New-York daily tribune. [volume] (New-York [N.Y.]) 1842-1866, 1855-04-19
TOO DEAR,


As ardent friends Of the abo ition of Slavery in
Cuba, 80 we'll 90 in the United States, we might
look not only with complscency, but with eKults.
tion upon the measures ssid to be now set OF foot
on tie part of President Pierce for getting up 3
quarrel snd war with the authorities Of tat
island. IL is rect rded of Sampson, that on cer-
tain occasion be slew three hundred Philistines
with the jaw bore Of an ass-and no doubt the
iepcble nature Of the instrument he employed
added considerably to the satiSA :tior which that
great champion Of IWselsish liberty must have
taken In the rout and destruction OF the oppres-
sors Of bis people. In like manner it could not
but add greatly to our hearty satisfaction at the
abolition Of Slavery in Cubs to see Mr.. Pierce
ard bis Cabinet made the instruments Of its &C
complisbmebt. But, much a. we desire 70 see
Cuba emancipsted, as wel from the yoke of the
planters ss from that of the mother country, we
are mol willing to purchase this great boon q. too
great cost to our own people. We are not
quite 80 philatttropic and efsacrifcing IS some
of cur contemporaries. 1t is not that We love
Cuba less, but that We love the Uoted States aud
cur own people more. We confess to some ps-
tto,ic PIT udices-narrow minded prejudice per-
taps some might call them-in favor Of A1glo-
Saxon America, which make US unwilling, even
for the sale OF libersting Cuba to subject our
own ctunhJmen to too great sacrifice.
OF all countries in the world, the Uoited States
IL the least able to risk maritime war; and that
for the very obvious reason that, while next TO
Great Britsin-spd close, too, upon her heels
we have the largest mercantile marine 10 exist
ence, richly laden chips on every sea, most tempt
ing to the privaseeriIg search Der, We have, at
the same time, of all the maritime powers. BY
far the smallest Navy-st least in proportion to
the vast extent of the commerce to be escorted
and protected by it. Is it worth our while to
raise the premium of insurance for an ordinary
voyage across the Atlantic to eight, ten, twelve,
fifteen, or twenty per cent, for the cake of lib
Grating Cuba, or even for the sake Of adding to
the Union another slave State-sCathoiic State,
toc-One whose inhabitants do not even speak the
English language Our merchants will do we'll
to look at this question. IL the present rate Of
freights such as to leave much hopes of profit
after such an addition to the'current charges of q
sea.voysgel
We can we'll imagine that Spin might conlem-
plate the prospect of war with the United States
without any great regret. Cuba would be lost,
no doubt. But Cuba now is but . sort Of wolf;
not without difficulty held by the ears and which
may at any moment tear herself away, or be torn
away by fllibusters from tie grasp Of the mother
coxtry. To be robbed Of Cuba by the United
States, a strong power which she is not gener
ally supposed 10 be able to resist in that quar-
ter, would be disgrace to Spain, while it would
be diiersce to lose it by domestic iDsurrecsion,
or to be obliged to yield it up to some psiful
bond Of fllibusters If Lost in that way, it would
be lest without Indemnity or equivalent; but if
lost to the United States the case would be
otherwise. Losing Cuba to the United States,
Spain would thereby acquire as an equivalent
and, perhaps it might prove, on the whole,
good deal more than sn equivalent-.he per-
petual right of plunderirg the commerce Of the
United States, as long as 1t remained of value
enough to be worth punderirg.
We are Lot to take the late Mexican war as
any specimen of what war with Spain would
be, or of the costs and burden which such war
would be likely to entail upon US. Mexico hsd
neither ships nor seamen, and scarcely harbOr
fit to be called so, or 80 situated in relation to
the peopled districts as to be at all available
for the purposes of maritime war. Spain has
plenty of baIbors, and a hardy population, bred
to the sess, who only need the stimulus of great
gains 10 prospect, to renew the enterprises of
three hundred years ago. The United States
have much more wealsh afost than both Peru
and Mexico could boast; and it Is not easy to
imagine shorter cut to wealth than the posses
sion Of per-schooner-buils perhaps for
tie slave trade-xith hundred well armed men
on board, and commission to cruise against
American commerce.
This 10 the sort Of war We have got to encouns-
er, in case of an attack upon Spain, and We wish
The Union, or The n Y. Times, or some Of the
fighting journals Of the country would inform US
in what way, after such swar is once begun,
they propose to bring it TO an end, or to protect
our commerce against its annoyahces We hope
President Pierce, beft re he finally copcluJes upon
q var, will read over Franklin's instructive story
of the boy who paid too dear for his whistle.