THE UNHAPPY ISLE.

New Zealand Graphic, Volume XXI, Issue V, 30 July 1898, Page 133

THE UNHAPPY ISLE.

SPAIN ON THE ‘BLACK LIST’ OF CIVILISED NATIONS.

The colonial history of Spain is an unbroken record of misrule, cruelty, and injustice to the point of imbecility. With the fairest of possessions she has trampled upon them with the iron heel in the days of their prosperity, and devastated them when they have been goaded into rebellion. Cuba is by no means the first province of Spain beyond the seas to cry out for the yoke to be removed, and what is happening to-day in the unhappy isle is far from ueing unprecedented in the story of opain and her colonial offspring. But at present we are chiefly concerned with Cuba. The full extent of the horrors and inhumanities that have taken place there under the excuse of ‘repressing the revolution,’ will probably never be known; for it follows that those who have suffered most are not alive to tell the tale. The order of concentration issued by General Weyler to the island ot Cuba, in October, 1896, and the farreaching misery ami death resulting therefrom, may be either considered as a military move, with a view to

BRINGING ABOUT THE DISCOMFITURE

and defeat of the rebels, or as an inhuman and bloodthirsty effort to blot out a people by starvation. Before the issuing of this order the Spaniards in Cuba were confronted with conditions which rendered their operations against the insurgents always difficult and often ineffective. The insurgents went then, as now, in small bands; they were thoroughly familiar with the land, and they could always count upon the help, guidance and sympathy of the greater number of the country people. If a Spanish column started to run down a rebel band, word of this movement was passed through the country, from from farm-house to farm-house, by eager messengers, until the rebels were informed of the Spanish approach, and thus given time to escape. It must not be thought that all the country side was in sympathy with the rebels, or that there were no country people who were neutral and peaceful; of these latter there were, of course, many; but the rebel helpers were sufficiently numerous and active to render Spain’s warfare both trying and ineffectual. So the order for the concentration of the country people into the towns and villages was issued. The thorough application of "this measure required about three months. In January, 1897, the country was pretty well cleared. The insurgents no longer had the help of friends in the field. The country was free of

houses ami building's that would hide the enemies of Spain, for the thatch huts of the farmers had l>een stripped of roofs and walls, and fires blazed by night and by day,

COMPLETING THE DESTRUCTION. If, from the time these country people were concentrated in towns and villages, Spain had provided for them, or had made it possible for them to earn a scant living from the fields, the concentration order would be without its worst stigma. But this was not clone. Many of the reconcentrados came to the towns with absolutely nothing—no food, no clothing. no fanning implements or household utensils. Others brought what they could hurriedly lay their hands on. Some came well provided. For a time they existed on their own resources, and then on the resources of the towns into which- they had been driven. But it can readily be seen that these ways of support would soon become exhausted. Whereupon S|»ain, to remedy the difficulty, inaugurated the zones of cultivation. But the. ground allotted was never sufficient; no tools or seeds were supplied. It is true that they were offered for sale. at. exorbitant, prices by the Spanish dealer of the village, who in many cases was also mayor. But. can the six-mouth reconcentrado be Expected to have money? So it was that, in many instances the mayor and the military commander, or men having equal advantages of position and power, acquired much of this land intended for the relief of the halfstarved reeoncentrados, and cultivated for their own profit, giving some few of the reeoncentrados a small daily wage to work in their fields.

So the famine in the towns increased and the country remained depopulated; until, during the months ot October, November, and December of 1897, nine months after the fulfilment of the concentration order, the most appalling reports of death by starvation, and from diseases that meant starvation, became current. During these months the death-lists were largest. A few examples will suffice to give an idea of the situation. The figures used were obtained in February of the present year, when the condition of these people was infinitely better than it had been for some time before. This was because so many had died that there was consequently more food for the remainder. THE VILLAGE OF GUINES. Population in January. 1897 GOTO Number of reeoncentrados sent to village 9000 15. OTO Deaths in Gulnes. from January 1 to December 1. 1897 6887 THE VILLAGE OF SAN NICOLAS. Population of village before order of concentration 1500 Reeoncentrados in village on January 5, 1897 4000 111 '* “ 5500 Deaths in San Nicolas from January 5 to November 26. 1897 1142 MADRUGA. Population before order of concentration 2289 Number of reeoncentrados sent to the village 5833 8122 Deaths in Madruga from January 1 to November 1. 1897 2751 The little hamlet of Chascajaba. in July, 1897, in the province of Matanzas. there have died from epidemics, inanition, surd hunger 20,044, and the mortality in this province of Matanzas is not so great as in certain others.’ Havana itself has not been without its reeoncentrados. There are believed to be 25,000 of the starving wretches in and around the. city nt present, though that is a smaller number, in comparison, than in any other city on the island.

The population of the island of Cuba in normal times is estimated at 1,100.000. Various estimates of total number of deaths by starvation have been made; they vary from 400,000 to 500,000. It should Ire'remem lie red that in Cuba it is always possible to procure exact data concerning deaths when interment has been in consecrated ground; but during these last years thousands have Iree.n buried in ditches and trenches, mid no record of their numbers has Ireen kept.

And that is Spain’s record in Cuba, the island which, under proper conditions, could support comfortably from eight to ten millions of people.