The Great Round World and What Is Going On In It, Vol. 2, No. 5, February 3, 1898 | Page 6

our Government to go to war with Spain and help to free Cuba. He compared the condition of Cuba to-day with the condition of the American colonies at the time of the Revolution.
Then, too, a great meeting was recently held in Boston to uphold Cuba's cause, and the feeling in favor of the Cubans has been strongly shown throughout the United States.
But the Cuban insurgents are suspicious of Americans, because our Government has done nothing to help them.
If the Government did do anything to assist the Cuban cause, we should probably have a war on our hands in a very short time.
In preparation for further trouble in Havana, General Blanco is said to have gathered a large body of troops in order to crush it at once.
General Blanco, however, decided not to remain in Havana, but to go east and take charge of the campaign against the insurgents.
On the other hand, it is reported that many of the troops left Havana a few days after the riots, and that the only signs of the disturbance were the squads of soldiers left to guard two of the newspaper offices that had been attacked.
Some of these troops, it is reported, have been sent to Santiago de Cuba, where the insurgents have been very active of late.
It was rumored recently that the seat of the Cuban Government, near Cubitas, had fallen into the hands of the Spanish.
This rumor, however, is believed to be false. Still, the Spaniards have probably been doing some good fighting in this neighborhood.
The Cuban President and his Cabinet are not likely to be molested, as they are concealed in remote and inaccessible mountain-passes.
A good deal of newspaper talk has been created by the acceptance of General Blanco's Government by Gen. Juan Massó, cousin of President Bartolomé Massó, and his brigade, and by the surrender of five private soldiers belonging to the command of Gen. Maximo Gomez, the insurgent commander-in-chief.
These soldiers declare that General Gomez ordered Captain Nestor Alvarez to be shot for attempting to persuade insurgent soldiers to accept autonomy. They have asked permission to form a guerilla force to avenge the captain's death.
In various parts of the island the Cubans have been doing a great deal of damage to property, but it is impossible to know accurately just what they are gaining by their devastations. The news sent from the Cuban and the Spanish camps does not agree by any means.
Both sides declare that they are making progress.
There is no doubt, however, that though the Cubans had lost hope of receiving help from the United States this winter, they have not lost courage.
At present they are busily engaged in transporting supplies into the centre of the island, and they propose to continue the campaign through the wet season.
The Spaniards maintain that the insurgents are at the end of their resources, that very misleading reports of the war are sent to this country, and that the Cuban Junta in New York gives information that cannot be relied upon to the papers.
The Spanish minister has gone so far as to defy Tomas Estrada Palma, who is at the head of the Junta, to mention five Cuban generals who are now in good standing.
He evidently hopes in this way to discredit the information sent out by the Junta.
On the other hand, the Junta discredits the reports sent out by the Spaniards. In the case of Gen. Juan Massó, for example, it says that several months before his surrender Massó had been degraded from the command, and that his so-called "brigade" consisted only of a few personal followers; so his acceptance of autonomy did not by any means indicate that the insurgents were giving up the cause of Free Cuba.
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The excitement in France over the case of Captain Dreyfus, instead of subsiding, has grown even more serious.
For several days the students have paraded the streets in small groups, uttering cries against Zola and the Jews, and have been dispersed by the police.
It is said also that cries of "Long live the Emperor" have been heard.
This suggests that the excitement may affect the Government, after all, in spite of its apparent security in recent years.
In Paris this seems to be a very easy thing to do. More than once the Government has been overturned by the mob.
In spite of their bitter experiences, the French people of to-day are very like the French people of a little more than a hundred years ago.
But the French people of a hundred years ago were very badly governed and had terrible grievances.
At present, the French are well governed by rulers of their own choosing.
It is very likely that those who cried out for the Emperor were either jokers, or people eager to add to the excitement, or else paid agents of the Imperial