The Wheeling daily intelligencer. [volume] (Wheeling, W. Va.) 1865-1903, 1871-03-28
The Latest News.
SUMMERS SPEECH.
A Great Crowd to Hear Him-.Grave
Charges Of Unlawful Employment
Of the Navy.
WAsHIN0ToN, March 81.


the galleries Of the Senate were densely
crowded. The occupants were attracted
thither to hear Sumner speak. Many
were unable TO obtain even standing room
at the doors. There was an unusually
large unmber Of privileged persons on the
floor. Mr. Sumner commenced speaking
as soon as practicable after the Senate
was called to order. In his'opening para
graph he definitely asserts that It Is now
on evidence before the Senate that the
Navy Of the United States, acting under
orders from Washington, has been enaged
in measures Of violence and ofbelligrent
intervention, being war, without the
authority Of Congress. The whole busi.
ness, he adds, Is aggravated when 1t Is
considered that the declared object OF this
violence is the acquisition Of foreign ter.
ritory, being the half Of un island In the
Caribbean Sea; and still further, that this
violence hds been employed, first to
maintain aweak ruler; himseIfan usurper,
upholding him in power that he might
sell his country; and, secondly, 1t has been
employed to menace the black republic Of
Hayti. Such course, Mr.. sumner con.
tinues, is too grave for silence; for the sake
of the navy, the administration Of Repub.
lican institutions, and for the sake Of the
Republican party, which cannot afford to
become responsible for such conduct, the
case must not pass without inquiry. But
beyond all these considerations Is the
commanding rule Of justice, and the eVi.
dence shows too clearly that means have
been employed for the acquisition Of San
Domingo which cannot be justified.
He had supposed that the proceedings
regarding the treaty for annexation were
blameless until while 1t was pending be.
fore the Senate the Assistant Secretary OF
State brought him number OF dispatches,
among which was one from our Consular
Agent there, who signed the treaty Of
annexation, from which 1t was distinctly
proved that Baez, while engaged In sell.
ing his country, was maintained In power
by the navy ofthe United States. Other
evidence has accumulated to show that
We were engaged in forcing upon weak
people the sacrifice oftheir country. The
State Department and Navy Department
each contained record Of disgraceful
and deplorable proceedings, and still they
pressed the consummation Of the story Of
Naboth's vineyard was renewed. Unless
reports at tho State and Navy Depart.
ment are discredited, it Is obvious beyond
doubt that our government has seized
war powers carefully guarded by the
Constitution, and without tho authority
Of Congress has employed them to trample
on the Independence and equal rights Of
two nations co.equal with ours, The
Senator then characterized Baez and
Grant as copartners In the melancholy af.
fair, and carefully reviews the history OF
the former and his unscrupulous usurpa-
ton; recites the origin Of the scheme an.
nexing half Of the Island, which Is gener-
ally known, concluding with the exClama-
tion of the Duke Of Wellington: "There
can be no such thing, my Lords, as little
war" The Senator asserted that there
may 10 war without q battle, and 80 our
navy has thus far conquered without q
shot, but its presence in Hayti and Domi-
nicia was war. He then minutely re-
viewed the testimony to this effect furnish
cd by the State and Navy Departments,
from which 1t appears that the very agent
who signed the treaties, officially re-
ported that q usurper was maintained
In power by our generals. But interven-
ton In Dominica Is only one part Of the
story. Even according to the reluctant
confession OF the Navy Department to
effect and secure this much coveted terri
tory, our Government, not content with
maintaining the usurper Baez in power
and occupying the harbors OF Dominica
with war ships OF the United States, sent
other war ships, being none other than
our powerful monitor Dictator, with the
frigate Severn as consort, and with yet
other monitors in their train, to menace
the black Republic Of Hayti by an act Of
war. An American Admiral was found
tc do this thing, and an American Minis.
ter, himself OF African blood, was found
to aid the Admiral The dispatch Of the
Secretary OF State, who wrote this act OF
war, Is not communicated TO the Senate,
but we are sufficiently enlightened by that
oil our Minister at Port Au Prince, who,
under date of the nth of February, 1870,
informs the State Department in Washing
ton that he had transmitted to the Hayti-
en- Government q notification that the
United States asked and expected
1t to observe q strict neutrality
in reference 10 the internal affairs Of
San Domingo. This assault upon the in.
dependence and equality Of the black re-
public, Mr.. Sumner adds, appears more
fully in the report Of the Navy Depart
ment, which Is an authentic record Of
acts, flagrant and indelensible. Mr.. Sum-
ner proceeds to show that this conduct Is
gross violation Of international law
and Of the Constitution oil the United
States, and every employment OF those
war powers in pursuance Of this assump-
ton was IN usurpation, and that assump-
ton In the San Domingo treaty Is eXcep-
tional and abnormal, being absolutely with.
out precedent. But, continues Mr.. Sum-
ner, even admitting some remote indefinite
semblance, excuse or apology, during the
pendency Of the treaty, all Of which ! In.
sist is absurd and beyond question, though
not entirely impossible in a quarter In-
used TO constitutional questions and heed.
ing them little; conCeding that the as
sumpsit inserted in the treaty by the Sec
rotary Of State had deceived the Presl'
dentin the idea that he possessed q King
| " prerogative, declaring war at his owr
mere notion, and wishing to deal mos
gently, even with an undoubted usurpa
lion and Kingly prerogatiye, so long ~
the Secretary Of State, the sworn counsel
lor Of the President, supplied a iormult
for the usurpation, land you viii bear wit
ness that I have done nothing but stat
the case), 1t Is hard to hold back whel
the same usurpation Is openly prolongeC
after the Senate had rejected the treaty OF
which the exercise Of a Klngly preroga
live was founded, and when the assumpsi
devised by a Secretary ofSate, had passei
into limbo Of things lost on earth. Her
there Is no remote infnitessimal Of excus,
or arOlogy-nothing, absolutely nothing