t a permit signed by the captain-general. As
this was the prominent object of the Frenchman's visit to the island,
and as he was really a professional artist sketching for
self-improvement, he succeeded, after a while, in convincing the
authorities of these facts, and he was then, as a great favor, supplied
with a permit (for which he was compelled to pay an exorbitant fee),
which guaranteed to him the privilege of sketching, with certain
restrictions as to fortifications, military posts, and harbor views; the
same, however, to expire after ninety days from the date.

The great value and wealth of the island has been kept comparatively
secret by this Japan-like watchfulness; and hence, too, the great lack
of reliable information, statistical or otherwise, relating to its
interests, commerce, products, population, modes and rates of taxation,
etc. Jealous to the very last degree relative to the possession of Cuba,
the home government has exhausted its ingenuity in devising restrictions
upon its inhabitants; while, with a spirit of avarice also goaded on by
necessity, it has yearly added to the burthen of taxation upon the
people to an unparalleled extent. The cord _may_ be severed, and the
overstrained bow will spring back to its native and upright position!
The Cubans are patient and long-suffering, that is sufficiently obvious
to all; and yet Spain may break the camel's back by one more feather!

The policy that has suppressed all statistical information, all
historical record of the island, all accounts of its current prosperity
and growth, is a most short-sighted one, and as unavailing in its
purpose as it would be to endeavor to keep secret the diurnal
revolutions of the earth. No official public chart of the harbor of
Havana has ever been issued by the Spanish government, no maps of it
given by the home government as authentic; they would draw a screen over
this tropical jewel, lest its dazzling brightness should tempt the
cupidity of some other nation. All this effort at secrecy is little
better than childishness on their part, since it is impossible, with all
their precautions, to keep these matters secret. It is well known that
our war department at Washington contains faithful sectional and
complete drawings of every important fortification in Cuba, and even the
most reliable charts and soundings of its harbors, bays and seaboard
generally.

The political condition of Cuba is precisely what might be expected