The national era. [volume] (Washington [D.C.]) 1847-1860, 1853-07-07


that any estates in Cuba, which are nor hon
estiy paying their ioay, would be given up, in
consequence Of the substitution Of paid for un-
paid labor
The desire Of the leading Cuban planters to
supply the great existing demand for laborers
with coolies regularly hired and paid, ought to
be regarded as an indication that slave labor
is not considered by them essential to their
prosperity. One or two planters here have, in
deed, expressed to me their hope of being able
to work their estates entirely by the help of
coolies, when sufficient number shall have ar
rived. Cuba may, indeed, as have said be-
fore, be destined to witness horrible and san
culinary scenes of servile war but if these,
which can only terminate in the utter ruin Of
the blacks, be averted, do not believe more
favorable field could be found on which to try
the Experiment of Freedom" Of the COM
plete and speedy success of that experiment.
even in those economical results by which alone
50 many persons insist upon measuring success
and failure, very little doubt, think, can be
entertained by any one who candidly considers
the circumstances of the Island. Will it be
trieda Many persons profess to discover in
the signs Of the times many indications that
the Spanish Government is preparing to follow
the example of England less from any motives
OF humanity or from any sense Of justice, stim-
ulated by that noble example, than from con-
viction that emancipation will secure the pos
session OF the island to the Castilian Crown.
This as it may be. Yet on American cannot
but blush to think that such policy would be,
indeed, most efficient to that end. Despotic
Spain could, indeed, find no 30 sure way to save
her jewel from the clutch Of Republican Amer
lea as the practical application to half mil
lion Spanish subjects of the first principles of
American Republicanism Is not this fact
worth bordering! SO far as can learn, how
ever, the only visible foundation for all these
rumors about the intentions of Spain, il to be
found in the recent proceedings of the English
Government, in enforcement of the treaty for
suppressing the slave trade. The emanctpa-
dos-slaves re-captured in Cuba and bound cut
to service, az before explained, for q term Of
seven years, after which they are transferred
to one of the English colonies in Africa or
America, as freemen--have very often been
shamefully misuseG by their employers, and
often enslaved by them, those being frequently
returned as "dead before the "Mixed Com
mission who are really sent into lifelong
bondage. The present English Government
seem disposed to demand reform in this mat
ter, and the energetic English consul at Hava-
ma is pushing the colonial authorities very hard
Ihe notorious completely of the Captain
General in the slave trade is also attracting
their attention, as it should. Very recently, a
cargo of negroes was landed, and at once dis
posed Of The English consul, fortunately
getting wind of the affair before all the ar
rangepents were completed, compelled the Co
lOnial Government to move in the matter.
Those who had purchased the slaves were cited
TO appear and answer. Three of them-Hab-
aneros--happen to be within the circle of my
acquaintance. One of these, a very young man,
greatly excited, obeyed the citation, and was
heavily fned-psying, as the two others said,
for bis gaucherie and folly, his "greenness" 30
to speak, in attending the court. These two
other gentlemen, older and more experienced,
quietly went to their estates, and heard no
more Of 1.-THE Captain General receiving his
fifty-one dollars ger head ON the negroes sold
to them! Yet the conduct of the Captain Gen.
ersl in this instance is urged by the Spaniards
as an unsnswsrabe proof of his zeal in fui6ll
ing the provisions Of the treaty.
I have seen here the sugar planter arrayed
in the full magnifcence Of his order. In tn,
Vuelta Abajo saw sugar-making after tn,
fashion of ten years sgone, with open train
and vats and sugar houses filed with the swee
vapors of the boiling cane,juice Now hav
seen sugar-planting and sugar-making on
grander scale and in the newest mode. En-
gines imported from France, of the most beau
tiful construction and finish, drive machinery
the most scientific and admirable The best
trains are those of De Rosue, a Frenchman OF
science, who invented the best cOntrvances for
making sugar without having ever visited a
sugar growing country. And when he came
to Cuba, he was unable to work to advantage
his own machinery by the help of which the
creoles are now yearly turning their cane-felds
into gold! The economy of material, as well
as of labor, achieved by these trains, is visible
to the most inexperienced observer. All those
vapors which hang over the open watts and,
cloud-like, curl about the rafters Of the old
fashioned sugar. houses are here compelled into
the service OF man. and yield up the sweetness
they elsewhere "waste upon the desert air"
The most beautiful feature of this French ma-
chinery, in the eyes Of an unscientifc looker-on,
is, undoubtedly, the centrifugal machine, an
account of which, and Of the noble estate on
which am now staying, must postpone until
future letter. W. II. h.
EXTRACTS FROM OUR CORRESPONDENCE.