The evening telegraph. [volume] (Philadelphia [Pa.]) 1864-1918, 1870-05-16

should take possession of the island IT would
be at the expense Of engaging in difficult,
costly. and uncertain civil war. Both Gene
raj Banks and Mr.. Fitch, who were the prin-
oipal speakers of the occasion, carefully
avoided all those points, confining them
selves to interesting phrases respecting the
prooress of humanity, the American eagle,
and the manifest destiny of the United
States As for doing anything to bring the
public mind to the support of the Dominican
treaty, this meeting was a total failure.
In the year 1861 Spain undertook the ex-
pertinent to which we are now invited. She
annexed st. Domingo. The people of the
country gave their consent with greater ap-
parent unanimity than they have now given
it to annexation to the United States There
was then no civil war in the republic, all
apparently acquiescing in the Government
Of President Santana. The annexation being
completed, an army of twenty thousand
Spanish soldiers was sent to maintain order
in the new possession. This army was re-
inforced from time to time. 1t contended
with obstinacy against the civil war which
soon broke out, and which it was found i'm
possible to put down. Finally, in 1865, the
Spanish forces were withdrawn, leaving
twenty-five thousand soldiers buried in Do
minican soil. The whole operation entailed
upon the Spanish Government an addition to
their public debt of more than twenty-five
millions of dollars.
Is there any reason to suppose that the
United States will be more fortunate i'll st.
Domingo than Spain was Spain took there
laws essentially the same as those of the re-
public; the language of her soldiers and civil
lians was that of the country; her social habits
and usages were the same: her religion was
the same. We differ from the Dominicans
in all these respects. We shall carry to the
island forms and modes of law to which the
l. 80 lo,<
alien to their ears; our manners and customs
are unlike any to which they have been habit
uated. In religion we tolerate everything
except that enforced uniformity to which they
have been wonted. In addition to this, we
find there a long established civil war,
already on the point of overthrowing and ex-
pelling from the country the Government
with which they have undertaken to treat. Is
it probable that under such circumstances we
shall be able to hold the istand after we have
annexed it?
With thirty thousand soldiers in st. Do.
mingo, Spain had to suffer the humiliation of
abandoning it. How large an army will it
require to protect us against such disgrace
Certainly not less than fifty thousand men.
Nor can fifty men, -of-war avail to blockade the
coast, and keep out those who would attempt
to furnish arms and materials of war to our
enemies in the interior. The expense of an
ueAluB Ot DOnlHBO, anu ol uOlulnS IL lor u
| single year by means of such military and
naval force, cannot be less than 5000, 900, 900.
Nor at the end of the year, or of any period
that can be estimated beforehand, shall we
be relieved from the necessity of maintain
ing our hold upon the island by an army and
! fleet. ...
| These are points upon which it would have
been agreeable to receive some positive in
formation from SO acute and clear-headed a
statesman as General Banks, or from so elo-
| quent an advocate of progress as Mr.. Fitch.
1t would even have been better than nothing
to have had an attempt made to cast light on
them by Mr.. Grinnell, Mr.. Russell, General
Cochrane, Judge Fithian, or any of the lesser
lights of the meeting. They might, perhaps,
have made clear to the public the advantages
of annexing a civil war in st. Domingo, with
the certainty of being called upon to spend
several hundreds of millions in putting il
down. But as no one has made any attempt
1 to elucidate these questions it must be as
sumed that all are unable to deal with them
and that the annexation scheme is nothing
| but an immense swindle which no practical
man can attempt to justify in a practica
manner. -l...r-sse sera frr LII r-.r