The national era. [volume] (Washington [D.C.]) 1847-1860, 1852-11-18
CUBAN ANNEXATION ADVOCATED by THE
MAINE DEMOCRACY
Fr0m lhe BeIfnst LMel Lonrn1


We know very well that the Wings are on.
deayorng to make bugbcar out of this mat
ter Of Cuban annexation But we are not Of
those who dodge an issue one day and accent
1t another And INV, upon the eve of IL Prcsi-
dental election, we are free to say that. ac-
cordng to our belief, if the insults which have
becn profercd to us by the Spanish Cuban
Government are ever 10 be rcdressed it will lie
through n Democratic Administration; and
such redress points TO the discnthramcnt of
the CubanS whose independence must come
before annexation.
One Of the objections of the Journsi to the
prospective incorporation of Cuba into the
Union Is that il would be the addition of an
other slave State In the first place, it is To be
remembered That this would not be to give the
"balance oi power to the slave representation
IN Congress Again, this balance itself il a
sliding balance and moreover an invention of
Mr.. Calhoun. We of the North, one would
think, now that free States arc so fast being
added to the Union, should not contend for il
And let 1t DO remembered that almost all the
men and presses of the North are firm in their
opposition TO the extension Of slavery into tor.
rtory now free. If we sustain this doctrine
and clam that we have the constitutional right
10 enforce II, does not this It us off from the
right to say to the South, We will oppose the
most valuable acquisition because il has al.
ways been slave territory Ii is poor rule
that will not work both ways Let us consider
the matter IN the light of the broadest human
lty. All the cost and labor of the English
Government has iuilcd to suppress the African
slave trade. The largest importations of slaves
are into Cuba The acquisition of that island.
then, would remove almost entirely one of the
worst features Of slavery, one unknown in our
country. Bat this is not all The millions of
native whites are now in an infinitely worse
condition than the blacks. That is a mawkish
aud senseless philanthropy which in it, fear of
the possible acquisition of Cuba. would deny
liberty to Its white population, and perpetunte
the horrors Of the middle passage ny pic
tured 10y Wilberlorce.
Besides the objection that Cuba is slave ter
rtory, the Journal goes into the old cry about
the dangers to be apprehended from the cx.
pansiOn Of our territory And here it INDUCES
IN some OF the most remarkable reflections on
the nature Of our Government that were ever
put in type. In the first place, these acquisi-
tons are adding vast amount 10 the power
and patronage of the National Executive -
and, in the second place these distant States,
loosely attached 10 the Union, may become dis
satisfied and separate from the Republic
Now, these two propositions consume each
other. Our Government cannot be DESTROYED
by Capitalization Of power at Washington,
and also by an expansion of our territory The
two things cannot co-exist. The one 10 exactly
the opposite Of the other. Expansion is the
very remedy against Capitalization, and ii is
thus very thing that makes our Government
strong We say that every State added to our
Union has been like new stone laid upon tho