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    other side , it is alleged that it has not been the custom in Cuba to overhaul cargo under each circumstances ; and a protest has been laid before the President of the United States . He has sent a message to Congress , accompanied with proofs of perfidy on the part ot Spain , and lie asks the support of Congress in obtaining redress . Of course not "in vain . There is not a single ground , except the one of possession , on which Spain can claim the retention of Cuba . In the

    state of disturbance which , threatens the world , it ib most likely that the United , States would find it necessary to take military possession of "the island which commands the mouth of the Mississippi . A period of quiet has been allowed to Spain "by the forbearance of the United States ; bat Spain has neglected to profit by it . It is of no use to say that the authorities of Cuba are responsible for those mistakes ; it is Spain who appoints these authorities ; and if she

    puts in office men who do not know their duty towards the gfeat and powerful republic , by whose forbearance Cuba has remained Spanish , the fault will be not of America but Spain . It maybe said , indeed , that Spain herself is not responsible , since she has no national solidity , no national Government ; but dividea between Southern provinces , devoted only to luxury and the memory of past pride , " Western provinces fraternising with Portugal , whose chronic revolution is less anarchical than the absolute

    Government of Spain , and the Northeastern provinces , whose industrious energy is kept down by infamous government , Spain has no national unity , and is at the mercy of the most shameless court in Europe . But that nation which cannot appoint its own Government , has . itself to blame if it loses , through the wan $ of government : and

    if it should become necessary to take . Cuba from Spain , to Spain , must be allotted the blame of having lost the island . Possession is nine points of the law ; but the only virtue of possession is strength . Should our expectations be realised , and the transfer of the island to the American republic be soon accomplished , the benefit ought to accrue to other countries beside Cuba itself .

    It is time that the world should be taught the great political truth , that they who cannot keep do not deserve to have . The country which has not in itself " sufficient sagacity , will , and strength to retain its own possessions , does not deserve those possessions ; and if any country in the world wishes to retain its place in the political map , it must summon , to itself all the strength , the will , and the sagacity which it ean muster . The seizure of Cuba would" settle the' question of the Spanish sovereignty . If Marv deplored the

    loss of Calais , to Isabella the loss of Cuba would be the loss of crown and throne . But dream-like as it looks , it is possible that by the loss of the island , Spain might realise the project of a comparatively small party , and annex to herself the sister kingdom of Portugal . At all events , out of the concussion towards which Spain , is hastening with the impetuosity of insane feebleness , something better must arise ; and while Cuba is permitted to be one of the States of the greatest republic of the " West , the Iberian peninsula may once more re-establish herself amongst the nations of Europe .

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    side , indeed , may be superseded by the right of another . Hypocrisy does sometimes accompany sincerity of heart , when that heart is brutalised b y superstition ; jstill it . ia difficult in so glaring a case to imagine that the Emperor of Russia can be sincere . Iiet ua , however , for a moment take it for granted that he may be so . In that case , believing

    vuuw * &W WU . &A&U W 0 U . WJLUO JJUIA / UC y \| ( ft -JH ^ lfrM ^| ftj | autocracy , ne would have the ri ght to do ityif he had the power ; a question which he is about to try experimentally . We believe that we ought to resist him ; we think we have the power ; and we are about to try tha question experimentally too . That we understand true policy far better than the Emperor ; that ire have a clearer insight . / into national as well as commercial economy ; that we have arrived at a truer wisdom . . ifoi ?^ Ji § p ) oloping political institutions ; that our social arrangements respecting individual and class

    freedom are calculated to render the state relatively far more powerful than his ; that our religion , admitting all the lights wftck science has derived from , divine works , is inore jtire than his ; that our conception of duty individual , social , and political , is mpi ^ e Jn § e ? feet and more exalted than his ; are conclu ^

    sions which vre shall all be willing to grant to ourselves . But let us ask jv ^ vq ^ j |^ g |^§ use of our being able to teacbthe ^^ na ^ Q ^ i " how to live , if , in studying those queBtipna closet wise , we should have permil ^^ ours sevea to become so enervated , that fiusaia could demolish aU our operations for

    sbientiyeller who , taking a station for the end of a journey , gets out in . drowsy enjoyment of a welcome home , and sees the train slide by and out of sight , leaving him . as helpless behind as a goods truck dropped astern . That party are maintaining a policy that is universally considered to be , not only unsuccessful , but beneath debate . Their own man , Cobden himself , dares not debate . He only satisfies his conscience by an occasional

    protest m parenthesis . Opportunity after opportunity is offered to him for furthering , the dominant dogma of the day , by assertions of pure peace doctrine ; but he never stands manfully forward . Last night was an occasion , and a friend of the Manchester School , whose singleminded zeal he must have known , had prepared him with a motion as audacious to profanity as fanaticism could desire . He was advised to move

    the following resolution as an amendment on the address , in answer to the Queen ' s Message : — " That when Christ ordered Peter to sheath his sword , itjsvas the opinion of this House , that he waa decidedly mistaken . The worthy gentleman considered that this professed resolution would he a reductio ad absurdwm ; tyit does he forget the words of Jesus , who said on occasion , " I come not to

    bring peace , but a sword . " This non-success of the Manchester policy , however , has made the students of the School pause . Something must be wrong , for Manchester is failing ; and they begin to suspect that they have mistaken the station . A few of the more candid are beginning to discover that before they can determine this question of peace or war , about which they have so

    summarily delivered an opinion , they have to inquire a little further . Amongst other things into which , they have to carry these researches is the history of their own country , and truly in investigating that erudite branch of inquiry , they discover , to their astonish- ? ment , that civilisation has sometimes been beholden for victory or defence to that which they would leave summarily in the hands of the barbarian-T-to the sword !

    Strange to discover , in the middle of the nineteenth century ^ that Might is not altogether alien from Bight , but is essentially a part thereof . Right ifl the union of conviction and power . That which you think you ought to do , and you can do , you " Have a right to do . " It is "right" for you to do

    that which you tliink you ought , and which you can . If others think that you ought to do a thing , and they can let you do it , you have a right to do it so far as they are concerned . Conviction and power therefore are the elements of right ; and those who seek for any closer definition will , we believe , find it impossible to pursue the analysis further .

    Many would test Bight by justice , and would say , that is Right which is equitable ; but persons differ as to equity ; and if you look closely you will see that this question of equity is in fact only one portion in the ingredients of conviction . Before you can have a conscientious persuasion , you must believe in the justice of a proposal ; and the justice of it is the test of your conviction . On the

    other hand , conscientious conviction , which is without power , is not Eight ; not only because , in fact , it must remain an abstraction without accomplishment , but because , besides being persuaded that you ought to do a thing , you must earn or acquire the power to do it ; and when you have fulfilled that condition , sine nud non , you have completod your "Rkcht . " y l

    ULTIMA RATIO . WAR AND ASSASSINATION . The Manchester School is rather at sea . TMie peace policy has evidently been a mistake ; and from being in the van of the whole country , triumphant in leading a succeasful policy , Manchester finds itself in the rear of the whole country ; like a sleepy

    tra" We revive this consideration , because it has some important bearing upon the practical action of the world in this present day , and to such of our readers as accompany action by reflection , it may be a test for considering the right course . Tho right of one

    ncally convincing the world , by the one simple weapon , the sword , and thus have put us out of the field . Philosophy itself if < & ¦¦ jQb §|§ jS $ fe > maniind , unless it can obtain a standing ejtHer in the hearts of men , or under the proteotipn of -fcheuword . "We have as against JJutiia all that part of right " which consists in earnest

    conviction ; and if we are not mistaken , we have the other part of right , TwS ^ pW ^ I m the power- ; and phdosoph y lteelf will have to thank physical force that it cornea forward to put down the barbarian who is abott to burn the Alexandrian library of ciyilisatibii . . But the physical force which kings employ on a large scale may he turnedagamattHem ; Shape it how you will , ' ^¦' tj ^ oi ^ ' ^ l ^^' destroying weapons is S&t ; liltiMm ^ m $ 8

    determines questions betweenVf&jij $ & , $ ijm ? tween governors and people . ^ he : Empei ? Qr of Russia , unable to convince Europe thfit it ought to submit itself to Slavonic or Cossack dominion , puts the problem into its ultimate shape ; and if , by the blessing of Providence , we have studied the dynamics of gunpowder and lead as successfully as he jxas , we shall be able to force conviction upon , nim in his own territory ; and thus civilisation

    will maintain its footing by dint of physical force . The King of Naples , unable to convince hia subjects that he is a man of godlike attributes , endeavours to enforce the results which he desires by using the ultima ratio against them , not only in the retail way , by cannon , but in the form of wholesale assassination , by espionage and fatal poison . Naples it may be said is continually

    undergoing assassination , by its representative men , at the hands of its kings . The people of Parma have retorted the same species of argument against their pocket Sovereign . A " Tiberias in 18 mo , " as the Florentine satirist calls him , who hud kejpt his Duchy in a state of siege ever since 1848 , —who has carried arbitrary confiscation and suppression as far as greater tyrants , —who has in fact assassinated his own state , —has been met on that grouud by an anonymous combatant : he was stabbed .

    took to Ins bed , and died . English feeling calls out with horror at the assassin ^ forgetting that arbitrary monarchs themselves continue to enjoy the privilege of assassination , and that by their tyranny , their espoiu-

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    April 1 , 1854 . ] THE LEADER . s 61 . . ' I i ¦ —»*—

• Citation
  • Leader (1850-1860), April 1, 1854, page 301, in the Nineteenth-Century Serials Edition (2008; 2018) ncse-os.kdl.kcl.ac.uk/periodicals/l/issues/vm2-ncseproduct2032/page/13/