The weekly Ottumwa courier. [volume] (Ottumwa, Iowa) 1857-1872, 1859-08-18

lions more, If demanded the Democracy propose to
give for Cuba-an island less than the State of Iowa
But In acquiring Cuba they remind us thatthey pro-
pose to initiate the ustrious Jefferson, who purchas
ed Louisiana Of the great Napoleon in Is03 at cost
Of fifteen million dollars Because Jefferson purchas
ed Louisiana, containing about eight hundred and
ninety nine thousand square miles ofterrtory, mostly
uninhabited out of which we have carved FIVE great
states, and have land enough for ten twelve more
at about ~ cents an acre, therefore the Democracy
propose to pay at least 1920 900 for Island
in the Gulf of fMexico, which there is not probably
one acre oflani not covered by some Spanish grant
They propose to pay this enormous for nothing
but the naked right to govern Cuba-for in its pur-
chase OF spain you would obtain 'the sovereignty
nothing else But Cuba, when acquired with one and
half millions of people, must come in like Texas, as
one or more States and under form of government
must govern herself and send Senators and Repre-
sentatves to Congress assist in governing the Uni
ted States You will, therefore, have obtained for
this great outlay of public treasure two or more Gre
ole United states Senators, and ten fifteen Creole
Members of the House of Representatives at
age cost of ten twelve millions of dollars per head
to aid the Slave States by their in acquiring
sl more Slave territory to be paid for principally
by the northern people.
Nor is it probable that the people of Cuba
will ever become, as alleged, large consumers
Of the great staples of the North-west-that
they will ever consume large quantities of
-four, and animal food, except lean beef 1t
is precluded by a physical law which annex.
alton can never change Cuba is a tropical
country where fatty animal food is not need
ed in large quantities even by laborers: it.,
office and that of starchy matter, is said. by
the learned, to be chiefly to generate heat for
the animal system: the rays of tropical
sun supply its place. The Esquimaux un-
der the Pole, lives almost exclusively on
"blubber'-it is consumed by the animal
economy at its internal fires, to supply the
rapid loss of animal heat. Under the enlla-
tor, the food of the inhabitants is chiefly veg
etable-conssting mostly of fruits. Even
the beef of the Northwest will never be in
great demand in Cuba-it is too fat and too
valuable, to compete in such market with
the iean cheap beef of South America, suited
to the physical wants Of the inhabitants. :
Our staples must find their principle markets
in the North, where needed by the masses
for daily food. Small quantities will be sold
in the South and used as llxurv--like
tropical fruits at the North
The allegation 50 necessarily made by all
the leading Democratic members of Congress
during the closing days of the last session,
that Cuba is the military key to the gulf,
that it commands the mouth of the Missis-
sippi and its vast commerce, as well as the
commerce of the Atlantic with the Pacific
coast-that all of this immense trade is car
ried on under the guns of her castles-that
we would not dare to engage in war with
England or any great maratime power with
out the control of this island, is mere dccla-
nation. Cuba is not new creation: it is
rs old as the continent: we have never owned
it and yet, when we were in our infancy as
nation, we dared to fight and to f1g in
two successive wars, the greatest nation on
the globe. If Cuba belonged to the United
States, lying out in the gulf, according to
the map, more than one hundred miles from
the nearest point of main land ON our coast,
and six or seven hundred miles distant from
any considerable port in the United States
in the event Of war with Il mals.time power,
1T would cost more men and money for its
protection than all our other possessions.
The idea so industriously inculcated at the
North by Southern statesmen, that the trans
fer of the Island of Cuba, of which there is
not the slightest probability, to another
European power, would be dangerous to the
United States, and should be resisted at ev-
cry hazard, even at the cost of war, is so su-
premely ridiculous, as to be amazing that the
Northern Democracy do not treat its authors
with derision wherever the disgraceful and
cowardly proposition is mentioned. They
seem to be oblivious of the fact, that Cuba is
surrounded by islands now in possession of
the English, the French, the Danes, the
Swedes, and the Dutch,* and yet no Ameri-
can is trembling in his boots for the safety
of the Republic.
And no one can be serious in pretending
that its acquisition would secure the abolition
of the African slave trade, while it is being
successfully prosecuted in the Carolinas and
Georgia, Florida, Alabama, Louisiana, and
Texas.
These reasons, when candidly examined,
all, fail. The cat under the meal is badly
concealed. The shareholders of the nation
demand the strengthening of the shackles
which manacle the toiling millions of their
miserable people by the admission of com
paratively populous countries, not as public
domain for an outlet to our swelling popula-
ton, but as States to hold the balance of
power in the councils of the nation ( Cuba
has dense population-and Sonora and Chi
huahua, each, has a population equal to that
of Minnesota or Oregon, and if ifacquired must
be admitted as States y and the Democratic
party, now completely under their control, is
required to perform this unwelcome service.
Like the patient OK, they are commanded to
bend theirnecks to the yoke-like the stupid
ass, who still knows his masters crib, they
are required to submit their backs to this
burthen: and their leaders, like our mother
Eve beguled by the Devil in the garden OF
Eden, are holding the tempting fruit laden
with curses, to the lips of the people, and
urVinr them tn s!eat - with the subtile lnwic