Fergus County argus. [volume] (Lewistown, Mont.) 1886-1946, 1899-03-08
SLAVERY In CUBA.
Attitude of the United States In
Times Gone BY.
Efforts of American slave Holder-
TO Secure Annexation OF the la
land and Their Repeated
Failure.

The United States had undertaken to
stop the movement for The Liberation
of Spanish colonies al the point selected
by itself. and had deliberately entered
upon the policy q EaiataiEtEg Spanish
rule in It's " ueighborhood. This pol
icy meant the assuup tion OF a heavy
responsibility, as well as a continuous
effort TO put to rest al unsettled ques-
ton, by stoutIA and in defiance Of iacts,
asserting that il really was settled il
people would only agree pleasantly 10
think so. But in this, as in all like
cases, the effort WAS vain. Cuba was
held under Spanish rule, and the ques-
ton which Lad received the wrong an
swer began almost at once TO make
itself heard, after the awkward fashion
of questions which men pretend to
have disposed Of. but which are still
restleSsly seeking the right and final
answer, and. without respect for pol
icies or vested interests, keep knock
ing and crying at the door. Some
American statesmen saw that there
was a real question in Cuba demanding
a real settlement. and declared. like
John Quincy Adams and Henry Clay,
that Cuba must be annexed. and that
il would become indispensable to the
integrity of the union. Even then did
Adams also assert tina; the transfer of
Cuba TO some other power was a danger
obtruding itself upon our councils. But
the plan of leaving the island with
Spain prevailed. Cuba had come near
10 both independence and annexation.
but both gave way before the slave
power, and for 90 years the policy Of
1925 had sway. As late as 1s43, indeed,
Webster said that negro emancipation
in Cuba would strike a death blow TO
slavery in the United States, thus Civ
ing cynically and frankly the bad and
true reason for the policy steadily
pressed since 1925. Never at rest. how
ever, the slave power itself, a few years
after Webster's lucid definition of it's
Cuban policy, changed its own atti-
tude completely. From desiring to
keep Cuba in the hands of Spain, in
order that the Cuban negroes might
remain slaves, il passed, as dangers
thickeued around it at home, to the
determination TO secure Cuba, in order
that more slavery territory might be
added to the United States. Hence a
continuous effort to get the island by
annexation, and various projects, all
fallen into more or less oblivion now,
TO bring that result about, were de-
vised by American Shareholders and
their allies. Their schemes ranged
from B~uchanan's offer to purchase, re-
jected with deep scorn by Spain the in
telligent, TO the 0stend manifesto
barefaced argument for conquest-and
included attempts TO bring about Gu
ban independence by exciting insurrec-
tions and landing filibustering eXpedi-
tions. But the time was fast drawing
near, even while the American slave
holders were thus seeking new terri
tory, when the slave power would be
thinking % of extension, but of eX-
~istence. In 1861 American slavery in
voked the ordeal of battle, and persisted
utterly. With it died its political pow
er, and the policies, foreign and domes-