tainous country, embracing about 120 square miles, which would almost seem to have been intended by nature to form a vast and powerful stronghold. This tract of country is held by some 2,000 men, mostly armed with breech-loading rifles, under the command of General Perez, who, while speaking of his strategic points there, told me that in the course of eight months the Spaniards had attacked him eleven times, and as many times had been easily driven back with heavy losses, the last occasion being the morning of the day of my arrival at his headquarters. He added that the aggregate loss sustained by the enemy in consequence of the attacks referred to was from 700 to 800 men killed and wounded, while there was comparatively little loss on the side of the Cubans. This account may seem exaggerated in the eyes of persons unacquainted with the nature of the ground, but I see no reason to doubt that it is correct, having myself seen the hardy Cubans, rifle in hand, springing from rock to rock, or leaping across steep ravines, where the enemy, as they remarked to me, was utterly helpless to engage them successfully. The patriots are so strongly posted on their mountain fastnesses of Eastern Cuba, that they can well afford to defy the whole power of Spain to conquer them, and therefore any assaults made upon them there must end as those mentioned have done. They are extremely self-reliant and confident of success.' The writer in the Times' having spoken of the calamities 'by which two-thirds of the island have been laid desolate,' thus proceeds : 'Havannah is the centre of an extensive net of railways-about 500 miles, as I am told-opening an easy and tolerably safe way of communication with Matanzas, Cardenas, and Sagua la Grande on the northern coast, with Villa-clara in the centre, and with Cienfuegos on the southern coast. Even on some of these lines trains do not ply without military escort; but beyond the boundary marked by Sagua la Grande on the north, and Cienfuegos on the south, there is a vast debatable ground in which the insurrection can run riot, threatening now this now that town, ravaging now one now another district, shifting its quarters according as it can hope to find the means of subsistence, avoiding encounters, and escaping pursuit by withdrawing to its recesses of impervious forests or inaccessible mountains. The war which the troops wage against the insurgent bands, owing to the extreme heat and unhealthiness of the climate, is only practicable in the winter months, between December and April. The insurrection which first broke out four years ago in the neighbourhood of Bayamo, in the Eastern Department, spread more lately into the districts of the "Cinco Villas" or Five Towns of the Central Department, and seems now, again, to have shifted its ground to the extreme east of the island, to the Valley of Guantanamo, in the territory of Santiago de Cuba, in the region of montes desiertos and terrenos incultos, where the mountain crest rises up not unfrequently to a height of 6,000 and even 8,000 feet above the level of the sea.' In another letter, also written in the present year, the same correspondent stated that the forces of the insurgents were fixed by their sympathisers at 15,000 strong; whilst the government officials admitted a total of 8,000 or 9,000. The same writer adds, that the true strength of the insurrection lies in the latent insurgents,' not openly in arms, of whom 150,000 are scattered in Havannah and the other cities.' In concluding our notice of the sanguinary struggle which has so long devastated this unhappy island we may be permitted some reflections upon the possible future of the colony. The patriot party has set before itself two objects either of which it is desirous of attaining. These are independence, or annexation to the United States. We cannot help being driven to the conviction that either would be a misfortune for Cuba. Its wealth, and the facilities it offers to the descent of filibustering expeditions-facilities so frequently exemplified throughout its history-would, there is every reason to believe, expose it, if it ever attained independence, to the fate of falling into the anarchic condition of Mexico and other Spanish-American republics. Every dissatisfied politician, every defeated leader, would find himself in a position to follow the example of his neighbours and cousins on the mainland: indeed the geographical circumstances of this island, and the smallness of its population, would greatly facilitate such a proceeding. Horrible as is the spectacle which Cuba presents at present, we may well doubt if it be not less so than that which, there is at least fair reason to believe, would in all probability be its condition when torn by the factions of an independent State. The present state of affairs must terminate before very long. With the example of several South American States before us, we may indeed fail to foresee any limit to the duration of the anarchy of its independence. Nor do we think it would have much to gain by annexation to its powerful neighbour. Differences of religion, of language, of race, of habits and of previous history, would long prevent anything like real coalescence between the two peoples. It is by no means improbable that the commercial prosperity of the island would decline. Let us listen to what M. Duvergier de Hauranne, who declares himself an ardent believer in eventual annexation, has to say on the subject. 'To shake off the Spanish domination is to court American domination, to make the civilisation of the Anglo-Saxon race pass over the ruins of the old colony, and many still recoil from abandoning the nationality of their fathers. The morrow of the annexation of the island to the United States would, say they, see the beginning of an irruption of Barbarians more terrible in its way than that which has disfigured the continent of Europe. Our conquerors have in their turn been conquered by the civilisation of the vanquished; while the Yankee is to the Creoles a civilised barbarian, who will come, armed at all points, to impose on them his language, his religion, his manners, and overwhelm or humiliate the native race. In fifty years English would become, as in Louisiana, the official language; in a hundred, Spanish would have disappeared. This inevitable abasement would not leave the conquered race indifferent; it would no sooner have suffered its hands to be bound than it would regret its servitude.' There is a third, and as we deem it a happier, solution of the difficulties of Cuba. We trust that both Spaniards and Cubans may before long be brought to agree to it. That is, the continuance of the island under the dominion of Spain on much the same terms as those existing between our own colonies and the mother-country. Of the advantages to both of such an arrangement we have no doubt. What is now a weakness to Spain would become a source of comfort and of strength; whilst the colony, purified from the taint of slavery, and endowed with that measure of political and commercial freedom to which it has every right, and of which it has pressing need, would retain the protection and alliance of a mothercountry which is still of some importance in the family of nations. The new Federalist Constitution proposed for Spain gives a species of legislative autonomy to the Antilles; Cuba and Porto Rico forming a single province. This promise of self-government to the island is unhappily marred by connecting it with Porto Rico, from which it differs as much as Jamaica does from Barbadoes. Cuba is rich, extensive, and thinly populated. Porto Rico is comparatively small and populous; whilst the number of its slaves does not amount to much more than a tenth of that of the whole population. Still there does seem a gleam of improvement in this first attempt to permit the Cubans to manage their own affairs without interference from the unprincipled adventurers from the mother-country, at whose hands it has suffered so much. The future of Spain itself is yet too dark to draw any inference from the recent progress of events as to their effect upon the state of Cuba; but no one who has had the privilege of visiting that lovely island, of partaking of the hospitality of its inhabitants, and of being impressed by a sight of its riches and its misfortunes, can refrain from expressing a fervent hope that the end of its trials is at hand. ART. V.-1. Report of the Select Committee of the House of Lords on Horses. 1873. 2. Papers on Indian Studs, laid before the House of Commons. 1873. 3. De l'Espèce chevaline en France. Par le Général DE LAMORICIÈRE. 1850. 4. Rapport par le Directeur-Général des Haras (Général Fleury) à l'Empereur. 1863. 5. Atlas statistique de la production des Chevaux en France. 1850. 6. Étude du Cheval de service et de guerre. Par A. RICHARD. 1864. 7. Die Remontirung der Preussischen Armée. Ier Theil, 1845. IIer Theil, 1871. Von G. O. MENTZEL. Zustand der Landeskultur in 8. Jahresbericht über den Preussen für das Jahr 1871. 9. Die Gestüte und Meiereien Sr. Maj. des Königs von Württemberg. Von J. voN HÜGEL. 1862. 10. Vorschläge zur Hebung der Landes-Pferdezucht. Von V. WEDEMEYER-SCHOURADE. Berlin: 1872. 11. Aperçu historique sur les Institutions hippiques de la Russie. Par J. MÖRDER. St. Petersburg: 1868. 12. Vorschläge zur Hebung der Pferdezucht. Von K. ABLEITNER. Wien: 1871. 13. Die landwirthschaftliche Fohlenzucht von Dilg. Wien: 1871. 14. Deutsches Gestütbuch. Berlin: 1872. THE HE list of publications at the head of this article is only a selection from the numerous works which have recently emanated from the printing-presses of Paris, Berlin, Vienna, and St. Petersburg on a subject which has lately engaged the attention of the House of Lords-the supply of horses. It is remarkable that, although the British Isles are pre-eminent in Europe for horse-breeding, and although our countrymen are probably unrivalled for practical skill in all that concerns the rearing and treatment of horses, our literature is singularly deficient, and our statistics are lamentably wanting in all that relates to the raising of the horse. The happy cross produced by some Arab and Barb stallions with English mares has created a distinct type--the thoroughbred racer, who is un rivalled in the world for combined speed and stoutness. But the high-stepping carriage-horse, the trotting roadster, the lady's hack, of our English breeders, are all equally famous in the horse-markets of Europe, and the careful experiments of the French Government, recorded by General de Lamoricière, show that we may place the English cart-horse in the same category. General de Lamoricière states: 'Notwithstanding the broad differences that necessarily exist between the cart-horse breed and horses used for purposes of luxury, the English, who know how to mould nature according to their national wants, have solved the problem; and we lately witnessed at the meeting of the Agricultural Institute at Versailles, working in the same field, with ploughs exactly similar, and under identical conditions, four teams composed as follows: 1. Two Clydesdale mares. 4. Three Boulognese mares. The two Clydesdale mares performed the same task as the other three teams, and did it much quicker. In point of time the teams finished their work in the order indicated above. The Suffolk mares finished much before the Percherons; and between the latter and the Boulognese there was scarcely any difference.' * Yet this European reputation which England has obtained as a horse-breeding country is scarcely a century old. In Queen Anne's reign Holland, Holstein, and Belgium supplied the equipages of the wealthy in the great capitals of Europe with those massive horses that we see depicted on the canvas of Rubens. 'The Gods, to curse Belinda with her prayers, Gave the gilt coach and dappled Flanders mares.' And the annals of the French studs show that in the first half of the last century none of the chevaux de luxe,' which were then imported into France in large numbers, came from England. The same skill, however, which has produced our best types in bullocks, sheep, and pigs, conjoined with the temperate climate and the succulent pastures of England, and still more of Ireland, have succeeded in creating the various breeds of English horses above noticed. This excellence of our horses is now fully appreciated by foreigners. The notable improvement in the studs of France, Germany, and Russia is avowedly owing to the introduction of English blood. De l'Espèce chevaline en France, p. 127. |