North Carolina standard. [volume] (Raleigh, N.C.) 1850-1852, 1851-09-13
The spanish Despotism in Cuba.

! We have already copied from the. New Yor
Evening Post the description of the fnghtful o.
n preston of the foreign government of Cuba.
appears that the senior editor of that journal hs
n fbeen upon the spot and he therefore writes wit
n the exactness of an eyewitness. His account
fully confirmed as follows by the editor of the De
troit Free Press who enjoyed similar opportunit
y of acquiring accurate information. He sayss
awe met Mr.. Bryant in Cuba, and know HOY
we'll he understands the affairs of that country
The general facts he states are sufficient to astoun'
f any man. A white population not third large
than Michigan, pays annual tax OF TWENTY-Foui
1 MILLIONS of dollars. This is of itself enough
put mankind upon inquiry. 1t IS generany sup
posed that the Cubans (the natives) are not intel
5 Iigcnt-that the old Spaniards are the producers
, This is a gross error. The Creoes are the produ
cers and the payers of taxes. They are under
close Surveillance. and, not having any voice In INC
government are not permitted to go from ore estate
to another without passport, Taxed not ten pei
cent only, as Mr. Bryant says, but really more than
half their productions taxed in gross and detail
taxed ABOUT three hundred dollars to comply with
the law at their birth and baptism, and from three
hundred to three thousand in going out OF the
world is it wonder that they should squirm
They are totally deprived of all semblance of per-
sonal rights. 1t is high crime for three or more
men TO petition the government. All weapons of
defence arc prohibited. The colleges have been
abolished their schools discouraged and prevented.
| They are taxed in gross ten per cent. for keeping
the hogs, the CATTLE and the poultry of their farms,
and again fifty per cent more when they send
these things to market Ice is government mon
opoly, and costs six cents per pound. The very
fish, which are caught in great abundance in the
sea- are monopolized, and cost the consumer thirty
cents per pound. The right of marriage is pur-
chased from the government. Flour is taxed nine
dollars and eightyive cents duties per barrel. One
dollar and fifty cents tonnage duty is levied upon
vessels carrying away produce and this sum is lev
led in other port charges, all of which the produ-
Ger pays.
At least thirty thousand officers are supported,
not one of whom is taken from the people of the
country. All are sent to them to govern them and
eat out their substance. These rulers with
full power and with hostile feelings. There no
social relations existing between Spain and the col
ony The parties hate each other with a fervent
hatred. They never intermarry. There are not
ten men in Spain having any other interest in Cuba
than to retain her as an object of Enthusiastically,
of course. We commend these facts to the editors
of the Buffalo Commercial Advertiser, who have no
syInpathies for the oppressed and no confidence in
their ability to sustain a stable government The
intelligence and worth of people may be deter
mined by their aggregate productions and we say
to the Advertiser that the old Spaniards in Cuba
are the Chathani-street mrn of New York-Catalan
Jews, who go out under the wing of the government
us aCNcHtuFOTS 10 nElh0 money.
Let us now disclose another fact connected with |
the government at Havana. The lady of the late
for pin-money, had the control for
cleaning the out-houses of the city, at yearly
profit of nearly one hundred thousand dollars. |
There are other equally dignifed perquisites be-
longing to the Queen mother Christina, whose hus-
band was lucky i'll being well-built, goodlooking
sergeant in the Spanish army, revealing in the
affections of Christina and in the property of !
dukedom. The people of Cuba support the prof !
legacy of the present court at Madrid, with the |
young and handsome Gen. Serena, the prince dc |
tactO, who comes in for share of the benefits and
pleasures but none of the responsibilities of royalty,
There is the faniIia Wustre, which has called |
down such a shower of loyal favor at Havana, and |
a strain of praise and defence from a very small |
portion of the American press, disgraceful and re-
iolhng to the common sentiments of our people," |
No one doubts that the government of the Uni
ed States should take proper and legal precautions
o secure the due execution of its neutrality laws
While our country is at peace with Spain. In so
ar as the late prolonged and repeated absences of
he President and his cabinet from the seat of gov
ernment may have prevented, or embarrassed or
delayed the discharge of this duty by the Execu-
i've OF the country, they undoubtedly furnish most
grave and melancholy cause of complaint, which
lac people will not fail duly to consider. Espe-
Tally will this be the case and the attitude of the
be presented in light at once most
Unfortunate and most humating. when it shall
uly appear to the country that the ndiscreet vio-
eIice OF the Presidents needless
Y abandoning beforehand to summary and savage
massacre, outlaws numbers of our citizens guilty
5 against the United States only of a st atutory
hisdemeanor-h been followed up by orders and
Instructions, issued entirely without warrant of law
0 our public naval force to act on the high seas,
f Cuba, as part of the police of the Spanish
espotism, and SO to seize and capture any Ameri-
an vessel which may fall under the suspicion of /
arrying aid or sympathy to the revolutionists of
hat Island.
Fit and proper as it is that our neutrality laws
houd be faithfully executed, it is nothing less than
iscreditable to the American name that the adj
ninistration should thus transcend or strain their
PROVISIONS to take sides with Spain, in places be-
ond American jurisdiction, in order to rivet the
hans of an odous bondage on our Cuban neigh
ors Of the American continent Let the result of
he expedition Of Lopez, and indeed of the whole
Julian revolutionary movement, both now and
GREATER, be what, in the course of Providence, it
nay, the ople of this country will repudiate and
enounce any administration which shall thus ex-
eed its rghtful powers, and so aid the arm orsym-
athize in the cause of the oppressor. 1t will be
o justification excuse for President Fillmore and
is advisers for now overpassing in this direction
he legal limits of their authority, that they
OF at their post of duty at the hour when that
uty, within their jurisdiction, could have been
ghtfully and effectually performed.
WASHINGTON Uation.
Tho of tho Sorotooo 111ada |