The weekly Ottumwa courier. [volume] (Ottumwa, Iowa) 1857-1872, 1869-05-20
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The Cuban Struggle---Our
Duty.

The latest advices from the seat of
war in Cuba, are to the effect that
the patriot forces under Qucsada,
have repulsed, in bloody and san
culinary encounter, the Spanish for
ccs under General Lcsca. The NOR
tally list on the side Of the latter is
largely disproportionatc to the num-
Der of men engaged; which may be
accounted for by the fact that when
the struggle grew desperate and the
result doubtful, Quesada let loose his
reserve of four hundred americans
upon the disordered ranks Of the en-
emy, throwing him into dire confu-
sion, and converting the field of
o hand to hand fight into scene of
utter rout and indiscriminatc slaugh-
ter. The presence of the American
volunteers in the patriot camp and
the activity which they have already
shown in tho cause of Cuban inde-
pendence, is, to say the least, signifi-
cant.
The Cuban rcvolutionists have now
been struggling for freedom and lib
erty long enough to show the world
that they are in earnest. And while
her people have thus struggled, man.
fully and heroically, they have looked
appealingly to us for the same SYM
pathy and the same material aid that
ace sought and obtained at the hands
of France nearly u century ago
The impartial historian says-and
there arc none to gainsay tho truth
of the statement-that but for the
succoring aid extended lis by the lat
ter power during the darkest days Of
our revolution, the American Repub-
lie, since become SO powerful, great
and famous, would have been stran-
gled in its earliest infancy. Cuba
now stands in that position towards
the United States; she has risen
against more tyranical government
than with which the British colonies
were ever cursed; she is endeavoring
to throw off the shacklcs of monar-
chy and join the glorious constella-
ton Of States now rising TO the &c
NTH of political prosperity and pow
or; she is ready to knock the irons
from the limbs of a million slaves,
whose bondage will otherwise be
frightened; and she pleads with us,
her natural friend and protector, to
come to her assistance, and help her
in the fight for liberty and equal
rights. Shall she plead in vain?
Not only does Cuba ask tho Uni
ted States to free the Gem of the
Antilles from the Spaniard; but. with
confidence IN our national integrity,
and full faith in our present prosper
ity, and more glorious future, she
asks by word and act to be taken in
to the confederation us u sovereign
State. She lays the richest treasures
ut our door, n territory which for
thirty years has saved the Spanish
government from utter bankruptcy
and ruin. Many Of our public men
urge that we want no dependencies
isolated IRON the mainland as Cuba
is; but such objections arc the result
Of misapprehension. We are bound |
to the island now, in q thousand ways
more closely than the Atlantic States
.untillatcly-havc been united with
those Of the Pacific. The distance
which Cuba lies from the Florida
coast amounts to no more than Il re-
Specialize ferriago, at all events; we
ire separated only by an area of sea
lot half So rough and tempcstuous
IS the channel which divides the
British isles When we have Cuba;
With her opulence and richness, her
lines and her plantations, for the !