the date of the
circular,"--that of the Bishop of Havana to the curates of the island,
by the authority of the captain-general.

"The captain-general," says the same authority, "is now exerting his
influence for the admission of blacks into the university, to prepare
them for clerical orders. Should this system be adopted, I fear it will
lead to bad consequences. It will, of course, be strenuously opposed.
The indignation of the Creoles has been difficult to restrain,--at which
you cannot be surprised, when their daughters, wives and sisters, are
daily insulted, particularly by those in uniform. I fear a collision may
take place. If once commenced, it will be terrific."

The decree authorizing the celebration of marriages between blacks and
whites has probably produced more indignation among the Creoles than any
other official acts of the captain-general. It was directed to the
bishop in the form of a circular, and issued on the 22d of May. On the
29th of the same month, the bishop transmitted copies of it to all the
curates within his jurisdiction; and, as we have seen, many of these
incongruous marriages have been already solemnized. Notwithstanding
these notorious and well-authenticated facts, the official organ of the
government, the _Diario de la Marina_, had the effrontery to publish a
denial of the transaction, asserting it to be mere idle gossip, without
the slightest foundation, and ridiculing the idea in a tone of levity
and _persiflage_.

This may teach us how little dependence is to be placed on the
declarations of the Spanish officials; and we shall be prepared to
receive with incredulity the denial, in the name of the queen, of the
existence of a treaty with England, having for its base the abolition of
slavery, as a reward for British aid in preserving Cuba to Spain. The
captain-general says that she relies not on foreign aid to maintain her
rights, but on her powerful "navy and disciplined army; on the loyalty
of the very immense (_inmensisima_) majority of her vigorous native
citizens (Creoles); on the strength imparted to the good by the defence
of their hearths, their laws and their God; and on the hurricanes and
yellow fever for the enemy."

"Here," writes a Cuban gentleman, commenting on the above declaration,
"we must make a pause, and remark, _en passant_, that the name of her
majesty thus invoked, far from giving force to the denial, weakens it
greatly; for we all know the value of the royal