early always
beaten them gallantly, and this has served to perpetuate their hopes,
desperate as is a cause which only outlaws, escaped criminals, and
slaves dare to fight for. These people appear to be well supplied with
arms and ammunition, which it is said are smuggled to them from
sympathizers in this country, particularly from Florida. Though their
ranks are supposed to embrace but small numbers, still they form a
nucleus at all times, about which discontented spirits may gather.
Thus it is found necessary to quarter a foreign army of thirty
thousand soldiers upon the people at the present time, while half the
navy of Spain lies anchored in the ports of the island.

One great drawback and defect in the character of the native Cubans
is a want of self-reliance. The remedy for the outrageous oppression
under which they have so long struggled lies within themselves; "for
they can conquer who believe they can." In the consciousness of
strength is strength, but the Creole republicans have never yet
evinced the necessary degree of true manhood to challenge general
outside sympathy, or to command the respect of other nationalities.
The numerous revolutionary outbreaks upon the island--so frequent in
the last half century as to be chronic--have all been of the most
insignificant character, compared with the importance of the occasion
and the object in view. These efforts have mostly been made from
without, almost entirely unsupported from within the borders of Cuba,
with the exception of that of 1868. It appears incredible that an
intelligent people, within so short a distance of our Southern coast,
constantly visited by the citizens of a free republic, and having the
example of successful revolt set them by the men of the same race,
both in the North and the South, weighed down by oppression almost
without parallel, should never have aimed an effectual blow at their
oppressors. It would seem that the softness of the unrivaled climate
of those skies, beneath which it is luxury only to exist, has unnerved
this people, and that the effeminate spirit of the original
inhabitants had descended in retribution to the posterity of their
conquerors.

In closing these brief chapters relating to the early history of the
island of Cuba, and in bringing the record up to our own period, some
natural reflections suggest themselves as to the present condition of
the mother country. We follow with more than passing interest the
condition