New national era. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1870-1874, 1872-09-19
The SIM Domingo Question.


San Domingo question and the issues of the
present Presidential canvass. Nevertheless
rs the enemies Of President Grant and of the
Republican party have in their desperation
so pcrsjxtently dragged the matter into the
canvass, cOlored with their predjudIces and
pcrverSions Of truth, it is well to put On
record the testimony of one who has had
personal knowledge of all the circumstances
connected with the expedition of the San
Domingo Commission, and whose truthful.
ness and reliability can scarcely be cues.
toned by any fair-ninded citizen. We aiude
to statement Of the case as made BIZ Dr.
Blackwell, OF Boston, who though sustaining
no official relations with the San Domingo
Commissioners, yet accompanied the party
and had the most intimate intercourse with
them, and therefore is fully competent TO
meet and reflte the ISLANDERS heaped upon
President Grant in this connection by Sena-
tor Sumner, and repeated with so much eager.
ness by the Greeley Democratic press and
stump speakers:
DR.. Ii. b. Blackwell's communication is
addressed to the editors of the Boston DAILY
Adretisp, from which journal we transfer it
to our columns:
THE SAN DOMINGO QUEsTIoN-wHAT PREsf-
DENT GRANT had TO DO WITH IT.
To tie Editors Of Tie Boston Daily Adce,tistrt
The annexation of San Domingo is not at
present party question. The Philadelphia
platform did not indorse it. The Cincinnati
and Baltimore did not oppose it. The New
York Tiitme has heretofore favored it.
| Other Liberal and Democratic papers have
been neutral in regard to it.
In his farewell speech on the Presidential
election, Senator Sumner made the following
specific charges against the President:
|. That he has perpetrated an outrage
upon Hayti and menaced her independence
with war, in violation of international law.
2. That he kept our navy lowering on the
Haytan coast - like hawk sailing in air."
| and has employed United States ships Of
war, at great expense, in maintaining " the
usurper Baez " i'll power, thus acting in fla
grant violation Of the Federal Constitution,
| 3. That, through his agents, he has con-
nived at and prolonged the imprisonment Of
| Mr.. Hatch, an American citizen" and that
Hatch was " immured' because it was feared
that, if released, he would write against
annexation.
4. That he has insulted Frederick Doug
lass, first because Mr.. Douglass was excluded
| from the Commissioners table on board of
| Potomac steamer, and again because Mr..
| Douglass was omitted from an invitation to
a dinner given to the Commissioners Mt the
Presidential mansion.
The facts are briefly these:
Spanish Santo Domingo comprises two
thirds ca, 900 square miles) of the island.
The Government de -fUcfo, through its Minis
lister Plenipotentiary, formally applied to
President Grant three years ago, proposing
annexation to the United States as a terri
| tory, upon the sole condition of our assuming
its national indebtedness, which was est.
| mated at a million and a half dollars. The
President, before entertaining the PROPOSE
| ton, sent down his private secretary, Gen.
| Babcock, an honorable and reliable man, to
| ascertain the competency and stability of the
Dominican Government, the sentiment of the
Dominican people in regard to annexation.
the amount of the debt, and the value of the
territory. Being fully satisfied upon all these
points. two treaties were negotiated by the
State Department-One for the lease of the
peninsula and magnificent Bay of SANTANA at
, a rent of sl5O,00O year, the other for Il O
| annexation of the whole country; the former
to terminate upon the ratification of the |: t.
ter, and both subject to the approval of G. n
gresS. The matter was brought before Con-
gress in due time, and an annexation was
recommended by the President, sustained BY
facts and arguments which have since been
reiterated and sustained by the report of the
Commissioners appointed to Investigate the
subject.
These negotiations were frank and explicit.
So far from stunning publicity, the President
| called in person upon Senator Sumner at his
own house, and. i'll presence Of Col. FOrney,
asked for his cooperation. Mr.. Sumner re-
turned an eraslve answer, which both the
President and Colonel Forney understood to
be affirmative and favorable. Soon after
wards, without notice, without previous re-
monstrance, without any effort TO induce the
Administration to fOregO or modify its plans,
Senator Sumner publicly assaulted the Admin
istratiOn and the President as guilty of a
violation of all laws, human and divine.
|. The alleged outrage upon Hayti occur
red as follows: No sooner was it known that
negotiation Tor annexation was pending
| than preparations were made by the Haytian
| authorities to invade their feeble neighbor,
instigated to this course by the diplomatic
representatives of certain European Powers,
who were jealous of American supremacy.
Hayti, which comprises less than ne-third
of the island, 10000 square miles, has re-
peatedly sought TO subjugate the whole
GO, 600 square niles.l She feared that Santo
Domingo would forever escape from her
clutches. The population of IIayti 600 COO
is four-fold that of Santo Domingo, OPS ,000D
and is governed by military despotism under
the forms Of a republic. Hayti was pos
sessed Of an armed steamer. The seaports
OF Santo Domingo, protected by only two
small schooners, were liable to bOmbartment.
The crisis was imminent, and the Govern
iiSiit VI k'ttIllo oohiiiSo StppeStlcu " OuI wv
eminent for protection against danger grow
ing out of this very negotiation.
What did the Administration do? Just
this: in the interest of peace and humanity
it notified the Haytian authorities that pre-
liminary treaty Of annexation had been ne
gotiated, and that, until Congress should
have expressed its decision, an invasion of
the Dominican territory by any foreign Pow
er would be regarded as an act unfriendly to
the United States.
Was this an outrage? Vas it a violation
Of international law? So far from it, any
fair-minded man, no matter what his views
concerning annexation may lie, would say
that it was a duty. TO have done less or to
have done otherwise, under the circun-
stances, would have been base desertion
Of the gallant little nation whose only crime
was its aspiration to merge itself in the great
American Republic.
=. With Il sagacious knowledge Of human
nature, the President prevented any neces-
sity Of forcibe Intervention, and kept the
peace between Hayti and Santo Domingo, by
sending several American vessels OF war
(Which would otherwise have been cruising
at equal expense in the Mediterranean or