The daily morning journal and courier., 1907-05-13

the headquarters of the revolutionary | government, of which Salvador Cisner- os-Betancourt, Marquis of Santa Lucia, was the president Mir Cisneros was born here, but he was educated in the United States. He was appointed pres ident of the republic of Cuba during the ten years war, from 1868 to 1878, and made a treaty with the Spanish government under which the revolu- l tionlsts agreed to lay down their arms i provided Cuba was given autonomy, but the Spaniards, as usual, violated their promise. MT. Cisneros went into exile in New York, became a citizen of the United States, and did not re- turn until the next revolution in 1895, when he was again elected president, He is now residing here and represents this state in the Cuban senate.
 | MT. Cisneros is not partisan Like former President Palmer, he belongs to neither party, and is always inde- pendent voting first with one and then with the other, as he approves or dis approves their particular measures or general policy He was opposed to the recent revolution of last August. He l declared that no complaint the liberals might make, no reason they might of fer, was big enough to justify the Cuban people in taking up arms against their own government. He will not discuss the political situation for publication at present. He says that the time has not come for him to speak. He will have something to say later, but thinks that his words would be wasted now. I was therefore unable to obtain an opinion from him concern | ing the proposition for a protectorate | by the United States or as to the neces- 1 sity of prolonging the present occupa- tion. It is quite interesting, however, to see the reverence with which "Presi- dent Cisneros' is regarded by the peo- pie. They never call him by the title he has inherited from his ancestors. The Marquis of Santa Lucia is prac- | tically unknown in these parts, but President Cisneros" Is the first citizen of the province of Puerto Principe.
 The streets are narrow and crooked, | like those of Boston. The houses are ugly and unprepossessing from the ex- terior, but within they are extensive and attractive and are built around picturesque courts filled with fountains and flowers. The exterior walls are painted in bright colors. The house of the governor is startling in brilliant scarlet, with trimmings of green, which MT. Hanson, the United States consu- l lar agent at Neuvitas, told me was in- tended to frighten the people, but they | do not seem to be very much terrified. There is park, a botanical garden and several quaint old churches. One of which has recently been painted in yell | low and black squares like a checker board, which gives 1t a most extraordl- nary appearance. A brand-new Metho- dist church, built in modern style, occu- 1 pies a conspicuous corner in the center | of the town and has attracted much interest. It has large attendance and membership of eighty Cubans, all of whom are converts. There Is also an American Methodist church with about forty members The Baptists have church and school here also.
 About 300 years ago ten families of noble birth came from Spain and set tied upon vasts tracts of land which had been granted them in this vicinity by the crown. They have since con- trolled affairs, They have intermarried and raised large families and have populated the country, Their children 1 have been educated in the United States and have been taught the bles- sings of liberty, which made revolu- tionists of them during the period of i Spanish domination. The aristocrats of Santiago sent their children to France. Those of Santa Clara sent theirs to Spain and Germany. The children of Havana, Matanzas and Pinar del Rio went to Spain, and you can trace influence of the environment of the!r education in their character and their conduct Since independence very few Cubans have gone to Europe for education. The United States is re- Iceiving nearly all of them now. Even the most uncompromising Spaniards now send their sons to New York and their daughters to convents on Long Island and in New Jersey. The ten great families of Puerto Principe, the Agramontes, the Betancourts, the Cas- tillos, the Cisneros and the rest, are still planting sugar and raising cattle in this province, but the big estates have been divided among their descen- dants. Every other man you meet bears one of their honored names, and it is a proverb that no one can throw a stone in Camaguey without hitting a relative.-W. E. Curtis in Chicago Rec ord Herald.