Cuba as a Spanish possession represented the worst form of European dominion in the Americas, and the growth of a great nation in North America, defiantly independent of the great Powers of Europe, was an increasing threatening of the inheritance of the mediæval monarchy that held the fairest of American islands situated within a few hours of our shores, that as our influence augmented in proportion to our power, the airs and the water, the winds and the waves, would waft in unison the magnetic doctrine that the lands of America, whether drained by vast rivers or surrounded by seas, should be the property of America. Cuba and the United States had attractions for each other, and while there was obvious the reciprocity of nations, there was a racial antagonism-an effervescence of contentious civilization-a repulsion of conditions and friction of characteristic institutions.

If it had not been for Cuban politics Stephen A. Douglas would have held the Democratic party together, deferring the time for the summons to arms to fight out the "irrepressible conflict"; and then our great heroes and statesmen would have had other names than those now of highest fame, names now not known, for it is the personal genius of republican government that great men are developed by events, and are representatives of the masses, and revealed by movements they do not originate and that widen into magnitude like streams running riverward.

Cuba, in the mouth of the Mediterranean of our hemisphere, was a volcano. The explosion of the Maine in the harbor of Havana was an indigenous eruption. It was in the chemistry of the conditions. Repeatedly we were on the verge of war. Hostilities between the United States and Spain were for half a century a question of time. During the administration of Millard Fillmore, we were so near a collision with England and France about SpanishCuban affairs that there was a state paper from the pen of John J. Crittenden, of Kentucky, that even yet has the alarm-bell ring in its sentences. We quote from Mrs. Chapman Coleman, the daughter and biographer of Mr. Crittenden:

"In 1851 Mr. Webster was Secretary of State and Mr. Crittenden Attorney-General in Mr. Fillmore's cabinet. Mr. Webster's health failed, and he was compelled for awhile to withdraw from Washington, and during this vacation Mr. Crittenden was Acting Secretary of State. At that time an expedition of about five hundred men escaped from New Orleans, and landed upon the island of Cuba. They were soon captured, and many of them

executed, and M. Sartiges, Minister of France, communicated to the United States government that the French government had issued orders to its ships of war to prevent by force any adventurers of any nation from landing with hostile intent on the island of Cuba. The British government gave notice also to the State Department that it had issued similar orders to its naval force. The following is the letter addressed by Mr. Crittenden (then Acting Secretary of State) to M. Sartiges. A distinguished gentleman who has occupied a high position in this government has written to me that this diplomatic letter was pronounced perfect in tone and style, and would compare favorably with any paper which had ever emanated from the State Department:

"Department of State, Washington, October 22, 1851.

"The undersigned, Acting Secretary of State of the United States, has the honor to remind M. de Sartiges, Envoy Extraordinary and Minister Plenipotentiary of the French Republic, that in the interview which he had with him on the 8th instant, he stated that he might have occasion to address him in writing on the subject of the information which M. de Sartiges then communicated, that the French government had issued orders to its ships of war, then in the West Indies, to give assistance to Spain, and to prevent by force any adventurers of any nation from landing with hostile intent on the island of Cuba. Having imparted that information to the President, the undersigned has now the honor, by his direction, to address M. de Sartiges in regard to it."

We quote the paper in part:

"M. de Sartiges is apprised that a few days prior to the interview adverted to the charge d'affaires of her Britannic Majesty had given to this Department official notice that his government had issued similar orders to its naval forces. The President had regarded this as a matter of grave importance, but its gravity is greatly increased by the concurrence and coöperation of France in the same measure. It cannot be doubted that those orders have been occasioned by the recent unlawful expedition of less than five hundred men, which, having evaded the vigilance of this government, and escaped from New Orleans, were landed by the steamer Pampero upon the island of Cuba, and were soon captured, and many of them executed.

"The geographical position of the island of Cuba in the Gulf of Mexico,

lying at no great distance from the mouth of the River Mississippi, and in the line of the greatest current of the commerce of the United States, would become, in the hands of any powerful European nation, an object of just jealousy and apprehension to the people of this country. A due regard to their own safety and interest must, therefore, make it a matter of importance to them who shall possess and hold dominion over that island. The government of France and those of other European nations were long since officially apprised by this government that the United States could not see without concern that island transferred by Spain to any other European state; President Fillmore fully concurs in that sentiment, and is apprehensive that the sort of protectorate introduced by the orders in question might, in contingencies not difficult to be imagined, lead to results equally objectionable.

"The system of government which prevails most generally in Europe is adverse to the principles upon which this government is founded, and the undersigned is well aware that the difference between them is calculated to produce distrust of, if not aversion to, the government of the United States. Sensible of this, the people of this country are naturally jealous of European interference in American affairs. And although they would not impute to France, now herself a republic, any participation in this distrustful and unfriendly feeling towards their government, yet the undersigned must repeat that her intervention in this instance, if attempted to be executed, in the only practicable mode for its effectual execution, could not fail to produce some irritation, if not worse consequences. The French cruisers, sailing up and down the shores of the United States to perform their needless task to protect Cuba and their ungracious office of watching the people of this country as if they were fruitful of piracies, would be regarded with some feeling of resentment, and the flag they bore-a flag which should always be welcome to the sight of Americans-would be looked at as casting a shadow of unmerited and dishonoring suspicion upon them and their government. The undersigned will add that all experience seems to prove that the rights, interests, and peace of the continents of Europe and America will be best preserved by the forbearance of each to interfere in the affairs of the other. The government of the United States has constantly acted on that principle and has never intermeddled in European questions. The President has deemed it proper to the occasion that his views should be fully and frankly

all attempts to obtain redress have led to protracted and as yet fruitless negotiation.

The documents in these cases are voluminous, and, when prepared, will be sent to Congress.

Those now transmitted relate exclusively to the seizure of the Black Warrior, and present so clear a case of wrong that it would be reasonable to expect full indemnity therefor, as soon as this unjustifiable and offensive conduct shall be made known to her Catholic Majesty's Government; but similar expectations, in other cases, have not been realized.

The offending authority is at our doors, with large powers for aggression, but none, it is alleged, for reparation. The source of redress is in another hemisphere; and the answers to our just complaint, made to the home government, are but the repetition of excuses rendered by inferior officials to their superiors, in reply to representations of misconduct. The peculiar situation of the parties has undoubtedly much aggravated the annoyances and injuries which our citizens have suffered from the Cuban authorities, and Spain does not seem to appreciate, to its full extent, her responsibility for the conduct of these authorities. In giving very extraordinary powers to them she owes it to justice, and to her friendly relations with this government, to guard with great vigilance against the exorbitant exercise of these powers, and, in case of injury, to provide for prompt redress.

I have already taken measures to present to the government of Spain the wanton injury of the Cuban authorities, in the detention and seizure of the Black Warrior, and to demand immediate indemnity for the injury which has thereby resulted to our citizens.

In view of the position of the island of Cuba, its proximity to our coast, the relations which it must ever bear to our commercial and other interests, it is vain to expect that a series of unfriendly acts infringing our commercial rights, and the adoption of a policy threatening the honor and security of these States can long consist with peaceful relations.

In case the measures taken for amicable adjustment of our difficulties with Spain should unfortunately fail, I shall not hesitate to use the authority and means which Congress may grant, to insure the observance of our rights, to obtain redress for injuries received, and to vindicate the honor of our flag.

In anticipation of that contingency, which I earnestly hope may not arise,