The Whig standard. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1843-1844, 1844-01-20
CUBA ANECDOTES.

A correspondent Of the Lpuievlle (Ky.) Jour
nal s writing some very interesting letters from
Cuba. From one of these we copy the following
paragraphs
There is princely mansion, not yet quite fin
shed, in this part Of the city, which derives a
gloomy interest from late tragedy within lts
walls, illustrate Of the spirit Of the negroes, and
The summary way in which they are dealt with
T. is an old sugar planters. whose sngenhs yield
$4,000 boxes, worth 1oublo n each and in all
SB2ll,OOO per annun,. In that patriafchal spirit,
WHICH find strong among these islanders, and
which leads the old man 10 gather his descendants
cinse around him and leave them united 1t his
death-eo strikingly in contrast with the opposite
Yankee propensity to make the hive swarm and
scatter betimes--,hs Creole Shiek has thrown
the Governors palace into the shade. by private
dwelling which is to contain his numerous sons and
daughters, and sons-in-law. and daughters-in-law,
and their sons and daughters, and we might add
oxen and asses, completing the domestic catalogue
of an oriental patriarch, for the lower story y
beautifully supplied with ",mangers" And, to
complete the simlitude, IsM- told the sapless old
don has girded himself round about with multi
tudinous multiplication of his image, truly patrI-
archal. In the construction Of this capacious
edifice, which fronts nearly one whole side o.
that green, iron rallied lawn, in which the whole
garrison of Havana may parade. negroes were
employed to the number of hundreds Being
overtasked, cruelty treated, or what not, forty OF
fifty of them rebelled against the overSeer, refus.
ed to work, and stood at bay in one Of the cham
hers, armed with stones and their instruments 81
labor The proprietor was sent for, and still they
refused to come out and submit or permit any
one to enter. He called in the police-soldiers
ordering them to take aim and to fire through
door and window, unless they repented in SO
many minutes allowed them. The black garri-
son stood firm; the minute hand of the watch
reached the mark--tho soldiers firec--nneteen
fell to work no more, and the rest yielded.
In wears to come, when that house gets old and
weather strained and solemn, and weeds take
root on wall and root, and trail in he long RAM
bling apartments, what rich harbor Il viii for ghost
stories The barefooted spectre of a frar, who
haunted certain profane renters Of rooms IN the
ponfiscated church Of Santo Domingo, will be q
coor show in comparison Just think of it--nne-
teen ablebodied ghosts, with the whites OF their
ewes, and their filed teeth and tattoed faces, and
black as wreaths OF smoke. being more visible
on that account, imagine, than white mans
pale shade, hammering, saving, and carrying about
nrial hods of mortar, when the house is not only
completed, but going To decay
suppose another difficulty in the way Of a
concerted rebellion of the island is the number
Of Spanish cmigrants dispersed through the ma
tive population, who would be apt to side with
their brethren, and betray the project before it
was ripe Bringing with them. too, more labn-
rious habits, and the energies Of a more northern
constitution, they become monied and inf1uen-
ial class Most of the mercantile, and, indeed,
Of all business not Immediately connected with
agriculture, is in their hands. To he landed
nroprIe or is the Creole's amb ion. The foreign
ers outstrip the natives in every undertaking,
and grow rich where they would starve, if that
were possible in climate where the fruit trees
alone would almost supply subsistence. and
there is so little need OF fire and clothing. o.
these The most conspicuous are the Catalonians, a
hardy and frugal race from the north Of Spain,
whose lighter cnmplexions hetoken their Gothic
blood, akin to our boosted Anglo-Saxon. N,
The American residents call then. the Yankees
Of Cuba, and The Creoles entertain for them the
same sort of prejudice which the ingenious man,
ufacturers of wooden nutnees have occasioned
among the ignorant Of the S nth and West again
our cas- crn brethren. The Catalan arrives, per-,
haps, without douboon, and with the strong an
.tpa,bies Of the natives against hin, he mounts
DO " bundled with green fodder, and goes about
TO doors crying malcja; or he waits in coffee
house, biard-room, or any other place upon or
under the earth, where real may be got. IN a
few years he is seen rolling in his volante. and
lending mqpey at usury, to the aatonishmapt 81