The Sun.
London, England, 1861-04-16 00:00:00

BUCHANAN was talking at the Ostend conference of
taking possession of Cuba, by purchase or by force,
just as Spain might think best. And when in office
the same diplomatic filibuster had money voted by
Congress to provide for the purchase of Cuba,
though the proud but feeble old country repudiated
unconditionally the thought of parting with her
splendid colonial jewel. Now the tables are com-
pletely turned. Spain has grown stronger, and
the Union, with its "manifest destiny," has split,
till no cue can conjecture its destiny, and Spain not
only retains Cuba, but plants her foot again on the
other great island which the Americans were
known to covet ; and, in the face of Northern States,
Border States, and Gulf States, hoists her flag on the
shores on which COLUMBUS landed.

As far as is yet known, too, the whole thing has
been managed in true Yankee fashion—the fashion
in which Texas was actually annexed to the United
States, and in which it was desired through LOPEZ
and WALKER to annex Cuba, and, ultimately, all
Central America too. Spanish •mgrants went over
in considerable numbers to St. Domingo, to the part
which constitutes, with a population of about 200,000,
the Dominican Republic. How far they had
really succeeded in rendering this formerly Spanish
part of the island willing to submit again to its old
masters we cannot yet know ; the negroes were
probably taken by surprise ; the emigrants, how-
ever, succeeded in their project, hoisted the Spanish
flag, and proclaimed union with Spain. The po-
pulation do not seem to have resisted. Now, resis-
tance is not out of the question ; the Spaniards did
not, like their neighbours north of the Pyrenees,
even propose to refer the question to Dominican
universal suffrage and the ballot box; they send a
few ships of war from Cuba, and some regular
troops with them, and of course all the population
must acquiesce in Spanish supremacy.

What will be done with the other and much
larger part of the island, the Republic of Hayti,
with its 800,000 inhabitants formerly belonging to
the French, and no doubt still much desired by
them, it is not possible yet to say. We are not in
the secrets of the Courts and Governments of Paris
and Madrid. We can hardly imagine that Louis
NAPOLEON will allow Spain to occupy what was,
till the wars of the Revolution, a prosperous French
colony. If the black republic will not freely accept
the Imperial yoke, the yoke must be put on its
shoulders, or the suffrage and the ballot box mast
be made to do the same service as they did for Savoy
and Nice. Yet who can tell whether some bargain
may not be already made with Spain, by which she is
to be allowed quiet possession of the whole island,
and France to be aided by some other project, or
whether the EMPEROR will offer the Republic of
Hayti a French protectorate to save her from the
gripe of Spain ! It would certainly gratify France
exceedingly to be once more dominant in a noble
colony where her troops perished ingloriously,
conquered by the climate chiefly, while hostile
Albion's then omnipotent fleet prevented the
departure of fresh expeditions to their sup-
port. If Louis NAPOLEON is not to be per-
mitted to reverse, in the most literal sense,
the Defeat at Waterloo, such reversals of defeat as
would be implied in the restoration of French rule
in Hayti would no doubt be very pleasant both to
him and to France. And France wants colonies,
at least so she thinks ; from our experience of them
we can only wish her joy of them if she gets them.'
One consideration is most important to England.
Under Spanish rule St. Domingo will be a second
slave mart equal to that of Cuba. The free blacks
there will soon become slaves, and the African trade
will be as brisk with the regained colony as with
the old one. We do not see what ought to be our
course of action, unless, indeed we were pre-
pared to enforce our treaty in respect to
Cuba also. In the House of Commons last
night, Mr. GLYN expressed his regret that
no further portion of the debt due to us
from Spain figured among Mr. GLADSTONE'S
sources of Revenue. We- should suggest to our
Foreign Secretary that a vigorous note on the
subject might not be without use. In fact Spain
is building iron-plated ships with our money, and
and we are paying Income-tax to enable her to do
it ! We have a mortgage on her acquisitions, which
it might not be amiss to foreclose ; and we have
ships of war enough, at least, to enforce our claim.

GARIBALDI seems to have got into a little hot
water through his outspokenness in reply to
the address of the working men. He had spoken
of the counsels of the country as guided by lackeys,
and we understood the bluff soldier to mean that
Count CAVOUR and those who acted with him were

playing the part of " lackeys" to the French EM-
PEROR. His language seems, however, to have
been interpreted as insulting to the KING, and to
the Italian Parliament, which is his ultimate con-
stitutional adviser. What he had said was noticed
in the House with much warmth, but RICASOLI, in
a speech which made a great impression, and which
seems to have been both warm and eloquent,
denied the possibility of GARIDALDI'S intending
anything contemptuous to either the KING or the
Parliament. An early day was therefore named
for the subject to be again brought forward, at
which, if the gout permitted, he might be present
and state his own views.

It would seem that ho was still unwell on the
day fixed, for. he wrote to the House instead of
speaking. His letter is an emphatic denial that he
could have intended anything insulting to the KING.
" His conscience forbade his stooping to self-justifi-
cation." And he added, "As to the Parliament,
my entire life, eonsecrated to the independence and
the liberty of my country, will not permit me
to descend to a defence against a charge of disre-
pect towards the majestic assembly of the repre-
sentatives of a free people called together to re-
constitute Italy, and to give her a place among the
foremost nations of the world." He strongly re-
asserted what he had said of the shameful manner
in which his brave companions in arms in Southern
Italy bad been treated by the Government.
The disinterested man has always shown the
deepest feeling in regard to the treatment of his
brave comrades—for himself he would have no-
thing. He concluded a letter by proposing a bill
for a national armament, to be laid before the house
according to its rules. He spurned, he said, how-
ever, personal contentions ; no doubt alluding to
his known opposition to CAVOUR, which had pro-
bably called forth the language complained
of; and ended with a sentence worthy of
himself :—" I trust that all parties in the Chamber
will agree to lay aside ell useless antagonism, and
that the Italian Parliament will lend all the weight
of its authority to promote the measures most
urgent and necessary for the safety of the country."
To-day's telegrams show that GARIBALDI does
not confine his censures to those whom he thinks to
be lackeys of the Emperor of FRANCE. The CZAR
must see from his pen also tne frank praises of serf
emancipation, and a malediction against the con-
summation of the most detestable of crimes.
GARIBALDI'S sympthies are like those of English-
men, they are heartily with all the victims of
tyranny, and with those who are struggling for
freedom and nationality.