Page:Messages of the President of the United States on the Relations of the United States to Spain (1898).djvu/44

 Rh My present information is that most of the Spaniards will refrain from voting, and nearly all of the Cubans.

The feeling in Havana, and I hear in other parts of the island, is strong against it—the Cubans desiring an independent republic and the Spaniards preferring annexation to the United States rather than autonomy. On the night of the 24th instant there seems to have been a concerted plan over the island to testify the disapprobation of the people to the proposed autonomistic plans of the Spanish Government.

It culminated in this city about 2 o'clock in the morning of the 25th, in the principal square of Havana, where a mob assembled with cries of "Death to autonomy!" and to General Blanco, and shouting "Viva Weyler!" These men came to the square with stones in their pockets, and some of them armed with weapons.

They made a demonstration, too, against the office of the Diario de la Marina, a paper published in this town favoring autonomy, but were dispersed by the military police and soldiers,

I am, etc.,

2em

Havana, December 28, 1897.

I have the honor to acknowledge receipt of the following telegrams: