"In addition, they prohibited this class of people (I am only giving food to about one-fifth of the destitute—the authorities have quit altogether) from gathering vegetables cultivated within the protection of the forts, telling them 'the Americans propose to feed you, and to the Americans you must look.'"
General Lee reports on March 28 that "instructions have been given, by the civil government of Havana that the alcaldes and other authorities shall not give out any facts about the reconcentrados, and if any of the American relief committees should make inquiries concerning them, all such inquiries must be referred to him."
General Lee's dispatches end with a dispatch under date of April 1, transmitting the decree of the governor-general terminating the concentration order.
CONSUL BARKER'S REPORT.
Consul Barker covers the conditions existing in Santa Clara province in several communications, beginning on November 20, 1897, and closing on March 24 last. His letters constitute one long story of distress, of sickness, destitution and death, until, indeed, the picture, even as drawn in the plain language of official communications, is revolting.
Mr. Barker devoted comparatively little space to political questions. Only one or two of his letters are along these lines. Probably the most notable of these is his communication of January 10 last:
"When Spain will admit defeat," he writes, "no mortal, in my humble judgment, dare predict. That her plan of settlement— autonomy—is a failure, and that with this failure passes from under her dominion the island, is not to be questioned. Pending this admission on her part thousands of human beings, guiltless of bringing on or having any part in the insurrection, are dying for want of sustenance."
Mr. Barker then suggests that residents in Cuba be allowed to take out first papers under the naturalization laws before a consul in Cuba, and that by this scheme, he thinks, Spain will be rebuked and change her laws.
He adds that the relief from the United States must be continued or the people must starve, so long as there is an armed Spanish soldier in the country, "since these people, for fear of being murdered, do not go to their country homes."
On January 15 Mr. Barker writes: "In this consular district a reign of terror and anarchy prevails, which the authorities, if so disposed, are utterly powerless to control or in any measure to subdue. Aside from the suffering and desperation caused by the unparalleled destitution, I regard the situation as rapidly assuming a critical stage. As stated heretofore, in no way have the authorities departed from the policy pursued by the late, but not lamented, General Weyler. Spanish troops, as well as the guerrillas under the cruel chiefs Carreraz, Clavarrietta, and Lazo, continue to despoil the country and drench it with the blood of non-combatants. Although the 'bando' of the captain-general provides that laborers may return to estates, it restricts their operations to those having a garrison. Last week a number belonging to the 'Sta. Ana' estate, located within a league of Sagua, and owned by George Thorndike of Newport, were driven off after returning, and refused a permit as a protection by the military commander, Mayor Lemo, one of the trusted officers under the Weyler regime."