ld receive four or five thousand
dollars. During his absence, the landing of slaves is of course
effected; and when the authorities hear of the transaction, and
reprimand el Capitan de Partido for his want of vigilance, the latter
exonerates himself by explaining how he was unfortunately absent from
his post within the very date of the embarkation.

This is a topic of passing interest to the American people, while it
affords the _Trigger_ a text for a number of 'telling' articles relative
to slave-emancipation, in which an appeal is made to the American
Congress on the expediency of taking the colony in hand.

Many other important events transpire while I am fulfilling my duties of
correspondent to the _New York Trigger_.

Prominent among these, is the return from Santo Domingo of the Spanish
army after another unsuccessful attempt to establish a footing in that
island. In order to assure the people of Cuba that the campaign has been
attended with 'glorious' results, a public fiesta in honour of the
return of General Gandarias and his followers is celebrated in our town.
The streets are gaily decorated, and a certain cannon, which had been
captured in Montecristo by the Spaniards, is wheeled on a cart through
the streets, followed by a procession of soldiers and a band of music.
This cannon--which is a heavy-looking, unserviceable weapon of the
old-fashioned calibre--is made much of by everybody, and finally a niche
is built in a wall of the cathedral, and the 'canon de Montecristo,' as
it is henceforth derisively termed by the Cubans, is deposited in this
niche with a railing before it, and an inscription above, in which the
people of Cuba are reminded of the 'glorious campaign of Santo Domingo.'

Shortly after the appearance of the canon de Montecristo, some vessels
of war from the seat of hostilities arrive with a vast cargo of sick and
wounded Spaniards. 'The Loyal and Ever-faithful' inhabitants of Santiago
meet them on board, and some volunteer to convey the infirm soldiers to
the hospitals in town. Nicasio and I are pressed into this service by
our good friend Doctor Francisco, who is the head medical officer of the
garrison. Each soldier, as he is landed, is placed on a canvas
stretcher, provided with a couple of stout poles, and in this manner he
is borne on the shoulders of four volunteers. When all have safely
disembarked, a procession is formed, and headed by a band of music, we
march slowly through the st