ies,
and fortunes of all are held at the will of a single individual, who
acknowledges fealty only to a nominal ruler more than three thousand
miles across the sea.

In close proximity to a country where the taxes are self-imposed and
so light as to be almost unfelt is one where each free family pays
over five hundred dollars per annum, directly and indirectly, for the
support of a system of bigoted tyranny, scarcely equaled
elsewhere,--forming an aggregate sum of over twenty-six millions of
dollars. For all this extortion no equivalent is received. No
representation, no utterance, for tongue or pen are alike proscribed;
no share of public honors, no office, no emolument. The industry of
the people is crippled, their intercourse with other nations is
hampered in every conceivable manner, and every liberal aspiration of
the human soul stifled in its birth. Can good morals and Christian
lives be expected of a people who are so down-trodden?

Salubrious in climate, varied in production, and most fortunately
situated for commerce, there must yet be a grand future in store for
Cuba. Washed by the Gulf Stream on half her border, while the
Mississippi pours out its riches on one side and the Amazon on the
other, her home is naturally within our own constellation of stars,
and some of those who read these pages may live to see such a
consummation.

End of the Project Gutenberg EBook of Due South or Cuba Past and Present, by
Maturin M. Ballou

*** END OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK DUE SOUTH OR CUBA PAST AND PRESENT ***

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