The record-union., 1898-07-21

tween Cuba and this country, will be
presented
In his first annual message, sDecem-
ber 2, 1917, President Monroe, referring
to the inability of Spain to govern and
control her colonies, said:
Her territory ought not to be made
instrumental through her inability
to defend it, to purposes so injuri-
Gus to the United States. To
country over which she fails to
maintain her authority, and which
she permits to be converted to the
annoyance Of her neighbors, her
jurisdiction for the time necessarily
ceases to exist.
This quotation from President Mon
! roe is the beginning of a line Of declar-
ationS, maintained down to the present
time, that when a government claiming
sovereignty over a province, district,
| island, or colony, fails to maintain a
stable government there, it's authority
1 has, in fact, ceased to exist, and it's
right of sovereignty has been forfeited.
This declaration finds echo in the mes
sage of President Mckinley, dated April
| II, 1898, less than three months since,
when, referring to the destruction Of
the Maine, he said:
| That condition is shown to be such
| that the Spanish Government can.
| not insure safety and security to a
| vessel of the American navy in the
| harbor of Havana on mission of
peace and rightfully there.
On November 16, 1918, in his second
annual message, President Monroe said:
Spain is not maintaining her au-
! thority in Florida. The country is
4 -
cies of lawless adventure. The en-
] barrassments Of Spain have pre-
| vented her from making indemnity
| to our citizens for their losses by
spoliation and otherwise, but it has
| always been in her power to pro-
| vide it by cession of the territory.
| Proceeding in the same message,
President Monroe says:
The right of self-defense ceases.
| 1t is among the most sacred, and
| alike necessary to nations and to
| individuals, and whether the at
| tack be made by Spain herself, or
| by those who abuse her power, it's
obligation is not the less strong.
| This doctrine of the right of self-de-
fense as being adherent in nations and
analogous to the same right in individ-
uals, was imported by unmistaka BILE
declarations into the Ostend Manifesto.
| In his eighth annual message, dated
/ December Z, 1894, President Monroe
calls attention to the piracy in Cuban
waters, criticises the relaxed and en-
| feebled state of local government in
| Cuba, and submits to the Congress of
! the United States the question as to
whether the local authorities alone
may be held accountable.
| April q. 1926, Henry Clay, Secretary
of State to President Adams, in a letter
to the American Minister to Spain, de-
clares that "if war should continue be-
tween Spain and the new Spanish
American republics, and Cuba and
Porto Rico should become the object
and theater of it, the fortunes of these
| islands have such connection with the
people Of these United States that they
could not be Indifferent spectators, and
that contingencies might bring upon
the Government of the United States
duties and obligations the performance
of which, however painful they should
be, they might not be at liberty to de-
cline
CUBA AN INTEGRAL PART OF OUR
TERRITORY.
Between the date Of the messages Of
John Quincy Adams and William Nc
Kinley there is a conserfsussof express
sion, all looking to the same direction,
to wit: Cuba is an integral portion of
the territory of the United States. The
sovereignty Of Spain over the island is
strained and unnatural. The CONNER
cial, industrial and political interests Of
the United States demand that the un-
natural relation should be- broken and
that the natural relation should be as
sumed. az
Avoiding comment for the conserva-
tion of space, few quotations, having
general applicable to matters under
consideration, will be presented:
President Pierce, in his first annual
message, December 5, 1853, referring to
flibustering expeditions to the coast Of
Spain, said: a8-.-..5-@-.
Independent of our available trade
with Spain, We have important po-
litical relations with her growing
out of our neighborhood to the ISL
ands of Cuba and Porto Rico. Con-
sidering the proximity of that ISL
and to our shores, lying, as it does
in the track of trade between some
of our principal cities, and the sus-
picious vigilance with which for
eign intercourse, particularly that
with the United States, is guarded,
a repetition of such occurrence may
we'll be apprehended.
The territorial expansion of the Unit
ed States was discussed and commended
by President Pierce as follows:
The United States have continued
gradually and steadily to expand
through acquisitions Of territory,
which, how muchsoever some Of
them may have been questioned, are
now universally seen and admitted
to have been wise in policy, just in
the advancement of our country,
and, with it, of the human race, in
freedom, in prosperity and in hap
piness.
10, 1854, refers to the seizure of the
Black Warrior, and declares, con-
cerning that transaction, that:
1t presents SO clear a case of
wrong that it would be reasonable
to expect full indemnity therefor.
The offending party is at our
doors with large powers for aggres-
sion, but none, 1t is alleged, for rep
aration.
In the same message President Pierce
declares:
In view Of the position Of the
island of Cuba, it's proximity to our
coast, the relations which it must
ever bear to our commercial and
other interests, it is vain to expect
that a series Of unfriendly acts, in