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THE CATHOLIC ECLIPSE. The Roman crusader...
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Note: This text has been automatically extracted via Optical Character Recognition (OCR) software. The text has not been manually corrected and should not be relied on to be an accurate representation of the item.
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English Meddling- In Cuba. Thebe Is No A...
prbte ^ iori of police , which is so careful in its proceedings . ' . Now , what was Mr . Backhouse ' s position ? He represented this country , and in two lights .. Towards Spanish Cuba he represented a power which restrains it , which calls it to account , coerces" it into a line of policy not its ovn , and restricts what ifc believes to be a lucrative and advantageous importation of goods—that is , of slaves . Towards the Negroes , Mr . Backhouse is the
representative of paternal care * of protecting civilisation . But it is the Negroes who inflict the death-blow , and it is our own involuntary friends the Spaniards who refuse the protection that , in the name of civilisation , they are bound to render . It seems , then , that we did not exactly succeed with either party . By the introduction of our so-called philanthropic measures , by our constant interference , official and officious , in matters we either do not understand or of which we
disregard the true state , we irritate without being able , finally , to enforce our compulsion . It is not that we have been entirely without converts even among the Spaniards ; but the results are patent to every one who knows those " dear Blacks . " Pezuexa , closet philosopher as he was , began to spoil them by taking away from them a great many restrictions , and endowing them with certain privileges ; and Concha , partly in pursuance of his predecessor ' s policy , partly pressed by the
threatening danger of an expedition from America , went so far as to arm them , and to form whole regiments of Negroes and Mulattoes . The arms they received—although few , if any , of this Militia , as it was called , are now required for active service—are left them , and the spirit of the whole Black population , amounting to about one hundred thousand here in town and its suburbs , is much raised "by all this fuss . t . But how can Negro barbarism be endowed with self-control under
the reluctant , sulky concessions of Spanish barbarism ? That it breaks out in deeds of violence 3 like the murder of Mr . Backhouse , is not to be wondered at . There are , of necessity , more bad elements in every Black population than where there are no slaves . The very existence of slavery , the degraded position of servility , and many other reasons must fill the heart even of a free Negro , of whom tliere are a great many in Cuba , with feelings of hatred , bitter and deep , against the Whites , whatever be their country ; and even-handed Negro justice knows no distinction between a Backhouse and a Pezuela .
Mr . Backhouse not only acted here against the slave trade , but under the instructions of his Government he has done everything in his power to mitigate the hard condition of the slaves ; favouring , at . the same time , all measures that might tend towards giving them more freedom , more rights , more privileges in society generally . It is not that in the law of the Spanish colonies the Negroes are such chattel property or such outcasts as they are in other freer countries ; the laws of the Spanish colonies with reference to slavery are as excellent as any laws regulating such an institution can bo . They really give great privileges to the Blacks . A few instances will show this . If a slave has
sufficient money to buy his freedom , ho is taxed at a low rate , always much lower than the real value , and the owner is bound to set him free on receipt of such a sum . In the United States you cannot compel the sale of a slave for a lesser sum than the owner himself chooses to name , which is tantamount to absolute power . The Spanish law prescribes that slaves wlio wish to nocuuro their freedom aro to be aided and favoured as much as poswiblo by the authorities . If a slave , for instance , paya part of
his value , say 200 dols ., or 300 dols ., to his master , the latter has to allow him certain hours during the day in which he may gain money for himself : thus enabling him to complete the sum at which his value has been fixed . If a slave thinks himself ill-treated , he may complain to the Siadicos ; a Council named by Government to protect slaves against ill-treatment from their masters . A slave can change his master if lie finds another who will purchase him ; and for that purpose the master has to allow him three days , or even more , to search for a purchaser at a fixed sum . If a purchaser be found , the
first master is compelled to part with the slave . It is true that in Cuba , protection is not always near enough for Negroes to avail themselves of it ; but the Blacks are really better off even under the imperfect enforcement of the law , than many working people in free states , and than numbers of their own race are in Africa , where they are constantly made prisoners of war and slaves . These remarks do not in the slightest degree tend to justify the trade in slaves , but they do have an important bearing on the manner of our interference in Cuba .
It is some consideration that the immediate emancipation of the Blacks would inflict greater ruin than it has in our own West Indies . The cruel planters of Cuba , less energetic , less sturdy , less ingenious , and , we believe , less moneyed than those of the British Islands were at the time of our emancipation , would abandon altogether their holdings , as so many holdings have been abandoned in the British West Indies , and the very pearl of the Antilles "would soon be a howling wilderness . The whole population has receded to
of the island at present 1 , 000 , 000 ( it was larger in former years ) , of which 600 , 000 are computed to be Negroes and Mulattoes , and 400 , 000 Whites . Considering the different education of the Black classes , and their large numbers , it is not improbable that the Whites , one fine morning , might have their throats cut . We have not counted Chinese and Yucateros , whose introduction must have a prospective influence on the state of the Negro . About 5000 labourers have been introduced from China ; about 10 , 000 Indians from Yucatan , both
under contract . The Chinese engage themselves to serve eight years for four dollars a month wages : a Negro labourer cannot be hired for less than 14 to 17 dollars . A . similar system prevails with regard to the Yucateros . Neither these , nor much less the Chinese , will ever , even if they arrive in sufficient numbers , supply Negro labour . They are not strong enough for it . The Chinese , whenever they have been employed in the cane-fields , have but given indifferent satisfaction , and they are mostly used for indoor labour , employment on railways , or in domestic service . If their introduction has been
a boon to the planters and employing classes in an economical point of view , how will they act morally and physically ? That is another question . Some probable results " are alarming . Wo may seo a strange breed there in fifty years—NegroeB , Chinese , Indians , and Whites of different races , with the prospect of a large increase of the Anglo-Saxon stock should the island bo
annexedall intermingled , some intermarried . Strange effect of English intervention , that in that beautiful island we are breeding a mongrel race which must naturally be Bubject to its Anglo-Saxon conquerors whon the day of conquest shall come , and must continue to be so subject until it shall be released by the slow and' painful process of cxtirmination Such is the manifest result of our intervention for the purpose of compelling a community to adopt virtues "which wo dictate ,
but which cannot be naturalised to the soil . We only assist in preventing a natural , easy and painless extinction of the Spanish race , and make enemies for ourselves in order th ' we may breed victims and protract the period of then ? torture . Such , is commonly the result when we insist upon doing virtue by deputy , without possessing supreme power to carry out our edicts in the hearts as well as the laws of the countries whom we presumptuously pretend to command .
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The Catholic Eclipse. The Roman Crusader...
THE CATHOLIC ECLIPSE . The Roman crusaders have closed their first campaign in Austria . Francis Joseph has capitulated to his priest . The Church is mistress of the nation , and an Ecclesiastical Inquisition is prepared . Thus , the greatest triumph of the year is the Pope ' s . While we are struggling against " Barbarism and Despotism" in the East , " Civilisation and Liberty" threaten to disappear from Europe . The only principles that have gained ground since the war began
are those of military and priestly absolutism . Prom Prance praetorian usurpation has appealed with success to England , proud of its two Revolutions , its Magna Charta , Bill of Rights and Reform . In Austria , the hereditary Empire , unable to rely on Russian bayonets , resorts to Jesuit terrors . It is equally certain , however , that the Pope and the Empebob of Austria are among the chief incendiaries of Europe . Their design , pursued with superstitious
energy , is to shut a great people in cloisters , to resist the power of circumstances , and restore Medievalism . If , then , there be desperadoes in the political world , who are they if not these princes , civil and sacerdotal , who experimentalise with millions of human creatures ? The attempt is to force a numerous and intelligent people into the mould of an antiquated system , and is not an iota less barbarous than the artifice of the Japanese , who raised calico batteries to terrify an American fleet .
IPor—not to encourage vulgar acrimony—Austria , and not Russia , is the Barbarism of Europe . Russia has run a natural career . Uncultured she is , but less , so than when Ivan or Peter ruled . Her history has been one of development , from an obscure duchy , frozen in the wilds , to a vast aggregate of territories and races , some of which , at least , cohere . She peoples , fertilises , and opens to commerce considerable tracts of the globe . Serfdom and Boyardism , integral parts of her social Bystem , already experience modifications in harmony with the influences of the ago in which we live . As a military empire , Russia is violent , brutal , dangerous ; but she is not self-abused , Belf-abased , compelled to
purchase a mercenary contingent one year , and in another to bribe a host of Italian catechists and Jesuits to eradicate the liberal tendencies of her people . This ib virtual barbarity , and it flourishes apace while the war for " Civilisation and L / iborty" is supposed to prosper . Xiouis NapoIjBon is the first gainer ; the next is the Pope , who engages , by contract with IThanois Joseph , to stifle the Austrian people . The remaining point is , whether the Austrian people will consent to be put under hatches .
The concordat recently concluded between Austria and the Papal Chnir amounts to a surrender of nearly all the rights for which the Emperors at Tienna have contended during several reign * . TJ . o Ufinsburg government , through ita o / ficial anoWiste , has confessed in explicit term * that , t « pohco machinery is « AiJuro , partly because aorno of the police themselves aro men in Bcntiment part y ' because they oppose only a maternal orgaLatlon to intellectual forces , as mtan-
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Citation
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Leader (1850-1860), Oct. 27, 1855, page 11, in the Nineteenth-Century Serials Edition (2008; 2018) ncse2.kdl.kcl.ac.uk/periodicals/l/issues/cld_27101855/page/11/
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