The republic. [volume] (Washington [D.C.]) 1849-1853, 1853-02-08

than the oak of the forest is capable Of resistinc
the thunderbolt of Heaven. It is seamen who.
make navy, and wherever they are found vessels
will not be long wanting. In this main element
OF success we are in advance of any power in
Europe Our fisheries turn out annually a bodv
OF hardy mariners unequalled for skill for energy
ano Ior daring. Our tonnage exceeds that of any
other nation. As long as these advantages remain
to US, the crumbling dynasties of the old world
may build war steamers without number, but
when contest comes the best of them will be
found sailing under Yankee colors. Vessels of war
manned by peasantry are feeble foes, and can soon
be captured. refer to these things with no view
to aggression, but the The proposition of
England and France has been held out to inf1ame
| the popular mind, and had some apprehensions
that the indignation and resentment excited by 1t
might hurry US into intemperate acts wish to
chow that we can afford to laugh to scorn the i'm
piled threat hanging US, and that this is bet
ter policy than yielding to the dictates of hasty
resentment Cuba will be whenever it is right
and needfu for US to take it. Whenever the might
of this Republic is put forth in Just there
| Is no human power which can prevent it. Under
such circumstances We can well afford to wait
| until the pear is ripe.
have no sympathy with those who so i'm.
patient to grasp the territory of neighbors nor
do my opinions at all accord with those who tell
with such confident and self-satisfied air that
| 1t ia time this Government had a foreign policy
believe we have always had foreign policy; nay
more, the very best that it was possible to adopt
the policy of attending to our own business with
out attempting sort of general guardianship over
all mankind
The period of trial and danger does not threaten
us from abroad. In that quarter the skies clear
and bright. 1t is at home that the symptoms of an
| approaching hurricane are manifested. These
! symptoms are everywhere about us and around
| US. They may be found in the restless and dis
turbed state of the public mind in the speeehes of
| dinner orators, dignifying war with the name of
progress" and clothing Wholesale robbery with
| the mantle of patriotism. They might have been
l. in no frpn zip0 pnt WI od
the footsteps of that sturdy beggar, Louis Kossuth,
in the wild and reckless attempts of Americans to
| take possession of Cuba. deplore their fate as
much as any one, and condemn strongly the
cruel and barbareus conduct of the Spanish govern
ment. but refer to them evidence of state of
things to which all eyes ought to be directed. And
last, but not least, the signs of this danger may
be found in the ill regulated but fierce and strenu
GUS efforts of Young America to bring about a
war with anybody, or upon any pretext These
things indicate spirit of change lmay be told that
that word is written upon every earthly thing; but
justice, honor, mercy, the children of God, and
| know no change. In The sublime morality of the
| Christians creed we may find guide which
cannotlead to error: edo unto others as ye would
of revelation that we taught to covet our
neighbours goods, nor indulge spirit of lawless
conquest. Nor do we learn there the duty of
progressing backwards from peaceful age to a
period of barbarism, where the strong hand was
law and the steel blade the sole arbiter of disputed
questions.
This thing called progress in the eyes of many
covers ali defects and makes atonement for every
error. Fit mean that glorious spirit which sweeps
abroad upon the wings of peace, shedding life,
and light and happiness over the land and on the
sea; which sends the missionary among the hea
then. and gathers the inf1del and unbeliever be-
meath the gospels ample shield; which doubles the
productions of earth and lays bare the treasures of
ocean; which plants the Church of God in the will
derness of the West, and substitutes the Sabbath
bell for the howl of the panther; which carries lite
eofa 10 lorr ,af ~S1
| and connects every part of this wide Republic by
links strong and close that the traveller feels
every spot he treads his home, and every hand he
grasps brothers. hand-if this be the progress
which is meant, most gladly do l enlist under its
banner. But am not permitted 30 to understand
it. Progress interpreted by modern politicians
ia quite different thing.
The first lesson they inculcate is spirit of gen.
era defiance to all mankind, and the imitation of
the worst practice of old chivalry-the practice of
hanging up glove challenge to every passer-
by to engage in mortal combat-a practice based
in no degree upon wrongs to be redressed or inju-
ries to be avenged, but upon pure unmitigated
love of blood and strife. They propose to grasp
the territory of old and faithful ally, not only
without shadow OF claim, but even without the
robbers plea of necessity. wish to indulge in no
exaggerated statements; but let US in the cant
phraseology of the day establish foreign policy.
Let US set about convincing the world that we are
indeed a power earth. Let US rob Spain OF
Cuba, England of Canada, and Mexico of her re-
too small theatre upon which to enact the bloody
drama of American progress. Like the prophet
of the East, who carried the sword in one hand and
Koran in the other, American armies will be sent
forth to proclaim freedom to the serf But if he
should happen to love the land in which he was
born, and exhibit some manly attachment to the
institutions with which he is familiar, his life's
blood would saturae the SOIL and his wife and chill
dren be driven forth as houseless wanderers, in
proofofour tender consideration for the rights of hu
manity. This is a species of progress with which
Satan himself might fall in love. He then drew a
glowing picture of America as she now is-splen-
did, magnificent in all things-commerce, agricul-
ture, arts, and sciences, in freedom, and in proud
prerogative of religious worship.
He then asked them to look upon land offered
as substitute for this, where is passion and
blood welcome visitor, every avenue for genius
leading through fields of strife. Literature
mockery, religion reproach, the people strong
but terrible, having the tigers outward beauty
and the tigers inward fierceness. He contended
that such was the natural tendency of mo dern
progress. The present acquisition of Cuba he
considered of tionable proprety but lift came
being blessing, it will prove deadly hate.
He cited the reply of Caractacus to the Ro- |
man emperor, and thought that Spain might |
address to US similar appeal, Possessed of ter
to the region of the tropics; embracing every va.
riety of SOIL climate, and production, why should
we envy Spain the last little island OF her once
mighty dominion. 1t was not needed for agricul-
tural purposes nor for national defence.
1t was fallacy to say Cuba commanded the
Gulf trade. Tortugas and Key West command
the Gulf trade, and Cuba ITSELF With those points
fortified, hostile fleet in Cuba would be powerless.
This fact was known and commented on in Eng
land when Florida was coded to the United States
He cited various American commanders who gave
the same decided opinion. Two millions would
fortify both those points 1t was the part of econo
my well of honesty to fortify own posses
sions, and leave our neighbors in undisturbed en-
joyment of what belongs to them. Better expend
two millions thus than hundred millions to pur-
chase, uncounted millions in its conquest. At
present we derive from Cuban imports an annual
revenue of nearly six millions. This would be
lost. While he deprecated arguments addressed
to the North or South-because no argument could
be good that did not address itself to the whole
Union-he proposed to meet the sectional appeals
already made. In no possible aspect could the an
nexation of Cuba take place without the greatest
injury to the South.
As slave State, she could give the South no ad-
ditional power; the dream of balance of power in
the Senate was long since exploded It would
bring powerful rival in direct competition with
the most profitable productions of the Southern
States. Remove the duties now collected on the
articles raised in Cuba, and their culture in the
Southern States would soon sicken and die The
present tariff on sugar slight matter. He
commented upon the tenfold addition to the agri-
cultural energies of Cuba to result from the annex
alton of it to the United States as detrimental to
fhoC ,,,t