Savannah morning news. [volume] (Savannah) 1868-1887, 1884-09-15
Some Gossip About the Queen of the
Antilles.

member, who, by his twenty years OF par
liamentary experience and his cOnnec-
ton with the paTtisans of self-gOvernment
in both isles, is best able to furnish a fair
and truthful statement on the relations of
the Spanish West Indies with the mother
country and with the United States, and
on the actual condition of Cuba:
''In the opinion of all Cubans and Of all
impartial Spaniards who possess any eX-
perience Of colonial matters, the time has
come when the mother country and her
governments must do something decisive
and sweeping to get Cuba out of her pres
ent crisis. Nor must you suppose for one
moment that it is only the autonomist
party, the CIeOles of liberal inclination,
who ask TOR change Of policy, both COM
mercial and administrative, in our West
Indies, as you may have observed in the
recently-elected COrtes, elected, indeed,
with unusual pressure of authorities in
Cuba and Puerto Rico. Well, the adYO-
Gates and opponents of colonial reform in
the debates on the addresses in both
houses, the promoters of interviews with
the sovereign and his responsible council
Ors, were Senators and Deputies belong
ing to the conservative or constitutional
party of our isles. These men, who repre-
sent the wealth, the landed interests, the
trade of Cuba, who were Spain's most
loyal and devoted paTtisans during the
and tell the home government that there
is no time to lose, that our tariffs must be
modified, our trade with Spain and the
United States promoted by more liberal
treaties, our budget reduced to the level
of our possible revenue, our debt reOrgan-
lied, and our equally large floating debt
consolidated, if necessary. with the col
lateral guarantee of Spain, as this debt
was contracted to keep her flag in the
ATeyfpau ouIf. Our labor fsricia ropoodfod
by immigration of freemen, our public
works and education developed to meet
the requirements Of a society in which,
by the year 1888, 100000 slaves will have
become citizens under the gradual eman-
cipation law.
''As you must observe, the Conservative
party in Havana, by its mOuthpieces in
the Spanish COTtes, expose the grievances
and aspirations of Cuba almost in the
very same terms as the AutOnOmists have
done since the end of the rebellion in 1878,
and must, in all justice to my col
leagues, say that we now only differ as to
the kind of remedies, and the amount of
change necessary. The AutOnOmists be-
lieve that Cuba possesses enough natural
resources, that her people, white and col
Ored men alike, are sufficiently loyal to
allow the mother country to try policy of
free trade with the United States and with
Europe, and at the same time policy of
colonial self-gOyeTnment, similar to that
Of Canada, Australia, and the Cape. The
/ Colonial Conservatives. however, like all
Spanish politicians and statesmen, are re-
/ luctanU TO admit that matters have come
10 point in the West Indies when half
measures can neither pacify disaffectiOn
nor satisfy the material interests of the
island, and, therefore the Senators and
Deputies of Cuba and Puerto Rico are dis
! posed to accept the installments of reform
| that even a Conservative Cabinet shows a
| sincere disposition to grant at last. In
/ deed, in the short summer session of 1884,
/ the West Indian representatives were not
| a little surprised to hear Senator Canovas
/ del Castillo, for the first time in the Impe-
/ rial Parliament, admit that the cOlOnist
could legally, and consistently with 10y
/ atty to Spain, defend autonomy, though
/ the present Prime Minister himself
/ does not think that the day has yet come
/ when Spain must appeal to that last re-
| source, because her statesmen still think
she can try policy intermediate between
1 colonial self-gOYernment and the old sys-
| TEN that caused the loss Of her possess
! siOns on the American main. Senior CanO-
vas, with the energetic impulses of his
nature, and with his usual deoisiOn, as
soon as his mind was made up. went
straight to the COrtes, and before the re-
cess obtained from them, not without
much sulky resistance on the part of the
pTOtectiOnists, the most extensive powers
TO undertake in the Spanish West Indies
reforms that look very considerable on
paper, but which bear the stamp of that
old spirit of distrust and hostility to the
colonial aspirations that animates every
school of Castilian politics. The author
iZatiOns granted to the crown and to it's
| responsible ministers in all but one case
| aim at introducing reductions in the
colonial budgets, at transferring to the i'm
| perial budget many naval, diplomatic and
| consular expenses in North and South
America, and in Fernando Pc, hitherto
/ borne by the ratepayers of Cuba. They
/ also aim at many abuses and adminiStra-
/ tive imperfectiOns that can be corrected;
/ they even suppose a more liberal policy
/ in our political and municipal life; bat
/ they do not fOreshadow that opening of
/ both to the natives of Cuba, or their ad-
/ mission into its administration, which we
| consider necessary and right. In fnan-
/ cial matters these authorizations are too
/ vague, as, to call Things by their name
we have a consolidated debt of e. 5000, 600
| guaranteed by our only prosperous source
of revenue, the customs, and since the
/ consolidation of 1879 our annual deficits
of s., 600, 600 to S13,OO0,0 600 added to what
/ washOt included in the first consolidation
make up ga, 100000 unsecured.
s'Spanish statesmen, haunted with the
dread of secession or annexation to the
United States, do not go resOlutely in the
| right direction. They keep up an eXag-
/ gerated military and naval establishment,
| far too numerous and expensive civil
\ and judicial administration, forcing Cuba
/ to spend from $40, 1000, 600 to $50, 000. 600.
/ and that when it is proved by facts that
/ Cuba cannot obtain more than from
/ $24 100000 to $4,000, 600 from her customs
]
/ the existing tariffs, which are accused by
/ all colonial parties Of crIppling trade, and
/ consequently agriculture. Spain has at
I last decided TO strike of gradually the eX-
port duties on Cuban products, and she
/ considers that she is making an immense
| concession by taking steps to promote and
| increase the trade between her West In
! dian possessions and the peninsula. For
/ this purpose she proposes to assimilate
/ the carrying trade between Cuba and
/ Spain, under the national nag, to the
i cOasting trade between any European
/ province Of this kingdom. She also con-
/ templates striking of, quicker than was
/ at first determined by Senator Camacho's
/ bill in 1882, the heavy duties yet inflicted
| here in the mother country upon Cuban
/ and Puerto RiquenO sugars, mOlasses,
i coffee and tobacco. Other legislative
/ announcement will be given to draw
/ closer the relations between the col
J Onies and Spanish markets, but the
/ Cubsns object that at present nearly
| so per cent. Of their exports and produc-
lions do not 20 to Spain, but to markets
nearer at hand in the United States, and
they insist that their production might be
/ trebled. if not quadrupled, as soon as
Spain should succeed in getting for the
| sugars, mOlasses, coffee and tobacco of
her colonies better conditions in the tariffs
| Of the United States. This is the gOrdian
| knot of the future of Cuba and of her re-
/ latiOns with Spain and the United States.
| We are forced to take annually in Puerto
| Rico and Cuba 4,500,0 900 pounds worth Of
/ the products Of Spanish agriculture and
| manufactures, and we could get these inn
ports cheaper and as good from the United
| States close at hand.
- need hardly say that never in their
| annals did the Creoles follow with keeneT
| curiosity, with more anxiety, with more
| anxious expectation, the decisions of the
| imperial government. YOnder in our
| islands everyone knows by this time that
we would compete with Mexico and Santo
Domingo, with the old slave States of the
Southern part Of the Union, and that our
finances, our treasury, our dent, our
trades our very daily food, could be
bettered if the mother country even pro-