The Scranton Tribune

The Loss of the Tillie.

Without doubt the greatest victory which Spain has won in several months in her war for the retention of Cuba was won on the high seas off Barnegat the other day, when a Cuban traitor scuttled the filibuster ship Tillie, sending to the bottom a consignment of war materials, including three dynamite guns and forty tons of dynamite, intended for delivery to the military genius of the Cuban revolution, General Calixto Garcia.

The Tillie had stolen safely through the cordon of coast spies maintained by our government and Spain in hindrance of aid for the Cuban insurgents, and was on her way rejoicing when perfidy in the hold, negotiated by Spain, spoiled all, carrying down to an untimely death four of the brave souls who had risked their lives on this hazard for liberty.

The monetary loss resulting from this deplorable act of treachery is considerable, and it will undoubtedly be felt by the revolutionary agents in New York, who, up to this time, have sustained the enormous expense of the Cuban insurrection almost wholly from contributions made by Cubans themselves. There was a time in the history of the revolution when such a loss would not have been severely felt. One year ago news of it would have been followed by extra subscriptions from Cubans in this country and Europe more than enough to reimburse the junta's treasury. But the Cubans who could afford to do this are relatively few and their resources are not inexhaustible.

The regular monthly payments which every patriotic Cuban is making to the revolutionary cause, amounting in many cases to more than twenty-five per cent. of the donor's entire income, constitute as heavy a sacrifice as the majority of American Cubans can make without reducing themselves and their families to destitution.

But even if the money loss resulting from the scuttling of the Tillie were regained in some way, as for example by American contributions, which up to the present moment have been more liberal in words than in negotiable currency, there would remain the feeling of insecurity and distrust which every act of treachery inspires and leaves in its wake. This will constitute the junta's greatest obstacle. Spanish diplomacy has again exhibited its consummate skill. It has barbed the enemy in a way which insures pain and peril long after the arrow itself shall have been extricated. The circumstance is enough to make decent Americans heartily ashamed of the illiberal and one-sided policy of the government at Washington which, by its refusal to grant belligerent rights has made it necessary for the friends of Cuba to steal and skulk out of Yankee ports, subjecting themselves to such risks as proved fatal to the purposes of the expedition aboard the Tillie.

Fortunately, General Garcia has no present lack of dynamite; and with what he has he will undoubtedly render a good account.