F 1783 
 .D26 
 
 
 Copy 1 SPEECH V 
 
 OF 
 
 -/ 
 
 HON. EEUBEN DAVIS, 
 
 OF MISSISSIPPI, 
 
 ON 
 
 HIS RESOLUTION 
 
 FOE THE 
 
 ACQUISITIOI ofcftjBA 
 
 DELIVEBED 
 
 IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES, 
 
 JAFfTARY 81, 1859. 
 
 < ♦ > 
 
 WASHINGTON: 
 
 PRINTED BY LEMUEL TOWERS. 
 
 1859. 
 
6767 
 
 /V. 
 
 n,/ 
 
SPEECH 
 
 OF 
 
 HON. REUBEN DAYIS, OF MISSISSIPPI, 
 
 ON HIS RESOLUTION FOE 
 
 THE ACQUISITION OF CUBA. 
 
 DELIVERED IN THE HOUSE OP REPRESENTATIVES, JANUARY 31, 1859. 
 
 The House being in Committee of the Whole on the state of the Union, and 
 having under consideration the President's Annual Message— Mr. REUBEN 
 DAVIS said: 
 
 Mr. Chairman: Several weeks ago I offered to this House 
 a resolution which made it the duty of the President to take 
 possession of the Island of Cuba, and retain it until certain 
 debts due to us from Spain were paid, and certain unsettled 
 causes of complaint were adjusted by her. 
 
 This Island is the property of Spain, and, like the private 
 property of her citizens, is the subject of reprisals. This reso- 
 lution is not a declaration of war against Spain ; it does not 
 even approximate war by beirg general; it has the technical 
 restriction of speciality. The resolution is restricted and limit- 
 ed to a specific article, and that the property of the Govern- 
 ment of Spain, and not her citizens. This, as a national right, 
 has never been denied in any age of the world, and has never 
 been regarded as amounting to a declaration of war. It is 
 regarded as a species of retaliation ; and is the only mode, 
 short of war, to which a nation can resort to coerce justice. 
 
 By the law of nations you may make reprisals, not only 
 for the acts of the sovereign, but also for those of his subjects. 
 The causes of complaint against Spain, for the redress of which 
 I propose this remedy, are the acts of the Government itself, 
 and not her private citizens; and are, therefore, the more ag- 
 gravated. Should we take possession of the Island, we simply 
 retain it until negotiation accommodates all causes of com- 
 plaint between the two governments, in which, of course, will 
 be embraced the expense to this Government of seizing the 
 Island. I confess, sir, Spain may make it the cause of war, 
 but if she does it will be her act, and she will be responsible 
 
for the consequences. This resolution only proposes to do 
 unto her as she has done to us. She has taken our property, 
 and I propose to apply to her the rule lex talioms. # 
 
 Mr. Chairman, my resolution proposes to apply to Spam 
 the mildest remedy allowed us by the law of nations, after 
 the failure of negotiation. Has negotiation failed * 1 insist 
 that it has. The debt of one hundred and twenty-eight thous- 
 and six hundred and thirty-five dollars and fifty-four cents has 
 been ascertained by negotiation, and a promise to pay it has 
 been made by Spain. More than four years have elapsed since 
 that promise, and now she proposes to pay us the sum of torty- 
 two thousand eight hundred and seventy-eight dollars and 
 forty-one 1 cents, without interest, and this as a "special tavor. 
 This claim has passed beyond the limits and objects ot nego- 
 tiation, and, consequently, must be controlled by some other 
 iurisdiction. It is now the subject of the direct action of the 
 Government through Congress. What can we do with it un- 
 der the authority of the law of nations? We can make re- 
 prisals, or we can make it the cause of war. Reprisals being 
 authorised by the law of nations, and peaceful in its nature, 
 I 'have proposed it rather than war. But, sir, we may; use 
 this remedy, being peaceful, for another object— that is to 
 hasten negotiation. The President says: 
 
 "Spanish officials, under the direct control of the Captain General of Cuba, 
 have insulted our national flag, and in repeated instances have, from time to 
 time, inflicted injuries on the persons and property of our cihzens. These have 
 given birth to numerous claims against the Spanish government, the merits of 
 which have been ably discussed for a serious of years by our successive diplo- 
 matic representatives. Notwithstanding this, we have not arrived at a practical 
 result in any single instance, unless we may except the case under the late Ad- 
 ministration ; and that presented an outrage of such a character as would have 
 iustified an immediate resort to war. All our attempts to obtain redress have 
 b<*n baffled and defeated. The frequent and oft-recurring changes in the 
 Spanish Ministry have been employed as a reason for delay. 
 
 Now, sir, the law of nations makes delay produced by pre- 
 tences as much the cause for reprisals and war as a positive 
 denial. In this latter class of grievances the law proceeds 
 upon the doctrine of lex talionis, and authorizes us to take 
 as much of the property of the Spanish Government as they 
 have of ours, and retain it until diplomacy ends the contro- 
 versy. It is used as a means of hastening the settlement of 
 grievances. The law of nations require that before you 
 make reprisals notice shall be given; and, that I might keep 
 my resolution within its requirements, it directed that six 
 months' notice shall be given, and this I think is quite enough. 
 
 Now, sir, it will be seen at once that I do not propose or 
 desire war with Spain, but only intend that the President shall 
 be authorized and required to resort to the only remedy af- 
 forded by the law of nations to obtain for our people justice 
 
for injuries done to them and their property. This right 
 we cannot withhold from them. To enforce their rightful 
 claims against other nations is a duty due to our people, and 
 it grows out of the reciprocal 1 relations of protection and alle- 
 giance. I admit that a graver proposition was never sub- 
 mitted to the deliberation of a national council than war, and 
 cannot be ; yet the wisdom of ages has sustained it as a neces- 
 sary evil," and has recommendecl it even as the best guarantee 
 of national immunity, and the only means for the preserva- 
 tion of national honor. We might well exercise it instantly, 
 because we have ample cause for it, and the reason I did not 
 recommend it was, we had still left the peaceful remedy I 
 have proposed. 
 
 The law of nations give two causes for offensive war ; both 
 of which exist in our favor in our relations with Spain ; and 
 if we were to-day to declare it, we would be sustained by 
 the moral sentiment of mankind. The propriety of the exer- 
 cise of this right is fully understood by both England and 
 France, as their past history shows, and I hesitate not to give 
 it as my deliberate opinion that, for half the cause of com- 
 plaint we have against Spain, either of these nations would 
 make war at once, instead of resorting to the peaceful 
 remedy proposed by the resolution. The rule is : 
 
 "The right of employing force or making "war, belongs to nations no farther- 
 than is necessary for their own defence, and for the maintenance of their rights. 
 Now, if any one attacks a nation, or violates her property rights, he does her 
 an injury. Then, and not till then, has she a right to repel the aggressor, and 
 reduce him to reason. Further, she has the right to repel the injury when she 
 suspects herself threatened with it." 
 
 Further, "the life of government is like that of men. The latter has the 
 right to kill in case of natural defence ; the former has the right to wage war 
 for their own preservation." 
 
 The law of nations point out three objects of lawful war. 
 Two only of which will I consider in my argument to-day ; 
 both of which I shall be able by the testimony to show the 
 existence of. 
 The first cause is, "to recover what belongs, or is due to us." 
 ISTow, sir, the first evidence I shall offer in support of this 
 legal rule, is, the debt of one hundred and twenty-eight thou- 
 sand six hundred and thirty -five dollars and fifty -four cents. 
 It can hardly be necessary for me to show that it is founded 
 in justice. It originated in the unjust and unlawful exac- 
 tions of duties from American vessels at different custom- 
 houses in Cuba as early as 1844. It is money forced from 
 our citizens by the hand of arbitrary power, and is exactly in 
 the nature of the forced loans of Mexico of recent date, and 
 which received the condemnation of this country as well as 
 that of every nation of Europe. Spain so considered it, and. 
 
after interposing for ten years her usual means of delay in 
 negotiation, acknowledged herself indebted to the United 
 States this amount, and yet she ,permits it to remain unpaid. 
 Then, according to the rule which Thave asseited, it is a just 
 cause of offensive war. My resolution, however, proposes the 
 more peaceful remedy — reprisals. 
 
 Mr. Chairman, this act of official wrong might be over- 
 looked for a long time if it stood alone ; but, sir, it is much the 
 most unimportant of the many grievances inflicted upon our 
 citizens by the officials of Spain, and which belong to the 
 class of cases embraced in this cause of offensive war. 
 
 In the year 1850, two vessels, belonging to the citizens of 
 the United States, with regular clearances from the port of 
 !New Orleans, and with the American flag floating at their 
 masts, were seized off the Island of Contoy, within the juris- 
 diction of Mexico, with a large number of American citizens, 
 by the Pizzaro and Habanosa, and taken into Havana. These 
 citizens were manacled — irons were put upon their manly 
 limbs — the galling chains of despotism hung heavily upon 
 their forms — they were deprived of their property — insult 
 was offered to their feelings, and the lash was inflicted upon 
 their persons. They announced that they were American 
 citizens, and were derided, and the name of their country in- 
 sulted. They pointed to the American flag, and it was torn 
 from the mast. This news came home to our people, and their 
 wounded pride rose like a mighty wind, increasing in violence 
 as it swept from the Mississippi over the continent to Maine. 
 Your President demanded their instant release with threats 
 of war, and it was unheeded; and the subject was ultimately 
 delivered up to diplomacy, and there it lingers. 
 
 Mr. Chairman, I have not time in the hour allowed me to 
 enter into an argument to show this act of Spain to be a fla- 
 grant violation of the law of nations, and a most extraordinary 
 and contemptuous disregard of the honor and rights of this 
 nation. It is enough to say Spain went beyond her jurisdic- 
 tion and entered the dominion of Mexico, seized our citi- 
 zens, took possession of their property, arraigned them before 
 their own tribunals, found them guiltless of crime, and many 
 of them were discharged, and that in defiance of the solemn 
 protest of this government, and to this day, have made no 
 reparation to these injured citizens, no atonement for the in- 
 sult offered to our flag. Well might the Captain of the Susan 
 Laud have said, " if General Jackson had been President, it 
 would not have been allowed." President Taylorsent a special 
 messenger to Havana to demand their release. To this de- 
 mand, replied, that he, [the Captain General of Cuba] had 
 no diplomatic functions, and referred him to Mr. Calderon 
 
De La Barca, Resident Minister of Spain at Washington, who 
 referred the whole subject to Madrid. Yet the trial pro- 
 ceeded; many of those citizens, as I have said, were discharged, 
 and others condemned and sent to Spain in irons. The ves- 
 sels, Susan Laud and Georgiana, were condemned and sold ; 
 and still our demands were disregarded — negotiation lingers — 
 and, to this day, Spain justifies the act, and declares her in- 
 tention to repeat it if occasion demands. But, sir, this unpar- 
 alleled act of insolence, intended, as it was, to wound the 
 pride of the nation, and degrade us in the estimation of the 
 world, was not enough. Afterwards, the Ohio, a mail steamer, 
 was ordered from her moorings to unsafe and hazardous 
 anchorage under the guns of the Moro Castle, or to leave the 
 harbor without landing her mails. The Falcon was fired 
 into and boarded upon the high seas. The Philadelphia, with 
 the United States mails, entered the harbor in distress, desti- 
 tute of coal and provisions, many of her passengers sick 
 and was peremptorily driven from her anchorage. The 
 Crescent City, in the mail service of the United States, and 
 under the command of a Naval officer, was refused the 
 privilege to land for no other reason than that an American 
 citizen was on board, who had, in a newspaper article, criticised 
 the conduct of the Captain General of the Island, and all this 
 was done in violation of treaty. I will not continue the fur- 
 ther long lists of petty annoyances which have been done us, 
 and are still being done. It is enough to say our nation alone 
 has the humility to endure them. 
 
 Now, sir, are these not profound causes of complaint on 
 our part against Spain, and should not the injuries done to 
 our citizens be compensated for? And what compensation 
 should not be demanded for the citizens whose persons were 
 lacerated by the ignominious lash ? Millions should be de- 
 manded — not that millions can blot from the recollection the 
 degradation endured — but to teach despotism how exalted 
 in the scale of human nature is the freeman of this coun- 
 try, and how sacred is his person. Is not the value of 
 the property taken and confiscated a just claim against 
 the Spanish Government, and shall we not require it to 
 be paid ? I apprehend there is not a man upon this floor,, 
 with an American impulse in his heart, who does not 
 affirmatively declare in favor of the justness of these claims. 
 And, yet, the President informs us that negotiation is de- 
 layed by subterfuges. The reprisals I propose will stimu- 
 late this negotiation and hasten its maturity. It is especially 
 important that the question of international law, asserted 
 by Spain and denied by this country, but which Spain 
 declares she will not surrender, viz : the right to enter the 
 
8 
 
 jurisdiction of Mexico and arrest American citizens on board 
 American vessels, over which is floating the stars and stripes, 
 and take them to her own ports and arraign them before her 
 own tribunals, upon imaginary charges of high crimes and 
 misdemeanors, against the protest of this country, should 
 be settled. Our Government denies this as a right exist- 
 ing by the law of nations, and we must coerce its sur- 
 render by Spain, because on its surrender depends the 
 right of our citizens to indemnity for injury sustained already, 
 and ourpeople and flag to security in the future. 
 
 Mr. Cnairman, these are the most unimportant reasons 
 to be given in justification of the resolution ; they afford 
 ample cause for the seizure, it is true, and would induce 
 any of the first class Powers of Europe to do it ; but with 
 me there is a paramount consideration, higher in import- 
 ance, higher in nationality, than those I have presented — 
 it is the right of self-preservation. Wars are like epidemics, 
 they come unexspectedly, often without real cause. When- 
 ever it is necessary in any of the European States to divert 
 the attention of the nation from internal causes of complaint, 
 foreign war is universally induced, and the nation least pre- 
 pared is selected. We know that since the unnatural and 
 strange alliance between England and France, by which Eng- 
 land is to furnish money and counsel, and France food for 
 powder, they have been committing depredations on who- 
 soever they please ; and, since the small demonstration they 
 made in co-partnership against Russia, their attention has 
 been turned to affairs on this Continent, in direct violation of 
 the Monroe doctrines, and in a form so aggravated as to 
 threaten an early rupture with this Government. Should such 
 a contingency arise, Spain will become a tripartite party. 
 But should she not, she will at least give her aid so far as to 
 permit the use of the Island of Cuba as a naval and military 
 depot to our enemies. Let me examine the subject in this 
 aspect, and see if the ownership of the Island is not necessary 
 as a means of national preservation. 
 
 What is the geographical position of the Island of Cuba in 
 its relation to the United States, Mexico, and Central Amer- 
 ica? Its position is between latitude 19° 50' and 23° 9' north, 
 and 74° 8' and 84° 58' west, about sixty-five miles from 
 Key West, Florida, and about one hundred and twenty from 
 the point of Yucatan, and is the key to the mouth of the 
 Gulf of Mexico — that great inland sea bordering the States 
 of Florida, Alabama, Mississippi, Louisiana, Texas, Mexico, 
 and Central America. This Island commands all these States. 
 The commerce of all has its advent to the Atlantic ocean 
 directly under the guns of the Moro Castle. This Island, in 
 
9 
 
 the possession of an enemy, they coulcl readily reach any given 
 point along this whole coast, giving an irresistible advantage 
 to them. Neither the United States or Mexico could ever 
 maintain a navy on their waters, or use it for commercial 
 purposes ; ships could not pass from the Atlantic to the Gulf; 
 armies could not be transported by sea from' the northern to the 
 southern States, and vice versa. In a contest with any Euro- 
 pean State it would become a point, d'appui, most fatal to the 
 United States or Mexico. It is a great fortification of itself, 
 commanding many thousand miles of sea-coast in which this 
 country is immediately interested. To our security and 
 safety, therefore, it is most important. 
 
 We have recently reasserted the Monroe doctrine in a great 
 variety of forms, and have declared our determination in the 
 most solemn manner to enforce its observance by the Powers 
 of Europe, even at the hazard of war. Yet, notwithstanding 
 this assertion, it is known to us all that both England and 
 France are negotiating with the Central American States, 
 under circumstances and in a manner that should excite our 
 vigilance. We know that Central American affairs are be- 
 coming daily more and more complicated, and that both 
 England and France are acquiring interests there which are 
 giving to them a controlling influence ; and which, if success- 
 ful, must inflict upon this country inconveniences and inju- 
 ries which no human calculation can estimate— influences 
 directly m conflict with the Monroe doctrine. Shall this be 
 prevented ? We have said so. How is it to be done ? Ee- 
 monstrance we know will avail us nothing-; and I predict that 
 war will result from it at no distant day. If it should, the 
 Island becomes of essential importance to each of the bel- 
 ligerents, and will fall into the hands of our enemies. With 
 the possession of this Island England or France would be in 
 immediate proximity to the whole coast of Mexico, and would 
 command that of Central America. With the advantage of 
 their large navy we would be shut out from those States, and 
 would not be able to send an army into the Gulf to either 
 of them, and they would, almost without a struggle, seize 
 and occupy the whole of both those countries. But, sir, with 
 the use of the Island of Cuba as a naval and military depot, 
 other and more important disadvantages would result to 
 us. That war, of course, would become .general, and Eng- 
 land would not limit it to the Atlantic slope, and to regions 
 beyond our borders, she would extend it to our defenceless 
 southern cities and Gulf coasts, as well as to our possessions 
 on the Pacific Ocean. With the possession of the harbor at 
 Havana, and the Moro Castle, troops could not be sent from 
 the northern and middle Atlantic States, by sea, for the de- 
 
fence of the Gulf States, nor could your naval forces enter 
 the Gulf of Mexico to engage the British vessels which would 
 be at liberty to desolate and despoil our possessions along our 
 whole line of coast. More than this, we would be utterly 
 unable to afford to our possessions on the Pacific any military 
 assistance from the older States— assistance to which they are 
 entitled, and which is due to them by the highest obligations 
 of protection. We would not be able to send to the aid of 
 California an army from the southern and western States, 
 for the reason that the vigilance of the British fleet at Havana 
 could not be escaped — in fact our fleet with soldiers on board, 
 would be compelled to pass almost within range of the guns 
 of the Moro— and then they would from that point success- 
 fully intercept any army from our northern ports, and thus it 
 would be impossible to defend ourselves on the Pacific. 
 
 In this aspect it will be seen that no country on earth 
 has the same amount of land on its borders so important to it 
 as the Island of Cuba is to us. As a means of defence from 
 a foreign foe, or for national preservation, it is indispensable. 
 But with this Island in our possession, how would the case 
 stand? It would become a mighty fortification far out at 
 sea, which, of itself, would give protection to many hundred 
 miles of our coast. Here we could concentrate armies and 
 navies with which to strike an enemy, north or south. We 
 would have the command of the whole coast of Mexico and 
 Central America — could pass armies composed of the gallant 
 men of the western and southern States, without molestation 
 to Tehuante Panama, to the transit route, for the de- 
 
 fence of California or the vindication of the Monroe doctrine. 
 Armies c ■ >f men who have permitted no battle-field 
 
 at home or abroad, to be dimmed by defeat, but who have 
 always given additional lustre to the glory of our arms, by 
 achievinents honorable to themselves and their country. The 
 posse- I" it w< mid afford a guarantee of perpetual peace to 
 
 this country, while it is now the irritating cause of constant 
 complaint ami threatened war. It would remove the cause 
 of quarrel with Spain, and would effectually prevent any in- 
 terference by European states with affairs upon this continent. 
 Sir, shall we do an act so entirely sanctioned by the law of 
 nations, and so necessary to our future security and peace, or 
 slumber upon our duty until England, or France, or both to- 
 gether, shall have consummated their schemes of ambition, 
 with the opportunity to avail themselves of the advantages 
 which I have enumerated? Every consideration of sound 
 national policy forbids it. 
 
 I think now, Mr. Chairman, I have shown not only that it is 
 the right, but the duty of this Government to take this Island. 
 
11 
 
 It is necessary for our quiet and our preservation as a nation, 
 and has tne sanction of the law of self-defence. It is hardly 
 necessary to say it is the only mode of acquisition. No sen- 
 sible man believes it can ever be purchased ;. nor can any 
 one hope that more causes, or greater, will ever exist for tak- 
 ing it by force. It may produce war, which is always to be 
 deplored, but we will never be better prepared for such a 
 contingency. There never will be a time in our future his- 
 tory when it will be less injurious or less aggravated/ At 
 present neither England or France is in a condition to inter- 
 fere, and they would not. The military energies of England 
 are now absorbed at home, and her commercial dependence 
 upon lis forbids a rupture at this time. Eevolutions are going; 
 on in Europe for the readjustment of the balance of power, 
 and their armfes ( cannot be spared for such a contest as this! 
 .tmt, under any circumstances, we have no other remedy. Di- 
 plomacy has been exhausted, and we have nothing left but 
 the arm of national power to coerce justice. 
 
 Mr. Chairman, we have either to abandon this large debt 
 which has been acknowledged by Spain to be due our citizens, 
 or proceed to collect it by seizing her possessions. Abandon 
 it, and the radiant glory which now adorns our national 
 escutcheon must fade into darkness. But, sir, it will not be 
 abandoned. The pride of our people will not permit it. 
 With scorn they will retire from seats on this floor, the men 
 who would dare propose it, and supply their places with rep- 
 resentatives of their own high resolves, willing to vindicate 
 their rights and protect the honor of the nation, even at the 
 hazard of war. We have passed the period when timid 
 councils are to prevail. This nation has a destiny, and it 
 must be fulfilled. The compulsive force of irresistible causes 
 will force us on to its consummation, even against the incli- 
 nation of the timid. Our vessel of state rides upon a tide 
 swollen and even enraged by mighty events, and no anchor 
 can stay it ; and in its course all we can do is to gfeide it by 
 prudent councils as it floats on to its legitimate destination. 
 
 It is objected that we are already sufficiently expanded. If 
 this position be correct, then we are already too much ex- 
 panded. All Europe is, to-day, not equal to us in extent. I 
 know the ablest writers on the theory of government hold 
 that Eepublics should have a small territory— that in a large 
 one the pride of the ambitious— the conflict of interests and 
 pursuits, will soon sap it. This theory has been shown by the 
 example of our own country to be incorrect ; it is, perhaps, 
 owing to the fact that we have many States, with full legis- 
 lative powers, while those of the Federal Government are few 
 and well guarded. But this very argument should convince 
 
n 
 
 our people of the propriety of refusing to the Federal Govern- 
 ment the exercise of power to legislate or to interfere with 
 domestic matters. If the day shall ever come when the Fed- 
 eral Government assumes general legislation, it must at once 
 go down. People have, in all ages, rebelled when oppressed, 
 and that is now the predominant trait in our people. The 
 Congress of the United States can pass no general law that 
 will not be more oppressive on one portion of our country 
 than another, and it will have the effect to produce complaints 
 and excite dissatisfaction against the government ; but if we will 
 leave all subjects in which the people are directly interested to 
 the States, then we may expand so as to include the whole 
 world. Mexico, Central America, South America, Cuba, the 
 "West India Islands, and even England and France might an- 
 nex without inconvenience or prejudice, allowing them with 
 their local legislatures to regulate their local affairs in their 
 own way. And this, sir, is the mission of this Republic and 
 its ultimate destiny. 
 
 • Cuba is nearer to us than California, and is not more dissimi- 
 lar in interests and pursuits — Central America than Utah, and 
 England than Oregon ; and yet, the Federal Government, di- 
 recting her action to the legitimate subjects of her power, 
 moves on with the harmony of the planetary world, attracted 
 and repelled by opposite forces. Cuba is necessary to our 
 commercial convenience, and is a means of national defence, 
 and being thus demanded by great commercial and national 
 considerations, who can withhold his support of a measure that 
 looks to its early acquisition ? The fruit is now ripe ; shall we 
 gather it, or shall we permit it to remain on the stem, until 
 it decays, under the delusive hope, that it may fall into our 
 lap without a struggle? No ; I propose we shall take it now, 
 take it in its perfection, redolent with the rich odors of its 
 budding flowers, and tropical fruits and productions, girt with 
 her spreading waters and covered with her genial climes. 
 
 Expansion is our mission, and we must advance. Civiliza- 
 tion and religion impel us on, and, in despite of sordid con- 
 siderations, we must and will go on. They are the genius of 
 our country, and will not rest until they have thrown their 
 thousand blessings over this great continent, like the bow of 
 promise with its variegated splendors. And I shout it on. 
 Gentlemen, you cannot prevent it. The North, enervated by 
 the vices of luxury and love of wealth, may hang upon us like 
 an incubus for awhile, but we will break from her thraldom 
 ere long, and by the vigorous spirit of our pioneer people, 
 yet uncorrupted by cities and towns, we will advance our 
 eagles until the tread of our columns shall be heard upon this 
 whole continent, and the shadow of their wings shall be seen 
 in all its parts. 
 
13 
 
 Who shall arrest us ? The feeble and prostrate republics 
 which now lie in anarchy before us, have not the physical or 
 moral power to stay the wave as it rolls on. They have no 
 desire to do it. We intend only to revivify these fallen re- 
 publics, and restore them to respectability and position amidst 
 the nations of the earth. With swelling hearts and suppressed 
 impatience they await our coming, and with joyous shouts of 
 welcome, welcome, will they receive us. 
 
 Who then will? Not England, in my opinion. Her highest 
 interest forbid. Considerations of national and commercial 
 policy forbids. She knows well the profound jealousy and 
 deep prejudice which exist upon the continent of Europe for 
 her, and how that old world would rejoice at her downfall. 
 Her people understand well that should a combination for her 
 overthrow be formed upon the continent, the sympathies of 
 the people of this country would supply her with material 
 aid, both in men and money. England looks to the perpetu- 
 ation of her nation through all time ; and, like a skillful sailor 
 at sea, she moves on by her charts and maps, and takes no 
 departure from her fixed course without due consideration. 
 She understands properly the intimate, social, political, and 
 commercial relations existing between the two governments, 
 and that nothing but disaster and ruin could result from a 
 war between us. She will have with us no war as long as 
 we permit her national honor to remain untouched and un- 
 tarnished. She knows the extent of our military prowess 
 and naval resources, and that, although we might occasion- 
 ally be vanquished u|)on a battle-field, we would drench this 
 continent, from the Atlantic to the Pacific, in human gore be- 
 fore we would submit to conquest ; and that during this pro- 
 tracted war all the material elements of her present greatness 
 and grandeur would be extinguished, and she be driven to 
 the necessity of assuming a position of inferiority among the 
 states of Europe. If any one supposes she is or will be in- 
 fluenced by France in her policy on this continent, they are 
 mistaken. She understands "France, and especially Louis 
 Napoleon, and will hold him in the Tetters of diplomacy until 
 he exhausts himself and country, and then the sword will 
 sever their relations. They had rather hold him by the bit 
 until he exhausts himself, than to fight him now, because war 
 is his hope for the perpetuation of his dynasty, and England 
 desires that it shall fall, as does all Europe. England is keep- 
 ing her troops to'defend her own possessions, while she con- 
 sumes the accumulating armies of France jn her foreign strug- 
 gle ; and she will keep France engaged in petty quarrels and 
 wars to prevent her armies overthrowing their own govern- 
 ment, or making war with her, to vindicate their pride, so 
 
often stung by defeats and conquests at her hands. But she 
 will always be by the side of Napoleon, to control his impet- 
 uosity and restrain his rashness, and will be certain to prevent 
 any severe or fierce war. "Would France interfere against us 
 in a just war with Spain, although it might result in the ac- 
 quisition of the Island of Cuba ? She would have no right 
 to do it, and would not, unless she has determined to play the 
 part of bully for all the nations of the earth. But, sir, if she 
 were to interfere in this quarrel, it would be a conclusive 
 argument in support of my position, that the ownership 
 of the Island is necessaiy to our national preservation. It 
 would show that France fully appreciates the argument I 
 have made to show how injurious it would become in the 
 hands of an enemy. It would show, further, that France has 
 designs upon this continent, at least so far as to acquire the 
 whole of the West India Islands, making Cuba the seat of 
 empire. If this be true, it is conclusive we will never get it 
 only by war. We cannot with propriety obtain it in that way 
 without cause. That cause we now have, as I have attempted 
 and have shown ; therefore, I think this is the time for action. 
 But suppose it were to result in war with Spain and France 
 combined. What difference would it make ? It would not be 
 protracted. Neither France nor Spain could continue it long. 
 At sea they are impotent, and especially France. It is not 
 the number of ships, or their size, that guarantees victory at 
 sea; it requires cold, steady, continuous gallantry, which the 
 French have not. That nation has never gained laurels in 
 naval warfare, and never will. England has, in times of war, 
 always driven ihem from every sea, and always will. The 
 French navy is large, but we have nothing to fear from it. 
 There would not be a vestige of it in a short time, and the 
 troops sent here would be left without the means to return 
 to their native country. 
 
 Mr. Chairman, I repeat that France would not interfere for 
 reasons of necessity growing out of her European policy. 
 Look at the dark cloud now gathering over the Italian states, 
 and see the angry passion of an oppressed people as it flashes 
 along its black surface like lurid lightning, and hear the 
 wild cry of "vive Italia' 1 '' as it sweeps over Germany, and 
 by France re-echoed in tones of encouragement. Do you ap- 
 prehend it ? It is the dawning of a mighty revolution in that 
 ancient country which will drench Europe in blood. In this 
 .struggle France must and will be so deeply implicated that 
 her armies will be required, and will be consumed. But, sir, 
 I shall pursue this line of argument no further. It is un- 
 worthy an American statesman to hesitate in the enforcement 
 of our rights, because France, or England, or any other nation 
 
15 
 
 may complain. I am for doing whatever our rights as a na- 
 tion requires at our hands, and doing it as if we were the only 
 nation on earth. We have said, and still say, no European 
 nation shall interfere with affairs upon this continent ; and yet, 
 by our conduct, we acknowledge we are afraid to manage 
 our own affairs independently, lest England or France may 
 complain. It is a reflection upon our honor, and an evi- 
 dence of our decline in virtue and manliness. I am disgusted 
 when I see this exhibition of alarm and apprehension for even 
 a necessary war. It should be remembered that our greatness 
 and glory, have been achieved by arms. It has its horrors,- 1 
 know, and should be avoided if possible, but it has its advant- 
 ages. A nation which is ready and prompt in the vindica- 
 tion of her honor and her rights, commands the respect of 
 others, and is never assailed, insulted, or trifled with. Who 
 would dare insult the honor of France? The indignities 
 which England and Spain have offered to our flag in the last 
 few years, if offered to France, would have been punished 
 without delay, and in a manner the most terrible. And yet 
 we sit here with our escutcheon blackened with insult, amidst 
 the cries for justice from our injured citizens, and utter emp- 
 ty threats, which we have not the soul to execute — and there- 
 by invite aggression from abroad. Thus we exhibit to the 
 world the fatal truth, that the greatness of soul which ani- 
 mated our ancestors has perished, and we have become a na- 
 tion demoralized and contemptible.