The Sun.
London, England, 1851-09-22 00:00:00

MONDAY EVENING, SEPTEMBER 22,

hoped, satisfy the ardent young men of our Lind that
no faith is to be placed in tau reports so current here,
that the Cuban people needed but a few brave spirits
to show thcns the w•ay to independence and they
would follow it. There is a moral to be drawn from
this sad business, which we hope will not be without
effect. If the Cuban people wish for liberty, let them
fight for it ; and if they do not wish for it, let them
remain as they are. If they are satisfied with their
condition, it is the height of folly and rashness to at-
tempt to force liberty on dem ; if they are content to
remain as they are, why should our citizens trouble
themselves about enlightening them respecting the
real rights of freemen ? The American blood that
has been shed will, however, produce its fruits. It
will induce the Creole mild to think and reflect, and
the result will be, at some time or other, a determina-
tion to be free. But this will not be the only effect
that it will have. If the cuestion of the annexation
of Cuba should be thrown into our presidential elec-
tion next year, as it may be, and if the party who
espouses it should become dominant, the question
will assume a new and more important shape and be
solved in a very short time. Meanwhile it is to be
hoped that no more of our ardent youths will allow
themselves to be carried away by rumours or re-
ports about the disloyalty of the Creoles. Their
loyalty has been tested at a great sacrifice, and it is
evident they prefer the existing state of things to a
change, or that they have not soul enough to make an
effort for their own redemrtion."
In the Tribune we find the following :
" There is no longer a doubt that Lopez is utterly
defeated and executed, and that his brave, deluded
followers have all perished or are now in chains. A
very few may be still hiding in the mountains and
forests, but they must be few indeed, with a despe-
rate chance of ever regaining their own country. The
discomfiture of the expedition is complete. That the
number of the killed and the prisoners is exaggerated
by the Spanish bulletins we confidently believe. It
seems certai❑ that Lopez was not joined by any con-
siderable number of Cubans, and we think his whole
force could not have exceeded 600 combatants. Of
these, probably, one-half were dead and the residue
prisoners (mainly wounded) at the date of our last
advices. Would that we could hope that the lives of
these prisoners are to be spared! While Lopez was
in arms on the island and his success not impossible,
severity might be palliated; but the necessity has
vanished with the peril. These misled, perhaps cul-
pable, but brave and utfortunate, prisoners have
suffered all but death. Surely this last drop may be
spared them. In the name of humanity, and even
of wise policy, we would intreat the saving of their
lives ; and yet we fear the worst. Probably they
have not been able to hold prisoners if they took
any ; and if they were ccmpelled to execute them,
however stern the necessity, a bloody retaliation
is certain. The Spaniards are not a merciful
race, and the news of the disgraceful barbarian out-
rages perpetrated on their consul and other Spanish
subjects by the miscreant mob of New Orleans will
have exasperated them to madness. It will be hard if
our unhappy countrymen, deluded into this invading
expedition, should be called to suffer for that cowardly
outrage ; yet so it may be. Surely, it must now be
evident that the Cuban Creoles do not desire indepen-
dence enought to fight for it; and if not, why should
others risk their lives in the cause ? If the Cubans,
who have been promising to co-operate with Lopez,
had possessed one spark of generous feeling, they
would have redeemed their promises, even in the face
of certain death. They bad no right to draw back
when our confiding countrymen had thrown their lives
into the contest. Every ' patriot Cuban should at
least have mitigated the bitterness of the deathbeds of
these devoted men by dying with them. If the in-
vaders could have felt that they had sacrificed them-
selves for men worthy of the offering they might have
closed their eyes serenely and joyfully. That conso-
lation was denied them. Who will henceforth court
their fate P Let us have no more annexations by vio-
lence. If Cuba belong to us (as we think she does
not), she will come to us in good time. Peace hath
her victories not less renowned than war.' The
growth of our country is abundantly rapid, and needs
no bloody rain to stimulate it. Let the terrible lesson
just taught our people be duly weighed and heeded."

The proper officers of the several districts being thus
instructed in their duties and supplied with the means
of fulfilment, will be held responsible for the depar-
ture of every other expedition, and for the failure to
seize any vessel and arrest her crew which they may
suffer to escape from their particular districts. These
measures of precaution are deemed absolutely neces-
sary to vindicate the national character and perform
a national duty imposed by the people upon the
Executive in the passage of the statute already men-
tioned, which, though passed more than thirty years
ago, has frequently undergone the revision of Con-
gress, but only to makQ more obligatory and effectual."
A telegraphic dispatch from Washington contains
the subjoined information :
" The Secretary of the Treasury yesterday received
a dispatch from the Collector at New Orleans, stating
that 2,000 men were waiting there ready to embark
for Cuba. The Collector was informed in reply that
should these men debark in Cuba certain officers of
the United States would be held responsible. The
Cuba meeting here last night was largely attended.
General .111‘Calla presided. The resolutions adopted
were moderate in tone, end the speakers very tempe-
rate in their addresses."

COMMERCE and RESOURCES of CUBA.
The interest excited by the present position of Cuba
causes an inquiry for statistics regarding the actual
condition of the commerce and resources of that
island. The information available, however, is rather
limited. In the Diario de la Marina of Havannah,
some time back, tables were published showing the
imports, exports, and revenue fur the twenty years
from 1828 to 1847, and these appear to be within a
year of the latest that have been received in this
country. The results which they furnish, when con-
densed into average totals for intervals of five years,
are as follow :

Average per annum.

The Journal of Commerce says—
" The information brought to New Orleans by the
steamer Cherokee leaves no doubt that the small but
heroic band under Lopez, who recently invaded the
island of Cuba, have been annihilated after maintaining
themselves against fearful odds for many days. It is
distinctly stated that Lopez had been garroted at Ha-
vannah, having been captured by the aid of blood-
hounds. Colonel Pragay is also announced as among
the slain, and, in fact, the whole column, comprising
(including Colonel Crittenden's command) about 450
men, is believed to be destroyed, with the exception,
perhaps, of a few individuals who may have escaped
to the mountains. But in the end their fate will be
the same. We have not yet received the full details
of the achievements of these men, but there is every
reason to believe that they fought desperately, and
killed great numbers of the Spanish troops, including
General Enna, second in command to the Captain-
General of the island. If they landed on the evening
of the 1 1 th, as appears to have been the fact, they con-
tinued to resist or to elude the large bodies of troops
who were sent against them for 12 or 15 days. Be-
sides the battle of Pozas on the 13th, in which the
Spanish troops were twice beaten back with loss,
there was another engagement on the 17th, which
appears to have been severe, and the precise results of
which have not yet reached us. It was in this en-
gagement, probably, that Enna fell. The telegraphic
dispatches before alluded to speak of a much larger
number of men having been killed or captured than
belonged to Lopez when be landed. If those
dispatches are correct, it follows that other parties
besides those that accompanied him in the Pampero
effected a junction with him afterwards (which we
do not believe), or else that be was joined by 500 or
GOO Cubans, which is not very improbable. Now
that Lopez and nearly all his expedition, including
many brave officers and men, are dead, we hope it
may not be necessary to advise others not to rush into
the jaws of perdition. All who go to Cuba in little
squads, with arms in their bands, will inevitably
perish ; and what is worse, the sacrifice will do no
good either to themselves or others. On the other
hand, it will carry sorrow into many families and
hearts. Stay at home, then, boys, as you love your
own lives and the lives of others."
The Tribune announces the abandonment of further
attempts as follows :
" We learn that two steamers were nearly bargained
for to sail for Cuba when the disastrous news received
yesterday noon indefinitely postponed the enterprise.
One of the ships was the El Dorado, for which
90,000 dolls. had been offered, and 70,000 dolls, had
been offered for another. Both vessels were to have
sailed within a few days with as many passengers' as
they could carry, unarmed of course, and in a condi-
tion to prevent any probability of seizure. Within a
few days two brigs have sailed from this port for Cuba,
but ostensibly cleared for ports in the Gulf. Both
these vessels were laden with arms, ammunition, and
provisions for the use of the Lopez party in Cuba.
There was no excitement in town last night; the
disastrous failure of the liberating army, and the sad

fate of the deceived soldiers, was— a general topic of
conversation, but their fate was named rather in grief
than in rage. The mushroom patriots who were so
eager to help Lopez while his star was in the ascend-
and are now nowhere to be seen." _

The Washington Republic states, in reference to
;he action of the Central Government, that

" Whatever may be the present state or future
result of this contest, we are quite sure that the
President and his Administration have been wanting
in no duty in endeavouring to maintain the law of the
land, and at the same time our treaty stipulations
and neutral obligations. As early as the first re-agi-
tation of this subject, in April last, at the time when
the steamer Cleopatra was seized in the port of New
York and her captain and others arrested under the
Act of 1818, the President issued his proclamation
of warning against any such enterprise, and instruc-
tions were issued to the collectors, district attorneys,
and marshals in all sections in which it was supposed
that project might be favoured, enjoining activity and
energy in the enforcement of our neutrality law so
far as depended on them ; and orders were given to
employ the land and naval forces of the United States
to co-operate in the same object. From the
reports received from many of these officers there
is no doubt that the instructions of the Govern-
ment had their desired effect. We regret to state, as
an exception to this general attention to duty, the
case of the collector of New Orleans, by whose neg-
ligence the Pampero was permitted to depart from
that port without clearance or papers—a fatal act
of omission, which has since involved so many mis-
guided but gallant young men in destruction, and
clad so many American families in mourning. Upon
investigation of the conduct of this officer, and per-
ceiving that this vessel was allowed to depart, not-
withstanding a direct call upon him by General
Twiggs to do his duty, in obedience to his orders,
and offering to furnish the requisite force from his
command in the vicinity to make his interference ef-
fectual, the President has felt it his imperative duty
promptly to remove the collector from office. He
has also caused circulars to be again addressed to the
district attorneys, marshals, and collectors in the dis-
tricts above referred to, requiring the immediate pre-
sence of each one at his post, with stringent orders to
exercise the utmost degree of vigilance and energy
in the execution of the law of 1818 ; and he has,
moreover, issued special commissions to trusty indi-
viduals in various quarters, empowering them to
employ th
United e land and naval forces and the militia of
the Stat ,
es '
for
the purpose of preventing the
car ry ing on
of any military expedition against the teal-
tories of any power with whom the United States are at
peace.' Corresponding. directions have been given to
officers in command of military posts, and of the navy,
' and all vessels of thenavywithin convenient cora-
i '
wand have been placed in requisition for this service.