our territory affords, the officers of this Government have been instructed to exercise vigilance to prevent infractions of our neutrality laws at Key West and at other points near the Cuban coast. I am happy to say that in the only instance where these precautionary measures were successfully eluded, the offenders, when found in our territory, were subsequently tried and convicted."

President Arthur, Fourth Annual Message, 1884.

The following citations are taken from the list of papers concerning foreign relations attached to the register of the Department of State:

Neutrality between Spain and Cuba. Resolution requesting the President to

issue a neutrality proclamation containing the same provisions as that issued by Spain in 1861 on the occasion of the outbreak of the civil war in United States. January 10, 1876. (S. Mis. Doc. 29, Forty-fourth Congress, first session.) Intervention of foreign powers proposed by the United States to restore order in Cuba; condition of affairs in; correspondence respecting the trial of General Juan Burriel for the massacre of the passengers and crew of the Virginius. President's message. January 21, 1876. (H. Ex. Doc. 90, Forty-fourth Congress, first session.) As to the Virginius, see infra, § 327.

Cuban insurrection. Terms and conditions upon which the surrender of the insurgents has been made. President's message. May 14, 1878. (S. Ex. Doc. 79. Forty-fifth Congress, second session.)

Certain diplomatic correspondence with Spain in 1876, in cases of citizens of the United States condemned to death in Cuba. President's message. May 3, 1882. (S. Ex. Doc. 165, Forty-seventh Congress, first session.)

Cuba and Porto Rico. Discriminating duties on commerce between the United States and. President's message, transmitting report from the Secretary of State. January 15, 1824. (S. Ex. Doc. 58, Forty-eighth Congress, first session.)-January 30, 1884. Part 2, additional papers.

An elaborate exposition of the relations of the United States to Cuba down to 1868, is given in Mr. W. B. Lawrence's Com. sur droit int., ii, 316 ff.

(4) SAN DOMINGO AND HAYTI.

§ 61.

"It is not deemed unreasonable on the part of the Government of Hayti that it should ask leading maritime states to guarantee their sovereignty over Samana. The Government of Hayti very properly con sults the United States Government with reference to such a guarantee. The President is gratified also that the Haytian Government has submitted its views in a proper spirit to Great Britain. Nevertheless, the question unavoidably calls up that ancient and settled policy of the United States which disinclines them to the constituting of political alliances with foreign states, and especially disinclines them to engage. ments with foreign states in regard to subjects which do not fall within. the range of necessary and immediate domestic legislation. This policy would oblige the United States to refrain from making such a guarantee as Hayti desires, but disclaiming for themselves all purpose or desire

to disturb the peace and security of Hayti. the United States would be gratified if Great Britain and other maritime states should see fit to regard the wish of the Government of Hayti in the same spirit of justice and magnanimity."

Mr. Seward, Sec of State, to Mr. Bruce, Aug. 15, 1565. MSS. Notes, Gr. Brit. It is against the policy of the United States to interfere in contests between the titular Government of Hayti and insurgents.

Mr. Fish, Sec. of State, to Mr. Bassett, Oct. 13, 1-63. MSS. Inst., Hayti. Same to same, Mar. 26, 1573. See Mr. Bayard, Sec. of State, to Mr. Roberts, Aug. 21, 1555. MSS. Inst., Chili.

"During the last session of Congress a treaty for the annexation of the Republic of San Domingo to the United States failed to receive the requisite two-thirds vote of the Senate. I was thoroughly convinced then that the best interests of this country, commercially and materially, demanded its ratification. Time has only confirmed me in this view. I now firmly believe that the moment it is known that the United States have entirely abandoned the project of accepting, as a part of its territory, the island of San Domingo, a free port will be negotiated for by European nations in the Bay of Samana. A large commercial city will spring up, to which we will be tributary without receiving corre sponding benefits, and then will be seen the folly of our rejecting so great a prize. The Government of San Domingo has voluntarily sought this annexation. It is a weak power, numbering probably less than 120,000 souls, and yet possessing one of the richest territories under the sun, capable of supporting a population of 10,000,000 of people in luxury. The people of San Domingo are not capable of maintaining themselves in their present condition, and must look for outside support. They yearn for the protection of our free institutions and laws-our progress and civilization. Shall we refuse them?

"The acquisition of San Domingo is desirable because of its geographical position. It commands the entrance to the Caribbean Sea and the Isthmus transit of commerce. It possesses the richest soil, best and most capacious harbors, most salubrious climate, and the most valuable products of the forest, mine, and soil of any of the West India Islands. Its possession by us will in a few years build up a coastwise commerce of immense magnitude, which will go far toward restoring to us our lost merchant marine. It will give to us those articles which we consume so largely and do not produce, thus equalizing our exports and imports. In case of foreign war it will give us command of all the islands referred to, and thus prevent an enemy from ever again possessing himself of rendezvous upon our very coast. At present our coast trade between the States bordering on the Atlantic and those bordering on the Gulf of Mexico is cut into by the Bahamas and the Antilles. Twice we must, as it were, pass through foreign countries to get by sea from Georgia to the west coast of Florida.

"San Domingo, with a stable Government under which her immense resources can be developed, will give remunerative wages to tens of thousands of laborers not now upon the island. This labor will take advantage of every available means of transportation to abandon the adjacent islands and seek the blessings of freedom and its sequenceeach inhabitant receiving the reward of his own labor. Porto Rico and Cuba will have to abolish slavery, as a measure of self-preservation, to retain their laborers.

"San Domingo will become a large consumer of the products of Northern farms and manufactories. The cheap rate at which her citizens can be furnished with food, tools, and machinery will make it necessary that contiguous islands should have the same advantages in order to compete in the production of sugar, coffee, tobacco, tropical fruits, &c. This will open to us a still wider market for our products. The production of our own supply of these articles will cut off more than one hundred millions of our annual imports, besides largely increasing our exports. With such a picture it is easy to see how our large debt abroad is ultimately to be extinguished. With a balance of trade against us (including interest on bonds held by foreigners and money spent by our citizens traveling in foreign lands) equal to the entire yield of the precious metals in this country, it is not so easy to see how this result is to be otherwise accomplished.

"The acquisition of San Domingo is an adherence to the 'Monroe doctrine'; it is a measure of national protection; it is asserting our just claim to a controlling influence over the great commercial traffic soon to flow from west to east by way of the Isthmus of Darien; it is to build up our merchant marine; it is to furnish new markets for the products of our farms, shops, and manufactories; it is to make slavery insupportable in Cuba and Porto Rico at once, and ultimately so in Brazil; it is to settle the unhappy condition of Cuba and end an exterminating conflict; it is to provide honest means of paying our honest debts without overtaxing the people; it is to furnish our citizens with the necessaries of every-day life at cheaper rates than ever before; and it is, in fine, a rapid stride toward that greatness which the intelligence, industry, and enterprise of the citizens of the United States entitle this country to assume among nations.

"In view of the importance of this question, I earnestly urge upon Congress early action expressive of its views as to the best means of acquir ing San Domingo. My suggestion is that, by joint resolution of the two houses of Congress, the Executive be authorized to appoint a commission to negotiate a treaty with the authorities of San Domingo for the acquisition of that island, and that an appropriation be made to defray the expenses of such commission. The question may then be determined, either by the action of the Senate upon the treaty, or the joint action of the two houses of Congress upon a resolution of annexation, as in the case of the acquisition of Texas. So convinced am I of the

advantages to flow from the acquisition of San Domingo, and of the great disadvantages-I might almost say calamities-to flow from nonacquisition, that I believe the subject has only to be investigated to be approved."

President Grant, Second Annual Message, 1870.

According to Mr. Blaine (2 Twenty Years in Congress, 458, 461), the negotiation for the annexation of the Dominican Republic was opened at the request of the authorities of San Domingo, and it began about three months after the President's inauguration. "In July General O. E. Babcock, one of the President's private secretaries, was dispatched to San Domingo upon an errand of which the public knew nothing. He bore a letter of instructions from Secretary Fish, apparently limiting the mission to an inquiry into the condition, prospects, and resources of the island. From its tenor the negotiation of a treaty was not at that time anticipated by the State Department. General Babcock's mis sion finally resulted, however, in a treaty for the annexation of the Republic of Dominica, and a convention for the lease of the bay and peninsula of Samana-separately negotiated, and both concluded on the 29th of November, 1869. The territory included in the Dominican Republic is the eastern portion of the island of San Domingo, originally known as Hispaniola. It embraces, perhaps, two-thirds of the whole. The western part forms the Republic of Hayti. With the exception of Cuba, the island is the largest of the West India group. The total area is about 28,000 square miles-equivalent to Massachusetts, New Hampshire, Vermont, and Rhode Island combined. President Grant placed extravagant estimates upon the value of the territory which he supposed was now acquired under the Babcock treaties. In his message to Congress he expressed the belief that the island would yield to the United States all the sugar, coffee, tobacco, and other tropical products which the country would consume. 'The production of our supply of these articles' said the President, will cut off more than $100,000,000 of our annual imports, besides largely increasing our exports.' * 'It is easy' he went on to say, 'to see how our large debt abroad (after such an annexation) is ultimately to be extinguished.' He maintained that "the acquisition of San Domingo will furnish our citizens with the necessaries of every-day life at cheaper rates than ever before, and it is in fine a rapid stride towards that greatness which the intelligence, industry, and enterprise of our citizens entitle this country to assume among nations.""

The treaty was rejected by the Senate by a vote of 28 to 28. This, however, did not cause the withdrawal of the projects by the President. In his annual message of the succeeding December he reiterated his belief in terms quoted above.

"The subject," so Mr. Blaine states, "at once led to discussion in both branches of Congress, in which the hostility to the scheme on the part of some leading men assumed the tone of personal exasperation towards General Grant. So intense was the opposition that the President's friends in the Senate did not deem it prudent even to discuss the measure which he recommended. As the best that could be done, Mr. Morton, of Indiana, introduced a resolution empowering the President to appoint three commissioners to proceed to San Domingo and make certain inquiries into the political condition of the island, and also into its agricultural and commercial value. The commissioners were to have no compensation. Their expenses were to be paid, and a secretary was to be provided. Even in

this mild shape, the resolution was hotly opposed. It was finally adopted by the Senate, but when it reached the House, that body refused to concur, except with a proviso that nothing in this resolution shall be held, understood, or construed as committing Congress to the policy of annexing San Domingo. The Senate concurred in the condition thus. attached, and the President approved it. It was plain that the President could not carry the annexation scheme, but he courted a searching investigation in order that the course he had pursued might be vindicated by the well considered judgment of impartial men. The President's selections for the commission were wisely made. Benjamin F. Wade, of Ohio, Andrew D. White, of New York, and Samuel G. Howe, of Massachusetts, were men entitled to the highest respect, and their conclusions, based on intelligent investigation, would exert large influ ence upon public opinion. The commission at once visited the island (carried thither on a United States vessel of war), made a thorough examination of all its resources, held conferences with its leading citizens, and concluded that the policy recommended by General Grant should be sustained. The commissioners corroborated General Grant's assertion that the island could supply the United States with sugar, coffee, and other tropical products needed for our consumption; and they upheld the President in his belief that the possession of the island by the United States would by the laws of trade make slave labor in the neighboring islands unprofitable, and render the whole slave and caste systems odious. In communicating the report, the President made some remarks which had a personal bearing. The mere rejection by the Senate of a treaty negotiated by the President,' said he, 'only indicates a difference of opinion among different departments of the Government, without touching the character or wounding the pride of either. But when such rejection takes place simultaneously with the charges openly made of corruption on the part of the President, or of those employed by him, the case is different. Indeed, in such case, the honor of the nation demands investigation. This has been accomplished by the report of the commissioners, herewith transmitted, and which fully vindicates the purity of motives and action of those who represented the United States in the negotiation. And now my task is finished, and with it ends all personal solicitude on the subject. My duty being done, yours begins, and I gladly hand over the whole matter to the judgment of the American people, and of their representatives in Congress assembled.' The pointed remarks of the President were understood as referring to the speech made by Mr. Sumner when the resolution for the appointment of the commission was pending before the Senate. No further

attempt was made by the President to urge the acquisition of San Domingo upon Congress. It was evident that neither the Senate nor House could be induced to approve the scheme, and the Administration was necessarily compelled to abandon it. But defeat did not change. General Grant's view of the question. He held to his belief in its expediency and value with characteristic tenacity.

"In his last annual message to Congress (December, 1876), nearly six years after the controversy had closed, he recurred to the subject, to record once more his approval of it. If my view,' said he, 'had been concurred in, the country would be in a more prosperous condition to. day, both politically and financially.' He then proceeded to restate the question, and to sustain it with the arguments which he had presented to Congress in 1870 and 1871. His last words were, 'I do not present