The Portland daily press., 1898-09-30

The remainder of..the separatists com
posed the rank and file of the insurgent
army. Many of them sare negroes or
mulattoes, nearly all of them ars farmers,
country people, paoificos, Ignorant ana
unambitious, but non com at1ve, save
under actual compulsion. Numerically
they are undoubtedly in the majority;
They have.never held Office, nor would
they be likely to do SO under an inoepenc-
emit government They can only attend to
their own affairs. They may in time,
with education, make fairly good citizens.
They will probably vote against annexa'
ton.
Der Of respectable and Intelligent Cuhans,
many of whom have spent the greater
part of their lives in the United States,
and who. keenly aware of the financial
and other adv antages that would accrue
from annexation. are in favor of it and
will vote for it at the first opportunity.
They compose worthy element society,
thing but birth. Numerically they are
not large, and to what extent they may
exert an influence toward winning over
the separatists to the policy OF annexation
1t is impossible TO say. They are an I'M
known quantity
What attitude will be assumed by the
old party Of the 'autonomista" is almost
chiefly property holders of the old regime.
Th ey compose an eminently respectable
but not overrrogressive element, and they
were mover devoted to the Unborn princl-
pies of liberty and Independence. They
were always eager to compromise, to ac'
cept the best the present afforded and to
let the future take oaro Of itself. At heart
they favored the cause of the insurgents.
but they did not espouse 1t openly. In
plain words, during the revolution most
of them sat on the fence. In point q
numbers and influence they exert consid-
cradle political power. Between annexa-
tion and independence they will probably
ohoone the former as the easier way out.
iards' form an entirely different class.
As to their merits or dement's, their
claims to consideration or otherwise, opin
ions will undoubtedly differ. In tho past
they have assumed an air of superiority
over all ON the island, except the army
and the church. They were the merchants
the shopkeepers, the usurers, whose sole
purpose was to profit at the expense OF the
Cuban. For centuries they have done all
in their power to hold him down and pre-
vent his appointment to any Office. They
took good care that neither he nor his in
terests were ever represented in the Cortes
at Madrid. eeThey prejudiced the crown
and the Cortes against the Cuban; they
pOuSnt up sn6 luoS0s anu sna1ou oA,
plunder with the venal politicians and
military authorities who came out osten-
sibly or the purpose of just administra-
ton of the laws. They cared nothing for
the island and did nothing to benefit 1T.
Their money was spent in Spain, their
sons were educated there, and helped TO
form the vast army of voluntaries. They
furnished the spies, they built the forts.
the harricades, the trenches and the
trochas. They contributed large part
of the funds which carried on the war OF
Spain against the Cubans. They are
bitter, unoompromising and unpro9ress-
i've. That they are cordially hated BY the
Oubans is natural and inevitable. This il
one OF the political phases which during
the period of reconstruction the United
States will find the most difficult to han
die. This class numbers about 24O.O
They will undoubtedly vote for annexa-
ton; they would vote for anything rather
than submit to be ruled by the Cubans. j