Indiana American. [volume] (Brookville, Ind.) 1833-1861, 1855-05-18

4 s~H~ Hs~f~ ehoh ihoutJs ~ WAS I'll
Inheritance of his fathers. His pes
scnal consideration and self-resnec
were involved in the possession, an,
he positively refused. This put Ahal
into great fret; he was so vexed tha
at last be went TO bed and would no
eat. Now Ahab had counselle.
who had come from a foreign Ian,
where morality was at rather low ebb
this was his wife Jezebel. She under
took to crafty his desire, without tn,
payment of any money at all. Al
she wanted was power to write letter
in Ahab's name and seal them will
his seal. This the unprincipled ras
cal granted, and she used the power {,
go to war with poor Naboth. VIII,
could make no resistance; SO she kill
ed him, and then made his vineyart
/ pay the expense and trouble of putting
him to death. We must not suppose tha
all this was done without due respes
to decenay, and fair statement o
grievances. Nothing could be NOR,
satisfactory than the imperative neces
sity for the execution of Naboth.-
With esses against him were plenty
and as many more could nave beer
procured if necessary. Indeed, with
so mrch dignity and propriety
did Jezebel move on to murder
ard robbery, that u fast was proclaim
ed on the eve Of Naboth's trial. Th,
result was, that the war oves
Ahab 6ot out of bed and went TO take
possession OF the vineyard. "And the
word of the Lord came TO Elijah the
Tishbite, saying, Arise, 20 down tc
meet Ahab. King Of Israel, which /.
in Samaria; behold. he is in the vine,
yard ofNabolh, whittier he has gone
down to possess it. Aud thou shall
speak unto him, saying. Thus saith
the Lord, Hast thou killed and also Ia.
ken possession? Thus saith the Lord
In the place where the dogs licked the
blood ofNaboth shall dogs lick thyblood
even thine. And ofJezebel alsospake the
Lord. saying, The dogs shall eat Jez.
ebel by the walls of Jezreel. Him
that dieth of Ahab in the city the dogs
shall eat; and him thai diuth in the
field shall the fowls of the air eat."-
II came TO pass as the prophet of the
Lord declared. God had endured all
Ahab's forraer wickedress, but this fla
grant outrage against a poor and help.
less neighbor this mockery Of the
forms ofjastice; this rttempt to hallow
covetness under the forms of deyolion:
eyea me patience OF God would not
endure it.
Now, we confess that we can see
no difference between our covetness OF
Cuba. and the proposed mode of OBJ
taining it, and the case Of Ahab To-.
ward Naboth. except that in every
particular ofthe parallel our seizure Of
'uoa would be inconceirably the
greater wickedness. Ahab was not
an enlightened Christian nor even q
Jew. He was one mind and that was
a weak one. under the influence of a
strong. minded. deep passioncd, heath
en- woman. His temptation was a
personal one; the advantage he desired
was an individual one; his disappoint.
ment carried with Il the sting of indi
vidual defeat, in matter Of personal
feeling. and that too 10 mind unac-
customed to contradiction or self-deni.
al. He committed one murder.
Now would Ahab have been less to
blame II. instead Of coveling neigh
boring province; and il. instead Of
sending few men to stone Naboth,
be had sent army. and killed twenty
thousand men? ii, instead Of depop.
ulating and annexing few square
rods, he had done the same to thou.
sand square miles?
We are not without foreign advi.
ser, male Jezebel, who only wanted
power TO use our name and seal 10 put
us IN possession. Mr.. Soule plays
this part to admiration; aud. to their
shame be 1t said. other foreign ambas.
sadors from the United States. met in
deliberate council, have united in the
scandalous advice. May God save us
from lying upon our bed while such
things shall be done In our namel
As to the provocaiioo given by the
Spaniards--thcir firing into our ships
which, however. turns out not TO be
true-imprisonment Of our citizens,
DC, de-. there may be some ground
for complaint. Foolishness Is bound
up in tho heart Of n child. aud Span.
iards. at least such as obtain Offices.
appear never 10 outgrow infancy. But
surely these affronts do net authorize
bloody war. much less the annexation
Of Cuba. Let the Congress Of the
United States declare. once for NIL,
that We haye..no desire. much less in.
tention, TO sieze Cuba. either by di.
rect aggression or through intermediate
revolution. and we have no doubt the
Spaniard will become a civil neighbor.
But while we keep him in continual
aaxiety and alarm, we can hardly com.
plain II. in the nervousness Of unceas-
ing watchfulness, he may go further
than heis authorized 10 60.
IfSpanish men-of.war will not con.
duct themselves with civiliy, let them
be captured and brought here ard sold
to pay indemnity for any losses un-
Justly inflicted upon our citizens
There are many modes in which a.
strong nation can exact respect
from u weak one. Let Us act toward
Cuba precisely as We should 90 IL we
had no wish to possess it. Let us act
without any such wish, and all will be
easy enough.
AS to the necessity 70, osr occupa-
tioa OF Cuba, II is simply nonsense
Cuba 10 not necessary to us. or we
could not have got along without it
hithe.to. While in possession Of
Spain We can have nothing to fear
froi. il; and no other European nation
has rs much prospect Of obtaining il
now as they would have were we in
possession Of II. But we have no
right to It. 1t is not ours. However