made General
Garrich governor of the Province of Oriente, with General Salcedo in
command of the First Division, at Santiago, and General Lachambre of the
Second Division, at Bayamo. He undertook the organization of numerous
bodies of irregular troops, to wage a guerrilla warfare against the
Cubans similar to that which the Cubans themselves waged successfully
against Spanish regulars. When he found his troops from Spain
disinclined toward such work, or unsuited to it, he sought the services
of young Spaniards who had for some years been settled in Cuba, such as
had been so ready to serve in the former war. They generally declined,
whereupon he sought to draft them into the service, and at that they
threatened mutiny. As a last resort he sent for Lolo Benitez, a life
prisoner at Ceuta. This man had been a guerrilla leader, on the Cuban
side, in the Ten Years' War, but had been guilty of cruelties which
caused the Cubans to repudiate him. He had been captured by the
Spaniards and sent to the penal colony in Africa for life. But Campos
brought him back and gave him a free pardon and commission as lieutenant
colonel in the Spanish army, on condition that he would conduct a
guerrilla warfare against his own countrymen. When this was done, and
when under this man were placed numerous criminals released from Cuban
jails, there were vigorous protests from Spanish officers against such
degradation of the Spanish army, and warnings that such unworthy tactics
would surely react against their author.
The official attitude of the Spanish government was at this time set
forth by the Spanish Minister to the United States, Senor Dupuy de Lome.
He belittled the reports of Spanish oppressions and of Cuban uprisings.
"There is very little interest," he said, "being taken in the revolt by
the people of Havana. I think the uprising will speedily be put down.
The arrival of General Martinez Campos has brought order out of chaos.
He has shown clearly to the people that their interests will be
protected, and as a result has caused a feeling of security. He is every
inch a soldier, not a toy fighter. He is loyal to his country, but he is
humane, and as far as possible he will treat his enemies leniently. In
the case of the leaders of the revolt, however, severe justice will be
meted out."
Meantime the revolution was proceeding. The most formidable figure in
its ranks in Cuba was that of Antonio Maceo, the mulatto general who
above most of
|