File No. 839.00/989.
The American Minister to the Secretary of State.
Santo Domingo, December 5, 1913.
There has been a full Cabinet meeting attended by the President, to which I was invited. We discussed the commission, arriving at the following conclusions:
- First, that the Dominican Government wants no commission to come, because the Government believes it would create revolution.
- Second, that if the commission came the Government would give it no official recognition.
- Third, that the Government believes that the Minister could report as to the character of the election and that the foreigners here could furnish such evidence in regard to the election as might be needed.
The Government at first claimed that the peace pact did not bind it, but withdrew this claim later.
It then claimed that when the Puerto Plata leaders signed the pact the interest of the United States ceased. This claim they found untenable on review of the facts.
One of the admissions made by the Cabinet was that the commission can come as individuals without any official capacity, like tourists. I held firmly to our rights in the premises as an interested party, our Government having solemnly promised a fair and free election, with the consent and approval of the Dominican Government; I asserted that President Wilson’s declaration of principles concerning Latin America reserved the right to enter any Latin American country to see that the people’s rights were not lost by force or fraud; I pointed out that the non-interfering features of our plan could not hurt the tenderest sensibilities and that such a commission as the President of the United States proposed, seeking as they would only information and lifting neither hand nor voice in interference, would be welcomed in any country; and I said that objection to the commission would naturally raise grave doubts in all concerned as to the intention of the Dominican Government.
The people have in the meantime caught the idea of freedom of speech and fair voting. The commission is bringing the great boon of freedom, and to have it stopped on its way would bring despair to the [omission in transmission] and also to the more enlightened elements, which now believe in us.
The Dominican Government, however, questions our right even to suggest what shall be done. Behind this stand is the purpose to use coercion. It does not deny that agents have the right to be onlookers but does not wish officially to recognize them.
[Page 441]I most earnestly recommend firm adherence to the plan agreed upon, believing that any deviation would render worse than useless all the work we have done here.