50 



humboldt's cijba. 



When the former Spanish colonies were severed 

 from Havana, they were in a great measure deprived 

 of a necessary connection with the advancing civiliza- 

 tion of Europe and America, the rays of which, 

 gathered as it were in a focus by the world-wide com- 

 merce of that city, would have become assimilated, 

 and adapted there, to the spirit and needs of her sis- 

 ter communities, reflecting thence upon them, to their 

 constantly increasing advantage and enlightenment. 

 The elements of that natural relation with Spanish 

 America, still exist in the admirable geographical 

 position of Havana, in the community of language 

 and religious faith, and in the reciprocal necessities 

 of the people. Here we may find the key to the true 

 theory of the regeneration of Spanish America; for 

 we cannot suppose that the extension of American 

 institutions, and of our theories of freedom, and self- 

 government over those countries, involve the annihi- 

 lation of the Spanish race in America. 



IV. The social condition and relations of Cuba 

 have been influenced and modified by her insular 

 position, and by her political connection with Spain. 

 To the first of these is, probably, to be traced the 

 cauae that her population is composed in a great 

 measure of two unmixed races — the European white 

 and the African black; and to the second, the reason 

 that, notwithstanding a community of origin and 



