File No. 893.032/5.]
[Inclosure.—Translation.—Extract.]
[Untitled]
The incident with the United States1 arose on account
of the creation, with the approval of Congress, of the present
municipal surtax, and of a stamp tax on various industrial articles
of import; both taxes collected in accordance with a schedule.
The Dominican Government, dissenting from the views of the worthy
representative of the Washington Government on this subject, made
what was thought to be a reasonable objection to the memorandum
which the Minister presented to our Chancery.
In that extensive communication it was shown how we interpret the
Convention of February 8, 1907, as regards local usage and
consumption taxes, which, by virtue of an administrative autonomy
derived from the Constitution, can be created by the Municipalities
with the mere approval of the Legislative Power, without prejudicing
in the least the reciprocal rights and obligations arising from the
above-mentioned international document.
As a result of this discussion, the United States Minister ended the
correspondence, sustaining in the name of his Government the
position taken at the beginning, without insisting on making any
special objection, and expressing his confidence that in future the
Dominican Government will comply with the obligations imposed upon
it by the Convention of 1907.
Our old boundary question with Haiti is daily growing more vexing and
conflicting, in view of the inefficacy of all negotiations which
have been conducted for many years to settle our frontier problem,
with nothing accomplished as yet, for special circumstances with
which you are familiar.
The Pedernales incident which occurred last year, and which, through
the tender of the good offices of the United States, resulted in the
acceptance of an arbitration for arranging the diferendum; but as
yet not even the preliminaries have been arranged, owing to the
limited powers of the Haitian Commissioners, by reason of which the
conferences that were taking place at Washington in the beginning of
1911 had to be suspended. That incident, I repeat, has brought about
another one, quite serious for us, and which may endanger our
peaceful relations with the Government and people of the Republic of
Haiti if we do not reach an amicable and satisfactory solution in
accordance with the rights on our side in the matter.
In the days that followed the violent death of President Cáceres, the
military forces of Haiti occupied a portion of our territory, under
pretext of assisting [Page 340] in
the capture of the assassins of the above mentioned Magistrate, and
established headquarters with large quantities of ammunition in
Tête-à-l’Eau, and in a place called Misión, all under the command of
the principal authority of Thomazeau.
All the pacific measures taken to solve this new and serious question
have been of no avail up to the present, and to the repeated claims
and protests of our Minister in Port-au-Prince, under instruction
from the Executive, the Minister for Foreign Affairs of the
neighboring Republic has replied that the points lately occupied by
the military forces of Haiti are places that belong to them, and
have always been considered so.
Although this incident has not yet been settled, the Dominican
Government has a defined and determined view of the question, and is
awaiting the moment when, without impairing any of our territorial
rights, and in accordance with equity and justice, this question
will be settled amicably, as today it is more important than ever
for the interests of both Republics.
I trust that that moment is not far distant, and that very soon there
will be a reconciling of that disparity of views which for so long a
time has kept us in constant worry and conflict with our neighbors.
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