The national era. [volume] (Washington [D.C.]) 1847-1860, 1859-02-03
ment of the Islam of Cuba if it shall be e.

CURED ,'9
Sir, have always received as political
maxim the declarations made by our predeees-
sors in regard to the acquisition Of Cubs.
Every rock and every grain of sand in tn It
island were drifted and washed out from Anne r
lean soil by the foods of the Mississippi, an
the other estuaries of the Gulf of Mexico. III e
island has seemed to me, just as our predeees-
sors have said, to gravtate back again to tie
parent continent from which it sprang. Ihale
supposed that political necessities would dete 2
mine that ultimate conclusion and ! EnG Y
that to political necessities all actions of Go
ernments must bend, and all sentiments OF n s.
tons must accommodate themselves. l bav !,
nevertheless, been taught, with the same ma !
i'm, this other rule, that the acquisition of Cub
is question of time, of necessity and of oppo :
tunity. 1t was just as clear sixty years az ),
when we acquired Louisiana, as it is now, tn; t
Cuba, in the language of John Quincy Adam,
gravitates TO the United States, as the apple yet
hanging on its native trunk gravitates to th :
earth which sustains it. Yet it certainly is trt i,
that Cuba was not then acquired, nor attempteT
by extraordinary means TO be acquired an |
the reason was, that the time, necessity AMI
opportunity, had not then presented themselves.
In fact, the time is determined by the coinci
dence of necessity and opportunity; and rha.
coincidence is the result of decline of Euro
pean power on this continent and of a deye~
opment of the growth Of American power n.thr
same continent. Our foreiathers said, all OF
predecessors have said, that when the iunctl~s
shall arise that there should be Just that nee.
sary decline of the political European power,
the continent, and Just that development o.
American power here, which makes Spain ut
able to keep, and ourselves able freely to Obtain !
the island, then it would be hopeless and i'd
I'll q
srable. They have said more, and subscribe
to it-that we may safely hold our souls in pa
thence so long as Spain can keep it. and no 9th er
and stronger European Power can, or dare, take
it from her. What have TO say now is, II L
the time and opportunity do not now serve, in Y
Judgment, any more than they have served r
the last sixty years. We may be nearer-ts 3
indeed, doubt not we are-to the acuuisititp
of Cuba but we have not arrived at the poi-lt
at which the acquisition must necessarily e
made, or can be made, consistently with tie
conditions Of peace, prudence, justice, and i ?.
national honor.
Ten years ago, the President of the Unit, 3
States declared that Cuba was TO be acuuin =
only by treaty, by purchase, and not by va.
The present President OF the United States "A
athrms that proposition now so that the ortS
question to be considered u.s. whether il can T.
ident Of the United States offered 500, 100000
for 1t; and the answer to the proposition was
conceived in terms SO decided, so unequivoca;
SO utterly forbidding all hope, that it was never
afterwards renewed and silence has been oil
served about 1t ever since, in order to preserve
the good understanding and the good nature Of
the parties. The message of the President.
sent here on Friday last, shows us that dow
70 this hour, the proposition has not been men.
toned to Spain for period of ten years. The
same message assures us, even, that it will no:
now be mentioned to Spain, unless some peculia:
and extraordinary measures are adopted to re
quire him to bring it again to her attention.
Spain holds the island now more tenacious
ly-with a stronger and safer grasp than tina
with which she has held it at any time withih
the last fifty years. 1t is now a period of re,
pose in Europe and in the Western worlds
Spain, having gone through the crisis of sur
rendering up her territorial empire in its largest
proportions, has entered upon new career Of
material progress and improvement. Her agri-
culture, her manufactures, her army, and her
navy, are in flourishing, prosperous, and i'm
proving condition. Heretofore, Spain has helC
the Island of Cuba in the midst of conflicts be
tween the two great Powers of Western Europe
England and France liable to lose it to one or
the other belligerent at any moment. To-day
England and France are not only allies, but
they are united IN the policy of maintaining
Spain in the en- oyment of the Islands of Cuba
and Porto Rico, the last remnants of her once
worldwide empire. Spain exhibits, more de.
cidedly than ever within the last twenty years,
the habits ofacquieseence and loyalty by her peo-
pie toward her existing institutions She seems
10 have passed the period when the country was
rent, convulsed, and distracted by the contests
of democratic and of monarchical factions. At1
present, she is apparently in a condition Of pro-
found repose and contentment. If there was
any doubt about this subject, all doubt is now
removed by the answer which we have already
received from the authorities of Spain to thisl
very proposition Of the President Of the United
States, in the very form in which it is proposed !
that We shall adopt it. Our mail of this nlorn-,1
ing brings US the answer of the Spanish Gov
eminent and Legislature to our advances even
before we have taken the first step. In the
Spanish Chamber of Deputies, NJ. Ulloa asked
the Government
If it intends to reply to the message of Mr.
Buchanan, inasmuch as in that message is a
paragraph on the subject of annexing Cuba to
the United States, which contains new and
really grave insult to the Spanish nation.
Marshal 0'Donnell declared that the Gov
eminent was disposed to demand due satisfac-
ton for such an insult
In its relations with the United States, as in
those with all other countries, it has always
endeevored 10 be circumspect, moderate, re-
served, bat always dignifed and firm, as the
Government OF greet people ought to be.
The period of discourSgenent caused by
war and disunion has ceased in Spain. Our
country ia now positively in an era of develop
ment and veritable restoration. If the power
of Spain be not great enough 20 menace, it is
strong enough to defend the integrity of the
territory of the monarchy, and to preserve the
dignity of the Spanish name without stain.
In whatever circumstances the Spanish ma
ton may find itself, it will, in the future as in
the past, never be insensible to its honor; never
will 1t abandon the smallest portion of It's terri
tory and proposition having that tendency
will always be considered by the Government
as an insult to the Spanish people. Appro-
baton.
The sentiment Of nationality which was
supposed TO be weakened, and which, unhap.
puy, was slightly weakened by our intestine
dlscords-thls sentiment the source of high
deeds and OF generous and heroic aspirations.
displays now new vigor and is increasing in
such way that, whilst we will never be ag-
greSsive, and never aspire to dominate, we will
never allow any encroacbment to be made on
the inheritance left US by our fathers. ZAP
probation"
NJ. 0lazaga, in his own nsnls and in that Of
several other eminent members representing
the different political parties, then proposed
this resolution:
:" The Congress declares that it has received
with satisfaction the declaration of the Minister
of Foreign Affairs and that it is disposed to
give to the Government its constant support,
in order to maintain the integrity of the Span
ish dominions.
"Ihe resolution was unanimously adopted,
IL. l. IL