656 



PUBLIC DOCUMENTS. 



mony of witnesses. They visitel the vicinity 

 of the western border country, where it was 

 reported that there were disturbances, and re- 

 mained a week at the capital of the neighbor- 

 ing Republic of Hayti, where some supplemen- 

 tary investigations were made. They were 

 detained a few days by the necessity of coal- 

 ing the ship at Kingston, Jamaica, where some 

 opportunity was afforded to examine questions 

 of white-labor management, of agriculture, and 

 general administration in the West Indies, and 

 the progress free colored men there are making. 

 Eeturning to the United States by way of Key 

 West, they landed at Charleston, March 26th, 

 having been absent seventy days. 



The present government of the Dominican Repub- 

 lic is in theory a constitutional republic. _ According 

 to its constitution, the government is divided into 

 three branches the executive, legislative, and judi- 

 cial. The first consists of a President and Vice- 

 President, elected by an electoral college for a term 

 of six years, with a difference of three years in the 

 time of their election. Both the President and the 

 Vice-President^ are ineligible to the presidency dur- 

 ing the following term. The President appoints a 

 Council of State, consisting of a Minister ot Public 

 Instruction, of Interior, Police and Agriculturej of 

 Public Works, of Commerce, of War, and of Marine. 

 On one of these four ministers the duties of Minister 

 of Foreign Relations devolve at the will of the Presi- 

 dent. The legislative branch of the government con- 

 sists of a Senate Senado Comultor elected by the 

 primary assemblies, and has two members for the 

 city of St. Domingo, two for Santiago, and one for 

 each of the other provinces and districts ; nine mem- 

 bers in all. These hold office six years, and may be 

 reelected. Each province and district has a govern- 

 ment, and each parish and military post has a com- 

 mandant nominated by the Executive and responsi- 

 ble to him. The towns are governed by Ayuntami- 

 entos or Councils elected by the primary assemblies 

 for three years. The judiciary consists of a Supreme 

 Court, whose seat is at the capital, with a President, 

 four Ministers, and one Attorney- General, who are 

 chosen by the Senate from nominations made by the 

 Electoral College, and who hold office five years. In 

 every provinca and district there is a Court of First 

 Instance, sitting in the respective capitals, consisting 

 of a Judge, Prosecutor, and Attorney-General, all 

 nominated by the Executive, and holding office five 

 years. It was found that this court had, in many 

 parts of the republic, fallen into disuse. Finally, 

 each town and parish or commune has an alcalde, 

 appointed by the Executive, and holding office at his 

 pleasure, and corresponding to our justice of the 

 peace. In this latter case the practice is certainly 

 far better than the theory. In all parts of the repub- 

 lic it was found that the alcalde held office virtually 

 during good behavior, and not one was found whose 

 character did not inspire respect. 



This country has for a long period been subjected 

 to a series of revolts, led by ambitious leaders, who 

 frequently spring up and stir the population of one 

 or more districts into petty civil wars, which some- 

 times ripen into revolution. In consequence of this 

 condition of things, there has grown up, under various 

 administrations, a penal code much more severe, es- 

 pecially in regard to political oifences, than prevails 

 in our country. Infested as that country has been 

 by jealous, aspiring, and seditious leaders, whose im- 

 portance depends on commotion, there is no doubt 

 that a rigorous execution of this code has been neces- 

 sary from time to time to preserve the tranquillity of 

 the republic. The commissioners found the gov- 

 ernment organized and in complete operation in 

 all its departments, exercising every function of le- 



gitimate government, with General Buenaventura 

 Baez as the chief magistrate, in the full and peaceable 

 possession of all parts of the republic, except on the 

 Haytian border, which is disturbed by insurrectionary 

 leaders, aided by Haytians and political intriguers, 

 and emissaries who have congregated at various 

 points on the neighboring islands. These are incited 

 to be extraordinarily active at this time by the fear 

 of annexation to the United States. From all that 

 the commissioners could ascertain, President Baez 

 has the respect of a great majority of the Dominican 

 people for his administrative abilities, and the strong 

 attachment of many of the leading men, who regard 

 him as the only statesman among them who can hold 

 the nation against domestic factions and foreign foes. 

 In the year 1848, after five years of anarchy conse- 

 quent upon the expulsion of the Haytian power, Gen- 

 eral Baez was regularly elected President of the re- 

 public. It appears that he was chosen as a man who, 

 by his education, fortune, and public services, would 

 be most likely to secure general confidence and heal 

 the wounds inflicted by civil and foreign wars. Five 

 years before this he had been elected to the national 

 Congress, and he had been made President of that 

 body at a most critical period of the national history 

 the period of the creation of new institutions after 

 the casting oif of the Haytian yoke. His first admin- 

 istration appears to have beeri successful. It stands 

 unique in one respect, for it is the only one in the 

 annals of the Dominican Republic which has lasted 

 during the entire constitutional period. In 1853 he 

 was regularly 'and peaceably succeeded by General 

 Pedro Santana. A period of anarchy soon ensued, 

 which lasted until the year 1861, when the island 

 was brought again under the power of Spain by Gen- 

 eral Sautana. After the expulsion of the Spaniards, 

 anarchy again followed. During the periods before 

 and after the Spanish domination, General Baez was 

 several times called in from abroad to save the coun- 

 try from this anarchy by provisional authority, the 

 only authority existing at such times in the republic. 

 In one of the delegations of leading citizens who ten- 

 dered to him the chief magistracy was General Cabral. 

 President Baez has now entered upon the third year 

 of his present administration. There is ample testi- 

 mony to the fact that, under him, despite the diffi- 

 culties that have beset him, the republic has enjoyed 

 as much liberty as any of his predecessors dared allow, 

 and more tranquillity than they knew how to give ; 

 nor do the commissioners find that there is any op- 

 ponent of the present administration of that republic 

 who has now, or who ever has had, any claim to the 

 chief magistracy by a title superior to that of the 

 present incumbent. Whatever technical defects there 

 might have been in his original title to the office, it 

 was confirmed by the national convention and ratified 

 by the assent and support of the people. The fre- 

 quency of civil commotions during a long period, and 

 the consequent insecurity of property, have paralyzed 

 industry, discouraged accumulation, and so impov- 

 erished the country, that for the last two years the 

 financial resources of the government, as its officers 

 informed us, have been inadequate to pay its ex- 

 penses. Meanwhile, it has constantly been harassed 

 with incursions and attempts at revolution. Only 

 the ability of the administration and a large share of 

 the confidence reposed in it by a strong majority of 

 the people could have maintained its existence through 

 so many difficulties. 



The insurrections which still exist are headed by 

 Cabral and Luperon. The former of these is uni- 

 versally conceded to be the more important, but 

 neither has a distinct flag or a regularly-organized 

 army. Neither is the exponent of a clearly-defined 

 policy. Both seem animated by interest, attach- 

 ments, and resentments, purely personal. Their op- 

 position has assumed the character of an amazing 

 guerrilla warfare, involving a heavy expenditure on 

 the part of the government at the capital, but pos- 

 sessing no power which gives it any hold on public 



