344 ANNEXATION OF CANADA AND CUBA. 



Will California and Oregon submit to have their laws 

 made for them so far off as Washington ? Will they 

 consent to pay import-duties at these remote spots, 

 not merely for the maintenance of a Federal Govern 

 ment, but for the protection and encouragement of 

 manufactures in the New England States, with which 

 their connection is still more distant ? In a few years, 

 when the Anglo-Saxon population on the Pacific shall 

 have increased, and become somewhat consolidated, 

 such questions as these w T ill undoubtedly come up, and, 

 as a first result, a tariff based upon principles not very 

 different from those of Free Trade is an almost inevitable 

 consequence. What further may follow it is premature 

 to discuss. 



The question of Annexation connects itself most closely 

 with that of &quot; dissolution of the Union.&quot; &quot; If Canada 

 were annexed,&quot; said the free soilers of New England 

 and New York State, during the late dissatisfactions 

 in Canada, &quot; we should be able to master the slave States, 

 and form, if we liked, a powerful free republic.&quot; On the 

 other hand, u If Cuba were annexed, we should be able 

 to retain our first preponderance,&quot; said the slavery de 

 fenders of the south ; &quot; and, if that were contested, to 

 form a separate Confederation in spite of the free States, 

 and equal to them in strength.&quot; 



To the annexation of Cuba I doubt if any very serious 

 objections would arise even in the northern States of the 

 Union. They never seriously opposed, at least by their 

 representatives in Congress, either the annexation of 

 Texas or the war with Mexico. It would add to the 

 apparent power and wealth of the Confederation, and 

 would be a plea for subsequent attempts upon the British 

 Colonial possessions. But the storms and compromises 

 which have attended the admission of California, show 

 the amount of opposition which the south would raise 

 against the annexation of Canada, without a previous or 



