Rensselaer Gazette, Volume 2, Number 35, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 22 December 1858 — The Island of Cuba. [ARTICLE]

The Island of Cuba.

The interest taken at the pir .-mt time i., ifiis • , tropical ishmd, mid it- pro.vimit.v. m .. comm- r- ; io .1 relation to the (. i.i: States, sae-p stT ia : bri-u i-et'.ir.mc.j tail., -:,r.' ,mt v.ihm atm cui.-lj- ; lion. Its future Ce'stiuv i- so mmar.-uilv tiaoe”- ; tain, it m-iy be well to record historically itis ! present status among (ue Islands and people .ii ! tile earth. Cuba is the largest and most impoita’it of ti;p ' ' M est liidia Islands, and eommmid-i the eutraipdto tin- (.< iff o: .M -xico, whence it has bom: c -i'etu ■ the KeV of th” West Indii ?!. It i-: ; bent 1- ■ hundred miles in length, arid M-venf in-1 r-adtht' and cont-iiiis-altogetli-.-r .'i2,f')7 <?qn.r... • . . b. - ' ing nearly equal in extent to <o--.it ur.t- .. . • ’ ; The c rm-jte. is iieh Ji til: I mi., vc. ■' inm : -i •. ~ r ■ ■ wliien reason it is a fa.'oiite resort fur i.:,.iinl-;. ■ lee is of rare occurrence, and tlie s. -.suns me; : not distinguished as summer xui: v.'iim -. I.:,; ; tii.- v.' -l and the dry. thougii J_i;e u -r. .. at x;:.. iii they in g.n unu end are T'l” rainy ■ ■■•-oil Commiml;,' b>-gi; . io M i ', but ; ; sinni-time-j in April, and oeeusionuily not until ; J an.'. j The soil is abundantly and licnly fertile, but ■ i« not cultivated up to its iullest uapacitv, ow-j , mg to the iiiuoi-uee or lii-jiflercuec of its iuiiubi-;! i tautu. The chief agricultural productions are) 1 sugar, cotb-e, tobacco, nianioc and tuai’?. The : i work on the plantations is done almost < xmu- ; ; i-ively by n. groes, whose eonaition .s fur worse . than that of the slaves of the t.’-nlted Stales-. The piqml i.ioti is niad - up of c-'eofes ;:,,d lie- i groes, the hittm- forming about •one-t!iird. The I ; creoies, like their nnces'brs, are intelligent mit ; indolent; the negroes are not allowed to be i ' either. | There are In tile island several cxceilr.mtcop- ; per, iron and coni mines, which would be very [ productive :f well worked, tfmiili quantities of < - gold and silver have ilso been found, .'■mce tin- ; introduction of bees, between sixtv ami mv.-nt . years ago, honey and wax have been important ‘ articles us iradc. Maiinfae tures have been much ; ; neglected. The island Is divid d into several jurisdiction . ; ■ civil, judici-J, eceiesiasticui and military. The 1 civil jurisdiction consists of two province’, with i i two distinct Governor:, cmirci“ iudeponuent of! 'each other, thfc supreme military chief oi the j | whole island, w.jth the title, of Cupi.uin General, ' j being the civil Governor et one province u;:iv,j c iil- d S.ui Christopher de fa Max mi; , while th: i Other, Suntiago <!-. Cuba, has a separate Gove: ; i nor, who in utf drs purely ci .-il or pi.i'tieul, is not; ; Hi any way subject io the Cautaia GtmonL. ■ The trade o' the island is exiieileni. Ihe eit- : ; nation, the fertrity of the «o:i, and t!w short cis- ’ ; tanee, not mor? than thfrtv miles, from auvi ‘ point in tlie interior to the sea-shore, ail t.-nu toi i give it great commercial prosperity; and, if the ‘ : many injurious restraints now imposed upon itsi : trade were removed, it would luiqncsl junabiv . | soon become one of the richest eputs In th ■! world.— Cincinnati Times.