New-York tribune., 1873-01-03
SPANISH COLONIAL POLICY.

We have several dispatches this morning
which throw more or less light upon the sub
tect which is growing every day more impor-
tant-the relations of Spain to her colonies.
This, by the way is a word which is not adj
mitted in Spanish official language, as the col
onies were long since declared Ultramarne
Provinces of Spain. This is designation
which may be fattering to the vanity of the few
Creoles who remain loyal, but it seems to have
little influence upon the treatment which they
receive from the Mother Country. The Islands
of the Sea which still own the rule of Spain
are governed by a regimen of martial law and
good pleasure, in spite of their provincial char
acter and their adoption by the liberal COnsti-
tuition of 1862 They are somewhat restive un-
der this rule, it must be admitted. We hear
from San Francisco that there has been a
serious emeute in the Philippine Islands. The
cOnvicts rose to the same cry Of " Muera Es-
"paAa" which found so terrible an echo
when uttered four years ago at Yara. and
sanguinary fight ensued which cost the
lives of several of their number and some cit
liens also. They dispersed to the mountains
and forests, and will doubtless give great
trouble to the authorities before they are cap
tured or exterminated. The news from Cuba
remains extremely disquieting. All the avail
able regular troops in Havana, amounting. it
is said, to the pitiful number of four hundred,
have been dispatched to the scene of vi
cente Garcia's foray at Hoguin. 1t
is singular that, after all the forces
which have been shipped from Spain. so small
a detachment is all that can be raised for this
important service. They must do better than
a.
1t turns ont that the insurgents. when they
left Holguin, retired with sufficient delibera-
ton and prudence to carry with them the
military chest. 1t is evident that Garcia's
raid was only feature of a general plan
adopted by the revolutionists. The same kind
of movements continue. On the night of the
22d they attacked the town of Magarabomba
and burned eight houses, and week later
they had skirmish with tho gensdarmes as
they were on their way to strike tho fortified
camp of Maraguan. 1t is even reported in
Cuba that they think their prospects so fair
las to justify them in quarreling over the
| Presidency, and Agramonte is already indicated
as the successor Of Cespedes.
In Spain the situation retains the we'll
known colors of Castiian self-deception,
NhiNh pCbii W bloN hC JOuIutiS
deny that the rebels have exhibited any ac-
tivity, and say, with that sublime uncon-
sciousness Of the worlds opinion which is
one of the finest traits which the hammering
of time has left the race, that the rebellion is
on the point of being crushed. The King
and the Cabinet seem in earnest about the
abolition of Slavery in Porto Rico, and His
Majesty announced, on New-Year's Day, his
intention to pursue the path of reform already
marked out. But they are probably by this
time beginning to find out the obstacles in the
way Of this righteous course. The slave
traders of the maritime cities, and the great
manufacturers of Catalonia who imagine that
their fortunes depend upon the perpetuity of
the institution of Slavery in the Antilles, are
setting on foot couhter-agitation to nullify
that of the Abolitonists, and are opposing the
project of reform for Porto Rico with ener-
getic protests in behalf of endangered trade
and commerce. A dispatch from Barcelona
to Madrid Gays, Catalonia ia profoundly
alarmed Another from Santander states the
same thing in the same language, showing a
common inspiration, There has been secret
meeting of deputies to concert measures of
opposition TO the policy Of emancipation. IL
is, however pleasant 10 see that no one pub
licly defends Slavery, those who oppose eman-