Rensselaer Semi-Weekly Republican, Volume 19, Number 89, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 15 July 1898 — NEW TERMS GRANTED [ARTICLE]

NEW TERMS GRANTED

Gen. Miles Assumes Full Charge of Cuban Campaign. BIS FINAL ULTIMATUM TOGEN. TORAL If He Surrenders Entire Province of Santiago de Cuba Our Government Will Send His Troop* Back to Spain—Fever Menace. Army. .'i Playa del Este, Guantanamo Bay, July 14. —Maj. Gen. Miles on Wednesday assumed command of the army around Santiago and the future movements of the United States troops will be directed Hy him in person. The I armistice which had been declared, I pending negotiations for the surrender of the Spanish forces, will expire ' at noon to-day and unless the demands ■ of the Americans are acceded 1 to by J that time a general attack will be made, the fleet bombarding the city from outside the harbor. Surrender Is Looked For. It is believed, however, that by noon —and perhaps before then—a white flag will be flying from the fortifica- 1 tions. The terms of surrender insisted upon by the American commander' take in not only the beleagured Spaniards in Santiago, but the whole province of Santiago de Cuba, including the .-garrisons at Manzanillo, Holguin,; tfhiantanamo and Baracao. The: United States, on its part, agrees to - send the Spanish troops back to Spain ' and to allow their officers their side . arms. No other concessions will be granted. Strengrth of Shafter’n Command. , 'Gcp. Shafter’s command is now in ’excellentcondition and spirits. Strong ■ reenforcements have arrived and are I at the front. The original force under • Shafter’s command numbered 16,000 1 men. Since July 1 the corps has been reenforced by the following troops: Gen. Duffield’s brigade, 2,500 men. Recruits for the regular army, 950 men. First Illinois infantry, 942 men. First District of Columbia infantry, 85! [ men. Six batteries United States light artillery, 725 men. Gen. Garretson’s brigade, consisting oi the Eighth Ohio, the Sixth Illinois and th* , Sixth Massachusetts, 3,903 men. Eliminating 3.000 killed, wounded and sick, Gen. Shafter hae now under Iris command an available force of 21,873 men. The Crisis Reached. Washington, July 14. —While the

long expected fall of Santiago did not take place Wednesday, it is evident that the crisis has been reached. Within the next 24 hours Santiago will either surrender or receive such a baptism of fire as seldom falls to the lot of a besieged town. “If Toral refuses, I will open on him at 12 o'clock, noon, tomorrow with every gun 1 have, and will have the assistance of the navy, who are ready to bombard the city with 13-inch shells.’’ That is the programme laid down by Gen. Shafter, and is to be carried out to the letter. Gen. Shafter is still commanding, according to the war department officials, and although dispatches have been received from Maj. Gen. Miles, signed major general commanding, it is said that he has not displacecbGen. Shafter in direct charge of the operations. Shafter’* Dispatch. Following is the dispatch received Wednesday from Gen. Shafter: “Adjutant General, Washington, D. C., Headquarters Near Santiago, July 13. Your telegram saying no modification ot orders allowed just received. Have had an Interview of an hour and a half with Gen. Toral and have extended truce until tomorrow: told him that his surrender only will be considered and that he was without hope of escape and had no right to continue the figbt. I think it made a strong impression on him and hope for his surrender; ft he refuaea I will open on him at 12 noon to-morrow with every gun 1 have and will have the assistance of the navy who are ready to bombard the city with 13-inch ■hells. “(Signed) SHAFTER." Ulaputeh from Gen. Mile*. The dispatch received from Gen. Miles follows: “Playa del Este. July 13.—Secretary ot War: At a meeting between the lines at which Gen. Shafter and Gen. Wheeler and Spanish GeneralTora! were present, the latter claimed that he Is unable to act without authority of his government, but has received authority to withdraw and surrender harbor ports, munitions of war and eastern portion of Cuba. He urgently requests until to-morrow noon to receive an-1 swer from his government regarding otter of our government to "send his force* to Spain, which was granted "(Signed) MILES, “Major General Commanding " On the bulletin giving Gen. Miles' dispatch was written the following: “Permission to withdraw was declined by war department. “(Signed) R. A. A." Otters a Condition. The public iu this telegram from Gen. Miles was given the first notice that our government had offered, in the course of negotiations with Gen. Toral, to send the Spanish forces in Santiago back to Spain. A few days ugoitwus stated that the president would insist upon unconditional surrender, but It appears that that condition has been modified, as indicated by Gen. Miles. This was done from a desire to avoid useless bloodshed, for Gen. Torsi's army, removed to Spain, would be harmless to prevent our further operations in Cuba, and would serve as good a purpose as would the destruction of the Spanish arniX. To allow the Spanish general to withdraw to the interior and fall back on Havana, on the other hand, « would put us under the obligation of overcoming that additional force when it comes to the siege of Havana. To Escape the Fever. Our government, also, is moved to make this proposal ‘o remove the Spanish forces to Spain through a strong desire to close up the operations at Santiago at the earliest possible moment. This desire has been materially strengthened by the apeparance of yellow fever within the American lines. It was nt first supposed that the men were falling 111 with malarin and climatic .fever, as the cases were re-

ported as simply suspicious. Now, however, conies the final admission that they/are genuine'yellow fever eases. Their appearance has determined the authorities upon a more native prosecution of the campaign. The Last Truce. Orders either have gone or soon will go to Gen. Shafter to discuss no more with the Spanish commander the terms of surrender, but to proceed to assault the town with all the force at his command, as soon as the present truce expires. It is expected by Shafter that th,e navy will cooperate and, while Secretary Long has received no direct advices on that point from Admiral Sampson, he fully credits this expectation. Reluctant as the war department is to sacrifice the many lives that might be lost in assault, it is deemed to be better policy to make it than to allow the men to rot away i with fevers and other diseases durI ing the long period that would be re- ■ quired to perfect the reduction of the city by steady investment. An expectation is still entertained here, however, that this assault will be unnecessary through Toralsurrendering before it begins. The New Foe. The press reports of the burning of Siboney by the medical officers of the United States army had a depressing effect here upon the friends of the soldiers at the front in Cuba. For a long time it was impossible to learn anything from any official source as to the exact state of affairs at the headquarters of the Fifth army corps, and this reticence on the part of the officials had the natural effect to increase the apprehension. Finally the fact was reluctantly admitted that it was not certain that yellow jack existed at Siboney, but the reports received over night from the medical officers did state that’there were 14 suspicious cases of fever. The fact that these cases were almost entirely confined to members of the quartermastei£s department, teamsters and others, encouraged the officials here to believe that the main body of the army is not in danger from the disease, if it should turn out to be yellow fever. Coats $1,000,000 a Day. Hostilities with Spain are costing the people of the United States $1,000,000 a day. That is a heavy price to pay for war’s glories, but so far as can be learned here, where the pulse of the public can be best felt, the expenditure pleases the nation’s taxpayers. Fully $100,000,000 has been paid out thus far fbr expenses incurred by the war for humanity. These figures are calculated on the basis of the cost ol defense during normal times. The expenditures for national defense (army and navy) this year exceed $75,000,000 over and above what it cost last year, and this excess is attributable to only one cause—war. Of this $75,000,000 more than two-thjrds has been spent on the army. The excess for the navy has amounted to, $25,000,000. It should be remembered that these sums represent only the actual money already paid out. They take no account whatever of the vast sums that must be paid later, and for which contracts have already been made. On a cash transaction basis the war has been costing about $1,000,000 a day since July 1. May Affect Spain’s Decision. London, July 14.—The Times, commenting editorially upon the situation, says it thinks the outbreak of disease among the American troops and the news of the Irene incident may decide Spain to continue the war, but it dissuades her from “such rashness, which will only have the result in more onerous terms of peace later, as it is quite illusory for Spain to hope for real help from Germany.”