Washington sentinel., 1853-11-15
THE VOICE OF THE CUBAN pEopLE.

The following is an extract from an article in
La Toz del P,leJia Cpbana-IsThe voice of the
Cuban People"-the organ Of independence,
printed privately at Havana, October 20, two
days before the Crescent City sailed from that
port.
Everything relating to Cuba is at this time
a matter of peculiar interest. Great events
are now on foot, and the opinions and sympa-
thies of the Cubans in regard to them are not
without their Importance. The paper above
referred to has the following:
"England, who has not, without some good
and sufficient object, been the Jest of Spain in
the constant infraction fthe treaties concluded
with the latter in 1917 and 1895, who has en-
ployed millions in the prosecution of her po-
-philanthropic plans in relation to Cuba,
and who moreover, is anxious to secure her.
self against the day when her acquired rights,
her money and her hopes would vanish before
n political change now contemplated on the
Island, has determined to adopt, and has
adopted a conclusive resolution, which viii
alter our social condition, entail our ruin, and
carry us God knows WHITTIER This we ascribe
to the lethargy Of the Indifferent and incredu-
lous, who are sleeping in the lap of criminal
negligence; to the revolutionary spirit of the
Island, to the easy temper of the United States
in their obsequious yielding to British demands,
and to the weakness and critical position of
Spain. The English government has tolerated
the slave trade in the Island. 1t would have
suppressed it had it desired so to do, for it
could command as much influence here as it
did not long ago in Greece, having here, as in
the latter region, both right and force on its
side; and it has not exercised that force be-
cause it wished to heap up testimony for its
future complaints, and to operate in Cuba
whenever fair occasion and the force of cir
cumstances should give it the most available
opening.
"This favorable moment has arrived. A
crown minister of England has been heard
counselling minister of Spain to abolish
slavery altogether, as means of preventing
the annexation of Cuba to the United States.
Another minister Lord Clarendon) said be-
fore Parliament in the sessions of May 25 and
30, of this year. that the government of her
Britannia Majesty had determined to put an
end to SO abominable traffic by her own force
and power. Another, Lord John Russell in
combating the communication of Mr.. Everett,
has avowed that declaration of independence,
favored by the United States, in order to protect
blacks, would be looked upon as formal an
nexation; and in the conclusion of his reply
has added that Great Britain reassumes her
complete liberty Of action, and that upon any
occasion that may arise, she will be the mis-
tress of her own course, whatever plan she
may deem it proper to follow, either with other
powers, or alone.
"There is no longer any room to doubt that
the English government is now concluding
with the court at Madrid compact whose re-
suit will be the immediate ruin of the island,
or the establishment of the apprentice system,
with the explicit stipulation of final abolition,
which will bring in its train disorders, insur-
rections, and other calamities. The whole
American press has raised the cry of alarm.
1t may already be too late for the United States
to avoid the fatal gulf And what have we to
do? Shall we let ourselves be sacrificed like
sheep? Between such catastrophe, and a
revolution which would save both peninsulas
and Cubans, can there be moment Of hesi-
tation?''