The southern press. [volume] (Washington [D.C.]) 1850-1852, 1852-04-08

following speculations on the manifest ueS-
tiny" of Cuba, which are very curious. coming
from Northern Wing Freesoil paper, and a
most influential one
CuBA-It is not given to States to have
colonies and be wise The story Of colonial
government is the story of colonial mismanage-
ment. The destinies of people are not to be
shaped from distance Ships are not correctly
stcered by cords in the hands of hemsman
stationed on dry land and ont OF sight OF the
vessel. Not to instance Britain, Holland or
France, look ut Spain and her colonial posses
sions, upon which the sun that shone upon
Philip ILL., never set. They have dropped away
| from her, not in single provinces or solitary
islands, but by continents and archipelagos.
The PHILIPPINES, and two of the Antilles, are
almost the last relics Of the nobest territorial
wealth that ever fell into the hands OF single
people. There are no more Acapulco galleons
| for Blake, or Penn, or Arson to capture. The
winds that in other times toiled from every
quarter of the sky, to watt wealth to Spain,
have no end to their rest. The day of dis
cOvery. of occupation, of golden argosies ana
invincible armadas, incalculable revenues and
resistless armies, has gone by. Cuba, the tilial
Cuba, is the stay and dependence OF totterlng
old age and how long shall it be before the de-
crepit and querulous and weeping parent, a
spectral semblance of Ferdinand the Catholic,
may be seen crouching upon one corner of the
! European continent, and bewang his " ducats
and his danghter-his daughter and his ducats,
stolen away by that perfidious Lorenzo, Uncle
Sam!
Towards Cuba the same suicidal system is EN-.
ployed that has lost all things else. The same pro-
cess ofextortion and exhaustion used by the early
settlers upon the aborigines, are now enforced
against the Creole descendants of those early
settlers Natives of Spain alone rule in Cuba
natives of Cuba are oyertaxed bondmen, who
minister to the wealth and arrogance, and safety
of their imported lords. To defend the island,
and its valuable tribute to the Spanish treasury
from American encroachments, the Creole is
obliged to pay enormously. Taxation usually
receives its equivalent in the shape of protection
the Cuban has to be taxed, and take care of him.
self in the bargain. The soldiery, to be sure,
are selected for him and sent to him in such
numbers the timidity of government sug-
gests but woe to the native if the military
chest be not amply supplied. At the present
moment there is more than ordinary stringency
in these military demands. Fresh troops are
poured into the island in ceaseless tide. Gen.
Concha, who had managed to gain the con.
tidence of the Creole population, by his excel
lent tact and judgment, has been recalled
There is obviously a profound suspicion of
this esoteric population at the basis of these
changes The old Spanish families are more in
solent and exacting. Their organ, the Diario
del Marina, discusses the posture of affairs in
the most arrogant vein. The pretcnce that an.
other Lopez invasion is apprehended, is simply
puerile and wells thinIy the truth, that the SUBJ
jugation of the Creoles, and the REPRESENTATIVE
all Of l,,f;o a.,
inc motives Of the new policy. In fact Cuba
only shares in the great European reaction, with
more hope of eventual extricaton, however,
than if in more neighborly proximity to its step
mother country.
This excess of caution is destined to defeat
itself So long as their lines seemed to have
fallen to them in pleasant places; while govern
ment was to some extent paternal; and social
burthens and blessings more equitably dis
pensed, the watcher for Cuban Instruction
had desperate task. So long as the people
were trusted, they were trustworthy; but the
expression of doubt was declaration of hos
tities.
Every new imposition makes release more
desirable; and while the government of the
United States exists, with the shadow of its
liberties reaching over the bayous, and leafy
mountains, and cane fields of the island, Spain
will never be less suspicious, nor her rule abate
one iota of its rigidity. The prospects for the
Creole in all other directions than this s utterly
discouraging. Despair of pity at home will
drive him to seek help from abroad; and tho
help can only come from us. And even in this
direction the hope is far from being assured.
The growing timidty of our foreign intercourse
is not calculated to impress the foreigner with a
saving sense of our capacities. If we can't pro-
tect one citizen on the island from Spanish
tyranny, how, shall we protect one million (?
Nevertheless, the Spanish government is driving
the question to sudden solution, and we shall
not have many years to wait. No one DOUBTS
zoe presume, that Cuba shall eventually be ours.
Spain does not doubt it; and only struggles in
an awkward fashion to postpone the event. A
few more insults; few more confscations of
personal liberty and property some yet more
unequivoca expressions of contempt for our
government and its agents and the ire of our
people may be stirred to foregather the work Of
time, thereby leaving Spain ducatless and
daughterless, as aforesaid.