But this matter of getting possession of Cuba is something dangerous as well as difficult. There are three conceivable ways of acquiring it.
One is by buying, and that I take it is wholly out of the question. If I am rightly informed, there is a certain Spanish debt owing to Englishmen, and that Cuba is somehow pledged as a sort of collateral security for the Spanish Bonds. I take it for granted that Cuba is not to be bought for many years without the interference of England, and depend upon it England will not allow it to be sold for the establishment of slavery; for I think it is pretty well understood by politicians that there is a regular agreement entered into between Spain on the one side and England on the other, that at a certain period within twenty-five years every slave in Cuba shall be set free. I believe this is known to men somewhat versed in the secret history of the two Cabinets of England and of Spain. England has the same wish for land which fires our Anglo-Saxon blood. She has islands in the West Indies; the Moro in Cuba is only a hundred miles from Jamaica. If we get Cuba for slavery, we shall next want the British West Indies for the same institution. Cuba filled with fillibusters would be a dangerous neighbour to Jamaica.
The second way is by fillibustering; and that Mr Slidell and Mr Dean want to try. The third is by open war. Now fillibusterism will lead to open war, so I will consider only this issue.
I know that Americans will fight more desperately, perhaps, on land or sea, than any other people. But fighting is an ugly business, especially with such antagonists as we shall have in this case. It is a matter well understood that the Captain-General of Cuba has a paper in his possession authorizing him discretionally to free the slaves and put arms in their hands whenever it is thought necessary. It is rather difficult to get at the exact statistics of Cuba. There has been no census since 1842, when the population was estimated at a million. I will reckon it now at 1,300,000—700,000 blacks, and 600,000 whites. Of the 700,000 blacks, half a million are slaves and two hundred thousand freemen. Now, a black freeman in Cuba is a very different person from the black freeman in the United States. He has rights. He is not turned out of the omnibus, nor
