PRELIMINARY ESSAY. 



33 



res skillfully availed himself of an apparent contra- 

 diction in the arguments and recomendations of 

 England, to which Lord Palmerston replies: — 



"With reference to that passage in M. Miraflores' 

 note, in which he states that the Spanish government 

 cannot understand how her majesty's government 

 can seriously recommend a measure which would 

 prove very injurious to the natives of Cuba, when 

 they also recommend that the Spanish government 

 should conciliate the affections of those Cubans, I 

 have to instruct your lordship to observe to M. de 

 Miraflores that the slaves of Cuba form a large por- 

 tion, and by no means an unimportant one, of the 

 population of Cuba ; and that any steps taken to pro- 

 vide for their emancipation would, therefore, as far 

 as the black population are concerned, be quite in 

 unison with the recommendation made by her 

 majesty's government ; that measures should be 

 adopted for contenting the people of Cuba, with a 

 view to secure the connexion between that island 

 and the Spanish crown; and it nrust be evident that 

 if the negro population of Cuba were rendered free, 

 that fact would create a most powerful element of 

 resistance to any scheme for annexing Cuba to the 

 United States, where slavery still exists." 1 



1 Published dispatches. 

 2* 



