e class whose money is thus employed. If they bring one cargo
out of three to the Havannah, they have, it is said, a profit on the
transaction; but at the same time it is not likely to put the
slave-dealing Dons in particularly good humour to hear of the other two
having been walked off by British cruisers. On the contrary, they curse
the meddling Ingleses, who having, they say, cut off their own tail by
emancipating their negroes, now, like the fox in the fable, wish to
persuade, or, if necessary, to compel all their neighbours to follow their
example.

The English resident is enthusiastic on the subject of slave emancipation,
and gives us a lively account of some arguments he maintained on the
subject with sundry Gaditano slave-dealers, the result of which was, of
course, that each party remained precisely of the same opinion as before.
The abstract philanthropy of English legislation on that question cannot
be doubted; and it is to be hoped that the course adopted may eventually
prove beneficial to humanity, although it seems very doubtful whether such
has as yet been the case. Meanwhile, there is small credit given to us for
disinterestedness by foreigners, who, in our resolute opposition to the
slave-traffic, are determined to see nothing but a wish to harass their
commerce, injure their colonies, and insure our dominion of the seas.

Under the favouring auspices of that poor creature, Leopold O'Donnel, who
distinguished himself during the War of Succession by the skill with which
he managed to get beaten by the Carlists on nearly every possible
occasion, and who now occupies the important post of Governor of
Cuba--under his auspices the slave-trade is flourishing with renewed
vigour. Slaves, we are told, can now be legally imported into Cuba upon
payment of the governor's fee of twenty-five dollars per head, and "_la
traite_ has seldom, of late years, been more successful than under the
rule of this governor." One of the most striking chapters of the book
before us is the one on colonial slavery, in which some curious details
are given concerning the recent conspiracy of Matanzas. This outbreak,
like all others that occur in the Spanish West Indies, was most falsely
laid at the door of the English by the whole Spanish press. "It was
directed," said they, "by a committee of five members. Placido was
president, two of the other four were mulattoes, _and two Englishmen_.
This latter circumstance is worthy of note." "