p .A.PERS 01!' MIRABEAU BuoNAPARTE LAMAR
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her history during that period? Rapine, desolation and blood. In- stead of having been placed on a par with other civilized nations from the beginning, she is still in her cradle launching disturbances of civil tumult; and until now sanguinary conflicts of a most ferocious char- acter are all that have been seen in the country, converting the most ferocious countries of the workl into a horrible pandemonium. We see that unfortunate nation divided into sanguinary factions, fighting one against the other, not for the sacred rights of man, but for the corrupt exaltation of ambitious aspirants, seeking their glory and ag- grandizement at any price, even at the cost of ruining their country. And what is the cause of so many evils? The lack of religious liberty. The country has not been able to emancipate itself from the adaman- tine chains of a corrupt and tyrannical clergy whose device is "open and eternal warfare against the liberty of the people-entire protection of wrong-doing and ignorance." This has suspended and impeded the progress of understanding, has restrained free investigation, has in- creased and patronized the deprivation of the public morale, has kept the nation in a state of turpitude and superstition, and has made the inhabitants the horrible victims of their oppressors. What is there then that can prevent the Cubans from falling into the same error? What will they win by cutting the cable which ties them to the throne of Spain, if they are still joined to the triumphal Car of the King of Rome? Even if they could shake off the yoke of the political tyrants, they would still have fixed in their hearts their ancient superstition and intolerance, and they would continue being the miserable slaves of the clergy, who would not fail to keep them in the same degraded condition of the people of Mexico, for like causes should produce like results. The nature of things cannot be changed by decrees and con- stitutions; time and enlightenment is needed for that. To these considerations naturally occurs the question of what shall become of the people of Cuba? Shall they remain eternally in such a miserable condition without making the least effort to destroy the chains of tyranny? It is to be hoped not. I have already indicated the only and true remedy of their ills-to wit-their annexation to the United States, a measure not only attainable, but one that can be effected without difficulty or delay, not in a filibustering way, because I have already said that the Cuban people are not prepared for that, but rather by the intervention of the United States government. You tell me that the present administration is opposed to the independence and annexation of Cuba? I do not deny it, but that does not matter. The people are more powerful and omnipotent than the cabinet at Wash- ington. I should advise you, for that reason, to appeal to those same people, because I believe that there exists a general tendency on the part of the American people to take this matter into their own hands, and all that is necessary to stimulate them to immediate action is to present the question clearly to their sight. This can easily be done by means of the press and by public discussion. The clays of the present administration are numbered, and I do not doubt that at the expira- tion of its term, the people, from one end of the union to the other, will make the clamor for the annexation of Cuba resound as they dirl for that of Texas. l\fy advice, therefore, reduces itself to the establish- ment of newspapers in Washington and in various other parts of the
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