PRELIMINARY ESSAY. 



49 



from Buenos Ayres. It is not a reciprocal trade, for 

 the countries of La Plata consume a very small 

 amount of Cuban products; but is the fruit of the 

 present fiscal system of the island, the greater duties 

 upon the meats of North America forcing the con- 

 sumer to seek a supply from the inferior products of 

 the plains of South America. 



The true relation of Cuba, or rather of its chief 

 port, Havana, to Spanish America, is indicated by 

 Baron Humboldt, in comparing it to the relation of 

 New York to the United States. This natural con- 

 nection has been severed by the wars of independence 

 in Mexico, and South America, and almost annihila- 

 ted by the long continued obstinacy of Spain, in 

 refusing to acknowledge the independence of her 

 former colonies. Speaking of the early years of the 

 present century, Baron Humboldt says, " Havana pur- 

 chases in foreign marts much larger quantities of 

 goods than are needed for her own consumption, 

 exchanging her colonial products for the fabrics of 

 Europe, and selling them again at Yera Cruz, Trux- 

 illo, Laguaira, and Carthagena." The proximity and 

 frequent communication of Havana with the United 

 States and Europe, should have made her the medium 

 not only for the interchanges of commerce with 

 Spanish America, but also for those of politics, science, 

 art, and literature 

 3 



