CONGRESS. (CUBA.) 



"Third. That the President of the United States 

 I*, and he hereby is, directed and empowered to 

 In- entire land and naval forces of the United 

 States, and to call into the actual service of the 

 United States the militia of the several States, to 

 such extent as may be necessary to carry these 

 resolutions into effect." 



The Senators were nearly all for immediate ac- 

 tion. I nit there was a difference of opinion as to the 

 iiolicy of the President. 



Mr. TunuT. <>f Washington, said in opposition to 

 it. and in favor of immediate recognition of Cuban 



ilide|NMldcllce : 



-Mr. President, to pursue the course suggested 

 by the President would IMJ an anomaly in interna- 

 tional relations. That course involves, first, a 

 threat of armed intervention to force diplomatic 

 concessions: and second, failing such concessions, 

 possible intervention to expel Spain from the 

 island of Cuba. It does not involve the independ- 

 ence of Cuba, because that is only suggested in the 

 I Y.-ident's message for the purpose of making an 

 argument against its present recognition. 



Such a thing. I believe, as is proposed was never 

 heard of in the history of nations. Nations inter- 

 vene to secure tranquillity, to preserve order, to 

 stop outrage and murder, but never to themselves 

 usurp sovereignty, nor ever to subvert sovereignty, 

 except in the interest of some other nation or in the 

 inti rest of a subject people struggling for independ- 

 ent. If we intervene in the affairs of Cuba for 

 either one of the three causes first named, we will 

 have accomplished our purpose when Spain has 

 given proper guarantees of better future conduct. 



" To propose to expel her from the island after 

 that, or before giving her opportunity to- afford 

 such guarantee, would be unheard of amr would 

 justly arouse the opposition and protest of other 

 nations. Mr. President, armed intervention in- 

 volves the use of force and is, in essence, war. It 

 is only less than war by the acquiescence of the 

 power against which it is employed. When writers 

 s|icak of it as an international right, they speak of 

 it in the same sense that they speak of the right to 

 make war. That right belongs to any nation at 

 iiny time and for any cause it may esteem sufficient. 

 Hoth rights spring from the same source, and are 

 held in cheek by the same sanction, namely, the 

 ^probation of mankind if improvidently exerc'sed. 

 Hence, if we would avoid that reprobation in our 

 intervention in Cuba, it must be either for the pur- 

 "f simply restoring order and tranquillity and 

 htalile government under the sovereignty of Spain, 

 or it must be in aid of the struggling insurgents 

 who have already so largely overturned the power 

 of Spain. 



"The first purpose the President disclaims and 

 the last one in- refuses to permit Congress to pro- 

 claim or to himself proclaim, and therefore 1 say 

 his course is an anomaly. But we have a perfect 

 right to intervene in Culm, in the sense that the 

 right is sjioken of, if the sovereignty of Spain has 

 licen siijM-rseded t hero by another and superior 

 power, or if her aggressions against us have been 

 such as to justify us in making war on her and in 

 aiding another power to supplant her. There 

 would lie no anomaly about that. 



" If wo do intervene there, the right to do so and 

 the disjiosition to do so will be predicated, as every- 

 body knows, on tx>th the grounds I have stated. I 

 a in op|ioM>d. therefore, to further slmllling or eva- 

 MOII. I think we ought now to declare that which 

 it is our purpose to effectual *. Any other self- 

 Acting nation would do so. and for one I want 

 my country to stand in the front rank of all the 

 nations of the world in the matter of dignified and 

 fearless sclf-resjicct. 



"To stop short now will be to commit this 

 country to a war of conquest. The conclusion is 

 inevitable. To drive Spain out of Cuba without 

 recognizing the independence of the Cuban re- 

 public will be to conquer that island by force of 

 arms and to establish our own sovereignty over it. 

 We may hold our conquest for a short time or a 

 long time. We may treat with the insurgents and 

 turn it over to them on such terms as will suit tlie 

 ' business interests,' or we may, failing such terms. 

 deliver, the island back to Spain ; but whatever w< 

 do eventually, we will in the first instance have 

 waged a war of conquest. As such it will be justly re- 

 garded by all the people of the world, and as such it 

 will be justly resented by all the people of the world." 



Mr. Fairbanks, of Indiana, argued in favor of 

 intervention without recognition of the Cuban 

 republic: 



" Our own tranquillity, our own sense of security, 

 our regard for our present and future comfort and 

 for the lives of her hapless and helpless subjects, 

 demand that we should interpose the mighty power 

 of this Government to stop the carnival of crime 

 and suffering and restore peace in the island of 

 Cuba until some suitable government may be 

 formed which shall be a guarantee to us and to the 

 other nations of the earth that it will at all times 

 in the future be ready and willing and able to dis- 

 charge its domestic and international obligations. 



"It is instinctive with us to desire to see people 

 who are oppressed freed from the oppressor and 

 secured in the God-given, inalienable privileges of 

 life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness. We 

 desire and hope to see the independence of Cuba 

 secured. Spain has, by every just consideration, 

 by every standard of international duty, forever 

 forfeited any right to further dominion over the 

 Cuban people ; and we hope to see established on 

 the island a free and just government, endowed 

 with functions for protecting the lives and property 

 of the present and future generations who may 

 dwell upon it. 



" But, Mr. President, I am not prepared at present 

 to favor the recognition of the independence of the 

 present so-called republic of Cuba. We know but 

 little about it. It is too nebulous, too mythical, to 

 be invited into the family of nations by our poten- 

 tial act. The present so-called government, at 

 most, is a military oligarchy with no habitat, with 

 no well-defined governmental organism exercising 

 the functions of a republic ; and if we were to 

 recognize its independence under the present pres- 

 sure without adequate knowledge or information, 

 it might, lead to the establishment of a power upon 

 the island which would prove vexatious and hurt- 

 ful to us, and our second estate might be as bad or 

 worse than our first, or at least we might continue 

 to be seriously menaced and disturbed by it. 



" There are, doubtless, among the citizens of the 

 island those capable of forming and establishing a 

 government which will be stable and secure and 

 which will be a guarantee that the Cuban question 

 is settled for all time to come. It seems to me, 

 therefore, that the first imperative duty resting 

 upon us is to establish tranquillity in the island, 

 relieve the suffering and distressed, and then enable 

 the citizens of the island to deliberate and form a 

 government upon such lines as their highest and 

 best interests may require. 



" It may be that the present pretended republic 

 is expressive of the highest and best thought of the 

 island, and that its recognition will be found to be 

 in the l>est interest of all concerned. If this be so, 

 time will demonstrate it. We should not forget 

 that the ultimate decision is in our hands: that 

 justice will not miscarry; delay will not defeat her 

 righteous demands. 



