CG8 



PUBLIC DOCUMENTS. 



it lies between the last two strongholds of slavery in 

 North America: Cuba on the west, and Porto Kico 

 on the east. In the present impotency of its govern- 

 ment it exercises little influence, but the inhabitants 

 are earnestly opposed to slavery, and under more 

 fa vox-able circumstances their moral influence would 

 be felt in the neighboring islands. It would be all 

 on the side of freedom ; nor would that influence be 

 merely moral. Commercial influences would work 

 in the same direction. St. Domingo is capable of 

 supporting millions of people. Land is cheap. In 

 fertility it certainly equals, and probably surpasses, 

 the neighboring isles, and it is even better suited to 

 the production of sugar and coffee. It could supply 

 the whole market of the United States with these 

 great West India staples. During the year above 

 mentioned, seventeen per cent, of all the imports of 

 the United States were the production of slave labor. 

 This trade is the main support which the slave sys- 

 tem now has. With liberty, order, free labor, and 

 the immigration which would be attracted by these, 

 with a vast ad vantage in the West India trade, arising 

 from the fact that any duties laid by the United States 

 on West India productions for revenue would be a 

 discrimination against slave products, and would in- 

 ure to the protection of Dominican free labor, it is 

 not too much to expect that St. Domingo might be 

 developed into a powerful State, which, by the inev- 

 itable laws of trade, would make slave-labor in the 

 neighboring islands unprofitable, and, by the spread 

 of its ideas, render the whole slave and caste systems 

 odious. 



The commissioners, of course, felt a deep interest 

 in the experiment of self-government which the blacks 

 are trying in Hayti. They certainly wished it all 

 success. They could not understand how any new 

 and close relations between St. Domingo and the 

 United States could affect that experiment otherwise 

 than favorably. They felt that it would be unjust to 

 our Government to suppose that it contemplated any 

 aotion injurious to it. They had too much faith in 

 the virtue of our institutions to doubt that the form 

 established of similar institutions in a neighboring 

 land must act favorably upoa republicanism and 

 progress in Hayti. The only force to be exerted 

 would be a moral one the force of example. They 

 knew of no valid claim which Hayti had against St. 

 Domingo, nor of any rights or interests which could 

 be endangered by the extension of our institutions 

 over the eastern end of the island. Nevertheless, 

 they desired to give to the government and to intel- 

 ligent citizens an opportunity of stating their views. 

 Moreover, they desired, in the most friendly spirit ? 

 to make the same observations and study of Hayti 

 and its inhabitants as they had made of the Domini- 

 can. Republic. They intimated to the President and 

 his council their disposition and desires. They stated 

 even that they would be glad to be put in the way of 

 ascertaining what were the claims of Hayti upon St. 

 Domingo, and what were the views and wishes of 

 the Haytian people with respect to any changes that 

 might be brought about in the neighboring republic, 

 but they received no encouragement to pursue their 

 inquiries. They asked verbally, and through our 

 minister in writing, for permission to explore the 

 interior of the island, but this was met in a spirit 

 equivalent to a refusal. They contented themselves, 

 therefore, with taking such testimony and gathering 

 such information upon matters bearing upon the 

 question of annexation as they could, without giving 

 o [fence. In reviewing the whole field of their inves- 

 tigations, looking to the interests of both divisions 

 of the island, they are firmly persuaded that the 

 annexation of St. Domingo to the United States would 

 be hardly loss beneficial to the Haytian than to the 

 Dominican people. This benefit would arise first, 

 from the example which would doubtless be afforded 

 of a well-regulated, orderly, and prosperous State, the 

 great need of that part of the world, and which it 

 haa as yet never sean. A second and more direct 



benefit would arise from the equitable establishment 

 of a boundary-line between the French-speaking and 

 the Spanish-speaking nations upon that island, and 

 its guarantee by a strong power. This would end 

 the exhausting border warfare ? which has been one 

 of the greatest curses of Hayti as well as of St. Do- 

 mingo, and would enable both to devote their en- 

 ergies thenceforward to the education of their people, 

 and to the development of their resources. 

 Respectfully submitted : 



B. F. WADE, 

 ANDREW D. WHITE, 

 S. G. HOWE. 

 The PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES. 



Treaty between France and Germany. 



The text of the preliminary peace, concluded 

 on February 26th, is as follows : The plenipo- 

 tentiaries invested with full power to draw up 

 the peace preliminaries were : Count Otto von 

 Bismarck-Schoenhausen, Chancellor of the Ger- 

 man Empire ; Count Otto von Bray-Steinburg, 

 Minister from Bavaria ; Baron August von 

 "Waechter, from Wurtemberg; and M. Julius 

 Jolly, from Baden ; M. Thiers, Chief of the 

 Executive Power of the French Republic ; and 

 M. Jules Favre, Minister of Foreign Affairs. 



ARTICLE I. France renounces, in favor of tbe Ger- 

 man Empire, all right and title to those districts ly- 

 ing east of the following specified boundaries [the 

 description of the boundary-line has been given in 

 the article entitled ALSACE. ED.] : 



The German Empire will hold these districts for- 

 ever, with full right of sovereignty and possession. 

 An International Commission, which shall be mutu- 

 ally formed of the same number of representatives 

 of the high contracting powers, shall, immediately 

 after the interchange of the ratification of the pres- 

 ent treaty, be commissioned to determine, at the des- 

 ignated points, the new boundary-line, in conformity 

 with the foregoing stipulations. 



This Commission shall direct the distribution of 

 land, as well as of capitalj which until now have 

 mutually belonged to districts or communities 

 separated by the new boundary ; in case of a di- 

 versity of opinion concerning the boundary and the 

 rules in regard to the execution of the treaty, the 

 members of the Commission shall obtain the deci- 

 sion of their respective Governments. 



The boundary, as it is laid down above, is marked 

 with green paint on two similar copies of the map of 

 the "parts of the district which form the General 

 Government of Alsace," which, in September, 1870. 

 was made public in Berlin by the geographical and 

 statistical division of the General Staff. A copy of 

 the same will be annexed to each of the two issues 

 of the present treaty. 



The specified boundary-line has, meanwhile, with 

 the agreement of both contracting powers, undergone 

 the following alterations : In the former Moselle de- 

 partment, the villages Marie-aux-Chenes, near St. 

 Prirat-la-Montagne, and Vionville, westward from 

 Rezonville, shall be ceded to Germany. In exchange, 

 the city and fortifications of Belfort, with a rayon 

 later to be established, will remain in possession of 

 France. 



ART. II. Franco shall pay to His Majesty the Ger- 

 man Emperor the sum of five thousand million 

 francs. At least one thousand million francs shall 

 be paid in the course of the year 1871, and the entire 

 residue in the course of three years from the ratifica- 

 tion of the present treaty. 



ART. III. The evacuation of the French districts 

 occupied by German troops shall commence after thfl 

 ratification of the present treaty on the part of the 

 National Assembly in session in Bordeaux. Imme- 



