The Sun.
London, England, 1851-09-26 00:00:00

THE CUBAN EXPEDITION.

Now that the expedition has proved only a signal,
and were it not for the blood shed on both sides, we
might say ludicrous failure, the sympathy in the
United States is rapidly vanishing. In fact, the Ame-
ricans appear rather ashamed of the excitement into
which they were betrayed, and, in the meantime,
would gladly forget the whole affair. The Central
Government have dismissed the Collector of Customs at
New Orleans for allowing the Pamperos to sail with
Lopez and his companions, without the usual clearance
papers. In addition, a naval force was ordered to cruise
off the mouth of the Mississippi to interrupt the
departure of any vessels with reinforcements to Lopez.
But although there were from 2,000 to 3,000 men
collected at New Orleans, all professing their eagerness
to set out to join Lopez, the intelligence of his fate
soon rendered them as anxious to remain where they
were. The terrible example made by the Spanish
authorities of the first fifty who were captured, and
the subsequent sufferings of those who outlived that
disaster, only to be shot, starved, or transported to
the dungeons of Old Spain, has bad a salutary effect
even on those reckless spirits who are so ready to
plunge into mischief.
The true sympathy belongs to the Governor and
authorities of Cuba, who, on the whole, have acted
mercifully. On the former attempt they carried their
lenity to an undue extreme, as the sequel proves.
Resolved to avoid that error on this occasion, they
summarily condemned and shot the first fifty prisoners
caught with arms in their hands ; but this exercse of
authority, stern as it was, took place while the
struggle was still pending. Bat no sooner does the
final discomfiture occur than they promise life to all who
would lay down their arms excepting Lopez the
leader, and the cause of all this havoc, who had no
title to mercy. It is said that the American Govern-
ment are employing their good offices with the Cuban
authorities to obtain the freedom of this captive rem-
nant, instead of suffering the same to be sent to the
prisons of Spain. It will be a mere question of
policy with the Cuban Governor whether he yields
to the solicitations of the American Goverment. The
right of the Goverment of Cuba to dispose of those
men in any way must be distinctly recognised.
Their lives have been spared, for, in the circum-
stances, it would have been perfect butchery to have
doomed them to wholesale slaughter ; but should they
be decreed a secondary punishment, no one can legi-
timately censure the Cuban authorities. While the
American citizens have been loud and indignant about
the destruction of the fifty, it seems to be forgotten
that some hundreds of Spanish soldiers, whose lives are
as precious as those of American citizens, have been
killed while only performing their honest duty. Their
sacrifice ought on every consideration to be more de-
plored than that of men who recklessly and criminally
rushed on their fate.

After this lesson, we think there will be no more
buccaneering expeditions against Cuba. No doubt the
Americans are casting rapacious looks on this fair is-
land, now the most valuable remnant of the once exten-
sive colonial dominion of Spain. But Cuba, for all
that, will not drop into the capacious maw of the Re-
public. If its eventual destiny should be to become
one of the American States, the acquisition must
be the work of the Republic at large, and not of
a few hundred desperate men, casting off their
allegiance, and going in defiance of their own Govern-
ment. When that day arrives, France may have some-
thing to say, and England too, for Cuba is not like
Texas or California, outlying territory, having no
political ties which concern the old world. If the Cuba
population (supposing they did not number bond and
tree) were to rise en masse and raise the republican
banner, begging to be taken under the wing of the
American Republic, that might be another state of
affairs. But as we have said, there are no signs that
the Spaniards of Cuba, who have not lost their sense
of nationality, are in any haste to fraternise with the
United States.—Caledonian Mercury.