d 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 r