Saint Paul weekly Minnesotian. [volume] (Saint Paul, Minn.) 1858-1859, 1859-03-12

and nothing to do anything upon. Laugh
ter. They talk about fast horses, about
shooting, and about cunning, and they can
shoot pistols. One Of them will get to be an
overseer for widow, and marry her, and the
next year you would find the rest of the fam
lily disinherited. [Laughter.] The other, be-
ing . remarkably spry and good looking fel-
low, will run away with some old Cuban's
daughter he would get into the family and
he would be there br.. little time before the
old man would be corner of the planta-
ton, and he in full possession and with a good
title. That is the way it is to be American
lied, and the way they viii 60 on when they
get there. -
Why, sir, there is nota Spaniard now to be
found in New Orleans; and l have been there
and perambulated over the whole city. There
is not one that ever saw in St. Louis, and l
have been there two or three times. At st.
Augustine and Pensacola there are none The
truth is, the Spanish race get out of the way
OF our race. They will not remain in Cuba !;
they have too much instinct for that You
just put out here in one of our forests, or on
the plains at spring or lick, lion from the
torrid zone, and let herd of buffalo see him
lash his sides with his tail and roar, and strike
down with a.blow horse and break the back
OF an elk, and they will have sense enough
not to 60 back there. Put down q tiger, and
let him, with his fierce sweep and his yellow,
garing eyes, pounce upon gang of deer, and
l venture to say they will not be in that neigh
oorhood' nor within twenty miles Of that
place. in forty days. Your Cubans know, if
they have any sense, how this population have
been rooted out. I will give you familiar
illustration that you can all understand, and
that l want the people in the country to un-
derstand. We formerly had about our barns
in Kentucky what they called the old-fash-
Toned blue rat, and there are in the country
swarms of another description of rats, called
the Norway rats who eat up the blue rats
w hen the travelling gangs of the Norway rats
invade barn, the blue rats scamper for their
lives, knowing that they will be eaten up if
they do not leave. They are literally Cubans
painting for liberty" and would also be
Cubans painting for life under these cicum-
stances. Laughter That will be the eff.
feet of it evidently and plainly. That is
the process by which Americanization would
go on.
l do not care for all the popular clamor
down South about buying Cuba. They do
not know anything about it. If you talk to
the people of the South about it, and tell them
what tine country it is, they are very willing
to have it; but our people have been so pet
ted and spoiled upon this subject, again and
again surfeited, like great child whose appe-
tite is vitiated by sweetmeats, that they are
eternally whining because their stomach is not
as big as their eyes, and they cannot swallow
everything they see. Laughter They
ought to have some one who is willing to tell
them the truth. When you talk to them
about the acquisition of Cuba, they think it is
all right. Men say, "Uncle Sam foots the
oil and who knows there may not be a wind
fall for him; that l may not draw ticket in
the lottery? do not know how it will come
out" And so men 60 on just as an adven-
turer, without knowing anything about the
population, habits, pursuits, or character of
the people. l have heard a man rant about
Cuba, and if you landed him on the Island
ne would be the most lonesome, poor creature
In the world. Imported African negroes
would palaver and jabber at him, and super
ciious Cubans would look at him scornfullv.
and walk around by him as turkey looks at
snake in the rain [laughter1; and the yerv
negroes, unless fed, would not wait on him:
and they would not wait on him for yery
substantial reason-they would not know
what in the world he said, and he would not
know what they said.
The people of Cuba speak different lam
guage, they profess different religion, and
they are Of different extraction from us and
our people nave regarded them as aliens and
outlaws from the pale of humanity and civil
zauo On That is the feeling of our population
OUT west, l know. Suppose we annex them
by the annexation you have the high pre-
rogauVe OF taxing them under your wing
You have to protect them in war, and attend
TO them in peace. You marry them as a man
does his wife, "for better or for worse.n If
the Senator from Louisiana gives true &C.
count of Cuba. would rather, before she
comes into the family, consult little further
and little longer about it. Saying nothing
about color, l think have been at more res
pectable weddings than it would be to bring
her into the household. Laughter She is
to be civilized and Christianized, and all this
under the guardianship and protection of the
United States. 1t is heavy job. No doubt
the spirit of our people can accomplish it, for
they have achieved wonders but it is certain
there would not be many of the natives of
Cuba left there hong.
Well, sir, what is the immediate haste for
this measure now? There is no necessity for
any haste about it. We are at peace with
England, we are at peace with France, and
we are at peace with Spain WHY make this
attempt in time of profound peace, when even
the authorities cited in the above report of the
Senator from Louisiana (Mr. SlidelD admit
that we ought not to make any effort to take
the island while it remains under Spanish
rule. England and France proposed to us
trpartite treaty guaranteeing that we would
not seize the island; but Mr.. Everett refused
TO agree to it. They see that we eventually
COX to it, and we have all avowed it here, and
still they do not interfere. ask you, is not
his bill calculated to create a rupture between
The three nations? They may protest; they
nay not fight; but ask, at this time, is It |
not premature, uncalled for, unnecessary p
We had better pay the debts we owe now. II
nave known several very respectable Old Vir- |
,inia gentlemen, of Anglo-Saxon blood, out
n Kentucky, get broke just by paying taxes
m too much land. Ragged negro after rag
,ed negro would 60, but they would still hold
m to their land, and at last it would be eaten
Up by taxes, and they be insolvent; and, in |
ome cases, after their death, their estates |
would not be worth enough to pay their fi1ne-
olutely ruined by having too much land.
think we have pretty good sized coun-
ry now; and it would have been entirely too
arge but for the fortunate turn-up of gold in
california. That was godsend to the coun-
rIy; and if it had not been that we found gold |
here to redeem the country from the position |
was in, the treaty of Guadalupe Hidalgo
you'd have been blistering sore to us for
ears and years to come. So, when we bought
we made lucky hit; but in buy
1g Cuba there is no chance of anything Of
nat sort. We buy the negroes for the own
RS to keep them; and we buy the land for
he owners to keep it. We trade for the SOW
reignty; that is, the burden of taking care
f them, and protecting them and civilizing
aem. There is no godsend left there.
Why do you want Cuba? Some gentlemen
III ohA,,% I~xs1