Richmond enquirer. [volume] (Richmond, Va.) 1815-1867, 1859-02-25

2SIute cuttOrlal artCle, tahen Hom tHS anu"
delphia Southern Monitor" If the calculation
of our esteemed and very able contemporary Is
correct as it seems unavoidable, then the
scheme now on foot with regard to Cuba IN
wolves not only the most daring scheme OF mo-
nopoly which has yet assailed the commercial
rights OF the whole country, but a treacherous
conspiracy especially calculated to betray the
interests and expectations Of the Southern peo'
pie:
from the Philadelphia Southern MonltOr.l
CUBA.
The entanglements Of the Cuba question
ought to be deliberately considered. Can the
Island be purchased? How? BY the bribery
of Madrid Ministers. But if so, the "spoilcr
will be spoiled" Such corruption, at the Court
of Spain. eiU hare its root or source at the
Court eff Washington. But can an appropria-
ton be made for the execution of a treaty. BE-
fore the treaty is negotiated? An extremely
dangerous transfer Of legislative power! The
only check that CONGRESS has upon the PreSi-
dent and the Senate is a firm retention Of the
purse, which may be necessary to carry into
execution a bad as well as q good treaty. Whe-
Their it is good or bad, should be asccrtaincd
before money is appropriated to fulfil its terms
and conditions. Suppose one of the stipula'
tions should be, not only additional cruisers
on the Coast Of africa, but CONDITIONAL EMAN'
cpA7lox? Could the Senate take back its 'ad-
vice and consent" or Congress its money! If
both could be done, would it annul a partly
executed treaty-executcd by money previously
appropriated?
But wAR will be the inevitable effect Of the
acquisition of Cuba, if it be consummated in
the spirit of Mr.. Slidell's pending proposition.
Purchase it if we can-seize it if we must
And with what Powers? OF the Antilles.
Great Britain has seventeen islands; France
several; Holland several; Denmark several;
Spain two, and Free Negroes one. To snatch
or bride Cuba, under the pretert that 9e must
haze the Mare Clausum Of the Guf is at once
to alarm all these Powers. For Cuba is not
the Mare Clausum, while several of the other
islands are. Behold the outlet along our coast;
it is far northeast Of Cuba, off our Atlantic
coast and the British Antilles. We shall have
to take this Mare Clausum, then, from Great
Britain, not from Spain. And surveying the
windward, or other passages, we find them be-
longing to other Powers besides Spain. Hence,
if Cuba be taken from Spain for this reason,
tho CANA -a..n~ ~~i,Ls =" e.~"t.. F".e Gi '>-
sailing other Powers. They will make the
point common to themselves, whether Spain
consents or not; for her case to-day may be
theirs tomorrow. Shall we assume the ground
of the Monroe doctrine?' We have been
estopped by its dcsuctude in the case Of St.
Domingo or Hayti. We have allowed an Eng
lish army to assist negroes in the murder OF
husbands and fathers and sons and brothers Of
French population-to ravish their women,
and beget a Republic Of mixed breed, guaran-
tied and sustained in its example and indcpen-
dence by European governments. But why
not take HaytiP We shall be constrained to
do so, if we buy or seize Cuba
In any event we must have wAR-war with
FIVE European Powers-and Hayti; with
England, France, Spain, Holland and Denmark.
And this while We are chastising Paraguay;
proposing a protcctorate over Mexico; and have
~quarrels with Costa Rica Nicaragua and New
Grenada, about the Isthmus, which must in
volve every maritime Power on the globe!--
Thus by these multiplied and complicated diff.
ferences on vital issues, we arc likely to brinsup
on us no less than fire European and sir American
Powers. And England and France alone can
transport one hundred thousand men much
easier at this day. than Great Britain did five
thousand in 1914. Land them where? Cuba:
The Isthmus? No-at the mouth ct' the HIS
sissippi again. The fight, then, would be, not
to acquire Cuba and make her a slave State,
but whether we should lose Louisiana, and whc-
ther she would be made a free State. A con.
fict of such magnitude might prccipitate upon
us the curse of j. Q. Adams-that a war might
come which would force us to agree to the
emancipation Of the Southern slaves as a con-
dition Of peace!
But if it were possible to acquire Cuba with
out this humiliation and cost, or loss Of moral
prestige, or war-even then, what would be
her status? Bond or free? But, first, rhy do
the Louisiana Senator's desire the acquisition
of Cuba so rehementlyi The one rcports-and
the other speaks. Who are their constituents:
Sugar planters, perhaps six or eight hundred in
number, to whom sugar bountieS have been
paid to the amount Of ten millions Of money
IF Cuba comes in as q slave State. these boun-
ties will cease. Cuba sugar will freely CON-
pete with Louisiana's sugar, and drive it out of
the market. The capital invested in sugar
plantations in Louisiana will be sunk-it will
all 60 to Cuba, if annexed. Do not Senators
Slidell and Benjamin know this? Do they de-
sire it. No. What them Why, they kmo~
If Cuba is acquired in mhaterer @oy, At @U
Be free State as certainly as California mas
made free. The Spaaiayds and 6ehou-bitten
negroes wouM soon be driren cut by the Nem
England, and Northern, and non-slareholding
Aires; and they kno~ rery eel that this uouM
crush the production Of sugar in Cuba az in
Hayti. And what then: Why, Louisiana
and Texas would reap more than bounties-
Mey ,eouM hare a monopoly Of S~rcAR.PRlxcE-
DON!