The southern press., 1851-07-30

TO THE IsHABIrAKTs OF THE Jsl.AsD or CUBA.
Mant(tso and Proclamation Of their Idspendsnce b.
the LiSssatiss Society Of Puerto Principe La socia
dad Abertadoya de p. p.)
Human reason regots against the idea thai
the social and political condition of people cal
be indefinitely prolonged. in which man
stripped Of all rights aud guarantees, with nc
security OF person or property no enjoyment Ia
the present. no hope ia the iulnre--lives only
by the will. and under the conditions imposed by
tho pleasure Of his tyrants where vile cal
umny,a prisoners denuneiation, despots sus.
plcion, word caught up by surprise in the sane
tuary OF rome. or from the violated privacy OF u
letter. furnishes ample grounds for tearing u
man from his hearth, and casting him forth To
die OF destltution or despair in foreign soil, il
he escapes being anbjected to the Insulting
forms OF barbarous and arbitrary tribunal
where his prosecutors are themselves the Judges
who condemn him, aud where, nstead OF their
proving his offence, he is required to prove his
innocence.
situation so violent at this, Cuba has now
been for many years enduring; and far from any
promise of remedy appearing, every day adds
new proof that the policy of the n,other-country
and the ferocity of her rulers, will grant neither
truce nor rest till she is reduced to the condition
OF an immense prison, where every Cuban will
be watched by guard, and viii have to pay that
guard for watching hiH. In vain ha this peo-
pie exhibited mildness, prudence, and even
submission aud loyalty, which have been proven
bial
When he iniquity of the government has not
been able to find any ostensible grounds for per-
secution, It has had recourse to cowardly arts
and snares to tempt its victims into some offence.
Thus were various individuals Of Matanxas on
trapped into an ambuscade of the soldiery, by
the pretext of selling them some arms, under
circumstances which made them believe those
arms were necessary for selfdefence, against
threatened attacks from the Peninsulars. Thus
have sergcants, and even officers, been seen to
mlnge among the country people, and pass them
selves off as enemies of the government, for the
purpose of betraying them into avo sals Of their
sentiments, to the ruin of many persons so in
formed against, as well as to the disgrace of
n ltary henor on the part Of those who have
lent themselves to so viIlanous a service
If the sons Of Cuba, moved by the dread of
greater evils, have ever determined to employ
Legitimate means Of imposing some law or some
restraint, upon the unbrdled excesses of their
rulers, these latter have always found the way
to distort such acts into attempts at rebellion.
For having dared to give utterance to prin-
ciples and opinions, which, to other nations con-
stitute the foundation of their moral progress
and glory, the Cubans most distinguished for
their virtues and talents have found themselves
wanderers and exiles For the offence of having
exhibited their opposition to the unlawful and
perous slave trade, from which the avarice of
General O'Donncll promised itself so rich har-
vest OF lucre, the latter satated his resentment
with the monstrous vengeance ofinvolving them
IN charge OF conspiracy with the free cOlored
people and the slaves of the estates; endeavor-
ing, as the last outrage that an immoral govern
ment could offer to law, to reason, or to nature,
to prove the object of TINT conspiracy, in which
theyimplicated whites of the most eminent virtue,
knowledge, and patriotism, to have been no other
than the "destruction of their own race"
All the laws of society and nature tramped
under foot-al races and conditions confounded
together-the Island Of Cuba then presented to
the civilized world spectacle worthy of the re-
jocings of he'll. The wretched slaves saw their
flesh torn from them under the lash, and be-
spattered with blood the faces of their exc
cutioners, who did not cease exacting from
their tortures denunciations against accomplccs
Others were shot in platoons, without form of
trial, and without even coming to understand
the pretext under which they We're massacred.
"S hSN SViciVt l'coPic, oilcI HaflHS Dttu uTol
acerated by the lash, were then hurried to the
scailold, and those only escaped with life who
hid gold enough to appease the fury of their
executoners. And, nevertheless, when the gov
ernmeDt, or its followers, has come to fear some
rising OF the Cubans, their first threat has been
hat OF arming the colored people against them
for their determination. We abstain for very
shame from repeating the senseIess pretences 10
which they have had recourse to terrfy the
timid. Wretches how have they been able TO
imagine that the victims of their fury with
whom the whites of Cuba have shared in COM
mon the horrors OF misery and persecution will
turn against their own friends at the call of the
very tyrant who has torn them in pieces! If
the free coored people, who know their interests
well as the whites take any part in the
movement of Cuba it certainly will not be to the
injury of the mother who shelters them in her
bosom, nor of those other sons of hers who
have never made them feel the difference of their
race and condition, and who, far from punderinp
them, have taken pride in being their defenders,
and in merting the title Of their benefactors.
The world would refuse to believe the history
of the horrid crimes which have been perpe-
trated in Cuba aud would reasonably consider
that if there have been monsters to commit, il is
uncomfortable that there could so long have been
Uen 10 endure lnem. but III tnere are few able
to penetrate TO the truth of particular facts,
through all the means employed by the govern
ment to obscure and distort them, no one will
resist the evidence of public and official facts
Publicly ard with arms in his hands, did Gen.
Tacon despoil Cuba of the constitution of Spain,
proclaimed by all the powers of the monarchy,
and sent to be sworn to in Cuba, as the funda-
mental law of the whole kingdom
Publicly, and by legislative act, was Cuba de-
clared to be deprived of all the rights enjoyed
by all Spanards, and conceded by nature and
the laws of nations the least advanced in civil
izaton.
Publicly have the sons of Cuba been cut off
from all admission TO the commands and ucra-
tive employments of the State.
Public are the unlimited powers, of every
description, granted to the captain-generals Of
Cuba, who can refuse to those whom they con-
demn, even the right of trial, and the privilege
of being sentenced by tribunal.
Public and permanent in the island of Cuba,
are those courts-martial which the laws permit
only in extraordinary cases of war, for offences
against the state.