The Great Round World and What Is Going On In It, Vol. 1, No. 54, November 18, 1897

It is possible that trouble may await him when he reaches Spain.

One paper asks that he explain a problem in mathematics which you young folks should find interesting.

On May 18th, 1897, General Weyler announced that there were only 1,300 insurgents in Cuba, and that these were mostly unarmed.

On September 16th, 1897, he stated that of these (1,300) insurgents (mostly unarmed), 1,716 had surrendered with arms in their hands, 4,619 had surrendered without arms, 1,007 had been killed in Pinar del Rio, 536 in Havana, 430 in Matanzas, and 966 in Las Villas.

Out of 1,300 insurgents, 6,335 had surrendered and 2,942 had been killed.

Any one who can make these statements agree will receive a handsome prize from The Great Round World.

It is said that one of the first measures to be taken by General Blanco will be to suppress the barbarous decree made by Weyler which drove the country people away from their homes, and forced them to herd and starve in the cities.

These unfortunate people are now to be turned loose again, and given the right to go back to their homes and their farms.

This seems a very humane thing to do, but it will hardly bring the Spaniards the popularity they expect.

Since Weyler drove the peasants into the cities their lands and farms have been laid waste, their houses burned, their cattle stolen. They will be turned out of the cities penniless and homeless, and exchange the certainty of dying of hunger in the crowded city for the equal certainty of dying of hunger in the desolate wasted country.

Added to this, it is uncertain whether General Blanco can induce the country folks to leave the cities unless he drives them out at the point of the bayonet.

You probably remember our telling you that when first these people were forced into the cities, and began to feel the pangs of hunger, they begged the authorities to give them permission to go back to their farms, and gather in the crops that were rotting in the fields, that they might have food to save themselves from starving.

You will also remember that permission was given some of these poor fellows, and that they started out full of energy and hope, only to be shot down and killed by the Spanish soldiers as soon as they were outside the city limits.

The country people have not forgotten this, and it will be hard to make them believe that this order to leave the city is intended for anything else than a general massacre. Blanco will find it no easy task to make the people believe he means well by them.

Immediately on taking charge of affairs, the new Captain-General issued a proclamation to the people, in which he said that Spain had sent him to bring peace and prosperity to Cuba, and to extend her forgiveness to those who were willing to seek the protection of her flag.

He stated that he had been ordered by the Queen to govern the island with kindness and generosity, but added that the rebellion must be brought to an end. He declared that while Spain would show mercy to all who submitted to her rule, she would punish with the utmost severity those who still remained in arms against her.

In the mean while the Cubans are going right ahead. The important town of Bayamo, in Santiago de Cuba, is being besieged by the insurgents, and the monthly supply-train from Havana has again been captured by the rebels.

The condition of the Spanish troops is something pitiable.

The true state of affairs in Cuba is becoming so well known in Spain that the soldiers there are unwilling to go out to poor pay, poor food, and a certainty of becoming the prey of some awful pestilence.

Many of the soldiers who have been sent home have died on the voyage, and those who have reached Spain are so broken down in health that the fresh soldiers are afraid to go to Cuba.

There have been several mutinies among the troops which were ordered out with General Blanco.

A mutiny means that the soldiers refuse to obey the orders of their officers, and is practically a strike among soldiers.

In this instance the men have refused to embark for Cuba. In spite of their remonstrance they have been forced to obey, and the ringleaders severely punished.

It seems that our chances of being drawn into a war with Spain have not been greatly lessened by the answer to General Woodford's message.

Every one is waiting anxiously to know what the President will say at the opening of Congress, for it looks as if the time had come when we must take sides with Cuba.

The former minister to Spain, Mr. Hannis Taylor, has published an article in The North American Review, in which he gives it as his opinion that as Spain seems unable to put an end to the war, it is our duty to interfere, and tell the Spaniards that the war must cease by a certain date or we will have to take a hand and put an end to it ourselves.

This article has stirred up a great deal of feeling, and we shall probably hear more of it.

In the mean while Spain has sent a note to the various powers, asking what they would be prepared to do if she should declare war on the United States.

It is said that the European governments have given Spain to understand that if such an event occurs she will receive nothing stronger than diplomatic support from them.

The cruiser Montgomery and the gunboat Annapolis have been sent in search of the Silver Heels, but have returned to port without finding any traces of her.

The number of patrol vessels on our coasts has been doubled, and every possible precaution is being taken to prevent another affair of the kind; but, in the mean while, the filibuster has got safely away.

Cuban filibustering has, however, received a severe blow from England.

Information was received by the magistrate of Andros Island that the Cubans had established a depot on one of the Bahamas Islands, of which Andros is the largest.

These islands lie on the north and east of Cuba, and are a large group of coral islands, which are formed by those great coral reefs which are known as the Bahama Banks. Twenty of them are uninhabited, and many of them are mere reefs or keys.

These islands are very interesting from the fact that they have all been built by the coral insects. Each of these tiny creatures gathers lime from the water in which it lives or the food which it eats, and develops from this a skeleton, which is the coral. They live in masses or colonies, and throw out buds above them which form fresh coral insects.

These buds immediately set to work and gather lime to build up their own skeletons. In time the old coral insects below die, leaving behind them the hard limestone frame which they have built. The younger coral above lives on, sending forth buds which in turn do their share of the building, and in time,—in countless ages of time,—reefs and islands rise out of the mighty depths of the sea, built by the untiring energy of these marvellous little insects.

This rock building is still going on in the Bahama group, and some geologists think that in ages to come the coral insects which are at work on the Bahamas and those that are so busy on the Florida reefs will build up a vast country where it is now sea, and that ages and ages hence the Florida Keys, the Bahamas, and perhaps even the West Indian Islands may be a part of the main land. While this is only a theory, it should be interesting to you in making you realize that the building of the world is going on now, from day to day, as steadily as it did in the days when the bed of the Niagara River was carved out, and the wonders of the Yellowstone Park were being created by the gradual working of the waters. The forces of nature are building up and destroying to-day just as steadily as when the world first began.

But to return to the Bahamas. It was learned that the Cubans had taken possession of one of these uninhabited islands, and had made it their headquarters for receiving supplies from the filibustering expeditions. These supplies they would carry to Cuba when opportunity offered.

No sooner did the English learn this than a gunboat was sent to the island.

A large supply of arms and ammunition and a number of Cubans were captured.

The loss will be keenly felt by the Cubans because this depot was also used as a means of communication with friends in New York, and many of them escaped to America by this route.

It is not known what will be done with the prisoners taken. At present they are being held in quarantine for fear of yellow fever.

The British in India are advancing into the heart of the Afridis territory, and are now within thirteen miles of the Afghan frontier.

They have gained another victory over the tribesmen, and have secured from them two important mountain passes.

The hillsmen are fleeing before the British advance, and representatives of the Afridi and Orakzai tribes have sought the Ameer of Afghanistan and asked him to help them.

The Ameer has therefore sent word to the English agent at Kabul that the tribes are full of repentance and alarm, and have begged him to tell the British Government for them how truly sorry they are for their misconduct, and to ask on what terms they can be pardoned.

The Ameer writes on his own account that he is trying to arrest the Haddah Mullah, the mad priest who stirred up all the trouble, and he promises that if he can only succeed in finding him, he will exile him from Afghanistan.

It is not certain that the British are at liberty to make terms with the Afridis.

With savage and semi-savage people it is always necessary to keep strictly to your word, else they lose respect, and are apt to think that their adversaries are not powerful enough to do what they have threatened to do. The quality of mercy enters very little into their calculations. To threaten to do a thing, and then not to do it when it comes to the point, does not mean to them that their adversary is kind and good, but that he is weak and foolish.

The situation is this: