The national era. [volume] (Washington [D.C.]) 1847-1860, 1853-01-13


route. IL an island like Cuba belonging to
the Spanish Crown, guarded the entrance of
the Thames and the Seine, and the United
States should propose convention like this TO
England and France, those powers would AZ
suredly feel that the disability assumed by our
selves was far less serious than that which we
asked them to assume.
The opinions of American statesmen at diff
ferent times, and under varying circumstances.
have differed as to the desrableness of the &C.
QUESTION Of Cuba by the United States. Terri
torially and commercially, it would, in our
hands, be an extremely valuable possession.
Under certain contingencies, it might be al
most essential TO our safety. Still, for domestic
reasons on which, in a communication of this
kind, 1t might not be proper to dwell the Pres
ident thinks that the incorporation Of the island
into the Union at the present time although
effected with the consent Of Spain, would be a
/ hazardous measure and he would consider its
acquisition by force, except in a just war with
SPAN, should an event so greatly to be depre-
Gated take place. as disgrace to the civiliza-
! ton Of the age
! The President has given ample proof of the
sincerity with which he holds these views He
has thrown the whole fcrc0-of his constitution.
al power against all Illegal attacks upon the
island 1t would have been perfectly easy for
him, without any seeming neglect of duty, to
allow projects of a formidable character to
gather strength by connivance. No amount of
obloquy at home no embarrassments caused
by the indiscretions of the ealonial Government
OF Cuba, have moved him from the path of
duty in this respect The Captain General of
that island, an officer apparently of upright
and conciliatory character, but probably more
used to military command than the manage
ment of civil affairs has, on punctilio in ref
erence to the purser of private steamship
(who seems to have been entirely innocent of
the matters laid to his charge) refused to allow
passengers and the mails of the United States
to be landed from vessel having him on
board This certainly is very extraordinary
mode of animadverting upon supposed abuse
of the liberty of the press by the subject of
foreign Government in his native country. The
CarSain General is not permitted by his Gov
eminent, three thousand miles off, to hold any
diplomatic intercourse with the United States.
He is subject in no degree to the direction of
the Spanish Minister at Washington and the
President has to choose between resort to
force to compel the abandonment of this gra-
tutous interruption of commercial intercourse,
(which would result in war; and delay of
weeks and months necessary for q negotiation
with Madrid, with all the chances of the most
deplorable occurrences in the interval and oil
for a trie that ought to have admitted a set
Element by an exchange of notes between
Washington and the Havana
The President, however, has patiently sub
mtted to these evils and has continued faith.
fully to give to Cuba the advantage of those
principles of the public law under the shelter
60. l,al,o haa xtA,l -. Al.
the comfy of nations. But the incidents to
which allude and which are still in train,
are among many others which point decisively
to the expediency of some change in the rela-
tions of Cuba and the President thinks that
: the influence of England and France with
Spain, would be well employed in inducing
her 30 to modify the administration of the Gov
eminent of Cuba, as to afford the means of
luded to, which have done much 10 increase
the spirit of unlawful enterprise against the
island
That convention, such as is proposed, would
be transtory arrangement sure to be swept
away by the irresistible tide of affairs in new
country, is to the apprehension of the President
too obvious to require labored argument The
project rests on principles applicable, if at all,
to Europe, where international relations are, in
their basis, of great antiquity, slowly modified
for the most part in the progress Of time and
events, and not applicable to America, which,
but lately waste, is filling up'with intense
rapidty, and adjusting on natural principles
those territorial relations, which, on the first
discovery of the continent were in q good de-
gree fortuitous The comparative history o.
Europe and America even for a single centu
ry, shows this. In 1852, England, France, an,
Spain, were not materially different in thei
political position in Europe from what the,
now are. They were ancient mature, consoli
, dated States established in their relations with
each other and the rest of the world--the lead
ing powers OF Western and Southern Europe
, Totally different was the state of things in
America The United States had no existence
as a people--a line Of English colonies moi
numbering much over million of inhabitants
stretched along the coast. France extended
from the Bay of st Lawrence to the Gulf OF
Mexico, and from the Alleganies to the Missis
sippi beyond which, westward, the continep.
was wilderness, occupied by wandering saw
ages and subject to conflicting and nominal
claim on the part of Franco and Spain. Every
thing in Europe was comparatively fixed
everything in America provisional, incipient
and temporary, except the law Of progress,
which is as organic aud vital in the youth of
States as Of individual men. A struggle
between the provincial authorities Of England
and France, for the possession Of petty stock
ade at the confluence Of the Monongahela and
the Allegany kindled the seven wears war, at
the close Of which the great European Powers,
not materially affected in their relations at
home, had undergone astonishing changes on
this continent. France had disappeared from
the map of America, whose inmOst recesses
had been penetrated by her jealous missiona-
ries and her resolute and gallant adventures
England had added the Canadas to her trans
atlantic dOminions Spain had become the
mistress OF Louisiana so that 10 the language
of the Archbishop Of Mexico in ITO. she
claimed Siberia as the Northern boundary of
| New Spain
| Twelve years only from the treaty of Paris
elapsed and another great change took place,
fruitful of still greater changes to come. The
American Revolution broke out; il involved
England, France, and Spain, in tremendous
struggle, and at its close the United states of
America had taken their place in the family
of nations. In Europe the ancient States were
restored substantially to their former equlib-
rum, but new element Of incalcuabie i'm
portance in reference 10 territorial arrange
ments is henceforth to be recognised 10 Amer
| lea
Just twenty years from tho close of the war
of the American Revolution France, by O trea-
ty with Spain Of which the provisions have
never been DISCLOSED, possessed herself Of Louis
lana but did 10 only TO cede it to the United
States and in tho same year Lewis and Clarke
started On their expedition, to plant the flag of
| the United States on the shores of tic Pacific.
l.. A.. Al. H.
ted States, whose territorial possessions in this
way had been increased tbrse-iold in half q
century This last acquisition was NO much a
matter Of course that it had been distinctly
forcseen by the Count Amanda, then Prime
Minister Of Spain, as long ago as 1888. But
even those momentous events are but the fore
runners of new territorial revolutions still more