New-York tribune. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1866-1924, 1871-05-25
THE HAVANA DESPOTIS.H.

/
| Now that eur grievances against England ap-
! pear to be in course of speedy settlement, q
! speck of trouble appears in the Southern hori-
/ zon which may entail consequences entirely
disproportonate to its intrinsic importance.
! The brutal lawlessnoss of the Spanish FGiun-
teers in Cuba is reaching point where it will
soon be impossible to overlook it. The Cap
! tain General, Count Yalmaseda, who is the crea-
! ture of these mutin0us organizations, ana
! therefore entirely in their hands, has, 1t seems
refused to obey an order from the Span
! ISL Government for the restoration OF So
| questrated estates belonging to American citl-
zens The expenses of their unavaing cam
paign against the insurgents have of course
! been very heavy, and they naturally wished
to recover a portion of them by plunderinS
the native Cubans They have done this with
more thOrOughness than accuracy, and in the
process have laid under embargo the planta-
tons of several citizens of the United States
They have protested, and Gen. Sicklcs has,
under instructions from our Department of
State, undertaken the matter with his usual
energy and decision, and has obtained the
necessary orders for the restoration of the
stolen property. But the Cuban authorities
fatty refuse to obey these orders, except upon
conditions satisfactory to themselves.
This indicates most unprOmisng state OF
public feeling. Gen. Valmaseda has as little
knowledge of law and as little regard for
Justice as the average Spaniard Of tradition,
and is full of that ignorant arrogance which
leads the untravCled Castiian to despise all
other nations as unworthy of comparison with
his own. He is of the same school with that
chivalrous idiot who offered to take Paris with
one regiment in 1903, if the Government would
allow him to try conclusions with Napoleon.
Yet even he is more knavish than silly,
and if he dared he would prefer
not to precipitate quarrel with the
United States on frivolous grounds. But he is
more afraid of the turbulent Volunteers than
of his own Government or ours. He imagines
that all diplomatic complication can be
smoothed over by delay and industrious lying
He thinks his own Government dare not re-
move him for fear of these same loyal tyrants
of the Havana. He does not believe our Gov
ernment will fight to protect few citizens III
their property He follows therefore, the tenn
perizing policy of all true sons of Spain, and
Yields to the nearest and most immediate
pressure.
This is not the first time similar cOmpli-
cation has arisen. The chief difficulty OF d.
plomatc negotiation with Spain consists in the
fact that the Government of Madrid has lost
all power of promptly executing its own de-
crees in the Island of Cuba. This truth is
recognized by all the diplomatic body at Mad
rid and at Washington, and yet the fact Is
too scandalous to be referred to by foreign
ers, or to be admitted by the Government OF
Spain. Indeed, il could not be admitted with
out virtual abdicatiOn of sovereignty. The
Journals of the opposition continually thunder
this damaging accusation against the Govern
ment-Cuba no longer belongs to Spain.
The Independent Deputies i'll the Cortes from
time to time beard the Ministry with
accounts of scenes in which the laws
and the authority of Spain are tram
pled under foot by her own unruy
brood in the Antilles and the Ministry in their
embarrassment and modification have rarely
any answer to make except that "0flicial adj
"vices have not yet confirmed the rumors to
(which the Hon. gentleman refers" There was
one moment of intense anxiety last Spring in
the Cabinet of Spain, when for two or three
DAYS the issue of peace or war hung upon the
caprice of the petty underling whom Caballero
had left at the Havana while he made jour
ney to the interior. The American steamer
Lloyd Aspnwall lay in the harbOr under the
guns of a Spanish man-Of-war, captured with
out shadow of right and retained after re-
peated peremptory orders from the Ministry at
Madrid and the Legation at Washington. 1t
was a bitter thought to that able and polite
statesman, Marshal Prim, that though he could
handle the army and the Congress of Spain,
he could not compel prompt obedience of
mere order of routine from a wretched mar
tinet in Cuba. When the humilating dead
lock was at last broken, under the pressure of
q dignifed ultmatum of our Government the
Cabinet of Madrid did not dare to confess the
cause of the scandal nor to punish the offender,
for fear of the effect such action would have
OH the ferocious defenders of the national flag
in the ever-fathful Island.
II is not to be denied that the position of
the Home Government is most difficult one.
They must at all hazards retain the support
of these ung0vernable men, or the Spanish
cause in Cuba is lost. So long ago as III DC
tober 1869, Mr. Plumb, our Consul-General at
the Havana, made an elaborate confidential
report upon this subject to the Department OF
State. Gen. Pfim had sOlcmnly promised-ad
it is believed with perfect sinCerity-tO assert
the authority Of Spain TO put an end to the
Outrages az the Volunteers. AMI Ia ease tho