free blacks and mulattoes, and put many of the latter to the torture to
make them confess imaginary crimes; while others, condemned without a
trial, were mowed down by the fire of platoons. Assuredly the people of
color have no reason for attachment to the _paternal_ government of
Spain. And in this connection we may also remark that this attempt at
the enrolment of the blacks has already proved, according to the
admission of Spanish authority, a partial failure, for they cannot
readily learn the drill, and officers dislike to take command of
companies.

We have remarked that the Spanish troops are in a state of rigid
discipline, and exhibit much efficiency. They are to the eye firm and
serviceable troops,--the very best, doubtless, that Spain can produce;
but it must be remembered that Spanish valor is but a feeble shadow of
what it was in the days of the Cid and the middle ages. A square of
Spanish infantry was once as impregnable as the Macedonian phalanx; but
they have sadly degenerated. The actual value of the Spanish troops in
Cuba may be estimated by their behavior in the Lopez invasion. They were
then called upon, not to cope with a well-appointed and equal force, but
with an irregular, undisciplined band of less than one-fourth their
number, armed with wretched muskets, entirely ignorant of the simplest
tactics, thrown on a strange shore, and taken by surprise. Yet nearly a
full regiment of infantry, perfectly drilled and equipped, flank
companies, commanded by a general who was styled the Napoleon of Cuba,
were driven from the field by a few irregular volleys from their
opponents. And when again the same commanding officer brought a yet
greater force of every arm,--cavalry, rifles, infantry and
artillery,--against the same body of insurgents, fatigued and reduced in
numbers and arms, they were again disgracefully routed. What dependence
can be placed upon such troops? They are only capable of overawing an
unarmed population.

The Cubans seem to fear very little from the power or efforts of the
Spanish troops in connection with the idea of any well-organized
revolutionary attempt, and even count (as they have good reason to do)
upon their abandoning the Spanish flag the moment there is a doubt of
its success. They say that the troops are enlisted in Spain either by
glowing pictures of the luxury and ease of a military life in Cuba, or
to escape the severity of justice for the commission of some crime. They
no