S. (CUBAM Ai : 



207 



The ratification by Congress was indirect. So in 

 the case of Texas and Mexico. While President 

 Jackson refused to recognize the independence of 

 Texas for years, still belligerency was recognized 

 openly and clearly by the act of the Executive.'' 

 ^ -nator White said : 



"Mr. President, our wishes are for Cuban free- 

 dom, but can we accomplish this by mere naked 

 declaration i Senators have condemned Spain and 

 have criticised her policies with severity, but all 

 this is futile. We should appreciate the truth that 

 :ii not peaceably, or with due respect for inter- 

 national obligations, go further than sympathetic 

 expression. If the President determines to an- 

 nounce that the Cubans in revolt are entitled to the 

 rights of war they will still be subject to sections 

 of the Revised Statutes of the United 

 s. This would be true if Cuban independence 

 were recognized by us, and must remain true while 

 war lasts. Our declaration of neutrality itself im- 

 plies that we will vigorously enforce the law as 

 again;-! all parties to the contest. We are in honor 

 bound to do so. It is well to keep these facts before 

 us. All should remember that in no way can we 

 relieve the people of Cuba from the effect of our 

 neutrality laws unless we boldly deny Spain's right 

 and take charge of the issue and declare war." 



Senator Vest, of Missouri, said: 



" I should like to know from the Senator from 

 California for that is the practical question 

 whether he believes that Spain can suppress t hat- 

 insurrection and whether he does not believe that 

 the cause of Spain to-day with a view to that end 

 is despenr 



Senator White answered in part : 



" Mr. President. I do not know. I sincerely hope 

 that the people of Cuba will be successful in estab- 

 lishing a government of their own choice, but I do 

 not know whether they will or not. The informa- 

 tion which I have upon the subject is of a char- 

 acter not satisfactory to my mind. The Senator 

 may believe the situation as to Spain to be desper- 

 ate, but when we find Spanish power surrounding 

 this island, when we find her in possession, appar- 

 ently secure, of the centers of population, when we 

 find that not a single port, not a single avenue of 

 trade is in the control of the insurgents, that they 

 have not a ship upon the ocean, that they have no 

 commercial or international representation. I am 

 far from believing that a point has been reached to 

 justify a recognition of independence." 



Senator Vest said : 



" If my friend will permit me. it seems to me 

 manifestly unjust in the determination of that 

 which is the vital question in this whole contro- 

 vi.-rsy. and all the balance is leather and prunella, 

 to ignore the one fact to which he does not allude, 

 and that is that these same people, the Cubans, 

 without having a ship upon the ocean, without be- 

 ing in possession of a single important port, suc- 

 cessfully resisted the Spanish power for ten long 

 3, and then only laid down their arms upon cer- 

 tain conditions one of which was the abolition of 

 slavery in the island which were immediately vio- 

 lated by the Spanish Government. 



" Now. if they could for ten years maintain them- 

 s by force of arms against the Spanish dynasty 

 without ships, without munitions of war except 

 those that they manufactured themselves, why can 

 they not now maintain the same sort of struggle 

 until Spain is forced to admit, as she did before, 

 that it is impossible to put down the insurrection -? 

 All those things must be considered together, and I 

 submit to my friend the Senator from California 

 that if we content ourselves with simply an expres- 

 si"n of sympathy we had better drop this question, 

 for it will be a miserable farce from end to end." 



He said further: 



" 1 can not resist stating that if the Senator from 

 California is correct a> to his legal propositions, and 

 I think he is so far as cc.ncern> the rights of bellig- 

 erents or the effect of the recognition of belli^ 

 rights, our action here will amount to nothing. If 

 he is correct in regard to what should be done as 

 to recognizing the independence of a country at 

 war witli another and attempting to assert its inde- 

 pendence, then until the whole result lias !n< n 

 achieved by that country itself we are powerlo.- in 

 the premises. That, sir, it seems to me, is a nio.-t 

 astonishing proposition. We mu-t wait, according 

 to the Senator from California, until all vestige of 

 Spanish power has been swept by force of arms 

 from the island of Cuba before we can. without vio- 

 lating international law. recognize the independence 

 of that struggling people. 



" If the doctrine be correct that all vestige of 

 military power on the part of the mother country 

 or the country that seeks to put down the insurrec- 

 tion must be swept away before we can act, then 

 our action is simply Irutum fulr/ieii and amounts 

 to nothing. The people themselves have already 

 struck the blow that made them free, and we can 

 only accept results and say that the fiat of the god 

 of battles has been put upon their endeavor to as- 

 sert the right to govern themselves. If we as the 

 great republic of the world mean to stand by these 

 people who are imitating us and endeavoring to 

 make a government for themselves like that of this 

 country, we must help them in their hour of need, 

 and if we do not go so far as to do it by arms, 

 which is not advocated by anybody in this cham- 

 ber or out of it, we can at least do so by stating to 

 the world that we believe the attempt of the mon- 

 archy of Spain to suppress this insurrection, as they 

 term it. this endeavor to form a republic upon the 

 island of Cuba, is absolutely hopeless and desperate, 

 as I believe under God it is to-day. There will 

 never come the hour when Spain can reassert her 

 dominion over the island of Cuba. It is impossible 

 that she should do so, and I speak from the great 

 teachings of history and experience. 



" We. Mr. President, are confronted now with one 

 overwhelming, overruling, absolute, and determi- 

 nate question in this debate : Shall we, the great ex- 

 emplar of republican institutions throughout the 

 world, declare that in our opinion the people of 

 Cuba are able to maintain their independence and 

 have achieved it f Are we to wait until that island 

 is desolated by fire and sword ? Are we, a Christian 

 and God-fearing people, to stand silent and dumb 

 while the Spanish governor, called a general, de- 

 clares that he intends to j en up the people of Cuba. 

 and butcher them into subjection to the Spanish 

 throne ? Sir. if we do it, God will curse us. If we 

 do this thing and stand here until a desert has been 

 made of that splendid island, you may be certain 

 that the time will come when there will be retribu- 

 tion upon us as a people, because we have not been 

 true to the task assigned us by Providence, because 

 we have not cherished the legacy of self-government 

 as bequeathed to us by our fathers." 



Senator Gray, of Delaware, spoke in favor of Sen- 

 ator White's resolution. He said: 



" That is as far as the Congress of the United 

 States has ever gone in regard to the struggles of a 

 people for an independent government further 

 than they went in the case of the revolted col 

 of South America, further than they went in the 

 case of Mexico, further than they have gone with 

 Hungary or Greece, with whom the Government 

 and the people of the United States so cordially and 

 heartily sympathized during the pendency of "their 

 struggles." 



The subject was again debated, Feb. 28, by Sena- 



