The New York herald. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1840-1920, 1868-01-02
The ImpendIng Event.


arises or great event impends there are not
wanting timld men in power. and their foolish
followers out Of it, who, failing to grasp the
argument in its extent or to comprehend the
true bearings of the issue, hesitate upon the
brink and sagely doubt the wisdom of the step,
while their followers clamor Justify, "Back,
back, or we shall all be lost" Selfish ones,
with wider grasp or keener vision, comprehend
one aspect Of the issue-that which affects their
own immediate interests-and, fearing that
these may lose their relative weight in public
affairs or their preponderance in the national
councils, they join their cry with the doubters
and assume an intense regard for the national
interests.
These are the characteristics Of the public
men and press of New England and their imi
tators Of the present day. They see evil in the
acquisition Of new territory bankruptcy in the
payment of weeks income for q strategetic
point and absolute ruin in the possibility
Of devoting three months revenue to the
acquisition of an empire. In their view 1t is
far more important to squander all the millions
of the public purse in a futile attempt to prove
that the impractical negro Of the South is the
practical Ideal negro New England has SO long
worshipped. Let our cotton fields cease to be
planted, let our ships lie idly at the wharves,
let our merchants break and our commerce
perish, but let the negro shave Justice" and
the ballot, and let New England rule. Such
are the motives and such the fears of politi-
CLANS Of the New England school, who to-day
contemplate with alarm the possibility that
the nations march may take Southern sweep
and bring a few West India islands, " tn, pos
sibly, Cuba and the entire Gulf of Me. 20, into
the fold of the Union.
Except as 1t affects, or is affected by, the
laws which control our national growth, the
question Of tho acquisition Of ST. Thomas is not
worth discussion. The principles themselves
must be treated in larger field, and this
is presented by the impending event Of
the acquisition Of Cuba and the re-
naming colonial possessions Of Spain
in America We say the impending event, for
whoever will view with comprehensive eye the
direction Of our national impulse and the re-
suits which have followed our advance, cannot
fail to see that Cuba and all Its retinue of the
Antilles must soon be ours. The past is the
mirror of the future. The wake Of the ship
shows its course, while the keenest eye cannot
deduce it from contemplation OF the horizon
before.
When Jefferson hesitated to sign the treaty
for the acquisition Of Louisiana and performed
the act with trembling hand he had reasons
for his doubts. The republican ship had just
been launched and was to begin her voyage
upon an unknown sea; our institutions still in
the gristle, had not hardened into the bone
our capacities and strength were untried and
our endurance an admitted question. But
these doubts, admissible then, have long since
been removed. The nation rejected them when
the Hartford Convention opposed the second
war with England 1t scorned them when CAL
houn counsellcd against the acquisition of Cali
iornia, and it has ever regretted their admission
when the tmid school Of New England politi-
clans gave up Mexico. Who to-day believes
that the purchase Of Louisiana was mistake
or that the acquisition of our Pacific empire
has weakened the Unions
1t is by these lights that we must Judge the
impending event of the acquisition of Cuba
at last recognized the process and direction of
our national advance. A powerful but futile
effort to erect barrier to our progress has
failed in Mexico and received the derision and
scorn of the world. The western Powers of
, Europe, fresh from the triumphs of the Crimea,
believed the time was come to place a check
upon the powerful republic and bar upon
the land-acquiring Anglo-American race. The
Latin peoples in America were to be reorgan-
lied and reconstructed. The hosts Of England,
France and Spain were sent to Mexico and
civil war was stimulated in our midst That
great attempt, which, viewed across the inter-
vening distance of four thousand miles
Of ocean, seemed small and Of easy
accomplishment, on nearer view presented
quite another aspect England and Spain
wisely Withdrew before too great an advance
had made retreat danger. In an evil hour
for the would-be controllers of American
policy France held on.
The result of that mighty failure was a natu-
raj one. The Cabinets Of Europe have recog-
nized and acquiesced in the law Of American
growth. England prepares her colonies for
separation Russia sells her possessions on the
American shore Of the Pacific Denmark nego-
tiatos for the West India islands, and the
statesmen Of Spain to-day acknowledge the i'm
pending event and admit that the path OF wis
dom leads to peaceful cession to the United
States Of Cuba and her remaining possessions
in the New World. Timid politicians may
doubt and selfish presses shrek against it, but
the nation obeys the law Of its growth, and the
people know that with each extension Of our
institutions and our rule come new fields for
labor, new life to industry and trade, and in
creased prosperity to oil.
Tile ANTI.C CONTRACTION Bill IN CONGRESS-