The republic. [volume] (Washington [D.C.]) 1849-1853, 1851-10-18


| The alliance between the friends of slavery
extension and the abolitionsts is a type Of the
opposition to the General Administration, In
every phase and upon every subject. Iake
| the Cuban business, for instance. In this mat
ter the conduct of the President and his fespon-
sible advisers has been precisely what All
American citizen would expect of an American
President-following precisely the course of
General Taylor. Its main features have been
| full determination TO maintain the laws and
the faith of treaties, and an equally full de-
termination to enforce the rights of this country
against all cncroachments of other powers. The
| policy of the Administration has been a literal
compliance with the hackneyed and partisan
abused maxim, to demand nothing which was
not right and TO submit " TO nothing that was
wrong" The President at first warned the adven-
| turers who listening TO the seductive false
| hoods of the pretended ''frends of Cuba" OF the
| certain consequences of the outrageous violation
of law which they contemplated He told them
| plainly that by leaving soil upon expedi-
| ton against power with which we were at peace,
they left the protection of flag, and put it out
of the province of our Government, within the law
of nations, to afford them any protection He told
them that, if they escaped the punishment which
our laws provided for them here, they must take
| their chance with the government of Cuba, and
| what that would be they had reason to doubt.
| Next the President took measures to prevent the
sailing of the expedition and these having failed,
| through the connivance of certain officers at New
| Orleans, those officers were promptly removed.
| The expedition having sailed and the greater part
of the men engaged in it having met the sad fate
| which was predicted for them, the President in
terposes his good offices in behalf of the prisoners,
| whose miserable fate il has been to fall into the
| hands of the government against which they had
committed the highest offence. This he can do
with clean hands; he has fulfilled his duty to-
wards the government of Spain, and he may ap.
propriatey ask favor what no foreign power
| can ask as right
In all this say the President has done his
whole duty, and it will stand so in history. Now,
look at the opposition press. The Democratic pa
| pers in the South, and here, assail him be-
cause he has taken any stepe TO prevent the viola
ton of the laws and another portion of the Demo-
cratic press assail him because the measures were
not sufficiently vigorous and stringent. One wing
| of the Democracy the most numerous-would
have him give the aid of the army and navy to the
| invasion, and the other would have him cut down
| the invaders, without warning and without trial.
| The plain path OF duty was equally offensive to
both. which, agreeing in nothing else, are perfect
ly united in this, that whatever the President Docs
whatever he has done, whatever he possibly can
| do, must of necessity be wrong. If such an oppo-
siton, so reckless, causeless perfectly incon-
sistent, does not rally the good sense and patriot
| ism of the country around the President, then we
| have moderated the virtue and intelligence of the
people.
To those men who believe that the President is
right, who know that he is right, but who join in
this abuse, tolerate it for its partisan effect,
| x,,b; oh
now arousing to crush Administration will, if it
be encouraged, crush the institutions of the coun-
Try. No government can stand against such a
spirit. 1t is opposed to all government. 1t is the
very spirit and essence Of anarchy. Under the
rule of such spirit there is no safety for property,
for liberty, for life. The dcspotism of mob is not
less despotsm than the despotism of single ty-
rant. 1t lie, in many respects, worse; it Is less re-
sponsible and is less easily overthrown. A single
despot has but one head; mob has a million heads
and no heart.