The national era. [volume] (Washington [D.C.]) 1847-1860, 1855-03-15
THE osTEND CONFERENCE.


| The reader will find in the Era of this week
an account of the Ostend Conference, a brief
abstract of the correspondence relating to it.
and an extraordinary joint letter from Ministers
Mason, Buchanan, and Soule, recommending
the President to seize Cuba by force, should the
Spanish Government decline to sell it. 1t is
unnecessary to publish in detail Mr.. Marcy's
letter of instructions to Mr.. Soule, and his let
ter to Mr.. Buchanan, in relation to the views
entertained by the Administration concerning
Cuba. Any one accustomed to read the Wash
ington Union, will understand their tone and
| purport The Administration is at no pains
to disguise its anxiety to obtain possession of
Cuba. 1t speaks dsparagingly of Spain, of
its despotic and oppressive rule in the island,
and of the natural afinities of Cuba for the
United States 1t is indignant at the supposed
coalition of England and France, for the pur-
pose Of aiding Spain in maintaining her au-
thority over her colony. 1t announces that
the United States will resist, at all hazards,
its transfer to any other Power; intimates
that, in case of a revolt of the Cubans, while
our Government will rigidly enforce our neu-
trality laws, still it must be expected that adj
venturers from all parts of the world, espe-
cially the United States will flock to the stand
ard of the revolutionists. He also leaves it to
be inferred, that should the revolutionists sue
coed so far as to maintain themselves against
the power of Spain, and France and England
should then interfere against them, the United
States would promptly interfere for them.
| Throughout the correspondence, Slavery,
which is at the bottom of all this intense anxi-
ETY. to wrest Cuba from Spain, is carefully kept
in the back ground. 1t would not do to tell
the world that the American Government is
anxious to possess Cuba, for the purpose of
preventing emancipation in the island, and for
the purpose Of adding to the security and
power of the slave system i'll the Southern
States.
| Meantime, Mr.. Soule was in earnest, think
ing perhaps more of the spirit and object than
of the strict letter of his instructions. The
| Spanish Government was unreasonable it
could not exactly see why it should part with
| its richest possession because the United States
coveted it! Congress refused to put money at
the disposal of the President, to carry out the
policy of annexation. The prudent Mr.. Marcy
therefore felt that it was time to beat retreat,
and so he suggested to Mr.. Soule conference
with Messrs. Mason and Buchanan, SOBER staid
gentlemen, well stricken in years, and therefore
capable, it might be supposed, of Christening
the ardor of Young America. So came to pass
the famous Ostend Conference which, in the
conclusion at which it arrived, must have dis
appointed the American Secretary of State.
Some of our contemporaries suggest that the
project was but a trap devised by the cunning
Mr.. Marcy to catch these willy diplomatists,
and make them laughing-stoc to the Ameri-
can people. 1t seems to us more probable,
| that the Administration feared to back out
from its untenable ground in relation to Cuba
and, apprehensive of the effect upon the Sla-
very Party and Young America, hoped that
Mr.. Buchanan and Mr.. Mason would unite in
such moderate counsels as would justify that
| step, and make them share part of its respon-
sibility.
If this were so, Mr.. Marcy and the President
must have been grievously disappointed. The
joint letter of the three grave ministers is con-
ceived in the very spirit of flibusterism. They
simply advise the President to disregard the
opinion Of the world, to approach Spain, the
purse in one hand and the sword in the other,
with the ultimatum, "Take the purse, and give
me Cuba, or / will take Cuba, and give you the
sword"
We need not print the rest of the correspond
ence. Mr.. Marcy, in behalf of the President,
graciously declines their counsel, falls back
upon the policy of mastery inactivity and Mr.
Soule, having nothing more to do, promptly re-
signs.
The whole correspondence will discredit us
in the eyes of the world. The graspng am
bition revealed by it, will increase the distrust
already awakened in regard to our purposes
The pride of Spain will be wounded AS to
Messrs. Buchanan and Mason, they will be re-
garded as freebooters, and if not treated as
such, they may thank the sacredness of their
diplomatic character.