The Highland weekly news. [volume] (Hillsborough [Hillsboro], Highland County, Ohio) 1853-1886, 1859-03-10
SPEECH
SENATOR THOMPSON OF KY.
On the Acquisition of Cuba,
CONCLUDED

What else has England dono2 She
has made China come into her meas
ures. The fact that there was q vast re-
bellion in her provinces in the East did
not check her atall. General Hardnge,
who was to have been made peer, and
glorious old Christian commander he
was, in a series Of one hundred splendid
engagements subjugated place after
place, until he eventually died. His
successor, Sir Colin Campbell, seems to
go ahead with equal spirit and equal
strength The provinces will all be
brought in, and they will be made to
pay the expenses of the fight. They
will be put under stricter discipline by
way of prevention, and to satisfy herself
England will annex a few other pro-
vinces. There is where her ambition is;
there is where the prosperity of her en-
pire, in a great degree, lies She has
been going on in this way for centuries;
without the horrors Of a war at home
upon her own shores, or any fear Of a
foreign invasion, and with only occa-
sional civil outbreaks. OF her it may
be said that, for a thousand years, the
temple of Janus has substantially never
been closed. A bloody old bruiser, she
has roamed around the world insulting,
brow-b beating, and whipping anybody
and everybody she chose.
Her feet is FIVE or six hundred ships,
ten OF eleven times as strong as ours
The feet of France is about ten times as
large as ours; and I suppose she would
join in such a struggle just for the
grandeur of the thing. Suppose we
get into a fight with them about Cuba:
how are we to get men there and if we
get them there how arc we to succor
them with other men and with proyis.
ions2 Will they not cut off all inter
course2 If the island was given to us
to-day, they could come and take it, or
starve us out, unless tho climate killed
them off; nothing but the yellow fever
would ever save us. 1t is absolutely a
point of weakness, in my estimation,
instead of n point of strength, Gentle.
men talk about its being the key, and
commanding the Gulf of Mexico, the
queen of the Antilles, a gem, and I
hardly know what all. All manner of
things are said Why, Sir, does not ev-
cry man know that outside Of the reefs
of Florida there is passage enough for
vessels, and that you cannot raise such
works of fortifcation there as would in
terrupt the passage of vessels in the
channel2 So it is on the Cuba side,
where you 90 into the Caribbean Sea-
It is utterly impracticablo. Suppose we
had the Moro Castle, and there were
eight or ten 74-gun ships before it; how
long do you suppose it would stand?-
There are many points on the island
where soldiers could be landed. Eng
land keeps 25,OOO men in Canada as
her regular complement. She could
run them down, and land in Cuba these
regular soldiers trained in war. Your
regular French Zouayes, Bedouin Arab
fighters, could go there; and what would
be our raw troops, our green troops,
against them? Our troops, of course,
would be unprovisioned. We should be
driven out of the island, not because
our people are not brave and willing to
fight, but because we could rot stand
such fighting.
Then, Instead. of going on in this
way, I should like to have some refec-
ton and some thought bestowed upon
the subject. If we get Cuba, we must
certainly hold it by Notifications; and
I should like to send a Commission
there to examine it, such as we sent
out in the Crimean war to examine the
Russian Notifications and the arma-
ments of the allied armies, and I
would add to that Commission the Sem
ator from Mississippi (Mr, Davis,) for
have more confidence in his military
ability than in any man now in the
United States; and 1 would also put on
it the Senator from Minnesota (Mr.
Shields.) Let them 60 down and sur
vey Cuba as a man would survey a
piece of land before he bought it. Let
| them come back and tell US whether
there is any Cronstadt there, such as
the Russians have to defend St. Peters
burg. Let them tell us whether there
| is place whore a fOrt6catiOn may be
! built such as was built at SevastopOl
under the genius of the immortal Tod
tleben. Let them tell us whether there
are any places for a Redan and a Nam
elon tower to rear their heights in such
grandeur as to be able to back an Eng
lish feet. / would wish TO be satisfied
on all these points because, when we
come TO get it, / should suppose we
want to hold it.
1 spoke before of our going in debt
for four hundred years, to build the
Pacific Railroad I think that if we
should get war on account of Cuba, we
should be so crippled that we should
never get out Of debt. I think 1 pro.
pose a fair way of trading. A man
does not buy horse without looking
at it.
I do not care for all tho popular clam.
or down South about buying Cuba
They do not know anything about it,
IF you talk to tho people in the South
about it, and tell them what fine coun,
try it is, they are very willing to have it
but our people have been so petted and
spoiled upon this subject, again and
again surfeited, like a great child whose
appetite is vitiated by sweetmeats, tha
they arc eternally whining because thei
stomach is not as big as their eyes
and they cannot swallow everything
they see Laughter They ough
10 have somebody Who IS willing 20 tel