The insurgents are showing such extreme activity that some stirring action may be looked for ere long.
We must not expect a pitched battle, for the insurgents are too wise to attempt to face the enormous force of Spain in a decisive engagement. They have been highly successful in their plan of harassing detachments of the Spanish army while on the march, destroying supplies, capturing outposts, and thwarting the plans of its leaders.
Captain-General Weyler has decided to give up the town of Bayamo in Santiago de Cuba. He has ordered the inhabitants to move to the town of Manzanillo, and has asked permission of the war department to burn Bayamo to the ground.
His reason for giving up Bayamo is that there is so much sickness among the troops in Santiago that they are not equal to the strain of checking the activity of the rebels and holding the town.
We have already told you how the rebels intercept every train of supplies that is despatched to the outlying cities, and it is easy to believe that the Spaniards have no light task in trying to hold these towns.
You will be glad to know that the crimes against the unfortunate soldiers are not to be allowed to go unpunished.
We told you of the shameful system of robbery that prevailed in the Spanish army; how the unprincipled officers took the money apportioned by the Government for the soldiers' food, and, pocketing one-half of it, kept the poor fellows on the short rations they could purchase with the other half.
Two hundred Spanish officers and contractors for the army are now imprisoned at the fortress of La Cabana in Havana, under charges of fraud in provisioning the army.
Among these men are some of the highest officers: Colonels, Lieutenant-Colonels, Majors, and Captains.
The amount stolen by these men during the two years of the war is estimated at several millions. The truth of this wholesale robbery came to light when the soldiers protested against the bad food that was being given them. When they found their complaints were being unheeded they deserted in large numbers to the Cubans.