The daily dispatch. [volume] (Richmond [Va.]) 1850-1884, 1873-01-07
smart pesign on st. Domingo.

a letter in the New York Tribune Whlch eA-
poses project that was concoctcd as success,
sor TO General GRANT s. and is for 9 Utilizing
the wealth of st. Domingo and making the
negro labor there tributary to the interests
Of smart northern merchants. IL proposes
the formation OF commercial partner
shin for the purchase of The peninsula and
bav of SANTANA. The Tribune explains the
further objects Of this partnership thus:
alt is evident that the merchant adventu-
rers who have embarked in this enterprise
do not bound their ambition by the control Of
few square miles Of fertile land and the
ownership Of certain coaisheds. Once IN
possession of the only commodious harbor
and the only important trading port Of the
Dominican republic, the whole country lies
before them, and the proprietary rights of
the present weak and bankrupt government
are certain sooner or later to fall into their
hands. Whatever wealth the Dominican side
of the island possesses, whatever capabilities
of production It has TO be developed, will
doubtless belong, If all goes well, to the en-
crsetic and spirited men who have secured
this immensely valuable concession. Posi-
bly, the history Of the great English and
Dutc1 trading companies which achieved
such wonderful projects in the East Indies is
TO be repeated among the western isles. The
transfer of title-deeds to land may be only
the first step In the transfer Of sovereignty
and the modest 'factory,' wherein tropical
fruits, and sugar, and coffee. and dyestuffS
are bartered for cotton prints and hardware
may be the cradle of new political State.
At all events, we may take it for granted that
this scheme, if it lacks some of the romantic
spirit Of adventure and the dazzling posi-
bilities which tempted the founders Of the
British Empire in HindOStan and the rich
colonies of the Netherlands in the islands of
the Pacific, does really point to the establish
mcGt of controlling American influence
not only In SANTANA bay. not only in the Re
public OF Santo Domingo, but throughout
the West Indian Archipelago, and the build
ing up Of commercial prosperity in those
blooming regions for which nature has done
so much and man so little"
An interesting fact of this scheme is that
it originates in the centre of the district
which once carried on so actively the slave
trade on the high seas. For the benefit oil
those slave-traders the privilege Of carrying
on their trade-now pronounced piracy
was extended for sixteen years by the
United States Constitution. When that
privilege expired those who had thrven by
the trade in captive Afrians--having sold
their "human chattelS" to the South-Set to
work to CLEAN as large a part Of the results
OF slave LABOR IN the South, by dint of ac
tiyity and cunning, as possible. They in
auguratcd the first invasion of the South
from the North by the army of peddlers.
This army quartered upon "the enemy
for really their was great aversion towards
the peddlers; but southern hospitality and the
rites always extended to the stranger in the
South, opened the gates and the doors to their
entrance. This invasion, with all its tricks
and swniles, lasted till the fourth decade of
this century, wien the Legislatures of the
South imposed such taxes upon peddling
That 1t ceased almost entirely.
The next step was the war upon slavery
itself. That ended in its abolition by force
Of the Federal power. 1t was an event due
10 the agitators, who were the descendants
Of the sEve-traders on the high seas. and
who thus rendered worthless TO the South
The property for which it had paid their
foreiathers, whose wealth they inherited,
end which wealth included the proceeds Of
the sales of the negroes which had been pur-
chased with rum and cruelty transported
flom their native land.
Next came the strategy Of making the
negro in the South useful to these northern
men by giving them the ballot and making
hDl, IN, fGo
Of the northern households in southern
ollices-~to rule the Southland strengthen the
hold that had been acquired over the National
Administration.
The ruling passion imbibcd through the
gains by traficking in negroes crops out in
this ST. Domingo project. The Downeaster
must still ride the negro. st. Domingo will
be acquired the land will become the Down
clscr's-and the negro then will be utilized
as much is possible. He will get about as
much of the proceeds of his labor us the Afri-
can does of the gold he digs from African
mines viz, five dollars d month. If he cX-
hnmes million he gets only his five. The
smart white miners establish rule that he is
not to have any gold at all.
These kecn-sighted and adventurous mer.
chants, who are, as the Tribune says, imita-
ting the British and the Dutch, are impressed
with the idea that the negro is a good insti-
tuition. He has been made available in every
phase OF his life, and it will 90 bard indeed
if he gets into any corner Of the world so
secure as that the men who have made so
much out Of him cannot get at him.
This private enterprise may indeed lead to
important consequences. Possibly the Gov
eminent may in time be drawn into collisions
on account of ii. In that case 1t will turn
out that it would have been better for the
dominican and for fairness generally had the
United States Government acquired 1t in the
beginning. One thing, however, we may
lay down as certain. that if St. Domingo falls
into American hands, either by Government
occupation or private purchase, the negro
Will be to all intents and purposes slave, or
he will be rooted out.
we Improve the occasion to make these
few remarks" because our northern friends
are prone to unkind remarks about us hv
way OF illustrating the evils of slavery. If
they better understood their own short
comiaSS, perhaps they would be more liberal
TO others.
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The Sandwich Islands.
The British war=Steamers Scout and Cha
neleon have sailed for Honolulu from Veto.
rla, Fancouves's Island. This makes the
IhiEI tln -