To prevent any show of feeling, word was cabled from Spain that Weyler was on no account to leave the island until General Blanco arrived.
Weyler must have thought this to mean that Blanco had orders to forbid any demonstration, and so, in direct defiance to the orders he had received, he decided to embark the day that Blanco was expected.
By this means he was able to permit the demonstration which was so pleasing to his vanity, and also to make trouble for his successor.
The Cubans, as Spain feared, were shocked that the Spaniards should make an idol of their bitterest enemy, and immediately began to doubt the truth of the Home Rule stories.
Weyler went aboard his ship in great state on Friday afternoon, but by Saturday the fickle people of Havana were laughing at the man whom they had praised and embraced the day before.
Weyler had expected that Blanco would arrive an hour or two after his departure, but, unfortunately, soon after he had embarked he learned that Blanco's ship could not reach Cuba till Sunday morning, and as the _Montserrat_, on which Weyler had taken passage, had orders not to leave Havana till Blanco arrived, the great Weyler was cooped up on board ship the whole of Saturday, waiting with what patience he might for the arrival of General Blanco.
At about six o'clock on Sunday morning, October 31st, Blanco reached the port of Havana. Almost immediately Weyler visited him on board his ship, turned over his command, and in the afternoon sailed away from the shores of the beautiful little island which he has laid waste and ravaged with fire and sword.
Now that he has gone, the Spanish papers are beginning to condemn him and examine a little more closely into his accounts.
It is possible that trouble may await him when he reaches Spain.
One paper asks that he explain a problem in mathematics which you young folks should find interesting.
On May 18th, 1897, General Weyler announced that there were only 1,300 insurgents in Cuba, and that these were mostly unarmed.
On September 16th, 1897, he stated that of these (1,300) insurgents (mostly unarmed), 1,716 had surrendered with arms in their hands, 4,619 had surrendered without arms, 1,007 had been killed in Pinar del Rio, 536 in Havana, 430 in Matanzas, and 966 in Las Villas.