Year: 1859

to you they will not trade; and yet, in
the face of their declaration, you pro-
pose to trade with them What sort of
q trade do you mean? You say your
avowod policy is, that England and
France shall not have Cuba. Do you
mean TO beat of all other bidders, and
levy on the island by a sort of con
stables sale Of it, without authority Of
law2 just say it is a sale and a seizure,
and buy it for what you please? That
is it, substantially. Or, If you do not
mean that, ask, what kind Of pious
and Christian humanity there is in a
proud nation like this, to a poor, weak,
old Government that has a raw, sore
place, TO take an ignitod fre-brand and
be jabbing her, and iabbing her, and
jabbing her, just to torment her? Is
the idea that, although she is not will.
ing to trade, you will torment her so
that she shall have no peace of her life,
and finally make the trade to get rid Of
your


Without regard to the fact that Spain
says she will not trade, the bill is an
enormous proposition upon its face
We gave 100000 to the Emperor
Napoleon for Louisiana, a vast terrific
ry, reaching from the mouth to the
source Of the Mississippi River, embrac-
ing the present States Of Louisiana,
Arkansas, Missouri, Iowa and Minneso-
ia. There was perfect kingdom for
1000, 900. We got vast domain Of
public land, of crown lands belonging
to France, more than enough to pay
all the expenses of the purchase, and
Of their survey, and leave us a profit
That is a trade that a man well might
strain a point for Jefferson was said
to entertain some constitutional scru-
Piles about that acquisition; but almost
any mans constitutional scruplcs would
give way under the force Of such q trade
as that Then we bought the whole
southern end of Florida, that vast penin-
sula, for So, 100000. 1t would have been o
pretty good purchase, if We had not been
paying ever since. l will not say that
we have paid more than the State is
worth, for it is a good State now, and l
will not speak disrespectfully of her;
but if it had not been for OsceOla, and
Sam Jones, and Jumper, and the enor-
nous price per capita that it has taken
to transport, catch or kill the Indians
there, that would have been rcasona-
bic trade. But l do not suppose now,
if Florida was put up at public auction
and sold, it would bring moro than
would indemnify us for the expenses of
the various Indian wars.


Now, sir, We como to the Island Of
Cuba; and what are we to get? We get
the public property-the Moro Castle,
the jails and the Court-houses. We do
not own thl negroes; we do not buy
the land for ourselves; but it is a trade
simply for the sovereignty, Well, what
does that sovereignty amount to? 1t
amounts to this: that you are to pro-
tcct the people Of Cuba; that you are to
extend over them the laws of the Union;
that you are to keep off pirates; that if
they get into a fight you are to help
them. OF course, we shall have to build
up their wharyes, and attend to their
public wants. The youngest child in
the family of course will be petted; and
how much you are to eXpond to get her
in proper trim, the Lord only knows,


Mr.. President, 1 do not believe, with
the Senator from New Hampshire (Alr.
Halo,) that our course of empire is, by
any political trick, at least in this in
stance, going in a southern direction.
That has been the natural course Of em-
igration, from the time when the Goths
and the Vandals came down upon the
sunny plains of Italy, to the present
time. 1t is the instinct Of human ma
ture to hunt out the best lands, find
where they are, and locate onthem. In
the far off North, during the long, cold
winter nights, the children, as they sit
around the fire, perhaps chillblained
or frost-bitten, eat figs and oranges and
aud dates, aud they are told that they
come from a country where there is no
snow and no ice, but a balmy breeze,
and their notions start as though they
want to get off to that better country.
90 Christ! it is q goodly sight to see


What Heaven has done for this delicious landi
What fruits Of fragrance blush on every trsei


What goody prospects Ger the whole ex.


pand"


They have but one sentiment, and
that is to go down there and better
their condition. It is the natural tide
and flow Of emigration 1t is by in
stinct, and they follow it. I do not
think, properly that a consideration Of
the niggor question ought to have been
connected with this matter; but it has
been forced into it, and forced upon us.


The Senator from Louisiana (Mr.
Benjamin. gave us an essay, graphic
and eloquent; a poem, l might say-a
poem, mean, as to eloquent diction,
not poem as to facts-UpOn the wrongs
England has inflicted on her West India
colonies; but the whole of it is no more
relevant to this question than to exam
inc whether Wilberforce, if he were
alive, would repent Of what he did or
not. The Senator from New Hamp-
shire, for whose great amiability, for
whose good judgment, and especially
for whose good feeling, 1 have eminent
respect, overratos these things, overesti-
mates them. He is against the acquisi-
tion of more slave territory, The Sem
ator from Louisiana gave us a beautiful
description Of Cuba; he spoke Of the
Cubans, Of the Creolos, and the free
negroes; and it is under tho influence
Of descriptions such as he gave, that our
peODle rush that Wav. and there is de-