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CONGRESS, UNITED STATES. 



as I have been assured by one who is bound to 

 be well informed, represents the people of his 

 country. Some time ago Cabral favored the 

 sale of the bay of Samana to the United States ; 

 but I have been assured that he has never 

 favored annexation to the United States. I 

 am assured that his policy is to bring the two 

 Governments of Dominica and Hayti once 

 more together, as they were down to the rev- 

 olution and war which lasted from 1846 to 

 1848, terminating in the uncertain indepen- 

 dence of the Dominican part of the island. 



"Now, the point which I wish to present 

 to the Senate and to impress is, that Hayti, 

 having claims on Dominica, is interdicted from 

 their pursuit by an American commodore. 



"But perhaps I may be told I see my 

 friend, the Senator from Indiana, is taking 

 notes that the American commodore was 

 justified under the law of nations. I meet him 

 on that point. How could he be right? How 

 could the law of nations sanction such a wrong? 

 The only ground would be that during the 

 pendency of the negotiation, or while the trea- 

 ty was under consideration, the Government of 

 the United States would protect the territory 

 to be transferred. I have seen that impossible 

 pretension put forth in newspapers. I call it 

 ' impossible.' It is unfounded in the law of 

 nations. Our ships, during the negotiation of 

 the treaty and during its consideration in the 

 Senate, had no more right or power in those 

 waters than before the negotiation. Only 

 when the treaty was consummated by the act 

 of the Senate, giving to it advice and consent, 

 could we exercise any semblance of jurisdic- 

 tion there. 



" Again I return to the pending resolution, 

 which I oppose as a new stage in the long- 

 drawn machination. Am I wrong in holding 

 up this negotiation, which has in it so much 

 or violence violence toward Dominica, vio- 

 lence toward Hayti ? Of course, the proposed 

 treaty assumed the civil war pending in the 

 territory annexed. No prudent man buys a 

 lawsuit; we should buy a bloody lawsuit." 



Mr. Morton, of Indiana, said : " The ar- 

 gument of the Senator from Massachusetts 

 throughout has demonstrated the necessity 

 and the importance of this investigation. My 

 friend has appeared upon the stand this after- 

 noon as a witness. He has testified copiously, 

 voluminously, and yet has scarcely produced 

 testimony to sustain one of his assertions. He 

 states these things, he says solemnly, because 

 he knows them to be true; but he has not 

 favored the Senate with any evidence to sus- 

 tain the most of them. Perhaps the Senator 

 thinks that what he does not know in regard 

 to the republic of San Domingo is not worth 

 knowing; but, while he may know it very 

 well, he may not be able to satisfy all the rest 

 of us; he may not be able to satisfy the 

 country. And now we propose a commission 

 that shall go upon the ground and make an ex- 

 amination so far as it can be made, and report 



to us the facts, that we may judge for our- 

 selves whether or not annexation is desirable ; 

 and, as I have said before, when I introduced 

 this resolution I supposed it could not elicit 

 debate ; I supposed it would not be opposed, 

 for, presuming that the Senator himself was 

 desirous of full and complete knowledge, that 

 he desired to be accurately informed, and be- 

 lieving that this was the very best possible 

 method to get full information upon points 

 which have been heretofore in dispute, I sup- 

 posed this resolution would pass without op- 

 position. 



"Now, sir, allow me to say that nearly all 

 the Senator's points are immaterial immate- 

 rial to the purpose of this resolution. He has 

 spent his force upon matters that, so far as 

 the merits of this resolution are concerned, 

 may be designated as frivolous, wholly unim- 

 portant. We are not now proposing to exam- 

 ine whether the treaty was correctly and 

 properly negotiated. We have passed by the 

 treaty; we are beginning de noto ; we are 

 proposing to examine this question as if a 

 treaty had never been made, and we propose 

 to go to the vital and material points in the. 

 matter, and to do that we propose to send a 

 commission to the island, where this informa- 

 tion is most accessible and can be most ac- 

 curately obtained. We are proceeding, as I 

 said before, as if there had been no treaty; 

 and now, of what importance is it, in proposing 

 to examine these questions and ascertain the 

 facts, to go into a long, labored, ingenious, and, 

 I may say, unfriendly examination of the mode 

 in which that treaty was negotiated? The 

 Senator has spent perhaps half an hour in 

 commenting upon the way in which General 

 Babcock had signed his name, alleging that he 

 had styled himself aide-de-camp to the Presi- 

 dent. Why, Mr. President, if we were con- 

 sidering the treaty itself, if that were before us, 

 it would be a mere frivolous objection; it 

 would be a mere verbal complaint that the 

 Senator would make, and could not possibly 

 go to the merits of the case ; but he brings 

 that circumstance here as one of overwhelm- 

 ing importance that must override the value 

 of the interrogatories that are to be answered 

 by this commission. 



"And as to the protocol that General Bab- 

 cock entered into, he says that protocol pro- 

 vides that the President should privately use 

 his influence with members of Congress or of 

 the Senate to bring about its ratification. Sir, 

 it provides no such thing. The protocol was 

 privately made; was not attached to the 

 treaty ; was not part of the treaty ; but it 

 made no provision that the President should 

 privately influence members of Congress or 

 try to do so; but that was the interpretation 

 the Senator gave to it that the President 

 agreed privately to influence members of Con- 

 gress. No such thing; the protocol does not 

 read that way. But, sir, what of the protocol? 

 The Senator seemed to think it was a very im- 



