Year: 1870

retary Of State.


General Banks, of the House Commlttee ON
Foreign Affairs, it is expected, will shortly In
troduce, perhaps to-day, some resolus'ons run
the committee, suggesting 10 the President
holder and more definite line OF policy on tne
Cnban ouestion than that which has been ana
still is pursued by our present easy-going, 90
nothing and ''waiting- r-something g-to-turn-
nm" Secretary of State. The other day, in the
House, when, on motion to strike out from an
appropriation bill the item for the consulate at
Santiago de Cuba, Mr.. Voorhees,, Of Indiana,
opened his batteries on the atrocities OF the
Spanish authorities of the island, and against
the humiliating, shilly -shally and anti-Ameri-
can course of our State Department in this
business, his earnest denunciations so far
awakened the genuine American sentiment OF
the House that if in the glow of the general
excitement resolution had been offered con-
ceding beligerent rights to the Cubans 1t
would doubtless have been adopted by accla-
nation.


We expect report from General Banks and
his committee to some extent representing this
general Cuban sentiment of the House. AT
the tail end of the last session of Congress one
of the last acts of the House was the passing,
unanimously, joint resolution (Which went
over in the Senate) authorizing the President
to proclaim belligerent rights in behalf OF the
struggling Cubans, and assuring him in this
proceeding of the support Of Congress and
the country. We may safely say, therefore,
that if during the present session the House
Committee on Foreign Affairs has made no
report upon this Cuban question 1t is because
General Banks, from courteous respect for
the representations and assurances OF Mr.. Sec
retary Fish, and in Difference to the wishes OF
the President, has been patiently waiting for
something to turn up" until the patience OF
the House is exhausted.


Several months ago, from an official or
semi.official reconnaissance and report on the
| situation of the belligerents in Cuba, we were
assured that the insurrection was substantially
at an end that all that was left of it was an
| insignificant gang or two of banditti in the
mountains; that these banditti were 80 hedged
in that they could do nothing, and that, with
some twenty thousand Spanish troops on the
island and Spanish feet patrolling the coast,
law and order would soon be re-established
from one end to the other. More recently
some of the principal Cuban chiefs have left
the island and come to this country-a fact,
which, prima facie of itself, would seem to be
conclusive against their cause. Yet, from the
representations Of General Jordan, it appears
that in numbers the fighting Cubans still on
hand could speedily finish the great work they
have undertaken if they were only one half
supplied with arms, and that, even with the
insufficient and inefficient weapons with which
they have been and are fighting, they are
competent to prolong the struggle indefinitely.
At all events, the best news that the Spanish
authorities at Havana can furnish us now
embra ces, with the daily surrender of squads
of insurgents, executions of others by the
| half dozen at time, and the burning OF sugar
| plantations by the squads who still keep the
| field.


We have not been however, so much dis
appointed in the assurances from Washington
| of the end of the Cuban insurrection as in our
expectations of something from Spain in the
| way of settlement through the diplomacy OF
Mr. Fish. 1t has been long time since we
| have had even hint of anything going on be-
| tween General Sickles and the government at
| Madrid In short, from all that we see and
hear, Mr.. Secretary Fish is satisfied with
things as they are going on, because he thinks
\ they are tending to the restoration Of the full
| authority of Spain over Cuba, and because he


is opposed to the acquisition of the island.


We apprehend that this is the secret of his


unsatisfactory Cuban policy-opposition to the


annexation of the island-and he opposes it,


no doubt, because it involves programme OF


annexation and expansion entirely too large


for his conservative notions of our foreign


policy.


Mr.. Secretary Fish, then is behind the age


anl too far behind the public sentiment of the


country for the State Department We have


seen enough of his feeble craftsmanship in


the matter Of the permit to the Canadian


steamer Chicora to pass through the Sault


Ste, Marie canal to satisfy us upon this


point He is most amiable, pleasant and


excellent man; but he is not the man for the


State Department in these progressive times


The House of Representatives. we have rea-


son to think, is Of the same opinion, and if


from it's approaching action on the Cuban ques


ton we are favored with change or two il


the Cabinet, we shall hail it as an event upor


which to congratulate the President, Congress


and the country.


| POLITICS AND RELIGIoN.-An attempt wa!


made in the Presbyterian General Assembly


to endorse particular policy of Presiden


Grant. The effort was unsuccessful, th'


Assembly declaring that the Church hat


nothing to do with politics. If the determine