The daily phoenix. [volume] (Columbia, S.C.) 1865-1878, 1869-04-13
vI1UMBIA, e..
Tues lay Morning, April Is, 1869.
dOnba. auT ET z

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dlctory assurances relative to the attitude
held by the Government at Washington to-
wards the Cubans, who are now struggling
for liberty and independ ndence. We are told
that Congress will authorize the recognition
OF belligerent rights on the part of the revo.
lutionists;l that Admiral Hoff is ordered to
stop the departure of expeditions from the
Mississippi River, and that .the represen.
tatiyes Of the Cuban revolution in Wash
ington have been given TO understand that
the administration would not regard with
favor, In the question of the Peruvian moni-
tors, any act likely to interfere with the
commercial interests of any power friendly
tothe United States" This last diplomatic
phrase, stripped of its yerbiage means
Spain. a,.,s
Now, we protest against this system of
diplomatic deception. and long for all ad-
ministration bold and brave enough to tell
the truth. There is not man in Washing
ton, whether in the Government or out of
it, nor man, woman or child in the whole
country, who does not know that the entire
body of the American people would be glad
to have Admiral Hof not stop any expedi-
tion intended to aid the struggling people
of Cuba, and that they (the men in admins
tration included) would hail with Joy the
fact Of a transfer of the Peruvian iron -clatls
to the free government of Gen. Cespedes.
If the object OF these double-tongued assur-
ances is to deceive the Spanish government,
1t fails miserably in that; for there are no
statesmen better versed in diplomacy than
those of Spain. But if the object is to con-
vey distrust and despair to people strug-
Cling, unarmed and unaided, but hopefully,
against an organized and ruthless power,
then is it a success; for the heart of every
freedom-loving man sinks within his bosom
when told that the Government Of the great
republic is hostile to his cause. For him
the lies OF diplomacy are great but sad
truths.
The cause of free Cuba is a cause dear to
every American heart. It is part of the
march of American ideas on this continent,
and yet it has been resisted and counter
acted by Cabinet after Cabinet Mt Washing
ton, through policy which has led every
administration to belle its deepest convic-
tions and to assist in defeating its own
aspiration. The Jeffersonian policy, as
evinced in Louisiana and practiced by Jack
son in Florida, is admitted to be the only
possible policy for the United States to pur-
sue. Yet John Quincy Adams, in 1926,
Millard Fillmore, in 1850, and Pierce, in
1854, each in his turn. stopped the advance
of the American idea in Cuba, and riveted
ba oil, of tl,ot
island Had either of them had the courage
to avow his own convictions and to admit, in
diplomatic pnrlnnce. the inevitable march
OF this country, the result would have
proved that page to be the brightest in the
history OF the administration. But while
some Cabinet members were hoping and
conniving with the march Of freedom, the
Secretary Of State would be industriously
creating stumbling blocks for its path and
with admitted lies defeating the hopes of
himself and his companions From the
tenor of the dispatches which emunate
from Washington, we very much fear that
the Cabinet of General Grant is committing
the same gross mistakes with its predeces-
sorS, and blurring the most promising re-
cord which can open for it.
We now want bolder and more truthful
policy from the administration Spain has
held Cuba only by the suferance and aid of
the United States since the year 1925. But
ior that aid, Bolivar in that year. Lopez in
1850, and Quitman in 1854, would have
driven the Spanish power from it's last hold
on The New World. To-day the Cubans,
driven to desperation by tyranny, have as
serted their rights, and the Spanish cohorts