Page:Life of Henry Clay (Schurz; v. 1).djvu/282

270 pendent condition. All enterprises upon Cuba and Porto Rico, such as had been planned by Mexico and Colombia, were by all means to be discouraged.

This, by the way, was an exceedingly ticklish subject. If Cuba and Porto Rico were to be revolutionized, slave insurrections would follow, and the insurrectionary spirit would be likely to communicate itself to the slave population of the Southern States. Cuba and Porto Rico would hardly be able to maintain their independence, and if they should fall into the hands of a great naval power, that power would command the Mexican Gulf and the mouth of the Mississippi. The slave-holding influence, therefore, demanded that Cuba and Porto Rico should not be revolutionized. The general interests of the United States demanded that the two islands should not pass into the hands of a great naval power. It was, therefore, thought best that they should quietly remain in the possession of Spain. That possession was threatened so long as peace was not declared between Spain and her former colonies. It seemed, therefore, especially desirable that the war should come to a final close. To this end the Emperor of Russia, whom American diplomacy had fallen into the habit of regarding as a sort of benevolent uncle, was to be pressed into service. He was asked to persuade Spain, in view of the utter hopelessness of further war, to yield to necessity and recognize the independency of her former colonies on the American