The conference met at Ostend on the 9th of October, 1854, and adjourned to Aix-la-Chapelle, where notes were prepared.  Mr. Soule, then our Minister to Spain, said in a letter to Mr. Marcy, transmitting the joint report:  “The question of the acquisition of Cuba by us is gaining ground as it grows to be more seriously agitated and considered.  Now is the moment for us to be done with it, and if it is to bring upon us the calamity of war, let it be now, while the great powers of this continent are engaged in that stupendous struggle which cannot but engage all their strength and tax all their energies as long as it lasts, and may, before it ends, convulse them all.  Neither England nor France would be likely to interfere with us.  England could not bear to be suddenly shut out of our market, and see her manufactures paralyzed, even by a temporary suspension of her intercourse with us.  And France, with the heavy task now on her hands, and when she so eagerly aspires to take her seat as the acknowledged chief of the European family, would have no inducement to assume the burden of another war.”

The result of this conference is so interesting in its application to present conditions that its reproduction is required to make intelligible the whole story of Cuba, and we give it here: 

The Ostend manifesto.

Sir:  The undersigned, in compliance with the wish expressed by the president in the several confidential despatches you have addressed to us respectively, to that effect, we have met in conference, first at Ostend, in Belgium, on the 9th, 10th, and 11th instant, and then at Aix-la-Chapelle, in Prussia, on the days next following, up to the date hereof.

There has been a full and unreserved interchange of views and sentiments between us, which we are most happy to inform you has resulted in a cordial coincidence of opinion on the grave and important subjects submitted to our consideration.

We have arrived at the conclusion, and are thoroughly convinced that an immediate and earnest effort ought to be made by the government of the United States to purchase Cuba from Spain at any price for which it can he obtained, not exceeding the sum of $...

The proposal should, in our opinion, be made in such a manner as to be presented through the necessary diplomatic forms to the Supreme Constituent Cortes about to assemble.  On this momentous question, in which the people, both of Spain and the United States, are so deeply interested, all our proceedings ought to be open, frank and public.  They should be of such a character as to challenge the approbation of the world.

We firmly believe that, in the progress of human events, the time has arrived when the vital interests of Spain are as seriously involved in the sale, us those of the United States in the purchase, of the island, and that the transaction will prove equally honorable to both nations.