CONGRESS, UNITED STATES. 



157 



resolution will be referred, as proposed by the 

 Senator from Connecticut." 



Mr. Edmunds, of Vermont, said: "Mr. Presi- 

 dent, I say that the information which these 

 gentlemen are to report to us I believe will 

 demonstrate to me and my associates in this 

 body that the present incorporation of that 

 people into the political system of the United 

 States, taking part in its government with us 

 and making laws for us, is not desirable. So, 

 then, as an opponent of the annexation of 

 San Domingo, I am. very glad indeed that the 

 Senator from Indiana has proposed that a com- 

 mission appointed by the President of the 

 United States, the political friend certainly of 

 us all upon this side of the Chamber, and the 

 independent Chief Magistrate of the whole 

 people, without regard to politics, who would 

 not select for such a high mission as this any 

 persons in whose rectitude, and fidelity, and 

 intelligence, entire trust could not be placed, 

 shall proceed to obtain this information. 



"Now, sir, it cannot be disguised, it ought 

 not to be disguised from the people of this 

 country and from ourselves, that we cannot 

 fail to look with absorbing interest upon all 

 the peoples and the islands of this great archi- 

 pelago of the tropics. "We have for more than 

 half a century held out to the world that we 

 should look with a jealous eye upon any inter- 

 ference with their affairs by foreign nations 

 further than the principles of public law and 

 the existing condition of things permitted it. 

 Certainly if there be any distinctive American 

 doctrine upon which the whole people are 

 supposed to be a unit it is that we shall not 

 permit European interference or aggression 

 beyond existing conditions (which the faith 

 of treaties and public law do not permit us to 

 interfere with), or the enlargement of the 

 domain of that species of interference in 

 Governments in this great tropical archipelago 

 of which I have spoken. Therefore, informa- 

 tion in respect to any of these islands, in re- 

 spect to their capacity to uphold and support 

 a free, industrious, and self-governing popula- 

 tion, is of interest to the people of the United 

 States. I say this with reference to Cuba as 

 well as San Domingo ; Hayti, the other end 

 of this island, as well as Dominica ; St. Thom- 

 as, or whatever the island may be; as to the 

 people who inhabit all those islands, there 

 must be with us always a centring and ab- 

 sorbing interest, they, taken as a whole, lying 

 in that great Mediterranean Sea of the "Western 

 Hemisphere connecting us with the isthmus 

 of Panama and our great coast on the Pa- 

 cific." 



Mr. Sumner: "Mr. President, I am going 

 now to renew the motion I made a few mo- 

 ments ago, that the Senate proceed to the con- 

 sideration of executive business." 



The Presiding Officer : " The question is on 

 the motion of the Senator from Massachusetts, 

 to proceed to the consideration of executive 

 business." 



The yeas and nays were ordered ; and, being 

 taken, resulted as follows : 



YEAS Messrs. Bayard, Casserly. Davis, Fowler, 

 Hamilton of Maryland, Harris, Johnston, Kellogg, 

 McCreery, Patterson, Robertson, Schurz, Scott, Sher- 

 man, Stockton, Sumner, Tipton, and Vickers 18. 



NAYS Messrs. Abbott, Ames, Boreman. Brown- 



ton, Nye, Osborn, Porneroy, Pool, Pratt, Ramsey, 

 Revels, Rice, Sawyer, Stewart, Thayer, Trumbull, 

 Warner, Williams, and Yates 34. 



ABSENT Messrs. Anthony, Cameron, Cattell, Cole, 

 Fenton, Ferry, Gilbert, Howard, McDonald, Morrill 

 of Maine, Morrill of Vermont. Ross, Saulsbury, 

 Spencer, Sprague, Thurman, Willey, Wilson, and 

 Windom 19. 



So the motion was not agreed to. 



Mr. Sumner: "Mr. President, the resolution 

 before the Senate commits Congress to a dance 

 of blood. It is a new step in a measure of 

 violence. Several steps have already been 

 taken, and Congress is now summoned to take 

 another. 



"Now, sir, by this joint resolution the 

 President is authorized to appoint three 'com- 

 missioners,' and also a 'secretary,' the latter 

 to be versed in the English and Spanish lan- 

 guages, to proceed to the island of San Do- 

 mingo, and to inquire into, ascertain, and re- 

 port certain things. I say this is a legislative 

 act creating three new offices, and the Senator 

 says that it is simply a resolution of inquiry. 

 Let me put a question to the Senator from In- 

 diana. Suppose a joint resolution were brought 

 forward authorizing the appointment of three 

 commissioners to proceed to England in order 

 to ascertain the condition of United States se- 

 curities and the possibility of finding a market 

 there; according to the suggestion of the 

 Senator it would be a resolution of inquiry 

 only. Would he allow it to pass without a 

 reference to the Committee on Finance ? "Would 

 he not say that it opened a most important 

 question, which should be considered by the 

 appropriate committee ? 



" The Senator is too experienced to be put 

 aside by the suggestion that may be brought 

 forward that the commissioners shall serve 

 without compensation except the payment of 

 expenses. Does this alter the case ? Without 

 those words in this joint resolution the gen- 

 eral diplomatic law would take effect, and it 

 would at least be a question if they would not 

 be entitled to the salary of $7,500 per annum. 

 And yet a resolution of this character, creat- 

 ing three new offices, is called simply a resolu- 

 tion of inquiry ! Sir, the Senator is mistaken ; 

 and his mistake in this matter illustrates other 

 mistakes with reference to the important sub- 

 ject now before the Senate. 



"The Senator, it seems to me, has not com- 

 prehended the object of this resolution. To 

 my mind it is plain. It is simply this : it is to 

 commit Congress to the policy of annexation. 

 I insist upon this point: the object of the res- 

 olution, and I will demonstrate it, is to com- 



