up the outline from the information communicated in this dispatch, as well as from your own knowledge of the subject. Should the Minister for Foreign Affairs lend a favorable ear to your proposition, then the question of the consideration to be paid would arise; and you have been furnished with information in this despatch which will enable you to discuss that question. In justice to Mr. Calderon, I ought here to observe, that whilst giving me the information before stated, in regard to the net amount of revenue from Cuba which reached old Spain, he had not then, and has not now, the most remote idea of our intention to make an attempt to purchase the island. "The President would be willing to stipulate for the payment of one hundred millions of dollars for the island, and its dependencies, in ten equal annual installments. This, however, is the maximum price; and if Spain should be willing to sell, you will use your best efforts to purchase it at a rate as much below that sum as practicable." Mr. Buchanan, Sec. of State, to Mr. Saunders, min. to Spain, June 17, 1848, Mr. Buchanan, as President, in his annual message of December 19, 1859, "As to the purchase of Cuba from Spain, we do not desire to renew the proposition made by the late Administration on this subject. It is understood that the proposition, made by our late minister at Madrid, under instructions from this Department, or from the late President of the United States, was considered by the Spanish ministry as a national indignity, and that the sentiment of the ministry was responded to by the Cortes. After all that has occurred, should Spain desire to part with the island, the proposition for its cession to us should come from her; and in case she should make any, you will content yourself with transmitting the same to your Government for consideration." Mr. Clayton, Sec. of State, to Mr. Barringer, min. to Spain, Aug. 2, 1849, MS. Mr. Saunders, after seeking to carry out his instructions (supra), reported that that he believed such to be the feeling of the country, that, sooner than see the island transferred to any power, they would prefer seeing it sunk in the ocean." (Mr. Saunders, min. to Spain, to Mr. Buchanan, Sec. of State, Dec. 14, 1848, Br. & For. State Papers (1853. 1854), XLIV. 195, 196; H. Ex. Doc. 121, 32 Cong. 1 sess.) President Buchanan, Jan. 31, 1856, informed the Senate that no correspondence in relation to the purchase of Cuba had taken place except that which had been communicated to Congress. (S. Ex. Doc. 16, 35 Cong. 2 sess.) "I have. in common with several of my predecessors, directed the ministers of France and England to be assured that the United States entertain no designs against Cuba, but that, on the contrary, I should regard its incorporation into the Union at the present time as fraught with serious peril. Were this island comparatively destitute of inhabitants or occupied by a kindred race, I should regard it, if voluntarily ceded by Spain, as a most desirable acquisition. But under existing circumstances I should look upon its incorporation into our Union as a very hazardous measure. It would bring into the Confederacy a population of a different national stock, speaking a different language, and not likely to harmonize with the other members. It would probably affect in a prejudicial manner the industrial interests of the South, and it might revive those conflicts of opinion between the different sections of the country which lately shook the Union to its center, and which have been so happily compromised." President Fillmore, annual message, December 6, 1852, Richardson, Messages and Papers of the Presidents, V. 165. "With an experience thus suggestive and cheering, the policy of my Administration will not be controlled by any timid forebodings of evil from expansion. Indeed, it is not to be disguised that our attitude as a nation and our position on the globe render the acquisition of certain possessions not within our jurisdiction eminently important for our protection, if not in the future essential for the preservation of the rights of commerce and the peace of the world.” Pres. Pierce, Inaugural Address, March 4, 1853, Richardson, Mess. and Pap. of the Pres. V. 198. "It is no longer, I believe, a secret in Spain that the United States wish to obtain the cession [of Cuba], and that you have authority to treat on the subject. . . . Should you find persons of position or influence disposed to converse on the subject, the considerations in favor of a cession are so many and so strong that those who can be brought to listen would very likely become converts to the measure. But should you have reason to believe that the men in power are averse to entertaining such a proposition that the offer of it would be offensive to the national pride of Spain, and that it would find no favor in any considerable class of the people-then it will be but too evident that the time for opening, or attempting to open, such a negotiation has not arrived. . . . The language of some part of the report might perhaps be so construed as to sustain the inference that you and your associates in the conference were of opinion that the proposition should be made, though there should be no chance of its being entertained, and that it should be accompanied with the open declaration or a significant suggestion that the United States were determined to have the island, and would obtain it by other means if their present advances, so advantageous to Spain, be refused by her; but other parts of the report repel this inference. . . . I will only remark that the acquisition of Cuba by the United States would be preeminently advantageous in itself and of the highest importance as a precautionary measure of security. However much we might regret the want of success in our efforts to obtain the cession of it, that failure would not, without a material change in the condition of the island, involve imminent peril to the existence of our government. But should the contingency suggested in your report ever arise, there is no reason to doubt that the case will be promptly met by the deliberate judgment and decisive action of the American people.” Mr. Marcy, Sec. of State, to Mr. Soulé, min. to Spain, Nov. 13, 1854, H. Ex. The "report" referred to in the foregoing passage is the so-called "Ostend "An examination of the large mass of correspondence in regard to Cuba, since 1869, printed in Executive Documents and Foreign Relations, will show you that no proposal for the annexation of that island to the United States has been made by or on behalf of this Government." (Mr. Adee, Second Assist. Sec. of State, to Mr. Ohl, Jan. 14, 1898, 224 MS. Dom. Let. 434.) The United States "have constantly indulged the belief that they might hope at some day to acquire those islands [Cuba and Porto Rico] by just and lawful means, with the consent of their sovereign." Mr. Seward, Sec. of State, to Mr. Schurz, min. to Spain, April 27, 1861, MS. Inst. Spain, XV. 263. (4) YUCATAN. In 1848, an Indian outbreak having occurred in Yucatan, the authorities offered to transfer the "dominion and sovereignty" to the United States, and at the same time made a similar offer to Great Britain and Spain. President Polk recommended the occupation of the territory by the United States. May 4, 1848, a bill to enable the President "to take temporary military occupation of Yucatan” was introduced in the Senate, and its passage was urged on grounds both of humanity and of national policy. A few days later, however, information was received of the conclusion of a treaty between the Indians and the whites, and the bill was not again called up. Cong. Globe, 30th Cong. 1 sess., 709, 778; S. Ex. Doc. 40, 30 Cong. 1 sess.; (5) ISLANDS AT PANAMA. § 120. In 1856 the United States, in order to protect and render secure the transportation of persons and property across the Isthmus of Panama, endeavored to obtain the cession from New Granada of the islands in the Bay of Panama, viz, Taboga, Flamingo, Ilenao, Perico, and Culebra. A special mission was sent out to endeavor to obtain the cession, but it was unsuccessful. Mr. Marcy, Sec. of State, to Messrs. Morse and Bowlin, Dec. 3, 1856, S. Ex. (6) SANTO DOMINGO; SAMANA BAY. § 121. "You have communicated to me certain views and wishes which have been expressed to you by President Baez, and Santo Domingo. his confidential minister, Mr. Felix Delmonte. These views and desires substantially are that the United States shall immediately publish a declaration placing the Dominican Republic under the protection of the United States and shall sustain the proclamation by sending vessels of war to take possession of Samana and Mancenilla bays and any other points that military strategy might indicate, and thus pave the way for annexation to the United States by Mr. Baez, who, although President by name, is virtually clothed with dictatorial powers. You have given me the considerations out of which these views have arisen. These considerations are that the proceedings thus solicited would impart great confidence to the people of Dominica, and likewise to foreigners who might wish to settle there, but are at present prevented by the constant changes and uncertainty of the Dominican Government; that the late revolution in Spain may lead to important revolutions in the condition of affairs in Cuba and Porto Rico, and may have a tendency to induce many planters to remove from those islands to St. Domingo; that there is a prospect of a general war in Europe, and that there could be no more propitious time than the present for the United States to place St. Domingo under their protection; that, in the opinion of Mr. Baez and Mr. Delmonte, the Dominican Republic would in that case at once seek admission into the Union, which is the fervent wish of a large portion of its people. You give your own opinion that the extinction of slavery in the United States has prepared the way for the important proceeding which those gentlemen have thus recommended, and that it is eminently desirable in view of the decline which has taken place within the last century in the productions and revenues of the island of St. Domingo. "President Baez and his minister can not be unaware that the proceeding which they propose, however beneficent its purposes might be, would nevertheless in its nature be an act of war, and that as such it transcends the power of the executive government, and falls within the exclusive province of Congress. "In submitting such a transaction to the governments of mankind, it would be difficult to distinguish it from the attempt which was made during our recent civil war by Spain to reannex the Dominican Republic to her own dominion by means of an illegal arrangement made between the Spanish Government and Santa Anna, then President of the Dominican Republic. There would, indeed, be this difference, that in the case proposed by President Baez the Dominican Republic would be virtually transferred to and accepted by an American Republic whereas in the other case it was an attempt to subvert a republic at St. Domingo and annex it as a province to one of the ancient European monarchies. It may be doubted whether this distinction would be regarded as a moral justification of the proceeding. "If, however, we lay that question aside, there still remains an inherent difficulty in the case. To establish the protectorate in St. Domingo would be virtual annexation by act of war, and not by the consent and agreement of the people of the Dominican Republic. The Congress of the United States are always disinclined to foreign military conquest, perhaps more so now than at any time heretofore. It seems unlikely, therefore, that Congress would entertain any other proposition for the annexation of Dominica than one which should originate with and have the sanction of the Dominican people, expressed in a regular constitutional manner. Nevertheless, the subject is a very important one, and I reserve further consideration of it until Congress shall have assembled, which will be on the first Monday in December. "You may read this dispatch, confidentially, to President Baez and his secretary." Mr. Seward, Sec. of State, to Mr. Smith, commercial agent at St. Domingo "Comprehensive national policy would seem to sanction the acquisition and incorporation into our Federal Union of the several adjacent continental and insular communities as speedily as it can be done |