The national era. [volume] (Washington [D.C.]) 1847-1860, 1859-03-10

| are curious alternatives. One never can be-
the other never shall be- and the third is iney~
table and we are called upon to-day to appre-
| prlate 100000 to bring about an inevitable
consequence. / think it was stated by Seua,
tor sitting on the other side Of the Chamber ia
reference to manifest destiny, manifest destunp
will take care of herself" She wants none al
our puny and feeble aid and think, in the
present state of the Federal Treasury, it is :.
wasteful and extravagant appropriation ti
money, to appropriate, either actually or pros
pectively, $30,O00,000, to bring about an ine' !
table consequence. That is the ground OF
which the committee place it. :.
The committee not only prove that we hav,,
always wanted Cuba, and cannot help takin
tit is inevitable but they go on to fortify tt
justice and the pro riety of our taking her,
| the example of some Of the other nations of IL &
earth. The report says
Let England pursue her march of cOnque
and annexation in India, France extend h, (
dominions on the southern shores of the Me-
iterranean, and advance her frontiers to IL
Rhine, or Russia subjugate her barbarotsi
neighbors in Asia we shall look upon thei :
progress, if not with favor, AT least with indif.
| ference" =
Yes, sir, let Great Britain carry on her schemes
of conquest let her annex kingdom after king.
dom in India we look on, q if not with fayo,,
at least with Indifference" Let France extent
her dominions; let her pursue and carry on b :
schemes of conquest in Algeria we will n6t
have word TO say there. Let Russia pursue
unchecked her career of conquest upon the
Caucasus; let her anticipate the time when that
sick man " in Constantinople will die, and
seize upon Constantinople, and command the
Mediterranean we will look on, :" if not Wits
| favor at least with indifference"
ave claim on this hemisphere here is the
ground on which the claim is put" the same
privilege that they exercise on the other.'
Then there is beautiful line in Latin poetry.
l will endeavor to construe it
Hanc veniam petimusque damusque vcissim1 -
Sir, whenever hear Judge in court give a
opinion in Latin, generally conclude that {
is about to announce some internal doctrS :
that he is ashamed to speak in English. Laug#-
ter.
" Hanc venam peiimusque damusque vicssim.T =
Now, will tell you what the petimt,sqate and
the ddmusque are in this case. DdDli,Sqiie. We
give-we give to England liberty to extend hryr
wars of conquest and aggression in India IA 1
swallow 1t all up; we look on, If not with iavys.
certainly with indifference. DdDiuSque-tate
it. France, take what you want anywhere 30
on with your conquests, not only where you
please, but as you please-ddmuSque, we give
up that. Russia, go establish yourself OH the
Mediterranean and the Bosphorus if the . sick
| man does not die quite soon enough for YOU,
| smother him between the pillows-damuSqae !;
laughter !; if we do not look on with favor. we
do with Indifference. This, sir, is an unchar
liable world it is an ungrateful world but will
England and France and Russia be so migrate
full and ungracious, if we have given up to them
so much, if in the scale of danlts we have
thrown such tremendous weights, as not to al
low us to take Cuba? Now listen to the l,eti
mas. We want to do little robbing on or
own account. Here is a rich, beautiful islam,
lying close to our shores its political gravit:
ton is so great that we have hardly virtue )
keep it off it is ready to fall into our hands
petimus. Laughter. Stand by while we Ia a.
that-hdnc REMAIN. That is all the DctiB,atS 80
ask of the world, and this is the argumesl
stripped of its poetry, and translated into pls n
English.
But there is another trope, and the report
does great credit to the committee, and that Is
one originally, believe introduced by Mr..
Adams, and incorporated 10y the committee IN
their report. They say:
If an apple, severed by the tempest from its
| native tree cannot choose but fall to tie
ground, Cuba, forcibly disjointed from its osn
| unnatural connection with Spain, and inca
| wards the North American Union, which, "
the same law of nature, cannot cast her Il
from its BOSOM
1t is inevitable. l do not think Ne poet y
applies. We have not to use petimus to VIII i
is inevitable, and will come whether we will r
not. Now, sir, this argument Of the apple is >
beautiful one. 1t is one that BOYS can und !.
stand for can remember when we look
upon ripe apples hanging upon the trees, al !
we have all of US deplored the waste that >
accruing, If the ripe apples should fall to tse
ground and rot upon the soil; and, son +
times, / am not certain but some of us. l. q
such an extravaganza as that should happ
and the apple should grow ripe and fall VIII.
we were not by to catch it, have used q club =
hasten this process of nature and knocked tie
| apple off before it got quite ripe. Laughte.-
But the committee say the apple is absolutely
ripe. Now, | am not certain that this iudS
ment may not have been formed IA little by the
hankering appetite of the committee for ripe
apples, instead of precise knowledge of what
the state of the fruit is. Laughter.
These, / think, are the arguments that have
been adduced by the committee, in prose and
in poetry. 1t is desirable it is a rich island !:
we want it now, and you cannot prove tkat
| there ever was time when we did not want it !:
we want 1t very much. and are determined
to have it; we cannot help it; this is the only
| alternative there is for us-to take it. We will
| let France, Russia, and England take all the
| -dGmuSguc--if they will only allow us
to have this petimlts-to do what we cannot
help doing. Now, sir, cannot we reason with
the rest of the world, that they are acting I'M
reasonably?
Having fairly stated and answered as well as
l could, flor | am not acquainted with these
tropes,) the argument of the committee | will
now proceed to answer some of the positions
assumed by the honorable Senator from Louis
lana, Mr.. BENJAMIN. By a remarkable coin
| cidence it turns out that this knowledge of the
political necessity and the geographical necos-
| sity, and the argument growing out of ripe
fruit, and everything of that sort, seems to be
better appreciated by the Senators from LOUIS
lana than by Senators from any other part. of
| the United States. | do not know that itxis
strange that it does. The magnetic infuenre
of that political gravitation which has been
| going on will be more likely to be felt In that
| part of the coast nearest the magnet than it
would IN the more remote parts. But, sir. there
Is one portion OF the argument of the Senator
| from Louisiana which, doubt not, he thinks |
cannot answer, which he considers it is folly to
| attempt to answer. which | will now undertake
| to answer | shall not undertake to controyert
| one single word that he said about the cooGe
trade. III he has fOund a system of human
| slavery on the face of earth worse, and greatly
worse, than any that he has seen on our cont
nent, | am perfectly willing that he may ex-
| pend his sympathies and his philosophy upon
| it. / shall not undertake to controyert it.
Weld to him for the sake of the argument.
| though / do not profess to be instructed in the
| matter, that so far as his censures have fallen
upon the coolie trade, they are just. will
| not undertake to controvert them. SO far as
his censures have fallen upon the trade carried
| ON in African apprentices | will not controYert