The author, a niece of the Conde de Casa Montalvo, who was identified with the great revival of civic spirit during the administration of Governor Las Casas, also limns a rather discouraging picture of the state of education in the island, saying that in the year 1792, Havana had only one grammar school, of which the mulatto Melendez was the teacher, and that up to the year 1793 girls were forbidden to learn to read. So thoroughly familiar was the author with the political and economic conditions of Cuba, and closely associated with the men, whose energy, integrity and patriotic ambition ushered in that wonderful era of progress, that the three volumes of her work, consisting of letters to Chateaubriand, George Sand, Baron Rothschild, and others are full of valuable information presented in a most fascinating manner. [Illustration: DON LUIS DE LAS CASAS] The historian Valdes is not far from right, when he calls the history of Cuba, as compared with that of other countries, _nuestra pequena historia_--our little history. But that little history contains more than one great epoch and its biography more than one figure that stands out with something like sovereign impressiveness from the many names which it records. The administration of D. Luis de Las Casas is such an epoch, and he is such a man. Born in the village of Sapuerta in Viscaya, his was a picturesque career. He had embraced the military profession and been on the battlefields of Villaflor and Almeida; in Portugal he attracted the attention of Count O'Reilly, who took him on the expedition to Louisiana, where he was sergeant-mayor of New Orleans. On his return to Spain, he solicited permission to go to Russia and served under the flag of Marshal Romanzow, distinguishing himself in the campaign waged by the empress. Then he studied the science of government in Paris; but as soon as Spain was once more engaged in war, he joined the expedition of O'Reilly against Argel. His conduct at the capture of Minorca earned for him the title of Field Marshal and Commandant-General of Oran. He also took a gallant part in the unfortunate attempt to recover Gibraltar. On being appointed to the governorship of Cuba, he arrived in Havana the eighth of July, 1796, and on the following day took charge of his office.