Washington sentinel. [volume] (City of Washington [D.C.]) 1853-1856, 1855-10-23
From The Union Of Friday las,.
From the Union OF FRIDAY last.
Our Relations with Dominiea-The Inter
ference OF France and EngIand-Gen-
eraI Cazneau's Mission.

erai Cazneau's Mission.
The anti-American journals of Europe have
largely occupied themselves, in concert with
their faithful allies-the dsunion press of this
country-in misrepresenting the motives and
circumstances of the treaty which / had con-
cluded with the Dominican republic, but which
was afterwards set aside by the hostile inter-
ference of France and England. This was to
be expected; for the enemies of American pro-
gress instinctivey favor any attack on the in
ternal peace or national greatness of our repub-
lican Union, and naturally oppose whatever
tends TO give the United States preeminence
over the European kingdoms Of their idolatry.
1t such thing exists as an American sys-
tenn Of policy" the Dominican republic had
the strongest claims on the friendly notice of
our government, and, at the solicitation of
many Spanish American friends who felt the
| importance of the crisis, / caused those claims
and the condition of that country to be laid be-
| fore President Pierce at the commencement of
| his administration.
| It's geographical vicinity and central posi-
ton were urged in behalf Of interests common
to both nations as well as its desirable harbors;
| its valuable enthusiastically what our coun-
| try does not produce, and must purchase; its
enthusiastically what our people can supply on
the best terms; its commanding situation at
the intersection of the great and growing lines
| OF American commerce; its free and liberal in
situations; its expressed wish to enter into
closer relations with its "great neighbor of the
north; and, not least among those considera-
tons, the significant fact-which no American
patriot can, and which no American statesman
will overlook-that this neglected republic is
the only territory in the whole circle of West
| India islands under American rule
This solitary foothold of American national
ity is struggling for life against the attempts of
Solouque to reduce it to negro despotsm. He
claims for the negroes, under the title they ac-
CURED by their former massacres of the whites,
the right to hold the remnant of the race in sub
lection, and to blot out civil and religious lib
erty at their pleasure. France and England
secretly foment these pretensions, and they are
sustained, more or less openly, by the leading
disunion journals in the United States
The Dominicans asked nothing but to be left
in the peaceful possession of their own patri-
mony and to receive from the United States
the moral aid of national recognition and the
encouragement of fair reciprocal treaty.
Their object was stable and independent ma
tionality, with free security of person, property,
and religion for all creeds, classes, and races;
and to serve the Dominican people in this ne
cessity also the soundest course of policy
for the United States.
In plain terms, these are the questions be.
| fore us: Shall the entire West Indies with
their one hundred thousand square miles of
territory, and their three millions of inhabi-
tants, be wholly Africanized and made the
implements of European opposition to Ameri-
can progress, or shall we encourage the Do
minican republic to maintain an independent
nationality and become the nucleus of an
American system in the Antilles? Shall the
allied powers, who boast that their position at
the gates Of the Gulf of Mexico enables them
. at any time TO cut in twain the commerce be.
tween the Northern aud Southern States" of
the Union, be permitted to increase this power
! by new encroachments, to exclude us alto.
gether, while they usurp SANTANA, the key of
the Caribbean sea, as they have before usurped
the control of San Juan, the invaluable inlet
of the Nicaragua route, and the Ruatan archi-
pelago, the general outport Of our isthmus
transit to California, or shall we be allowed to
| obtain by fair negotiation one haven of refuge
in our own American seas where we can treat
and trade without asking the consent of France
and England?
| IL can be no violation Of confidence or ETH
quette to say, in reply to the unjust imputa-
tons cast upon the President, that so far as /
have understood his views on the Dominican
question, they were only what he has declared
to the world in his inaugural address At no
time and in no way has he, to my knowledge,
gone one step beyond that document with re.
gard to my mission, and to stop short of it
ought to entail eternal disgrace on any Ameri,
can, be he President or private citizen.
1t is the systematic policy of France and
England to divide, degrade, and impoverish
the American republics, and many of their
most serious difficulties, as in the case of the
unfortunate Dominican republic, may be traced
to the intrigues Of European agents
They deprived this republic of the advan-
tages resulting from recognition by other
American pc Sers, and declared a kind Of Mos.
quito protectorate, which would exclude it
from entering into any treaty relations indie
pendent of their vile and policy. 1t is not
denied that their agents employed threats,
promises, and, finally, an open display of force,
to deter the Dominican Government from
completing the treaty it desired to enter into
with the United States. The members OF the
Dominican Congress, who gave me the most
conclusive evidence Of this interference, de.
clsred to me they considered both the legisla-
tive and executive powers under European
duress, and asked me to say, in good faith
whether believed the United States Govern
ment would defend the honor and freedom Of
these negotiations from European dictation.
IL was momentous question with the
! Dominican people; for, as one oftheir ministers
truly observed to me, 'if the powerful Ameri.
can Union submits TO the dictation Of the
allies, it cannot expect the feeble and unsup-
ported Dominican republic to resist their vile,
or to sacrifice, perhaps, its very existence in
support Of interests which the Americans will
not defend for themselves"
Whatever may be the requirements Of
European diplomacy, | know Of nothing in
! ours which makes it necessary for represen-
tatve Of the United States to sacrifice truth
| and honor; and ! replied candidly 10 this
appeal, that had full confidence in the patri-
otto intentions of the American Executive, and
that Congress had, in various FORMS asserted
that a firm resistance to European encroach-
ment on American soil was fundamental doc. |
trne of the American systems but / was obliged
to acknowledge it had permitted bare-faced VIC.
lations Of this principle by England at Near
aqua and Honduras, and it might, therefore
continue passive while France colonized the
Bay of SANTANA.