The Portland daily press., 1871-03-30
Gross ExaggerRtiOns by the Enemies Of the
Administration.


Gross Exaggerations by the Enemies Of the
Administration.
A reaction favorable to Gen. Grant if not TO
the scheme of annexation, is sure to come
when the people once comprehend the sys-
TEN of deliberate exaggera!ion that has been
adopted by gentlemen who desire 10 succeed
him in 1878. The fury of the crusade asa'ps'
the administration may rage for le" "1?s
until the facts appear. and until all cahdia
peonle perceiye how ambitious aspirants 1or
nuhic honors have presented everything con-
nec,ed with the San Domingo business in
distorted and unreal light ;then all this warmth
of resentment will he directed not against the
President, sbut against the men who have
not hesitated to im.eril the most general in,
terests for the sake of gratifying their person
al ambition. The Summers, Logaus and
Seizures are to-day perhaps somewhat in the.
ascendant, but tomorrow the truth will vim
dictate the Presidents honor and integrity, if
indeed it does not completely establish his
wisdom and discretion. Even now, when the
report OF the Special Commissioners sent to
San Domingo to investigate the condition of
affairs there is before the public only ia very
much abridged and very frasmentary state.
and when the case against the administration
has been, after the most elaborate preparation,
presented e1 parte, the President aud his
friends having naturally assumed that the fur
Their discussion of the subject would be post
poned till the return OF the Commissioners,
the most careless observer cannot fail to be
impressed with the extraordinary inaccuracy
of many oil the positions taken by the Presi
dents accusers. Take few cases selected at
random:
Senator Sumner represents Cabral, the in
surgent Chief as patriot who hazards prop
erty, freedom and life itself by his stern deter
mination to repel the aggressions of foreign
ers. Elk Senator Wade, who has been to
San Domingo on purpose to find out about
Cabral and all else pertaining to that country,
is reported by the New York Tribune's cor
respondent as indicating his estimate OF the
importance of that magnate and his moral
character by styling him a chicken thief! But
Summers new followers will no doubt accept
information evolved out OF that Senator's in
ner consciousness as authentic, while prompt.
ly rejecting that obtained on the spot by
Wade and his associates.
Second, Senator Sumner speaks of the sale o
San Domingo as an act in violation of the con
stitution of that country. Undoubtedly there
is provision of the Dominican constitution
forbidding such sale, but the use Mr.. Sum
ner makes of this fact is extremely disingen-
uous There is provision in the constitu
ton of the United States that no Stale shall
be deprived of its equal representation in the
Senate, but even without distinct denial Of
the position in the constitution ITSELF it would
lie absurd 10 assume that the consent OF the
inalylunchangabe clause in our organic law
A people cannot bind themselves irrevocaby
by constitution, but they can bind their ser.
wants, the executive and legislative officers ir
power at any given time. Suppose there
should be provision in the constitution o
constitutional monarchy aud should never
be changed-could the people bind them
selves by this piece Of paper? Constitutions
are not limitations on the power of peoples
but on power delegated by them to their SER
wants. The negotiations for the sale OF San
Domingo have been based on the assent OF
the people, and no one can deny chat it has
been given with heartjness and unanim-
ity that should preclude the mention as an
objection of previous expression of theil
will given without one hundredth part the
consideration or formality with which tbt
sale has been attended.
Third. What picture Senator Sumner
dra VS. of people betrayed by their rulers and
sold against their consent into servitude to a
foreign invader! On reading his speech any
person unfamiliar with the facts would gain
the impression that wrong akin to that per
petraLed in Ireland, Hungary or Poland had
been meditated by President Grant with res
poet to the Dominicans But in the synop
sis of the report of the Commissioners now
before us they say that "THE PEOPLE SEEN
TO BE MORE UNANIMOUS FOR ANNEXATION
THAN THE COMMISSION HAS KNOWN ANY
PEOPLE TO BE UPON ANY GREAT POLITICAL
QUESTION"
Fourth. The following paragraph in Mr..
Summers speech, added al the last moment
and not to be found in the printed slips he
sent to the press in all parts OF the country
we confidently predict will hasten by its Bit.
terness, passion, injustice and vulgarity the re-
action favorable to the Presid ent which a
calmer moment is sure to bring. While hl.
anger was at white heat, and while the
glow OF mental effort was yet inspiring him
1t may have seemed to him forcible, appropri
ate and just. But to most readers it will
seem piece of brutality unworthy of the ele-
CANT scholar and refined gentleman who
wrote it,
"How can we expect to put down the Ku.
Kl1x at the South, when we set in motion
another Ku-Klux kindred in constant ipsub.
ordination to Jaw and Constitution. Differ
ing In object the two are kindred in this in
suoordinatlon. One strikes at national life
and the other at individual life One molests
people, the other a community. Lawless-
ness is the common element, but it is difficult
to see how We can condemn with proper rep
rotation our own domestic Ku klux in its
fearful outrages, while the President puts
himself at the head of a powerful and costly
ku-klux operating abroad in defiance of all
International law and the Constitution of the
United States. "Now, sir, as desire the sum-
preston of the Ku Klux, and seek the ele-
vatIon OF The African race. insist that The
Presidential! scheme, which installs new
form OF Ku-klux on the coast OF ST.. Domin-
go, and WHICH. at the same time insults the
African represented in the Back Republic
shall be arrested. l speak now against the
ku Kiux on the coast of ST. Domingo. of
which The President is the head, and | sneak
also for the African race whom the President
has trampled down. Is there any Senator in
earnest against the Ku Klux? Let him arrest
1t on the coast of st. Domingo. Is there anv
Senator ready at all times 10 seek the eleya-
ton OF the African race? Here is the occas-
ion for his best efforts"
q The gist of this whole paragraph and the
thing which excuses the epethets employed
if anybody does, is contained in the words
"the African race whom the President has
trampled down" 1t is sufficient reply to
this that the colored people of San Domingo
are TO man in most earnest sympathy with
the President and in corresponding oppos-
ton to Senator Sumner. But so far as the
Senator's statement has reference to Hayti
and to the general interests of the African
race, we surely may regard Frederick Doug
lass, Senator Revels and the colored members
of Congress, all of whom are said to be favor