The Cubans, the descendants of Spaniards, have inherited the Spanish tendency to anarchy. When the army in Spain--as was of almost yearly occurrence, earlier in this present century--made a Pronunciamento, their Cuban brethren forthwith raised an insurrection, on some pretext or another, of their own; and, as M. Charles Benoit says in his deeply interesting work, _L'Espagne, Cuba, et les Etats-Unis_, "this natural tendency on the part of the Spanish population in Cuba has been, if anything, augmented by the influx of emigrants from all parts of the world, who have brought with them all kinds of ideas and theories on the subjects of morals and politics, and have thereby rendered the existing confusion tenfold greater than in the good old times, when there were only Cubans--that is to say, Spanish and negroes--on the island, and everybody thought more or less alike." For all this, deep in his heart the Cuban retains an intense love of the mother country,--a passionate affection, indeed, which, should the Americans be victorious in the present war, may eventually cause them considerable trouble. In spite of the high sounding but empty title of "Faithful Cuba," bestowed on her generous island sons, Spain subtly reverted to her old methods, and used their country as a sort of conquered El Dorado, the quickly developed resources of which she was determined to turn to her selfish account, regardless of possible consequences. The Cubans, however, who had learnt many things since the opening of the century, soon showed a distinct disinclination to submit to this process. The era of prosperity already alluded to had attracted numbers of emigrants to the island, from every quarter of the world,--more especially from the United States; and constant contact with different races and varied religions, added to the influence of the secret societies previously mentioned (which had by this time become both wealthy and flourishing), soon made their impression upon the better educated and more intelligent classes, and therefore upon the masses, who, losing that extreme respect for religious authority, ordinarily so characteristic of the Spanish race, learnt to despise a feeble Government, which openly used its clergy for its own ends and purposes.