The times. [volume] (Richmond, Va.) 1890-1903, 1901-01-01
A Nasty Am UNJUST FLING.

tial and abiding
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A NASTY AND UNJUST FLING.
The Boston Advertiser makes the fol-
| lowing comments upon General Fitzhugh
! Lees recent statement that Cuba would
| never be Independent:
While Fitzhugh Lee made his statement
! ION the quiet" that Cuba would never
! be allowed to gain its Independence, he
| did not make it quietly enough. 1t has
| been read all over this country, and it
| has not been pleasantly received. The
| old idea that the solemn pledge Of the
| United States must be kept even against
its own interests, If necessary, has not
yet gone out of fashion among the great
| body of the American people, who are
not personally interested in franchise
| grabs or similar schemes. There may be
| few other Americans who are Of the
Nicely or the Rathbone type. but they
are in very small minority. The great
| body of Americans believe that the United
| States can be in better business than
| robbing the Cubans. after a straight
promise to deal honestly. by them.
| We do not mean to say that the Adver-
tiser made these comments because Gem
eral Lee is distinguished x-Confederate
! soldier and Southern man, but 1t is not
to be forgotten that they are made by
the Boston Advertiser and that they are
| made of a Southerner and ex-Confederate
and that they do General Lee a great in
| justice and place him in a false position.
General Lee is not man to advocate
| breach of faith in anything. He is high
minded, honorable gentleman, who will
i keep his word with as perfect fidelity as
the Boston Advertiser will or as any other
Bostonian will. General Lees remark. as
| all men of common sense recognized at
the time, was in the nature Of a COM
| ment upon the inevitable trend of events
and in no sense a suggestion or advice
that we should break our faith with the
Cubans. It was the comment of a man
who had been long in Cuba and knew
just what conditions prevailed there. upon
those conditions and upon the tnproba-
bility that the Cubans would ever arrive
at such a point of self control as would
justify this country in turning Cuba loose
as an independent Power.
There is no man or journal in this
world that would be slower to counsel our
Government to any act of bad faith what
ever than The Times but The Times tho
roughly appreciates the force of General
Lees remark, and what he said expresses
our own conviction thoroughly. If we
could, consistently with the obligations
we assumed when we took Cuba upon our
hands, withdraw our troops from the
iSIo nd nd fho C,,b 10 OF
up and maintain such a government as
suited them. The Times would urge our
Government to do it as earnestly as it
could. But does not the whole world
know that for us to do it would be to
turn the island over to disorder, turmoil
and practically civil war? The Cubans
are no more competent, as yet, to rule
themselves than the Filipinos are. and to
end the policing Of our soldiers in the
island would be to set the Cubans to cut
ting each others threats and to robbing
and burning whenever each faction was
inspired to it by greed. lust or revenge.
It would be crime against civilization
and a breach of the duty we owe man
kind for US to do such a thing, and it is
not to be thought Of.
And we may as we'll add that we do not
expect the day ever to arrive when our
troops will be withdrawn. Before the
cubans shall have qualified themselves to
rule the island we expect to see it become
so thoroughly Amerlcanized that no sug-
gestion of independence will be tolerated
In Cuba by the Cubans themselves. AS
confidence in the stability of things and
the permanency Of American occupation
grows, American capital will seek invest
meat in the promising opportunities that
Cuba offers, and as American capital be-
comes invested there. Americans will fol-
low it to nurse 1t and direct Its uses. As
these two make invasions of Cuba the 4
Cubans will begin to learn how preferable
order and stability are to disorder and
turmoil, and they will begin to turn to
the United States with prayers that they,
too, may DO taken under the blessed rule
( of our free institutions. All this General
Lee had in his mind and his remark was,
therefore, the remark Of a statesman.
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a LDAilOSs lts,t
We take pleasure in reproducing part
of an editorial from the New York Fri