Year: 1873

thieves are vexing our frontier. and that un-
Legs We punish them they will continue to raw
age our soil; that Mexico cannot punish them
and we must But remember, armed men
came from Canada and burned our New Eng
land towns and although we had an army in
hand and only too ready to spring, we did not
dare to unleash it. England was strong and
we respected her rights. Mexico is weak, and
shall we despise her weakness2 If it is at all
necessary for American troops to cross the
Rio Gnnde, then General Grant must COM
mand them. He must say frankly to Mexico
that the time has come for the United States
to secure to Mexico those blessings that thus


far her people have not obtained, and as o
neighbor bound to do neighborly Offices we
share our strength with Mexico and extend o
protectorate over her people and institutions.
This would be worthy Of the nation and q
true solution of the troubles in our sister Re-
public.


As to Cuba, there is an opportunity for o
policy alike generous. We know the evils that
have fallen upon Cuba. We know that as an
example of misgovernment and administrative
folly it stands alone among the nations. While
Cuba was province of king we refrained
from any act calculated to offend Spain. We
wore as deferential to the Cabinet of Amadeus
as to that Of Victoria. But new era has
come to Spain. The monarchy has fallen. A
republic is struggling for life. Ignored, de-
spised, frowned upon by the great Powers Of



Alliance, America has alone given Spain
words of sympathy. We are bound to con-
slider our obligations to this new and strug-
Cling Republic in our dealings with Cuba. If
Spain succeeds in founding republic we shall
then appeal to her honor and duty to give
Cuba all that the armed insurrection demands
We shall be in position to secure this, while
to attempt any untoward interference now
would be to invite to Spain, under
the pretext of resisting the invasion of
and reaction-the ministers of feudalism and
the Inquisition. Better for Cuba, better for
ourselves better for republicanism all over
the world, that the problems now at issue
should be solved by Spain. The new men in
power are committed to a most generous
policy towards Cuba. Republicanism in the
Mother Country means republicanism in the
colony. Nothing could be more ungenerous
than for us to avail ourselves of the troubles
in Spain to rob her of her noblest province.
There could be no scandal in the eyes Of the
monarchs more gratifying than the spectacle
of one republic taking advantage of the mis-
fortunes of another for purposes of robbery
and aggrandizement.


Finally let General Grant concentrate his
domestic policy upon two points the recon-
struction of the South and the payment of the
national debt To be sure there is nothing
very attractive in prosy labors of this kind;
but sometimes prosy labors have the most
poetry in the end We have never yet had q
sound financial policy, and as to the South,
we have treated the conquered States
worse than the proconsuls of Rome treated
the outlying provinces Of the Empire. In
dealing with the finances General Grant has
clumsily adhered to one policy, and that was
to obtain the smallest results from the greatest
sacrifices. We do not really pay the debt in
this way we simply increase the burdens OF
to-day in the hope that they will be easier
tomorrow. As to the South, we teach ven-
geance by our policy of vengeance. We con-
quered rebellion in one generation only to
teach rebellion to another. What the South
should learn is that the war was foolish, mad
experiment, born from ambition and the slave
power, and that their own leaders were respon-
sible for all the evils that came with it that
when we saved the Union it was that its bless
ings might descend to South as well as North.
Have we done this2 Let Louisiana and
Arkansas and South Carolina speak and cover
us with shame. But it is not too late. General
Grant has an unrivalled opportunity, while at
the same time he is menaced with a fascinating,
terrible danger. Let him throw aside the
temptations to Cgsarism that now pervade the
republican party. Let him show that power
has not taught him ambition, which we are
told is the last infirmity of noble minds, and
in giving us generous policy build monu-
ment to his fame more enduring than the
Column Vendome, monument that posterity
will honor and not strive to root out and
destroy.