WEYLER THE BUTCHER.
No greater contrast to Campos could possibly be imagined than his
successor, General Valeriano Weyler, known, and with the utmost justice,
throughout Cuba and the United States as "The Butcher."
During his official life in Cuba, he proved again and again the truth of
his reputation for relentless cruelty.
There is no doubt that during former wars he committed the most
atrocious crimes.
It is not claimed that he ever showed any brilliant qualifications as a
military leader, and it was precisely because he lacked the
characteristics of General Campos, that Spain appointed him
governor-general, hoping that his severity (no, severity is too mild a
word, his savage brutality) would accomplish what Campos had failed to
do.
In the light of events following his appointment, events which filled
the whole civilized world with indignation and horror, it has been
pretended by Spain that her ministry specially instructed him to
"moderate his ardor."
Moderate his ardor, indeed! Granted that he obeyed instructions, if,
indeed such instructions ever existed, just think for a moment what
would have happened if he had not!
It is very hard to write in a temperate vein when Weyler is the subject.
But where is the case for the plaintiff? Where are their defenders, when
Nero, Caligula or Judas is in question?
Let us now contemplate a pen picture of "The Butcher," painted by Mr.
Elbert Rappleye, a very clever American newspaper correspondent:
"General Weyler is one of those men who creates a first impression, the
first sight of whom can never be effaced from the mind, by whose
presence the most careless observer is impressed instantly, and yet,
taken altogether, he is a man in whom the elements of greatness are
concealed under a cloak of impenetrable obscurity. Inferior physically,
unsoldierly in bearing, exhibiting no trace of refined sensibilities nor
pleasure in the gentle associations that others live for, or at least
seek as diversions, he is nevertheless the embodiment of mental
acuteness, crafty, unscrupulous, fearless and of indomitable
perseverance.
"Campos was fat, good-natured, wise, philosophical, slow in his mental
processes, clear in his judgment, emphatic in his opinions, outspoken
and withal, lovable, humane, conservative, constructive, progressive,
with but one object ever before him, the glorification of Spain as a
motherland and a figure among peaceful, enlightened nations. Weyler is
lean, diminutive, shriveled, ambitious for immortality, irrespective of
its odor, a master of diplomacy, the slave of Spain for the glory of
sitting at the right of her throne, unlovable, unloving, exalted."
After telling of how he was admitted to Weyler's presence, Mr. Rappleye
continues his vivid description.
"And what a picture! A little man. An apparition of blacks--black eyes,
black hair, black beard, dark--exceedingly dark--complexion; a plain
black attire. He was alone and was standing facing the door I entered.
He had taken a position in the very centre of the room, and seemed lost
in its immense depths. His eyes, far apart, bright, alert and striking,
took me in at a glance. His face seemed to run to chin, his lower jaw
protruding far beyond any ordinary indication of firmness, persistence
or will power. His forehead is neither high nor receding; neither is it
that of a thoughtful or philosophic man. His ears are set far back; and
what is called the region of intellect, in which are those mental
attributes that might be defined as powers of observation, calculation,
judgment and execution, is strongly developed."
Mrs. Kate Masterson, another American journalist, was, we believe, the
only one, except Mr. Rappleye, who obtained an interview with Weyler.
Among other things that he said, Mrs. Masterson reports the following:
"I have shut out the Spanish and Cuban papers from the field as well as
the American. In the last war the correspondents created much jealousy
by what they wrote. They praised one and rebuked the other. They are a
nuisance."
"I have no time to pay attention to stories. Some of them are true and
some of them are not."
"The Spanish columns attend to their prisoners just as well as any other
country in times of war." An obviously false statement, by the way. "War
is war. You cannot make it otherwise, try as you will."
True to a certain extent, General Weyler, but not from your point of
view. There are certain humanitarian principles, of which you seem to be
ignorant that can be practiced in time of war as well as in time of
peace.
Weyler declared to Mrs. Masterson that women, if combatants, would be
treated just the same as men. As a matter of fact, whether combatants or
non-combatants, he treated them worse than men.
He sneered at the Cuban leaders, at Maceo for being a mulatto, and for
having, as he asseverated, no military instruction. And at Gomez, whom
he declared was not a brave soldier and had never distinguished himself
in any way.
It has always been the policy of the Spaniards to belittle the Cubans,
sneering at them as being generaled by negroes, half breeds and
illiterate to a degree. Beyond the fact that this is contemptibly false,
they do not stop to think how they are dishonoring their own troops
which have made such little headway against them.
When the Spaniards have forced the insurgents to surrender in all the
revolts that have taken place, it has been mainly through false
representations and lying promises, promise that they knew, when they
made them, were never intended to be carried out.
Weyler's character may perhaps be best understood from his own
following egotistical statement, which is well-authenticated:
"I care not for America, England, or any other country, but only for the
treaties we have with them. They are the law. I know I am merciless, but
mercy has no place in war, I know the reputation which has been built up
for me. I care not what is said about me unless it is a lie so grave as
to occasion alarm. I am not a politician. I am Weyler."
Contrast with these utterances, the words of Maximo Gomez, the grand old
man of Cuba, in his instructions to his men:
"Do not risk your life unnecessarily. You have only one and can best
serve your country by saving it. Dead men cannot fire guns. Keep your
head cool, your machete warm, and we will yet free Cuba."
Gomez, by the way, at one time, served under Weyler, the former a
captain, the latter as a colonel. The noble Cuban leader certainly did
not obtain his views of modern warfare from his then superior officer.
When Weyler arrived in Cuba he had at his command at least one hundred
and twenty thousand regulars, fifty thousand volunteers and a large
naval coast guard. Rather a formidable force to subdue what has been
characterized as a handful of bandits.
His policy from the beginning was one of extermination, and he made war
upon those who were not in arms against Spain as well as those who were,
upon women and children as well as upon men.
Although Weyler did not begin what may be called active operations
until November (he arrived in February), still he persecuted by every
means in his power the pacificos, that is, those who did not take arms
for or against either side.
He conceived what General Fitzhugh Lee calls "the brilliant idea" of
ruining the farmers so that they should not be able to give any aid to
the insurgents.
Read carefully the text of his famous reconcentrado order, which brought
misery, ruin and death to the peaceable inhabitants of the island:
* * *
"I, Don Valeriano Weyler y Nicolau, Marquis of Tenerife,
Governor-General, Captain-General of this island and Commander-in-Chief
of the Army, etc., etc., hereby order and command:
"1. That all inhabitants of the country districts, or those who reside
outside the lines of fortifications of the towns, shall within a delay
of eight days enter the towns which are occupied by the troops. Any
individual found outside the lines in the country at the expiration of
this period shall be considered a rebel and shall be dealt with as such.
"2. The transport of food from the towns, and the carrying of food from
one place to another by sea or by land, without the permission of the
military authorities of the place of departure, is absolutely forbidden.
Those who infringe upon the order will be tried and punished as aiders
and abettors of the rebellion.
"3. The owners of cattle must drive their herds to the towns, or the
immediate vicinity of the towns, for which purposes proper escorts will
be given them.
"4. When the period of eight days, which shall be reckoned in each
district from the day of the publication of this proclamation in the
country town of the district, shall have expired, all insurgents who may
present themselves will be placed under my orders for the purpose of
designating a place in which they may reside. The furnishing of news
concerning the enemy, which can be availed of with advantage, will serve
as a recommendation to them; also, when the presentation is made with
firearms in their possession, and when, and more especially, when the
insurgents present themselves in numbers.
Valeriano Weyler."
* * *
Was there ever a more damnable--there is no other word for it--a more
damnable proclamation issued?
And the result? Words can scarcely do justice to it. It was the
death-sentence of thousands and thousands of innocent people, the large
majority of whom were women and children.
The peasant farmers, with their families, were only allowed to bring
with them what they could carry on their backs, when they were forced to
leave all that they had in the world, and remove to the places of
"concentration," where it was impossible for them to make a living.
Before leaving they saw their houses and crops burned, and their live
stock, be it much or little, that they possessed, confiscated.
Starvation was before them, and starve they did. And let the reader bear
this fact well in mind--these were non-combatants, women and children.
The deaths have occurred in ghastly numbers. More than two hundred
thousand have perished from starvation and starvation alone, with no
hand from the government stretched out to aid them. The record made by
the butcher and the butcher's emissaries is without parallel in all
history. No wonder that the United States held its breath in horror,
before raising its mailed hand to strike forever the chains from this
suffering people.
General Weyler did not care how deeply he should wade in blood, nor to
what age or sex this blood belonged, so long as he should attain his
ends.
Talk as you please about the atrocities of the Turks, but they pale
before those of the Spaniards in Cuba; acts committed, too, not in
secret, but openly and by public proclamation.
Read what Stephen Bonsal, who was an eye-witness, says in his book: "The
Real Condition of Cuba To-day."
"In the western provinces, we find between three and four hundred
thousand people penned up in starvation stations and a prey to all kinds
of epidemic diseases. They are without means and without food, and with
only the shelter that the dried palm-leaves of their hastily erected
bohios afford, and in the rainy season that is now upon them, there is
no shelter at all. They have less clothing than the Patagonian savages,
and, half naked, they sleep upon the ground, exposed to the noxious
vapors which these low-lying swamp-lands emit. They have no prospect
before them but to die, or, what is more cruel, to see those of their
own flesh and blood dying about them, and to be powerless to succor and
to save. About these starvation stations the savage sentries pace up and
down with ready rifle and bared machete, to shoot down and to cut up any
one who dares to cross the line. And yet, who are these men who are shot
down in the night like midnight marauders? And why is it they seek, with
all the desperate courage of despair, to cross that line where death is
always awaiting their coming, and almost invariably overtakes them? They
are attempting nothing that history will preserve upon its imperishable
tablets, or even this passing generation remember. No, they are simply
attempting to get beyond the starvation lines, to dig their potatoes and
yams, to bring home again to the hovel in which their families are
housed with death and hunger all about them. And they do their simple
duty, not blinded as to the danger, or without warning as to their
probable fate, for hardly an hour of their interminable day passes
without their hearing the sharp click of the trigger and the hoarse cry
of the sentry which precede the murderous volley; and every morning,
through the narrow, filthy lanes upon which the huts have been erected
the guerillas, drive along the pack-mules bearing the mutilated bodies
of those who have been punished cruelly for the crime of seeking food to
keep their children from starvation. This colossal crime, with all the
refinement of slow torture, is so barbarous, so bloodthirsty and yet so
exquisite, that the human mind refuses to believe it, and revolts at the
suggestion that it was conceived, planned and plotted by a man. And yet
this crime, this murder of thousands of innocent men, women and
children, is now being daily committed in Cuba, at our very doors and
well-nigh in sight of our shores, and we are paying very little heed to
the spectacle."
These words were written before the United States came to the rescue,
and the criticism in the last sentence is, thank Heaven, no longer
applicable. We are slow to act perhaps, but when we do act, our work is
effective, and we never rest until our aim is accomplished.