Ostend manifesto.
In July, 1853, William L. Marcy, the Secretary of State, wrote to Pierre Soule, American minister at Madrid, directing him to urge upon the Spanish government the sale or cession of Cuba to the United States. Nothing more was done until after the affair of the Black Warrior in the winter of 1854. In April, 1854, Mr. Soule was instructed and clothed with full power to negotiate for the purchase of the island. In August the Secretary suggested to Minister Buchanan in London, Minister Mason at Paris, and Minister Soule at Madrid the propriety of holding a conference for the purpose of adopting measures for a concert of action in aid of negotiations with Spain. They accordingly met at Ostend, a seaport town in Belgium, Oct. 9, 1854. After a session of three days they adjourned to Aix-la-Chapelle, in Rhenish Prussia, and thence they addressed a letter, Oct. 18, to the United States government embodying their views. In it they suggested that an earnest effort to purchase Cuba ought to be immediately made at a price not to exceed $120,000,000, and that the proposal should be laid before the Spanish Cortes about to assemble. They set forth the great advantage that such a transfer of political jurisdiction would be to all parties concerned; that the oppression of the Spanish authorities in Cuba would inevitably lead to insurrection and civil war; and, in conclusion, recommended that, in the event of the absolute refusal of Spain to sell the island, it would be proper to take it away from its “oppressors” by force. In that event, the ministers said, “we should be justified by every law, human and divine, in wresting it from Spain, if we possess the power.” President Pierce did not think it prudent to act upon the advice of these ministers, and Mr. Soule. dissatisfied with his prudence, resigned his office and returned home.