The southern press. [volume] (Washington City [i.e. Washington, D.C.]) 1850-1852, 1851-10-22

II Let our governments consluer wen AL THIS, ana
let them follow the road marked by the march
of patriotism let them not make any more con-
SESSIONS than are required by the national hon.
or Let them av0w that the war is inevitable,
and good for ourselves; let them prepare for it,
I and the sooner the better; because, a. we have
already remarked, if it is not to-day, to- morrow
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
i opportune and fortunate Those great M 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 Cuba 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 annexionsts of the Union endeavored
to frighten. 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 il openly, and without fear.
4 From, the same paper, September l6.
the affairs Of Cuba, from which we vainly try to
avert our attention, we have met. with some of
the opinions formed by the English press.
i 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
mark of inhumanty in the shooting of fifty men.
4 Ws cannot understand this, and will never IN
derstand it, without forgetting the prescriptions
of logic. What do we mean by prescriptions of
iogc-the simple counsels of common sense !!
What is 1t that constitutes a crime, an act pro.
I. hibted bv the laws, or the number of the crimi.
nails! But we may 60 farther When the
crime is appalling-when it calls for more rigor
when it is more rare, or more frequent-~when
the criminals are not numerous, and consequent.
" expose themselves or when they are in great
numbers, and hope to commit crime with impu-
; nity-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 the 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 IT'S instead of shooting the fiji
ty pirates we should have condemned them to the
ignOminy of the gallows.
: The invaders of Cuba-are they pirates or not?
Happily, it suffces US to look at the English
papers in order to prove that they are such. But
if it is still doubtful, should ask what are in
ternational rights and what is pirate! pirate
> is one who sails on the seas without authority
/, to carry the flag Of civilized State Who gave
to Lopez and his followers fl e? IL the gov
eminent of the United States gave it to them, it
would also have been obliged to have given them
its protection and that protection was not con-
coded to them. If with it they would not have
been called piraies what right had they to any
consideration when invading foreign territory,
and attempting revolt against u legitimate
government! And if they have been seized as
pirates, rs they were such, had We not the right
to defend ourselves against them, and not only
this right of defence, but that of Furnishing their
attempt! And then, what imports it that there
were ten. or Fifty, or thousand, or two thousand,
who had been taken! All must have paid with
their lives their unheard of zeal. great guam
tty of blood has been shed, it is true but much
more would have been shed if We had not been
severe, because the impunity Of the first expedi-
ton originated the second.
Severity, we have said in one of our previous
numbers, Is, 10 such cases, necessary; and the
fact of their having arrested vessel in order to
obtain a pilot for tho purpose of disembarking
on the island, gave good grounds for the execu-
ton of the hfty pirates, for without that cirpum-
stance the island would not have been invaded.
What astonishes US most, is TO see some IN
pers Of nation which never kew or practised
clemeney in cases similar ~ those WHICH have
lately happened 10 us, accuse W. Of inhumslity.
When have the English ever allowed pirates to
90 unpunlshedl When have they showed any
clemency for them Froai tho "aptain to the
most humble ships boy Of pirate vessel, all.
without exception, have suffered the penalty OF
their crime when they fell into the power OF the
English. Blood was not shed, il is true but IL
is because on the gallows the blood is not shed
but no less than Hfty have been shotp IL is
remarked Of US. Yes, fifty; and We prasume
that there will be more, because all the pirates
have not been yot arrested But the English
have, at one time, hung more than fifty pirates,
and they cannot reproach US with the execution
Of the fifty In Havana. IL is twenty years since
that an English vessel, having seized one Of the
pirate vessels called Mussulmans, which infested
the Antilles, and attacked the ships Of every ma
4 ton on the high seas, executed oil who were on
board The pirates numbered seventy -four men,
and they were hung in jamaica What would
the English have said, II they had been accused
Of cruelty! They would have had recourse 10
4 the la ola universal conscience which assigns
death to the crime Of piracy, and would have
completely yindicated themselves, Then, fol-
lowing the same course, we justify ourselves
completely, looking at the examples set to us by
England.
We have been element at other times, and that
is sufficient, for continued clemency is looked
upon as weakness. And could we appear as a
weak nation, and see new conflicts arise No
from to-day to he.future, those who believe in
protecting the pirates who assa Cuba, must
| understand that those who nbark in the enter
prise risk their lives and sel them at the lowest
price II in the Southern States Of the Union
they rail against US, il is proof Of an impotent
depair; and IL il is changed into gross insults,
we have efficient means of protection in the
patriotic spirit Of the attacked nation.
From III, same paper, Sept. IT,
| An envoy Of the Anie. ican government has
gone to the island Of Cuba, TO take information
on the events which happened thsre, In order TO