e state of Europe now, without seeing that the
rapidity of communication by steam and electricity has tended to add to
the efficiency of the central power of the Roman Catholic Church, and to
the efficacy and extent of its discipline. Cuba has begun to feel these
effects. Whether they have yet reached the interior, or the towns
generally, I do not know; but the concurrent testimony of all classes
satisfied me that a considerable change has been effected in Havana. The
instrumentalities which that church brings to bear in such cases, are in
operation: frequent preaching, and stricter discipline of confession and
communion. The most marked result is in the number of men, and men of
character and weight, who have become earnest in the use of these means.
Much of this must be attributed, no doubt, to the Jesuits; but how long
they will be permitted to remain here, and what will be the permanent
effects of the movement, I cannot, of course, conjecture.

I do not enter into the old field of contest. "We care not," says one
side, "which be cause and which effect;--whether the people are Papists,
because they are what they are, or are as they are because they are
Papists. It is enough that the two things coexist." The other side
replies that no Protestant institutions have ever yet been tried for any
length of time, and to any large extent, with southern races, in a
tropical climate; and the question--what would be their influence, and
what the effect of surrounding causes upon them, lies altogether in the
region of conjecture, or, at best, of faith.

Of the moral habits of the clergy, as of the people, at the present
time, I am entirely unable to judge. I saw very little that indicated
the existence of any vices whatever among the people. Five minutes of a
street view of London by night, exhibits more vice, to the casual
observer, than all Havana for a year. I do not mean to say that the
social morals of the Cubans are good, or are bad; I only mean to say
that I am not a judge of the question.

The most striking indication of the want of religious control is the
disregard of the Lord's Day. All business seems to go on as usual,
unless it be in the public offices. The chain-gang works in the streets,
under public officers. House-building and mechanic trades go on
uninterrupted; and the shops are more active than ever. The churches, to
be sure, are open and well filled in the morning; and I do not refer to
amusements and recre