Cuba: Its Past, Present, and Future

by A. D. Hall

The Marquis of Lansdowne, the British Secretary of State of War, in a recent speech, thus expressed himself:

"There could be no more inspiring ideal than an understanding between two nations sprung from the same race and having so many common interests, nations which, together, are predominant in the world's commerce and industry.

"Is there anything preposterous in the hope that these two nations should be found—I will not say in a hard and fast alliance of offense and defense, but closely connected in their diplomacy, absolutely frank and unreserved in their international councils, and ready wherever the affairs of the world are threatened with disturbance to throw their influence into the same scale?

"Depend upon it, these are no mere idle dreams or hazy aspirations. The change which has come over the sentiment of each country toward the other during the last year or two is almost immeasurable. One can scarcely believe they are the same United States with whom, only two years ago, we were on the verge of a serious quarrel.

"The change is not an ephemeral understanding between diplomatists, but a genuine desire of the two peoples to be friends, and therefore it cannot be laughed out of existence by the sort of comments we have lately heard."

There is a poem which we cannot forbear to quote here, it is so fine in itself and so expressive of the existing situation. The author is Richard Mansfield, the eminent actor:

THE EAGLE'S SONG.

—

BY RICHARD MANSFIELD.

—

The Lioness whelped, and the sturdy cub

Was seized by an eagle and carried up

And homed for a while in an eagle's nest,

And slept for a while on an eagle's breast,

And the eagle taught it the eagle's song:

"To be staunch and valiant and free and strong!"

The Lion whelp sprang from the eerie nest,

From the lofty crag where the queen birds rest;

He fought the King on the spreading plain,

And drove him back o'er the foaming main.

He held the land as a thrifty chief,

And reared his cattle and reaped his sheaf,

Nor sought the help of a foreign hand,

Yet welcomed all to his own free land!

Two were the sons that the country bore

To the Northern lakes and the Southern shore,

And Chivalry dwelt with the Southern son,

And Industry lived with the Northern one.

Tears for the time when they broke and fought!

Tears was the price of the union wrought!

And the land was red in a sea of blood,

Where brother for brother had swelled the flood!

And now that the two are one again,

Behold on their shield the word "Refrain!"

And the lion cubs twain sing the eagle's song,

"To be staunch and valiant and free and strong!"

For the eagle's beak and the lion's paw,

And the lion's fangs and the eagle's claw,

And the eagle's swoop and the lion's might,

And the lion's leap and the eagle's sight,

Shall guard the flag with the word "Refrain!"

Now that the two are one again!

Here's to a cheer for the Yankee ships!

And "Well done, Sam," from the mother's lips!

War is unquestionably a terrible thing. As General Sherman put it, "war is hell." But there are other terrible and yet necessary things, also, such as the operations of surgery and the infliction of the death penalty.

War is justifiable, when waged, as the present one unquestionably is, from purely unselfish motives, simply from a determination to rescue a people whose sufferings had become unbearable to them and to the lookers-on. The United States, by its action, has set a lesson for the rest of the world, which the latter will not be slow to learn and for which future generations will bless the name of America.

Nobly are we following out the precepts of our forefathers, who declared in one of the most magnificent documents ever framed: