Note 9 — Chapter IV · The Beginnings of the Rebellion.

Perhaps it were as well if I here remind the reader that Cuba is ruled by a Governor or Captain-General, whose despotic authority is derived directly from the Crown. He is supreme head of the island's civil, military, and ecclesiastical jurisdiction, and is, surrounded by a crowd of dependents of every degree, beginning with thirty-four lieutenant-governors, who preside over as many cantons or divisions of the island, each of whom, in his turn has a host of underlings. Judicial affairs are in the hands of the "Real Audienca Pretorat or Superine Court." The judicial districts, of which there are twenty-six, are presided over by an Alcalde or Mayor, who has a numerous staff of salaried satellites. The Maritime division of Cuba is subject to a Commander-General, who is at the head of five stations with centres at Havana, Trinidad, San Juan de los Remedios, Matanzos, and Santiago de Cuba. As almost every member of this army of functionaries is Spanish born, and as the Yankees would express it, "on the mash," some idea may be conceived of the waste of public money in the way of salaries, paid to men who, more often than not, have no duties to perform. But it is quite untrue to assert that no Cubans "need apply" when a vacancy occurs in this multitudinous burocracy. Quite the contrary. Many Cubans are in the civil service of the island, but they are powerless to reform abuses, and frequently are even less scrupulous than the Spaniards.