the very first years of her married life, to give into the hands of her slaves the nursing and early training of her children. The recollection of her father's home now and then directed her attention to books and foreign literature. But she found none to sympathize in such tastes; the ball-room, the 'sociedades,' the operas, her visits, the tedious and loquacious shoppings, the pasco,' the correspond ence which she found it necessary to maintain with the country-estate clerks, and, what is more than all calculated to destroy the freshness of modesty and beauty, the gambling-table, to which she gradually became habituated, not only deprived her of time for more intellectual and domestic enjoyments, but destroy ed her original taste for them. 'Mamma,' said her son, a boy of fourteen, dressed like a small gentleman, and with all the nonchalance and airs of a gallant, I don't know how you or papa are arranging your business with the creditors, but you must recollect that my own private property, now in your hands, must be so left that I may have all the necessary resources for living, and for my customary pleasures; and as to my carriage, I cannot give it up on any consideration, for, there is not one of my cousins who is without this convenience.' He went on at this rate, until the poor mother, conscious that she was reaping the fruits of her own errors and neglect, sighed in despondency. I must add, with pain, that this specimen of filial coldness and depravity is by no means the exception; the too fond and indulgent mothers, who are themselves the direct cause of such examples, are far more to be pitied than condemned. What teaching or light have they enjoyed to guide them in their incipient path when starting in life The magistrate is corrupt, and his misconduct is the subject of every-day anecdotes and scandal; the minister of the gospel teaches neither by example nor from the pulpit; the husband has no idea of performing what would elsewhere be considered the most ordinary duties; the society is frivolous; books are looked upon with aversion; the press is an instrument of oppression; and the mainspring of civilization and civil liberty, faith in Christ, is unknown. "In what able manner the marchioness succeeded in exciting the energy of her lawyer, by the offer of ample reward, what secret understanding went on between him and the intellectual Castilian judge, how each creditor was coaxed or frightened into acquiescence, I cannot say. I will only add, that some of them obtained favorable arrangements through the cunning arguments of the judge, which were the more ludicrous from contrast with his reasonings with other creditors, whom it was his policy to discourage in their claims. It was painful to see how poor neigh bors had to yield to these influences out of utter incapacity to counteract such disgraceful combinations." The seeds of infidelity, scattered so widely at the close of the last century, are said to have been found in Cuba a more propitious soil than elsewhere; and while the gospel influence, counteracting their growth, has extended itself in other directions, this unhappy island still presents a dark picture of unbelief, corruption and immorality. Twenty-five years ago, religious practices and feelings were more or less in every respectable Cuban family; the church bell at twilight; the angelus, or call to evening prayer-created, every where, a simultaneous excitement; children and servants, at its conclusion, asked a blessing from their parents and masters; carriages and passengers paused in the street, and workmen refrained from toil. The Sabbath, formerly held in devotional reverence, is now scarcely attested by a brief mass, scandalously hurried through, and witnessed only by a very small portion of the inhabitants. At church, "the ladies ply the telegraphic fan with the same airs of coquetry and playfulness as they may have done the evening before at the theatre, or as they will probably do the same evening at the opera." With open doors and windows the shopkeepers and artizans pursue the employments of the week, and the gentry, the masters of estates, the officers of government, and even the priests themselves, exhibit the same indifference. The priests, of course, are not respected; and "as their conduct belies the doctrines they have sworn to propagate, they set themselves quietly down to enjoy the bodily comforts of this life, without troubling themselves at all about their own or their flock's spiritual welfare." However this may be, is there not assumption in the following sweeping and personal censure: "This morning, the elegant-looking and lordly young Bishop of Havana, in his gorgeous robes and costly jewels, swept past me from the altar, amidst a train of ignorant and servile priests. Not one gleam of piety or grace could be discerned in his vain, worldly countenance-not one single mark or sign to denote him a follower of the meek and lowly Jesus." Although our author makes but few exceptions to the general profligacy of the priesthood, he does not consider the responsibility of this dreadful state of things to rest upon the Romish church or creed: "It would be illiberal indeed to carry to so unjust a length those prejudices of Protestantism which are doubtless founded in reason, and which cannot but be stimulated to a great degree at the exhibition of Roman Catholicism in Cuba. Yet in the United States no one can deny that it is a very different institution, both in its spirit and its practice, from that which is presented to the eye of the most superficial observer in Cuba. The Church proper is not the responsible cause, but the corrupt political government which has invaded its domain, paralyzed all its good energies, corrupted its entire organization, and poisoned its very fountains of spiritual purity. The central military despotism, in the hands of the Spanish officials, clustered in and about the palace of the captain-general, may be said to have absorbed to itself the Church, with every other good institution possessed by the island in its better days. Its influence has been destroyed, its revenues and property, together with all the patronage of ecclesiastical appointments appropriated by the government. The nominations to all religious offices are made, directly or indirectly, by the creatures of the government; and given directly or indirectly to the creatures of the government. The very members of the chapter of the cathedral at Havana are now named at Madrid, in disregard of the canonical proposals from the board according to law. Day after day and year after year have been suffered to pass without an appointment to fill the long vacant bishopric of Havana, and thirty years have elapsed since the sacrament of confirmation, as it is termed by the Roman Catholics, has been administered in the several districts of the diocese, which should be regularly visited once a year." This highly important subject is enlarged upon, and the Catholic clergy of the United States are called to speak out, and to unite with the Protestants in the desire to witness such a termination of the miserable condition of the Cuban community as is supposed must result from annexation. In relation to education, the statistics presented in this work speak with a force that is not to be contravened. The official items referred to, exhibit truly a revolting picture. The last published census, which ap pears to be that of 1841, gives a total population of 1,045,624, of which 571,129 are white inhabitants, free mulattoes and free blacks, 436,595 are mulatto and black slaves, and 88,000 transient inhabitants. The number of schools, according to the most recent and favorable accounts, amounted in all to 222, in which were instructed 9082 free children; of these 5325, it is stated, paid their schools; and 3757 only, were under gratuitous tuition; of the latter, 540 were supported by the branches of the "Sociedad Patriotica" through personal subscription of the members, or voluntary taxation 2111 by local subscription, and 1106 gratuitously taught by the professors. From the above items, together with those found in Mr. Saco's "Parallel between the Spanish and British Colonies," the following comparison is drawn : Number of children educated in proportion to the whole free population. In the Bahama Islands, 1831, 1 to every 16 1830, 1 19 Lower Canada, Nova Scotia, Prince Edward's, 1832, 1 14 Terra Nova, Our author next proceeds to an investigation of the general causes of complaint, by which he wishes the world to judge between the island and her rulers. He declares that the proposition laid down by the great English commentator in his division of rights into the right of personal libertythe right of personal security-and the right of property, affords no benefit to the Cubans. Many of the tyrannical acts of despotism, in the time of Tacon, have been, and are continued more or less frequently to the present time. Under pretence that it is necessary to keep the native inhabitants in a state of constant apprehension, in order to insure their continued allegiance, the government allows every kind of judicial enormity to be practised upon the helpless Creole, and he has no means of redress but through bribery. Our author proceeds to an examination of the method of taxation now adopted in Cuba. A list, occupying several pages, is given, composed chiefly of the bal ance of different taxes. Much more is said of Cuban grievances generally. The press, under a servile censorship, is declared a weapon only wielded against the people. The Captains General now wield the judicial, the legislative, and executive power. The creoles are excluded from the army, the judiciary, the treasury, the customs, and from all influential or lucrative portions. In spite of the enormous tithe collected, it is only by subscrip tions that the inhabitants can secure to themselves temples for worship, or cemeteries for their dead. For baptism, or burial, large additional sums are paid. A citizen must obtain, and pay for a license to entertain company, or for any amusement at his house; also, for permission to leave his place of residence. He can neither walk the streets after ten at night, without leave, nor lodge a person at his house, without giving information, nor remove from one house to another. Parents are obliged to prove ill health, or feign it in their children, in order to procure passports for them to go to the United States, for purposes of education: "A diabolical scheme, concocted in the chamber of Alcoy, exists for perpetuating the importation of African slaves into Cuba, the primordial cause of her present hazardous position. "In that scheme enter not merely some members of the royal family of Spain, but all its dependents, favorites, and satellites, including the captains-general of Cuba, and their subordinates. "The gratification' of half an ounce in gold, which was formerly received by the captains-general for every sack of charcoal (the nickname given by those engaged in this infamous traffic to the African slaves brought over), has risen to the large sum of three doubloons in gold. "The colonial government and its confederates, not being able to elude the vigilance of the cruisers of the nations engaged in the suppression of this traffic, in order to continue the same, have had to appeal to a forced interpretation of existing treaties, pretending to show that such slaves are imported into Cuba from Brazil. "These machinations are carried on by some members of the royal family in concert Our author considers that Spain, being too weak much longer to hold her Cuban possessions, a blow will shortly be struck to achieve the island's independence; and goes on to show the reasons which, in his own estimation, make desirable the annexation of the Island with the United States. "Cuba," he says,— "Standing like a warder in the entrance of the gulf of Mexico, yet stretching far to the east, so as to overlook and intercept any unfriendly demonstration upon either of the great thoroughfares to South America or the Pacific, is in a position to overawe the adjacent islands, and watch and defend all the outside approaches to the Isthmus routes to the Pacific, while it guards the portals of the vast inland sea, the reservoir of the Mississippi and Mexican trade, the rendezvous of California transit, and, what has not yet been duly heeded, the outlet of an immense though new-born mineral wealth, which is yet to control the metal markets of Christendom. "In short, it makes the complete bulwark of the Mexican Gulf, and only leaves to it two gates; one between Cape Antonia, the western extremity of the island, and Cape Catoche, which advances from the coast of Yucatan to meet it, and forms a strait less than 100 miles wide; and the other between Hicacos, the most northern point of Cuba, and Cape Sable, the southern extremity of Florida, but a little more than 100 miles apart, and between which passes the "Old Channel" of the Bahamas. "Half a dozen steamers would bridge with their cannon the narrow straits between Yucatan and the west point of Cuba, and between Florida and Matanzas on the north, and seal hermetically to every aggressive stranger the entire coast circle of the American Mediterranean. This simple geographical fact constitutes Cuba the key of the Gulf, and it would be felt if it passed into the grasp of a strong and jealous rival. England, firmly resting on Cuba, and with Jamaica and the Bahamas to flank her steam operations, would have full retreat and succor for her fleets, and would be able at need to concentrate the force of an empire against the coasting trade. With such a firm and convenient cover as that island, with its self-defended coasts and secure harbors, she could face, Janus-like, in every direction. With Canada and the Bermudas-raised for that purpose into a strong naval station-opposite our centre on the Atlantic, and half way between those strong extremes, she would present a dangerous front to the whole northern coast, while she executed the bold threat of her minister, to shut up the Gulf of Mexico, cut in twain the commerce between it and the Atlantic states, and close the mouth of the Mississippi and its hundred tributaries to the trade and assistance of the shipping and manufacturing states.' But strike Cuba-the central and noblest jewel-from this diadem of power, and her broken circlet of American strongholds is no longer formidable. England-controlling Cuba on the north as she claims to control the Mosquito shore on the south, and mistress of Balize on the west as she is of Jamaica on the east-would be the arbitress of the Caribbean Sea, even now almost her own, and well guarded by her long array of Leeward and Windward Islands from other intrusion. From the moment Cuba becomes an integral portion of the United States, all the exactions and oppressions which now weigh so heavily upon it, will be at an end. The island would enter at once into the enjoyment of civil and religious liberty; and with her ports open to the commerce of the world-her inhabitants educated and religiously impressed—her soil cultivated to its full capability--her products sent to an unrestricted market-and under the influence of the moral and political force which are the vital elements of the American Constitution-she would become the most prosperous of the states. On the other hand, the advantages to be obtained by the United States by the annexation of Cuba are incalculable. "If annexation was fully and freely established, Cuba would be as valuable to this confederacy as New York itself. As an outpost, vital to American trade and defence, and as a centre of transit and exchange, Cuba would grow in importance to the whole family of the confederation, in even measure with the growth of the states on the Pacific, and the rising tide of the oriental business which the flag of the Union is about to lead from Asia across the Isthmus. She lies exactly in track of the golden current, and none of the states are, like her, in a position to watch and defend every inlet and outlet. "In the circle of production, essential to a home supply, always sure and independent of foreign interference, Cuba can fill nobly the remaining gap, with her coffee, cocoa, and tropical fruits. In this, too, she would serve all her sister states, for she would sell to every one, and buy of every one, which is not true of the special product of any other state. She would also add as much as the Union really needs of sugar lands, and would make that, henceforth, a strong and distinct feature in the national balance of interests." WESTERN PRAIRIES. FEW know their beauty. Nature is hymned and talked of in a thousand shapes by poet and romancer; gay and smiling in rural loveliness, or wild in forest and wilderness. Her cheerfulness comes from the hand of man; his footstep is ever before us; and association mixes with simple natural beauty. Where man is not seen, it is then the sterile mountain tract, or primeval forest; grand, but austere and gloomy. The prairies, with the rivers that sparkle through them, shew nature in new moods; utter solitude without gloom, laughing scenes virgin to the plough and presence of man. Let us then mark it white in our calendar; let the patient four-footed drudges in the barn-yard enjoy it too, for surely it is God's holiday. The horses have crunched their last ear of yellow maize; the cattle have turned discontentedly from their sheaves of oats, for they have snuffed on the air the aroma of poplar buds in Southern forests; the gate is open, and away for a glorious gallop over the prairie sweeps the equine phalanx. The cattle seek the dales, and browse on the scented spray. And now, with stout legs under us, and hearts within, let us strike out into the wood-land. Over slopes well sodded with wild grass, dells sparkling with spring rills, gay lavishes kisses, now threading thickets by paths made by wild deer, pausing at times under clumps of oaks where the bluejay sounds his alarum, and the woodpecker beats his tattoo, where the rabbit bounds from his form in the tuft of grass, and the quail rustles to its arched home in the hazel, we find ourself at last alone with Nature. The streamlets that wander through these grassy oceans are skirted with tim-through sheltered nooks where Spring first ber five or six miles in width; their valleys are small prairies spotted with groves and miniature lakes; and the grassy bluffs on either side are sprinkled with branching oaks. These, scattered over dales, ravines and swelling uplands, the rivulets them selves sparkling over sands, now hidden from view in masses of tropic vegetation, now kissing the feet of the valley prairies, and again gleaming through vistas of beeches and wild graperies, produce successions of the most beautiful park-like scenery the world can shew. "I, too, lived in Arcady;" come with me to the skirts of one of these Western savannas, and let thy face and soul, carked by care, be smoothed by a day in prairie land. Beautiful land! beautiful spring time! Warm winds bring northward odors of fresh earth and swelling buds. On the open prairie, cattle are grouped on the adjacent knolls, greeting the glad season. It is a day such as "Holy Master Herbert" sings of : "Sweet day, so warm, so calm, so bright, VOL. V. NO. V. NEW SERIES. Cockneyism can find no knowledge but in the paths of man, and no antiquity but in the works of his hand. In the wilderness are whole libraries; volumes of classics which children can read; hieroglyphics unravelled by clod-hopper Champollions; old chronicles shaming Egyptian dynasties. The veil between us and God and nature is raised, and mesmerically we are filled with high truths. It is not poetical illusion, though that is no worse than matterof-fact illusion; but actual intellectual perception. Around, beneath, within, floats the Unutterable Presence; and our hearts fill with the serene humility of children; a sense of repose, novel and strangely real, as far removed from joy as from grief, from satisfaction as from hope; a light neither gay, nor sad, nor sombre; we feel that we 34 |