Watertown republican. [volume] (Watertown, Wis.) 1860-1906, 1901-05-22
TIE IMPERIALIST PARTY.
Democratic Presidents and Leaders
Who Advocated the Acquire
ment of Cuba.

While the great majority Of Amer
lean citizens are, irrespective Of par
! ty, in favor of the ultimate anneXa-
ton of Cuba to the United States,
there is no doubt that the democratic
party was the first which openly and
emphatically declared in favor of
such a policy. Not, indeed, for Cuba's
good, nor for the good of the United
States, did the old slave-holding oil
garchy which so long dominated dem
ocratic councils take this stand.
In the early days of American
craftsmanship, when expansion was
the order of the day, a necessity not
alone to the growth but to the per-
petuation of the republic, we find
that Jefferson, in a letter to Presi-
dent Madison, dated April 81, 1909,
declared explicitly for the acquisition
of Cuba by the United States. Four
teen years later John Quincy Adams,
when secretary of state, enunciated
the same policy.
Jefferson wrote, June II, and again
June %, 1923, to President Monroe,
favoring Cuban annexation, stating,
on the latter date, that cher addition
to our confederacy is exactly what
is wanted to round out our power as
nation to it's utmost interest"
Henry Clay, secretary of state under
John Quincy Adams, was not dem
ocrat, but clearly affirmed that this
country could not see with indiffer-
ence the transfer of Cuba from Spain
! to some other European power. Mr..
Clay, writing Mr.. Everett, April IS,
1926, intimated that the acquisition of
Cuba was not at that time desirable.
He said that if 'the acquisition of
Cuba were desirable, there is believed
to be no reasonable prospect of eff
fecting that object"
When the extension of slavery be-
came a paramount issue in American
! politics democratic leaders eagerly
sought the acquisition of the island,
to cut il up into two Or three states,
with pcoportionate representation in
| the national house and senate. Pres
| ident Polk, an intense slave-holding
democrat, proposed to acquire Cuba
| by purchase from Spain, but the lat
ter treated the offer as an insult. In
1854 the ministers of the United
States at London, Paris and Madrid,
all democrats, one being James Blu
| chanan, afterward president, sent a
/ joint dispatch to the secretary of
state emphatically urging fair Of
fer for the purchase of Cuba, and if
Spain should refuse the United States
should forcibly seize the island.
| In his second, third and fourth an
nual messages President Buchanan
declared the possession of Cuba of
vast Importance to this republic. This
was, for partisan purposes solely, the
view of ante-bellum democracy. The
outbreak of the civil war put an end
to the agitation of the slave-holding
democratic imperialists in favor Of
Cuba's forcible seizure and annexa-
ton. Not one among their leaders
was ignorant Of the truth that Spain
would accept no cash offer for the
island, and that the making of such
an offer was to serve as a cover for
war to obtain the island.
| Grant, the first republican presi-
dent to speak on the subject, de-
clared in his very first annual mes
sage that America had no desire to
interfere with Spanish ownership of
| Cuba, but hoped to see the island
| become in time an independent
! power. Hamilton Fish, in February,
1874, while secretary of state for
President Grant, affirmed that Scuba
ought to belong to the great family
of American republics, and that the
desire of independence on the part of
the Cubans is a natural and legiti-
mate aspiration.'
This is practically the doctrine of
the republican party to-day. We ia
vor freedom and self-government to
! the fullest possible extent for Cuba,
and oppose it's annexation to the
United States except on terms mu-
tually acceptable to both peoples. We
cannot, however, permit in Cuba the
| erection Of a government that would
| prove an agent of anarchy, disease OR
| foreign attack imperiling America.
| We are eXpansionists, not imperial
lists We believe in our flag, but shall
never plant it where the interests of
| freedom do not command. The dem
ocrats would have seized Cuba by
force and made it slave-holding de-
tendency. The republican party drove
Spain from the island and has made
it seat of self-government and free
dom, with brightest promise and fair
est hope. Which is the party of i'm
perialism? = Cincinnati Commercial
Tribune.
COMMENT AND OPINION.