The Literary echo, and Pawcatuck advertiser. [volume] (Westerly, R.I.) 1851-1854, 1851-10-02
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Westerly, October 2, 1851.
Annexation Of Cuba.

territory bordering on the United States. 1t
was hoped by those who entertain due re-
gard for the rights of others, that the melan-
cholv termination of the late ill-fatcd Cuban
expdtion would have tendency to qucll the
iawess bucanecring spirit so rife in our coun-
try at the present time. But, instead OF hav-
ing this wholesome effect it seems to have acted
as a stimulant on the already too ferocious a J
love for foray and fighting and that inordinate
love of plundcr which is so inherent in the
Anglo Saxon race. This professed desire to,
extend the /" area of freedom" is sheer cant and
humbug, it is merely pretcnse, to cover too
glaringly apparent robbery. This bandit spir-
it, which acknowledges no law but the law off
brute force and glories in the motto that 'might
makes right" was perhaps, all very well-at least
all that could be expcctcd-in the sixteenth and
seventeenth centuries, when all mankind was in
a state of semi -barbarism, when children were
trained to war and those of opposing races
were taught that the best scabbard for a sword
was the breast ola hereditary foe. But in this
day and age of the world people are taught in
a different school, especially the inhabitants of
the United States. To respect the rights Of other
nations, as well as maintain our own, is pro-
fessedly cardinal principle of our creed.-
There is no warrant in the laws Of God or man
for inoculating other nations with a love Of lib
erty, by means of bayonets; and the "modcl
republic - will soon lose its hold upon the ad-
miration of the world, if tie largest liberty"
is thus permitted to degenerate into lawless Ii
cense. If the land was overrun by popula-
ton so dense that the soil could not sustain it,
there might possibly seem some shadow Of an
excuse for thus trespassing on the possessions OF
our neighbors. But while there are millions of
acres Of land within the legitimate boundary
of the United States, from which the poor red
man has been already hunted, where the foot
of gwhite man has never trod, and thousands
of miles of forest where the trees wave in all
their prmcval granduer, it can be nothing but
pure love of mischief and plunder that induces
these marauding expeditions.
The cause of this state of things is doubtless
owing in great measure to the desire of the
Southern portion of the Union to propagate and
perpetuate it's peculiar institution. The an
nexation of Cuba by hook or crook seems to be
a fixed fact in the estimation of many of the
Southern papers. Some of them propose to
purchase it; while others, less scrupulous say
Buy it if we can, but have it we must if we can
not buy it. we must take it. But is it, after
all, apparent that the possession of Cuba would
afford any additional security to " Southern
rights %
In the first place, the value of slave property
would be enhanced by the acquisition of Cuba
The luxuriant soil of that island, scarcely half
cultivated now, would yield, under American
management, better return for the labor be-
slowed upon it., than the partially impoverished
tobacco and cotton lands of the Southern States
bordering the line which separates the slave
territory from the free do. OF course the plan
ters of Maryland, Virginia, and Kentucky
would be glad to withdraw with their negroes
to Cuba, where the value of their slave proper
ty would be doubled and slave products coult
be cultivated to much better advantage than il
the States above named And thus in few
years slavery would be abolished in these states
by the natural course of events, without North
ern interference That this would be one re
} suit of the annexation of Cuba, there can b
scarcely doubt.
In the second place, the effect on the sugar
growing States-Louisiana and Texas, for in
, stance would be most detrimental to their pros
perity; for Cuba is, of herself, able to supply
three times over, the whole sugar consumptio
of the United States. Iftherefore annexatio
should take place, the culture of that articl
mus cease on the inferior soil and climate G
these States, where the cane ripens to only hal
: the length that it does in Cuba and as a nee
f cssary consequence, they must fall back o.
/ cotton planting which would depreciate tn
value Of their lands and labor by at least one
half
Again, let us for moment look ut the effec
that Cuban annexation would have on the cot
ton-growing regions Of North and South Caro-
: lima, Georgia, Tennessee, Alabama, ami Arkan
D sas. That the present cotton crop is quite larg
: enough to be profitable to the growers, is yer
evident. But if the sugar growers of Louisiana
Texas and the sugar districts of Alabama
{ should all become cotton cultivators, the Gro