New-York tribune., 1873-12-25

MADRID. Wednesday, Dec, "a, 1873
The kpooa publishes letter from Gen sickies de-
,arus that early in the Yirginius dispute the In
,ransgentSs Of Madrid proposed TO make demon
stration hostile to the United States. The bpood
denies that there was any such intention, and re-
crets that Gen Sieles took no pains to contTadlct
the dispatch from America reporting thai snoh
demonstration had actually taken place
FROM HAVANA TO SANTIAGO DE CUBA.
,uc,nENTs OF THE JoURNEY-APPEARANCk or 1HE
CoAsT-THR LANDING.
,~oov SPECIAL. ooRREsroSDENr oF TRIpUsE.l
s,Nyt,Go pF CuRA Dee S-The Journey from
Havana TO this place takes nearly week by the
southern coast and quite week by the northern
coast There can hardly be any more luxurious
travelling in the world than that of the south coast
steamer Your cabin fare entities yon TO the usual
coffee of the tropics the 10 o'clock breakfast the
or 5o'clJck dinner the o'clock coffee, and your
wines and LIQUORS are free. Yet so temperate are
these people that none Of them average three
drinks a day The traveller by the southern
coast steamer takes the train al Havana Just
before daylight and crosses the island to Bataoano
Ii had been an exciting night before left Havana
and there was a sort of oninous silence In the
sdnalid rst-class carriage as we slid ON INTO DAY
light Then people began to read their morning pa
pcrs They found in them the weak proclamation
Of the wcllmeaning Captain-General, asking theh
10 be quiet and con tanning, as all pubhc announce
neDts do on the island the assertion that everybody
prefers death to dishonor. But soon as they had
read their papers they wcre not quiet. We bad al
t,rnate spasmsSf loud talk aud of profound silence
thence to Bataban6 where we took the steamer
man with face reminding me Of the busts OF some
Of the less famous Roman Emperors seemed loudest
in bis talk He warmed with the sound OF his
own voice until he fairly watered al
the eyes sun I was glad TO notice, ne
was not for HIS plea was mainly that SPAN
was not nation il was a collection of four parties,
mono representing carrying the force OF the span
fsh pcoplc No one agreed with him, and he lapsed
into quiet for the rest of the p hour journey The
rait Of Cuba through which We passed has not the
Irxarious wealth Of vegetation generally sees IN
the tropics Royal palms stand out against the sky
in most directiOns but even the rich plantations,
like te villa as give the idea of picturesque squalor
the same landscape must look much better III sum
mer Slaves were occasionally seen toillug IN rows
mon the laud. They were the very worst looking
specimens ol the African
What was my surprise, upon embarking upon the
steamer al Bataban6. 10 learn that the Roman-taoed
old fellow who had followed his voice through all
The gamut Of enthusiasm. our captain. And 1t
should be added. that never during the whole voy-
He sec med TO command them without speaking TO
them found him full of old-fashioned Spanish
court sv. Only once during the five days of our
ncouaintaHce did he allow his voice to carry him
away INTO his peculiar empyrean Of argument In
word must say that ! know of no nation. except
peGhaps the italiau with which polteness and kind
ysess TO strangers SO universal Poiiteness OF
course IS no infallible gauge of sincerity; but
still the fact Is the same; il is tradition
a. 10 n
ro-s were Of the mercantile class. There
we're many Spanish officers going TO their
various commands along the coast. There was
but one American beside myself upon the boat. we
concealed oar nationality for three or four days by
talking to each other il French All the naval oil-
relx on board and indeed. all the naval officers WIN
.shoI have oonversed on this island are Toyallsts
TIE nsflitary officers. too, profess to serve SPAN
rather than the Republic. Most of tue Spaniards of
this coast and indeed, most of the Spaniards with
whom have yet come IN contact are Catalans-
fle Yansoos Of Spain-sald to be the most arrant
Repabic.ns al home. Here they most arrantly
the reverse have yet TO hear one OF them speak
word tor the CASTELAR, Government
All the Spanish officers, as far my personal
knowledge zoes are eager for the fray. The Royal
lets think il Ould be the ruin of the Republic mat
is one rason and the other which is believed IN by
every srsinard with whom have converted, IS the
sure prosrrtt of success. In the first place, they
say the United States has no navy; the Spanish Will
immediately fake the Northern cities. Not the
Southern cites, mind. because the South Is for
Spain The South is only waiting for chance to
throw OF the yoke Of the North. Part OF the south
used to belon to Spain, and the defendants OF the
Spainards long to rejoin their kindred. Then the
Catholics of the North will join Catholic Spain. 1T
will be hard for an American OF an EnghshmaD
10 believe that intelligent people-men having
as high a rank as that of major in the
epanish arpav-take all the foregoing nonsense
fo. the most self-eyident truth. But such
Is she fact There are, however. men ON the island
who See things as they are, who know that. wal
must result in the utter ruin of Cuba without doing
AmeI1ca any special good. They know that the
IJntei States would necessarily hberate the slaves
and that Cuba without Sayety is at least temporary
ruin. The intell gent Spaniards on the island know
that Slavery here is doomed and believing as they
do that utter chaos must be the result they are IN
the state of sailors who become intoxicated while
the ship is going to pieces or these are the Spanish
officials who are maxim the most of what they con
slder the decade befoie the deiuge. .tisrla
"A young officer of marines with whom had
fraerized on our lazy voyage along the coast, CON
6ded TO me that he was a Carist, and that he had
been sent TO Santiago de Cuba as punishment. lie
assured that all Republicans and Protestants
were the dres scum of humanity, and that he pined
with desire to shoot them all, the Americans In
cluded. There was an entire melodrama in his face
and especially in his black eyes when it came out
one day that !. his confdant was not only Repub
lican and Protestant, but an American, too. My
life ON the steamer for the next day not pleas
ant one Every new passenger who joined us was
informed that an American was on board and was
staredat not very lovingly. 1 heard them talking