With spirit
he exclaimed that if Spain should transfer Cuba to England, or any other
European power America should take Cuba by force. "It is folly," he
said, "to debate the acquisition of the island. It naturally belongs to
the American continent. It guards the mouth of the Mississippi River,
which is the heart of the American continent and the body of the
American nation." This led Douglas to speak, and with bitterness, of the
Clayton-Bulwer treaty, which had given England joint control of any
canal across the Isthmus of Panama. "I was disgusted with this treaty
as I was disgusted with the settlement of the Oregon boundary. Just look
at it! Here the Monroe Doctrine has been an avowed policy for thirty
years, declaring that no European colonization will be permitted in
America. And what happens? Whenever there has been no opportunity to
enforce the doctrine, because there has been nothing at issue, we have
cock-a-doodle-dooed; and whenever a chance has arisen to enforce it we
have beaten a retreat, frightened to death by the awful consequences if
we do enforce it. Frightened by our own spokesmen, Senators and others.
Frightened by England in the main; for truly we have no other power to
fear. So when the Clayton-Bulwer treaty came up I fought it as I fought
Polk on the Oregon boundary of '49.
Pages:
289
290
291
292
293
294
295
296
297
298
299
300
301
302
303
304
305
306
307
308
309
310
311
312
313