AS COMMISSIONER TO SANTO DOMINGO-1871 493 



entire island one constantly sees great buildings and other 

 church property which have been confiscated and sold for 

 secular purposes. In the city itself the opera-house was 

 a former church, which in its day had been very impos 

 ing, and everywhere one saw monastery estates in private 

 hands. The authorities in Santo Domingo had simply 

 pursued the policy so well known in various Latin coun 

 tries, and especially in France, Italy, and Spain, of allow 

 ing the religious orders to absorb large masses of prop 

 erty, and then squeezing it out of them into the coffers 

 of the state. 



In view of this, I said to the papal nuncio that it was 

 very important for the United States, in considering the 

 question of annexing the island, to know what the church 

 claimed; that if the church demanded the restoration of 

 all that had been taken from her, this would certainly 

 greatly diminish the value of the island in the eyes of our 

 public men. To this he answered that in case of annexa 

 tion the church would claim nothing whatever beyond 

 what it was absolutely and actually occupying and using 

 for its own purposes, and he offered to give me guaran 

 tees to that effect which should be full and explicit. 



It was perfectly clear that the church authorities pre 

 ferred to be under a government which, even though they 

 regarded it as Protestant, could secure them their prop 

 erty, rather than to be subject to a Roman Catholic re 

 public in which they were liable to constantly recurring 

 spoliation. This I found to be the spirit of the clergy of 

 every grade in all parts of the island : they had discovered 

 that under the Constitution of the United States confis 

 cation without compensation is impossible. 



It also fell to my lot, as the youngest man in the com 

 mission, to conduct an expedition across the mountains 

 from the city of Santo Domingo on the south coast to 

 Puerto Plata on the north. 



During this journey, on which I was about ten days in 

 the saddle, it was my duty to confer with the principal 

 functionaries, and this gave me novel experiences. When- 



