Weekly standard. [volume] (Raleigh, N.C.) 1858-1865, 1859-04-06
32,6S3,7
Total,

Exportable domestic produce is the basis
commerce. The amount of such produce posse
by any people measures their commercial capal5
or, in other words, their purchases in seleI
years will about equal their ability to pay.
commerce beyond that must be unsound as II
wing the country in debt, or positively detrintI
as making drafts on its accumulated capital III
balances Taking the exports as the measul||
commercial capacity, Cuba has, in proportion i
population, nearly three-fold that of the II!
States. With an estimated population of 2S,o@'
the United States exported in the year 1853 81
75S,279 of domestic produce, being ten dolas'
forty-nine cents per head; whilst Cuba, in ISL
ported twenty-seven dollars and twenty three /!
per head. The fact that total population of b
600, Of all classes, paying tax Of twenty
millions of dollars to Spain, and without any d
encouragement OF protection derived from goo!
eminent, can exhibit such results from thei
and untutored industry, will speak volumes Il
commercial inquirer, and needs no comment
Determined to confne themselves to inconTI
tible facts, the committee have been Obliged
back to 1854 in order to obtain official inform
In the four years that have since elapsed great
gress has been made in the island, and it i
doubted that % per cent, must be adde! TOT
results, to represent the wealth and CONNIE
the present time In addition to which, all VI
agree that the official reports from their GU
houses are % per cent under the truth.
We cannot hope that we have been able q
sent all the material facts bearing upon this !!
Indeed, the jealousy of the Spanish govenI
sedulously conceals much that would throw
upon the subject. But the few prominent
| that we have mentioned will show, beyond 4
that to the commercial classes of the United
the acquisition of the island is of inestmaCl
portance.
Our is a government dependent on the consI
the governed, and resting for its basis upon 1
fections of its citizens. If the arm of power 4
it is in REFRESHING vice and maintaining ordc
there is, throughout the broad limits of the rel1
one citizen who looks with malevolence upc|
Constitution under which he lives, he is spurDl
the good, but fears no persecution. Haud in'I
and ought to be, our maxim in extending ouI
tutions over organized communities. 1t wOuj
cord neither with our principles nor our prac
take into the Union any territory already ~
cupied by civilized people averse to our
tuition. 1t becomes important, then, to
whether the people of Cuba would probabl!
annexation to the Union.
On this point we can have no direct ASST
for the slightest whisper of discomfort would
bly, bring down upon their heads the wrath
government under which they live
A well-informed historian thus sums up
pressions under which they groan:
"Shc is permitted no voice in the COrt',
press is under the vilest censorship; larmI
compelled to pay ten per cent. on all their, /
except sugar, and on that article two and
cent the island has been under martial a
1926 over twenty-three millions of dollar
(about $500 to each family are levied upon
habitants, to be squandered by Spain; fc
: taxed as to be inadmissible; the natives o.
land are excluded entirely from the army
, ciary, the treasury, and the customs; Letters
! through the post are opened and purseal;
! contents before delivery; planters are tor%,
send their sons to the United States for eau
S purposes; in short, every possible subterla:
: sorted to by the government officials to sVn
0 people, everything being taxed, and there
t peal from the captain general" MANY o. .t
# pressions enumerated are omitted for brew
h To these grievances are to be added tt
e threat constantly held over them by the wv
e the government that on the least appeaIa".
: affection or rebellion, the shackels will "
l. from the slave population Of the island ~ Is
Il million Of African savages will be turnSu
+ deluge their hearths in blood and deIfE
n land. Threats of spoliation and vision
y hang like thunderbolt over their he9 D