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INSURRECTION IN CUBA.
Says a Havana letter Spanish affairs in Cnba
are in a desperate strait, and before January the
insurgents oxpcct to strike a blow that will se
cure their independence. Tho reinforcements of
soldiers lately arrived are in a wretched condi
tion to attempt a canipuign against acclimated
soldiers. Most of them have no interest at stake
in coming to Cuba, preferring to rem iin in Spain
and take part in the civil war thnt harasses that
country, as their interests and their homes are
there. Tho soldiers are badly fed. Theirclotb-
ing and arms are good and sufficient, hut tlio food
that was adapted to their constitution and for
their, nourishment in Spain is totally unlit for
them in their new quarters. Again, the majority
of these men that are seut out to Havana are
desperadoes, cut-throats and swash bucklers of
the regular nnny. Thero are hundreds of them
in Cuba that are under constant surveillance by
their own commniiders, who regard them dis
trustfully. in every skirmish that lakes placo a
great many of them go over to tho insurgents,
prcferring'tho country und guerilla lifo to being
immured in wooden martcllo towers, or between
the damp walls of sickly towns lull of pestilence.
Spnin, in concentrating her Wast Indian squad
ron in Spanish waters, is merely a chained
dog that sbowa its teeth to outside dogs not
chained, in hopes that this will intimidate ;
hut let tho outside clement attack, and it would
be ber policy to retire into ber stronghold,
where she would bo in a manner impregnable.
It. is said on authority that in 48 hours,
sliould unpleasant complications occur with tlio
United States, not a single harbor in the whole
island would be safe to entor. Tho Spaniards
have been preparing themselves for these aiuer-
gaicies for a Jong time. The United States, on
ber part, is assisting tbom ns much as possible by
furnishing tlioin with the war material. Carlos
Gtrcia, the insurgent leader, has been in Havana
seroral times during tho last month, but ho is
never more than 14 or 15 miles outside the city
finite. At any rate, Connt Valmcsedn does not
caie to reside in his country residenco any longer,
preferring the palace. General Concha and
Brigadier Lloreut narrowly escaped assassination
about a year ago. That was attributed to parties
in Havana, but. Calixto knows who was at tbe
bottom of it. Garcia has (destroyed a great
; liw.ll vi jjtwpoit/y bofciui btuui i vuihgfc3
besides, amongst them Gunnabacon, the
lattir of considerable importance, and
not | quito a league from Havana. The
flames were distinctly seen from the roof of the
ilotel Sau Carlos in Havana, and his staff con-
tii»it to give tho Spanish ambulance corps plenty
of ivcrk to do in taking care of and looking after
the vonnJed, Tbo Spanish losses cannot bo
sliort'of 10 0 a day. Hundreds of persons have
been Incarcerated in tbo last 60 days, many of
them iecretly murdered, not alone by the bullet,
hut by. starvation and drowniug, for their bodies
have jeen found in the hays and rivers and
lagunas. The dungeons beneath the Aloro, sup
posed to hold 1600 prisoners, are crowded to re
pletion. The common prison opposite tho Aforo,
and in full view of the Captain-General's palace,
is also. The bead-quarters of tbe Chief of Police
ditto, with the exception that an oxtremely
wealthy class are held here just so long as
they can jay three or four doub-
loons a day to prevent their being sent
to the Cabraas and death. Suspected
people— and evtrybody is suspected now— cannot
leave the island without paying the ransom of a
slave to somo official with influence at court to
get him off. Co grumble at their mandates
means coufiscntim, if nothing worse. It is the
same thing all o'er the island. There is no need
to particularise ono individual town or city.
They are nil pristners, and the Spanish authori
ties their gaolen. Dead, they are pitched into
trenches, Alcn lave lost their toes nnd fingcis to
prevent their serving in tbo rebel service. Men
suspected of conveying information have lost
their tongues — tan from their mouths. Women
have been violatid, without regard to age or con
dition, by officeiv, then given over to the savage
brutality of a solliery notoriously licentious, and
then left to die. Others bare been suspended hy
the ankles— head downward, and a slow fire ap
plied under ther heads, have been slowly Rut
surely driven mid with tho heat, and then left
to die.
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