Port Tobacco times, and Charles County advertiser. (Port Tobacco, Md.) 1845-1898, 1857-04-09
From the Baltimore American.
SPAIN AND MEXICO.

MeAIco with resolution worthy OF OLD Gas
tile, hangs fire, ut is said, in consequence
of the refusal of France and England to in
sure Cuba against the possible attacks of CT
tizens of the United States, during the gen.
eral ''muss" of such an encounter. Had
Louis Napoleon and Lord Palmerston acced-
ed bke wishes Of the Cabinet of Madrid,
the armament for the invasion of Mexico
would have sailed Immediately from Cadiz,
and by this time, have been lowering round
the port ofVera Cruz. But the application
to the great powers proving unsuccessful,
the Spanish Ministry has taken time to con-
slider the matter more fully and to hear the
report ola Special Envoy of General Comon-
fort, the President of Mexico, which high
dignitary had, at the latest advices, but just
crossed the Pyrenecs on his way to the Cap
ital Meanwhile the war spirit was said to
be increasing daily. and the vessels eompos
ing the squadron destined for the attack on
Mexico were in readiness at any moment to
slip their cables and spread their canvass to
the breeze.
Should President Comonfort's ambassa-
dor disavow, as seems very probable, the
outrages of Alvarez, and give as reason
why Mexico has not punished this bold
nulatto that she had not the power to do
so, the Spanish Government will find itself
in somewhat embarrassing position. To
send an expedition againt Vera Cruz, with
the Castle of St. Juan d'Ulloa to be taken,
is one thing; to extcrminate the robber
band Of Alvarez in their stronghold is an
other and quite different thing. A COM
paratively small force would probably suf-
flee, all other parties remaining neutral, to
blockade the Mexican harbors or even to
carry fire and sword into the heart of the
country; but the entire strength of the
Spanish army and navy would not be equal
to the destruction of savage bandit, accus-
toned to the intensities of burning climate
and moving rapidly from point to point of a
rough and uncultivated region. The last
round silver Carolus left shining alone in
the dcsolate vaults Of the Spanish treasury,
with its pillars Of Hercules made smooth by
the rubs Of several centuries, would have to
be expended, before Alvarez could be COM
fortably and properly garroted. -.
The preparations made by spain for this
Mexican Expedition will provoke smile in
all who recollect the puissance Of that once
mighty nation, when, under the sway of
Charles ", it's galleons transported the
produce of Potosi to swell the Golfers which
were already overhowing with the tributes of
Antwerp and Amsterdam. Five ships and
Fmada rss se q a ss Rqt oa tie iS S9rt TT 9f
conquest of EN- pire and the humiliation of
national pride The truth is, a war be-
tween Spain and Mexico at Ibis moment
would illustrate only the extreme fee hleness
to which the Castilian stock has been re-
duced in the Old and the New World by a
long series Of national crimes Senility a.
gainst impotence, this is indeed a melancho-
ly struggle to look upon. War is at all
times and under all circumstances a specta-
Gle, and when two powerful kingdoms are
hurried into conflict with each other, hu-
1nanity averts its eyes and we may even i'm
agine the angels to weep over the sorrow
full catastrophe. But when the ridiculous
mingles with the mournful, and we are call
ed upon at once to lament the rage and pi-
ty the ignoblc weakness of the combatants,
then Mars and Bellona themselves may we'll
be ashamed Of their worshippers The lu-
<licrous side of this Spanish invasion is
heightened by the proposal to bring from
that peaceful seclusion Of cock-fghting and
dolce for niente which for three years or
more he has been enjoying at Carthagena,
the veteran Santa Anna, and give to him
the chief command of the forces There
should be military genius enough in Spain,
one would think, to carry out the warlike
designs Of the nation without having to call
upon the Napoleon Of defeats and the great
master of Anabasis. The sangre azula must
indeed beat languidly in Castillian pulses
when Spain is forced to seek out fugitive
Mexican ruler, whose youth of folly has
been succeeded by an old age of game-cocks,
and confde into his hands the execution of
one of her most important enterprises.
But the issue, of the difficulty between
Spain and Mexico is yet in doubt and there
may probably be no war at all. Upon gen.
eral principles we should desire pacific re-
suit, but much more ardently do we desire
it when we consider that declaration of
hestilities would pretty surely set all the
restless elements our own country into agi-
tation for the immediate occupation of Gu
ba. and for descent on all the territories
of Central America. We are not insensi-
BILE to the great commercial advantages that
would flow to us from the acquisition of Gu
ba, and we believe that sooner or later it
must become the possession Of the United
States But the Queen of the Antilles,
were she five times as attractive, should not
involve us in the guilt Of territorial robbie
nv, and even a war with Mexico on the part
of Spain would not necessarily afford that
easy pretext of neighbor Ucalegon's house
on fire. which the Ostend manifesto assum-