BOAST OF SPAIN.
Here the example of Spain furnishes a beacon-light. Yielding to an invitation not unlike that of Baez to the United States, this Ancient Monarchy was induced by Santana, President of Dominica, to entertain the proposition of reannexion to the Crown. Here let it be remarked that Santana was legitimate President, while Baez is a usurping Dictator. And now mark the contrast between the Ancient Monarchy and our Republic, as attested in documents. Spain boasted, in official papers, that in the act of reannexion the Dominicans were spontaneous, free, and unanimous,—that no Spanish emissaries were in the territory to influence its people, nor was there a Spanish bottom in its waters or a Spanish soldier on its land. On the question whether this boast was justified by historic facts I say nothing. My purpose is accomplished, when I show, that, in self-defence and for the good name of Spain, it was necessary to make this boast. Unhappily, no such boast can be made now. American emissaries were in the territory, with Cazneau and Fabens as leaders,—while American war-ships, including the Dictator, our most powerful monitor, properly named for the service, were in the waters with guns pointed at the people to be annexed, and American soldiers with bayonets glancing in the sun were on the decks of these war-ships, if not on the land. The contrast is complete. In the case of Spain the proceeding was an act of peace; in our case it is an act of war. The two cases are as wide asunder as peace and war.
All must feel the importance of this statement, which, I have to say, is not without official authority. I now hold in my hand the Spanish documents relating to the reannexion of Dominica, as published by the Cortes, and with your permission I will open these authentic pages. And here allow me to say that I speak only according to the documents. That Spain made the boast attests the principle.
Omitting particularities and coming at once to the precise point, I read from a circular by the Spanish Minister of Foreign Affairs, addressed to diplomatic agents abroad, under date of Aranjuez, April 25, 1861, which declares the proper forbearance and caution of Spain, and establishes a precedent from which there can be no appeal:—
“The first condition, necessary and indispensable, which the Government of her Majesty requires in accepting the consequences of these events, is that the act of reïncorporation of San Domingo with the Spanish Monarchy shall be the unanimous, spontaneous, and explicit expression of the will of the Dominicans.”
The dispatch then proceeds to describe the attitude of the Spanish Government. And here it says of the events in Dominica:—
“Nor have they been the work of Spanish emigrants who have penetrated the territory of San Domingo; nor has the superior authority of Havana, nor the forces of sea and land at its disposition, contributed to them. The Captain-General of Cuba has not separated himself, nor could he depart for a moment, from the principles of the Government, and from the policy which it has followed with regard to them. Not a Spanish bottom or soldier was on the coast or in the territory of the Republic when the latter by a unanimous movement proclaimed its reunion to Spain.”[12]
It will be observed with what energy of phrase the Spanish Minister excludes all suspicion of force on the part of Spain. Not only was there no Spanish ship on the coast, but not a single Spanish bottom. And then it is alleged that “the first condition” of reannexion must be “the unanimous, spontaneous, and explicit expression of the will of the Dominicans.” No foreign influence, no Spanish influence, was to interfere with the popular will. But this is nothing more than justice. Anything else is wrong.
The Spanish Government, not content with announcing this important rule in the dispatch which I have quoted, return to it in another similar dispatch, dated at Madrid, 26th May, 1861, as follows:—
“The Government of the Queen, before adopting a definitive resolution on this question, sought to acquire absolute assurance that the votes of the Dominican people had been spontaneous, free, and unanimous. The reception of the proclamation of the Queen as sovereign in all the villages of the territory of San Domingo proves the spontaneousness and the unanimity of the movement.”[13]
Here again is the allegation that the movement was spontaneous and unanimous, and that the Spanish Government sought to acquire absolute assurance on this essential point. This was openly recognized as the condition-precedent; and I cite it as unanswerable testimony to what was deemed essential.
On this absolute assurance the Ministers laid before the Queen in Council a decree of reannexion, with an explanatory paper, under date of 19th May, 1861, where the unanimity of the Dominican people is again asserted, and also the absence of any influence on the part of Spain:—
“Everywhere was manifested jubilee and enthusiasm in a manner unequivocal and solemn. The public authorities, following their own impulses, have obeyed the sentiment of the country, which has put its trust in them. Rarely has been seen such a concurrence, such a unanimity of wills to realize an idea, a common thought. And all this, without having on the coast of San Domingo a single bottom, nor on the territory a soldier of Spain.”[14]
Such is the official record on which the decree of reannexion was adopted. Mark well, Sir,—a unanimous people, and not a single Spanish bottom on the coast or Spanish soldier on the territory.