The sun., 1897-11-29


preference to the products Of the mother
countryl We may go further and affirm
that tariff which should not give this
preference would not have the slightest
chance of meeting with tho approval of the
Cortes even IL 1t succeeded in passing the
Cuban Council.
Another vital question for the Cubans. IL
they are ever to regain prosperity, is this
What proportion of Spain's debt is to be
saddlcd on the islandl Here, again, the
ultimate and decisive answer will come,
not from the Cuban Council, but from the
parliament at Madrid. 1t would be i'm.
possible for the Cubans to meet the annual
interest charge already imposed upon them
by the home Government before the out
break of the present war, If it were to be
coupled with the interest on the debt in
Cured by Spain for the purpose of suppress
ing the existing revolution. 1t is because
these matters of the debt and the tariff arc
well understood by the Cubans to lie at
the root Of any workable scheme of local
sclf.government, and because no acceptable
assurances concerning them are given, that
Gen. GOMEZ and Gen. GARCIA have utterly
refused to listen to the latest proposals of
autonomy. Even if, however, satisfactory
promises in these particulars were made by
the Sagasta Government, the Trustworthy
representatives of Cuban feeling would
maintain an equally infexible attitude,
because they know from experience, and
from their acquaintance with the actual
state of things in Spain, that such prom
ises would not be kept.
1t is said that Captain General BLANco
has cabled to Madrid that he will resign,
If, in consequence of the protest from Bar
celona, the scheme of autonomy shall be
less liberal than was at first designed Let
us admit, however, that Captain-General
BLANco is as upright and honorable man
as is Marshal MARTINEZ CAMPos; let us
admit that the Sagasta Ministry are rs
honestly resolved to fulfil their pledges to
Cuba as the Ministers who held Office in
1879 professcd to be, what security have
the Cuban commanders in the field that
any agreement now concluded by them
with Spain will not meet with the fate Of
the Treaty of Zanjon. We all know what
became of that convention. No sooner, in
pursuance of 1t, were the Cuban soldiers
disbanded, than the friends of MARTINEZ
CAMPos ceased to be able to control the
Cortes; a new Ministry and a new parlia-
ment came into existence that knew not
JOSEPH; and for sixteen years not even the
pretence of conforming to the Zanjon
Treaty was made. Even then. the so.called
Ararzuza law did but keep tie word of
promise to the ear and broke it to the hope.
Precisely the same state of things exists
to-day in Spain as existed in 1878, and
therefore, the outcome of the Treaty of Zan.
jon would necessarily be that also of a new
convention which should now ostensibly
concede autonomy to the Cubans. The con-
Cession of autonomy, we should bear in
mind, rests for the moment exclusively
upon royal DEGREES. 1t has, consequently,
on the face of it only temporary validity,
and for definite sanction must await the
meeting of the new Cortes, which is not ex-
pected to be chosen before the coming
spring. Until the Cortes shall have ap-
proved of the Sagasta programme, the
Cubans will not even have the ghost of
security that it will be permanently carried
out. Let us suppose, however, that the
Cubans confide in the good inten-
tions of the present Prime Minister, and,
accordingly, lay down their arms; let
us suppose that they are right in thus
trusting Sehor SAGAsTA; let us suppose,
further, that he proves both able to elect
majority of the next Cortes and to carry
his programme intact through that body.
What, after all, would that amount tol
What one Cortes has given another Cortes
could take away, and it undoubtedly would
do so the moment it fell under the control
of the Conservatives, most of whom are bit
terly opposed to the whole project of auton-
omy for Cuba.
An insurrection in Catalonia, a demon
stration of the Carlists in the Basque Prov
inces, mutiny Of the Madrid garrison, any
one of dozen incidents might compel the
Queen Regent to recall the Conservatives to
power. Then new Cortes would be chosen,
and away would go, either piecemeal or in
block, the whole fabric of ostensible self
government which the Cubans would have
been gulled into accepting in exchange for
the hope of independence