The Washington Daily Union

July 29, 1852, page 2

To the Editor of the Union:

Sir: I have noticed the translation into the columns of your paper of an editorial from the New York Courier and Enquirer, under the caption of "Important from Havana," in which the statement is made, that notwithstanding that paper's and the general impression formerly prevalent, that the Cuba revolution was a mere piratical foray, having no real origin among the residents of the island, it now has reason to doubt this view of the case. If anything was wanting to fill to overflowing the measure of indignities held to the lips of the Cuban exiles and their sympathizing friends throughout these States, it is produced in this bare faced and heartless avowal. For four years past the dungeons of the Morro and the cells of the "Presidios" of Africa have teemed with Cuba's noblest spirits, and the blood of patriots has freely flowed on her roads and scaffolds. Her exiles and fugitives from Spanish tyranny are broadcast upon foreign soil. Her more ardent sons, spurred by desperation, have four times attempted, with the individual aid of Americans, worthy of the noble name, to rescue her from thraldom. Four expeditions have, at immense sacrifice--even at the cost of the ornaments of Cuba's daughters--been contrived for Cuban freedom. Cuban jewelry and Cuban money have been added to American funds for the redeeming work. A Cuban "Junta" has openly and avowedly been formed, at the seat of government, for the promotion of Cuba's political interests, composed of men till then uncommitted towards the Spanish government, and who by this act brought upon their heads immediate sentence of death and confiscation of property. Their action has been the subject of a diplomatic correspondence between this government and the Spanish minister, which has been made public through the official journals. On the streets of Cardenas, and on the memorable fields of "Las Pozas" and "Cafetal de Frias," the blood of Cubans has mingled with the American, to fructify our virgin soil, and bring forth the aspiring tree of liberty. The names of Henderson, Sigur, O'Hara, Pickett, Hawkins, Morgan, Wheat, Kewen, Smith, Crockett, Allen, Breckenridge, Wilson, Knight, Davis, McCormeck, and a host of others, from the chivalric West and Southwest, and of O'Sullivan, Garnett, and Ellis, from the Atlantic border, have been treasured up by the Cubans for their self-sacrificing devotion to their cause, with those of the Sanchez, Agueros, Iznagas, Macias, Hernandez, Cruz, Tolon, and Villaverdes, of our own land; while the memories of Pragay, Crittenden, Logan, McCann, and scores of equally gallant and generous souls, are embalmed in their grateful hearts with those of Lopez, Gotay, Aguero, Oberto, Betancourt, Armenteros, and Agramonte, who cheerfully gave up their precious lives upon the altar of their redemption. The record of these events does not contain a single transaction, upon the land or upon the seas, unworthy of those proud votaries of Cuban regeneration. Papers have been printed at Puerto Principe at the same risks as the one now is at Havana which the Courier is pleased to quote. A whole population has, to a man--nay, to a woman--as Matanzas too well knows, abstained from public festivities on the occasion of the Queen's birthday; and for this offence were our people hurried to trans-Atlantic galleys. Over six thousand additional troops have been poured into the island, and almost the whole naval force of Spain now preys, together with an army of [...]0,000 soldiers, upon the toil of the Cuban laborer. A gendarmerie worthy of the days of Fouche has been established to pry into the movements and the thoughts of the mistrusted Cubans. Natives and Americans are equally harassed and banished when suspected of being suspicious; and not trusting to this Atlas of force and oppression which weighs upon our aspirations, the colossal moral and physical power of England and France, and the republican batteries of a Decatur, a Lawrence, and a Perry, are begged in aid, and obtained, to scour the Gulf, and to dispirit and overawe our unarmed population. Your very steamers, announcing on their periodical arrival to these shores that "all is quiet in Cuba"--do they not also proclaim with the same blast to the world, that this quietude may be expected to cease, and that if order reigns at Warsaw, another day may bring another sight?

And yet this overwhelming mass of facts has heretofore furnished no evidence to the conscientious Courier and its kindred prints, from which to pluck a belief that the acts of the patriots and their noble-hearted American friends were not piratical forays, and that there really existed in Cuba a revolutionary movement. But one merchant comes from Havana in the Cherokee, and makes a statement to the Courier and shows it a paper, and, presto, the veil is rent; light succeeds to darkness, and credit to defamation. With such a recantation avaunt! We do not want it; we can do best without it. Persevere in the task so cruelly commenced by your time-serving Chief. The ides of November are near at hand. When they be over you will unsay your present tale, and will fall back upon your callous instincts. I shall before that time, if my health is spared, give to the people a brief history of our transactions, and in the name of Cuba, an humble exile, but with the word of truth, appeal to their justice.

I am, sir, very respectfully, your obedient servant,

AMBROSIO JOSE GONZALEZ,

Chief of the staff of Narciso Lopez