Lynchburg daily Virginian. [volume] (Lynchburg [Va.]) 1852-1861, 1853-09-05
Inrd Iniln IiusseIl,s Lcmer.

MIR Eyerefts memorable letter, ejeclng lie
lpropnsed Tfipariie i e-iy. but with little 81
|, CT. The document H. a terse compaciness
superior 10 any of Lord Johns diplomatic
papers 20 now rem mi. hui even n lis iofm
and subject or did not carry sufficiently
dence al rs genuinene 5, tae silence oil Dir
Champion IN a manner OF 50 contemporaries
certainly does. The only singular point 49,
that the letter shouII have been so completely
KEPT state secret for more thaiI four monibs
after it was presented at the State Department
and that il should first be given TO the world
by one of our city contemporaries without the
slightest explanation State papers of this
consequence ought not to be public without
the direct authority Of the government, or IN
way that would not at once carry assurance
Of their perfect correctness
The neat cogciseness of Lord Johns letter
Is to be red:-but how f.r is i to be deem
ed an answer to the bold. comprehensive, and
statesmanlikc nissive 81 Mr.. Everett The
American Secretary of State with greet dignity
and yet with great emphasis had oet forth estat-
shrd policy OF our Governmenment TO avoid
all disabling or entanglIng alliances; declared
that the United States Constitution did not au
lhorlze The treaty making power 10 bind The
Government IN all its branches and Tor a
coming time not TO make territorial purchase
or territorial conquest; had referred to the gre
territorial acquisitions made by England and
France within the Loo half century, and h. }
eloquenrly and pbilosophically shown the con
slant expansion oflerrltory was, 1.-THE undonh'
ed operation of he law Of our political exis.
tence;" had demonstrated that tho proposed
compact although equal n It's terms, as. on
account of The vastly greater importance 0
f,,I. -.
unequal in substance; bad animadveried upon
The civil msgovern ment and the disregard oi
TIC comfy of nations pracsed in Cuha unde
Spanish auth ,rity, and pointed out the com
pIere mpossibllity Of determining how long
either the allegiance Of the island TO the mott
er country, or our own friendly relations could
consistently be maintained; had positively d.
avowed all design on the part of our govern
ment 10 obtain possession Of Cuba by vlolen'
means. and Yet had signifed, in language
which could not he mistaken, its firm delermi
nation moi o permit the island TO come un
great powers Of Europe. To all this the
BRUSH Secretary replies by assertions that
England and France have as much at stake in
Inc political relation of Cuba as the United
States and that their abnegaiion by the pro
mode of proving this s-we will not say falla
clous, tor 1t can impose upon nohody-slmplY
preposterous Cuba it is said is one hundred
miles from the United States which is within
ten miles as far rs Antwerp from the mouth Of
| Tire Thames; and the in;enued inference Is
that Cuba is about as little important to The
security of he United S4tes as Antwerp is to
The security of England 1t must have been
| unnHly sIub In bay Va Ioak oI hp RI V
Home Secretary thus engaged, in a bureau at
the Foreign Office, in calculating the relative
value Of military position by thumb nail meas
urements on the map. But he should learn
that his Lilliputian standards. however well
they may answ or for islands like Britain, will
not apply to Continents like ours Surprising
Il 10 be true that Cuba il halfthe breadth OF
England from the southern point of Florida, II
matters not. The question is not one OF distance
bat OF position. "The island of Cuba" said
Mr.. Everett, Commands the approach to the
Gulf OF Mexico, which washes The shores of five
of our States-lt bars the entrance to the great
river which drains half of the North Ameri
can Continent, and with lis tributaries forms
the largest system OF internal water Commune
cation III the world-it keeps watch at the
doorway of our intercourse with California
by the Isthmus route" This is undeniabIc.
and Cuba is therefore, to say the least. every
whit as important 10 this country as the pos
session Of an island within five miles of the
mouth Of the Thames would be to Eng -
Mr. Evcretls reasoning by analogy bctveee
tie two cases was not only pertinent but con
elusive.
Bot Lord John seriously urges that England
and France have possessions in the Caribbean
Sea nearly If not quiteas near to Cuba, as the
territory of the United States. True, England
has in the neighborhood ore considerable
island, which she has ruined and still calls her
own, besides three or four small ones, and
France has Two isles Of almost invisible m;
nureness. But how does that prove that
the maintenance of the present Statu quo in Gu.
ba is necessary to the safety of England or
France3 ISL not t.iflng with reason to pre-
tend for moment that on rpossessions of ia
maca or Gaudaloupe would enable us to strike
al England and France, as their possession OF
Cuba would enable them to strike at us
bn mi no