Papers Relating to the Foreign Relations of the United States, Transmitted to Congress, With the Annual Message of the President, December 1, 1873, Part I, General Correspondence; and Papers Relating to Naturalization and Expatriation, Volume I
No. 87.
Mr. Vickers
to the President.
Sir: I have the honor herewith to transmit to your excellency certain documents relating to the question of a protectorate, to be assumed by the United States if thought advisable, and other papers of equal importance bearing upon this question, together with copies of treaties attempted to be made with the government of Santo Domingo, looking to the total exclusion of Americans and American influence in the West Indies. My promise to President Baez contemplated a personal interview in order that I might inform your excellency of the result of my observations in that country, and the temper, disposition, and, yearnings of the people. My ambition was, and is, to see your excellency and inform you about the questions involved in the inclosed correspondence, but owing to causes over which I had no control, and which rendered me powerless to act, as my own agent, have prevented me from the anticipated honor. However, as soon as my wife recovers from her sickness, so as to enable me to come on to Washington, if agreeable, I will be pleased to place myself at your orders. There are also some matters in connection with the company of American citizens who have leased the bay of Samana that, in my judgment, you should be informed upon, and which relate remotely to subject-matter of this letter.
I have the honor to be your excellency’s obedient servant,
General U. S. Grant,
President of the United States.
Explanation.
This letter relates to the arrest of a Mr. Lafitte, who was implicated in a movement to overturn the government of President Baez. He was pursued, and fled to the protection of the English consulate, or what was for the occasion metamorphosed into the consulate * * from which he was forcibly taken by the government, and taken to Santo Domingo city to be tried. The consul made complaint to some naval officer, who compelled the government of Santo Domingo to return the offender to the protection of the English flag, and to salute it; after which he was taken to Hayti by the English war-vessel, and delivered to his friends on the border. At the time the government of Santo Domingo charged Mr. Hamburger, the British vice-consul at Puerto Plata, with being in active sympathy with the revolutionists—as all the English, official, and otherwise—which this letter proves. I saw and read the original letter and can state that the facts exist as represented in the accompanying document.
Inclosures in the foregoing.
- 1.
- Mr. Gautier to Mr. Vickers, August 15, 1873, inclosing—
- A.
- Proposed treaty between Hayti and Santo Domingo.
- B.
- Remarks upon the proposed treaty.
- C.
- Mr. Gautier to Mr. Montauban, August 11, 1873.
- D.
- Mr. Gautier to Mr. Montauban, August 11, 1873.
- 2.
- President Baez to President Grant, August 18, 1873.
Respectfully referred to the Secretary of State.
By direction of the President:
Secretary.
Mr. Gautier to Mr. Vickers, August 15, 1873.
Santo Domingo, August 15, 1873.
Sir: The Dominican government has just received a communication from the governor of Puerto Plata, stating that Francisco Garcia, one of the factious leaders who recently rebelled at Bajobonico, in the jurisdiction of Puerto Plata, while being pursued, left behind in his flight a letter dated May 19, 1873, written at Cape Haytien by one Segundo Imbert, and signed by General Juan Nuezi. The name of the person to whom this letter was directed at Puerto Plata had been removed, the paper having been cut with some care; but García having received amnesty, and having presented himself before Governor González, General David Vickers, commercial agent of the U. S. A., Samaná, revealed the fact that the letter had been addressed to an Englishman named Andrew Taphire.
General Nuezi informs Taphire in said letter that he sends it inclosed in an envelope addressed to Mr. Hamburger, vice-consul of Her Britannic Majesty at Puerto Plata, and that in order to carry out the plan of correspondence with which he was charged, (which was that which took place at Bajabonico and Alta Mira,) he must consult the said Hamburger in everything.
The governor of Puerto Plata is continuing, with the necessary precautions, the investigation of these facts, and this ministry has just sent a copy of the aforesaid letter to our chargé d’affaires at London, in support of the complaint which had already been preferred against that individual.
As you will readily see, this matter is one of such importance that I need not dwell upon it, and if we pass from facts to inductions, we shall see that the moment an English agent takes an active part in the revolutionary movements against the Dominican republic, which have their nucleus in the neighboring state of Hayti, this is an offense to our relations with the United States of America. I have thought it of the highest importance, both for the interests which you represent, and for those of the Dominican people, to inform you of all the above circumstances.
His Excellency President Baez, who is now in the commune of San Cristobal, would be glad to have some further confidential conferences with you before your departure for the United States, both in reference to the matters referred to in this letter, and to others connected with the mutual relations between the United States and this republic, and he has, to this effect, instructed me to say to you that he would be very much gratified to have you make us another visit by the next Tybee, if there shall be no insurmountable difficulty in the way.
In the hope of seeing his excellency’s wishes fulfilled, which would, moreover, be a source of satisfaction to his whole cabinet, I have the honor to offer you the assurance of my most distinguished consideration, and to subscribe myself, your very faithful and obedient servant,
Minister of Foreign Relations.
A.—Proposed treaty between Hayti and San Domingo.
The undersigned, Jules Thirion de Montauban, envoy extraordinary and minister plenipotentiary of the Dominican Republic near the government of the French Republic, and Etienne Charles Laforestrie, chargé d’affaires of the republic of Hayti near the government of the French Republic, have agreed to submit to their governments the following articles:
- Article 1. There shall be peace, friendship, and good understanding between the Dominican Republic and the republic of Hayti.
- Article 2. Neither of them shall, therefore, furnish, for use against the other, in any way or on any ground whatever, any aid or contingent, either of men, horses, money, provisions, munitions of war, or material of any kind. The contracting powers shall not permit the enemies of each other to pass through their territory. They shall oppose, even by force, any attempt at aggression which may be organized in their respective territories against one of them, and, as is usual in such cases, they shall disarm and remove as far as possible from the frontier without delay any person who shall have disturbed or sought to disturb the public peace of one of them, by taking up arms against the established government, and who shall have sought refuge in the territory of one of the contracting powers. Moreover, to this effect they shall, with one accord, adopt energetic and efficacious measures against the authors of offenses or crimes which may be committed on their frontiers to the injury of either of the contracting parties.
- Article 3. Both republics mutually engage never in any way to dispose of their territory, nor of any part thereof, nor to mortgage any portion of their territory to a foreign nation.
- Article 4. If both governments shall approve the present preliminary articles, their plenipotentiaries shall meet at * * * in the shortest time possible, for the purpose of concluding a definitive treaty on the basis specified in the foregoing articles.
- Article 5. The two contracting powers engage to use every possible diligence to the end that the treaty may be made under the guarantee of England, the United States of America, and France.
In testimony whereof the undersigned have signed and sealed the present articles.
- JULES THIRION DE MONTAUBAN.
- CH. LAFORESTRIE.
A correct translation and copy.
B.—Remarks upon the proposed treaty.
Hayti solicits a treaty of peace with the Dominican republic, &c.
Such a treaty is the more simple and easy, in as much as it depends solely upon the will of its proposers. In fact, the Dominicans have never been invaders, even when the invasions of the Haytians have been most cruel and relentless. When there has been war between the two states, we, the Dominicans, have always been the party attacked, and have only defended ourselves.
Hayti desires such a treaty as may guarantee the independence of both republics, &c.
Dominican independence has been threatened by no other state than Hayti. Even now, at the very moment when they are asking the mediation of the representative of France, they send into our territory, on the northern frontier, the rebels Polanco, Luperon, and others, armed with Haytian guns and cannon from Juana Mendez, and, in order to protect them from our pursuit, they receive them in the fort of the same Juana Mendez, but one step from Le Massacre. Meanwhile, in the south, near Las Damas, in the commune of Neyba, our patrols rout a number of Haytians armed with Chassepot rifles and munitions of war from Hayti, some of which fell into our hands. When such things happen, is it possible to believe in the sincerity of a proposal for peace? Is this the good faith which should be observed in all human agreements?
The Samaná contract has made (it is said) a profound impression in France and elsewhere in Europe, &c.
We doubt whether France was at all surprised by it; because in her capacity as the moral protectress and faithful friend of the Dominican Republic, she has always been inclined to aid her in establishing her independence on a firmer basis against the invasions of the Haytians; and as Hayti has not yet renounced her plans of conquest and her hostile designs, to this and to nothing else was the Spanish annexation, accomplished by Santana, due; the plan for American incorporation and the treaty of Samaná were due to the same cause. These were measures which were devised for the purpose, if not of absolutely preserving our unconditional independence, at least in order to secure the lives and property of the natives of our republic against the knife and the machinations of Hayti, their most implacable enemy.
We deeply regret that we should be accused of uttering recriminations, because we have stated the facts as they took place; and that doubts should even be entertained on which side the scale ought to turn, on account of the supposition that there are faults on both sides. We should be glad to see those of the Dominican Republic pointed out, while those of Hayti are a matter of history. That is the reason why it would be so difficult to inspire this people with confidence in those whose bloody and devastating track, made at various times, can everywhere be seen. Their invasions, burnings, [Page 221] and murders in 1801, 1805, 1822, 1844, 1848, 1855, and all their outrages on our frontier up to the present time, are well known to all and need no comment.
The Dominican Republic desires peace, because it makes war upon none; but it wants a real peace, and as a proof thereof it would require first to see an act of neutrality and justice performed. Why does not Hayti, following our example, remove to the interior of her own territory the rebels who are now making war upon us under her patronage?
In speaking of our confidence in the French cabinet, we shall not proceed lightly, nor from mere caprice, but from a deep conviction of the generosity of the efforts which it has always made to strengthen the independence of the Dominican Republic. Let the acts of the empire be examined, and it will be seen what the Emperor Napoleon III did, at the time of the Franco-English mediation, for the accomplishment of that humanitarian project which was wrecked on the rock of Haytian obstinacy.
By way of recapitulation, I conclude where I commenced: if the Haytians desire peace, let them stop making war on us, and peace will be made.
C.—Mr. Gautier to Mr. Montauban, August 11, 1873.
Dominican republic.—ministry of foreign relations.
Most Excellent Sir: His excellency the President of the republic, who is now absent from this capital, in the commune of San Cristóbal, has to-day received the note which your excellency was pleased to address to him on the 12th of July last, inclosing the preliminary bases of a treaty of peace between the Dominican Republic and that of Hayti.
Both documents have been very carefully examined by the government of the republic, and, in reply, I hasten to write your excellency as follows:
The good intentions and the zeal of your excellency for the welfare of this republic are very laudable, as is your desire to see it sign a treaty of peace with the neighboring state. Your excellency has doubtless thought that a written convention, the terms of which should be executed in good faith, would secure the future prosperity of this country; and it was doubtless in view of this consideration that you consented to sign the preliminaries which you have submitted to this government; but your excellency is doubtless not aware that, at the time when you were signing those preliminaries, events were occurring on our frontiers which go far to disprove the genuineness of the good intentions manifested to your excellency by the chargé d’affaires of Hayti in the republic to whose government you are accredited, and which force the Dominican government to adopt the precaution of eutering into no compromises which could not be reciprocal, in view of the well-known tendencies of the government of Hayti.
I will explain to you what has taken place.
Not long since, being induced by the respect which we entertained for the French agent residing at Port-au-Prince, Hayti, we consented to examine the preliminaries of a treaty of peace unofficially proposed by that government, and transmitted through the consulate-general of France in Hayti to the vice-consulate in Santo Domingo. The same spirit was manifest in that draft as in the preliminaries submitted to your excellency.
At the very time when those preliminaries were being read, the aggressions of a new faction had just been repelled on our northwestern frontier, and in one of the engagements General Andrieux, the second officer in command of the Haytien garrison of Juana Mendez, perished on our soil, he having been in command of the Haytien force that was supporting the movements of the Dominican rebels. His body, those of other Haytiens, a piece of artillery brought from that fort, a number of needle-guns, and a quantity of ammunition which fell into our hands, plainly show the failure of the Haytiens to observe the laws of neutrality, and the disguised hostility whereby our repose is disturbed.
In view of these facts, his excellency President Baez sent to the vice-consul of France, in reply, the written conversation of which I send you a copy.
Until circumstances change, until unmistakable evidences of cordial good faith offer us a prospect of entering into negotiations with success, the Dominican government must adhere to the answer given in the aforesaid conversation, because the disarming of the enemies of the republic, and their withdrawal from its soil, must not be the [Page 222] result of a treaty, but ought, of natural right, to precede the signing of such an instrument.
Deign, your excellency, to accept the assurances of my most distinguished consideration.
To His Excellency Julio Thirion de
Montauban,
Minister Plenipotentiary
of the Dominican Republic, Paris.
A copy.
D.—Mr. Gautier to Mr. Montauban.
dominican republic.—ministry of foreign relations.
Most Excellent Sir: Your letter of the 12th ultimo, addressed to his excellency the President of the republic, was received yesterday, and I at once sent a reply which explains the conduct of the Haytien government in manifesting its desires for a treaty of peace, and the conduct which the Dominican government proposes to observe in the matter, viz: to listen to no propositions for a treaty of peace until the Haytiens shall have plainly shown, by their acts, that they desire to live as good neighbors.
Your excellency will hereby see the gravity of the act of affixing your signature to the preliminaries of the treaty of’ peace referred to in this communication, for although, as you say, it in nowise obligates the government, the antecedent still remains of the signing of this document by you, a representative of high grade of the Dominican republic, a circumstance from which the Haytiens will seek to make all the capital possible, with interpretations and commentaries, although these latter may be Unjustifiable. The government, therefore, while disapproving your action in this matter, deeply regrets it, and instructs you to withdraw your signature from the aforesaid document if possible.
Your excellency, being at a great distance from the theatre of events, and being guided solely by your good faith and the customs in use among cultivated nations, can form no adequate idea of the machinations of that crafty government, which ever has an eye to the conquest of our soil.
The Dominicans, although poor, and inhabiting a comparatively obscure spot in the midst of the ocean, are proud of their independence and jealous of their freedom and their rights; they well know how great is the blessing of breathing the air of their native land, and what are the advantages of maintaining the integrity of their territory, and, sooner than preserve it for the vandals of the west, they would resort to any other combination more in harmony with the progress of the age and better suited to the dignity of their historical memories.
It is therefore necessary to destroy, as far as possible, all vestige of that document, and for you to avoid hearing Haytien proposals in future, which must be sent from Hayti to none but the supreme government of this republic, which alone is thoroughly acquainted with their tendencies and policy.
Be pleased to accept the assurances of my most distinguished consideration.
To His Excellency Don Julio Thirion de
Montauban,
Minister Plenipotentiary
of the Dominican Republic, Paris.
A copy.
President Baez to President Grant.
Most Excellent Sir: It is now thirty years since the Dominician people, having been for the third time surprised by the invading hordes of Hayti, and having been under their domination for twenty-two years, reconquered their rights and proclaimed their independence.
From that time until the year 1861, when the re-incorporation of this country with Spain took place, there was but one interval of truce to the continuous and vandalic aggressions of that government, which never ceased to long for the conquest and devastation of our soil.
[Page 223]To no other cause was then clue the fact of the re-incorporation of this country with Spain, a combination which was thought likely to prove beneficial by the political men of that time, who had no realizing sense of the great difference of our institutions, or of the series of insurmountable obstacles to the establishment of the monarchical colonial system in an American country, which had so long had its destinies in its own hands, however precarious they may have been.
The war of restoration having come to an end, and the rights of the Dominicans having been asserted, Hayti did not again enter the arena as an invader, but commenced a secret war of a more malignant character, thenceforth using the Dominican element in order to crush the liberties of this people, if possible, by the aid of its own sons. Hayti at once assembled the malcontents, and did all in its power to encourage rebellion, offering aid and comfort to the rebels, giving them an asylnm on Haytien soil; sending them, with arms in their hands, to our frontier, and frequently assigning Haytien regular troops to aid their movements and to protect them in their flight.
To these tactics is due the fact that, consuming our resources and savings, (although always successful on the field of battle,) we have not yet been able to complete a victory. The enemies of the Dominican Republic flee to Hayti, where they live undisturbed, and where they easily repair their continual losses.
Such a situation caused the people of this republic to seek to improve their condition by rendering their future more secure; they, therefore, manifested a unanimous desire for annexation to the great republic of the United States of America.
Unfortunately that plan failed, leaving the country in the midst of a multitude of difficulties created by that combination, and, what is still more deplorable, the object of the jealousy, and even the hatred, of other peoples, whose interests did not accord with the security and progress of this.
The agreement made with the Samana Bay Company has given the finishing stroke to this situation, especially since the noise of its establishment has been succeeded by the most absolute silence and the most listless indifference.
It not being possible for the Dominican people to continue to support, alone and un-unaided, the horrible consequences of a combined hatred, which manifested itself in disguised attacks and machinations, they appeal to the great republic of the United States, through your excellency, soliciting the establishment of an efficient protectorate, which may preserve them from unwarranted attacks aimed at their very existence.
The Dominican people believe that this will not be distasteful even to the opponents of the plan of annexation. It would be an act of munificence and generosity whereby the republic of the United States would risk nothing, since it would simply cover with its ægis an inoffensive and friendly people whom Providence designed to be its natural ally; and all the sons of this people would greet with joy the day when their powerful sister should stretch out a hand to save them from the dangers which encompass them; which dangers would instantly disappear in view of such a diplomatic act.
If your excellency, seeing that the fate of a people without pretensions is at stake, shall feel, as I hope will be the case, a sympathetic impulse to do them justice, and shall make an effort to secure for them the protection of the republic of the United States, you will have the immense satisfaction of having saved the future of a people of the world discovered by Columbus, without having assumed any responsibility, or having entered into any compromise whatever, since we are not invaders, and make war upon none, and the height of our ambition is to dwell upon our own soil in peace.
I avail myself of this occasion to reiterate to your excellency the assurances of the sentiments of distinguished consideration and profound esteem with which I have the honor to subscribe myself.
Your excellency’s very obedient and respectful servant,
- BUENAVENTURA BAEZ.
- Felix Ma. Del Monte.
- Manuel Maria Gautier.
- R. Curiel.
To His Excellency Ulyssus S.
Grant,
President of
the United States of America, Washington.