sen as such, being the one inviolable law of
their union. The romance of the sea owes its most startling chapters
to the career of these pirates. Sometimes their principal rendezvous
was at the Isle of Pines; at others further north among the Bahamas,
Nassau being one of their favorite resorts.

In the mean time, under numerous and often changed Captains-General,
the island of Cuba increased in population by free emigration from
Spain, and by the constant importations of slaves from Africa. It may
be said to have been governed by a military despotism from the very
outset to the present time; and nothing short of such an arbitrary
rule could maintain the connection between the island and so exacting
a mother country, more than three thousand miles across the ocean.
Accordingly we find the Captain-General invested with unlimited power.
He is in fact a viceroy appointed by the crown of Spain, and
accountable only to the reigning sovereign for his administration of
the colony. His rule is absolute. He has the power of life and death
in his hands. He can by his arbitrary will send into exile any person
who resides in the island whom he considers inimical to the interests
of the home government. Of the exercise of this power instances are
constantly occurring, as in the case of the editor of the "Revista
Economica," already recorded. He can at will suspend the operation of
the laws and ordinances, can destroy or confiscate property, and in
short, the island may be said to be in a perpetual state of siege.

Such is the infirmity of human nature that few individuals can be
safely trusted with despotic power; accordingly we find no
Captain-General whose administration will bear the test of rigid
examination. Indeed, the venality of a majority of these officials
has been so gross as to have passed into a proverb. It is not to be
expected that officers from Spain should consult the true interests of
the Cubans; they are not sent hither for that purpose, but merely to
look after the revenue of the crown, and to swell it to the very
uttermost. The office of Governor-General is of course a brilliant
prize, for which there are plenty of aspirants eagerly struggling,
while the means by which a candidate is most likely to succeed in
obtaining the appointment presupposes a character of an inferior
order. This official knows that he cannot count on a long term of
office, and hence he makes no effort to study the interests or gain
the go