St. Charles City Republican intelligencer. [volume] (St. Charles City [Charles City], Iowa) 1857-1861, 1861-04-25
SECRET
DIPLOMATIC DISCLOSURES.
THE SOUTHERN INTRIGUE.

estng papers, furnished to that jour
nal by lIoratio J. Perry, lately our
charge at Madrid. They confirm, by
the most incontcstable documentary
evidence, one of the most damaging
charges which has been made against
the administrations of Pierce and Bu-
chanan. They show THAT our rcla-
tions with Spain, which might have
been most friendly, have been systc-
matically embittered in the face Of
her repeated amicablc advances, that
our differences, which Soule declared
irrcconcilablc, were settled by the
charge almost as soon as his superior
had left the country, and that Spain
had offered to negotiate treaty of
commerce and friendship, one of the
frcest and amplcst we have ever
formed with any power, securing to
our citizens and ships, in the colonies
and in all parts Of the Spanish do
mains, privileges whose value cannot
be overratcd. For doing these things,
and so marring the plot of war for
the annexation of Cuba, Mr.. Perry was
dismissed from the legation on the
first available pretext. There needs
no voice from Madrid to tell US that
the conspiracics which have culmina-
ted at Montgomery were inchoatc
when Jefferson Davis ruled in Picrce's
cabinet. Slavery, its vice-president
declares, is the cornerstone of the
new con(cderacy, and territorial aG-
grandizcmcnt is the vision with which
its president tempts its people ON.
But these papers now brought to the
light, to say nothing of the recent
events in San Domingo, will show the
sccessionists that Cuba is farther than
ever from their clutch-and the North
how fast it may bind, and how easily,
the friendship of nation which is
rapidly renewing the vigor and the
| glory of her youth, and striding to a
place beside the four great powers
MADRID, March /, 1861.
That grand intrigue Of the South in
| lS5i-5, of which the Ostcud confer
ence was only an episode, was in fact
the first dangerous form of this very
secession business Of lS60-l. The
soul and center of the plot was JEFF
fcrson Davis, of Mississippi, Secreta-
ry Of War. President Pierce and the
remainder Of the cabinet were his in
strumcnts, pliantly doing his bidding,
with the exception Of Governor Marcy,
of New York, whose patriotism |
considered could be invoked to some
purpose But the odds were heavy
against the Secretary Of State in that
administration, and he lacked power
and means to prevent its success. The
official information sent to the Depart
ment Of State from Spain and Cuba
was all made to serve the purposes OF
the faction then striving for war. Oul
people, and the Department of State
also, were to bc deceived into the be-
lief of a settled hostility against Us
on the part Of Spain. The Spanish
government was to be convinced of G
corresponding sentiment OH our part
toward her. War, after all the pre-
liminaries and prcteXts had then beel
prepared, was to be made suddenly
and without consulting Congress. Tn,
first our people were 10 have heard o
it, apart from the mistaken reports
, (otficial and unoiiiciaD of hostile feel
ing against us, and outrages an,
grievances unrcpaired by Spain, wa
to have been the news of hostilitic
t actually begun by our ships of war i
| the waters of Cuba.
: The plan was bold and dangerous
Southern politicians calculated wei
t that if once the national flag should b
n raised in hostile attitude against tina
a Of Spain, the whole power Of the cour
!, try would go after it to sustain i
!. And when Cuba should be conquere
d for the South by our united powe,
d d then was the North to be PROSTATE
= = by means of Cuba.
5 fought this treason with my Who'll
'e hcart and strength, and defeated i
: so far as its success depended upo
y the maneuvers of our diplomacy here
E so soon as the responsibility of atfai,
p here dcvolved on me, not only con
y municatcd with Mr.. Marcy, but wit
other individuals, and indirectly wit
various principal newspapers, SO as
disabuse and enlightcn the people {
to what was going, on. After m
communications of September, and Il
4 light already let in upon the plot, Il
r. Ostcnd manifesto of October Is couI
IN not be answered otherwise than as
en- was. Our people nobly put their fo'
o upon the policy Of war with Spai
c Mr.. Soule returned. The settlemei
a of the Black Warrior affair followe
him in fortnight after his arrival
n. Washington. The sting was take
:; out of the "El Dorado" affair in fl,
lis days, and our squadron did not ii
is on Spanish ships. ....... ...
at But did not myself comprehel
m at first the full extent of this plot.
ar did not understand until later that, c
he ter the conquest of Cuba by the Unio
ms the Union itself was to be broken I
lis on the question of her admission,
So case the free and democratic Nor
in should hesitate to rivet its own chail
y, and deliver itself over bound hand al
of foot to the rule of the unscrupulo'
en- oligarchy which manages the polite
ny affairs of the extreme South. d
oils not know that ct was then bcforehal
he contemplated to so out Of the Cni'