The Andrew County Republican. [volume] (Savannah, Mo.) 1871-1876, 1876-06-08
AN IN CUBA.
Political and Social Peeulisritiss Of the
Cubans-Quesr Freaks OF Power OF the
suNsim.Sssw$rs1


MArANzAs, Cuba, May 14.-In my
asst letter I endeavored to express my
Impressions Of the political and social
~,eculiarities of the Cubans. From
What I said It may be readily gathered
hat somewhere in the State arbitrary
is vested, and not in q Legisla-
,ure. That Is also true. Spain may
have her Cortes, such as 1t is, and her
constitutional monarchy" such as
hat also Is, and neither Of them have
any thing to do with the government of
her colonies.
THE GOVERNMENT OF THE ISLAND
Of Cuba Is one man; that man is the
Captain-G General. He al dispose of
you II he wants to, and in any manner,
and, as far as your redress is
ed, without responsibility to any body.
II he wishes he can buy your horse of
you on a very long credit indeed. He
can close your place of business, and
take charge of your books, and give
you q room in q public building, and
there is no power competent to make
him ever give his reasons therefor. He
a call a court-martial to try
you, and detail shoot
ing-squad before the court sits, and
it is not uncommon for him to be thus
p~layfully eccentric. He levies taxes
and imposts, and stands at once in the
place of all branches and functions of
human government, and is the Consti-
tuition and its interpreter. He ought
to be a good man. Sometimes I have
heard he isn't. However, there have
been better and worse, rs mon go,
among the thirteen who have occupied
the position since the Cubans began
their little disturbance in the Iara.
Some of the
ouEEREsT FREAKS OF POWER
have been performed by these Captains
general in times past. One of them,
many years ago, issued u decree that
all the illegitimate children horn during
his administration might be called by
his distinguished name. 1t was Valdez
or Velasquez, or something of similar
sound, and there are many of the name
now living. l suppose he did it to COW
err all possible contingencies and acct
dents. The man who told me this did
not think it II strange thing to do.
There is, in truth, a common opinion
here that the Americans are q very
~light.headed set, and often laugh at
things in which there is no possible
joke.
1t may be supposed that, with the so.
cial feeling all at discord in Cuba, ow-
ing to the existing conflict and the
strange government, both Cubans and
S%paniards lead rather queer lives. So
they do, arNl don't know it. As | stated
in the beginning, these things haze to
be looked at with foreign eyes. The
man born and reared here has not a
very vivid appreciation of his peculiar
lot.
The same mar in Eastern Cuba, liv-
ing with his machete in his hand, fight
ing for something dim which he calls
independence, has very little idea, OF
none, of what a r SlP. uIsJltifbi Ia ne II NJ train s..
OF the same stock in South or Nortt
America have displayed. Some day, !
nave no doubt, he will have a chance
TO try 1t, and we can't tell what he NAV
no, Tor you must understand that this
Cuban is
STRANGE CHARACTER.
10 begin with, he is a demonstration
OF the fact alluded to a while ago. that
the children of foreign residents deto-
riorate physically in the tropics. In
person he is sometimes exceedingly
small, but is apt to be long and attenu-
ated, with a very thin chest, very puny
arms AND no calves to speak of. TO
his inadequate legs he adds a very long
and elegant foot, to his arms as gen
orally useless a pair of hands as YOU can
imagine belonging to some tall female
in declining health. His face is sallow
and gaunt, and his eyes very black. and
has a smile which often has the fac.
llty OF getting no higher than his NOUS
ache. lie is terribly d~illetante, a great
.ounger and smoker, and withal oiIv
voluble of tongue, and has at his
a copious vocabulary in
which you may not detect in an hours
flow Il single strong expression
n forcible thought. He is prodigal in
lis salutations, plentiful in his adios.
cry mindful of his hat, and loves lew
Try like a woman, and like a woman,s.
lie Will not be caught carrying a pack
,ge IN the street, goes to the railway
ain attended by a small darky to car.
y his valise, feels above the MANY nc.
upations of life in which the Spaniards
nd other foreigners around him get
lch enough to buy him and sell him
gain' and, while he may learn to work
ome time, has evidently not vet got
own to that point. I
II CUBAN II THE COUNTRY.
This is the Cuban of the city and the {
lantation, a class immensely in the \
The other class, who do q
DIRK, are brethren to the Rio Grando 4
exican. They are "~peasantry" in the p
aropean acceptation of that term. r!
@ Is the sam man who is a "Gaucbon y,
South America, a "Greaser, in Mex. q
o, and a "Guajiro" in Cuba.
That this effeminate man will fight v,
I'VE no doubt, for like all his class be n
Is the faculty of filling his soul, when sa
lrd pressed, with a feeling which
axes death preferable to a good MANY
her things, and possesses him with n
sire to distinguish himself in the man.
+ OF it, But before he does die Or /,
Ter much, indeed, and while there re-. g,
'ins a hope, he will often resort m on
ans Of helping himself which there ria
men who uyonlI .,.