, 8 February 1898, Page 2

The Cuban Rebellion

We know in a general way that Spam with an army of 250,000 men, has; failed to suppress a rebellion in Cuba —an island only 800 miles long by 80 broad. England suppressed the Indian mutiny with 80,000 men. According to an American war correspondent, th& Spanish officers are only too anxious. *

to prolong the war, as they enjoyed i great opportunities for plundering thepurse of the Spanish public. Of this; process Mr Davis gives a vivid picture.. A lieutenant, for instance, will take twenty men out for their daily wait through the sourrounding country, and after burning a few huts and butchering a non-combatant or two, will come back ia time for dinner, and charge his captain for rations for fifty men and for 3,000 cartridges “expended in service.” The captain vises his report, and the two share the profits. Or theyturn the money over to the colonel, who recommends them for red enamelled crosses for “bravery on the field.” The only store in Matanzas that was doing a brisk trade when I was there was a jewellery shop, where they had sold more diamonds and watches to the Spanish officers since the revolution broke out than they had ever been able to dispose of before to all the rich men in the city. The legitimate pay of the highest ranking officer is barely enough to buy red wine for his dinner, certainly not enough to pay for champagne and diamonds ;so it is not unfair to suppose that the rebellion is a profitable experience for the officers, and they have no intention of losing the golden eggs. It is a shameful explanation, bub there seems little doubt that it is the true one. Anyhow no one can read it. without understanding the situation in Cuba rather better thap before.