The Portland daily press., 1898-04-16
FROUDE ON CUBA.
Opinions of the Eminept H,storian-He
Has visited Cuba Himself and Studied
the Situation.
Est. Louis Globe Democrat. J

AoS PollCy. Iner6 are
some observations on Cuba by the emil
nent English historian Froude on the SUBJ
ject of Cuba's government and future.
which within the past few days have been
read with great qualification by the
American officials, confirming. as they
do, the Righteousness of the admtnistra-
tons course
| Froude visited Cuba some years ago. In
view of the present crisis in the relations
between Spain and the United States over
the island, the impressions and opinions
of the great English historian can not
fail to be of great interest to all Ameri-
| cans at this time. His predictions as to
| the future Of the island seem prophetic
| in view of the existing situation. 1t will
be gratifying to many Americans to know
too, that justification for the present
American attitude is found in the testi-
mony of such an eminent English observ-
err.
In beginning quotations from the Eng
lish historian on the subject of Cuba,
what he had to say about the future of
the island probably will possess the most
interest He says:
"The opinion in Cuba was, and is,
that America is the residuary legatee of
all the islands. Spanish and English
equally, and that she will be forced to
take charge of them in the end whether
she likes it or not. Spain governs un.
justly and corruptly; the Cnbans will not
rest until they are free from her, and,
il once independent, they will throw
themselves on American protection.
The English historian draws fine pic
ture of Havana He says:
"Havana figures much in English naval
history. Drake tried to take it, and
failed. Pen and Venables failed. We
stormed the forts in 1740, and held them
and held the city until the Seven Years
War was over. had read descriptions of
the place, but they had given me no
| clear conception OF what it would be like.
oertanly.no at all OF what it was like.
Havana is city of palaces, a city of
streets and plazas, of colonnades and
| towers and churches and monasteries.
The Spaniards built as they built in Cas-
tile; built with the same mater al, the
white limestone which they found in the
New World as in the Old. The palaces
OF the mobiles in Havana, the residences OF
the governor, the converts, the cathe-
dral, are all reproduction + Burgos or
Valladolid, as If, by some Aladdin's lamp
q Castilian city had been taken up and
set down again unaltered on the shore
| of the Carl bbean Sea.
And they carried with them their
| laws, their habits, their institutions, and
their creed; their religious orders, their
bishops and their inquisition. Even now,
in her day of eclipse, when her genius is
c]ouded by the modern spirit against
which she fought SO long and SO desper
ately. the sons of Spain still build as they
used to build, and the modern squares
and market places, the castles and for
| tresses which have risen in and around
| the ancient City of Havana are construct.
ed on the old massive model and on the
same lines
POLITICAL FUTURE DARK.
"The political future is dark; the gov.
eminent unimaginably corrupt-so cor.
rupt that change is inevitable, though
what change it would be idle to prophesy.
| The Americans looked at the island which
lay SO temptingly near them, but they
were wise in their generation. They
reflected that to introduce into an Anglo.
Saxon republic so insoluble an element as
| 200, 600 Spanish Roman Catholics alien
| in blood, creed. with 500, 600 blacks to
| swell the dusky flood which runs too full
among them already, would be to invite
an indigestion 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 succeed.
"The magnitude of Havana and the
fullness of life which was going on there
entirely surprised me. ] had thought OF
| Cuba as decrepit state, bankrupt, or
finance exhausted by civil wars, and on
the edge of social dissolution, and find
city-a city which might compare fol
beauty with any in the world. The sani-
| tary condition is as bad as negligence can
make it-so bad that Spanish gentleman
| told me that, were it not for the natural
purity of the air, they would have been
all dead like flies long ago. The tideless
| harbor is foul with the accumulation OF
| 300 years. The administration Is more
good for nothing than in Spain itself.
The Moro as a fertilization is, I am told
i ndefensible against modern artillery
presenting too much surface as a target
| but it is all the grander to look at. 1t is
a fine specimen of the Vauban period, and
| ~ propdUly cqudi w any u6InauuS WHICH
will be made upon it. The harbor is
something like Port Royal. deep lagoon
with narrow entrance and long
natural breakwater between the lagoon
and the ocean; but what at Port Royal il
sand spit eight miles long is at Havans
rock peninsula, on which the city itself
| is built.
DEFENSES OF HAVANA.
| "The opening from the sea is half g
mile wide. On the city side there are
low semi-circular batteries which SWEEP
completely the approaches and the pass
age itself. The Moro rises opposite at the
extreme point of tine entrance, and next
to it, further in toward the harbor on the
| same side, ON the crest and slopes of q
range of hills, stands the old Moro, the
original castle which beat off Drake and
| divers, sea generals, and which was cap.
tur by the English in the last century
The lines were probably weaker than they
are at present and less adequately
manned. A monument is erected There
| to the officers and men who fell in the
defense.
1.-THE city, as we steamed by, looked
1,r1,, boontif1l with tic dopoac 81