The Sun.
London, England, 1844-04-22 00:00:00

THE SUN, LONDON,

CRITICAL STATE OF CUBA.

(From the Anti-Slavery Reporter.)
The intelligence from Cuba, brought by the last
mail, is ore of the deepest interest ; and, while it is
calculated, on the one hand, to awaken sympathy for
the suffering negroes, is not less calculated, on the
other, to inspire animating hopes of some salutary
change.
It appears that the alarm excited by the
two insurrections of the slaves in the neigls-
bourhood of Matanzas, in November last, -has
induced a course of extreme severity, not only
towards the parties known to have been im-
plicated, but towards the negroes in general.
The Government and planters have made ex-
tensive and rigorous inquiries, with a view to ascer-
tain whether any concert existed among the slaves,
and, if so, to what objects it was directed; and it is
said that a negress on one of the five sugar estates
which followed the movement of the Triumvirato (the
sugar estate on which the revolt commenced) has re-
vealed to her master what in the letters is called " a
dreadful plot." In consequence of this there have
been arrested a large number of negroes, together
with three white. men, the latter of whom were put in
prison at Matanzas.
More than fifteen hundred slaves were summoned,
in order to witness the execution of sixteen of their
companions, with the view of inspiring terror ; but it
is stated that these men went to their death with such
an air of intrepidity and triumph, that the effect pro-
duced on the spectators was the opposite of that which
was intended. From this it has resulted that the
Government has refrained from further public execu-
tions, and has rather given the negroes over in a mass
to be punished by their masters at pleasure, and with
as little noise as possible. The consequence of such a
measure may well he imagined, and yet imagination
must fail to realise it. The resentment of the planters,
aggravated by their fears, is without bounds, and
murderous cruelties are practised without scruple on
every hand. Many slaves have already died under
the lash, and the whole island is said to be deluged
with blood.

The investigations of the Government have elicited
the fact that four or five large estates between Gullies
and Melena had been implicated in the plot said to
have been discovered. From the uniform declarations
of the negroes, it appears that the opinion has spread
among them that they either are free or ought to be
so. Some are persuaded that the Queen of Spain has
sent out two cartas to the Governor, giving them their
freedom ; some have been told that they are free, as
having been imported since 1820, and therefore con-
trary to the treaty with England; and some have
arrived at the noble sentiment that they ought to be
free, because they are men as well as their masters.
No doubt can be entertained that the emancipation
of the slaves in the British islands has become the
primary source from which these ideas have ema-
nated ; and the prevalence of them among the slaves
in Cuba demonstrates at once the impossibility of pre-
venting their diffusion, and the impossibility likewise
of preventing their influence wherever they are dif-
fused. They are now permanent elements in the
condition of Cuba, of a far more serious kind than
have ever yet impregnated the community. Several
free negroes are reported to have been implicated in
the plot, and its object is said to have been known by
all the negroes in the country.
The destruction of so many slaves, while it must
inflict on the planters a heavy loss of property, must
at the same time greatly reduce the amount of labour
available for the cultivation of the estates, and on
this account it might be supposed that the de-
mand for fresh ones would be increased. The
alarm felt by the planters may, consequently, be
measured by the fact that they will not add to the
number of their slaves. In the midst of this excite-
ment the brig Palmyra has arrived from Africa with
a cargo of slaves, belonging to the notorious Pedro
Blanco, to the number of eleven hundred and four,
and not one of them can find a purchaser. Five hun-
dred of them are in a baracoon near Havannah, where
they cannot be sold; and five hundred are distri-
buted among some of his friends, who are to have
their labour for their keep. In one word, consterna-
tion reigns in Cuba. Already a reduced crop of
sugar is anticipated, and the value of real property
is reduced almost to zero. The Captain-General
does not dare either to disseminate his troops or to
allow the organisation of local militias. He has con-
tented himself with purchasing several hundred iron
chains for .the feet, and distributing them among the
plantations
In their distress, the immediate and most urgent
cry of the planters is, " Stop the slave trade ; bring us
no more negroes !" But to this the Captain-General
will lend no ear. The petitions on this subject, of
which our readers have already heard, were got up
and presented to him by men of the first rank and in-
fluence, some of them nobles of Spain ; but he re-
ceived them with the most repulsive discourtesy. It
seems that a political feeling is artfully connected
with this subject ; and that the Government chooses
to suspect all who object to the slave trade of dis-
affection to Spain, and a desire after the political in-
dependence of Cuba. The real reason, however,
why even the present calamities cannot inter-
rupt the slave trade is, that it yields such immense
wealth to the functionaries who possess the govern-
ment, and who are largely bribed by half-a-dozen
desperate speculators to connive at its continuance.
Another circumstance indicates the infatuation of

the Government. Amidst the state of things we
have faintly described, the Court abandons itself en-
tirely to pleasure. Grand balls and splendid amutc-
ments are the order of the day. The city of Havannah
is represented as " mad with rejoicing," in order to
celebrate the arrival of the young Queen of Spain at
her majority !
And to crown this melancholy business with an
element almost too farcical for the connection in
which we are obliged to place it, the Government of
Spain has sent out a royal order, constituting five per-
sons into a Committee, to investigate the truth of the
allegations made by the English Government as to the
continuance of the slave trade, and " if existing (!), to
check it by suitable restrictions, not inimical to
commerce and agriculture." Of this Committee the
Captain-General is President ; and the other parties
named are Don Joaquim Gomez, the Marquis de las
Delicias (well-known partisans of the slave trade),
Don Juan Montalue, the Count de Vervandina, Don
Rafael de Quesada, brother to the celebrateil General
Quesada, and the Marquis de Donadieu. No doubt
the British Consul at Havannah will give a good ac-
count of these proceedings to his Government.

FLANDERS MAIL.
BRUSSELS, APRIL 19.—The Patriote publishes the follow-
ing statement :—" A letter from Guatemala informs us that
the spiritual head of the colony, Father Walle, had just re-
signed ; he has embarked with the French Consul, and re-
turns to Europe." We believe we may affirm that Father
Walle returns to Europe on business concerning his order,
which will probably oblige him to go to Rome, and that he
has not had any occasion to resign his post.
The Minister publishes in ten columns a report on the
colony of St. Thomas, in Guatemala, describing the climate,
the soil, the natural productions, &c. The report is on the
whole very satisfactory.

NATIONAL ANIMALS' FRIEND SOCIETY OF EXETER-
HALL AND MARK-LANE.—rThe officers of the above Society
have exerted themselves much during the Easter holidays;
they having prosecuted no less than twelve cases of wanton
cruelty at Stepney and Greenwich fairs, all of whom were
Severally fined from five to ten shillings.
DAWSON'S PARLIAMENTARY AND NEWSPAPER LIST.
—Messrs. Dawson and Son, of Cannon-street, have published
a list of all the newspapers in the United Kingdom, distin-
guishing the party bias ef each by a certain colour. This list
contains a great deal of very valuable information relating
to newspaper statistics,- and must be necessarily of consider-
able utility to all who, at any time, have occasion to ad-
vertise.

RELEASE OF CHARTIST PRISONERS.—Four Chartists,
named William Moorhouse, John Fairhurst, Robert Wild,
and James Wild, were liberated from Knutsford House of
Correction on Thursday last, about four months before the
expiration of the term of their imprisonment. These parties
were tried before Lord Abinger, at the Chester Assizes, 1842,
on charges of seditidn, &c., arising out of the part they took
at various meetings near Hyde during the great turn-out of
factory operatives.
ART- Umems.—On Saturday evening a meeting of

the Society of British Artists was held at theSociety's-rolime,
in Suffolk street, for the purpose of discussing the recent
Treasury minute declaring Art-Unions to be illegal. The
meeting was attended by several of the first artists in town.
After a great deal of conversation, Mr. J. W. Allen, the
Vice-President of the British Artists Society, moved a re-
solution to the effect that a general meeting of the profession
be called, for the purpose of inviting the Committee of the
Royal Academy, the two Water-colour Associations, and that
of the Art-Union to a conference upon the best means to be
adopted for the protection of an Union which, in its exist-
ence of eight years, had conferred acknowledged benefits on
the arts and artists of this great country. The resolution
was carried unanimously.
Ten thousand out-pensioners of Chelsea College,
whose ages are not to exceed 58 years, are to be mustered
on the 25th of the present month, for the purpose of enrol-
ment, and being hereafter called out as a local torce in their
respective districts, when required for the preservation of
the public peace. Agreeably to the provisions of the war-
want regulating the organisation of this auxiliary force,
which was published in our Gazette of the ith of October
lest, each man i 3 to receive two shillings per diem, on
producing certain prescribed articles of clothing, and to be
completed in arms and accoutrements, as far as may be prac-
ticable by the 25th inst. He is to be called out for exercise
eight days within the year, and to receive for each of those
days the sum of two shillings; but when called out to assist
in preserving the public peace, he is to receive two shillings
and sixpence per diem.—United Service Gazette.
THE ROYAL EXCHANGE.—There is prodigious com-
petition, we are informed, among our sculptors for shares in
the allotment of the additional 10,0001. for statuary to adorn
the Royal Exchange Noticing which, we would inquire if
the City Wellington Statue, now complete in the studio of
the late Sir F. Chantrey, is to be placed, as it ought to be,
on its pedestal in this locality, on the 18th ofJune, the anni-
versary of Waterko ?—Literary Gazette. •
What disorder excites the greatest compassion.?—
bThreli
eaSbm: all-pox ; for the patient is generally much pitted.
INDIAN
nNb.e—r
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toafve just
iterevtread in
ordLinoanrdyonbbeyastths
e,
Birmingham Railway. It is stated by competent judges that
they are the finest both in quality and form that have as yet
been seen in this country. They have been consigned to her
_Majesty's purveyor, Mr. Giblet; of Bond-street.