The Wheeling daily intelligencer. [volume] (Wheeling, W. Va.) 1865-1903, 1898-04-29
As FROuDE SAW ii.
4 vivid pen Picture 81 Havana ~ ths.
Celebrated NEUTRALITY-SUSPICIOUS. that

VI
!. Prophecy.
Historian James Anthony Ffcude, who
visited Cuba some years ago. draws a
tae picture OF Havana. I1o says:
Havana figures much In English ma
val history. Drake tried to take Il, and
failed. Penn and venables failed. We
s,ormed the, forts in l74o, and held them
and held the city until the seven. years'
war was over. I had read descriptions
OF tho place. but they had given me no
clear c~onception OF what i would be
like, certainly none at all Of what II
was like.
lIayaaa IS o city of paiaces,3a city of
,,roets and plasas, OF colonnades and
towers and churches and monasterlcs.
Tho spn!ards built as they built in
CASTLE: built with tho same material.
enc white Limestone which they found
IN the new worldas In tho old. The pal
aces OF the mobiles In Havana, the resi-
dcncc OF the governor, tho converts, the
cathedral, arc reproduction Of Bur-
co. or valiadolid, az II by some Alad-
diu's lamp, IA Cas.Illan city had been
taken up and set down again unaltered
nm the shore OF the Caribbean sea.
And they. Icarrted with them their
laws, their habits. their Institutions,
and their creed: their religious orders.
thelr bishops and their inquisition.
sven now, in her day OF eclipse, when
her genius Is cloudcd by the modern
spIr.t against which she fought so long
and 10 desperately, the sons OF Spain
sdll build as they used to build, and
the modern squares and market places,
risen In and around the ancient city OF
Havana are constructed on the old
massive model mud on the same lines.
The political future Is dark; the gov
eminent unlmaglnably5 corrupt-so cor
rupt that change Is inevitable, though
what change 1t would be idle to pro-
phesy. The Americans looked at the
island which lay SO temptingly near
them, but they were wise In their gem
Grafton. They reflected that to intro
duce into an Anglo-Saxon5 republic 30
irsoluhle an element MS 1000, 900 Span
,sh Roman Catholics. allen In blood and
creed, with . $1,000 blacks to swell the
dusky flood which runs too full among
them alteadv, would be to invite an In;
digestion OF serious consequences. "A
few years since the Cubans were on the,
eve OF achieving their independence like
their brothers In Mexico and South
America. Perhaps they will yet sue
coed.
The magnitude OF Havana and the
.~ullness Of life which vas going on
there entirely, surprised me. I had
thought OF Cuba as a decrepit state.
bankrupt, or finance exhausted by civil
wars. and on the edge OF social dlsso-
luton, and I find Havana. now at least
0 grand imposing Jcity-a city which
might compare for beauty with any In
The world T~hessaritarF condition Is as
bad, as negligence CON mako it-so bad
TINT O Spanish gentleman told me that,
we've It, not for the natural purity Of the
air. they wouidihave been all dead like
a!ss long ago. The tide and ha:bor Is
toul With the accumulation OF three
hundred years. { The administration Is
more good for nothing than IN Spain
Itself. al
The Moro as a fertilization IS, I am
told, indcfensible, against modern artil-
lery, presenting too much surface as a
target; but 1t Is all the grauder to look
at. 1t Is; a fine, specimen OF the Vauban
period, and IS probably equal to any de-
nands which will be made upon It. The
harbo. is something like Port Royal, a
deep lagoon!with a narrow entrance and
q long natural breakwater between the
lagoon and the ocean; but what at Port
Royal Is a sand spit eight miles long is
ct Havana a rocky peninsula on which
the city itself is built.
The opening from the sea IS half a
mile wide. On the city side there are
low seI:i-circllar batteries which sweep
completely the approaches and the
passage Itself. The Moro rises oppo-
site OF the extreme point Of the en-
trsRce, and next to Il. further in to-,
ward the harbor on the same side. on
the crest and slopes of a range Of hills.
stands the old Moro. the original castle
which bea. of Drake and divers. sea
generals. and which was captured by
the English IN the last century. The
lines were probably weaker than they
are at present and less adequately man
red. A monument is erected there to
the officers and men who fell In the de-
tense.
The city. as we steamed by, looked
slnguIarly beautiful, with its domes and
s!eeples and marble palaces and the
glimpse. Of long %boulerards and trees
and handsome mansions and cool az
csdes. Inside Ne found ourselves in O
basin Of perhaps three miles in 6iame-
ter. full OF shipping Of all sorts and ma
stonalit!es The water. which outside Is
as pure as sapphire, has become filthy
With the spolutions OF a dozen genera
lions. The tide. which even at the
spring has n rise and fall OF but a cou-
PIE o. sect. Is totally ineffective to clear
Il. and AS Icing as they have the Virgin
Mary 10 pray 20 the pious Spariards
VIII not drive the sewage into the
ocean. fAe hot SIMS rays stream down
anso The thick. black liquid. Horrible
saIel!s are set loose from II when It is
SCI IN motion by 4 screw or paddle, and
eaips bring up at mooring buoys, lest
tGe!r anchors should disturb the COM
post Which i!es at the bottom.
Yet we forget the disaEreeab!es In
me novelty and striking character OF
,ne scene. A hundred boats were plying
10 acd FRO among the various vessels
Win their white sails and white awa-
.nsS Flags of NIL countries were
blowing out at stern or from masthead;
among them. o. course, the Star, and
stripes. flying jaunt.ly on some SPLEEN
a.u senooaer which stood there like a
COCK upon q dunghil that might be his
o"' u no chose to crow for It.