THE CONTROL OF CUBA.

Evening Post, Volume LVII, Issue 23, 28 January 1899, Page 5

THE CONTROL OF CUBA.

Cuba (writes the American correspondent of the Sydney Daily Telegraph, under date November 30th) is fast coming under American control. The American troops are preparing to occupy the central and western departments in a few days. On the 23rd November an order was issued by General Miles directing the First Brigade of the Third Division of the Second Army Corps, under command of General William C. Oates, and composed of the Fifteenth Pennsylvania, the Third New Jersey, and the Twenty-second New York regiments to prepare for this service. One regiment will be stationed at Pinar del Rio, in the extreme western province of that name, a second will be garrisoned at Marie], also in the department of Pinar del Rio, on the north side of the island, and about 30 miles west of Havana, and the third regiment at Guanjayj 125 miles west of Havana, on the railroad line running from Havana to the city of Pinar del Rio, and will be the American army headquarters in that province. The American occupation of the province of Havana itself has already begun in a small way, the transport Florida having landed four companies of engineers at that city some days since. In the province of Santiago, General Wood, the military commander, has appointed Sonor Barcardi, a Cuban, mayor of the capital city, and Eduarjio Tamago, Chief Justice, and M. de J. Manadulay and Jose Barela associate justices of "the Supreme Court. In the discussions over the Cuban debt by the Peace Commissioners in Paris, the American representatives have taken the ground that the sovereignty of the Island of Cuba is vested in the people, and that the American Government does not claim to exercise it. From the tone of our public men, the naive utterances of the press of this country, and the rapid Arnericanisation which is going on in Santiago, it does not require to be a prophet to foresee that, although the Cubans will be allowed the simulacrum of an independent government for a brief period, Cuba will ultimately become an American possession. This will in time be brought about by a species of plebiscite, in which it may be foreseen that the former Spanish party and the moderate Cubans will unite.