distinguish, you hear, the orders they carry:

1st. Every man, from the age of fifteen years, upward, found away from
his habitation and not proving a justified motive therefor, will be
shot.

2d. Every unoccupied habitation will be burned by the troops.

3d. Every habitation from which does not float a white flag, as a
signal that its occupants desire peace, will be reduced to ashes.

"Women that are not living at their own homes, or at the house of their
relatives, will collect in the town of Jiguana or Bayamo, where
maintenance will be provided. Those who do not present themselves will
be conducted forcibly."

The second paragraph was flagrantly untrue. Those who had fought against
the Spaniards had not been pardoned. On the contrary, they had been put
to death. Fearful atrocities had been committed in Havana and elsewhere.
To cite only a few instances: The shooting of men, women and children at
the Villanuesa Theatre, at the Louvre, and at the sack of Aldama's
house.

Valmaseda's proclamation raised a storm of protest from all civilized
nations, and the Spaniards, stiff and unbending, never wavered, but the
policy embodied in Valmaseda's proclamation remained their tactics until
the end of the war.

The United States was especially roused and disgusted. Secretary Fish,
in a letter to Mr. Hale, then Minister to Spain, protested "against the
infamous proclamation of general, the Count of Valmaseda."

Even a Havanese paper is quoted as declaring that,

"Said proclamation does not even reach what is required by the
necessities of war in the most civilized nations."

The revolutionists were victorious in almost every engagement for the
first two years, although their losses were by no means inconsiderable.

It has even been acknowledged recently by a representative of Spain to
the United States that the greater and better part of the Cubans were in
sympathy with the insurrection. This opinion appeared in a statement
made by Senor De Lome (whose reputation among Americans is now somewhat
unsavory) in the New York Herald of February 23, 1896.

The Cubans were recognized as belligerents by Chili, Bolivia, Guatemala,
Peru, Columbia and Mexico.

There were two important expeditions of assistance sent to the Cubans in
the early part of the war. One was under the command of Rafael Quesada,
and, in addition to men, brought arms and ammunition, of which the
insurgents were sadly in need. The other was under Genera