tes, a
prosperous commerce between Cuba and Spain, resulting from ancient
associations and common language and tastes, would be far more
productive than the best contrived system of colonial taxation. Such,
notoriously, has been the result to Great Britain of the establishment
of the independence of the United States."

If it be true that the American minister at Madrid has been authorized
to offer a price nothing short of a royal ransom for the island, we
cannot conceive that the greedy queen, and even the Cortes of Spain,
would reject it, unless secretly influenced by the powers which had the
effrontery to propose for our acceptance the tripartite treaty, by which
we were expected to renounce forever all pretension to the possession
of Cuba. It is difficult to believe that France and England could for a
moment seriously suppose that such a ridiculous proposition would be for
one moment entertained by this government, and yet they must so have
deceived themselves, or otherwise they would not have made the
proposition as they did.

Of the importance, not to say necessity, of the possession of Cuba by
the United States, statesmen of all parties are agreed; and they are by
no means in advance of the popular sentiment; indeed, the class who urge
its immediate acquisition, at any cost, by any means, not as a source of
wealth, but as a political necessity, is by no means inconsiderable. It
would be foreign to our purpose to quote the opinions of any ultraists,
nor do we design, in these closing remarks, to enter the field of
politics, or political discussion. We have endeavored to state facts
only, and to state them plainly, deducing the most incontrovertible
conclusions.

We find the following remarks in a recent conservative speech of Mr.
Latham, a member of Congress, from California. They present, with
emphasis, some of the points we have lightly touched upon:

"I admit that our relations with Spain, growing out of that island
(Cuba), are of an extremely delicate nature; that the fate of that
island, its misgovernment, its proximity to our shores, and the
particular institutions established upon it, are of vast importance to
the peace and security of this country; and that the utmost vigilance in
regard to it is not only demanded by prudence, but an act of imperative
duty on the part of our government. The island of Cuba commands, in a
measure, the Gulf of Mexico. In case of a maritime war, in which the
United States