CHAPTER XXVIII 



AS COMMISSIONER TO SANTO DOMINGO 1871 



KETURNING from Russia and Germany, I devoted 

 myself during thirteen years, first, to my professo- 

 rial duties at the University of Michigan ; next, to political 

 duties in the State Senate at Albany ; and, finally, to organ- 

 izing and administering Cornell University. But in the 

 early winter of 1870-71 came an event which drew me out 

 of my university life for a time, and engaged me again in 

 diplomatic work. While pursuing the even tenor of my 

 way, there came a telegraphic despatch from Mr. William 

 Orton, president of the Western Union Telegraph Com- 

 pany, a devoted supporter of the administration, asking me 

 whether I had formed any definite opinion against the an- 

 nexation of the island of Santo Domingo to the United 

 States. This question surprised me. A proposal regarding 

 such an annexation had been for some time talked about. 

 The newly elected President, General Grant, having been 

 besought by the authorities of that republic to propose 

 measures looking to annexation, had made a brief exami- 

 nation; and Congress had passed a law authorizing the 

 appointment of three commissioners to visit the island, to 

 examine and report upon its desirability, from various 

 points of view, and to ascertain, as far as possible, the 

 feeling of its inhabitants; but I had given no attention 

 to the matter, and therefore answered Mr. Orton that I 

 had no opinion, one way or the other, regarding it. A 

 day or two afterward came information that the President 

 had named the commission, and in the following or- 



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