The Sun.
London, England, 1851-09-27 00:00:00

EVENING.

SPIRIT of the PUBLIC JOURNALS.

FROM THE MORNITt(I PAPERS OF THIS DAY.
TIMES.—We published yesterday what we can-
not doubt to be an authentic narrative of the piratical
expedition to Cuba. Philip van Vechten, an Ame-
rican, holding a lieutenant's commission in the invad-
ing force, and actually present in its several engage-
ments with the colonial troops, was released from
captivity at the special intercession of Captain Piatt,
of the United States' ship Albany. On his return to
New York he drew up a detailed account of the
whole proceedings, from the embarcation of the hand
to the capture of its commander ; and this memoir,
attested by the signature of the writer, appeared in
our last impression. Of its statements we need only
now say, that they verify in almost every particular
the opinions we have expressed respecting the enter-
prise in question. There is little further room, in-
deed, for any speculation or doubt. Without reca-
pitulating incidents with which most readers
have probably acquainted themselves already, we
may briefly observe, that from no one class of the
Cuban population was the slightest response male to
the invitations of Lopez. Instead of finding men,
horses, and munitions awaiting their arrival, the ex-
peditionary companies encountered nothing but reso-
lute and universal hostility. Their advanced guard
was fired upon as the boat from the steamer got
within gunshot of the shore. On the very first day after
their landing, as speedily indeed as troops could be
brought to the spot, the invaders, who had separated
into two detachments, were surprised by a sudden as-
sault from the Spanish garrison, and these attacks were
incessantly renewed as often as the Americans made a
stand. That the Spaniards did really suffer severely
in these engagements, and that the invaders put hors
de combat a number of their enemies, out of all pro-
portion to their own strength, is now recorded on
better testimony than that of a New Orleans jour-
nalist. It is stated that Lopez in two encounters
actually inflicted a loss upon his opponents of 530
men in killed and wounded, although his entire force
as disembarked from the Pempero was only 430
strong. Much of this is doubtless attributable to the
incontestable bravery of the American character and
the known audacity of the persons engaged, but it is
not unreasonable to presume that the firearms of Mr.
Colt's manufacture may have contributed their share
to so remarkable a result. In each case the invaders
were attacked encamped, and revolvers would be
formidable weapons against an assaulting column. As
to the nature of the contest, it is manifest that at no
moment from his first landing was Lopez fighting for
anything but his own life. He succeeded in repulsing
his assailants, but they returned with a good will
to the charge; his chances of ultimate victory were
clearly desperate, and on the fourth day after
his embarcation his flight had definitely com-
menced. 'Without being absolutely incapa-
ble of resistance, he was wholly destitute of
hope, and his destruction was finally consummated
by a terrific tempest, which rendered the arms of his
remaining followers totally unserviceable. He fared,
in fact, precisely as he might have fared had he
landed at Corunna instead of at Cabanos. In the face
of such evidence as this expedition supplies, it will be
impossible to entertain any further misconceptions
among the Creole population of Cuba. We have been
lately informed, with elaborate circumstantiality, of
the considerations which have rendered the Creoles
disaffected to the dominion of Spain, and which ac-
tually prompted them to originate and encourage
this very descent of American sympathisers upon
their own plantations. We have been told that by
these Cuban Creoles was the subject of invasion and
annexation first agitated, that their intrigues kept'
alive the excitement in the Southern States of the
Union, that they provided funds for the enterprise,
that they expected it with open arms, and that they
adopted all such measures in a justifiable spirit of self-
preservation. To these arguments, plausibly stated,
and accredited by the authority of a distinguished Ame-
rican citizen, we can now oppose the indisputable re-
sults of actual experiment. So far from meeting
any sympathy in the Creole population, the invaders
discovered in this very class their most vindictive op-
ponents. The regular troops are spoken of as having
discharged their duty with all military resolution and
obedience, but with true soldierlike forbearance to-
wards a defeated enemy. They treated their pri-
soners, we are told, " with the utmost kindness, giv-
ing them wine, cigars, bread, and tobacco from their
own small means." The Creoles, on the other hand
—those very people whose appeals were quoted to
warrant the invasion, conducted themselves in the
genuine spirit of Spaniards towards strangers on their
soil. They hung, says the narrative, "on our
skirts, kept the troops constantly informed of our
movements, and put to death without mercy all
those who straggled on the march." We almost seem,
" in fact," while perusing the narrative before us, to
be reading a description of a French retreat in the
Peninsular war. No presumption can invalidate such
experience as this. It may be represented as im-
probable that Lopez, well acquainted with the colony,
and not without knowledge of war, should have ex-
pected to subjugate such a territory and population
with 453 men, apart from any succours to be found
among the islanders themselves; but it is infinitely
more improbable that, if the alleged party had really
an existence, it should have omitted to show itself on
so favourable an opportunity. "What better opening
could be looked for than that an American force
should actually effect a landing, and defeat the troops
of the garrison in two successive engagements We
may spare ourselves the trouble, however, of arguing
this point, inasmuch as the truth was piteously con-
fessed by the Americans themselves. Some accused
one party, some another; some charged the delusion on
Lopez, others on New Orleans journalists; but all con-
curred in asserting that they had been miserably de-
ceived when they were induced to think that the Cubans
desired their intervention. Even Lopez himself died
with this declaration in his mouth. In the absolute
default, therefore, of any such presumptions as these
to explain the expedition, we are compelled to look
for its origin in the distempered excesses of American
license. The writer of the narrative in question, not
content with recounting the details of the enterprise,
subjoins his own views of its causes and results, and
he plainly informs us that this piratical invasion was
got up with the express object of enhancing the value
of Cuban bonds, to the advantage of American specu-
lators. Toese securities, he alleges, had been largely
purchased in the States of the Union at that peculiar
discount which can be created by Spanish credit
alone; and it was hoped that the ultimate annexation
of the island to American territory would carry with
it a transfer cf these obligations to the Federal Go-
vernment, and thus convert worthless bonds into
valuable stock. We are not, perhaps, called upon
to reject this ingenious suggestion as inconsistent
with the smartness of Transatlantic commerce,
but it should in fairness be observed that the
opinions of Mr. Van Vechten on this point are
not entitled to any such implicit acceptance as is
due to his narrative of lute. IVhen he tells
how ho fared at the hands of the " friendly.' Creoles,
we cannot withhold our belief or abstain from cor-
responding conclusions ; but when we listen to his
views of the original plot we must remember, not only
that his sources of information were merely those of
others, but that the calmness of his judgment was
not likely to have been improved by the sufferings he
had just escaped. Nevertheless, we suspect that the
friends of the unfortunate victims may look rather to
New Orleans than to flavannah for the true authors
of their calamities. But for the precipitate execution
of the first batch of prisoners, the Spanish Government
would have passed through this trial of its strength
and popularity with very considerable credit. Its
troops have proved faithful, well-conducted, and re-
solute; its colonial subjects have evinced, at any
rate, their indisposition to be " liberated" by others,
and the local authorities, after the first paroxysm of
severity, adopted a policy at once clement and judi-
cious. On the 13th day after the invasion, while
Lopez and many of his followers were yet at large,
a proclamation was issued, offering quarter to all
such as should surrender themselves or be captured
within four days from that time. This pledge
was strictly observed, and with even greater
favour to the prisoners than could reasonably have
been expected. They appear, indeed, to have been
treated in confinement with more consideration than
is usually shown to the inmates of a Spanish gaol;
they are to be consigned to Europe on a commutable
sentence of 10 years' hard labour, and the sanguinary
scene of the 15th of August was repeated on the
person of Lopez alone. Had the like moderation
been exercised from the beginning, the Spaniards
would have carried with them the sympathies of the
civilized world. It is useless to argue that the in-
vaders were not veritable pirates, because they did
not sail with avowed designs against all such property
as might fall in their way. We are yet unconvinced
that the lucre of gain was not ono of the objects of
the expedition, in such a sense as to satisfy even this
definition of piracy ; but, apart from such a conside-
ration, it must be manifest that if an armed invasion
of a friendly territory, absolutely at peace both within
and without, is to be accounted justifiable on pre-
texts of political propagandism, there can never be
wanting a warrant for the aggressions of any one
power upon the possessions of any other. Prance
might invade Spain, Switzerland Naples, and Russia
Turkey, with a cause as good in any month of the
year as that professed by the buccaniering crew of the
Pampero.

ADVERTlSER.—Manchester has moved. It has
spoken. Its voice has been heard. The echoes of its
utterances on Wednesday are still ringing in our ears.
To the voice of Manchester there will be a cordial
and prompt response. It spoke the national senti-
ment : it gave expression to the wants and wishes of
the country. No one can fail to mark the contrast
between the proceedings at Tiverton and the proceed-
ings at Manchester—which, curiously enough, took
place not only on the same day, but at the same hour.
The Minister's great anxiety was to say nothing
the vast assemblage in Manchester was only solicitous
lest it should fail to sp.,:ak with outEoient explicituvas