The extremity of this open space furthest from the town has been

appropriately fixed upon as the site of various cemeteries. The

lugubrious forest is enough to give a man the blue devils, and the

ditches and drains into which the sewers, &c., of the town are pumped,

dragging their sluggish and all but stagnant course under a broiling

summer gun, are sufficient to prepare most mortals for the calm repose

towards which the cypress and the cenotaph beckon them with greedy

welcome. The open space I have been describing is the "Hyde Park" and

"Rotten Row" of New Orleans, and the drive round it is one of the best

roads I ever travelled; it is called the "Shell Road," from the

top-dressing thereof being entirely composed of small shells, which soon

bind together and make it as smooth as a bowling-green. The Two-forty

trotters--when there are any--come out here in the afternoon, and show

off their paces, and if you fail in finding any of that first flight, at

all events you are pretty sure to see some good teams, that can hug the

three minutes very closely. Custom is second nature, and necessity is

the autocrat of autocrats, which even the free and enlightened must

obey; the consequence is, that the inhabitants of New Orleans look

forward to the Shell-road ride, or drive, with as much interest and

satisfaction as our metropolitan swells do to the Serpentine or the Row.

Having had our drive, let us now say a few words about the society. In

the first place, you will not see such grand houses as in New York; but

at the same time it is to be observed, that the tenants here occupy and

enjoy all their houses, while in New York, as I have before observed,

the owners of many of the finest residences live almost exclusively in

the basements thereof. This more social system at New Orleans, I am

inclined to attribute essentially to the French--or Creole--habits with

which society is leavened, and into which, it appears to me, the

Americans naturally and fortunately drop. On the other hand, the rivalry

which too often taints a money-making community has found its way here.

If A. gives a party which costs 200l., B. will try and get up one at

300l., and so on. This false pride--foolish enough anywhere--is more

striking in New Orleans, from the fact that the houses are not

calculated for such displays, and when they are attempted, it involves

unfurnishing bed-rooms and upsetting the whole establishment. I should

add they are comparatively rare, perhaps as rare as those parties which

are sometimes given in London at the expense of six weeks' fasting, in

order that the donor's name and the swells who attended the festive

scene may go forth to the world in the fashionable column of the

_Morning Post_. Whenever they do occur, they are invariably attended

with some such observations as the following:--

"What did Mrs. B.'s party cost last night?"

"Not less than 300l."

"Well, I'm sure they have not the means to afford such extravagant

expense; and I suppose the bed-rooms upstairs were all cleared out?"

"Oh, yes! three of them."

"Well I know that house, and, fix it how you will, if they cleared out

three bed-rooms, I'm sure they must have slept on the sofas or the

tables. I declare it's worse than foolish--it's wicked to have so much

pride," &c.

If those who thus indulged their vanity, only heard one-half of the

observations made by those who accent their hospitalities, or who strive

to get invitations and cannot, they would speedily give up their folly;

but money is the great Juggernaut, at the feet of which all the nations

of the earth fall down and worship; whether it be the coronets that

bowed themselves down in the temple of the Railway King in Hyde Park,

who could afford the expense; or the free and enlightened who do homage

in Mrs. ----'s temple at New Orleans, though perhaps she could not

afford the expense; one thing is clear--where the money is spent, there

will the masses be gathered together. General society is, however, more

sober and sociable, many families opening their houses one day in the

week to all their friends. The difference of caste is going out fast:

the Creoles found that their intermarriages were gradually introducing a

race as effete as the Bourbons appear to be in France; they are now

therefore very sensibly seeking alliances with the go-ahead blood of the

Anglo-Saxon, which will gradually absorb them entirely, and I expect

that but little Trench will be spoken in New Orleans by the year 1900.

Another advantage of the Creole element, is the taste it appears to have

given for French wines. As far as I am capable of judging, the claret,

champagne, and sauterne which I tasted here were superior in quality and

more generally in use than I ever found them in any other city. The

hours of dinner vary from half-past three to half-past five, and an

unostentatious hospitality usually prevails.

Servants here are expensive articles. In the hotels you find Irishmen

almost exclusively, and their wages vary from 2l. 8s. to 10l. per

month. In private houses, women's wages range from 2l. 8s. to 4l.

and men's from 6l. to 8l. the month. The residents who find it

inconvenient to go to the north during the summer, cross the lake to

their country villas at Passe Christianne, a pretty enough little place,

far cooler and more shady than the town, and where they get bathing, &c.

A small steamer carries you across in a few hours; but competition is

much wanted, for their charges are treble those of the boats in the

north, and the accommodation poor in comparison.

When crossing over in the steamer, I overheard a conversation which

showed how early in life savage ideas are imbibed here. Two lads, the

eldest about fifteen, had gone over from New Orleans to shoot ducks.

They were both very gentlemanly-looking boys, and evidently attending

some school. Their conversation of course turned upon fighting--when did

schoolboys meet that it was not so? At last, the younger lad said--

"Well, what do you think of Mike Maloney?", "Oh! Mike is very good with

his fists; but I can whip him right off at rough-and-tumble."

Now, what is "rough-and-tumble?" It consists of clawing, scratching,

kicking, hair-pulling, and every other atrocity, for which, I am happy

to think, a boy at an English school would be well flogged by the

master, and sent to Coventry by his companions. Yet, here was as nice a

looking lad as one could wish to see, evidently the son of well-to-do

parents, glorying in this savage, and, as we should call it, cowardly

accomplishment. I merely mention this to show how early the mind is

tutored to feelings which doubtless help to pave the way for the

bowie-knife in more mature years.

The theatres at New Orleans are neat and airy. Lola Montez succeeded in

creating a great _furore_, at last. I say "at last," because, as there

really is nothing in her acting above mediocrity, she received no

especial encouragement at first, although she had chosen her own career

in Bavaria as the subject in which to make her _débût._ She waited with

considerable tact till she was approaching those scenes in which the mob

triumph over order; and then, pretending to discover a cabal in the

meagre applause she was receiving, she stopped in the middle of her

acting, and, her eyes flashing fire, her face beaming brass, and her

voice wild with well-assumed indignation, she cried--"I'm anxious to do

my best to please the company; but if this cabal continues, I must

retire!" The effect was electric. Thunders of applause followed, and

"Bravo, Lolly!" resounded through the theatre, from the nigger-girl in

the upper gallery to the octogenarian in the pit. When the clamour had

subsided, some spicy attacks on kingcraft and the nobles followed most

opportunely; the shouts were redoubled; her victory was complete. When

the piece was over, she came forward to assure the company that the

scenes she had been enacting were all facts in which she had, in

reality, played the same part she had been representing that evening.

Thunders of "Go it, Lolly! you're a game 'un, and nurthin' else!" rang

all through the house as she retired, bowing. She did not appear in the

character of "bowie-knifing a policeman at Berlin;" and of course she

omitted some scenes said to have taken place during interviews with the

king, and in which her conduct might not have been considered, strictly

speaking, quite correct. She obtained further notoriety after my

departure, by kicking and cuffing a prompter, and calling the proprietor

a d--d scoundrel, a d--d liar, and a d--d thief, for which she was

committed for trial. I may as well mention here, that the theatre was

well attended by ladies. This fact must satisfy every unprejudiced mind

how utterly devoid of foundation is the rumour of the ladies of America

putting the legs of their pianofortes in petticoats, that their

sensitive delicacy may not receive too rude a shock. Besides the

theatres here, there is also an opera, the music of which, vocal and

instrumental, is very second-rate. Nevertheless, I think it is highly to

the credit of New Orleans that they support one at all, and sincerely do

I wish them better success.

The town is liberally supplied with churches of all denominations. I

went one Sunday to a Presbyterian church, and was much struck on my

entry at seeing all the congregation reading newspapers. Seating myself

in my pew, I found a paper lying alongside of me, and, taking it up, I

discovered it was a religious paper, full of anecdotes and experiences,

&c., and was supplied _gratis_ to the congregation. There were much

shorter prayers than in Scotland, more reading of the Bible, the same

amount of singing, but performed by a choir accompanied by an organ, the

congregation joining but little. The sermon was about the usual length

of one in Scotland, lasting about an hour, and extemporized from notes.

The preacher was eloquent, and possessed of a strong voice, which he

gave the reins to in a manner which would have captivated the wildest

Highlander. The discourse delivered was in aid of foreign missions, and

the method he adopted in dealing with it was--first, powerfully to

attack monarchical forms of government and priestly influence, by which

soft solder he seemed to win his way to their republican hearts; and

from this position, he secondly set to work and fed their vanity freely,

by glowing encomiums on their national deeds and greatness, and the

superior perfections of their glorious constitution; whence he deduced,

thirdly, that the Almighty had more especially committed to them the

great work of evangelizing mankind. This discourse sounded like the

political essay of an able enthusiast, and fell strangely on my ears

from the lips of a Christian minister, whose province, I had always been

taught to consider, was rather to foster humility than to inflame

vanity. It is to be presumed he knew his congregation well, and felt

that he was treading the surest road to their dollars and cents.

Among other curiosities in this town is a human one, known as the Golden

Man, from the quantity of that metal with which he bedizens waistcoat,

fingers, &c. During my stay at New Orleans, he appeared decked with such

an astounding gem, that it called forth the following notice from the

press:--

ANOTHER RING.--The "gold" individual who exhibits himself and any

quantity of golden ornaments, of Sunday mornings, in the vicinity of

the Verandah and City Hotels, will shortly appear with a new wonder

wherewith to astonish the natives. One would think that he had already

ornaments enough to satisfy any mortal; but he, it appears, is not of

the stuff every-day people are made of, and he could not rest

satisfied until his fingers boasted another ring. The new prodigy is,

like its predecessors, of pure solid gold. It is worth 500 dollars,

and weighs nearly, if not quite, a pound. This small treasure is

intended for the owner's "little" finger. It is the work of Mr. Melon,

jeweller and goldsmith, on Camp-street, and is adorned with small

carved figures, standing out in bold relief, and of very diminutive

size, yet distinct and expressive. The right outer surface represents

the flight of Joseph, the Virgin, and the infant Jesus into Egypt.

Joseph, bearing a palm-branch, leads the way, the Virgin follows,

seated on a donkey, and holding the Saviour in her lap. On the left

outer edge of the ring is seen the prophet Daniel, standing between

two lions. The prophet has not got a blue umbrella under his arm to

distinguish him from the lions. The face of the ring exhibits an

excellent design of the crucifixion, with the three crosses and the

Saviour and the two thieves suspended thereto. This ring is certainly

a curiosity.

There is a strong body of police here, and some of their powers are

autocratically autocratic: thus, a person once committed as a vagrant is

liable to be re-imprisoned by them if met in the street unemployed. Now,

as it is impossible to expect that people in business will take the

trouble to hunt up vagrants, what can be conceived more cruelly

arbitrary than preventing them from hunting up places for themselves?

Yet such is the law in this democratic city.[V] A gentleman told me of a

vagrant once coming to him and asking for employment, and, on his

declining to employ him, begging to be allowed to lie concealed in his

store during the day, lest the police should re-imprison him before he

could get on board one of the steamers to take him up the river to try

his fortunes elsewhere. At the same time, a person in good circumstances

getting into difficulties can generally manage to buy his way out.

The authorities, on the return of Christmas, having come to the

conclusion that the letting off of magazines of crackers in the streets

by the juvenile population was a practice attended with much

inconvenience and danger to those who were riding and driving, gave

orders that it should be discontinued. The order was complied with in

some places, but in others the youngsters set it at defiance. It will

hardly be credited that, in a nation boasting of its intelligence and

proud of its education, the press should take part with the youngsters,

and censure the magistrates for their sensible orders. Yet such was the

case at New Orleans. The press abused the authorities for interfering

with the innocent amusements of the children, and expressed their

satisfaction at the latter having asserted their independence and

successfully defied the law. The same want of intelligence was exhibited

by the press in censuring the authorities for discontinuing the

processions on the anniversary of the Battle of New Orleans--"a ceremony

calculated to excite the courage and patriotism of the people." They

seem to lose sight of the fact, that it is a reflection on the courage

of their countrymen to suppose that they require such processions to

animate their patriotism, and that the continuance of such public

demonstrations parading the streets betokens rather pride of past deeds

than confidence in their power to re-enact them. Although such

demonstrations may be readily excused, or even reasonably encouraged, in

an infant community struggling for liberty, they are childish and

undignified in a powerful nation. What would be more ridiculous than

Scotland having grand processions on the anniversary of Bannockburn, or

England on that of Waterloo? Moreover, in a political point of view, it

should not be lost sight of, that if such demonstrations have any effect

at all on the community, it must be that of reviving hostile feelings

towards those to whom they are united most closely by the ties of blood,

sense, and--though last, not least--cents. I merely mention these

trivial things to show the punyizing effects which the democratic

element has on the press.

Formerly, duels were as innumerable here as bales of cotton; they have

considerably decreased latterly, one cause of which has been, the State

of Louisiana passing a law by which any person engaging in a duel is at

once deprived of his vote, and disabled from holding any state

employment. John Bull may profit by this hint.

I was much amused, during my stay at New Orleans, by hearing the remarks

of the natives upon the anti-slavery meeting at Stafford House, of which

the papers were then full. If the poor duchess and her lady allies had

been fiends, there could scarcely have been more indignation at her

"presumptuous interference" and "mock humility." Her "sisters, indeed!

as if she would not be too proud to stretch out her hand to any one of

them," &c. Then another would break out with, "I should like to know by

what right she presumes to interfere with us and offer advice? If she

wants to do good, she has opportunities enough of exercising her charity

in London. Let any one read _The Times_, and then visit a plantation

here, and say whether the negroes are not happier and better off than

one-half of the lower classes in England," &c. If every animadversion

which the duchess and her colleagues' kind intentions and inoffensive

wording of them called forth in America had been a pebble, and if they

had all been gathered together, the monument of old Cheops at Ghizeh

would have sunk into insignificance when contrasted with the gigantic

mass; in short, no one unacquainted with the sensitiveness of the

American character can form a conception of the violent state of

indignation which followed the perusal of the proceedings of that small

conclave of English lady philanthropists. Mrs. Jones, Smith, Adams, and

Brown might have had their meeting on the same subject without producing

much excitement; but when the aristocratic element was introduced, it

acted as a spark in a barrel of gunpowder. As an illustration of the

excitement produced, I subjoin an extract from one of their daily

papers, under the heading of "Mrs. Stowe in Great Britain:"--

"The principles of free government developed here, and urging our

people on with unexampled rapidity in the career of wealth and

greatness, have always been subjects of alarm to monarchs and

aristocracies--of pleasure and hope to the people. It has, of course,

been the object of the former to blacken us in every conceivable way,

and to make us detestable in the eyes of the world. There has been

nothing since the revolution so well calculated to advance this end,

as the exhibition which Mrs. Stowe is making in England.

"It is because they have a deep and abiding hostility to this country,

and to republicanism in general, that the aristocracy, not only of

England, but of all Europe, have seized with so much avidity upon

_Uncle Tom_, and have been at so much pains to procure a triumphal

march for its author through all the regions she may choose to visit.

They are delighted to see a native of the United States--of that

republic which has taught that a people can flourish without an

aristocracy or a monarch--of that republic, the example of whose

prosperity was gradually undermining thrones and digging a pit for

privileged classes--describing her country as the worst, the most

abandoned, the most detestable that ever existed. Royalty draws a long

breath, and privilege recovers from its fears. Among the people of the

continent, especially among the Germans, Italians, and Russians, there

are thousands who believe that murder is but a pastime here--that the

bowie-knife and pistol are used upon any provocation--that, in fact,

we are a nation of assassins, without law, without morality, and

without religion. They are taught to believe these things by their

newspapers, which, published under the eye of Government, allow no

intelligence but of murders, bowie-knife fights, &c., coming from

America, to appear in their columns. By these, therefore, only is

America known to their readers; and they are very careful to instil

the belief, that if America is a land of murderers, it is so because

it has had the folly to establish a republican form of government.

"These ideas are very general in England, even where the hostility is

greater than it is on the Continent. To British avarice we owe slavery

in this country. To British hatred we owe the encouragement of

anti-slavery agitation now. The vile hypocrisy which has

characterised the whole proceeding is not the least objectionable part

of it. The English care not one farthing about slavery. If they did,

why do they keep it up in such a terrific form in their own country?

Where was there ever true charity that did not begin at home? It is

because there is a deep-rooted hostility to this country pervading the

whole British mind, that these things have taken place."

The wounded sensitiveness, however, which the foregoing paragraph

exhibits, found some consolation from an article which appeared in _The

Times_. They poured over its lines with intense delight, soothing

themselves with each animadversion it made upon the meeting, and

deducing from the whole--though how, I could never understand--that they

had found in the columns of that journal a powerful advocate for

slavery. Thus was peace restored within their indignant breasts, and

perhaps a war with the ladies of the British aristocracy averted. Of two

facts, however, I feel perfectly certain; one is, that the

animadversions made in America will not in the least degree impair her

Grace's healthy condition; and the other is, that the meeting held at

Stafford House will in no way improve the condition of the negro.

There are two or three clubs established here, into one of which

strangers are admitted as visitors, but the one which is considered the

"first chop" does not admit strangers, except by regular ballot; one

reason, I believe, for their objecting to strangers, is the immense

number of them, and the quality of the article. Their ideas of an

English gentleman, if formed from the mass of English they see in this

city, must be sufficiently small: there is a preponderating portion of

the "cotton bagman," many of whom seek to make themselves important by

talking large. Although probably more than nine out of ten never have

"thrown their leg" over anything except a bale of cotton, since the

innocent days of the rocking-horse, they try to impress Jonathan by

pulling up their shirt-collar consequentially, and informing him,--"When

I was in England, I was used to 'unt with the Dook's 'ounds; first-rate,

sir, first-rate style--no 'ats, all 'unting-caps." Then, passing his

left thumb down one side of his cheek, his fingers making a parallel

course down the opposite cheek, with an important air and an expression

indicative of great intimacy, he would condescendingly add,--"The Dook

wasn't a bad chap, after all: he used to give me a capital weed now and

then." With this style of John Bull in numerical ascendency, you cannot

wonder at the club-doors not being freely opened to "the Dook's

friends," or at the character of an English gentleman being imperfectly

understood.

Time hurries on, a passport must be obtained, and that done, it must be

_viséd_ before the Spanish consul, as Cuba is my destination. The

Filibusteros seem to have frightened this functionary out of his

proprieties. A Spaniard is proverbially proud and courteous--the present

specimen was neither; perhaps the reason may have been that I was an

Englishman, and that the English consul had done all his work for him

_gratis_ when the Filibustero rows obliged him to fly. Kindness is a

thing which the Spaniards as a nation find it very difficult to forgive.

However, I got his signature, which was far more valuable than his

courtesy; most of his countrymen would have given me both, but the one

sufficed on the present occasion. Portmanteaus are packed--my time is

come.

Adieu, New Orleans!--adieu, kind host and amiable family, and a thousand

thanks for the happy days I spent under your roof. Adieu, all ye

hospitable friends, not forgetting my worthy countryman the British

consul. The ocean teapot is hissing, the bell rings, friends cry, kiss,

and smoke--handkerchiefs flutter in the breeze, a few parting gifts are

thrown on board by friends who arrive just too late; one big-whiskered

fellow with bushy moustache picks up the parting _cadeau_--gracious me!

he opens it, and discloses a paper bag of lollipops; another unfolds a

precious roll of chewing tobacco. Verily, extremes do meet. The

"Cherokee" is off, and I'm aboard. Down we go, sugar plantations

studding either shore; those past, flat dreary banks succeed; ships of

all nations are coming up and going down by the aid of tugboats; two

large vessels look unpleasantly "fixed"--they are John Bull and

Jonathan, brothers in misfortune and both on a bank.

"I guess the pilots will make a good thing out of that job!" says my

neighbour.--

"Pilots!" I exclaimed, "how can that be? I should think they stood a

fair chance of losing their licence."

"Ah! sir, we don't fix things that way here; the pilots are too 'cute,

sir." Upon inquiry, I found that, as the banks were continually

shifting, it was, as my friend said, very difficult "to fix the

pilots,"--a fact which these worthies take every advantage of, for the

purpose of driving a most profitable trade in the following manner.

Pilot goes to tug and says, "What do you charge for getting a ship off?"

The price understood, a division of the spoil is easily agreed upon.

Away goes the pilot, runs the ship on shore on the freshest sandbank,

curses the Mississippi and everything else in creation; a tug comes up

very opportunely, a tidy bargain is concluded; the unfortunate pilot

forfeits 100l., his pilotage from the ship, and consoles himself the

following evening by pocketing 500l. from the tugman as his share of the

spoil, and then starts off again in search of another victim. Such, I

was informed by practical people, is a common feature in the pilotage of

these waters, and such it appears likely to continue.

The "Cherokee" is one of those vessels which belong to Mr. Law, of whom

I could get no information, expect that he had sprung up like a mushroom

to wealth and Filibustero notoriety. He is also the custodian, I

believe, of the three hundred thousand stand of arms ordered by Kossuth

for the purpose of "whipping" Russia and Austria, and establishing the

Republic of Hungary, unless by accident he found brains enough to become

a Hungarian Louis Napoleon; but Mr. Law's other vessel, called the

"Crescent City," and the Cuban Black Douglas, yclept "Purser Smith," are

perhaps better known. Peradventure, you imagine this latter to be a wild

hyena-looking man, with radiant red hair, fiery ferret eyes, and his

pockets swelled out with revolutionary documents for the benefit of the

discontented Cubans; but I can inform you, on the best authority, such

is not the case, for he was purser of the "Cherokee" this voyage. He

looks neither wild nor rabid, and is a grey-headed man, about fifty

years of age, with a dash of the Israelite in his appearance: he may or

he may not have Filibustero predilections--I did not presume to make

inquiry on the subject. And here I cannot but remark upon the childish

conduct of the parties concerned in the ridiculous "Crescent City and

Cuba question," although, having taken the view they did, the Spaniards

were of course perfectly right in maintaining it. It was unworthy of

the Spanish nation to take notice of the arrival of so uninfluential a

person as Purser Smith; and it was imprudent, inasmuch as it made him a

person of importance, and gave the party with whom he was supposed to be

connected a peg to hang grievances upon, and thus added to their

strength. It was equally unworthy of Mr. Law, when objection was made,

and a notification sent that Mr. Smith would not be admitted nor the

vessel that carried him, to persist in a course of conduct obnoxious to

a friendly power; and it was imprudent, when it must have been obvious

that he could not carry his point; thereby eventually adding strength to

the Spanish authority. When, all the fuss and vapour was made by Mr. Law

and his friends, they seemed to have forgotten the old adage, "People

who live in glass houses should not throw stones." President Filmore, in

his statesmanlike observations, when the subject was brought before him,

could not help delicately alluding to Charleston, a city of America.

Americans at Charleston claim to exercise the right--what a prostitution

of the term right!--of imprisoning any of the free subjects of another

nation who may enter their ports, if they are men of colour. Thus, if a

captain arrives in a ship with twenty men, of whom ten are black, he is

instantly robbed of half his crew during his whole stay in the harbour;

and on what plea is this done? Is any previous offence charged against

them? None whatever. The only plea is that it is a municipal regulation

which their slave population renders indispensable. In other words, it

is done lest the sacred truth should spread, that man has no right to

bind his fellow-man in the fetters of slavery.[W]

Was there ever such a farce as for a nation that tolerates such a

municipal regulation as this to take umbrage at any of their citizens

being, on strong suspicions of unfriendly feeling, denied entry into any

port? Why, if there was a Chartist riot in monarchical England, and the

ports thereof were closed against the sailors of republican America,

they could have no just cause of offence, so long as the present

municipal law of Charleston exists. What lawful boast of freedom can

there ever be, where contact with freemen is dreaded, be their skins

black or any colour of the rainbow? Why can England offer an asylum to

the turbulent and unfortunate of all countries and climes?--Because she

is perfectly free! Don't be angry, my dear Anglo-Saxon brother; you

know, "if what I say bayn't true, there's no snakes in Warginny." I feel

sure you regret it; but then why call forth the observations, by

supporting the childish obstinacy in the "Crescent City" affair.

However, as the housemaids say, in making up quarrels, "Let bygones be

bygones." Spain has maintained her rights; you have satisfied her, and

quiet Mr. Smith enters the Havana periodically, without disturbing the

Governor's sleep or exciting the hopes of the malcontents. May we never

see the Great Empire States in such an undignified position again!

Here we are still in the "Cherokee;" she is calculated to hold some

hundreds of passengers. Thank God! there are only some sixty on board;

but I do not feel equally grateful for their allowing me to pay double

price for a cabin to myself when two-thirds of them are empty, not to

mention that the single fare is eight guineas. She is a regular old tub

of a boat; the cabins are profitably fitted with three beds in each, one

above the other; the consequence is, that if you wish to sneeze at

night, you must turn on your side, or you'll break your nose against the

bed above you in the little jerk that usually accompanies the

sternutatory process. The feeding on board is the worst I ever

saw--tough, cold, and greasy, the whole unpleasantly accompanied with

dirt.

Having parted from my travelling companion at New Orleans, one of my

first endeavours was, by the aid of physiognomy, to discover some

passenger on whom it might suit me to inflict my society. Casting my

eyes around, they soon lit upon a fair-haired youth with a countenance

to match, the expression thereof bespeaking kindness and intelligence;

and when, upon further examination, I saw the most indubitable and

agreeable evidence that his person and apparel were on the most

successful and intimate terms with soap and water, I pounced upon him

without delay, and soon found that he was a German gentleman travelling

with his brother-in-law, and they both had assumed an _incognito_, being

desirous of avoiding that curious observation which, had their real

position in life been known, they would most inevitably have been

subject to. Reader, be not you too curious, for I cannot withdraw the

veil they chose to travel under; suffice it to know, their society added

much to my enjoyment, both on the passage and at the Havana. The sailing

of the vessel is so ingeniously managed, that you arrive at the

harbour's mouth just after sunset, and are consequently allowed the

privilege of waiting outside all night, no vessels except men-of-war

being allowed to enter between sunset and daybreak. The hopes of the

morrow were our only consolation, until at early dawn we ran through the

narrow battery-girt entrance, and dropped anchor in the land-locked

harbour of Havana.

[Illustration]

FOOTNOTES:

[Footnote T: This was written in January, 1853.--The bale may be roughly

estimated at 450 lbs.]

[Footnote U: This hotel has long since been re-opened.]

[Footnote V: All large cities in America must of necessity be

democratic.]

[Footnote W: I have since heard that the Charleston authorities allow

the captains of vessels to keep their coloured crew on board, under

penalty of a heavy fine in case they land.]

CHAPTER XII.

_The Queen of the Antilles_.

It was a lovely morning, not a cloud in the sky; the harbour was as

smooth as a mirror, and bright with the rays of a sun which had reached

that height at which--in tropical climates--it gilds and gladdens the

scene without scorching the spectator; the quay was lined with ships

loading and unloading; small boats were flying about in every direction;

all around was gay and fresh, but the filthy steamer was still beneath

me. I lost no time in calling a skiff alongside; then, shaking the dust

from off my feet, I was soon pulling away for the shore.

As a matter of course, the Custom-house is the landing-place, and the

great object of search seems to be for Filibustero papers, or books

which advocate that cause. Having passed this ordeal, you take your

first drive in the national vehicle of the island, which rejoices in the

appellation of a "Volante," a name given it, I suppose, in bitter

sarcasm; a "Tortugante" would have been far more appropriate, inasmuch

as the pace resembles that of a tortoise far more than that of a bird. I

may here as well describe one of the best, of which, in spite of its gay

appearance, I feel sure the bare sight would have broken the heart of

"Humanity Dick of Galway."

From the point of the shaft to the axle of the wheel measures fifteen

feet, and as the wheel varies in diameter from six to seven feet, it of

course extends three feet beyond the axle. The body is something like a

swell private cab, the leather at the back being moveable, so as to

admit air, and a curtain is fitted in front joining the head of the cab

and the splash-board, for the sake of shade, if needed; this body is

suspended on strong leather springs, attached to the axle at one end,

and to a strengthening-piece across the shafts, seven and a half feet

distance from the axle, at the other. The point of the shaft is fitted

with rings, by which it hangs on the back-pad of the horse, whose head

necessarily extends about four feet beyond; thus you will observe, that

from the outer tire of the wheel to the horse's nose occupies at least

twenty-two feet, and that the poor little animal has the weight of the

carriage lying on him at the end of a lever fifteen feet long. Owing to

their great length, it is excessively difficult to turn them; a "Tommy

Onslow" would cut in and out with a four-in-hand fifteen miles an hour,

where the poor Volante would come to a regular fix--if the horses in

Cuba came into power, they would burn every one of them the next minute.

It must however be admitted that they are excessively easy to ride in,

and peculiarly suited to a country with bad roads, besides being the

gayest-looking vehicles imaginable; the boxes of the wheels, the ends of

the axle, the springs for the head, the bar to keep the feet off the

splash-board, the steps, the points of the fastenings of carriage and

harness are all silvered and kept bright. Nor does the use of the

precious metal stop here; the niggers who bestride the poor horses are

put into high jack-boots fitted with plated buckles and huge spurs, both

equally brilliant. These niggers have a most comical appearance; they

wear a skull-cap, or a handkerchief under a gold-banded hat; some wear a

red short-tailed jacket, the seams and the front of the collar covered

with bright yellow, on which are dispersed innumerable emblazonments of

heraldry, even to the very tails, which I should hardly have expected to

find thus gaily decorated,--it may have been from this practice we have

derived the expression of the seat of honour. The jack-boots they wear

sometimes fit very tight to the legs, in which case poor Sambo has to

roll up his pants till they assume the appearance of small bolsters tied

round the knee, presenting a most ludicrous caricature. The poor little

horses are all hog-maned, and their tails are neatly plaited down the

whole length, the point thereof being then tied up to the crupper, so

that they are as badly off as a certain class of British sheep-dog. This

is probably an ancient custom, originating from a deputation of flies

waiting upon the authorities, and binding themselves by treaty to leave

the bipeds in peace if they would allow them the unmolested torture of

the quadruped.

If the owner wishes to "make a splash," another horse, equally silvered,

is harnessed abreast, something like the Russian Furieux; and in the

country, where the roads on the plantations are execrable, and quite

impassable for any spring carriage, a third horse is often added, the

postilion always riding the near, or left-hand horse. The body of the

carriage is comfortably cushioned, and lined with bright gay colours,

and generally has a stunning piece of carpet for a rug. Such is the

Cuban Volante, in which the Hidalgos and the Corazoncitas with glowing

lustrous eyes roll about in soft undulating motion from place to place;

and, believe me, such a Volante, tenanted by fairy forms lightly and

gaily dressed, with a pleasant smile on their lips and an encyclopedia

of language beaming from the orbs above, would arrest the attention of

the most inveterate old bachelor that ever lived; nay, it might possibly

give birth to a deep penitential sigh and a host of good and sensible

resolutions. Ordinary Volantes are the same style of thing, only not so

gay, and the usual pace is from three to five and a half miles an hour,

always allowing five minutes for turning at the corner of every street.

If you are curious to know why I am in such a hurry to describe a

Volante, as if it were the great feature of Cuba, the reason is, simply,

that my first act on landing was to get into one of the said vehicles

and drive to the hotel.

The horses are generally very neat and compact, and about the size of a

very small English hack. For riding there are two kinds--the Spanish,

which goes at the "rack" or amble pace, and the American, which goes the

regular pace; the broad foreheads, short heads, and open nostrils show

plenty of good breeding. The charges both for horses and Volante, if you

wish to go out of the town, are, like everything else in Cuba,

ridiculously exorbitant. An American here is doing a tolerably good

business in letting horses and carriages. For a short evening drive, we

had the pleasure of paying him thirty-five shillings. He says his best

customers are a gang of healthy young priests, whom he takes out nearly

daily to a retired country village famous for the youth and beauty of

its fair sex, and who appear to be very dutiful daughters of the Church,

as they are said to appreciate and profit by the kind visits of these

excellent young men and their zealous labours of love.

There is a very good view of the town from the top of the hotel[X]. Most

of the houses have both flat and sloping roofs, the latter covered with

concave red tiles, cemented together with white, thus giving them a

strange freckled appearance; while in many cases the dust and dew have

produced a little soil, upon which a spontaneous growth of shrubbery has

sprung up; the flat roofs have usually a collection of little urn-shaped

turrets round the battlement, between which are stretched clothes-lines.

Here the ebony daughters of Eve, with their bullet-heads and polished

faces and necks, may be seen at all hours hanging up washed clothes,

their capacious mouths ornamented with long cigars, at which they puff

away like steam-engines.

One of the first sights I witnessed was a funeral, but not the solemn,

imposing ceremony which that word conveys to English ears. The sides of

the hearse and the upper part of the coffin were made of glass; inside

lay a little girl, six or seven years old, dressed as if going to a

wedding, and decorated with gay flowers. Volantes followed, bearing the

mourners--or the rejoicers; I know not which is the more correct term.

One or two were attired in black, but generally the colours were gay;

some were quietly smoking cigars, which it is to be hoped they did that

the ashes at the end thereof might afford them food for profitable

reflection. Custom is said to be second nature, and I suppose,

therefore, one could get habituated to this system if brought up under

it; but, seen for the first time, it is more calculated to excite

feelings of curiosity than solemnity. Doubtless, some fond parent's

heart was bleeding deeply, and tears such as a mother only can shed were

flowing freely, despite the gay bridal appearance of the whole ceremony.

On my return to the hotel, I found the Press--if the slavish tool of a

government can justly be designated by such a term--full of remarks upon

the new British Ministry[Y], many of which were amusing enough; they

showed a certain knowledge of political parties in England, and laughed

good-humouredly at the bundling together in one faggot of such

differently-seasoned sticks. Even the name of the Secretary of the

Admiralty was honoured by them with a notice, in which they scorned to

look upon him as a wild democrat. They criticised the great Peel's tail

going over in a body to the enemy's camp and placing themselves at the

head of the troops; but what puzzled them most was, how _aquellos Grey's

tan famosos por el nepotismo_ had not formed part of the ministry. I

confess they were not more puzzled than I was to account for the

mysterious combination; the only solution whereof which presented itself

to my mind, was the supposition that power has the same influence on

public men that lollipops have on the juvenile population, and that the

one and the other are ready to sacrifice a great deal to obtain

possession of the luscious morsel. However, as we live in an age of

miracles, we may yet see even a rope of sand, mud, and steel-filings,

hold together.--Pardon this digression, and let us back to Cuba.

The Cubans usually dine about half-past three; after dinner some go to

the _Paseo_ in their Volantes, others lounge on the quay or gather round

the military band before the Governor-General's palace. Look at that man

with swarthy countenance, dark hair, and bright eyes--he is seated on a

stone bench listening to the music; a preserved bladder full of

tobacco is open before him, a small piece of thin paper is in his hand;

quick as thought a cigarette is made, and the tobacco returned to his

pocket. Now he rises, and walks towards a gentleman who is smoking; when

close, he raises his right hand, which holds the cigarette, nearly level

with his chin, then gracefully throwing his hand forward, accompanies

the act with the simple word _Favor_; having taken his light, the same

action is repeated, followed by a courteous inclination of the head as a

faintly expressed _Gracias_ escapes his lips. In this man you have a

type of a very essential portion of the male population. Reader, it is

no use your trying to imitate him; the whole scene, is peculiar to the

Spaniard, in its every act, movement and expression. Old Hippo at the

Zoological might as well try to rival the grace of a Taglioni.

The promenade over, many spend their evenings at billiards, dominoes,

&c., adjourning from time to time to some _café_ for the purpose of

eating ices or sucking goodies, and where any trifling conversation or

dispute is carried on with so much vivacity, both of tongue and of

fingers, that the uninitiated become alarmed with apprehensions of some

serious quarrel. Others again, who are ladies' men, or of domestic

habits, either go home or meet at some friend's house, where they all

sit in the front room on the ground-floor, with the windows wide open to

the street, from which they are separated only by a few perpendicular

iron bars. Yankee rocking-chairs and cane chairs are placed abreast of

these windows, and facing each other like lines of sentinels; there they

chat, smoke cigars, or suck their fingers, according to their sex and

fancy. Occasionally a merry laugh is heard, but I cannot say it is very

general. Sometimes they dance, which with them is a slow undulating

movement, suited to a marble floor and a thermometer at eighty degrees.

At a small village in the neighbourhood I saw a nigger hall,--the dance

was precisely the same, being a mixture of country-dance and waltz; and

I can assure you, Sambo and his ebony partner acquitted themselves

admirably: they were all well dressed, looked very jolly and

comfortable, and were by no means uproarious.

You must not imagine, from my observations on the fair tenant of the

Volante, that this is a land of beauty--far from it: one feature of

beauty, and one only, is general--good eyes: with that exception, it

is rare; but there are some few lovely daughters of Eve that would make

the mouth of a marble statue water. Old age here is anything but

attractive, either producing a mountainous obesity, or a skeleton on

which the loose dried skin hangs in countless wrinkles. But such is

generally the case in warm climates, as far as my observation goes. Any

one wishing to verify these remarks, has only to go on the Paseo a

little before sunset upon a Sunday evening, when he will be sure to meet

nine-tenths of the population and the Volantes all in gayest attire. The

weather on my arrival was very wet, and I was therefore unable to go

into the country for some days; but having cleared up, I got my passport

and took a trip into the interior.

[Illustration: "EL CASERO," THE PARISH HAWKER IN CUBA.]

The railway cars are built on the American models, i.e., long cars,

capable of containing about forty or fifty people; but they have had the

good sense to establish first, second, and third-class carriages; and,

at the end of each first-class carriage, there is a partition, shutting

off eight seats, so that any party wishing to be private can easily be

so. They travel at a very fair pace, but waste much time at the

stopping-places, and whole hours at junctions. By one of these

conveyances I went to Matanzas, which is very prettily situated in a

lovely bay. There is a ridge, about three miles from the town, which is

called the Cumbre, from the summit whereof you obtain a beautiful view

of the valley of the Yumuri, so called from a river of that name, and

concerning which there is a legend that it is famous for the slaughter

of the Indians by the Spaniards; a legend which, too probably, rests on

the foundation of truth, if we are to judge by the barbarities which

dimmed the brilliancy of all their western conquests. The valley is now

fruitful in sugar-canes, and surrounded with hills and woods; and the

_coup-d'oeil,_ when seen in the quick changing lights and shadows of the

setting sun, is quite, enchanting. Continuing our ride, we crossed the

valley as the moon was beginning to throw her dubious and silvery light

upon the cane fields. A light breeze springing up, their flowery heads

swayed to and fro like waving plumes, while their long leaves, striking

one against the other, swept like a mournful sigh across the vale, as

though Nature were offering its tribute of compassion to the fettered

sons of Adam that had helped to give it birth.

There is a very important personage frequently met with in Cuba, who is

called _El Casero_--in other words, the parish commissariat pedler. He

travels on horseback, seated between two huge panniers, and goes round

to all the cottages collecting what they wish to sell, and selling what

they wish to buy, and every one who addresses him on business he styles,

in reply, _Caserita_. This pedlering system may be very primitive, but

it doubtless is a great convenience to the rural population, especially

in an island which is so deficient in roads and communication. In short,

I consider _El Casero_ the representative of so useful and peculiar a

class of the community, that I have honoured him with a wood-cut wherein

he is seen bargaining with a negress for fowls, or _vice

versâ_,--whichever the reader prefers,--for not being the artist, I

cannot undertake to decide which idea he meant to convey.

There is nothing in the town of Matanzas worth seeing except the views

of it and around it. The population amounts to about twenty-five

thousand, and the shipping always helps to give it a gay appearance. My

chief object in visiting these parts was to see something of the sugar

plantations in the island; but as they resemble each other in essential

features, I shall merely describe one of the best, which I visited when

retracing my steps to Havana, and which belongs to one of the most

wealthy men in the island. On driving up to it, you see a large airy

house,--windows and doors all open, a tall chimney rearing its proud

head in another building, and a kind of barrack-looking building round

about. The hospitable owner appears to delight in having an opportunity

of showing kindness to strangers. He speaks English fluently; but alas!

the ladies do not; so we must look up our old rusty armoury of Spanish,

and take the field with what courage we may. Kindness and good-will

smooth all difficulties, and we feel astonished how well we get on; in

short, if we stay here too long we shall get vain, and think we really

can speak Spanish,--we must dine, we must stay, we must make the house

our own, and truly I rejoiced that it was so. The house had every

comfort, the society every charm, and the welcome was as warm as it was

unostentatious. We--for you must know our party was four in number--most

decidedly lit upon our legs, and the cuisine and the cellar lent

effectual aid. The proprietor is an elderly man, and the son, who has

travelled a good deal in Europe, manages the properties, which consist

of several plantations, and employ about twelve hundred slaves. The

sound of the lash is rarely heard, and the negroes are all healthy and

happy-looking; several of them have means to purchase their liberty, but

prefer their present lot. A doctor is kept on the estate for them; their

houses are clean and decent; there is an airy hospital for them if sick,

and there is a large nursery, with three old women who are appointed to

take charge during the day of all children too young to work: at night

they go to their respective families. On the whole property there was

only one man under punishment, and he was placed to work in chains for

having fired one of his master's buildings, which he was supposed to

have been led to do, owing to his master refusing to allow him to take

his infant home to his new wife till it was weaned; his former wife had

died in child-bed, and he wished to rear it on arrowroot, &c. This the

master--having found a good wet nurse for it--would not permit. The man

had generally borne a very good character, and the master, whose

_entourage_ bears strong testimony to his kind rule, seized the

opportunity of my visit to let him free at my request, as he had already

been working four months in chains similar to those convicts sometimes

wear; thus were three parties gratified by this act of grace.

It is well known that there are various ways of making sugar; but as the

method adopted on this plantation contains all the newest improvements,

I may as well give a short detail of the process as I witnessed it. The

cane when brought from the field is placed between two heavy rollers,

worked by steam, and the juice falls into a conductor below--the

squashed cane being carried away to dry for fuel--whence it is raised by

what is termed a "_monte jus_" into a tank above the "clarifier," which

is a copper boiler, with iron jacket and steam between. A proper

proportion of lime is introduced, sufficient to neutralize the acidity.

When brought to the boiling-point the steam is shut off, and the liquid

subsides. This operation is one of the most important in the whole

process; from the clarifier it is run through an animal charcoal

filterer, which, by its chemical properties, purifies it; from the

filterer it runs into a tank, whence it is pumped up above the

condensers, i.e., tubes, about fifteen in number, laid horizontally,

one above the other, and containing the steam from the vacuum pans. The

cold juice in falling over these hot tubes, condenses the steam-therein,

and at the same time evaporates the water, which is always a

considerable ingredient in the juice of the cane; the liquor then passes

into a vacuum pan, which is fitted with a bull's-eye on one side, and a

corresponding bull's-eye with a lamp on the opposite side, by which the

process can be watched. Having boiled here sufficiently, it passes

through a second filtration of animal charcoal, and then returns to a

second vacuum pan, where it is boiled to the point of granulation; it is

then run off into heaters below, whence it is ladled into moulds of an

irregular conical shape, in which it is left to cool and to drain off

any molasses that remain; when cooled it is taken to the purging-house.

The house where the operations which we have been describing were going

on, was two hundred yards long, forty yards broad, and built of solid

cedar and mahogany.

In the purging-house, these moulds are all ranged with the point of the

cone down, and gutters below. A layer of moist clay, about two inches

deep, is then placed upon the sugar at the broad end of the cone, and,

by the gradual percolation of its thick liquid, carries off the

remaining impurities. When this operation is finished, the cones are

brought out, and the sugar contained therein is divided into three

parts, the apex of the cone being the least pure, the middle rather

better, and the base the most pure and looking very white. This latter

portion is then placed upon strong wooden troughs, about six or eight

feet square. There, negroes and negresses break it up with long poles

armed with hard-wood head, trampling it under their delicate pettitoes

to such an extent as to give rise to the question whether sugar-tongs

are not a useless invention. When well smashed and trodden, it is packed

in boxes, and starts forth on its journeys; a very large proportion goes

to Spain. The two least pure portions are sent to Europe, to be there

refined. Such is a rough sketch of the sugar-making process, as I saw

it. All the machinery was English, and the proprietor had a corps of

English engineers, three in number, to superintend the work. In our

roadless trips to various parts of the plantation, we found the

advantage of the Volante, before described; and though three horses

were harnessed, they had in many places enough to do. We stayed a couple

of days with our kind and hospitable friends, and then returned to

Havana.

No pen can convey the least idea of the wonderful luxuriance of

vegetation which charms the eye at every step. There is a richness of

colour and a fatness of substance in the foliage of every tree and shrub

which I never met with before in any of my travels. The stately palm,

with its smooth white stem glittering in the sunbeams like a column of

burnished silver; the waving bamboo growing in little clumps, and

nodding in the gentle breeze with all the graceful appearance of a

gigantic ostrich plume; groves of the mango, with its deep and dark

foliage defying the sun's rays; the guava, growing at its feet, like an

infant of the same family; the mammee--or _abricot de St.

Domingue_--with its rich green fruit hanging in clusters, and a foliage

rivalling the mango; the dark and feathery tamarind; the light and

graceful indigo; the slow-growing arrowroot, with its palmy and feathery

leaves spreading like a tender rampart round its precious fruit;

boundless fields of the rich sugar-cane; acres of the luscious pine

apple; groves of banana and plantain; forests of cedar and mahogany;

flowers of every hue and shade; the very jungle netted over with the

creeping convolvulus,--these, and a thousand others, of which

fortunately for the reader I know not the names, are continually

bursting on the scene with equal profusion and variety, bearing lovely

testimony to the richness of the soil and the mildness of the climate.

Alas! that this fair isle should be at one and the same time the richest

gem in the crown of Spain, and the foulest blot on her escutcheon. Her

treaties are violated with worse than Punic faith, and here horrors have

been enacted which would make the blood of a Nero curdle in his veins.

Do you ask, how are treaties violated? When slaves are brought here by

our cruisers, Spain is bound by treaty to apprentice them out for three

years, so as to teach them how to earn a living, and then to free them.

My dear John Bull, you will be sorry to hear, that despite the activity

of our squadron for the suppression of slavery, that faithless country

which owes a national existence to oceans of British treasure, and the

blood of the finest army the great Wellington ever led, has the

unparalleled audacity to make us slave carriers to Cuba. Yes, thousands

of those who, if honour and truth were to be found in the Government of

Spain, would now be free, are here to be seen pining away their lives in

the galling and accursed chains of slavery, a living reproach to

England, and a black monument of Spanish faith. Yes, John Bull, I repeat

the fact; thousands of negroes are bound here in hopeless fetters, that

were brought here under the British flag. And, that there may be no

doubt of the wilfulness with which the Cuban authorities disregard their

solemn obligations, it is a notorious fact, that in a country where

passports and police abound in every direction, so that a negro cannot

move from his own home, upwards of a hundred were landed in the last

year, 1852, from one vessel, at a place only thirty-five miles from the

Havana, and marched in three days across the island to--where do you

think?--to some Creole's, or to some needy official's estate? no such

thing; but, as if to stamp infamy on Spain, at the highest step of the

ladder, they were marched to the Queen Mother's estate. If this be not

wickedness in high places, what is? The slave trade flourishes

luxuriantly here with the connivance of authority; and what makes the

matter worse is, that the wealth accumulated by this dishonesty and

national perjury is but too generally--and I think too justly--believed

to be the mainspring of that corruption at home for which Spain stands

pre-eminent among the nations of the earth. I will now give you a sketch

of the cruelties which have been enacted here; and, although an old

story, I do not think it is very generally known.

When General O'Donnell obtained the captain-generalship of Cuba, whether

his object was to obtain honours from Spain for quelling an

insurrection, or whether he was deceived, I cannot decide; but an

imaginary insurrection was got up, and a military court was sent in

every direction throughout the island. These courts were to obtain all

information as to the insurrection, and, of course, to flog the negroes

till they confessed. Unfledged ensigns would come with their guard upon

a plantation, and despite the owner's assurance that there was no

feeling of insubordination among the negroes, they would set to work

flogging right and left, till in agony the poor negro would say

something which would be used to criminate some other, who in turn

would be flogged till in agony he made some assertion; and so it went

on, till the blood-thirsty young officer was satiated. On one plantation

a negro lad had been always brought up with one of the sons of the

proprietor, and was, in fact, quite a pet in the family. One of these

military courts visited the plantation, and insisted upon flogging this

pet slave till he confessed what he never knew. In vain his master

strove to convince the officer of his perfect innocence; he would not

listen, and the poor lad was tied up, and received seven hundred lashes,

during which punishment some remarks he made in the writhings of his

agony were noted down, and he was shot at Matanzas for the same. The

master's son, who was forced to witness this barbarity inflicted upon

the constant companion of his early youth, never recovered the shock,

and died the following year insane.

The streets of Matanzas were in some places running with negro blood. An

eye-witness told me that near the village of Guinés he saw a negro

flogged with an aloe-leaf till both hip-bones were perfectly bare; and

there is little doubt that 1500 slaves died under the lash. You will

perhaps be surprised, most excellent John Bull, when I tell you that the

cruelties did not stop at the negroes, but extended even to whites who

claimed British protection. One of them was chained to a log of wood in

the open air for a hundred days and a hundred nights, despite the

strongest remonstrances on the part of the British authorities, and was

eventually unchained, to die two days after in jail. Several others were

imprisoned and cruelly treated; and when this reign of terror, worthy

even of Spain in her bloodiest days, was over, and their case was

inquired into, they were perfectly exonerated, and a compensation was

awarded them. This was in 1844. Some of them have since died from the

treatment they then received; and, if I am correctly informed, Spain--by

way of keeping up her character--has not paid to those who survive one

farthing of the sum awarded. Volumes might be filled with the atrocities

of 1844; but the foregoing is enough of the sickening subject. When I

call to mind the many amiable and high-minded Spaniards I have met, the

national conduct of Spain becomes indeed a mystery. But to return to

present times.

H.M.S. "Vestal," commanded by that active young officer, Captain C.B.

Hamilton, was stationed at Cuba for the suppression of slavery, &c. She

had been watching some suspicious vessels in the harbour for a long

time; but as they showed no symptoms of moving, she unbent sails and

commenced painting, &c. A day or two after, as daylight broke, the

suspicious vessels were missing from the harbour. The "Vestal"

immediately slipped, and, getting the ferry-boat to tow her outside,

commenced a chase, and the next day succeeded in capturing four vessels.

Of course they were brought into Havana, to be tried at the Mixed Court

there; three, I believe, were condemned, but the fourth, called the

"Emilia Arrogante" is the one to which I wish to call your attention,

because she, though the most palpably guilty, belonged to wealthy people

in the island, and therefore, of course, was comparatively safe. When

taken, the slave-deck which she had on board was carefully put into its

place, and every plank and beam exactly fitted, as was witnessed and

testified to by several of the "Vestal's" officers; yet, will you

believe it, when given up to the local authorities, they either burnt or

made away with this only but all-sufficient evidence, so that it became

impossible for the Court to condemn her.

It is curious to hear the open way people speak of the bribery of the

officials in the island, and the consequent endless smuggling that goes

on. A captain of a merchant-vessel told me that in certain articles,

which, for obvious reasons, I omit to mention, it is impossible to trade

except by smuggling; so universal is the practice, that he would be

undersold fifty per cent. He mentioned an instance, when the proper

duties amounted to 1200l., the broker went to the official and

obtained a false entry by which he only paid 400l. duty, and this

favour cost him an additional 400l. bribe to the official, thus saving

400l. This he assured me, after being several years trading to Cuba,

was the necessary practice of the small traders; nobody in Cuba is so

high that a bribe does not reach him, from the Captain-General, who is

handsomely paid for breaking his country's plighted faith in permitting

the landing of negroes, down to the smallest unpaid official. With

two-thirds the excuse is, "We are so ill-paid, we must take bribes;"

with the other third the excuse is, "It is the custom of the island."

Spain could formerly boast pre-eminence in barbarity--she has now

attained to pre-eminence in official corruption; but the day must come,

though it may yet be distant, when her noble sons of toil will burst the

fetters of ignorance in which they are bound, and rescue their fair land

from the paltry nothingness of position which it occupies among the

nations of Europe, despite many generous and noble hearts which even

now, in her degradation, are to be found blushing over present realities

and striving to live on past recollections.

There were some British men-of-war lying in the harbour; and as my two

German friends were anxious to see the great-gun exercise, I went on

board with these gentlemen to witness the drill, with which they were

much pleased. After it was over, and the ship's company had gone to

dinner, they wished to smoke a cigar, the whiffs of Jack's pipe having

reached their olfactories. Great was their astonishment, and infinite my

disgust, when we were walked forward to the galley to enjoy our weed, to

find the crew smoking on the opposite side. It is astonishing to think

that, with so much to be improved and attended to in the Navy, the

authorities in Whitehall-place should fiddle-faddle away precious time

in framing regulations about smoking, for the officers; and, instead of

leaving the place to be fixed by the captain of each vessel, and holding

him responsible, should name a place which, it is not too much to say,

scarce one captain in ten thinks of confining his officers to, for the

obvious reason that discipline is better preserved by keeping the

officers and men apart during such occupations,--and, moreover, that

sending officers to the kitchen to smoke is unnecessarily offensive.

These same orders existed thirty years ago; and, as it was well known

they were never attended to, except by some anti-smoking captain, who

used them as an excuse, the Admiralty very wisely rescinded an order

which, by being all but universally disregarded, tended to weaken the

weight and authority of all other orders; and after the word "galley,"

they then added, "or such other place as the captain shall appoint."

After some years, however, so little was there of greater importance to

engage their attention in naval affairs, that this sensible order was

rescinded, and the original one renewed in full force, and, of course,

with similar bad effect, as only those captains who detest smoking--an

invisible minority--or those who look for promotion from scrupulous

obedience to insignificant details--an equally invisible minority--act

up to the said instructions. Nevertheless, so important an element in

naval warfare is smoking now considered, that in the printed form

supplied to admirals for the inspection of vessels under their command,

as to "State and Preparation for Battle," one of the first questions is,

"Are the orders relative to smoking attended to?" If I am not much

misinformed, when Admiral Collier was appointed to the Channel squadron,

he repaired to the Admiralty, and told the First Lord that he had smoked

in his own cabin for twenty years, and that he could not forego that

pleasure. The First Lord is said to have laughed, and made the sensible

remark, "Of course you'll do as you like;" thereby showing, in my

opinion, his just sense of the ridiculousness of such a childish

regulation. So much for folly _redivivus_.

While on the subject of smoking, I may as well say a few words upon

cigar manufacture. In the first place, all the best tobacco grows at the

lower end of the island, and is therefore called "_Vuelta abajo_." An

idea has found its way into England, that it is impossible to make

cigars at home as well as at the Havana; and the reason given is, the

tobacco is made up at Havana during its first damping, and that, having

to be re-damped in England, it loses thereby its rich flavour and aroma.

Now, this is a most egregious mistake; for in some of the best houses

here you will find tobacco two and even four years old, which is not yet

worked up into cigars, and which, consequently, has to be re-damped for

that purpose. If this be so, perhaps you will ask how is it that

British-made cigars are never so good as those from Havana? There are

two very good reasons for this--the one certain, the other probable. The

probable one is, that the best makers in Havana, whose brand is their

fortune--such as Cabaños y Carvajal--will be jealous of sending the

best tobacco out of the country, lest, being forced to use inferior

tobacco, they might lose their good name; and the other reason is, that

cigars improve in flavour considerably by a sea voyage. So fully is this

fact recognised here, that many merchants pay the duty of three

shillings a thousand to embark their cigars in some of the West India

steamers, and then have them carried about for a month or so, thereby

involving a further payment for freight; and they all express

themselves as amply repaid by the improvement thereby effected in their

cigars. Nevertheless, many old Cubans prefer smoking cigars the same

week that they are made. At the same time, if any honest tobacconist in

England chose to hoist the standard of "small profit and plenty of it,"

he might make very good Havana tobacco cigars, at 50 per cent. profit,

under 16s. per 100. Thus--duty, 3s. 6_d_; tobacco, 5s.; freight and

dues, &c., 6d.; making up, 1s. 6d.--absolute cost of cigars, 10s.

6d. per 100; 50 per cent. profit thereon, 5s. 3d.; total, 15s. 9d.

For this sum a better article could be supplied than is ordinarily

obtained at prices varying from 25s. to 30s.

But 50 per cent. profit will not satisfy the British tobacconist when he

finds John Bull willing to give him 100 per cent. He therefore makes the

cigars at the prices above-mentioned, puts them into old boxes with some

pet brand upon them, and sells them as the genuine article. John Bull is

indebted for this extortionate charge to the supreme wisdom of the

Legislature, which has established a 3s. 6d. duty on the pound of

unmanufactured tobacco, and a 9s. duty on manufactured; instead of

fixing one duty for manufactured and unmanufactured, and making the

difference thereof depend upon the quality--lowering the duty upon the

tobacco used by the poor to 2s. 6d., and establishing on all the

better kinds a uniform rate, say 6s. or 7s. The revenue, I believe,

would gain, and the public have a better protection against the fraud of

which they are now all but universal victims. But to return to Havana.

The price paid for making cigars varies from 8s. to 80s. a thousand,

the average being about 15s. A certain quality of tobacco is made up

into cigars, and from time to time they are handed over to the examiner,

who divides them into three separate classes, the difference being

merely in the make thereof. A second division then takes place,

regulated by the colour of the outside wrapper, making the distinction

of "light" or "brown." Now, the three classes first noticed, you will

observe, are precisely the same tobacco; but knowing how the public are

gulled by the appearance, the prices are very different. Thus, taking

the brand of Cabaños y Carvajal _Prensados_, his first, or prettiest,

are 6l. 8s. per 1000; his second are 5l. 12s.; and his third are

5l.; and yet no real difference of quality exists. The cigars of which

I speak are of the very best quality, and the dearest brand in Havana.

Now, let us see what they cost put into the tobacconist's shop in

London:--32 dollars is 180s.; duty, 90s.; export at Havana, 3s.;

freight and extra expenses, say 7s.--making 230s. a thousand, or

23s. a hundred, for the dearest and best Havana cigars, London size.

But three-fourths of the cigars which leave the Havana for England do

not cost more than 3l. 4s. per thousand, which would bring their

cost price to the tobacconist down to 16s. 5d. The public know what

they pay, and can make their own reflections.

There is another class of cigar known in England as "Plantations," here

called "Vegueros." They are of the richest tobacco, and are all made in

the country by the sable ladies of the island, who use no tables to work

at, if report speaks truth; and as both hands are indispensable in the

process of rolling, what they roll upon must be left to the imagination.

It will not do to be too fastidious in this world. Cooks finger the

dainty cutlets, and keep dipping their fingers into the rich sauces, and

sucking them, to ascertain their progress, and yet the feasters relish

the savoury dish not one whit the less; so smokers relish the Veguero,

though on what rolled modesty forbids me to mention,--nor do they

hesitate to press between their lips the rich "Regalia," though its

beautifully-finished point has been perfected by an indefinite number of

passages of the negro's forefinger from the fragrant weed to his own

rosy tongue. Men must not be too nice; but I think in the above

description a fair objection is to be found to ladies smoking.

With regard to the population of Cuba, the authorities, of course, wish

to give currency to the idea that the whites are the most numerous.

Having asked one of these officials who had the best means of knowing,

he told me there were 550,000 whites and 450,000 negroes; but

prosecuting my inquiries in a far more reliable quarter, I found there

were 600,000 slaves, 200,000 free, and only 500,000 whites,--thus making

the coloured population as eight to five. The military force in the

island consists of 20,000, of which 18,000 are infantry, 1000 cavalry,

and 1000 artillery[Z]. The demand for labour in the island is so great,

that a speculation has been entered into by a mercantile house here to

bring 6000 Chinese. The speculator has already disposed of them at

24l. a-head; they are to serve for five years, and receive four

shillings a day, and they find their own way back. The cost of bringing

them is calculated at 10l. a head,--thus leaving 14l. gain on each,

which, multiplied by 6000, gives 84,000l. profit to the

speculator,--barring, of course, losses from deaths and casualties on

the journey. Chinese have already been tried here, and they prove

admirably suited to all the mechanical labour, but far inferior to the

negroes in the fields.

I find that people in the Havana can he humbugged as well as John Bull.

A Chinese botanist came here, and bethought him of trying his skill as a

doctor. Everybody became mad to consult him; no street was ever so

crowded as the one he lived in, since Berners-street on the day of the

hoax. He got a barrel of flour, or some other innocuous powder, packed

up in little paper parcels, and thus armed he received his patients. On

entering, he felt the pulse with becoming silence and gravity; at last

he said, "Great fire." He then put his hand on the ganglionic centre,

from which he radiated to the circumjacent parts, and then, frowning

deep thought, he observed, "Belly great swell; much wind; pain all

round." His examination being thus accomplished, he handed the patient a

paper of the innocuous powder, pocketed sixteen shillings, and dismissed

him. This scene, without any variety in observation, examination,

prescription, or fee, was going on for two months, at the expiration of

which time he re-embarked for China with 8000l.

As I believe that comparatively little is known in England of the laws

existing in Cuba with respect to domicile, police, slavery, &c., I shall

devote a few pages to the subject, which, in some of its details, is

amusing enough. No person is allowed to land on the island without a

passport from the place whence he arrives, and a _fiador_, or surety, in

the island, who undertakes to supply the authorities with information of

the place of his residence for one year; nor can he remain in the island

more than three months without a "domiciliary ticket." People of colour

arriving in any vessel are to be sent to a government deposit; if the

master prefers to keep them on board he may, but in that case he is

liable to a fine of 200l. if any of them land on the island; after a

certain hour in the evening all gatherings in the street are put a stop

to, and everybody is required to carry a lantern about with him; the

hierarchy and "swells"--_personas de distincion_--being alone exempt.

All purchases made from slaves or children or doubtful parties are at

the risk of the purchaser, who is liable not merely to repay the price

given, but is further subject to a heavy fine: no bad law either. Any

boy between the ages of ten and sixteen who may be found in the streets

as a vagrant may be taken before the president of the _Seccion de

Industria de la Real Sociedad Economica_, by whom he is articled out to

a master of the trade he wishes to learn. No place of education can be

opened without the teacher thereof has been duly licensed. No game of

chance is allowed in any shop or tavern, except in billiard-saloons and

coffee-houses, where draughts and dominoes, chess and backgammon are

tolerated. After a certain fixed hour of the night, no person is allowed

to drive about in a Volante with the head up, unless it rains or the

sitter be an invalid; the penalty is fifteen shillings. No private

individual is allowed to give a ball or a concert without permission of

the authorities. Fancy Londonderry House going to the London

police-office to get permission for a quadrille or a concert. How

pleasant! The specific gravity of milk is accurately calculated, and but

a moderate margin allowed for pump mixture; should that margin be

exceeded, or any adulteration discovered, the whole is forfeited to some

charitable institution. If such a salutary law existed in London, pigs'

brains would fall in the market, and I should not see so many milk-pails

at the spring during my early morning walks to the Serpentine.

Among the regulations for health, the following are to be found. No

private hospital or infirmary is to be opened without a government

licence. All keepers of hotels, coffee or eating houses, &c., are bound

to keep their kitchen "battery" well tinned inside, under a heavy

penalty of 3l. 10s. for every utensil which may be found

insufficiently tinned, besides any further liabilities to which they may

be subject for accidents arising from neglect thereof. Every shop is

obliged to keep a vessel with water at the threshold of the outer door,

to assist in avoiding hydrophobia. All houses that threaten to tumble

down must be rebuilt, and if the owner is unable to bear the expense,

he must sell the house to some one who can bear it. Another clause,

after pointing out the proper places for bathing, enjoins a pair of

bathing breeches, under a penalty of fifteen shillings for each offence;

the particular cut is not specified. Let those who object to put convex

fig-leaves over the little cherubs, and other similar works of art at

the Crystal Palace, take a lesson from the foregoing, and clothe them

all in Cuba pants as soon as possible; scenes are generally more

interesting when the imagination is partially called into play. Boys,

both little and big, are kept in order by a fine of fifteen shillings

for every stone they throw, besides paying in full for all damage caused

thereby. No one is allowed to carry a stick more than one inch in

diameter under a penalty of twelve shillings; but all white people are

allowed to carry swords, provided they are carried openly and in their

scabbards.

The foregoing are sufficient to convey to the reader some idea of the

ban of pains and penalties under which a resident is placed; at the same

time it may be as well to inform him, that, except those enactments

which bear upon espionage, they are about as much attended to as the

laws with regard to the introduction of slaves, respecting which latter

I will now give you a few of the regulations.

Slave owners are bound to give their slaves three meals a-day, and the

substance thereof must be eleven ounces of meat or salt-fish, four

ounces of bread, and farinaceous vegetables equal to six plantains;

besides this, they are bound to give them two suits of clothes--all

specified--yearly. Alas! how appropriate is the slang phrase "Don't you

wish you may get 'em?" So beautifully motherly is Spain regarding her

slaves, that the very substance of infants' clothes under three years of

age is prescribed; another substance from three to six; then comes an

injunction that from six to fourteen the girls are to be shirted and the

boys breeched. I am sure this super-parental solicitude upon the part of

the Government must be admitted to be most touching. By another

regulation, the working time is limited from nine to ten hours daily,

except in the harvest or sugar season, during which time the working

hours are eighteen a-day. No slave under sixteen or over sixty can be

employed on task-work, or at any age at a work not suited to his or her

strength and sex.

Old slaves must be kept by their master, and cannot be freed for the

purpose of getting rid of the support of them. Upon a plantation, the

houses must be built on a dry position, well ventilated, and the sexes

kept apart, and a proper hospital provided for them. By another law,

marriage is inculcated on moral grounds, and the master of the slave is

required to purchase the wife, so that they may both be under one roof;

if he declines the honour, then the owner of the wife is to purchase the

husband; and if that fails, a third party is to buy both: failing all

these efforts, the law appears non-plused, and leaves their fate to

Providence. If the wife has any children under three years of age, they

must be sold with her. The law can compel an owner to sell any slave

upon whom he may be proved to have exercised cruelty; should any party

offer him the price he demands, he may close the bargain at once, but if

they do not agree, his value is to be appraised by two arbiters, one

chosen by each party, and if either decline naming an arbiter, a law

officer acts _ex officio_. Any slave producing fifty dollars (ten

pounds) as a portion of his ransom-money, the master is obliged to fix a

price upon him, at which his ransom may be purchased; he then becomes a

_coartado_, and whatever sums he can save his master is bound to receive

in part payment, and, should he be sold, the price must not exceed the

price originally named, after subtracting therefrom the amount he has

advanced for his ransom. Each successive purchaser must buy him subject

to these conditions. In all disputes as to original price or completion

of the ransom, the Government appoints a law officer on behalf of the

slave. The punishments of the slave are imprisonment, stocks, &c.; when

the lash is used, the number of stripes is limited to twenty-five.

The few regulations I have quoted are sufficient to show how carefully

the law has fenced-in the slave from bad treatment. I believe the laws

of no other country in regard to slaves are so merciful, excepting

always Peru; but, alas! though the law is as fair as the outside of the

whited sepulchre, the practice is as foul as the inside thereof; nor can

one ever expect that it should be otherwise, when we see that, following

the example of the treaty-breaking, slave-importing Queen Mother, every

official, from the highest government authority down to the lowest petty

custom-house officer, exposes his honesty daily in the dirty market of

bribery.

A short summary of the increase of slave population may be interesting,

as showing that the charges made against the Cubans of only keeping up

the numbers of the slaves by importation is not quite correct. In the

year 1835 a treaty was made with Spain, renewing the abolition of slave

traffic, to which she had assented in 1817 by words which her subsequent

deeds belied. At this latter date, the slave population amounted to

290,000, since which period she has proved the value of plighted faith

by introducing upwards of 100,000 slaves, which would bring the total up

to 390,000. The present slave population, I have before remarked,

amounts to 600,000, which would give as the increase by births during

nearly twenty years, 210,000. If we take into consideration the ravages

of epidemics, and the serious additional labour caused by the long

duration of the sugar harvest, we may fairly conclude, as far as

increase by birth is admitted as evidence, that the treatment of slaves

in Cuba will stand comparison with that of the slave in the United

States, especially when it is borne in mind that the addition of slave

territory in the latter has made the breeding of slaves a regular

business.

The increase of the produce of Cuba may very naturally be ascribed to

the augmentation of slave labour, and to the improvements in machinery;

but there is another cause which is very apt to be overlooked, though I

think there can be no doubt it has exercised the most powerful influence

in producing that result: I allude to the comparative monopoly of the

sugar trade, which the events of late years have thrown into her hands.

When England manumitted the 750,000 slaves in the neighbouring islands,

the natural law of reaction came into play, and the negro who had been

forced to work hard, now chose to take his ease, and his absolute

necessities were all that he cared to supply: a little labour sufficed

for that, and he consequently became in his turn almost the master. The

black population, unprepared in any way for the sudden change, became

day by day more idle and vicious, the taxes of the islands increased,

and the circulation issued by the banks decreased in an equally fearful

ratio. When sugar the produce of slave labour was admitted into England,

a short time after the emancipation, upon the same terms as the produce

of the free islands, as a natural consequence, the latter, who could

only command labour at high wages and for uncertain time, were totally

unable to compete with the cheap labour and long hours of work in Cuba;

nearly every proprietor in our West India colonies feel into deep

distress,--some became totally ruined. One property which had cost

118,000l., so totally lost its value, owing to these changes in the

law, that its price fell to 16,000l. In Demerara, the sugar produce

sank from 104,000,000 lbs. to 61,000,000 lbs., and coffee from 9,000,000

lbs. to 91,000 lbs., while 1,500,000 lbs. of cotton disappeared

entirely.

These are no fictions, they are plain facts, borne testimony to in many

instances by the governors of the colonies; and I might quote an

infinite number of similar statements, all tending to prove the rapid

growth of idleness and vice in the emancipated slaves, and the equally

rapid ruin of the unfortunate proprietor. The principles upon which we

legislated when removing the sugar duties is a mystery to me, unless I

accept the solution, so degrading to the nation, "that humanity is a

secondary consideration to _£ s.d._, and that justice goes for nothing."

If such were not the principles on which we legislated, there never was

a more complete failure. Not content with demoralizing the slave and

ruining the owner, by our hasty and ill-matured plan of emancipation, we

gave the latter a dirty kick when he was falling, by removing the little

protection we had all put pledged our national faith that he should

retain; and thus it was we threw nearly the whole West India sugar trade

into the hands of Cuba, stimulating her energy, increasing her produce,

and clinching the fetters of the slave with that hardest holding of all

rivets--the doubled value of his labour.

Perhaps my reader may say I am taking a party and political view of the

question. I repudiate the charge _in toto_: I have nothing to do with

politics: I merely state facts, which I consider it requisite should be

brought forward, in order that the increase of Cuban produce may not be

attributed to erroneous causes. For this purpose it was necessary to

show that the ruin we have brought upon the free West Indian colonies is

the chief cause of the increased and increasing prosperity of their

slave rival; at the same time, it is but just to remark, that the

establishment of many American houses in Cuba has doubtless had some

effect in adding to the commercial activity of the island.

I have, in the preceding pages, shown the retrogression of some parts of

the West Indies, since the passing of the Emancipation and Sugar-Duty

Acts. Let me now take a cursory view of the progression of Cuba during

the same period.--Annual produce--

Previous to Emancipation. 1852.

Sugar 300,000,000 lbs. -- 620,000,000 lbs.

Molasses 125,000,000 " -- 220,000,000 "

Leaf Tobacco 6,000,000 " -- 10,000,000 "

Coffee 30,000,000 " -- 19,000,000 "

The sugar manufactories during that time had also increased from eight

hundred to upwards of sixteen hundred. Can any one calmly compare this

marvellous progression of Cuba with the equally astounding retrogression

of our Antilles, and fail to come to the irresistible conclusion that

the prosperity of the one is intimately connected with the distress of

the other.

While stating the annual produce of tobacco, I should observe that

upwards of 180,000,000 of cigars, and nearly 2,000,000 boxes of

cigarettes, were exported in 1852, independent of the tobacco-leaf

before mentioned. Professor J.F.W. Johnston, in that curious and able

work entitled _Chemistry of Common Life_, styles tobacco "the first

subject in the vegetable kingdom in the power of its service to

man,"--some of my lady friends, I fear, will not approve of this

opinion,--and he further asserts that 4,500,000,000 lbs. thereof are

annually dispersed throughout the earth, which, at twopence the pound,

would realize the enormous sum of 37,000,000l.

If smoking may be called the popular enjoyment of the island, billiards

and dominoes may be called the popular games, and the lottery the

popular excitement. There are generally fifteen ordinary lotteries, and

two extraordinary, every year. The ordinary consist of 32,000l. paid,

and 24,000l. thereof as prizes. There are 238 prizes, the highest

being 600l., and the lowest 40l. The extraordinary consist of

54,400l. paid, of which 40,800l. are drawn as prizes. There are 206

prizes, the highest of which is 20,000l., and the lowest 40l.; from

which it will appear, according to Cocker, that the sums drawn annually

as prizes are very nearly 150,000l. less than the sums paid. Pretty

pickings for Government! As may naturally be supposed, the excitement

produced by this constitutional gambling--which has its nearest

counterpart in our own Stock Exchange--is quite intense; and as the time

for drawing approaches, people may be seen in all the _cafés_ and public

places, hawking and auctioning the billets at premium, like so many

Barnums with Jenny Lind tickets. One curious feature in the lotteries

here is the interest the niggers take in them. To understand this, I

must explain to you that the coloured population are composed of various

African tribes, and each tribe keeps comparatively separate from the

others; they then form a kind of club among their own tribe, for the

purpose of purchasing the freedom of some of their enslaved brethren,

who, I believe, receive assistance in proportion as they contribute to

the funds, and bear such a character as shall interpose no obstacle to

their ransom being permitted. A portion of their funds is frequently

employed in the purchase of lottery-tickets, and a deep spirit of

gambling is the natural consequence; for though the stake entered is

dollars, the prize, if won, is freedom. These lotteries date back to

1812; and if they have always been kept up as before explained, they

must have contributed something like ten millions sterling to the

Government during their forty years' working.

A friend told me of a shameful instance of injustice connected with

these lotteries. A poor slave who had saved enough money to buy a

ticket, did so; and, drawing a small prize, immediately went off to his

master, and presented it to him as a part of his redemption-money. The

master having ascertained how he obtained it, explained to him that, as

a slave, he could not hold property; he then quietly pocketed it, and

sent poor Sambo about his business. What a beautiful commentary this is

on the law respecting Coartados, which I inserted a few pages back. I

must, however, remark that, from the inquiries I made, and from my own

observations of their countenances and amusements, the impression left

on my mind is, that the slaves are quite as happy here as in the United

States; the only disadvantage that they labour under being, that the

sugar harvest and manufacture last much longer in Cuba, and the labour

thereof is by far the hardest drain upon the endurance of the slave. The

free negroes I consider fully as well off as those in the Southern

States, and immeasurably more comfortable than those who are domiciled

in the Northern or Free States of the Union. The number of free negroes

in Cuba amounts to one-fourth of the whole coloured population, while in

the United States it only amounts to one-ninth--proving the great

facilities for obtaining freedom which the island offers, or the higher

cultivation of the negro, which makes him strive for it more

laboriously. I will not attempt to draw any comparison between the

scenes of horror with which, doubtless, both parties are chargeable, but

which, for obvious reasons, are carefully concealed from the traveller's

eye.

Among the curious anomalies of some people, is that of a dislike to be

called by the national name, if they have a local one. The islanders

feel quite affronted if you call them Españoles; and a native of Old

Spain would feel even more affronted if you called him a Cubano or an

Havanero. The appellations are as mutually offensive as were in the

olden times those of Southron and Scot, although Cuba is eternally

making a boast of her loyalty. The manner of a Cuban is as stiff and

hidalgoish as that of any old Spaniard; in fact, so far as my short

acquaintance with the mother country and the colony enables me to judge,

I see little or no difference. Some of them, however, have a dash of fun

about them, as the two following little squibs will show.

It appears that a certain Conde de ----, who had lately been decorated,

was a most notorious rogue; in consequence of which, some wag chalked up

on his door in large letters, during the night, the following lines,

which, of course, were in everybody's mouth soon after the sun had

risen:--

En el tiempo de las barbaras naciones

A los ladrones se les colgaban en cruces;

Pero hoy en el siglo de las luces

A los ladrones se les cuelgan cruces.

A play upon words is at all times a hopeless task to transfer to another

language; nevertheless, for the benefit of those who are unacquainted

with Spanish, I will convey the idea as well as I can in English;--

Hang the thief on the cross was the ancient decree;

But the cross on the thief now suspended we see.

The idea is of very ancient date, and equally well known in Italy and

Spain; but I believe the Spanish verses given above are original.

The following was written upon a wealthy man who lived like a hermit,

and was reported to be very averse to paying for anything. He had, to

the astonishment of everybody, given a grand entertainment the night

before. On his door appeared--

"El Marquis de C---- Hace lo que debe

Y debe por lo que hace."

It is useless to try and carry this into Saxon. In drawing it from the

Spanish well, the bottom must come out of the translationary bucket. The

best version I can offer is--

"He gives a party, which he ought to do,

But, doing that, he _does_ his tradesmen too."

I am aware my English version is tame and insipid, though, perhaps, not

quite as much so as a translation I once met with of the sentence with

which it was said Timoleon, Duc de Brissac, used to apostrophize himself

before the looking-glass every morning. The original runs thus:--

"Timoleon, Duc de Brissac, Dieu t'a fait gentilhomme, le roi t'a fait

duc, fais toi la barbe, pour faire quelque chose." The translation was

charmingly ridiculous, and ran thus:--"Timoleon, Duke of Brissac,

Providence made you a gentleman; the king gave you a dukedom; shave

yourself by way of doing something."--But I wander terribly. Reader, you

must excuse me.

I one day asked an intelligent friend, long resident in the island,

whether any of the governors had ever done any good to the island, or

whether they were all satisfied by filling their pockets with handsome

bribes. He told me that the first governor-general who had rendered real

service to the people was Tacon. On his arrival, the whole place was so

infested with rogues and villains that neither property nor even life

was secure after dusk. Gambling, drunkenness, and vice of every kind

rode rampant. He gave all evil-doers one week's warning, at the

expiration of which all who could not give a satisfactory account of

themselves were to be severely punished. Long accustomed to idle

threats, they treated his warning with utter indifference; but they soon

found their mistake, to their cost. Inflexible in purpose, iron-handed

in rule, unswerving in justice, he treated nobles, clergy, and commoners

alike, and, before the fortnight was concluded, twelve hundred were in

banishment or in durance vile. Their accomplices in guilt stood aghast

at this new order of things, and, foreseeing their fate, either bolted,

reformed, or fell victims to it, and Havana became as quiet and orderly

as a church-parade. Shops, stores, and houses sprung up in every

direction. A magnificent opera-house was built outside the town, on the

Grand Paseo, and named after the governor-general; nothing can exceed

the lightness, airiness, and taste of the interior. I never saw its

equal in any building of a similar nature, and it is in every respect

most perfectly adapted to this lovely climate.

The next governor-general who seems to have left any permanent mark of

usefulness is Valdes, whom I suppose I may be allowed to call their

modern Lycurgus. It was during his rule that the laws were weeded and

improved, and eventually produced in a clear and simple form. The

patience he must have exhibited in this laborious occupation is

evidenced by the minuteness of the details entered into, descending, as

we have seen, even to the pants of bathers and the bibs of the infant

nigger, but, by some unaccountable omission, giving no instructions as

to the tuckers of their mammas. If Tacon was feared and respected,

Valdes was beloved; and each appears to have fairly earned the

reputation he obtained. Valdes was succeeded by O'Donnell, whose rule

was inaugurated in negro blood. Frightful hurricanes soon followed, and

were probably sent in mercy to purify the island from the pollutions of

suffering and slaughter. During the rule of his successor, Roncali, the

rebel Lopez appears on the stage. The American campaign in Mexico had

stirred up a military ardour which extended to the rowdies, and a

piratical expedition was undertaken, with Lopez at the head. He had

acquired a name for courage in the Spanish army, and was much liked by

many of them, partly from indulging in the unofficer-like practice of

gambling and drinking with officers and men. His first attempt at a

landing was ludicrously hopeless, and he was very glad to re-embark

with a whole skin; but he was not the man to allow one failure to

dishearten him, for, independent of his courage, he had a feeling of

revenge to gratify.[AA] Having recruited his forces, he landed the

following year, 1851, with a stronger and better-equipped force of

American piratical brigands, and succeeded in stirring up a few Cubans

to rebellion. He maintained himself for a few days, struggling with a

courage worthy of a better cause. The pirates were defeated; Lopez was

made prisoner, and died by the garotte, at Havana, on the 1st of

September. Others also of the band paid the penalty of the law; and the

ruffian crew, who escaped to the United States, now constitute a kind of

nucleus for the "Lone Star," "Filibustero," and other such pests of the

community to gather round, being ready at any moment to start on a

buccaneering expedition, if they can only find another Lopez ass enough

to lead them.

Concha became governor-general just before Lopez' last expedition, and

the order for his execution was a most painful task for poor Concha, who

had been for many years an intimate friend of his. Concha appears to

have left an excellent name behind him. I always heard him called "the

honest governor." He introduced a great many reforms into the civil

code, and established a great many schools and scientific and literary

societies. During my stay in the island, his successor, Cañedo, was the

governor-general. Whenever I made inquiries about him, the most

favourable answer I could get was, a chuck-up of the head, a slight

"p'tt" with the lips, and an expression of the eyes indicating the sight

of a most unpleasant object. The three combined required no dictionary

of the Academy to interpret.[AB]

The future of this rich and lovely island, who can predict? It is talked

of by its powerful neighbours as "the sick man." Filibustero vultures

hover above it as though it were already a putrid corpse inviting their

descent; young America points to it with the absorbing index of

"manifest destiny;" gold is offered for it; Ostend conferences are held

about it; the most sober senators cry respecting it--"Patience, when the

pear is ripe, it must drop into our lap." Old Spain--torn by faction,

and ruined by corruption--supports its tottering treasury from it. Thus,

plundered by friends, coveted by neighbours, and assailed by pirates, it

lies like a helpless anatomical subject, with the ocean for a

dissecting-table, on one side whereof stands a mother sucking its blood,

and on the other "Lone Stars" gashing its limbs, while in the

background, a young and vigorous republic is seen anxiously waiting for

the whole carcass. If I ask, "Where shall vitality be sought?" Echo

answers "Where?" If I ask, "Where shall I look for hope?" the very

breath of the question extinguishes the flickering taper. Who, then, can

shadow forth the fate that is reserved for this tropical gem of the

ocean, where all around is so dark and louring?... A low voice, borne on

a western breeze, whispers in my ear--"I guess I can."

Cuba, farewell!

[Note: The subsequent squabbles between the Cuban authorities and the

United States have taken place long since my departure, and are too

complicated to enter into without more accurate information than I

possess.]

FOOTNOTES:

[Footnote X: I put up at "The Havana House," where I found everything

very clean, and the proprietor, an American, very civil. It is now kept

by his son.]

[Footnote Y: This was written in January, 1853.]

[Footnote Z: The Filibustero movement in the United States has caused

Spain to increase her military force considerably.]

[Footnote AA: When first suspected of treason, he had been hunted with

dogs like a wild beast, and, with considerable difficulty, escaped to

America.]

[Footnote AB: Those who desire more detailed information respecting Cuba

will find it in a work entitled _La Reine des Antilles_. Par LE VICOMTE

GUSTAVE D'HARPONVILLE. 1850.]

CHAPTER XIII.

_Change of Dynasty_.

The month of February was drawing to a close, when I took my passage on

board the "Isabel," bound for Charleston. A small coin removed all

difficulty about embarking luggage, cigars, &c.; the kettle was boiling,

hands shook violently, bells rang rapidly, non-passengers flew down to

shore-boats; round go the wheels, waving go the kerchiefs, and down fall

the tears. The "Isabel" bounds o'er the ripp'less waters; forts and

dungeons, as we gaze astern, fade from the view; an indistinct shade is

all by which the eye can recal the lovely isle of Cuba; and, lest memory

should fail, the piles of oranges, about four feet square, all round the

upper-deck, are ready to refresh it. How different the "Isabel" from the

"Cherokee!" Mr. Law might do well to take a cruise in the former; and,

if he had any emulation, he would sell all his dirty old tubs for

firewood, and invest the proceeds in the "Isabel" style of vessel. Land

a-head!--a flourishing little village appears, with watch-towers high as

minarets. What can all this mean?

This is a thriving, happy community, fixed on the most dreary and

unhealthy-looking point imaginable, and deriving all their wealth and

happiness from the misfortunes of others. It is Key West, a village of

wreckers, who, doubtless, pray earnestly for a continuance and increase

of the changing currents, which are eternally drifting some ill-fated

barque on the ever-growing banks and coral reefs of these treacherous

and dangerous waters; the lofty watch-towers are their Pisgah, and the

stranded barques their Land of Promise. The sight of one is doubtless as

refreshing to their sight as the clustering grapes of Eschol were to the

wandering Israelites of old. So thoroughly does the wrecking spirit

pervade this little community, that they remind one of the "Old Joe

Miller," which gives an account of a clergyman who, seeing all his

congregation rise from their seats at the joyous cry of, "A wreck! a

wreck!" called them to order with an irresistible voice of thunder, and

deliberately commencing to despoil himself of his surplice, added,

"Gentlemen, a fair start, if you please!"

We picked up a couple of captains here, whose ships had tasted these

bitter waters, and who were on their road to New York to try and make

the best of a bad job. We had some very agreeable companions on board;

but we had others very much the contrary, conspicuous among whom was an

undeniable Hebrew but no Nathanael. He was one of those pompous loud

talkers, whose every word and work bespoke vulgarity in its most

obnoxious form, and whose obtuseness in matters of manners was so great

that nothing short of the point of your shoe could have made him

understand how offensive he was. He spoke of courts in Europe, and of

the Vice-regal court in Ireland, as though he had the _entrée_ of them

all; which it was palpable to the most superficial observer he never

could have had, except possibly when, armed with a dingy bag on his

shoulder and an "Ol clo'" on his lips, he sought an investment in

cast-off garments. He was taking cigars, which, from their quantity,

were evidently for sale; and as the American Government is very liberal

in allowing passengers to enter cigars, never--I believe--refusing any

one the privilege of five hundred, he was beating up for friends who had

no cigars to divide his speculations among, so as to avoid the duty; at

last his arrangements were completed, and his mind at ease.

On entering the port of Charleston he got up the box containing his

treasures, and was about to open it, when, to my intense delight and

amusement, an officer of the ship stayed his hasty hand. "What's that

for?" exclaimed the wrathful Israelite. "I guess that box is in the

manifest," was the calm reply, "and you can't touch it till it goes to

the custom-house." Jonathan had "done" the Hebrew; and besides the duty,

he had the pleasure of paying freight on them also; while, to add to his

satisfaction, he enjoyed the sight of all the other passengers taking

their five hundred or so unmolested, while compelled to pay duty on

every cigar himself. But we must leave the Jew, the "Isabel"--ay,

Charleston itself. "Hurry hurry, bubble bubble, toil and trouble!"

Washington must be reached before the 4th of March, or we shall not see

the Senate and the other House in session. Steamer and rail; on we

dash. The boiling horse checks his speed; the inconveniences of the

journey are all forgotten: we are at Washington, and the all-absorbing

thought is, "Where shall we get a bed?"

My companion[AC] and myself drove about from hotel to boarding-house,

from boarding-house to hotel, and from hotel to the Capitol, seeking a

resting-place in vain. Every chink and cranny was crammed; the

reading-rooms of the hotels had from one to two dozen stretcher beds in

each of them. 'Twas getting on for midnight; Hope's taper was flickering

faintly, when a police-officer came to the rescue, and recommended us to

try a small boarding-house at which he was himself lodging. There, as an

especial favour, we got two beds put into a room where another lodger

was already snoring; but fatigue and sleep soon obliterated that fact

from our remembrance. Next morning, while lying in a half doze, I heard

something like the upsetting of a jug near my bedside, and then, a sound

like mopping up; suspicious of my company, I opened my eyes, and lo!

there was the owner of the third bed, deliberately mopping up the

contents of the jug he had upset over the carpet, with--what do you

think? His handkerchief? oh, no--his coat-tails? oh, no--a spare towel?

oh, no; the savage, with the most placid indifference, was mopping it up

with my sponge! He expressed so much astonishment when I remonstrated,

that I supposed the poor man must have been in the habit of using his

own sponge for such purposes, and my ire subsided gradually as he wrung

out the sponge by an endless succession of vigorous squeezes,

accompanying each with a word of apology. So much for my first night at

Washington.

We will pass over breakfast, and away to the Capitol. There it stands,

on a rising knoll, commanding an extensive panoramic view of the town

and surrounding country. The building is on a grand scale, and faced

with marble, which, glittering in the sunbeams, gives it a very imposing

appearance; but the increasing wants of this increasing Republic have

caused two wings to be added, which are now in the course of

construction. Entrance to the Senate and House of Representatives was

afforded to us with that readiness and courtesy which strangers

invariably experience. But, alas! the mighty spirits who had, by their

power of eloquence, so often charmed and spell-bound the tenants of the

senate chamber--where were they? The grave had but recently closed over

the last of those giant spirits; Webster was no more! Like all similar

bodies, they put off and put off, till, in the last few days of the

session, a quantity of business is hustled through, and thus no scope is

left for eloquent speeches; all is matter of fact, and a very

business-looking body they appeared, each senator with his desk and

papers before him; and when anything was to be said, it was expressed in

plain, unadorned language, and free from hesitation. The only

opportunity offered for eloquence was, after the inauguration, on the

discussion of the Clayton-Bulwer Treaty. I will not say that the

venerable senator for Delaware--Mr. Clayton--was eloquent, but he was

very clear both in language and delivery, and his bearing altogether

showed the honest conviction of a man who knew he was in the right, and

was certain he would be ultimately so judged. His principal antagonist

was the senator for Illinois--Mr. Douglas--one of the stars of the Young

American party, and an aspirant to the presidential honours of the

Republic. He is a stout-built man, rather short, with a massive

overhanging forehead. When he rose, he did so with the evident

consciousness that the gallery above him was filled with many of his

political school, and thrusting both hands well into the bottom of his

breeches pockets, he commenced his oration with an air of great

self-confidence, occasionally drawing one hand from its concealment to

aid his oratory by significant gesture. He made an excellent

clap-trap--or, as they term it in America, Buncombe--speech, aiding and

emphasizing, by energetic shakings of the forefinger, such passages as

he thought would tell in the gallery above; his voice was loud and

clear, his language blunt and fluent, and amusingly replete with "dares

and daren't;" "England's in the wrong, and she knows it;" if the

original treaty, by which America was to have had the canal exclusively,

had been concluded, "America would have had a rod to hold over all the

nations." Then came "manifest destiny;" then the mare's nest called

"Monroe doctrine;" then more Buncombe about England; and then ... he sat

down--satisfied, no doubt, that he had very considerably increased his

chances for the "tenancy of the White House."

I regretted much not being able to hear Mr. Everett speak, for I believe

he is admitted on all hands to be the most eloquent and classical orator

within the precincts of the senate at the present moment; but I was

obliged to leave Washington before he addressed the assembly. The

absence of all signs of approbation or disapprobation, while a senator

is addressing the House, gives a coldness to the debate, and I should

think must have a damping effect upon the enthusiasm of the speaker. The

"Hear hears" and "cheers" of friends, and the "Oh ohs" or "laughter" of

opponents, certainly give an air of much greater excitement to the

scene, and act as an encouragement to the orator. But such exclamations

are not allowed either in the Senate or the House of Representatives.

The chamber of the latter is of course much larger than that of the

Senators, and, as far as I can judge, a bad room to hear in. When the

new wings are finished, they will move into one of them, and their

present chamber is, I believe, to be a library. I had no opportunity of

hearing any of the oratory of this house, as they were merely hustling a

few money and minor bills through, previous to the inauguration, which

closed their session. They also have each a desk and chair; but with

their increasing numbers I fear that any room large enough to afford

them such accommodation must be bad for speaking in.--Let us now turn to

the great event of the day, i.e., the Inauguration.