I 



366 AMERICAN DIPLOMATIC QUESTIONS 



Three years later, Daniel Webster, as Secretary of State,. 

 addressed the United States Consul in Havana, to the same 

 effect, his letter being also used as a basis of instructions to 

 Henry Irving, the American Representative in Spain. He 

 said : " The Spanish Government has long been in possession 

 of the policy and wishes of this government in regard to 

 Cuba, which have never changed, and has repeatedly been 

 told that the United States never would permit the occupa- 

 tion of that island by British agents or forces upon any 

 pretext whatever ; and that in the event of any attempt to 

 wrest it from her, she might securely rely upon the whole 

 naval and military resources of this country to aid her in 

 preserving or recovering it." 



Until about the beginning of the Polk administration, the 

 American policy toward Cuba appears therefore to have 

 been a consistent one, and wholly in accord with the avowed 

 principles of the Monroe Doctrine. The idea of annexation 

 found a few hearty supporters ; but even among its cham- 

 pions, that notion was prompted by expediency rather than 

 from a desire for territorial gain. Such ideas were especially 

 manifested at those times when the safety of the United 

 States was supposed to be imperilled by European intrigues 

 to seize Cuba. To prevent that contingency the United 

 States was willing to go to any length. It would guarantee 

 Cuba to Spain, and pledge to her the use of its army and 

 navy ; if forced to it, it would annex the island. Upon that 

 point, the application of the Monroe Doctrine was clear and 

 never disputed. After the close of the Mexican War the 

 policy of the United States toward Cuba underwent con- 

 siderable change. A fever of expansion seized the people,, 

 and the foreign policy of the nation became bolder. Covetous 

 eyes were cast toward the " Pearl of the Antilles." The prin- 

 ciples of the Monroe Doctrine were neither forgotten nor 

 overlooked, but they were considerably distorted and per- 

 verted to meet political and selfish ends. The purchase of 

 the island was impossible, first, because Spain always indig- 

 nantly refused to part with " her faithful colony " ; and r 

 secondly, because the slave-holders of the Southern states., 



