Green-Mountain freeman. [volume] (Montpelier, Vt.) 1844-1884, 1871-04-12

people are uneducated" The population is
$50 900. and there are " four schools " and
vet the island has been inhabited and gov
erned by civilized people fer nearly four
hundred years. The commissioners, how
ever, found = basis of original talent, y and
a q desire - that somebody would educate
them. There is one printing ofhce, Every
small and poorly equipped . in the repub-
lie, which shows what a good Democratic
constituency the Dominicans would proba-
bly, make Cabral, Baez, JEFF Davis, Fer
nando Wood, or almost any politician of that
description, could make good use of such a
people.
. The condition of the people is by no
means hopeless :" but inasmuch as there has
been nothing to hinder their making sumo
thing of themselves for thirty years or more
since they have pretended to be republic,
except their own irresistible propensity for
revolution, and getting into trouble gener-
ally, their capacity for selfgovernment must
be rather slow /" germ. "
The population of the republic is MT
known, and the means Of estimating it are
so poor that estimates vary from $50, 900 to
over 2O0, 900; and it is evidently diminish
ing Nineteen twentieths of this popula-
ton are natives which gives one an idea
how rapidly it is likely to be increased by
immigration. White people don't a. settle y
there they q" sojourn."
There Is abundance of iron ore copper
ore Of g fair degree of richness " ; gold
mines long ago abandoned a nearly worth
less coal and poor quality of salt. The
soil is rich, and viii produce all growths Of
tropical regions, including cotton, tobacco,
coffee and sugar cane but the island i'm
ports beet sugar from France, butter and
cheese from Denmark, and condensed milk
from the United States. Indigo is also i'm
ported, although the article can be produced
without difficulty in the island. There il
not an iron plow in the republic nor did
the commissioners find many snakes or scor-
| pions.
! The commissioners (who, it must be re-
membered, get their information on this point
/ from Baez and his friends) think the island
quite healthy. The fact that white people,
French and English, and Spanish soldiers
who have gone there, have died off rapidly
does mt stagger the commissioners or this
head, because natives do n die so rapidly
and these soldiers must therefore have viola
ted the laws of health. We venture the as
sertion, however, that not one Of the com
missioners could be induced to 90 there mex
September and try the climate.
There were no earthquakes or hurricane
in the island while the commissioners wer,
there hence they infer they are too uncom
mon to be worth noticing.
The debt of the republic is about 81 500,
600. besides some " claims F." not recognized
Of this sum 5000, 900 is - unpaid salaries >
Baez (the commissioners forgot to say want
to be annexed, as $l5O,OOO of this is du,
him q unpaid salary" This " account
| for the milk in that cocoa-nut.'
The boundary line between Hayti and Do
minica is unsettled no evidence Of grant,
or concessions of lands, &c, to any one con
nected wit our government was found, al
though Fabens, Cazeneau, and other Domin
leans pressing annexation, had large g" con
! cessions ." Baez wants the United States 1,
give 800, 600 acres Of land to found col
\ lege; the :. independence Of the Dominican
republic is impossible - on account of tn,
readiness Of the people to engage IN revolu
tions, and they want a " strong government
to keep them from cutting each other
throats their . independence - is now onl
a . shadow -; they viii give themselye
away to some other government if we do no
accept the q sweet boon -; and if Dominic
were annexed slave labor would be unproft
able in the neighboring islands, and woul
be abandoned.
The commissioners found Hayti ugly, an
opposed to annexation, as well as DESTROYS 0
controlling the whole island.
Such is the substance of this report. /
contains, in fact, nothing not known before
and does not controvert a single position ia
ken hitherto by the opponents of annexa
ton. The true question is not, and ha
never been, whether the condition of tn
Domincans would not be improved if thi
government would take charge of them, an
compel them into some sort Of peaceable be
havior, but it has been whether annexatio
would on the whole benefit the Unite
States. We are not just now in need of an
additional disorderly and revolutionary POI
ulations When free institutions have to b
preserved at home by the bayonet, there
really little propriety or craftsmanship j
extending the area in which that weapon
to be used and certainly if we have an
idea of preserving a government of the pee
pie, instead of changing our Republic into
government by force, we had better patien
ly work out our own problems of reconstru
ton, and let other peoples work out theirs.