Blue-Tail Fly

In Private Conversation: Buchanan to Like Minds

30 In Private Conversation: Buchanan to Like Minds Cuba is as necessary to the North American republic as any of its present members. . . . Its immediate acquisition by our government is of paramount importance. Ministers James Buchanan, John Y. Mason, and Pierre Soulé, Ostend Manifesto, 1854 Then we’ll take Cuba for ourselves. Gentlemen—Hurrah! No compromise. Outside these borders we are unbound— To Cuba! Good Sirs, where the slave will have sea and sun to keep him fit. Why not a force to free the island of Spain? It is in Cuba’s own interest that we proceed. Should the Cubans revolt, we cannot resist aiding our deprived fellows. We must lift from the fair island’s shoulders the yoke of Cortés. Is Cuba no less than Texas? Viva la Revolution! Cuba in another’s hands would endanger our republic. By God, we are obliged by every law, human and divine, to wrest her from them, for us. ...