Northern Times.
Liverpool, Merseyside, England, 1859-02-08 00:00:00

AMERICAN AFFAIRS.

PROM OUR OWN CORRESPONDENT.

THE 4UBA ANNEXATION QUESTION : ITS. COM-
PLEXION AS A PARTY MOVEMENT ; ITS VALUE
IN THE CONTEST FOR TILE PRESIDENCY. NEG-
LECT OF THE SUBSTANTIAL INTERESTS OF THE
UNION : INCREASE OF THE NATIONAL DEBT ;
APPREHENDED FINANCIAL EMBARRASSMENT.
AMERICAN POSTAL SYSTEM.: SACRIFICED TO
PARTY OBJECTS; THE OCEAN MAIL STEAMERS;
MONOPOLY OF THE FOREIGN POSTAL SERVICE
• BY THE ENGLISH COMPANIES. BUILDING OF
'GUN-BOATS FOR RUSSIA. •DULNESS IN THE
FASHIONABLE WORLD: THE BALI. TO LORD
AND LADY NAPIER.
The Cuban question, whether in or out of Con-
gress, is throwing every thing else into the shade.
The bill appropriating the thirty millions for the
purchase of the island has now been fully dis-
cussed, and will be made law ere this meets the
eyes of your readers. Now, a question has arisen
as to the conduct of Spain under the course that
.is thus being pursued. The Spanish Prime
Minister, it appears, considered the very propo-
sition of it so audacious that, as he told the Cortes,
he was ." disposed to demand satisfaction for
such an insult." What, then, will he say, or,
rather, what will he do, when he find.:
that Congress has actually voted the money
for the acquisition of this important territory of
Spain The Spanish Minister at Washington is
already threatening to demand his release, and to
take his departure, if the Bill passes—which, as I
have already said, it is certain to do. Many re-
gard this as a bit of bravado: But one would
scarcely wonder at it, under the circumstances. If
the head of his Government regarded even the
suggestion of such a proceeding on the part of
Congress as an insult demanding satisfaction,
surely their Ambassador on the spot. where the
insult is offered can scarcely be expected to remain
in his present position. But we shall see.
The exciting question, as put before the country
by the President, and taken up in Congress, is pro-
ducing a great sensation all throughout the Union.
It is certainly a popular one, from various causes,
and no doubt a good deal of political capital will
be made out of it.. There is something grand, is
the general feeling, in extending far and wide the
dominion of the " stars and stripes,"—not only in
compassing the vast expanse of country from the
Atlantic to the Pacific, but even "the isles of the sea"
also. It ministers to the national pride, moreover,
to be wresting one possession after another from
any of the old monarchies of Europe. Then there
are the commercial considerations. Cuba is a rich
and fertile island, and under a more vigorous deve-
lopment of its valuable resources might prove a
mine of wealth to the Americans. Its geographical
position, too, it is perceived, is most important to
American interests, giving complete possession,
as in time it would, of the Caribbean Sea, and
strengthening American influences as respects both
Central and South America ; for the course of
annexation" would not terminate at Cuba.
Hayti would be got hold of next, and then one by
one, the rest of the Caribbean Isles, if not ulti-
mately, the Bahamas also. The worst of it is, as
regards the political interests of the States, that
it is made a party question. By the Press it is
taken up mainly as such. " Our democratic con-
temporaries perceive," says an influential journal
in that interest, " that this movement has created
a prodigious sensation of alarm among the organs
of the republican camp, and cannot fail to see that
it is only necessary for the democracy in Congress,
and the party press all over the country, to stand
firmly together upon the Cuba movement, in order
to reunite and consolidate the party." And this
reunion and consolidation is immediately wanted
for the coming contest of the Presidency.
This fact of the case has, of course, its separate
character. It has little or nothing to do with the
merits of the Cuban question, of themselves. The
chief, if not the only concern here is its popularity ;
and its influence therefrom on the public mind for
the nonce. It is already broadly stated, for instance,
that " the democracy, upon the Cuba question
have the game of the next Presidency in their
hands, and to secure it they have only to play the
trump card of the Thirty Million bill, and follow
up the movements of the administration under the
authority of these thirty millions. Pass the bill,
and it will not be long, we dare say, before the
question will be developed, through Mr.
Buchanan's negociations, into a shape which,
without involving the contingencies of war, will
command the re-organisation of parties through-
out the country. But in default of this bold and
dashing movement for Cuba, the democracy will
remain as they are—enfeebled, distracted, divided,
and at the mercy of the winds and waves. Should
the leaders of the party thus go back from the
present Congress, among the people, they will
return at the next session to find themselves sub-
ject, most likely, to the decrees of an opposition
majority in the House."
Such are the political calculations=such the
party excitements, that are deduced from this
question. Its equity, its justice, its propriety, its
policy (of itself), or even its practicability without
incurring the risk of war—all this, or any of it, is
not considered; but only to being a "bold,
and dashing movement for Cuba," which will
" command the re-organisation of parties through-
out the country !" This is the be-all and the end-
all, apparently, of a proposition which may not
improbably involve the union is a fearful conflict
with more than one European Power. They cal-
culate, as they tell us, that " from the democratic
camp and the republican camp there is now a vast
amount of loose materials among the voters of the
country, which may be fused into the democratic
party upon the Cuba movement, but which, in
default of some such tpopular experiment, may fall
into the opposition lines." Such, then, is the
miserable party-coloured character of this " Cuba
movement,' 'to which even the President has not
scrupled to lend himself !
In the midst of this wretched party manoeuv-
ring, the substantial interests of the Union appear
to be in imminent danger of being sacrificed, The
Presidency of Mr. Buchanan seems likely to turn
out a most extravagant one,—and principally, if
not wholly, for the reason, that so much has had
to be paid, in considerations of one, kind or another,
first for its attainment, and next for its support.
We are told, .for instance, by one of its organs of
the Press, that " the national debt has been ex-
panded from twenty-five to some sixty-five millions
of dollars. Twenty to thirty millions more will
be needed for the regular federal expenses of the
ensuing fiscal year ; and then there is the thirty
millions bill for the purchase of Cuba, the Pacific
Railroad bill, and the Executive recommendations
for ten additional war steamers, and for a military
protectorate over the northern provinces of Mexico,
and the bill pending in the Senate, giving the
President certain discretionary powers of peace
or war in reference to Central American affairs ;
and in the House, the French Spoliation bill of five
millions. There are, also, various other things
calling for money—money—for thousands of
millions of money—with the certainty of a
hundred millions on the wrong side of the
books, and not a dollar in the Treasury."
This, one would think, was a state of financial
pressure and embarrassment to serious too be trifled
with, and quite sufficient to require a concentration
of Governmental and Congressional attention to it,
without the distractions of schemes for further
acquisitions of territory. And so, no doubt, it
would, but for this perpetual party warfare—
these constantly recurring contests for the Chief
Magistracy of the Repuliiie. The certainty of a
hundred millions on the wrong side, might well
make them pause. Yet, so far, it does not seem to
have any such effect. Far-seeing and calmly
calculating persons, however, are not without their
apprehensions of very serious financial em-
barrassment at no very distant day.
A great practical object like that of
of
Communication, in this continual raging of party
conflict, can scarcely be expected to secure much
care or concern. The Postal system generally
throughout the States remains unimproved. :How
" can it be otherwise, when all the Post Offices of
the land, from Maine to California, are objects of
constant political contest, and change ? The