.: ^^a. ^ -a? ^^ .'^ G' .,-^^ A^ • '■°- <^ i? •I.>C»'» ^ v' ,■ «1> * ° aV ■^ 5 » ■■ ^ ^■ ■• 'ij'' . j\ —11.1,11 iiir vS- v<_*. '-' w// >Ji< Wv , ^'—1 \\> .\^— =(iy, , ' yt — ^ v> v%> ,0 f-^4^^ A ^^ -o . . * A^ ^ ^ *'l ANNEXATION OF DOMINICA. SPEECH HON. >. vT OF i:isri>i.:^:NrA., DKI.TVKKKl) IN THE SENATE OF THE U N I T l^: D 8 T A T E S , DECEMBER 2t, 1S70. WASHINGTON: F. & J. RIVES & GEO. A. BAILEY, rEPORTEKS AND PRINTERS OP TIIK DKBATKS OF CONGKKSS. 1870. ^. ^ ANNEXATION OF DOMINICA The Senate having under consideration the joint resolution (S. R. No. 262) in relation to the republic of Dominica, as follows: llesohed, etc., That the President of the United States be authorized to appoint three commissipners. ?nd also a secretary, (the latter to be versed in the English and Spanish languages,) to. proceed to the inland of San Domingo, and to inquire into, ascer- ^''"l^'Thc'^poliUcLTstate and condition of the republic "^''^Thed'es^iVe and disposition of the people of the =aid republic to become annexed to and to lorm part ofthe people of the United States. V The physical, mental, and moral condition of the said people, and their general condition as to material wealth and industrial capacity. . 4 The resources of the country, its. mineral and a-ricultural products, the products ot its waters and l\TrV.mself aid-de-camp to tl.o tli-at lie liid sty e« p,.gg-,je„t, it wo yiere President, u ny, -ui. ^^^ :f lint was be- value ot^hJ interrogatories that are to be the President should privately "«« J>^^;" ^^,. , ence with members of Congress or of the Sen_ r,,. to brin- about its ratihcation. bir, tt p a,( to 1'""° "^ , . 'Yi^^ protocol was pu- "' :w';n.r wa not attacLd to the treaty ; - valely maae, '•''y .„eatv ; but it made no "'" i'lon'that the PreS't' should privately 1 Siu^ ee n "nbers of Congress or try to do so ; g„uen over, and tl i.jt ' J«» ,„,-,e, „„im- : ;:",.\:'"°?h^;si?, h'a)o„.ssed ,,imseir, as ^ »t-"E HEE i-r^iX ; i !S*£bx:idS^s^^? feiri^^sSonvi?^''^ obiection is frivolous, and I pass it by. The Senator began his speech by sayu gtliat this soluSinavV-teda-'danceotbood^^ This was a tremendous sentence, and bur.t imon The Senate like a rocket in the air, which Xays leaves darkness just after ; and I would £fkk^=u^i:?i:^?\:ft^^ t;^s:^t^^iyt-^d^nKS^S; ''Shl^'Sn that my resolution cre- ate^thle^offiLs whose pay is g^^^^^^^ ^^T^^d ^ hear Ihis • The'sTSute tLt he read ^f^v^orfmMi of diplomatic and commercial lie t, a ^ermLnent Jfficer that is described as Kmnmilsioner, like the commissioner to he Sandwich Islands, and does "^^ ^'f. ^\^\V;^ such commissioners as are Provided tor in tm^ mat enUiplomatic officer such as vve have a. ht Sandwich Islands and at other places. We .ve comm ssioners to examine twenty miles f rniUvav and to do various other ihmgs. ' "^ AT, CONKLING. That statute does uot reil 'to^i^y commissioners except those named inthe stLute itself. They are specifically '"Mr''MORTON. Certainly, the commis- "^°"ieSfa'saT:;Smeroto"l,£eS l«SlS?Srfn^t , annexation. Is there one woi ii for this statement? Is ^^'7. ^.frJ^^^'^T^o under ' notfavortheamiexationofSanUomm his present ,conv.ctions to be k.ghten^ ^^^^^_ SSSSEMoiS San Don»»S»'°»J=T''=TUt repot is^to be S^^^s^^S >^ '°iSe"trs -:-=a=5£H-s: £fL°S;rngTe'r'iLSr to provide that 6. tlieyshould have no authority to give their opinion at all. They are simply to report the lacts, and we are to pass upon them. So nobody need be frightened against the resolu- tion by saying that it commits Congress to the policy of annexation. 'J'hen, again, he says the resolution is unne- cessary because the President has full power lo appoint the commissioners without it. Why, ihis_ IS a most astonishing argument! After liavmg pressed upon us with great force that Mie appointment of Babcock was a usurpation, and that his negotiation was a crime, the Sen- ator comes back- and tells us that this commis- sion IS wholly unnecessary, the President has power to appoint commissioners without any act of Congress to go there and do all that we propose they shall do, and even more! V.liy, sir, suppose the President had taken that authority without consulting us, would he not have been denounced fiercely for usurpa- j tion? Would this commission not have been ' denounced as a mere prrvate agency on his port— and so it would have been— for the pur- pose of aiding him in a most iniquitous scheme "^ ^o, sir; we took a different view of it ; and the President, allow me to say, has no power to appoint a commission like this; he has no power to provide a secretary; he has no power to inake the provisions that are contained in this resolution. Then, again, the Senator calls Baez, Cabral, i'al)ens, and Babcock jockeys ^^!''- ;'t!I')^^''^^'^- Not Cabral ; Cazneau. Mr. MORJ ON. Ah ! not Cabral ; that revo- lutionist is in favor, is he? A mere adventurer who for the last two years has not had four Jiuiidred men under his command at anytime, and has kept himself in the mountains of Hayti, and has not been in Dominica except upon one occasion, when he ran over, I believe, to Azua and was immediately driven back. Per- haps 1 do not name correctly the place to which he went, but it is near to the boundary line between Dominica and Hayti. Why, sir, he is a mere commander of banditti who does not and has not endangered the government of tiaez ; but he has all the time been presented in the consideration of this question as a for- midable leader, with great strength behind him, and not to be resisted except by the naval force that the President has put at the command of isaez to keep him in power! Ah! Mr. President, Cabral has been made good use of during this discussion of San Do- mingo. He has been presented constantly as a great difticulty, as an impending and threat- ening danger only to be overcome by the mili- tary power of the United States, a mere leader ot banditti ; and the evidence so far as I have seen it— and I think my investigations have been almost as extended as those of the Senator from Massachusetts— has never for a moment presented him as having any power to dis- turb the stability of the Baez government in Uommica. But, then, he comes to the charge that we liave kept Baez in power by three ships of war stationed upon that coast, and that the treaty vvas negotiated under the guns of that fleet. Admiral Poor has been denounced in the bitterest terms for his conduct in recrard to Dominica and Hayti. Why, sir, I "should regard this as a very serious statement if it did not appear to me to be ridiculous. With all respect to the distinguished Senator from Mas- sachusetts, It seems to me that he has over- drawn this thing in a manner that can only be described as ridiculous or ludicrous. These revolutionists are not sea-going people. Thev have no fleet. Their field-of operations, small as It is, is inland and among the mountains. Buc they have been kept in subjection by rhe three frigates of Admiral Poor! We must understand that the admiral has marched those frigates across the island and through the mountains, doubtless with a large crew of horse marines, that have kept this Cabral and Ills powerful army under subjection' Why sir, the character of the danger, wluttever it has been, that may have menaced Baez has been inland among the mountains, where the guns of Admiral Poor could not reach and wliere his voice was never heard. And yet sir, the country is to be startled, a wonderful sensation is to be created by the statemunc Itiat this treaty was negotiated under the guns of this fleet, and that Baez has been keot in power by its presence ! Mr. President, the truth is simple ; it lies upon_ the surface ; I have been long satisfied WJth It; and I confess to you that, so far as I am concerned, I do not require the investic-a- tion on many of these points to satisfv my mind. But while I may be satisfied others may not be. The great truth is that men of all parties in San Domingo are in fUvor of an- nexation. The evidence is that the followers even of Cabral are for it, and that Cabral him- self has been in favor, and is now in f^xvor of annexation. He undoubtedlv would like to make the treaty or to conclude the nee compassed iind uiiiin- tained are to be foreseen and surmounted both IVom at home and abroad ; but there arc laws of political as well as of physical gravitation, and if an ainde severed by the tempest from its native tree cannot choose but fall to the ground, Cuba, forcibly dis- joined from its own unnatural connection with Spain and incapable of self-support, can gravitate only toward the North American Union, wliich, by the same law of nature, cannot cast her oft' from its bosom." Sir, I regard it as destiny not to be averted by the Senato/ from Massacliusetts nor Ijy any power that wo shall acquire San Domingo and Cuba and Porto Rico. I referred yesterday to an official statement in regard to the com- merce of Cuba and Porto Rico. It is an offi- cial document, which shows that the commerce of those two islands with the United States for the year ending July 1, ISO'J, was S8S,1()2,- G70. Of that amount seventy-three millions and upward were imports into this country from those two islands, leaving a balance of trade against us of fifty-eight millions to be paid in money. During the same time our entire com- merce with the British possessions, with all Canada, Nova Scotia, New Brunswick, and the British West Indies, inclusive, was only $72,000,000. The entire commerce with Mexico and all the South American republics during the same time was only $72,000,000. I have also an authority here, (Allison's History of Europe) — I do not know that I can find the particular passage, but I have had occasion to refer to it in the course of the discussion of this question — showing that in 1789, before the revolutions in San Domingo had destroyed her prosperity, the commerce of that island alone, including Hayti, if I re- member correctly, was over eighty million dol- j lars, justifying what I paid awhile ago, that San Domingois the richest piece of earth. Why, sir, it is a great natural cabinet of all the choicest productions of the world; and San Domingo alone, which if we get it will cost us but very little, is worth to us commercially, socially, and in every other way, fifty Alaskas, for the acqui- sition of which my friend from Massachusetts was greatly in earnest, and in the bringing about of which he had a large influence. But I know there is talk about the popula- tions of these countries. Sir, they are friendly to us now, and will rapidly incorporate and consolidate with the people of this nation in case of acquisition. They will become con- solidated and absorbed in this great people long before the people of Canada will be con- verted to annexation. The Senator from Mas- sachusetts is greatly in favor of the acquisition of all the Canadas, and I shall be, too, when the time comes, but I tell him that the most unreasonable, the most unconquerable, and ob- 8 Btinate thing in this world is a British preju- dice, and that the people of Canada are fur- ther from us to-day, and are less inclined to annexation at this time, than they were thirty years ago. When they are ready to come peace- ably, and are anxious for it, I am ready to receive them ; but the line of demarkation be- tween them and ns in point of feeling and senti- ment would still remain distinct long after that between us and the people of San Domingo and Cuba would be obliterated. I remember, when the proposition was made to annex California and New Mexico, what fear- ful pictures were drawn of the character of the New Mexican population, and yet there is not to-day a more loyal people to this Government than the people of New Mexico.^ The Deople of San Domingo, as I have said before,"! believe are almost to a man in favor of annexation. I believe that is the feeling with the great majority ofthe people of Hayti. lam satisfied that itis the feeling of an overwhelm- ing majority of the people of Cuba. But we are not now dealing with that island. We are only addressing ourselves to the question of San Domingo ; and I do not propose further to examine the general merits of the question of annexation. This resolution expresses no opinion on either side. It simply seeks to lay before this Con- gress and before the American people the great facts upon which we should determine whether we will annex San Domingo or not. The Sen- ator from Massachusetts stands up here and opposes information. He, the great advocate of knowledge upon all ordinary occasions, is now utterly opposed to obtaining it on this subject. 1 was struck with the argument of the Sen- ator from Delaware [Mr. Bayard] this after- noon. He said, forsooth, that this resolution was unnecessary, because the President him- self was able to lay before us all the informa- tion we needed. The President has come into great favor very suddenly with the Senator from Delaware, who argued that we need not to inquire for ourselves, we need not send to San Domingo for the facts, because the Presi- dent knew them all, and we ought to be satis- iied with what he might lay before us. I will say to the Senator from Delaware that the President gave us the result of his knowledge in his message. If the Senator accepts that as sufficient, then he is justified in his statement; not otherwise. Now, Mr. President, I have said about all I desire to say on this subject. I have referred to every point made by the Senator from Mas- sachusetts. In conclusion I would say that his points, almost without exception, are wholly immaterial, considered with reference to the inquiry as a new thing. We are now propos- ing to start out on another basis. If we are to ha°ve a treaty, it is to be a new treaty. It may be that we would prefer a joint resolution, as in the case of Texas. But all these things are in . the future. This resolution does not propose to determine any of those questions, but sim- ply to get the facts and leave them for the con- sideration of Congress and the nation. But the Senator wants this resolution referred to the Committee on Foreign Relations. \yhy, sir, we have had a report from that committee yesterday and to-day. At least three distin- guished members of it have reported against this resolution. They made strong speeches denouncing it from beginning to end, the Sen- ator from Missouri, [Mr. Sciiprz,] as one member of the committee, describing it as a humbug and a sham. After that committee has thus made a report in open Senate, and given its opinion against this resolulion iii every 4)ossible aspect, the Senator from Mas- sachusetts desires it still to be referred to that committee for a second report. I do not think the second report would be any improve- ment upon the first. I am satisfied that the less we have of that kind of report the_ better. , That committee has expressed its sentiments., The motion is for delay, and can result only in holding this resolution back to such a late hour as will, perhaps, forbid action during the \ session. _ \ Now, sir, as a matter of fairness to all— and ' I appeal as well to those who were unfavor- able to the proposition of annexation of San Domingo before as to those who were in favor of it, I appealed in the very beginning to the Senator from Massachusetts to favor this ex- amination — let us have the facts fairly and impartially stated; not something to be dis- puted, not something to be asserted by the Senator from Massachusetts and to be denied by myself or some other Senator, but some statement authoritatively made to which we can all appeal, and by that we will consent to stand or fall. If that statement shall show ^nraa/aci'e that we ought not to annex Domin- ica I shall be as earnestly opposed to it as the Senator from Massachusetts. But if it shall do what I believe it will do, show that the annex- ation of San Domingo would be profitable, that it would be expedient in every sense of view, then I shall be earnestly in favor of it. ^^ ^ •7 3. -r O ,0' ^-^ A y .V ^ A A C 0^ .^^ .'^ .4 ^^ v^ ">> C^ .0^ 4' rO .^^ .^^ '^0^ ^0 ^P;, ''^ <^^ %. '^'"'° ^^ ^> "^^o^ ^^^ f >?.° ^p> "'^ .V '^^^ " = ''° a'^ ^?^ "'^ ^r i* :'M/A% *- •-^' /J^\ "\/ iMg' %^^^ *'" .^^ ^ ^^ ^. • "-^/ -'Mi'. %/ J" % f-^ * DOBBS BROS. '' , ^ LIBRARY BINDING ^V ST. AUGUSTINE "-^ jftUGUSTINE "-^r^