New-York tribune. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1866-1924, 1891-03-11

candid and open as to its Cuban policy. us
position has never changed a particle since John
Quincy Adams gave England to understand that
her pice for interfering with the Holy Alliance
in SPANS behalf must be something else than
- Wos. Indian colony. We have never dis
cuised our belief that the administration by a
European Power of the affairs OF ali American
community was necessarily unnatural anu tc"i
porary. nor the fact that orr SympathleS "heh
the moment of change comes, Will always oe
with the people who seek TO conduct their own
business in their own way, anu not WIN 'he
ncople who seek to perpetuate harsh ana I'M
suitohle conditions There is scarcely Eu-
ropean Government to which these sentiments
bavo NOT heen communicated at one time or
another. and naturally their strength ana per-
Thence grow with years. We have not Deeh ID
the least unwilling to give assurances thaV ho
act should be committed by us for inc purpose
of fastening the dissolution OF these ancient
ties but we have been careful at the same 'liho
n declare. first. that we should be compelled 70
onnose their transfer whether by negouauon
or by force, from one European nation to an
other and. second, that we could not admit
that any European Power was nghtfuly con-
cerned in the disposition OF the sovereignty Oh
an American State after the TACT or us So'er
eighty had been established.
The effect of these declarations on the la'e
of Cuba is easily perceived. They mean that
we acknowledge SPANS sovereignty mat we
cannot profess to derive any positive satiSfac-
ton from any European dominion over Ameri-
can soil that we will not engage in measures
70 terminate SPANS title, but will uphold it
rs against any foe except the colonists them-
selves and that in trial OF arms between the
colony and the mother country we snail DO
under reasonable conditions quieScent though
highly interested spectator There Is nothih9
in this attitude, which has undergone no'modl-
fcation in seventy years, to justify the attacks
of Spanish newspapers on our recent demand
for Reciprocity. The present discomfort IN CUBA
is not our fault, but exists in spite Of our OK
IRENE generosity, and for causes which SPAN
has created and can remove if she likes. The
demand for Reciprocity in no way indicates all
american design on Cuban tcrrtOry-Span may
rest assured Of that. But our situation with
regard to the island, Our dependence on II Tor
sugar supplv. and its unqualified dependence
on us for every penny it earns render tfahe re-
Ia.ions n matter of richt-not Of the pleasure
Of a Power across the Atlantic; and. a!thouIh
the forms of those relations may be passed upon
by Spain they must he terms that are fair and
that give us an equivalent in the trade oi Cuba
for the place We give her in our markets II
Snain nlarrcls with this demand. She qua1clN
with common-senSe and natural law not with
the United States. If the CubanS rise in lcvo-
luton against her for refusing to obey common
sense and natural law, that is no fault of ours.
One thing is certain: We arc not gong TO
admit Cuban sugar into cur markets Tree and
at the same time pay eXorb!tant taxes on onr
flour sent into Havana or tribute on II, sent by
way of Madrid. We don't want Cuba. but
neither do we want to be numerically bled.