CtipyX The Filibustering Policy of the Sham Democracy. SPEECH OF HON. JOHN J. PERRY, OF MAINE. Delivered in the House of Representatives, May 29, 1860. The House being in Committee of the Whole on the stato of the Union — Mr. PERRY said : Mr. Chairman: Would the interests of the American people be promoted by the acquisition of foreign territory to the Government of the United States? This question has been thrust upon the country by a class of men, better known as freebooters and filibusters, who hang around our cities anfl large towns, plotting robbery and treason. We hear of them in New York, Mobile, New Orleans, and other large commercial cities, when perhaps the next telegraph wafts the news that these banditti of adventurers have set sail for some foreign port, to rob and murder the peaceable citizens of a country bearing the most friendly relations to our own Government. These lawless men would have but a poor no- toriety, were these schemes and plots universally denounced and frowned down by the great body of law-abiding citizens in the country. What are the facts ? A great political organization in the United States has endorsed their wicked pol- icy, and given an assumed dignity to filibustering, which it never could otherwise have acquired. It has stepped in as Godfather to these guerrilla robbers, and raised an issue in the political arena which must be met and settled. That issue I now propose to meet in the broad field of discussion. While American citizens, upon American soil, in the States of this Union, under the broad ban- ner of the "stars and stripes," merely for enter- taining opinions expressed and handed down to them by the very men who founded this Repub- lic, were being driven by mob violence from their homes and firesides, and compelled to llee to other States to save themselves from the hands of the assi ssin ; while others, for the same causes, were being seized, thrust into prisons, insulted, whipped, tarred and feathered, the President ex- presses no sympathy for them — insultingly passes over these outrages, with a studied sileuce, pious- ly turns his eyes away to Mexico, and says : " Large numbers of our citizens have been arrested and imprisoned without any form of examination, or any oppoi tunity for a hearing, and even when released have only ob- tained their liberty after much suffering and injury, and without an}' hope of redress." Yes, sir ; like the improvident, inhuman father, he leaves his own family to the tender mercies of lawless violence, and sits down and weeps over the imaginary ills of his neighbor. But Mr. Buchanan does not stop here. In the same message he further says : " I regret to inform you that there has been no improve- ment in the affairs of Mexico since my last annual message, and I am again obliged to ask the earnest attention of Con- gress to the unhappy condition of that Republic." The wrongs and insults to American citizens are unworthy his notice, while he here " asks the earnest attention of Congress to the unhappy condition of a foreign Republic." But what is the remedy proposed by the Pres- ident for the relief of this suffering Republic ? As I do not wish to misrepresent him, I will let him answer for himself. In the same message he further says: '• For these reasons, I recommend to Congress to pass a law authorizing the President, under such conditions as they may deem expedient, to employ a sufficient military force tn enter Mexico for the purpose of obtaining indemnity for the past and security for the future." Not satisfied with this, he further claims to be clothed with despotic power when he says : "I repeat the recommendation contained in my last an- nual message, that authority may be given to the President to establish one or more temporary military posts across the Mexican line in Sonora unci Chihuahua." The war-making power is wisely reserved by the Constitution in Congress — an independent, co-ordinate branch of the Government — yet the President has the audacity to demand of Con- gress power to "cross the Mexican line," establish "military posts" on foreign soil, without the consent of the Government which has the law- ful jurisdiction over it. He further asks a " suffi- cient MILITARY FORCE TO ENTER MEXICO, for the purpose of obtaining indemnity for the past, and security for the future." What is the true significance of all this? ' ; War ! War ! m.v Lord." The President asks to be made a despot. Clothed with this power, like a military tyrant, he pro- poses to invade a neighboring confederacy, plant " military posts," and with the sword in one band, and the decrees of a dictator in the other, establish a military despotism over Mexico. But the President not only demands the army to enable him to make war upon Mexico, but, under the artful pretence of protecting our transit routes to the Pacific coast, he asks the naval force of tae country to be placed at his com- mand. He says : " I deem it to be my duty once more earnestly to recom- mend to Congress the passage of a law authorizing the Pres- PUBLISHED BY THE REPUBLICAN CONGRESSIONAL COMMITTEE. PRICE 50 CENTS PER HUNDRED. P46 ident to employ the naval force at his command for the | pnrpose of protecting tbe lives anil property of American citizens passing in transit, across the Panama, Nicaragua, and Tehuantepec routes, against sudden and lawless out- breaks and deprei ations." Such is anot-her d( rnand made in his last an- nual message. This meaus war upon Central America. The old Ostond Chief is not satisfied with all this. He asks the army, the navy, and then, to vest himself with all the powers of a Russian Autocrat, he demands the " Purse " of the nation. Again listen to an extract from his message: " I need not repeat the arguments which I urged in my last annual message in favor of the acquisition of Cuba by fair purchase. >iy opinions on that measure remain un- changed. I therefore agi'.in invite the serious attention of Congress to this important subject." What were the " arguments " urged in a former message to which he "again invites the serious attention of Congress ? " in his message to Con- gress, December 0, 1858, he adopts the stereo- typed arguments that have been in the mouths of Cuban filibusters for years in favor of acqui- sition, and winds off with the demand that "he should be intrusted with the means of making an advance to the Spanish Government, immediately after the signing of the treaty, without awaiting the ratification of it by the Senate." In response to this demand of the President, his Democratic friends in the Senate reported a bill, and undertook to force it through Congress, placing in his hands thirty millions of dollars, and this, too, when we were compelled to borrow money to keep us from national bankruptcy. Having fairly stated the position? assumed by the President, I add that other undeniable fact, that his foreign policy is the policy of the Demo- cratic party of this country. The ingenious and elaborate speech of the dis- tinguished gentleman from Ohio [Mr. Cox] upon " Mexican affairs," made in this House on the 19th ot March, is evidence direct to the point. It becomes here an important inquiry, what are the ultimate results sought to be obtained by this course of policy? But one answer can be given. It means the annexation of Cuba. Mexico, and Central America, to the Govirnment of the United States. Would these acquisitions be wise, expedient, and would they promote the interests of the country? This is the issue, and I meet it with an emphatic negation. Before proct eding with my argument, I desire to say that I am not the advocate of the doctrine that no contingency can ever arise in which the acquisition of foreign territory would be justifi- able as a matter of sound national policy. I believe that every proposition of this kind must stand or lall upon its own merits, independ- ent of the operations of any arbitrary rules. Again I assert, tbare is a marked distinction to be made between the acquisition of foreign territory in its wilderness state, and territory already people 1. I lay it down as a sound rule, subject only to the exceptions incident to all general rules, that it is against a sound national policy ever to ac- quire foreign territoiy, already inhabited, unless the people the) aof by their virtue and intelligence are fitted for s If-gov rnmmt. 1. My first objection to the acquisition of for- eign soil is based upon the fact that we now have territory enough for all purposes. We have a sufficient extent of sea coast and inland com- munications, through gulfs, lakes, and navigable rivers, all lined with good and safe harbors, to answer all the wants and necessities of naviga- tion and commerce. Our country abounds in all the rich resources of mineral wealth, and is interspersed all over with forests, yielding an abundant supply of wood and timber. For agricultural purposes, our re- sources are inexhaustible. According to the census of 1850, we had one thousand seven hun- dred and sixty-one million three hundred and sixty-three thousand six hundred and eighty- four (1,761,363,684) acres of land in the limits of the Union — of this, about one-sixth, or two hundred and ninety-three million five hundred and sixty thousand six hundred and fourteen (293,560,614) acres, including improved and unimproved, were occupied ; leaving one thou- sand four hundred and sixty-seven million eight hundred and three thousand and seventy (1,467,803,070) acres unoccupied. From the same census, it appears that the average amount of land in a single farm was two hundred and three acres. Allowing that one-fifth instead of one-sixth of the whole ter- ritory is now occupied, it would make, at two hundred acres of land to the farm, seven mil- lion forty-five thousand four hundred and fifty- five (7,045,455) farms yet to be occupied. So that, taking the population of 1850 and the ratio of land then occupied, compared with the residue unoccupied, we now have land enough for agricultural purposes to sustain a population of more than one hundred and thirty million. Thus it will be seen we now have land enough to sustain the prospective population of this country for more than a century to come. 2. I am opposed to the further acquisition of territory on account of the cost. The Secretary of the Treasury, in his report to the present Congress, says that the public debt of the United States on the 1st of July, 1858, was $25,155,977.66; and on the 30th of June, 1859, $58,754,699.33. From this it appears the present Administration has in a single year run us in debt thirty-three million five hundred and ninety- seven thousand seven hundred and twenty-one dollars and sixty-seven cents ($33,597,721.67.) The President, in his last annual message, in- forms the country that, in carrying on the Gov- ernment for the last fiscal year, it cost the enor- mous sum of eighty-eight million ninety thou- sand seven hundred and eighty-seven dollars and eleven cents ($88,090, 787.ll") Here is the mortifying spectacle presented to the American people, of a President, the repre- sentative of a party calling itself "Democratic," absorbing the whole revenue of the Government, borrowing forty millions, and more than doubling the public debt in a single year, at the same time calling upon Congress to vote him thirty million dollars, to be used as an advance payment to Spain for the purchase of Cuba. All this has been done by Mr. Buchanan, with a full knowl- edge on his part that our Government, upon one occasion at least, secretly offered Spain two hun- dred millions for Cuba, and that Government re- fused to entertain the proposition for a moment. The President has not only been intriguing for West. Bee. Hist. Soc. Cuba, but his paid emissaries have been plotting with Juarez for Sonora, Chihuahua, and Lower California, in Mexico. A permanent national debt, to drag down the people by ruinous exor- bitant taxation, is the policy of James Buchanan and his party. The amount of purchase money paid is, after all, a small item, compared with with the expense entailed upon us by the annexation of foreign territory. Past history proves this. Florida cost us originally but five million ; yet there followed a war against the Indians, and to hunt fugitive slaves who had taken refuge among them, which took from the national Treasury more than one hundred millions. Texas, when she was annexed, was said to come in without cost to us; yet we paid ten million to settle her boundary claim, ten million more for her indemnity claim, and seven million seven hundred and fifty thousand dollars for her creditors, by act of the Thirty-third Congress. This was not all; her annexation led to the Mexican war, which cost us, according to the report of the Secretary of War in 1851, two hun- dred and seventeen million one hundred and seventv-five thousand five hundred and seven- ty-five dollars ($217,175,575.) Unless the filibustering schemes of Mr. Bu- channn and his party can be intercepted by hurl- ing them from power, they will entail a public debt upon the American people, eternal as that of England ; which nation, great and powerful as she is, is in the hands of the money power — ■ while the Rothschilds and Barings are a " power behind the throne, greater ihan the throne itself." 3. To acquire foreign territory at the present time would involve us in difficulties with foreign Powers. I have already alluded to the Mexican war which followed as one of the fruits of the annexation of Texas. No portion of Mexico could be annexed, by negotiation and treaty, without leading to belligerent demonstrations on the part of some of the factions in that distracted country. Juarez rules at Vera Cruz, and Mira- mon in the city of Mexico. Any kind of treaty that our Government could make with Juarez, for the annexation of Lower California, Chihua- hua, Sonora, or any other Mexican State, would be casus belli with the Miramon party. In proof of this, let me call your attention to the fact, that the capture of the two Mexican steamers before Vera Cruz, by Captaiu Turner — an act, in my judgment, unwise and indiscreet, if not con- trary to the law of nations — was followed by a decree of Miramon, ordering the Americaus out of the country, and their property confiscated. And I am not certain that Miramon has not a right to protest against the acts of Capt. Turner; for, notwithstanding the Administration justify his conduct, they do it at the expense of claiming what they emphatically denied to England in the Gulf two years ago, and that, too, at the hazard of a collision with the British Govern- ment. It may be said, in reply, we could send our armies and navies, and crush out and con- quer the Miramon Government. So we could ; and so we could, with a spirit of Vandalism, overrun and conquer all Mexico ; but it would be a sin against God, an outrage upon a weak neighboring Republic, and an eternal disgrace to the American name. It is these collisions and difficulties that I am arguing against. I would avoid them by mind- ing our own business, taking care of our own affairs, and leave other nations to settle their difficulties in their own way, Again : we never can annex Cuba to this Gov-' ernment, without disturbing the peaceable rela- tions existing between us and the European Pow- ers. England would never suffer Cuba to become a French province, without her national inter- ference ; neither would France suffer her to pass under the British Crown, and both of these great Powers would unite against her annexation to the United States. It is do answer to my argu- ment to say that, if we should purchase Cuba, it would be none of their business. I am deal- ing with the fact, and not with the right or wrong of the matter, so far as England and France are concerned. Every man Who has a thimble-full of states- manship in his brains, must know, and does know, that all past attempts on our part to ne- gotiate with Spain for the purchase of Cuba, have been looked upon with a jealous, watchful eye by both of these Governments ; and upon more than one occasion, both the English and French Ministry, in their diplomatic intercourse with Spain, have formally "protested" against any such act on her part. Both of these Governments hav«. adopted, and continue to maintain, a policy adverse to chattel negro slavery. 4. The annexation of foreign territory corrupts the ballot-box, and more especially would thi3 be true by the acquisition of Cuba, or any por- tion of Mexico, or Central America. The purity of the ballot-box is the only safety of a Republic. Destroy this, and you destroy the whole superstructure. Virtue and intelli- gence are our only safeguards in this uespect. Men, to vote understandiiigly, must possess in- telligence ; 'they should understand, at least, something of our language, our manners, cus- toms, and laws ; and, as a requisite, absolutely necessary to the right discharge of this duty, they should understand th^ theory and practical operation of our Government. No intelligent statesman will controvert the premises here assumed. ArguiDg from these, let us look at the condition of things that would follow the annexation of all or any of the terri- tory above referred to. In order to a right un- derstanding of this, the character of the population the territory would bring with it should be ex- plained. In Cuba, according to Colton's Geography, there were, in 1850, one million nine thousand and sixty (1, 009,0(10) inhabitants. Of this pop- ulation, five hundred and Dine thousand nine hundred and ninety-eight were whites, one hun- dred and seventy- six thousand six hundred and for y-seven free blacks, and two hundred and sixty-eight thousand seven hundred and seven- teen slaves. Of the white population, 90.000 were Spaniards, 25,000 Canary Islanders, 3,000 French, 1,000 English, and about 3,000 North Americans. The people, as a mass, are grossly ignorant. According to the same author, there are but 460 teachers in primary schools in the whole island. According to the best statistics I can gather upon the subject, not one child in fifty has any means of education afforded them | whatever. Let us now turn our attention to Mexico, and take a look at the character of her population. The Republic of Mexico is divided into twenty- bne States, three Territories, and one Federal District. According to the census of 1851, she had a population of seven million six hundred and sixty-one thousand five hundred and twenty (7,661,520) souls. Colton, in his Geography, which is as good authority as any we have on the subject, says that this population is divided up as follows : Whites 1,000,000 Indians 4,000,000 Negroes ----- 6,000 Yabos, mulattoes, quadroons, and quinteroons - - - - 2,655,520 * 7,661,520 The most gross ignorance everywhere prevails in the Confederacy. "We may be assured,'' says Tejad, " that at least three-fourths of the inhabit- ants do not know that there is such a thing as an A B C in the world." They are almost en- tirely destitute of schools. In the city of Mexico, with a population of 200,000, they had in 1850 but 129 schools, and about 7,000 scholars. Here are less than one-seventh of the population white, and they are made up mainly of Spaniards and other foreigners, all speaking a foreign lan- guage. I now pass to Central America. This is di- vided into five States, or Provinces, as follows : Guatemala, San Salvador, Honduras, Nicaragua, and Costa Rica. These have a population of two million nineteen thousand (2,019,000.) This is exclusive of all Indians, who are not directly incorporated in the civil organization of the several- States. Of the population of Central America, about three-fifths are Indians; three- tenths mixed Indians and whites, called Ladinos ; one-tenth descendants of the whites; and the remainder negroes, sambos, &c. In these States ignorance everywhere reigns. Another fact I wish to put in here There is but one religion in Cuba, Mexico, and Central America. That is Roman Catholic, and established by laio. Now, Mr. Chairman, can any man in the whole country be so blind that he cannot see the conse- quences of all this, so far as it would affect the purity of elections? Talk about these uncivil- ized, ignorant, mixed races being capable of self-government — understanding how to vote, or who to vote for! It is all a monstrous absurdity. Annex Cuba, Mexico, Central America — either or all — and you inject the very poison of death into the life-blood that gives vitality to repub- lican institutions. 5. The transfer of an ignorant foreign popula- tion to our Government would demoralize us as a people. Vice is generally the handmaid of ignorance. I have spoken of the effects of igno- rance and superstition upon the political institu- tions of our country. No people can successfully govern themselves, and make their institutions permanent, unless they are under the influences of a Christian civilization. The very idea of self- government involves this principle. We see it developed and demonstrated in communities all Over the country. Go into any community, North or South, East or West, and wherever you find ignorance and bigotry, there you will find vice and wickedness. The latter is the legitimate fruit of the former. Just in the same proportion as we elevate or lower the standard of a sound Christian morality, so in the same degree we strengthen or weaken our Government. The in- troduction of a degraded, half-civilized element among our people disturbs the great moral equi- librium. It pulls down the scale of moral excel- lence which graduates our national Christianity. Bring among us the untutored, unlearned, bigot- ed masses of Cuba, Mexico, and Central Amer- ica, a wild horde of mixed races, who have no fixed standard of morals, and who can fail to see and understand the consequences to the Amer- ican people in a moral point of view ? 6. To acquire new territory, is to load down the people with additional taxation, and add a large amount to our annual national expendi- tures. Our annual expenses now exceed eighty million dollars. Thirty years ago, they were only about fifteen millions. Suppose Cuba or Mexico or Central America annexed to us, how would you govern them? I have shown they were in no condition to adopt .?e//-government. The restraining, controlling influences of Amer- ican civilization would have no influence over them. They are in no degree "Americanized." They are ignorant of our institutions, laws, and customs. The high moral considerations and love of patriotism which prompt loyal American citizens to obey the laws of their country, would be to them considerations weaker than the flimsy texture of a spider's web. There is but one answer to the question; they would have to be governed by a military despot- ism. They have been educated to this mode of Government. In Mexico, military chieftains have ruled the country for years. They govern it now. If the people were capable of self-government, these military despots would be powerless, so far as their schemes of personal ambition are con- cerned. So it is with Cuba. The people there are gov- erned by a standing army. Nothing but military force keeps them in subjection. In 1851, the Spanish Government kept in Cuba 16 regiments of infantry, composed of - - 17,600 men. 2 battalions of cavalry - - 1,808 " 1 battalion of artillery - - 1,500 " 1 company of engineers - - 130 " Total standing army, - - 21,038 " To these should be added one company of sap- pers and miners. From their exposed condition and extensive sea coast, the same Government supplies a naval force of twenty-five vessels, carrying 219 guns, and manned by 3,000 seamen. Just look at the army and naval expenditures in governing the Island for a single year (1851.) Naval appropriations - - $2,045,004 Military appropriations - - 5,028,901 Total, 7,073,905 To these add civil appropriations 1,841,010 Miscellaneous appropriations - 1,300,731 Total expenses, 1851 10,215,646 This was in 1851. Since that time the expen- ses of government have largely increased. These items comprise only the annual expend- itures, and do not embrace the enormous outlay of raising, clothing, and equipping an army, and building and manning ships for a navy. Should we purchase Cuba, the Spanish army and navy would be withdrawn, and our treasury would be plundered of its millions and tens of millions to meet this outlay. I have before me the array register of the United States for 1860, published by order of the Secretary of the War. From this it appears we have a standing army (inclusive) of 12,931 men. According to the report of the Secretary of the Treasury (Ex. Doc. No. 3) made to this Congress, there was paid out of the Treasury for " service of W,ar Department," §23,243,822.38 far the fiscal year ending June 30, 1859. Of this sum, S16,534,611 55 were for the "army proper.'" A proposition to annex Cuba is a proposition to increase our standing army from 12,931 to 33,909, almost treble it, and to saddle on to the people of this country the additional expense of raising, arming, and clothing an army of over twenty thousand men, building and manning an additional navy of twenty-five ships, and then paying out of the national Treasury annually more than seven million dollars to support it. In a word, it is a proposition to tax the people ten or twelve million dollars annually, and that to acquire a territory containing only about a million inhabitants. If we change the scene from Cuba to Mexico and Central America, we have the same homely picture presented before us. We find a people equally uncivilized, equally incapable of self- government. Nothing but a strong military force would compel them to observe our laws and respect our institutions. The acquisition of this terri- tory would compel us to dot it all over with .military posts. These would have to be manned with detachments from the regular army. Then would follow a large increase of our regular army force, as a matter of absolute necessity. These posts would have to be furnished with supplies at a prodigious expense. To purchase the territory to which I have called the attention of the House and the country, or any considerable portion of the same, would be plunging us into debt, and creating an annual drain upon the Treasury of millions and tens of millions, to be paid in taxes upon the people, in addition to the enormous annual expenses now heaped upon them by the prodigality and cor- ruption of the national administration. 7. The annexation of territory would spread, strengthen, and perpetuate African slavery. Whatever the people living in the slave States of this Union may think or say respecting the institution of slavery, people in the free States believe it a great moral, social, and political evil. Acting upon these convictions, thev believe it to be their duty to use all legal constitutional means to prevent its extension into free territory. What would be the effect of the acquisition of Mexico to the United States, so far as it relates to the question of African slavery ? Slavery now has no legal existence in that country ; would the annexation of Mexican States change their domestic institutions? I could quote largely from the speeches and writings of Southern gentlemen to show why they desire the transfer of a part or the whole of Mexico to this Government; to show the motive power which impels them to favor this acquisi- tion of foreign territory, but neither time nor the limits of my speech will allow it. I will, however, make a single extract from a speech delivered in this House in the. early part of the session, by a leading member of the Demo- cratic party, an honorable member from Missis- sippi, [Mr. Singleton.] That gentleman said: " The questiou%iow is, if we sever the connection which binds us arid the North together, how .ire we to preserve the institution ol slavery? There is but one mode by which, in my humble judgment, it can be perpetuated u>r any con- siderable number of years. We may fail in that, but cer- tainly it is the surest chance offered us to preserve it. That mode is by expansion, and that expansion must Be in the direction of Mexico. At present there is do settled govern- meut there, it is, to all intents and purposes, defunct ;and we have the right, to the exclusion 01 all others, to admin- ister upon the estate ; ami when we have wound it up, there being no better heirs than ourselves, wc will be compelled to hold that territory. That will afford us an outlet for Slaver] . There is in Mexico a large extent ol territory that is suited to the cultivation of cotton, sugar, and rice. In my opinion, we must, and we are compelled to, expand in that direction, and thus perpetuate it — a hundred or athou- sand years, it may be.'' When they talk to us about the acquisition of Mexico, it means the "expansion and perpetua- tion " of slavery. This is the issue frankly tendered, and it should be as frankly met. Let there be no dodging among Northern Democrats. This "ex- pansion " policy, is the policy of the Democratic party North and South. It is the policy urged by the executive head of the party in the White House. The reasons urged by the Democracy and the South in favor of the acquisition of Mexico are the very reasons which compel the people of the free States to oppose it. We want the people of the free States to know where they stand upon this question. To vote with the Democratic party is to vote for the policy and schemes of pro-slavery extensionists. The raid ot William Walker into Nicaragua, and of the filibusters who lost their lives in So- nora, were both prosecuted with a view to the extension of the slave power of the country. The annexation of Cuba would bring with it its slavery ; tor no treaty can ever be made for its purchase, without a stipulation guarantying vested rights in whatever is there deemed prop- erty. It would add to the slave population of this country about three hundred thousand, be- sides a large number of free blacks. When ad- mitted as a State, it would come in a slave State. Its representation in both houses of Con- gress would be a re-euiorcement to the pro-sla- very interests of the country in that department of the Government. 8. My last general objection to the acquisition of Cuba, Mexico, or Central America, is found in the fact that a consummation of these filibus- tering schemes would tend to a dissolution of the Onion. Whether or not the Union is really in danger, is a question about which there is a difference of opinion. That it has been violently threat- ened, all who have watched passing events must 6 admit. These threats have come from the Dem- I ocratic party in the South. My own judgment is, that they will not at present, if ever, be car- ried into execution. This conclusion is based upon the assumption that I believe has all the stubbornness of a fact — that an overwhelming majority of the people, both North and South, are opposed to disunion ; and so long .as this is the case, politicians can never disrupt the Govern- ment. Yet we have disturbing elements in our Government and one of them is the agitating question of slavery. As a necessary sequence to convert free into slave territory, or to acquire territory already covered with slavery, is to add to the excitement and agitation Which already exists. If the slaveholding States, or any por- tion of them, have a serious intention of sece- ding from the Union, what would be their natu- ral policy ? Most certainly, to fortify them- selves with as large area of slave territory as possible. If the South revolt, and succeed in their attempts at revolution, then there is but one contingency talked about — to wit, a "South- ern Rejntb/ic." If a Southern Republic is calcu- lated upon by the secessionists and milliners, what policy would naturally suggest itself in an- ticipation of that event? Purchase Cuba, make the Federal Government pay for it, go down into Mexico with the filibustering schemes and plots of James Buchanan and his party, under the false pretence of bringing peace to a distracted people ; then declare " war exists by the act of Mexico," go into a fight, seize Chihuahua, So- nora, and some half dozen other States, aud again rob the National Treasury to pay some Mexican military usurper for turning traitor and selling off a country over which he had no legal contral ; fit out Walker, Captain Kid, or some other roving pirate, to make a descent upon Nicaragua, Costa Rica, and the rest of Central America, aud bring it into subjection for the special benefit of the peculiar institution. Then overrun Mexico and Centrnl America with sla- very, until you have Cuba and some half dozen new slave States. Do this, and the South would then be in some condition to go out of the Union and establish a great Southern Confederacy. I don't say the men who advocate the acquisition of Cuba, Mexico, and Central America, are actu- ated by any treason plots. I am only demon- strating what would seem to be the policy that would dictate in a given contingency. Mr. Chairman, before I sit down, it is due to those who are the advocates of this policy, that I should notice some of the arguments used in its favor; but the brief time allowed us under the hour rule will compel me to be brief upon these points. 1. It is said, we want Cuba for a military post; that it is the great key to the Gulf of Mexico, and is essential to the protection of our extensive commerce upon^hose waters. Almost any amount of patriotic Reclamation has been expended upon this point. A single fact put into the case explodes this whole theory. The passage on the east side of the island to the capes of Florida is more than eighty miles, and on the west side, from Cuba to Yucatan, it is more than a hundred miles. You can build your fortifications on either or both sides of these wide channels, and then it would be out of their power to molest, even in the smallest degree, the fleets of the world, that might pass and repass at pleasure. This is a full, complete, and conclusive answer to the assumption, that Cuba is necessary to us in a military point of view. If it be said a navy, in case of the annex- ation of Cuba, could be put upon these waters to protect our commerce, I answer, that is aban- doning your argument. Navies protect our commerce upon the broad expanse of "oceans. When you change the issue from military posts and fortifications to war steamers aud naval fleets, which float upon seas, oceans, gulfs, and rivers, the world over, you abandon your own chosen position, and serve notice upon your opponents that you give it up. But, as the friends of Cuba annexation often quote from a letter written by Mr. Jefferson to President Madison, dated April 27, 1809, upon the probable policy of Napoleon, I will give a short extract from the same, in which Mr. Jefferson, in speaking of the acqui- sition of foreign territory, said: " Nothing should ever be accepted which would require a navy to clefmd it." 2. It is contended that the annexation of Cuba would put an end to the foreign slave trade. The President, in his annual message to the second session of the last Congress, in speakiug of the acquisition of Cuba, said: "If this were accomplished, the last relic of the African slave trade would instantly disappear." Now, with what grace does a declaration of this kind come from Mr. Buchanan, who, in his last annual mes- sage to this House, virtually admits that the for- eign slave trade is now being carried on in this country; that at least one cargo of slaves from Africa have been landed upon our own shores; and that it has been impossible to enforce the existing laws against tin; men engaged in it. We have now in the Southern States of this Union a large, influential party, who openly ad- vocate the repeal of all laws declaring the slave trade piracy. Reinforce this party by adding to its strength and influence the population of Cuba, and then tell me it will tend to stop the slave trade? Cuba would open new ports, where slaves could be smuggled in, and the infamous traffic, instead of being "instantly" stopped, would be greatly increased. • Withdraw your African squadron, leave the great ocean track from Africa to Cuba and our Gulf ports open to the free passage of the pirate's flasj, and it would be literally lined with piratical " Wanderers," while the wailings of death from the horrors of the middle passage would go up to Heaven from one end of it to the other. It may be replied, the "laws" will put a stop to the traffic. But, sir, I ask, in all candor, what are all your "laws" good for, if they cannot be enforced? We have laws now, but, for want of power or a disposition, they are not enforced against a single transgressor. No man, who i3 wicked and abandoned enough to land a cargo of Africans upon one of our Southern coasts, need have any fears of being punished under the laws. But there is another idea in this connection I desire to notice. The President, in his message of December 6, 1858, in speaking of our "diffi- culties " with Great Britain, respecting the right of search, then happily terminated, said, " they could never have arisen, if Cuba had not afford- ed a market for slaves. Whilst the demand for slaves continues in Cuba, wars will be waged among the petty and barbarous chiefs of Africa, for the. purpose of seizing subjects to supply this trade." If Cuba should be annexed to this Govern- ment who would supply this "demand?" But one answer can be given. The importations must come from Africa or the Uuited States — either one or both. Annexation would in- crease this "demand" for slaves ten-fold, if we are to credit the statements of the friends of the measure. In Mr. SlidelPs report to the Senate on this subject, made January 24, 1859, he said: "The soil is fertile. * * * Two-thirds of the whole island is susceptible of culture, and not a tenth part of it is now cultivated." It is contended, annexation would bring the whole land under culture; and if so, any one can calculate for themselves the immense increased demand for slave labor it would produce. Taking the theory of the friends of the measure, that its consummation would put an end to the foreign slave trade, it brings us perhaps to the real cause why the slaveholding interests of the South favor the purchase of Cuba. According to Mr. Slidell's report, from " twenty-five to thirty thousand" slaves are annually brought from Africa to Cuba; increase this demand tenfold, and you erect in Cuba a great market house for at least two hundred and fifty thousand slaves annually, to be supplied from the Southern States. Annexation would not stop the slave trade, but only change it from benighted Africa to the civil- ized Southern States of this Confederacy. It would make a great annual market for two HUNDRED AND FIFTY THOUSAND SLAVES, TO BE RAISED AND SHIPPED FROM THE SLAVE STATES OF THIS Union. This is not my theory, or the theory of the opponents of annexation, but the logical conclusions legitimately arising from the argu- ments of Its friends. This, reckoning the price of negroes at a fair average, would open a new annual trade in human flesh and bones aud sinew, to the South, of nearly two hundred million dollars. I now turn to some of the arguments addressed to the avarice and cupidity of the North, in favor of these territorial acquisitions. 3. One of the main arguments addressed to the consumer is the assumption that it would give us cheap sugar. In Homans's Cyclopedia of Commerce, it is sta- ted that the people of the United States con- sumed, in 1857, 628,913,600 pounds of sugar. Hon. Miles Taylor, a member of this House, from Louisiana, in a speech on a former occasion, stated that his State that year produced the quantity of 279,697,000 pounds. Vermont manu- factures annually a large amount of maple sugar, and more or less is made in many other of the Northern States. We talk about the high price of sugar, but very few of the people understand how it happens, or how the price can be reduced. If they will just look into the annual report of the Secretary of the Treasury, made to this Con- gress, (Ex. Doc. No. 3,) they will there find that the sugar consumers iD this country paid, in 1857, a tax or duty on that article of $12,832,950.30. Thus the people of the United States had taken from their pockets almost thirteen million dollars in a single year, to protect the sugar growers of Louisiana. If we want cheap sugar, why not take off the onerous duties now levied upon it ? This would reduce the price at least one-fourth. If we an- nex Cuba, the effect would be to let in her sugar duty free, and compel the sugar growers in Louisiana to sell twenty-four per cent. less. But the same results would follow if the arti- cle was placed on the free list. An honorable member of this House from Louisiana, [Mr. Taylor,] in a speech in the last Congress, in speaking of the injury the annexa- tion of Cuba might work to the sugar interests of his State, made ail elaborate argument to prove that with no tarilF duties on sugar his con- stituents could compete with the Cubans, were it not for the low price of labor in that Island, growing out of the importation of wild Africans and coolies, and that annexation would stop these importations, raise the price of slave labor in Cuba, and in less than a year bring up the price of sugar as high without a duty as it is now with one. If this theory is true, then all this talk about Cuba and cheap sugar is a hum- bug. We should have to pay just as much as we now do for sugar, and lose in our annual revenue to the Government twelve million dol- lars, which would have to be levied on other articles of importation to furnish money to carry on the Government. So much for the visionary arguments we so often hear about Cuba and cheap sugar. 4. The fact that in our trade with Cuba we import more than we export, is often urged as a reason in favor of annexation ; that if the Island belonged to our Government, our exports would go in duty free, and that our trade would be in- creased. This argument would apply with equal force to a large number of foreign ports with which we trade, where our imports largely ex- ceed our exports. It is said our agricultural in- terests would- be benefited by opening an addi- tional market for breadstuff's. It is true the heavy duty laid upon our Hour by the Spanish Government almost excludes it from the Cuban market. This theory of an increased trade in agricultural products, in the abseuce of tariff duties, is plausible enough, but stubborn facts scatter it to the winds. Our pa3t commercial history proves that our farmers have got to de- pend mainly upon a home market for their prod- ucts. A failure in the crops, or a war in the Old World, enables us for the time being to compete with the agriculturists of Europe and Asia. Aside from these contingencies, we export com- paratively a small amount of breadstuff's. In 1821, we exported, in breadstuff's and provisions, $12,341,901 ; and in 1838, seventeen years after- ward-*, only $9,636,650. In 1846, these exports were $2T,f 01,921 ; the next year, they went up to $68,701,121; and then the very next year, 1848, went down to $37.472,751 — about one- half; and in the year 1859 they amounted to only $38,305,991. These facts prove we have no steady reliable market abroad for our breadstuffs. Take an- other view of the matter. In 1850, the bread- stuffs and provisions, products of the United 8 States, were valued at $632,4'73 1T8. Our ex- ports of that year of the same articles amounted to only $26,051,373. If Cuba was annexed to us, her market would be open to competition in the articles of breadstuffs and provisions of the whole world, unless we pursued the same poli- cy Spain pursues towards us — levy duties suffi- ciently high to prevent importation to her mar- kets — and this the bread-growing countries of the Old World would not permit, without a re- taliation, which would injure our foreign trade as much. Again : there is another view to be taken of this question- If annexation should take place, and it should create an increased demand for flour and other breadstuffs, and consequently raise the prices of these articles, while it might swell the coffers of the producers, it would im- poverish and make poorer the consumers, which are a much larger class in our own country. Mr. Chairman, there is a remedy for all these evils, without the acquisition of foreign terri- tory. It is found in the treaty-making power, in the comity that exists between our country and the other nations of the world. Where is the man so ignorant that he does not know that we have our comviercial treaties with nearly every nation on the face of the globe? Look at the enormous sums, the millions, we have expended in our attempts to open a trade with Japan. Sir, if our Government, instead of getting up "Ostend Manifestoes," instead of keeping up an everlasting clamor about " Manifest Destiny," and the " gravitation of the Queen of the An- tilles towards the American shores;" if, instead of magnifying every little difficulty between our own and the Spanish Government, for the very purpose of getting up a war of rapine, plunder, and conquest ; if, instead of menacing and bul- lying Spain, harassing and following her up with our insulting attempts to wrest from her, somehow, the richest gem in her national dia- dem — we would show to her the magnanimous bearing of a great and powerful nation, treat with her as we treat with other nations, in a spirit of comity and kindness, and no longer vex and worry her by our insidious attempts to rob her of a portion of her territory, we should have no difficulty whatever in negotiating trea- ties which would open to our people her Cuban ports, ^and enrich American citizens with the profits of her trade. So with Mexico and Central America. Call off your dogs of war ; keep at home your unprin- cipled, roving, piratical filibusters, who, actuated by the spirit of the ancient Gotbs and Vandals, would overrun her territories, rob, plunder, and murder her citizens. Leave these Governments to settle their own quarrels in their own way. What are we to gain by mixing up our people with the domestic broils of Mexico ? We are a great and powerful nation ; she is a weak and almost powerless Government. For the United States to engage in a war with her, would be an act next to national cowardice. Our intercourse with these Governments should be conducted in a spirit of amity. What is right towards us as a people, we should sternly demand ; and if our negotiations are conducted upon high and hon- orable grounds upon our part, our claims will be justly met, without a resort to the horrors of war. Mr. Chairman, if there 13 any one thing the people o LIBRAE JFgJgS it is peace, q, lH||||||||||| ■** that haV the laSt SiX ° an ' 3 repose. ' III «ed with fear! ™IK"ftB 338 5* not ardently c « v** ^ — LU g aze once more upon tne placid beauties of a serene sky? But it is in vain to hope for peace or domestic quiet, so long as the self-styled Democracy are in power in this Government. The very element upon which they live and breathe is pro-slavery agitation. Their fanatical schemes develop them- selves one day in one form, another day in some other form. In 1854, under the pretext of "es- tablishing a principle," they violated all principle and national honor. We have had old political dogmas, and new political dogmas. We have been told to look this way and look that way for salvation. We have had eras of intervention and non-interven- tion, squatter sovereignty and Congressional sovereignty. One day the people of the Terri- tories are told they are " perfectly free" to form their own institutions ; the next day, drunken rioters, headed by paid Government officials, burn their cities, ravage their fields, steal their property, and butcher their citizens in cool blood. To-day they are told to " vote slavery up, or vote it down," in their own way ; to-mor- row, an armed mob of invaders from a foreign State drive them from the polls, and stuff their ballot-boxes with fraudulent votes. One day they are told to frame their own Constitution ; the next day, the whole force of the Administra- tion is engaged in attempts to cram down their throats the Lecompton swindle, nolens volens. We have plots for buying Cuba, and stealing Cuba; protecting Mexico, and conquering Mex- ico. In Utah, polygamy and moral pollution basks in the very sunshine of squatter sover- eignty. Our mail-bags are rifled with impunity by petty postmasters, under the approving eye of the Postmaster General, and their contents burned in the streets. For entertaining opin- ions, peaceable citizens are threatened with mobs and death if found too far south. If the people elect the President of their choice, the Capitol is to be pulled down over our heads, and demolished, from " turret to foundation stone," and the Union involved in one general " smash-up." Thus, the country has been kept in one continual whirl of excitement and agita- tion. Where is the remedy? I answer, in the language of the old Roman Senator, "Carthage must be destroyed." The party in power must be driven out, through the potency of the ballot-box. The people from the North and the South, the East and the West, should rise up as one man, and diclare war against this wicked Administra- tion, and the party that sustains it. In this cofltest, let the good and the patriotic from every section come to the rescue. Let us forget our sectional predilections and prejudices, and rally for a common country ; and, before the God of our fathers, pledge our lives and sacred honor never to lay down our arms until the old "golden era of good feeling" shall again shed its hallowed influences over our whole 1 id, and the councils of the nation again be guided by the wisdom, the justice, and the patriotism, of the illustrious men who gave us a republican Government. LIBRARY OF CONGRESS 011 898 338 5 HOLUNGER pH8.5 MILL RUN F3-1543