The evening telegraph. [volume] (Philadelphia [Pa.]) 1864-1918, 1870-07-12

to be stamped out. The true picture of the
Cuban question may, therefore, be described
as follows:-First, draw platform labelled
hundred millions of dollars. Stand upon it, as
its chief figure, the Presidents favorite, Gene
raj Sickles, our Minister at Madrid. Seefainting
Cuba in the grasp of his merciless right hand
as it clenches her jugular vein, with the PALE
long fingers of his left placed upon her pulse;
while every throb of her extended agony
drops guineas in his purse through the opera
tions of his instruments on the Paris Bourse
and London Stock Exchange. Spain in like
manner sheds her treasures at every pore to
subvert the Queen of the Antilles, while the
whole object of the murderous minister is to
prolong the conflict and to coin their joint
pangs to gold. Thus he makes market of the
woes of war, his single object being to pro-
long the strife and to so exhaust the COM
batants as to bring them to the standpoint of
q trade.
This is the true philosophy of the Cuban
question, and by the light of it our readers
may now, for the first time, understand the
secret motives of the Presidents late extraor
dinary Cuban message
The ACQUISITION of Cuba is therefore to be
bargain, paid for in money, and the present
situation of affairs is to be maintained until
that result can be accomplished. That is the
reason why the President Ito return to
figure which we have used before) lately
heaved a rock on the Cuban deck while the
poor victim seemed to be rising from the
waters by the mere lift of the rapidly in
creasing sympathy of the American people.
We learned the full details of this specula-
tion-or, if our readers please, this policy
last summer, while we were in Paris, from
no less an authority than Mr.. Burlingame.
Prim first opened the matter to him, in the
shape of proposal through the then new
Spanish Minister to China. Mr.. Burlingame
consulted Mr.. Washburne; and Mr.. Burlin-
game then gave letter to Paul r. Forbes,
an American gentleman of note, to 60 to
Madrid and to talk to Prim upon the subject.
The project was for Spain to sell Cuba to
third party, and from that third party to re-
sell it to the United States After returning
to Paris from his visit to Madrid, Mr.. Forbes
was despatched to New York; and on reaching
Washington Cabinet council was called i'm
mediately by the President to hear his story.
The plan of the purchase of Cuba was eagerly
entertained by the President, who, unfortu-
nately, did not seem to know that Cuba and
all the islands in our neighborhood had prac-
tically become American property on the day
hereceived Lee IS surrender under the apple tree
at Appomattox. Mr.. Forbes was then sent back
to Paris, and subsequently directed to confer
in the premises with Sickles, and also with
Messrs Burlingame and Washburne. 1t was
at this period that we were made acquainted
with the state of affairs, and at the same time
informed of the names of the banking-houses
of London, Paris, and New York who were to
be the brokers OF the enterprise. We were
asked our opinion of the prof at the time,
but spoke unfavorably of it; and subsequently
declined to take any interest in the matter
from one of the bankers of the ring-frst,
because we thought Cuba must come to the
| United States by natural means; and next,
because we did not wish to profit by any
operation which our judgment condemned as
injurious to the country. The public have
now the full secret of the Cuban position,
and it rests with them to say whether they
will permit it to be any longer handled by the
! traffic