The daily dispatch. [volume] (Richmond [Va.]) 1850-1884, 1852-10-15
TcoSCLUpED TOMORROW.
LIEUT.. PORTER AND THE AUTHORI-
TIES OF CUBA.

nc ANt" ciiSobs VI ~tIc III III
slant, gives more circumstantial narrative of
the last difficulty of Lieut.. Porter with the au-
thorties of Cuba, than any we have yet seen.
1t appears that, as the Crescent City neared
the port, the port-captain met her at the mouth
of the harbor, and motioned to her not 10 enter.
This being disregnrded, and the steamer
continuing on her way, the port aptain order
ed Captain Porter TO "heave to- at the mouth
OF the harbor. 1t blowing q gale of wind at the
time, Capt. Porter did not think proper to obey
his order, but carried his ship directly to her
anchorage, declining, on account Of the heavy
sea, TO take pilot.
After the steamer was anchored, the captain
OF the port came alongside, and asking why
the ship was not anchored where he ordered it,
was answered that it was no place for ship
to cast anchor in a gale of wind. Capt. Por-
ter having, then, upon the demand of the port
captain, produced his "Artces," the latter
looked carefully over them, and on finding the
name OF VIM. Smith upon them, as one of the
officers OF the ship, informed Captain Porter
that the Captan-General ordered the Crescent
City Immediately to sea. Refusing to obey
until his mails and passengers were landed, or
the Spanish Government had assumed the re-
sponsibiliy of not landing them, he was told
by the captain Of the port. that the passengers
would have TO go to sea- with him. An officer
from the Havana Post Office said he would
take the mails, but Capt. Porter refused to de-
liver them, until he could ascertain whether he
was 10 be sent to sea or not. At the same time
he told the captain of the port that he would
not bulge, until he had first made q formal
protest to the Captaiu-Genera, and the cap
tain of the port consented to take it. He did
so, and returned with the protest and a decla
ration on the part of the Captain General, that
he would receive nothing, except through the
American Consul. Mr.. Moreland, the acting
Consul, was applied to- but he being many
miles from town, the Captan-General sent
messenger to Captain Porter, saying that he
could not be found and that the Crescent CITY
must go out TO sea at once. Upon being asked
if they refused the mails and passengers, the
captain Of the port replied, "no communication
of any kind will be allowed" Capt Porter
then put to sea, refusing to take pilot, sent
him by the authorities.
1t grieves Us, to the heart to see respectable
papers, in this country, justifying this gross
and wantOn outrage. Have the conductors of
these papers no American blood in their veins
Do they feel nothing for the glory of their
cOuntry-for the honor Of their hag-for the
opinion which will be entertained of US by for
eign nations? Is every miserable, Degenerate
nation, whenever it may think proper, to pluck
US by the beard Have we forgotten the SUI
biime example set is, by the only other Anglo
Saxon Republic that ever existed, when Crom-
well caused the name of Englshman to be as
much a word Of terror, as Roman had been in
the oldep time ? Are the prints which argue
in this way, aware of the task which the Car
tain-General of Cuba has undertaken, and
which he is pursuing with the most perverse
pertinacity! Do they not see that he has I'M
dertaken TO curb the expression of opinion
herein this land CT freedom Do they not
perceive that he is doing what our own laws
dare not attempt to DO Is it not obvious that
he Is furnishing an American citizen, for the
exercise, in his own country, of q privilege
granted TO him by the Constitution And
shall we sit down, tamelv, and submit to all
this Have we not treaties with Spain, by
virtue ofwhich, on payment ofthe proper dues,
any vessel Of ours can enter any port Of hers
And has she right TO nullny these treaties
whenever she may think proper, merely for the
purpose ofpunishing an individual for speak
ing his own mind, not ct Havana, but here in
these United States? Ifsteamers, bearing the
mails of the United States, and under the
dered of, without any reason assigned, but
with an implied reason that argues an insolent
determination to regulate the language of citi-
zens here, in our own country, then is all com
merce with Cuba at an end. 1t theu certainly
becomes the duty Of this government to take
the strongest and most effectual measures, to
insure the execution of violated treaties.
In what miserable condition must the Gu
ban Government be, when il can be alarmed
by every trihng incident that occurs. so far as
TO forget its own dignity, and even its own
safety On what a foundation Of send must
stand that government, which is afraid to let
an indlv idual land upon its shores, because, in
his own country, d thousand miles off, he had
said las they supposed) something dtrogato-
ry to it! There is no mstaking the signs
The blood-cemented fabric of the Spanish
power in the New World, is tottering to its
base. In a few years, it must come TO the
ground, and i'll a quarter of a century, the
Spanish rule in Cuba will be remembered on.
ly by the evils it inflicted.
We subjoin Lieut.. Porters protest. The
pas sengers had meeting, Hon. John SlideH
presiding. On motion, it was resolved, thai 4
Needler Jennings, Esq, be requested to draw
up statement Of the whole affair Mr 7
complied and his narrative is published in The
rlcayuhe. It's remarkably clear and satisfnc.