Dodgeville chronicle. [volume] (Dodgeville, Wis.) 1862-current, 1868-12-18
THE PRES IDENT,s MESSAGE.
.lcoNTMuEp FROM FIRST PAeE.l


entered into last year by the United States
and Nicaragua has been ratified by the
latter republic. y : Csf5
Costa RIGA, with the earnestness OF a
sincerely friendly neighbor, solicts re-
ciprocity of trade; which | commend to
the consideration of Congress.
The convention created by treaty be-
tween the United States and Venezuela, in
July, 1865, for the mutual adjustment of
claims, has been held, and its decisions
have been recorded at the Department OF
State.
The heretofore recognized Government
of United States Of Venezuela has been
subverted, provisional government haV-
ing been Instituted under circumstances
which promise durability. 1t has been
formally recognized
have been reluctantly obliged to ask
explanation and satisfaction for national
injuries committed by the President of
Hayti. The political and social condition
of Hayti and st. Domingo is very unsatis-
factory and painful The abolition OF
slavery, which has been carried into eff
feet throughout the island of ST. Domingo,
and the entire West Indies, except the
Spanish islands of Cuba and Porto Rico,
has been followed by profound popular
conviction Of the rightfulness of republi-
can institutions, and an Intense desire to Sc
cure them The attempt, however, to es-
tablish republics there, encounters many
obstacles, most of which may be supposed
to result from long-indulged habits of colo
NAL supineness and dependence upon
European monarchical powers.
While the United States have, on all oc-
casions, professed decided unwillingness
that any part of this continent, or OF its
adjacent islands, shall be made o theatre
for new establishment of monarchical
power, too little has been done by the
United States, on the other hand, to attach
the communities by which we are sur
rounded to our own country, or to lend
even moral support to the efforts they
are SO resolutely and so constantly
making to secure republican institutions
for themselves. 1t is indeed question OF
grave consideration whether our recent
and present example is not calculated to
check the growth and expansion OF free
principles, and make those communities
distrust, if not dread, a government which,
at will, consigns to military domination
States that are integral parts of our Fed
eral Union and, while ready to resist any
attempts by other nations 10 extend to
this hemisphere the monarchical instltu-
tons Of Europe, assumes to establish over
large portion of It's people arule more
absolute, harsh, and tyrannical than any
known to civilized power. .-..e
The acquisition of Alaska was made
with the view of extending the national
jurisdiction and republican principles in
the American hemisphere.
Believing that O. further step could be
AL - hn I To-
entered into a treaty with the King of
Denmark for the purchase of the islands
of St Thomas and st. John on the best
terms then attainable, and with the ex-
less consent of the people of those
islands. This treaty still remains under
consideration in the Senate. A new con-
vention has been entered into with Den
mark, enlarging the basis fixed for the
final ratification of the original treaty.
A comprehensive national policy would
seem to sanction the acquisition and in
corporation into our Federal Union of the
several adjacent continental and irsular
communities, as speedily as it can be done
peacefully, lawfully, and without any VIC
lation of national justice, faith, or honor.
Foreign possession or control of those
communities has hitherto hindered the
growth and impaired the influence of the
United States. Chronic revolution and
anarchy there would be equally injurious
Eachone of them, when firmly established
as an independent republic, or when incor-
porated into the United States, would be
new source Of strength and power.
Conforming my administration to these
principles, have on no occasion lent sup
port or federation to unlawful expeditions
set on foot upon the plea of republican
propagandism or of national extension of
ACKNOWLEDGMENT. The necessity, however,
of REFRESHING such unlawful movements
clearly indicates the duty which rests
upon the United States of adapting our
legislative action to the new circumstances
of decline of European monarchical power
and influence, and the increase of Ameri-
can republican ideas, and interests, and
sympathies. ~ = 49, ~ '.s
1t cannot be long before it will become
necessary for this Government to lend
some effective aid to the solution of the
political and social problems which are
continually kept before the world by the
two Republics of the Island of st. Do
mingo, and which are now disclosing them
selves more distinctly than heretofore in
the Island of Cuba. The subject is COM
mended to your consideration, with all
the more earnestness because am salts
fed that the time has arrived when even
so direct q proceeding as proposition for
annexation of the two Republics OF
the Island of st. Domingo would not only
receive the consent of the people interest
ed, but would also give satisfaction to all
other foreign nations.
am aware that, upon the question OF
further extending our possessions, it is ap-
pretended by some that our political sys-
tenn cannot successfully be applied to an
area more extended than our continent;
but the conviction is rapidly gaining
ground in the American mind, that, with
the increased facilities for intercommuni-
catien between all portions of the
earth, principles Of free government as
embraced in our Constitution, if faithfully
maintained and carried out, would prove
of sufficient strength and breadth to COM
prehend within their sphere and influence
the civilized nations of the world.
The attention of the Senate and of Con-
gress is again respectfully invited to the
treaty for the establishment of CONNER
cial reciprocity with the Hawaiian king
dom, entered into last year, and already
ratified by that government. The attitude
of the United States toward these islands
is not very different from that in which it
stands towards the West Indies. 1t is
known and felt by the Hawaiian govern
ment and people that their government
and institutions are feeble and precarious,
and that the United States, being so near
neighbor, would be unwilling to see the
Islands passed under foreign control.
Their prosperity is continually disturbed
by expectations and alarms of unfriendly
political proceedings, as well from the