The New York herald. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1840-1920, 1869-06-27
The News from Cuba.

The special kilograms which we published
yesterday from Havana, and the correspon-
dence from Cuba given in another column to-
day, contain some very important points OF in
telligence relating to the State of affairs in
that islard. Notwithstanding the flaming ac-
counts Of Spanish victories and humiliation Of
insurgents with which the Havana journals
have been filed for months, the labor of sup
pressing the revolution does not seem to d.
minish, and its final extinction is as far of, if
not farther, as ever. With the guerilla and
Parthian policy pursued by the patriots the
Spanish forces experience continual melting
away, while no such thing as a decisive en-
gagement has taken place. 1t has been stated
that fully twenty-five hundred troops are
placed h0rs de combat monthly, which loss has
diminished in remarkable degree the number
Of troops and volunteers now in the field. 1t
is no doubt to this fact, which has placed the
Spaniards on the defensive, that the entire alb
sence of offensive movements by the Spanish
troops is owing. All their present efforts
seem to be confined to the holding Of the towns
of Puerto Principe, Las Tunas and Villa Clara.
The diminished moral force of troops in this
situation favors the development Of disease
among them, and reports of the increase Of
cholera and yellow fever abound.
A still more significant item of the recent
news reports is the statement that the Havana
volunteers have, of their own accord, surren-
dered to detachments from the ships of war,
the MORO and Cabahos fortresses, which COM
mand the city of Havana. The government
has no regular troops to place in these i'm
portant places, and the volunteers who had
been placed in them some months ago not
long since defied General Dulce, and finally
drove him from the post of authority. Three
weeks Of supreme command which they have
held in the name of General Espinar, with the
knowledge it has given them of the extraor-
binary demands the revolution is daily press
ing upon the Spanish resources in Havana,
has showed them how impossible it is to attain
their hopes of triumph, and rendered them as
tame as lambs for the coming of General
Rodas. In this officer they now place all their
hopes; but the very knowledge they have
acquired of the weakness of the colonial
government, in both men and money, will
prove the greatest difficulty with which that
commander will have to contend on his arrival
to-day or tomorrow in Havana.
The truth is that the Spanish government
in Cuba to-day is as hollow shell as was the
government of JEFF Davis during the winter of
1876. A marked success to the patriots,
such as the fall of Puerto Principe, or a defeat
to Valmaseda, or the capture of Las Tunas or
of Holguin, any one of which may be con-
sidered an impending event, would deliver
half of the ports of the island to President
Cespedes, and open foreign commerce and
supplies to the new republic. Such an event
would confne the defensive operations of the
Spaniards to the Western Department and
limited territory around Santiago de Cuba in
the east. The resources of the colonial gov
eminent to-day are wonderfully diminished.
The imports have sunk to small figure, car
rying with them the customs revenues while
the impossiblity of collecting the internal
revenues has induced reduction of the rate to
one-half of its original assessment. The reve-
nue. from the crops of 1869 has already been col
lected and expended. These are portion of
the evils which General Rodas will encounter
on arriving in Havana. His only resource,
both for men and money, will lie in the enthu-
siasm of the Havana volunteers. Under other
circumstances they might have contributed ten
thousand men to the army in the field and ten
millions of dollars to the treasury as loan.
Now that they have discovered how made
quate these would be to meet the needs of the
government, we have reason to doubt that
their enthusiasm will be equal to the sacrifice.
Rather do we incline to believe that the march
of the. Havana volunteers down the causeway
leading from the heights of the Cabaha to the
bay is but the beginning Of the Spanish exodus
from Cuba, which will eliminate at future
day in the return of the Cuban refugees now
eating the bread of exile in foreign lands.