The Portland daily press. [volume] (Portland, Me.) 1862-1921, 1869-09-18
Cubnn Nationality.

of such a nature and has reached such stage
of Development as to be capable of conduct
ing their own affairs. The failure of any at
tempt of this kind is quite generally regarded
as foregone conclusion, and to prove it the
examples OF the republics established in other
parts of Spanish America are cited. Cupa
however, is distinguished from any OF THESE
by variety of circumstances favorable 10 ner
success in the experiment of self government.
Tn the first place Cuba is much more dense
" peopled than any Spanish American State
On the continent. Mexico, the most densely
inhabited of the latter, has but nine inhabi-
tants per square mile Chill, the next in Or
der, has but seven. The others vary, some
not having on an average one inhabitant per
square mile, others three or four. South Am
erica has ON an average only three inhabit-
ants per square mile while Cuba has twenty
eight. The Importance of this circumstance
may be estimated when we consider
how essential is certain concentration OF
numbers, to the extension of commerce, the
diffusion of intelligence, the efficiency of pc
lice regulations, and the preservation of So
cial order. 1t will hardly be going too far to
say that civilization is not more dependent
upon wealth, intelligence, and moral culture
than upon density of population. In sparsely
inhabited communities, mans sphere of activ-
ty is circumscribed and his development cramp-
ed for want of opportunity to communicate
and combine with his fellows. Other Minqs
being eqaal,the populousness ofa.community is
what determines its power, not only to secure
all existing appliances that.contribute toIwell-
being, but to originate others. Isolation is as
truly the ally of barbarism as concentration is
of civilization.
Accordingly, while the other Spanish
American Republics are almost destitute of
travelling facilities, Cuba is amply provided
with the means of internal communica-
ton. Railroads have been construct
ed by means of which Havana is
connected with the chief agricultural and
commercial districts Before the war, steam
communication was kept up between Havana
and other parts of the coast. The telegraph
also has been employed to aid in the diffusion
of intelligence. The states of the continent
on the other hand are difficult of access and
nearly destitute of those appliances of civiliz-
alton by which their very presence put bar
barism to flight.
In addition to this Cuba possesses in the
Character as well as in the density of her pop
ulation, very marked advantage over her
continental neighbors. Wherever the Span
iards colonzsd upon the continent their civ
ilization was grated upon aboriginal barbar-
ism, or upon civilization but little removed
from barbarism. In Cuba as in the English
colonies, the aborigines were extarminated,
and society was built up wholly of new, and
largely of European materials. Political
causes heightened the advantages possessed
by Cuba; for when the continental States
achieved their independence, many of their
inhabitants of European descent, banished
from the mainland on account of their adj
herence to the mother country, gave their
energies and their capital to Cuba. While
on the continent rarely more than a fourth,
and in some cases only twelfth of the in
habitants, are of European descent, leaving
the inferior races largely in the majority, in
Cuba the whites preponderate, and though
there is a large minority of negroes and null
lattoes, free and slave, it is minority that is
constantly undergoing relative diminution,
owing to the fact that while the whites are
increasing, the negroes either stand still, or
absolutely decrease in number. The prepon-
derence of the whites must therefore become
more and more decisive.
While therefore the population of Cuba is
strictly homogeneous, the dissimiarity is not
SO great as to prevent the two races from feel
ing an "organic unity" with each other.
There the blacks are not, as with us, a pro-
scribed race. Men of color serve in the mill
tia and the foremost literary character in the
island In 1855 was mulatto poet. To in
corporate both races into one political COM
munity will not, to the same degree as with
us, be doing violence to the feelings of the
whites. Indeed, considering recent events in
our own national experience, it may be doubt.
ed whether the time has not passed for ques-
tioning the feasibility of such fusion. One
thing is certain, if the Cubans cannot govern
themselves the American Union is no place
for them. ,.
Ii these facts do not show that Cuba can
succeed as separate nation, they make it
evident that she possesses the elements of ma
tional success in higher degree than any of
her neighbors except the United States in
which the experiment has been tried. The
Republic of Hayti has denser population, but
one that is far inferior in quality, while the
continental republics are inferior in both re-
spects. None of these, it is true, can be con-
sidered as having succeeded in governing them
selves. Yet their condition is not more intoler-
able than when overshadowsd by the domi-
nation of foreign power. To establish Or
der "the authorities of the mother country
stereotyped their despotism along the length
and breadth of every colony" Now though
tranquility is often disturbed by revolutions,
the deathlike stagnation which formerly pre-
vailed, no longer prevents progress; and with
progress, time only is required to bring order
out of chaos ITSELF
Cuba can best better her condition by Sc
curing independence. Freedom from the ex-
actions of foreign despotsm and from the
humiliations incident to a provincial state,
will prove powerful stimulus in developing
her resources. Hayti even with population
but illfitted for the duties of citizenship, will,
as regards material prosperity, compare ia
vorably with Jamaica, overshadowed and
dwarfed in her growth by the might of the
British Empire. Cuba, even if annexed to |
the United States, would be doomed by her |
position to merely provincial station. In a |
greater or less degree she would have repeat
ed upon her soil the curse of nonresident |
which has been the bane of Ire
land and Jamaica. If after fair trial of in
dependence she wishes to be annexed, the
change will be easy. If once annexed, how |
ever pernicious the union may be 10 her,
there will be no escape. D.P.B.
The recent deplorable failure of the ROYAL |
Albert Insurance Company, which had existed |
thirty years, aud attained a membership of |
twenty-three thousand, admonishes us to look |
into the condition of our own companies and |
see if thew NAV mot no in doprar l;Lo.r:.a