The southern press. [volume] (Washington [D.C.]) 1850-1852, 1851-10-20

let them follow the road marked by the march
OF patriotism let them not make any more con.
eessions than are required by the national hon
or Let then avow that the war is inevitable
and good for ourselves; let them prepare for it.
and the sooner the better; because, as we have
already remarked, If it is not to-day, tomorrow
we shall see the government OF the United
States carried away by the people, who want to
revenge the pirates shot in Cuba. There reigns
in the public mind feeling which appears TO us
opportune and fortunate. Those great IN etings
in which the political parties made declarations
of their pretensions, in order to show themselves
TO be imbued with the determination TO protect
the island of Cub against any class of pirates
have already produced great effect on all the
nations by whom it was thought that our spirit
which was displayed by the Spanish people,
whom the annexionists of the Union endeavored
to Brighten. We believe that civilization would
rest content with its conquests and it appeared
to us that war was impossible in these times, in
which the commercial spirit has become pa'a-
mount to the desire of military glory. We do
not desire war, on account of the miseries which
it entails on the people; nevertheless, when it
is required to sustain the national honor and
for the protection of our interests, we have the
courage to proclaim it openly, and without fear.
From the same paper, September 1871
In casting our eyes upon further accounts of
the affairs Of Cuba from which we vainy try to
avert our attention, we have met with some of
the opinions formed by the English press.
All the papers of the United Kingdom have
recognized the right we had to punish the pirates
who invaded the island of Cuba; but some of
them-the little ones, of course-have seen a
mark Of inhumanity in the shooting of fifty men.
We cannot understand this, and will never I'M
derstand it, without forgetting the prescriptions
of logic. What do we mean by prescriptions of
,ogic-the simple counsels Of common sense
What is it that constitutes crime, an act pro-
hibited by the laws, or the number of the crim
nails? But we may go farther. When the
crime is ppallng-when it calls for more rigor
when it is more rare, or more fre4uent-when
the criminals are not numerous, and consequent
ly expose themselves, or when they are in great
numbers, and hope to commit crime with impu-
nty-let us call policy to our aid, let us call
logic, and the principles of criminal legislation
and we shall see that if the number Of he pirates
had influenced the governor of Cuba who has
only been severe, without going beyond the pc
nal prescriptions that have been adopted by the
legislation of all countries Look at this con-
trast! While the papers of which we are just
now speaking accuse us of inhumanity other
foreign journals have maintained that had we
used our strict rig ts, instead of shooting the f-
ty pirates we should have condemned them to the
ignominy of the galows.
The invaders of Cuba-are they pirates or not?
Happily, it suffices us to look at the English
papers in order to prove that they are such. But
if it is still doubtful we should ask what are in
ternatonal rights, and what is pirate? pirate
is one who sails on the seas without authority
to carry the flag of a civilized State. Who gave
to Lopez and his followers a fl g? If the gov
of the United States gave it TO them, il
would also have been obliged to have given them
is protection and that protection was not con-
,eded to them. If with it they would not have
been called pirates, what right had they TO any
when invading foreign territory,
md attempting revolt against legitimate
government? And it they have been seized as
pirates, as they were such, had we not the right
o defend ourselves against them, and not only
his right of defence, but that of Furnishing their
lttempt? And then, what imports it that there
we're ten or fifty, or thousand, or two thousand,
heir lives their unheard of zeal. A great guam
ity Of blood has been shed, it is true /; but much
more would have been shed if we had not been
severe, because the mpunity of the first expedi-
ion originated the second.
Severity we have said in one Of our previous
numbers, is, in such cases, necessary and the |
act of their having arrested vessel in order to
btain pilot for the purpose of disemb rkng
N the island, gave good grounds for the execu
ion of the fifty pirates, for without that circum-
lance the island would not have been invaded
What astonlshes US most is to see some Ia-
ers of a nation which never kew or praciised
lemency in cases similar to those which have
ately happened to us, accuse US of inhumanity.
When have the English ever allowed pirates to
70 UNPUBLISHED! When have they showed any
lemency for them From the captain to the
most humble ships boy of a pirate vessel, all
Without exception, have suffered the penalty OF
heir crime when they fell into the power of the
English. Blood was not shed, it is true but it
; because on the gallows the blood is not shed
But no less than fifty have been shot il is
emarked of us. Yes, fifty; and we presume
hat there will be more because all the pirates
ave not been yet arrested But the English
ave, at one Time, hung more than fifty pirates,
nd they cannot reproach us with the execution
f the fifty in Havana. 1t is twenty years since
hat an English vessel, having seized one of the
irate vessels called Mussulmans, which infested
no Antilles, and attacked the ships of every ma
ion on the high seas, executed all who were on
oard The pirates numbered seventy -four men,
Nu tiief Wcic huuB III w ndb Wouiu
he English have said, if they had been accused
f cruelty? They would have had recourse to
he la ola universal conscience, which assigns
cath to the crime of piracy, and would have
ompletely indicated themselves. Then, fol-
owing the same course, we justify ourselves
ompletely, looking at the examples set to us by
England.
We have been clement at other times, and that
sufficient, for continued clemency is looked
pom as weakness. And could we appear as
'eak nation, and see new conflicts arise No
-om to-day to the future, those who believe in
the pirates Who assail Cuba, must
that those who enbark in the enter
rise risk their lives, and sell them at the lowest
rice. IL in the Southern States of the Union
ley rail against us, it is proof of an impotent
epair and if it is changed into gross insults,
'e have efficient means of protection in the
atriotic spirit of the attacked nation,
From The same paper, Sept. II,
An envoy of the Anne lean government has
one to the island of Cuba, to take information
n the events which happened there In order to
Q capable of forming on them an impartial
pinion. What of that! 1t is either a ridcu-
Jus boast or gross insult What means that
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