86 



htjmboldt's cuba. 



The rice and lumber of the South find their greatest 

 and best foreign market in Cuba. The grain and 

 meats of the West, now in a great measure shut out 

 from Cuba by the restrictions of a jealous tariff, 

 would find in her accession to the confederacy, a 

 market to the value of millions annually from the 

 store of their ever-increasing plenty. Is it a ques- 

 tion of civil or of international policy ? The exten- 

 sion of our theories of government to Cuba must 

 contribute to their stability, strengthen the ties of 

 our civil policy, increase its moral power, and aug- 

 ment our weight in the family of nations. The 

 accession of Cuba to the Union is not, therefore, 

 merely a Southern question, but it is a question of 

 national gain and of national power. 



The assertion, that " if they conquer her they will 

 find her emancipated or desolated," is the reiteration 

 of the barbarous and savage threat of Spain — that 

 " Cuba shall ever remain Spanish or become African." 

 The heart that can conceive, and the liberalism that 

 can reiterate, such a threat, are only worthy of the 

 highest reprobation. But it involves an error of 

 fact, in assuming that a disposition exists on the part 

 of the United States to conquer Cuba. Such an idea 

 has never been broached in this country, nor do we 

 believe it has ever been entertained by any one. 

 The truth is, that American sympathizers have been 



