839.00/2635: Telegram
The Commissioner in the Dominican Republic (Welles) to the Secretary of State
[Received October 23—4 p.m.]
38. The Provisional Government was duly installed this morning. The following, in my opinion, are noteworthy passages from the excellent inaugural address read by the Provisional President: [Page 75]
“The period which we are confronting is one of national reconstruction. It is one of transition and I begin it with faith in the prudence and respect of the Dominican people; in the efficacy of the plan of evacuation and of the regulations which are to govern the exercise of my official duties; and with complete confidence in the high purposes and in the spirit of redemption and of justice of which the great American nation has given so many proofs in its efforts to advance liberty and independence of the other nations of the world.”
“Possessing this optimism, I declare that to obtain a sovereign and independent Republic, I will devote all my strength and all my efforts; always bearing in mind that in relation to internal political questions my conduct will be invariably governed by a decided and unvarying impartiality to all political parties, as much because of my own convictions as because I believe that my impartiality was one of the determining conditions of my selection; and furthermore because it is indicated by the requirements of the country that only through such absolute impartiality and through entire justice in all the branches of the administration can I count upon the faith and general approbation of the entire country. It is necessary that all of us Dominicans, without exception, advance in accordance with our duty, putting to one side for the time being, should it be necessary for the general welfare, the immediate satisfaction of our personal ambitions, lending all of our support to the sole task of the restoration of the Republic and the reestablishment of its institutions.”