Year: 1869

From the Cincinnati Gazette.l


WASHINGTON, May 24.-PreSiden


Grant is beset on all sides by men cry


ing out for decided policy. They


are mostly in want of foreign policy
The fact that these United States are


at peace with all the world is to these
! gentlemen an intOlerable condition O


affairs. They demand that Brother
Jonathan shall shake his fist. They


insist upon hearing the eagle scream.


They see ne use in having an eagle il


he don't take flight occasionally. But
! just here the trouble arises. There are


several parties who want the services


of that proud bird. Banks and his
friends want him to circle around San
Domingo and Cuba; Butler, while de-
| lighted at all signs Of activity on the


part of our national fowl, would rather
have him close his claws on England,
if it's all the same to the President ;


certain New York capitalists want the
eagle to go to Mexico to superintend
extensive railway projects; and Others
still, speak vaguely of the icy pole,
and the iSthmus, of land route to
Alaska, and a water route from the


lakes to the ocean, over both of which,
and all of which, the flag shall wave,
the eagle scream, the universal YAM
kee nation eXalt, and the universe
stand aghast.


Because none of these things are de-
cided upon, there is much talk among
those who favor them here of the adj
ministration being a failure. 1t is
true that a very different state of af-
fairs would have existed to-day had
their advice been followed. Instead
of the gatherings in all parts of the
land to decorate the graves Of our sol
diers, there would have been camps
of living soldiers everywhere prepar-
ing to start towards graves in Canada,
in Mexico, in Cuba, and on the ocean.
With the land blOssOming white with
camps, the harbOrs black with men,
Of-war, and the public debt crOwding
the vaults of the Treasury with our
promises to pay, we would have had
instead Of the present quiet, fiat busi-
ness affair, most successful admins
tratiOn! What can Grant be thinking
about that he don't see it?


Ii is just possible that he believes
We cannot now afford as a nation to
burden ourselves with the effete, ignO-
rant, half-civiliZed, mixed races of
Mexico and the Antilles. He may
see that no strength can be derived
from these Indian-Spanish negro
races; that, instead, they would bring
great weakness and retartling of ma
tiOnal growth. The new citizens
which the war threw upon the ma
ton, and for whose devotion we are
responsible, are all which the country
can, in business to itself, assume the
care of now. If universal suffrage can
be made a success with the elements
now at cur disposal, the nation will
merit the appreciation of all who love
freedom. The task on hand is great
enough without adding anything from
without our present borders. He may
think his reco1StructiOn job heavy
enough without extending it to Cuba
or any other island, or aiding a part
of Mexico 10 Texas, lest the task of
quieting the latter should not be of
sufficient magnitude to occupy the
attention of a great government.


l. then ojir Government to refuse
sympathy TO the Cuban patriOts2 To
this it IS believed that the admins
tratiOn answers By no means; but
to show sympathy nAst we violate
the very principles which we accuse
England Of ignoring? To show SYM
Dathy must we interfere, and annex?
Let Cuba shake of the yoke of Spain,
and be both free and independent.
But just not he United States has all
she can do in the way of recOnstruc-
ton at home, without undertaking to
Americanize the population of Cuba


And the administration iS cordially
supported IN these views regarding
expansion toward the South by an
other class, who, however, are equally
dissatisfied with its course. but from
another cause, They want the bugles
10 sound for Canada at once. They
say of course we don't want these
alien populations of the South. We
don't want their territory. Earth-
QuakeS, fevers, cholera, and deeaying
people are all we should gain in that
direction, but territory that the An
glO-SaXOns can live in and develop we
want and must have.


And so President Grant is told that
a movement ON Canada, vigorously
made at first through the State De
paI{ment, is the least that can save
his administration.


Sumneris fer & setiiement, but peace
is an Indispensable element 70 the set
tiement he wants. He thinks he has
presented the case i'll the interest of
peace; and he wanted Mr.. Motley to
be armed with the positiQns of his
speech as a surety Of peace. The
President, it is said, insisted that Mr..
Motley should merely wait for such
propositions of settlement as England
may choose to make. If she could
afford to leave the matter undecided
we certainly could.


Butler, and number Witl& him aSi
positive as he, are bent om9making
trouble with England, and using the
Alabama question to bring it about.
They want a positive demand for set
tlement within q fixed time, to be
made through Mr. Motley, at once.
If war results, 1t Will be on the ocean;
they say it will cost little, if anything
more than the amount of our present
impOrtations. We should get Canada
with comparative small land force;
the war would be immensely popular;
the life of the Republican party be
prolonged, and to it the development
of the continent freed from foreign
rule would be committed.


To all these the Administration has
but one answer: Let US have peace.
To those who want Lower California
and the right of wsy though Mexico;
to those who want Cuba and san Do
ihing0; to those who want Canada
and a war with England, the B6esi-
dent says, By aetiens at least Gentle
men, the nation needs rest. 1t has
had war enough. The reconstruction
of the South is gigantic task, The
national expenses We're plunging US
into bankruptcy; we must have time
to institute strict economy and get the
Government organized again upon
this basis ofexpenditure. The nation
al debt must be diminished: we cam