dPEKE, JOHN H. 



755 



go presents to the civilized world the spectacle of an 

 entire people in arms ungratefully resisting as tyrants 

 those whom they called in as preservers. 



So strange a political phenomenon has been exam- 

 ined by the Ministers undersigned with delicate at- 

 tention and deep study. They have thoroughly 

 sifted the sad history of the annexation of San Do- 

 mingo, and have considered the question from every 

 point of view imaginable, commencing by those of 

 justice and right, and last regarding those of expe- 

 diency. They have well taken into account the rea- 

 sons "that might be alleged on the ground of the 

 national honor and respect, and have considered the 

 event of the most brilliant future possible a triumph 

 obtained at the cost of immense sacrifices ; they 

 have weighed the arguments for and against that may 

 be based upon considerations of national and foreign 

 policy, and, finally, have carefully made the sad cal- 

 culation of the numerous and precious lives that 

 Spain loses every day that this sterile contest is 

 prolonged, and of the great amount of treasure it 

 consumes. 



As a result of this laborious examination, the Min- 

 isters are impressed with the conviction that the 

 question of San Domingo has reached a point which 

 will allow us to make the following deductions : 



That it was a delusion to believe that the Domin- 

 ican people, as a whole, or in the great majority, 

 desired, and, above all, demanded their annexation 

 to Spain. That the struggle having become general, 

 it does not now bear the character of a measure 

 taken to subject a few discontented rebels, but of a 

 war of conquest completely foreign to the spirit of 

 Spanish policy. That tven by concentrating our 

 efforts and sacrifices in order to obtain a triumph we 

 should place ourselves in the sad position of holding 

 the island entirely by military occupation, full of 

 difficulties and not exempt from dangerous compli- 

 cations ; that even under the most favorable hypo- 

 thesis that a portion of the population may show 

 themselves devoted to us after victory, the Govern- 

 mental system that would have to be established in 

 those dominions must either be little suitable to the 

 usages and customs of the inhabitants, or very dis- 

 similar to that of the other colonial provinces. 



Upon all these and other considerations which the 

 superior intelligence of the Cortes will supply, the 

 Ministers, anxious to put an end to the useless sacri- 

 fices in men and money which the war in San Do- 

 mingo imposes upon the. nation, have the honor to 

 propose being duly authorized by Her Majesty the 

 following project of law : 



Art. 1. The royal decree of the 19th of May. 1861, declar- 

 ing the territory of the Dominican Eepublic reincorporated 

 with the monarchy, is repealed. 



Art. 2. The Government is authorized to take the neces- 

 sary measures for the execution of this law, giving account 

 of the same to the Cortes. 



Duke of VALENCIA, President of the Council. 

 ANTONIO BENAVIDES, Minister for Foreign 



Affairs. 

 LORENZO ARRAZOLA, Minister of Grace and 



Justice. 



BARZANALLANA, Minister of Finance. 

 CORDOVA, Minister of War. 

 ARMERO. Minister of Marine. 

 LUIS GONZALE3 BRAVO, Minister of tbe 



Interior. 



GALIANO, Minister of Public Works. 

 SEIJAS LOZANO, Minister of the Colonies. 



The action of the Cortes on this bill belongs 

 to the history of 1865, and will be referred to hi 

 the next volume of the AXNUAL CYCLOPEDIA. 



When San Domingo shall be abandoned, 

 Spain will only own, in America, Cuba, Porto 

 Rico, and a small group of islands called the 

 Spanis'.i Virgin Islands. According to-the last 

 census taken in Cuba, the white population of 



that island amounts to 793,484 souls. The col- 

 ored population nearly reaches this figure, num- 

 bering no less than 603,046. But of this num- 

 ber no less than two-fifths (225,843) are already 

 free. For the education of the negroes little is 

 done, and there were only 13.: __ am ] 



13,461 females, who were able to read and 

 write. Compared with the total population, 

 the slaves form about 25 per cent. about the 

 same proportion which the slave population of 

 Arkansas and Tennessee held to the free popu- 

 lation of those States. 



In Porto Rico, which, in a total population 

 of 583,308, has 239,527 persons of color, tho 

 condition of the negro and the prospect of tho 

 abolition of slavery are much better than, in 

 Cuba. No slaves have been introduced thero 

 from Africa for about thirty years, and the num- 

 ber has dwindled down to 41,736, in a popula- 

 tion of 583,308. They have many privileges, and 

 among them the right to purchase their own 

 freedom. In no country on this side of the At- 

 lantic does the institution approach so nearly a 

 patriarchal system. The slaves have free ;: 

 to the tribunals to state their grievances ; their 

 evidence is taken in court, even against their 

 master, and it has as much weight as that of 

 white persons of the same intelligence. They 

 have the privilege of changing their masters 

 when dissatisfied, and can oblige them to accept 

 payment for their manumission when the mini- 

 mum price of their assessed value is offered. 

 The child of a slave mother and white father is 

 free from its birth ; and in very many cases, 

 when the mother is a deserving woman, her 

 freedom is giver, her. A society for abolishing 

 slavery in these colonies was established at 

 Madrid, and joined by prominent men of all 

 political parties. 



SPEKE, Captain JOHN" UAXXIXG, the dis- 

 coverer of the source of the Jsile, born at 

 Jordans, Somersetshire, England, in 1827, killed 

 by the accidental discharge of his gun while 

 hunting, near Bath, England, Sept. 15, 1864. 

 After receiving his education at a provincial 

 grammar school, he entered the army at the 

 age of seventeen, and was soon ordered to India, 

 where, as a subaltern officer, he made the cam- 

 paign of the Punjaub under Lord Gough, and 

 took part hi the victories of Ramnuggur, Sa- 

 doolapore, Chillianwallah, and Guzerat. His 

 regiment during this period was attached to 

 Sir Colin Campbell's division. He found oppor- 

 tunity while in India to gratify not only his 

 warlike ardor and love of adventure, but also 

 the fondness for field-sports which had distin- 

 guished him from boyhood. The frequent leaves 

 of absence with which he was favored, by way 

 of reward for his military services, were spent 

 in hunting, botanizing, and collecting geological 

 specimens among the Himalayas, or in the un- 

 explored regions of Thibet. His object in these 

 excursions was two-fold : first, he was ambitious 

 of completing and developing a museum of 

 natural history, which he had begun to collect 

 at his father's house at Jordans ; and, secondly 



