Nashville union and American. [volume] (Nashville, Tenn.) 1868-1875, 1868-12-31
THE INSURRECTION IN CUBA AND
HIS CAUSE.

leSlrS 10 ulSpOSc VI D. SubA, SAhh
: iould not even consider a propo-
? ,ton coming from her "next best
8 ,iend," the United States. Why
iho d she? asks the Cincinnati
Commercial, and then answers its
.aewn ussstton MS roTTows: III Is the
est n ortant of her trans-marine
yssessions, and has been the source
great revenue to the govern
ment 1t is no mean and insight
cant possession, either. With an
area of over thirty thousand square
miles, a free population of nearly
one million, and slave population
of more than six hundred thousand,
a soil that produces coffee, tobacco,
sugar, cotton, and hundred valua
BILE varieties Of fruit, whose noun
tainS eentain mines of iron, copper,
silver and gold, and are clothed
with luxuriant forests whose wood is
valuable alike for use and ornament,
why should Spain wish to part with
o magnificent an estate for any
equivalent which our government
would be likely to offer? Unlike
most colonial dependencies, Cuba
not only pays the expenses of her
government, but returns a large
revenue to make up the deficit in
the annual budget. The customs
9ipts at the port of Havana alone
Iounted in 1857 to about $37, 00O,-
90, and during our war were nearly
doubled.
This dependency is valuable to
Spain in another sense. 1t affords
room for the bestowal of the old
)ons who want official position, and
,annOt be accommodated at home
The old Spaniards, it is said, engross
Ill the offices, and this fact, in con
1ection with the enormous taxation
levied and collected in the interests
the government, and to enrich
5 representatives on the island,
may possibly account for the pres
= at troubles in the island and the
iarming proportions which the in
.nrrncfion has assumed
I The real producers of wealth in
inba are the Spanish Creoles, who
salIy outnumber the class known as
se DID Spaniards, and who form
0nginuous growing majority.Of the
opllation. These Creoles are the
srioulturists and traders in Cuba
he prosperity of the island, its in
rnal improvements, and growing
muercial importance, are mainly
le to their energy and enterprise.
they are largely discounted
emit comes to governing. The
ices not directly held by natives
IF Spain are divided among and
monopolized by families of unmiXed
blood, who can trace their pedigree
irectB back TO the mother cOun-
z.
These constitute the really loyal
element of the population. 1t is
not probable that pure blooded
Spanisrd can be found in the ranks
{ the insurgents, while many of
0se of mixed blood are so closely
I'd by marriage and other ties to
Did families that they remain
cradle in their attachment to
s~--7,h. We find that the insurrec
has its fullest development in
part of the island where the
le Spaniards form the greater
of the population. A late dis
A announced that the planters
farmers were favorably dis
ditto the insurgents, and the au
0ritirs themselves have confessed
at the main reliance of the rebels
- as upon the support given them by
he planters and traders of thc
land.
These facts give strength TO thu
heory that the instruction or revo
Ettion has for its primary object tc
riye out of authority the aristo
4 Gratis who have fed and fourished a
he expense of the more plebiar
classes, or at least to compel a di
:, vision Of the spoils. Manifestly i
> would he TO the interest of Spain t
4: conccdc something to these CLASSES
F>and identify them with the govern
ment of the island. This was no
! To be hoped for while Bourbon wa
"a the throne, but with a more lib
Ia government a change Of polio,
- the colony might he reasonahl,
ticipated Such a policy woul,
n over the Creole population
hose attachment to the governmen
weakened in proportion as the
yebeen deprived ofparticipation i
bile affairs, and subjected 10 a ia
two and half per cent upon tn
aluation of their property
The reyoiutionists have one 7
purce left. The sympathies of III
slaves are with them, and by emal
tl9Ning and enlisting them they ca
\ eatlv augment their effective nun
] bers, ami meet the forces of I'll
government upon terms more nearl
equal Emancipation is inevitab
at any rate. 1t is demanded