THE United States government, both before and immediately after the expeditions of Lopez, exhibited an increasing desire to acquire possession of Cuba by purchase or otherwise. We have already referred to the historic expression of John Quincy Adams upon this subject. It is also to be recalled that in 1823, in commenting upon the prospective results of the Monroe Doctrine, Thomas Jefferson looked upon Cuba as the most interesting addition that could be made to the United States. The control which, with Florida, this island would give the United States over the Gulf of Mexico, and all the countries bordering thereon, as well as all those whose waters flowed into the Gulf, would well be, he thought, the measure of American well-being. Such an end could be attained, he added, by no other means than that of war, and that was something to which he was reluctant to resort. He was, therefore, willing to accept the next best thing, to wit, the independence of Cuba, and especially its independence of England. James Madison, at the same time, and discussing the same general subject, expressed much curiosity to know what England's attitude toward Cuba would be, and what the rights of the United States toward that island would be, under the Monroe Doctrine. John C. Calhoun was willing to pledge the United States not to take Cuba, although he had already expressed a desire for such acquisition, and Monroe himself would have adopted Calhoun's policy, had it not been for the resolute opposition of John Quincy Adams. That strenuous patriot was for reserving the plenary rights and powers of the United States, and for permitting Europe to have nothing whatever to do in the matter, and his counsel fortunately prevailed.

A little later, after the promulgation of the Monroe Doctrine and in the course of Congressional discussion of the Panama Congress, it was emphatically stated in the Senate that, because of the great interest in the United States in Cuba, there ought to be no discussion with other powers concerning the destiny of that island, particularly with Colombia and Mexico, which were then contemplating the invasion of Cuba in order to take her forcibly from Spain. The British government, in August, 1825, proposed to the United States government, through its minister in London, that the United States, Great Britain and France should unite in a treaty engagement that none of them would take Cuba for itself or permit of the taking of it by either of the others. This proposal was promptly rejected by the United States. One of the grounds for her rejection of it was that such action guaranteeing Spain her possession of Cuba would encourage her to prolong indefinitely her struggle with her other American colonies. Another was that this country had already declared that it did not mean to seize Cuba for itself, and that it would not permit its seizure by any other power. The United States apparently did not fear that Great Britain would attempt to seize the island, since for her to do so would mean a rupture with the United States, which was at that time the last thing that the British government desired. There was much more cause to fear that France might attempt to take forcible possession of Cuba, and the suspicion that she might do so was strengthened by the fact that while, at first, she indicated a willingness to enter into the arrangement proposed by Great Britain, she suddenly changed her attitude, and refused to do so. As a result of this change of front on the part of France, the United States government, in September, 1825, instructed its minister at Paris to inform the French government that under no contingency, either with or without the consent of Spain, would the United States permit France to occupy Cuba.

Scarcely less marked was the opposition of the United States to any scheme for the acquirement of Cuba by any of the American republics. It was notorious that both Colombia and Mexico had designs upon Cuba. These were not so much that either of these countries should acquire the island for itself, but that Cuba and Porto Rico should, nilly willy, be taken away from Spain and made independent, and that thus Spain should be deprived of her last foothold in the Western hemisphere. This purpose was cherished, not only as a matter of sentiment, but as one of prudence. Spain was still trying to reconquer her revolted American provinces, and her possession of Cuba, of course, afforded her an admirable base for such operations. But the United States government took the ground that any such intervention in Cuba would make it much more difficult to secure Spanish recognition of the independence of the Central and South American States. In addition, there was undoubtedly—indeed it was very openly, emphatically and repeatedly expressed—the unwillingness of the slaveholding southern states of the United States to see Cuba made free soil, as the other Spanish colonies had been. It was because of the former consideration, however, that the American Secretary of State, Henry Clay, immediately after the rejection of the British proposal for a tripartite guarantee, addressed a note to the governments of Colombia and Mexico, urging them to refrain from sending the expeditions which they were fitting out against the Spanish power in Cuba. To this request, the Colombian government promptly acceded, and so informed not only the United States, but also the government of Russia, which was, at that time, endeavoring to mediate between Spain and her late American colonies. The Mexican government did not receive the request so favorably, though it did withhold the threatened expedition.

With such antecedents set forth, we can more perfectly understand the attitude of the United States toward Cuba at the time of which we are now writing. In 1848 a change of policy occurred, and the United States entered upon a new attitude. At that time James K. Polk was President of the United States, and James Buchanan was his Secretary of State; both men of southern, proslavery and expansionist proclivities. The American minister to Spain was Romulus M. Saunders, of North Carolina, also a proslavery expansionist. He was instructed by Polk and Buchanan to sound the Spanish government as to the terms on which it would sell Cuba to the United States. The response to his overtures was immediate and left no room for doubt as to Spain's position. It was to the effect that Cuba was not for sale. Under no circumstances would the Spanish government so much as consider the sale of the island at any price whatever. No Spanish Minister of State would venture for a moment to entertain such a proposal. Such was the feeling of the Spanish government and of the Spanish nation, that they would rather see Cuba sunk in the depths of the sea, if it were possible, than transferred to the sovereignty of any other power. Cuba was the "Ever-Faithful Isle." She was the last remnant, the priceless memento of Spain's once vast empire in America, and as such she would be forever retained and treasured. Although not openly expressed, there was undoubtedly the additional feeling that Spain had already suffered too much spoliation at the hands of the United States. The United States, under Jefferson, had practically compelled Spain to sacrifice her vast Louisiana territory by nominally selling, but really giving it outright, to France. It had next taken West Florida from her without compensation. Following this, under the Monroe Doctrine, it had compelled her to sell it East Florida for a pitifully inadequate sum, not one dollar of which had ever found its way into the Spanish treasury. It had aided, abetted, and protected the Central and South American provinces in their revolt. Certainly, after such a record, it would be unthinkable to permit the United States to proceed with the acquisition of the last remaining portion of the Spanish American empire. The overtures for the United States purchase of Cuba were, therefore, for the time being, abruptly abandoned, but it was significant that they were promptly followed by the expeditions of Lopez and the widespread and intense manifestations of American interest therein.

There next occurred one of the most noteworthy and it must be confessed least creditable episodes in the whole story of the relations between the United States, Cuba and Spain. Franklin Pierce became President of the United States, and the active and aggressive William L. Marcy was his Secretary of State. Because of the strained relations between Spain and the United States, growing out of the Lopez expeditions, there was a well defined expectation that Marcy would pursue a vigorous policy leading to the annexation of Cuba, even at the cost of war with Spain. Marcy was an expansionist, and would doubtless have been glad to have annexed Cuba, but he was something more than an expansionist. He was a statesman. He therefore considered the subject from its various aspects with a prudence and conservatism which were probably not at all pleasing to the impetuous proslavery propagandists of the south, but which were in the highest degree creditable to his good sense and to the honor of the United States. Unfortunately not even Marcy could remain entirely exempt from political and partizan considerations. He was practically compelled to acquiesce in the appointment as his minister to Spain of one of the more egregious misfits that ever disgraced American diplomacy. This man was Pierre Soule. He was of French origin, and had been a political conspirator and prisoner in that country. He had come to the United States as a refugee, but had continued there his political intrigues and revolutionary designs. Settling in New Orleans, he had been in active sympathy with the filibustering enterprises of Lopez and others against the Spanish rule in Cuba; he was suspected of having incited the anti-Spanish mob in that city; and he was known to be an ardent advocate of the annexation of Cuba by any means which might prove effective. The choice of such a man as American minister to Spain was certainly extraordinary. It must be assumed that Marcy agreed to it only with great reluctance and under protest; while it is plausible, and indeed permissible, to suspect that some ulterior influence dictated it for the deliberate purpose of provoking trouble with Spain.

In these circumstances, Marcy did his best. He instructed Soule to repress his anti-Spanish zeal, to do nothing which would irritate Spanish susceptibilities, and especially to be particularly cautious in making any suggestions or overtures concerning a change of relations in Cuba. He instructed him, however, to seek reparation for the gross injuries which Americans had undoubtedly suffered in Cuba, and to suggest to the Spanish government that it would greatly facilitate the friendly conduct of affairs for it to invest the Captain-General or other governor of Cuba with a degree of diplomatic authority and functions so that complaint could be addressed to him, and indeed all such matters could be negotiated with him directly, instead of their being referred to the government at Madrid. He did not urge Soule to seek the purchase of Cuba, but he did authorize him to enter into negotiations to that end, if the Spanish government should manifest a favorable inclination.

Despite these wise instructions and admonitions, Soule promptly entered upon a career of the wildest indiscretion. He went to Spain by way of France, where he was under political proscription, and this gave offence to the government of that country. On arriving at Madrid, he immediately quarreled with the French party there, and fought a duel with the French ambassador in which the latter was crippled for life.

Then word came to him that the Spanish authorities at Havana had seized an American steamer, the Black Warrior. That steamer had, for a long time, been plying regularly between the United States and Cuba in a perfectly legitimate way. There was not the slightest proof or suggestion that she had ever engaged in filibustering or in any illegitimate commerce. Indeed she was not accused of it. But she was seized and her cargo was condemned simply for alleged disregard of some insignificant port regulation which, as a matter of fact, had not been enforced or observed by any vessel for many years. The master of the vessel resented and protested against the seizure and when the Spanish authorities arbitrarily persisted in it, he abandoned the vessel altogether, and reported the circumstances to the United States government. The President promptly laid the matter before Congress at Washington, stating that a demand for redress and indemnity was being made. Passions flamed high in Congress, and southern members made speeches demanding war and the conquest of Cuba. Marcy, however, retained his sanity of judgment, and contented himself with instructing Soule at Madrid to demand an indemnity of $300,000 and to express the hope that the Spanish government would disavow and rebuke the act which it was confidently assumed had not been authorized and could not be approved. This gave Soule a fine opportunity to show himself a capable diplomat and to do a good stroke of work, for Spain was manifestly wrong and a proper presentation of the case would doubtless have caused her to accede pretty promptly to Marcy's reasonable demands.

Soule began well. He followed Marcy's instructions closely at the outset, and had a friendly and temperate interview with the Spanish Minister for Foreign Affairs; but when three days thereafter had passed without a complete settlement, he seemed altogether to lose his head. He sent to the minister a peremptory note, demanding payment of the indemnity, and the immediate dismissal from the Spanish service of all persons in any way responsible for the seizure of the Black Warrior. If this was not done within forty-eight hours, he added, he would immediately demand his passports and sever diplomatic relations between the two countries. With customary arrogance, he instructed the messenger by whom he transmitted the note to call the attention of the Spanish minister to the exact hour and minute at which the messenger should deliver the note into his hands, and to remind him that an answer would be expected, under penalty, within forty-eight hours after that precise moment of time. Worst of all, perhaps, this occurred during Holy Week, when it was not customary for the Spanish government to transact any business which could possibly be deferred.

The Spanish Minister for Foreign Affairs was Calderon de la Barca, who had formerly been Spanish minister to the United States, and with whom Soule had personally very violently quarrelled at Washington. With characteristic Spanish courtesy, he very promptly, within twenty-four hours, replied to Soule that the matter would be most carefully considered at the earliest possible moment, but that it manifestly would not be practicable, and indeed would not be just, to dispose of so important a matter so hastily, and upon the hearing of only one side of it. He also added, quite properly, that the Spanish government was not accustomed to being addressed in so harsh and imperious a manner, and that he could not regard such a mode of procedure as calculated to facilitate the amicable settlement which both parties undoubtedly desired.

Thus placed, through his own folly, at a hopeless disadvantage, Soule abandoned the case. He sent to Marcy his own absurd and unauthorized ultimatum, together with Calderon's dignified and statesmanlike reply, possibly in the vain hope that Marcy would back him up in the impossible attitude which he had assumed. Of course, Marcy did nothing of the sort. As a matter of fact, it was not necessary for Marcy to pay any attention whatever to Soule's report, since, before it reached Washington, the Spanish authorities in Cuba had restored the Black Warrior to her owners, with the amplest possible amends for their improper seizure of her, and the whole incident was thus happily ended.

The project of acquiring Cuba for the United States continued to be cherished by the American government. It must be supposed that the Secretary of State appreciated the immense value of Cuba, both in its resources and in its strategic position and so, for that reason, was desirous of acquiring the island. It must also be believed that he was to a degree moved by a desire to get rid of what he plainly saw would be a perennial cause of annoyance and even of danger. Since the beginning of the nineteenth century, Cuba had been a cause of anxiety to the United States, and since the beginning of insurrections in that island, and especially insurrections looking to the United States for sympathy and aid, there was a constantly increasing danger of unpleasant and possibly hostile complications with Spain. There is no indication, however, that Marcy ever had any other thought than that of the peaceful acquisition of the island through friendly negotiations. It was most unfortunate that because of the political conditions which prevailed during that administration, he was compelled to act through unfit and indeed unworthy agents.

At the beginning of 1854, Mr. Marcy directed the United States ministers to Spain, France and Great Britain to confer among themselves as to the best means, if indeed any were practicable, to persuade Spain to sell Cuba to the United States, and at the same time to avoid or to overcome objections which France and Great Britain might make to such a transaction. That was a perfectly legitimate proposal, and indeed, under the circumstances, was desirable and should have been productive of excellent results. Its fatal defect lay in the personality of the men who were called upon to put it into execution. The minister to Spain was Soule, of whom we have already heard enough to indicate his very conspicuous unfitness for the task assigned to him. The minister to France was James M. Mason, a Virginian, and one of the most aggressive and extreme Southern advocates of the extension of slavery. The minister to Great Britain was James Buchanan, who was afterward President of the United States, a northern man with strong southern sympathies and in complete subservience to the slaveholding interests of the south. The result of a conference among these three was practically a foregone conclusion.

They came together at Ostend in the summer of 1854, and a little later concluded their deliberations at Aix-la-Chapelle, and the result of their conference was embodied in that extraordinary document known to history as the Ostend Manifesto.

That document, which was drawn up in October, 1854, and was signed by these three ministers and sent by them to Mr. Marcy, was written chiefly by Soule. It set forth the various reasons why, in the opinion of Soule and his colleagues, Cuba ought to belong to the United States. A variety of reasons was set forth, but chief among them was this, that such acquisition of Cuba was necessary for the security and perpetuity of the slave system in the United States. Then Soule went on to tell why Spain ought to be willing to sell the island, and why Britain and France ought to be willing for her to sell it to the United States. The price to be paid for Cuba was not stated. It ought not, however, Soule said, to exceed a certain maximum sum to be prescribed by the United States; and there are reasons for believing that the price which Soule had in mind was $120,000,000. All this was bad enough. It was far removed from what Marcy had intended. But the worst was to come. With astounding effrontery and cynicism, the manifesto proceeded to say that if Spain should be so swayed by the voice of her own interest and actuated by a false sense of honor as to refuse to sell Cuba, then, by every law, human and divine, the United States would be justified in taking Cuba forcibly from her, on the ground that such seizure was necessary for the protection of the domestic peace of the United States. This Manifesto was sent by the three ministers to Marcy, with a memorandum written by Soule, suggesting that that would be a good time to start a war with Spain for the seizure of Cuba, because France and Great Britain were just then engaged in fighting Russia in the Crimea, and therefore would not be able to interfere with Spain's behalf.

Marcy never for a moment, of course, thought of acting upon these abominable recommendations. The overwhelming sentiment of this nation would have been against it. Even in the South, the majority of thoughtful men held that Soule and his colleagues had gone too far, while throughout the North, the Manifesto was scathingly denounced as a proposal of international brigandage. Not only in Spain, but almost equally in France and Great Britain, American diplomacy and the honor of the American government were regarded as seriously compromised. In these circumstances Marcy, to whom the Manifesto must have been revolting, very adroitly declined to recognize its real purport, but insisted upon interpreting it in an entirely different way from that which its authors had intended. The result was that the note was practically pigeonholed.

Soule was so chagrined and enraged at this disposition of a favorite child of his mind that he resigned his office as Minister to Spain, to the unmistakable relief both of Marcy and of the Spanish government. Buchanan, another of the signers, became President of the United States a couple of years later, and in his second annual message, in December, 1858, sought to revive the Manifesto, referring to the possibility of its sometime being necessary for the United States to seize Cuba under the law of self-preservation. He also requested Congress to appropriate $30,000,000 for the purchase of the island, and a bill to that effect was introduced, but it was never pressed to final passage. Again in 1859 he referred to the subject, being still apparently obsessed with the idea that the conquest of Cuba was necessary for the preservation of the United States, but on this occasion his reference to the subject was entirely ignored by Congress. Then came the Civil War in the United States, which, for a number of years, debarred that country from paying any attention to the affairs of its southern neighbor.