New-York tribune. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1866-1924, 1874-03-24
THE SPANIARDS IN CUBA.

| THE SP1NIAHDS IN COD1'
There has been such rivalry Of mendacity
between the Cuban aud the Spanish news
from Havana for the last year or two that the
American public has almost lost Its interest III
the intelligence from the Antilles. Every week
| has brought its reports of battles with heavy
losses on one side and entire immunity on the
other the only difference between the Creole
and Peninsuar stories being in respect to the
sides to which the slaughter and the immunity
were respectively distributed. The aggregate
losses, if we had believed in them sufficiently
to foot them up, would to-day represent All
army much greater than that which the Kaiser
il now trying to extOrt from his reluctant
parliament. The story has grown dull ana
mOnotOnous. We have given it faithfully to our
readers, without reservation and without enthu-
| siasm. We have not considered it necessary
| to indulge in any predictions as to situation
which promised to extend itself indefinitely,
only changing gradually for the worse. While
the papers on the Spanish side were daily an
nouncing the end of tho rebellion, and those
whose sympathies were Cuban were continu-
ally denouncing the Government Tor not
recognizing the independence OF Cuba as an
accomplished fact, VIC have restricted ourselves
to giving the news from Havana and from
the interior more fully and accurately than
any other paper, and to stating from time to
time that each side WAS too strong for the
other to beat it, and too weak to beat the
other.
The only change we can now announce In
this deplorable state of things is the natural
result of four years of fruitless and devasta-
TIM war. Neither side, strictly speaking, has
gained ground. Both have los. strength, but
from the circumstances of the case the loss on
the Spanish side is of greater significance and
importance than that of the Cubans. 1t was
evident to every one that, sooner or later. if
the Spaniards did not succeed in putting down
the instruction they would lose their hold
upon the Island. Since the rebellion fbegan,
the Colony has ceased to pay anything into
the treasury of the mother country. 1t Is true
that Spanish officials have continued to admin
lister the military and civil service in Cuba in
manner highly lucrative to themselves; but
TO the home government the Great Antila has
been nothing but an expense and embarrass-
ment ever since the outbreak at Yara in the
Autumn of 1868. The exgencies Of Span
ish politics make it impossible for the
governments which have succeeded each other
in Madrid to let the Island 60, and the poverty
of the national finances prevents any such ex-
penditure as would be necessary to extinguish
the insurgent movement. Men could be sent
from time to time, but only enough to supply
the waste by disease and battle and desertiOn.
The expenses of tho war had to be paid with
the money which an INSCRIPTIONS appropriation
of the resources of the Island could supply.
H., al. Of fha utla IN
officers left no great surplus for these leStl-
mate purposes. The Island has therefore been
slowly bleeding to death under the double
drain of the instruction and the mercless ex-
actions of the Spaniards The limit to this
process is naturally the limit of the war. AS
| long as the Cubans can sustain themselves
| in the mountains, they will not give up the
| contest for their independence. AS long
| as the Spanish officials, and those Peninsular
residents in league with them, can wiring a
commOdious subsistence from the ruin and
misery of the Island they will not relinquish
the attempt to subjugate the CreOles. Within
the last few months there have been two i'm
portant indications of failing strength and
confidence among the Peninsular leaders in
Havana. One was the prompt and unexpected
| uinucI WuiIh thNy y'iuOu W WIZ 'AuOin
| of the Madrid Government for the release of
the Virginius. The other is the feverish and
alarming condition of the money market in
Havana This seems to show that the time is
not far distant when the war win cease to be
lucrative. We know something here of the
evils of a deprecated and irredeemable cur
rency, but our experience gives us no idea of
the utter chaos of values which is setting i'll
at Havana. The monetary transactions are
very small and there is no such thing as a
market price for gold. A small amount may
be bought at premium iluctuating from 100
to 200; large amount could not possibly be
obtained. There are symptoms of total
paralysis of trade.
Unfortunately these are as yet no indications
that the ruin of tho Spanish cause and the
departure Of the Spanish government from