Cuba. 59 



armaments for its defence j that the island of Cuba will embody advan- 

 tageously with the other dependencies of England in the West Indies; 

 and the recent opening of the ports of the English islands to their tra- 

 ders has convinced them, that a free trade comprises all the advantages 

 of dominion, without the expense of government. Upon these principles, 

 the islands of St. Thomas and St. Crux, recently offered by the King of 

 Denmark in compensation for the small sum of six hundred thousand 

 dollars, claimed by the citizens of the United States for illegal captures 

 by the Danish government, have been refused by the Congress of that 

 country ; and it is now the settled policy of that republic to connect, and 

 not to extend its dominions. 



Incidentally it is worthy to be suggested here, that these islands of 

 St. Thomas and St. Crux may be very advantageously purchased by the 

 Government of England 5 the sum of six hundred thousand dollars, for 

 which they were offered in the last year to the Congress of America, 

 being considerably less than two hundred thousand pounds sterling, a 

 small amount for possessions which comprise the fertile, populous, and 

 beautiful island of St. Crux j and in the present depressed condition of our 

 manufacturing shipping and commerce interest, and the necessity for the 

 creation of new markets for our products, the sum would soon be very 

 amply repaid. 



The possession of Cuba by the British Government would soon produce 

 great advantages to all the West Indies, by the final termination of the 

 illicit traffic in slaves, and the consequent equalization of the value of 

 labour over all the islands. It will open out an extensive field for emi- 

 gration to the planters of our other exhausted islands j and such is the 

 climate of Cuba, that our population from England may here cultivate 

 the earth. Placed by nature opposite and contiguous to the American 

 continent, the north-west wind, which causes the severity of winter 

 in very low latitudes, in the western hemisphere, produces in Cuba a very 

 considerable influence of cold. It is consequently the resort of valetudi- 

 narians from all parts of the New World, and there is probably not upon the 

 earth an island enjoying such a concentration of advantages in climate, 

 soil, metals, and all valuable natural products. Still, under the disorderly 

 and rapacious government of Spain, not a tenth part of its area has yet 

 been brought into cultivation ; and it is apparent how rapid and splendid 

 would be the changes produced by British legislation, enterprise, and 

 capital, in an island seven hundred miles long, the most fertile, cool, and 

 salubrious of the West Indian archipelago. Its harbours are capacious j 

 gold and silver abound in the interior ; and upon the southern side of the 

 island are copper hills of fine ore, containing a boundless supply of that 

 most valuable metal. Nor will the government of the island create much 

 additional expense to this country, for we now virtually furnish the naval 

 force required for its defence ; and from the contiguity of our other 

 islands, the possession of Cuba will unite, consolidate, and strengthen 

 our whole West Indian dominions. 



It is therefore to be wished, that an early settlement of the future des- 

 tiny of this island, useless to Spain, indifferent to the United States, and 

 injurious to England, may form an important consideration in the 

 pending discussions upon the affairs of our colonial possessions in the 

 Western World. 



