Bad Methods and Cruelties

Massacre of French Colonists

French, and Dutch in the wars she had waged against those countries in the vain hope of broadening her empire.

It would have been no dishonor to lose all of these vast possessions, had not most of the losses been occasioned by dishonest dealings, signal violations of human rights, and merciless cruelty. An habitual disregard of the customs of civilized administration and of the laws of civilized warfare has persistently formed the substance of Spanish policy. It was so in the home country and it has invariably been so in the territories.

The details of the persecution of the men and women who thought for themselves, the narrative of the expulsion of the Jews and the Moors from Spain, and the tale of the atrocities of the war in the Netherlands, are too long and too horrible to be described. We should willingly pass them by without mention if similar practices had not been brought to the New World and continued into the present century.

During the religious wars of France in the latter half of the 16th century, several hundred Huguenots, aided by Admiral Coligny, started a colony in Florida. It was the first attempt in America to establish a free government, where men could enjoy liberty of opinion. The famous English Admiral Hawkins visited this colony in 1565, became deeply interested in it, and has left a description of its broad and humane policy, which was extraordinary for that day. Shortly after Hawkins left, the terrible Menendez, with his Spanish soldiers, arrived, and butchered the whole company of

Massacres in Mexico

At Soto la Marina

men, women, and children, seven hundred in all, except six who escaped to an English ship.

Spanish official documents show that when Venezuela, Ecuador, and New Granada battled for freedom, eighty thousand of their people, taken prisoners of war, were hanged, shot, or otherwise murdered in cold blood by Spanish soldiers. Frequently these

massacres were in spite of express agreements before capitulation that their lives and property should be secure. These crimes were not due merely to the excesses of half-savage troops, but had the specific approval of the Government of Spain.

Special hostility was shown against people who could read and write, and particularly against all who were accomplished as scholars, on the ground that they were more dangerous than insurgents in arms."

In the city of Guanaxuato, in Mexico, men and women who pass a certain point in the public square still stop and cross themselves. It is where a Spanish general slaughtered thousands of defenseless men and women because they were asking for freedom; and he was rewarded for doing it by promotion to the highest office in the territory.

In the Mexican Revolution, in June, 1816, the little fort of Soto la Marina, after being bravely defended, was obliged to surrender to Spanish arms. Written articles of capitulation were agreed upon, and they were so similar to the terms granted by General Shafter to the Spanish garrison at Santiago that they are worth quoting: “I. All parties composing the garrison of

At Los Remedios

Four Centuries of Inhumanity

the fort of Soto la Marina, as well as those that are or may have been at the bar or on the river, shall be included in the present capitulation. They shall surrender themselves prisoners of war, everyone receiving a treatment corresponding with his rank; and the officers shall be paroled. II. All private property shall be respected. III. The foreigners shall be sent to the United States, by the first opportunity. The natives of the country shall be sent to their respective homes, and their past conduct shall remain wholly unnoticed. IV. The garrison shall march out with the honors of war, and stack their arms." Notwithstanding this solemn agreement, most of the garrison were murdered, and such as were not shot were sent to end their lives in dungeons, a few in Mexico and the rest in Spain. The property of all was confiscated.

In the same revolution, in January, 1818, the Mexicans surrendered the fort of Los Remedios. Here, too, the garrison was slaughtered, and the captors were not content with shooting such as were well, but they fired the hospital, which was filled with sick and wounded, and as the poor unfortunates crawled out they were thrust back into the flames or put to death with bayonets.

There seems to be no end to the story of these brutalities. They have occurred for more than four hundred years at times when the Spanish soldiers have won the victory in battle. Four centuries ago all nations were shockingly cruel as compared with the present standards, but the Spaniards at that time exceeded all other

War on the Helpless

Effect on Spain

peoples in mercilessness; and while other nations have grown humane and gentle with the advance of better civilization, the Spaniards have lagged behind, and have continued to hold sentiments so savage as often to impel them to war against helpless prisoners, women, and children with the same ferocity with which they fight against soldiers in arms. Consequently terrible assassinations and massacres have usually followed Spanish conquest. They have not been repressed, but rather encouraged and approved, by the Spanish Gov

ernment.

It is not pleasant to tell this story, but it is a part of the world's history, it bears upon the course of the United States concerning the Spaniards, and it has at last settled the fate of Spain.

Beautiful Cuba

Size and Population

THE

CHAPTER II

Spanish Misrule in Cuba

HE island of Cuba was the chief discovery made by Columbus upon his first voyage. Passing by several smaller islands, he came to this one and supposed he had reached the main coast of China, the far-famed "Indie" of that day. He wrote in his diary, "This is the most beautiful land ever beheld by human eyes.' The Spaniards have called it, at different times, Juana, Fernandino, Santiago, and Ave Maria, but " Cuba," the name by which the original inhabitants called it, has survived all others.

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The length of Cuba is about 700 miles; it has an irregular width which varies from 21 to III miles; with several small islands along the coast, it contains about 47,000 square miles. What this means is suggested by a comparison. Cuba is nearly one fourth larger than Ireland, and nearly one seventh smaller than England. It is a trifle larger than Virginia or Ohio, and a trifle smaller than Pennsylvania. It has 2200 miles of coast-line. Its population in recent years has probably been about 1,600,000, of whom 950,000 were white Cubans, 500,000 colored, and the rest Spaniards.

Perhaps no other place on earth has a more genial