The daily morning journal and courier., 1899-01-31

ferent classes have but one thing in common-the desire for an independent l republic. so long their one ambition that
 it has become an absorbing passion. f For it they have sacrificed life, proper ", everything, and they will be satisfied with nothing but absolute indepen- dence. The aristocrats-proud old families descended from the nobility or , Spain--include the Betancourt, the Mendozas, the Sotolongos, the Jaurins, the Zayas, who together own more than
 half the island. They are the progress sive people of Cuba; their sons are col lege graduates; they read, travel and
 are we'll up with the times and have the most profound respect for the United States But they will never vote for annexation; they would die first, to a
 man-and especially to a woman.
 They and their fathers have sacrificed too much for freedom to relinquish now the golden dream which seems so near fulflment. And they deserve all consld- eration, being socially, politically and Intellectually fully capable of govern ing themselves. But, unfortunately
 they are in the minority. The great
 bulk of the Separatists are the rank and
 llle Ol lIt NuDdH tllllly, liiiy pL IiiSiti
 negroes or mulattoes, and nearly all the
 rest small farmers who know nothing
 about the world beyond their little is
 land-a lazy lot, as densely ignorant as
 unambitious God help the long-suf-
 fering Queen of the Antilles should she
 fall absolutely into such unstable
 hands. Most of these rag-tag patriots
 have become downright lunatics or
 rather monomaniacs, like Gomez, given
 over to the one idea of their own great
 consequence; and since the disease of
 'revoluting" has with them become
 chronic and incurable, there is no hope
 of their laying down their arms perma-
 nently while the breath of life remains
 in their bodies. At the slightest provo
 cation they will take to the field again
 and keep it up eternally, as their fel-
 lows do in Salvador, Honduras and oth-
 CT revolution cursed portions of Span
 ish-America.
 The "Autonomista," or autonomist el-
 ement, were the great property -holders
 of the old regime in Cuba, eninently re-
 spectacle, but unprogressive. At heart
 they favored the insurgent cause, but never espoused it openly, As we say in
 America, they remained Ion the fence,
 secretly preferrlng annexation to inde-
 pendence as the easiest way out of 1t,
 but saying nothing on either side.
 What complicated matters still more was that the heads of some of the most prominent creole families, whose sorf and daughters were rabid Separatists, belonged to the "Autonomista, for provident' reasons of their own; and in these patriarchal families the head of the house is ruler and his word Is law, so far as outward conduct is concerned.
 The Annexationists are not numerous enough to cut much figure in an cleo tion. They are mostly Cubans who have been educated in the United States and spent time enough there to the financial and other ad- vantages which would accrue from an nexation. They are worthy element, practically American in everything but birth; and their ranks are increased by countrymen who, having lived long in Cuba, have forsworn the land of their nativity and call themselves Cubans.
 The so-calIed Conservative" party is a class entirely different from either of those above mentioned. They are true of the Conquistadores, af- ter Cortes' own heart. In the past they assumed an air of superiority over all in the island, except the army and the church in the order named. They were the Shylocks of Cuba, whose sole busi 1 ness for centuries has been that of mon ey-getting at the expense of the natives. Caring nothing whatever for the is- +o t,,on from If | and still less for it's people, except as their tools, they have held the Cubans' ! nose to the grindstone and kept him in a as near to slavery as possible. ] Supported by church and state, they nave religiously prevented his appoint ! nent to any office in his native island, . and took good care that his Interests were never represented at Madrid From time inmemorial they have { Dought up the judges and shared thelr | ,lunder with the venal politicians and . authorities; and in short, had bings all their own way in Cuba Their profits were spent in Spain, where most of them were educated; and when he war broke out they helped to form he great army of spies and volunteers md gave large sums to assist the un- latural mother-country in crushing the and of their adoption. To-day they are he most bitterly uncompromislng, bigo- ed and unprogressive element in Cuba hough their star is no longer in the as- endant and Uncle Samuel will have nore trouble with them than with all he crazy insurgents. Numbering not ess than two hundred and fifty thou and they will undoubtedly favor an- lexation, as they would favor anything ather than submit to Cuban rule. Their property interests here are too ;reat to be abandoned, therefore they will remain, instead of returning to inn
 oyeris' el Spain. Naturally, the na- i've Cuban regards this class as rab'd og does water. If allowed his own way n the premises, he would burn them all t the stake; at the very best he would onfiscate their property and chase them if the island
 As showing the widely different views f these two clements, let me give you ome scraps of conversation which have ome to my ears. A Cuban widow of igh degree, whose husband was an au- hor and scientists of repute, once pos- essed of great wealth, fled with other ] efugees to Washington when General zee abandoned his post. She owned the lost beautiful house in Havana-a T, ,1,1o ,oIooo cf ,-oct rronortinpS f11p5