tute of which they would cease to be men, justly forfeiting all
claim to our sympathy and consideration. During the brief intervals in
which a liberal spirit was manifested towards the colony by the home
government, the Cubans gave proof of talent and energy, which, had they
been permitted to attain their full development, would have given them a
highly honorable name and distinguished character. When the field for
genius was comparatively clear, Cuba produced more than one statesman
and man of science, who would have done honor to a more favored land.

But these cheering rays of light were soon extinguished, and the
fluctuating policy of Spain settled down into the rayless and brutal
despotism which has become its normal condition, and a double darkness
closed upon the political and intellectual prospects of Cuba. But the
people are not, and have not been the supine and idle victims of
tyranny which Spain depicts them. The reader, who has indulgently
followed us thus far, will remember the several times they have
attempted, manacled as they are, to free their limbs from the chains
that bind them. It is insulting and idle to say that they might have
been free if they had earnestly desired and made the effort for freedom.
Who can say what would have been the result of our own struggle for
independence, if Great Britain, at the outset, had been as well prepared
for resistance as Spain has always been in Cuba? Who can say how long
and painful would have been the struggle, if one of the most powerful
military nations of Europe had not listened to our despairing appeal,
and thrown the weight of her gold and her arms into the scale against
our great enemy? When we see how--as we do clearly--in a single night
the well-contrived schemes of an adroit and unprincipled knave enslaved
a brilliant and warlike people, like the French, who had more than once
tasted the fruits of republican glory and liberty, who had borne their
free flag in triumph over more than half of Europe, we can understand
why the Cubans, overawed from the very outset, by the presence of a
force vastly greater in proportion than that which enslaved France, have
been unable to achieve their deliverance. Nay, more--when we consider
the system pursued by the government of the island, the impossibility of
forming assemblages, and of concerting action, the presence of troops
and spies everywhere, the compulsory silence of the press--the
violation of the sanctity of c