Alexandria gazette. [volume] (Alexandria, D.C.) 1834-1974, 1885-09-19
BISMARCK AND CUBA.

Cuba She has no possession in the Wes
Indies. England has many. France has
two Denmark has St. Thomas. Holland
has Curacao, and Spain has Cuba and Porte
Rico remaining of the whole archipelago
which her navigators discovered and hel
kings ruled for three hundred years. When
! Germany gets anything she wants the best,
and Cuba is "the Pearl of the Antilles" "
The power of Spain in the island has been
growing weaker and weaker, until she holds
it now by sheer force of arms, and at an ex-
pense which the home government cannot
long sustain. She is becoming too poor to
keep the island, and is too proud to sell 1t
but the difficulty ofraising funds to maintain
her supremacy is becoming so great, and
the irritation is so rapidly increasing that
pride must surrender to poverty. and the
island will be sold to satisfy the creditors OF
the nation.
The annual cost of Cuba to the Spanish
government exceeds the expense OF main
tanning the army of the United States, and
is from thirty to thirty-Rve millions. The
revenues of the island are about Sl2, ,OOO,OOO
and have been rapidly decreasing, while the
expense of maintenance is greater every
wear. 30 as Olc iuOuVdS pebco cdS Socoa NNop
is piling up. until it now takes almost the
entire revenues to pay the interest, without
any prospect of decreasing the principal.
The people are impoverished by excessive
taxation and by ntinsurrectlonsW which
desDoil their plantations and demoralize
labor. The sugar yield is growing less, and the
tobacco crop is deterioratipg every year, be-
cause the soil is worn out and the planters
are too poor to replenish it by fertilization.
Almost every other man in Cuba IS SOL
aier. and the troops are sent from Spain.
Long ago recruits ceased to enter the army
from the island, and the mortality OF the
imported soldiers is so great that regl.
ment is swallowed up by fevers every year.
The political condition of the island mean
while grows more unsettled and discourag-
ing, and nothing but the most vigiant and
cruel Tyranny prevents general uprising
against tho Spanish power system OF
espionage prevails in all classes of society,
and every day men are sent to Moro Castle,
prison over whose gates should be written
the words of the Inferno, "Who enters here
leaves hope behind" for no man cin be
found in Cuba to tell of bis experience il
that prison. 1t is always full and no record
! is kept of the arrivals and departures. When
o spy denounces citizen for utterng trea
sonable sentiments or conducting himself
| in manner to give cause for suspicion he
| is at once arrested, taken before the CAPITALS"
general, examined, and, unless he can make
| out a very clear prima facie case in hls
favor, is sent to Moro Castle, from which
he never returns. Those who have survived
| the exposures and cruelty of the place are
| shot to make room for new comers, and the
number of men who disappear each week
is astonishingly large. The people of Ha
vana cannot be induced to discuss this des.
potism. They do not know who may over
hear them, and to be overheard is death.
| BY this system of terrorism Spain succeeds
| in retaining her control OF the island, and
| might contnue to do so but for the expense
incurred. The Cuban bonds are largely
held in Germany, and German capitalists
are encouraged by their government to take
| them. The time is drawing near when the
now depressed bonds will be absolutely
! worthless in the market, and then the iron
hand of Bismarck will drop on Spain. He
understands we'll the methods by which pos
session may be secured, and will use them
| with his accustomed skill.
The attitude of the United States in al
these proceedings has been that of indiffer
ence, and it is difficult to see how it couc
| be otherwise. The refuge of the Cubar
conspirator is our little island of Key West
which is almost entirely populated by exiles
The Spanish minister at Washington occu
pies as much of the time of the State De
partment, as oil Of the rest of the diploma
tic CORPS together, and is constantly there
repeating the information he has received
from his spies at Key West, and entertain
ing the interest of our government Th
Cuban patriots in New York still hope TO
the independence of the island, and keel
themselves poor subscribing means for it
accom- plishmens. This irritation has adde's
to the distress of Spain, and she will be glat
when relief comes at last. 1t will be tn
ioy of the harassed bankrupt, who sees
receiver shoulder the trouble that has wor
him out.