A TRIP TO CUBA AND THE SOUTHERN STATES. 



political condition of the i^K>oplo with tliat of his own country. Tlie existence, almost under 

 the shadow of the tlag of the freest institutions the earth ever knew, of a government as 

 purely despotic as that of tho autocrat of all the Russias, is a monstrous fact that startles 

 the most indilVerent ohserver. It must he seen to be realized. To go hence to (.'uha, is not 

 merely passing over a few (k'prees of latitude in a few days' sail ! It is a step from tho 

 nineteenth century back into the dark ages. In the clime of snn and endless summer, wo 

 are in the land of starless political darkness, hying under tin; lee of a land whert; evo.ry 

 man is a sovereign, is a realm where tlu; lives, liberties, and fortunes of all are liebl at tho 

 tenure of the will of a single individual, and whence not a single murmur of coiiij>laint can 

 reach the ear of the nominal ruler more than a thousand leagues away in anoth(?r hemispliere. 

 In close proximity to a country where the taxes, self-impose<l, are so liglit as to be almost 

 unfelt, is one where each free family pays nearly four hundred dollars per annum for the 

 suj)port of a system of bigoted tyranny, yielding in the aggregate an annual revenue of 

 twenty-five millions of dollars, for which they receive no equivalent — no representation, no 

 utterance, for pen and tongue are alike proscribed — no honor, no office, no emolument ; 

 while their industry is crippled, their intercourse with other nations hampered in every 

 way, their bread literally snatched from their lips, the freedom of education d(;nied, aud 

 every generous, liberal aspiration of the human soul stifled in its birth. And this in the 

 nineteenth century, and iu North America ! 



" Such are the contrasts, broad and striking, and such the reflections forced upon the mind 

 of the citizen of the United States in Cuba. Do they never occur to the minds of the 

 Creoles ? We are told that they are willing slaves. Spain tells us so, and she extols to the 

 world, with complacent mendacity, the loyalty of her ' siemprejielissirna isla de Cuba.^ But 

 why does she have a soldier under arms for every four white adults ? We were about to 

 say, white male citizens, but there are no citizens in Cuba. A proportionate military force 

 iu this country, would give us a standing army of more than a million bayonets, with an 

 annual expenditure, reckoning each soldier to cost only two hundred dollars per annum, of 

 more than two hundred millions of dollars. And this is the peace establisliment of Spain 

 in Cuba — for England, and France, and the United States, are all her allies, and she has no 

 longer to fear the roving buccaneers of the Gulf who once made her tremble in her island 

 fastness. For whom, then, is this enormous warlike preparation ? Certainly for no exter- 

 nal enemy — there is none. The question answers itself. It is for her very loyal subjects 

 — the people of Cuba — that the Queen of Spain makes all this warlike show." 



The means of education are limited in Cuba. There is a Royal University, a 

 medical and law school, and chairs on all the natural sciences ; the Jesuits have a 

 college of some pretensions, but everybody seems to feel that the policy of the 

 government is opposed to real knowledge. There is a museum of natural history, 

 only kept up by a few master spirits ; the " Jarden" of Acclimation, founded under 

 the auspices of De la Sagra, is now unfenced, and utterly given up to the pasturage 

 of the cows. 



It may be as well to warn those who take letters of introduction to banking 

 merchants, not to expect the slightest attempt at hospitality. As it has been 

 said before, a Spaniard's idea of this virtue is to dine with every one who asks 

 him ; your banker will receive the strongest recommendations from his corre- 

 spondent with averted eyes, and hand you over to a clerk, whose only idea respect- 

 ing you is, that you are entitled to draw so many doubloons. The customs are 

 so different in many respects, that you enjoy to tlie full the feeling of being iu a 

 foreign land. 



It strikes one very oddly that the rear basement of the palace is let out to shop- 

 keepers ; you may buy cigars under Madame Concha's drawing-room, or have 

 your harness or shoes mended on your way up to an official's office. It is alto- 

 gether a country of contradictions. The garden or square in front, is the resort 

 of everybody in the evenings, and it is here the military bands discourse excel- 

 lent music. 



In connection with the palace, we may as well give the form of the invitations 

 to the Governor-General's receptions, which are held every Wednesday eveni 

 that does not come upon a great saint's day, or the ever-recurring dr; 



