The New York herald. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1840-1920, 1871-07-15

| The special despatch to the HERALD this
morning detailing the scene In the Spanish
Cortes during the debate on the 10th inst. In
relation to Cuba is another proof OF the
| tenacity with which Spain will hold on to
| that island. While the American people con-
tinue to pour into the ports OF Havana,
Matanzas, Cardenas, CienfuegOs and Santiago
de Cuba one hundred and ten millions OF
dollars in gold annually for sugar it is folly to
expect any other policy from Spain. The
island is mine of wealth to her star yelling
politicians, and the taxes imposed upon
American and other foreign commerce help 10
fill her impoverished treasury. Spain can
better afford to sacrifice her soldiery than
yield up a source of such immense revenue,
and she will continue to send regiment after
regiment to Cuba so long as it is profitable
The question Of the abolition of slavery in
Cuba seems to have been the chief topic under
discussion in the Cortes. But Spanish abOli-
ton is meaningless. Not single slave has
been freed under the act which went into
operation last January, negroes as old as
seventy years being enrolled by their masters
as under forty in order to evade the operation
of the law. In country where the conniv-
ance Of corrupt officials is readily procured
there is, of course, no redress for the slave.
And we doubt whether the abolition Of slavery
by the republic would be faithfully carried out
even if the republic was established. Such is
the perfidy of both Spaniards and Cubans that
it would not be unless other Powers inter-
vened to compel it. The abolition of slavery
under the present masters Of the island, or
those who would succeed them should the re-
public become republic in fact as we'll as in
name, would be the downfall of Cuban indus
try. Both the Cubans and the Spaniards see
| this, and neither is in heart agreed to the
ruin of the planting interests. II is not in the
| nature of things that the most selfish people
| in the world should do as the English have
| done in Jamaica or the Danes in St. Thomas.
Freedom for the Cuban slave will only come
when war has exhausted both sides, and when
intestine feuds have rendered the island feeble
and PROSTATE.
1t is to be hoped that this day may soon
come. There is neither peace nor freedom
for Cuba while the island is rich and prosper
+ Gus. Only by much suffering can these people
be made to understand the meaning of justice
and liberty. They are arrogant and peridi-
Gus, cruel and rapacious. With the exception
of Chile the Spanish republics have
been little better than the dominion of Spain.
Venezuela and Panama have just been torn by
internal discussions. Mexico may even now
be on the eve of a civil war. Cuba
is becoming like them in everything except
freedom from Spanish rule. This, too, will
come in time, but in the end the island will
reach its manifest destiny-annexation to the
United States Just now it would be a very
undesirable acquisition for us. With its large
estates in private hands even the Americans
could not raise sugar without slave labor. We
could easily enough wipe out the insurgent
bands which would be formed against MS, az
they are now formed against Spain, but we
could not make the people Industrious with
tenacious land owners holding on to immense
but profitless plantations. The large abau-
doned sugar estates of Jamaica arc the secret
of the degradation Of the colored population.
The same state of affairs would come to pass
in Cuba If we should consent to take 1t.
We must let the Cortes quarrel over it, and
for the present stand by till the people of the
island work out their own redemption. The
impracticabilty of the Spanish and Cuban
character is the stumbling block in the way,
and until war and suffering have taught
their lesson this stumbling block cannot be re-
moved.
The Commission for Examining Druggists