Semi-weekly standard. [volume] (Raleigh, N.C.) 1853-18??, 1854-06-17
RISE AND PROGRESS OF CUBA.


s The island of Cuba towards which the eyes q
4 Americans are according to their dlferent views,
ereedily or anxiotisly turning, was discovered %
Columbus, towards the end Of October, 49S. FoI
over quarter Of a century, its value to the Spanish
government was but secondary, 1T being less regaI
Il ed as a permanent colony, than as place Tor NIL
tary depots the Coast of Mexico: mus tne
greatest diversity exists in the maps OF the 1sianu
and an almost incredible lack of correctness IS to De
found in some which profess to have been as late as
sixty years after the discovery OF the lsand. II re-
tanned its original Indian name OF Cupa tnougN, &c
is shown by old charts, after some competition with
Juana Fernandina Santiago, Ave Maria, and other
| loyal or devotional applications. Ihere Is mueh
doubt which was the first settlement MADE on the
/ Cuban Coast. Baracoa was probaoiy the nfsC Ss-
adjustment and continued to be the capital OF the
| Island until 1922 when the seat OF government was
| transferred to Santiago de Cuba We are told by
Bernal Diaz del Castillo, that, in 1914 the port OF
| Havana existed, (which had formerly been called
Puerto de Carenas and not Havana" dlscre-
pancy snotable in the accounts OF historians, con-
corning the whereabouts at this time OF havana |;
some locating it on the Southern, and supposng It
to have been subsequently transferred to the North
ern side of the Island others asserting that Havana
was originally the name of province, not a town.
and that two distinct places, in the same province
have been COMPOUNDED into one by those VINO lnslst
on removal having taken place. Certain 1t Is, that
Havanna was originally founded by Don Diego Vel
asauez de Cuella who bestowed pains IN endoWlng
it with useful establishments, and made 1t place OF
mark as early 1915. In 1888 1t was destroyed
u
it's rising again rapidly from its ashes for, in 1876,
we find the respective monks-fiars of the Francis
can and Dominican orders, establishing converts
there and about the same time it was considered
worth attacking by the English. The foundations
of the first of the numerous fortresses that de-
fend the city, were laid 1539,in by the Governor OF
the Island, fernando de Soto. Its caPacious har-
Dor caused it to become, gradually, the most lmpor
tant rendezvous for shipping, between Mexico and
SPAIN In 1861. the number of its families had in
creased to 300; those were nearly doubled at the
end of the sixteenth century and towards the md
die of the seventeenth they consisted OF ten thou
sand souls In 1549, the overnor, Gonzalez Perez
de Angular resolved making Havana his residence;
in 1889, the first Captan-General, Juan de Tejeda
was commanded to take UP his abode there and IN
1633-at which period the city was first waled-the
offices of Governor of Havana and Captaln-General
of the Island were united.
The miserable restrictive policy OF the times, con-
demned Cuba to comparative commercial inactivity
In 177e, the ports of Havana, Santiago de Cuba la
Trinidad and Batabano were first opened to trade
with the peninsula and the same favor was not eX-
tended to Matanzas Nuevtas, and other places, un-
til the last years of the 18th and first years of the
10Th century. Notwithstanding Cuba contains mil
lions of of fertile cancgrowing country, each
two acres of the poorest of which can produce
hogshead of sugar, only 12,500 hogsheads were ex-
ported yearly, before 1878. From this time howev-
err its rise in prosperity was rapid; its population
nearly doubled in 20 years. from 177s to 179s, and
the revenues of the Island which had been IN 1862,
but %, O4O dollars, had increased, within one year
of the first rca Of colonial restrictions to 1885,
624 dollars In 1909, the ports OF Havana Santiago
de Cuba Matanzas and La Trinidad were opened to
the world and, from that time Cuba has been stri
ding rapidly forwards in wealth and distinction. The
revenue yielded by MatanZas alone in 1915 to the
Spanish government, was PAS, 023 dollars in 1872
but ten years after the restrictions to had
been removed that Island yielded 147 dollars
in taxes the Spanish crown, and the expectation
of sugar reached the amount of $4,000 quintals!
In 1S49 the exports of Cuba were estimated at $685.,
600 600 her imports at $25, 600 600; her revenue
at SIS O0O 900; and NJ Ramon de la Sagra supposed
the amount of property in the Island to be worth !
$780, 600 UU0 although the portion of it under Gull
tivaton is supposed to be not 90 per cent of the |
whole extent!
Cuba is divided, for fiscal purposes into the three
ntendencies of Havana, Santiago de Cuba and Puer |
to Principe. The Intendant of Havana is General
Superintendent of all revenues. Each lntendant is
divided among delegated financial administrators,
Who in turn have their sub delegates through the in
erior of the Island About one-half of the income
IF the government is derived from exhorbitant du-
lies foreign goods the most unreasonable part of
which are directed against the United States. Ac
,ordng to McCulloch: Cuba derives nine -tenths
If her supply of -four from the United States
principally from New Orleans, the duty upon which
$s,5s per barrel per Spanish ship,
9,59 per foreign ship"
The population of Cuba has increased in proper
ion to its growth in commerce and agriculture In
81 the inhabitants of the Island SOL 778. In
S53 they had increased to about $780, 0O Of
hose COO, 900 are white, 900 slave black and
bout 200 600 free black. By a royal order of 18th
March, 1887, free colored people prohibited
rom landing in Cuba, on any prctence whatever.
Nevertheless the treatment Of slaves is usually hu-
name and mild. There restrictions upon the
wills attending slavery which do not exist in the
United States According to old Spanish Colonial
avn slave has the right to buy himself free, and
he master cannot only not dispute this right but
he slave who has commenced paying for his liberty
" instalments, may work where he pleascs, in Or
er to acquire more rapidly the means to purchase
is freedom. slave has also the right to demand
is sale to another master, in he is dspleased
nth the one he possesses. The rapid increase of
be slave population may be in a measure due to the
ontnued importation of slaves from Africa. In some
ears. since 1875 many sc, 900 blacks be-
eyed to have been imported into Cuba in single
ear In 1914, 10000 slaves said 10 have been
nported, and the number brought in yearly, at pre-
emit, may average from to 5000. We do not be-
eve that the Spanish home government are directly |
esponsible for the continuance of this internal traffic
flesh and blood; but there is little doubt that
f the Captains General of the Island have winked
it, and made it source of personal profit.
Cuba, whatever her ultimate political connection
lay become, certainly may be considered destined
eminent prosperity. This cannot be doubted
hen we reflect that she possesses of 49,
% square English miles, is nearly equal N size to
'eland, aud of fertility unequaled by any like
mount of territory on earth.
N Y Journal Of Commerce. g
NUT FOR ABoLITJoSIsTs. The steamship
ampero, on her last trip from San Juan, brought
twelve or fifteen slaves who, together with their =