Show A nynrcwuMp ON CUBAN AUTONOMY The New York Evening Post has never been considered as friendly to the Cubans in fact it has been generally gener-ally regarded as antiCuban hence it is that its comments on the scheme of Cuban autonomy have an interest above those of many papers It comments com-ments on the new home rule constitution constitu-tion for Cuba the full Spanish text now having been received in this country coun-try in part as follows I A defect or danger in the form of this grant of autonomy at once confronts con-fronts the reader It is made by royal I decree bearing date Nov 25 1897 This is a legal procedure when the cortes are not sitting but it requires the subsequent sub-sequent approval of the cortes But this approval may not be given and then the whole edifice would fall to the ground This peril is recognized in the expository portion of the document when Prime Minister Sagasta regrets the necessity of resorting to the royal decree but expresses the hope that public opinion will support him and that the sanction of the cortes will be given in due time If the plan works well if the Liberals can keep their heads above water the sanction will no doubt be forthcoming when the I cortes are summoned but if not not It would also appear that the cortes retain the right at any time to repeal or amend the Cuban constitution at I their own pleasure At the outset therefore one sees how far the grant of home rule to Cuba is from being se I cure and unconditional It is in fact I very much like our boasted home rule in New York Citysubject to constant 1 interference of even absolute repeal by the legislature I Nor can one read far in the provisions I of the decree without seeing that the sovereignity of Spain in Cuba is intended in-tended to mean something widely different I dif-ferent from the sovereignity of England Eng-land in Canada It is to be not only an acknowledged sovereignty but an I active and controlling sovereignty I I This is in truth frankly avowed by I Sagasta His first concern he declares I has been to draw a constitution which should affirm and strengthen the bond of sovereignty The central i I authority he adds has been in nowise i no-wise lessened or weakened Inspection i Inspec-tion of the chapters relating to the 1 colonial legislature judiciary and I finance will show that this confidence is not misplaced S S S S SIn S-In the face of these critical features of the home rule scheme for Cuba it is useless to discuss the amount of local control of local affairs that reality is given or seems to be given The j I great essentials of government are kept strictly within the grasp of Spain the rest may be a pretty I plaything but it does not count Senor Moret the minister for the colonies who is supposed to have drawn this Cuban constitution is a man who has lived in England and has made a study of English colonial legislation References to British examples of colonial government appear in the expository ex-pository part of his work But he puts aside English models in favor of a form which is characteristic of the system of Spain There is his fatal vice Despite what he himself calls the immense calamities inmensas tristezas of our colonial history he adheres to the system which has been their chief cause and offers a form of autonomy which even if put forward in perfect good faith even if operated with the best intentions could prove only a mockers and a source of fresh disaster to the Cubans When so prominent a Mugwump paper pa-per as the Post malces such admissions as these all may be satisfied that the scheme of Cuban autonomy is nothing I but a Dead Sea apple In the Spanish language autonomy is nothing but a synonym for tyranny In Spain there is a form of constitutional constitu-tional and parliamentary government but it is form without substance Spanish sovereignty is to be maintained main-tained over the island And what does sovereignty in Spain mean The divine di-vine right of the king and Spanish sovereignty in Cuba means the same thing For the Cubans to accept the proffered autonomy would be for them to acquiesce in Spanish rule as it Is with slight and unimportant modifications modifica-tions It would seem that things must become worse in Cuba before they can become better |