The Montgomery advertiser., 1904-11-05
oN A eot.n ruATr.

ON coLD TRAIL.
 We are reminded that we have aEs- other small bone to glck with the .s tss sss other day that in 1856 young North ern lad like Grover Cleveland tthen 1s or thereabouts) should have found the pro-freedom party more attractive tban the pro-slavery party. Also that cisveiand--now so eloquent against the delusive and perverting daszle and glitter of foreign expansion which allures the minimizing while 1t under mines the strength of our national Tn: age, as something to be proud of. that in his youth he was attracted to one of the three signers of that monumental prospectus of expansionism and 5ingo- ism, the Ostend Manifesto. Monday of this week the esteemed Advertiser com mented on our article to the extent of two thirds of a column, and did not once name or allude to the Ostend Man ifesto from first to last Hartford Courant
 The Courant harks back to what is almost ancient history to find cause of complaint against Cleveland. man for whom it has. a profound respect, as do all other fair newspapers. Republican and Democratic. Mr. Cleveland says with what we consider pardonabie pride. that he was first attracted to De- mocracy because of James Buchanan. who was nominated and elected before Cleveland was old enough to vote. Buchanan was then at the height of his popularity and was the kind of man to attract one of Cleveiand's tone of mind.
 But the latest cause of complaint. and which 1t claims that The Adver- tiser Ignored. is that Buchanan signed the once famous Ostend Manifesto. That is more ancient history. and the eagleism, and jingoism. perhaps. When James Buchanan, Pierre Soule and John Y. Mason met to consider the Cuban situation and the course of the Span fish Government. they apparently look ed at 1t from Southern standpoint. It was a filibustering age. when Will liam Walker. the blue-eyed man of destiny" was pursuing his somewhat meteoric career in Mexico and Central America. Many of the most far-seeing Southern men were already looking. ahead to the time when slavery would be confined and hemmed in the south- ern States of the Union. and prevented frcm entering any of the new Territo- ries which were really the common heritage of all the American people.
 Under such conditions 1t was natural that Southern men should cast longing eyes towards Cuba, or even other trop- ical countries, as a possible outlet for congested slavery conditions. If these Commissioners put their desire for Cuba on the broad ground of human ity, and if they were not entirely sin cere in that argument, certainly no Re- publican of today should blame them The ostend Manifesto declared that "as Spanish oppression in Cuba was such that the island would speedily resort to arms to free herself the United States should offer Spain a sum not to exceed $120.ooo,ooo for Cuba, and in the event of Spain's refusal to sell the United States would be justified in taking forcible possession of Cuba, rather than see it Africanized like Santo Domingo
 That was Sthe paper for the signing of which Buchanan is condemned, and Mir. Cleveland Is censured for endors- ing the men who signed the paper. As We have said. it was a restless, filibus- tering era. Soule, of Louisiana, and Mason of Virginia, were intense South erners. If they wanted the United States to buy Cuba largely for the ben eft of the South, who shali blame them? If they wanted the Government to take the island by force does 1t lie in the mouths of men who approve the Rooseveltian methods of acquiring ter ritory to criticise them?- Decidedly not, we say. If Buchanan yielded to the wishes of his two associates it is not at all surprising. for they were of a much more compelling personality than he was. And finally. the fact that both Cleveland and Parker condemn the present administrations methods of &C., quiring foreign territory while the for mer boasts that he was a follower of Buchanan Is nothing to the discredit of either of them. A man can condemn Roosevelt and his practices without be- ing specially called on to condemn the ostend Manifesto, or those who sign ed 1t. We repeat that The Courant is on a cold trail.
 The York, (Pa.), Dispatch. a Re-