The New York herald. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1840-1920, 1872-03-28


gestion, as reported by our Washington corre-
spondent, that the enterprise in st. Domingo
would not justify him in any further volunteer
diplomacy in the tropics. The President was
rudely treated in that st. Domingo business
The excuse for it may be found in the clumsy
manner in which the negotiation was managed.
There was never a case where good intentions
went more completely awry. The difficulties
about 81. Domingo were that the treaty was
made by the President, through one of his
Secretaries independently of the State Depart
ment. This secretary, General Babcock, is
more Of an engineer than a diplomatist, and
what he did was in plain, direct, soldierly
manner, with more anxiety for results than
about the means of attaining results. AS a
consequence Senators Sumner and Schurz,
| gentlemen In condition of high diplomatic
training, had an opp ortunity of criticising the
treaty. They were also in a bad bumor with
the President, Sumner because of the Motley
| difficulty; Schurz because, as representative
of two hundred thousand German votes, he
was not grati6ed with two hundred thousand
| Offices AT the same time they were supposed
to be republicans in support of the administra-
ton, and their blows were delivered under the
mask Of friendship. This made them more
effective, and, in truth, enabled them to para
| lyze the Presidents policy.
| Another difficulty with St. Domingo was
that 1t was simply an experiment. There was
no reason for its annexation other than the
general desire of the Americans for extension
Of territory and the tradition that every
President, to be successful, should add some
thing to the national domain before leaving
the White House. Even Mr.. johnson, after
losing the confidence of the country and COM
ing within one vote of being hustled out of his
chair by policeman of the Senate, was
shrewd enough to annex Alaska. The manage
ment of that negotiation by Mr.. Seward was
mastery, and we cannot help thinking that if
st. Domingo had been as carefully handled it
would now be one of our territories. But
while the President was earnest in the work
the Cabinet was cold, the Senate was apathetic,
and, with the exception of General Butler,
perhaps, no one of the Presidents supporters
showed zeal in the work. Rather than
make an issue with the party, and not caring
to remove any of his Cabinet, as Jackson
would certainly have done under similar cir
cumstances, the President with consummate
sagacity remanded the whole question to Con-
gress in message which did him great honor
as manly, straightforward, frank document.
He adjourned the question without abandon
ing it, and we SHALL in all probability, have it
revived after the election. But st. Domingo
can only be considered as an experiment.
There is no necessity for annexation. The
military and naval reasons for its acquisition
existed in reference to st. Thomas, which we
obtained from Denmark, and refused to accept
under circumstances that were humiliating to
that modest and venerable little monarchy and
disgraceful to ourselves. We refused to
pay for st. Thomas for the bandits
reason that we could take it when
necessary. The Senate, in the st. Thomas
treaty, was stronger than the adminstra-
ton. Mr.. Sumner could have avoided that
humiliation if he had made the effort, and
the fact that. as Chairman of the Senate
Committee on Foreign Relations, he failed to
do so, went far towards reconcling us to the
movement which displaced him from the head
of that body. We can we'll conceive, there
fore, how as cautious a man as Grant would
remember keenly the diplomatic failures in st.
Domingo and St. Thomas, and hesitate be-
fore advancing into Mexico.
But the condition of affairs in Mexico pre-
sents new problem to the President. Some
thing is due to our national dignity, the peace
of the world and the protection of our
frontiers. We are not discussing con-
siderations Of humanity and civilization.
A President may be pardoned from acting
upon sentimental diplomacy. He sees
Mexico blessed beyond all countries in the
richness, the variety, the exquisite beauty
and luxury Of its scenery. He sees nation
of eight millions living as paupers and bandits
on soil four times as large as that Of France
which supports nearly forty millions of souls.
| All seasons and the fruits of all zones, from
wheat to pineapples. are embraced within its
| latitudes He sees mineral resources that
| gave wealth to Spain long before Brewster
and Winthrop disturbed the Indian hunting
grounds of Massachusetts. He finds the civil
! lization of Mexico under the successors
of the Spaniards at lower ebb than it was
under the Aztecs that there are wide, barren
plains, sterile and abandoned, which the
careful Indian was wont to irrigate and cover
with crops Of waving corn. Disorder, fear,
horror, mutiny, superstition, bankruptcy, in
habit this land; its government is without
authority at home, its flag without respect
abroad. So far from these evils being
radical and inseparable from the country,
he remembers that two of its provinces