For the protocol signed by General Babcock, the Secretary of State refers to the Senate report already referred to; for the convention he refers to the said "confidential" correspondence herewith transmitted. III. "Also an account of the debt and liabilities of the Dominican government, especially its obligations to the neighboring republic of Hayti." The Secretary of State respectfully refers to the said "confidential" correspondence, herewith inclosed, for the latest and most accurate account of the debt, and liabilities of the Dominican government, in the possession of this Department; and has no knowledge of any obligation which it is under to the neighboring republic of Hayti, unless such obligation is shown in the papers contained therein.

IV. “Also the provisions of the existing constitution of Dominica, so far as the same relate to the sale or transfer of the national domain.” It is not possible for the Secretary of State to determine, from the archives of this Department, which constitution is now in force in that republic. All parties alike have seemed to seek annexation to the United States as the surest hope for the future of the republic. The Secretary of State cannot decide whether the clause already quoted from the constitution of 1854 is or is not in force. It may be that all parties regard it as inapplicable to a fundamental change in the political character of the government which, like annexation to the United States, changes the relations of the national sovereignty without alienating the national domain, or it may be that it is not now in force. It is clear that it is not recognized by the friends of Cabral or of Baez as an impediment to annexation to the United States. The Department of State is in the possession of official information, of a secret and confidential character, fully confirming this statement, which it is understood that the President has transmitted confidentially to the Senate. V. "Any treaty with Hayti or France, by which Dominica is bound or affected." The Secretary of State has the honor, in reply to this, to refer to the translation of the treaty of boundary, made in the year 1777, between France and Spain for determining the boundary between their respective possessions on the island of San Domingo; and, together with this, to a map of the island showing the position of this boundary to be the line now claimed by the Dominican Republic. Also to the ordinance of the King of France, dated April 12, 1825, herewith transmitted.

VI. "Any communications from the neighboring republic of Hayti, or from our minister there, relating to the proposed annexation." The Secretary of State has the honor to transmit herewith a copy of a dispatch from the United States minister at Hayti, dated February 17, 1870, with its inclosures; also a copy of a note from the minister of Hayti at Washington, received by the Secretary of State a few hours after the introduction into the Senate of the resolution herewith answered, and a copy of the reply thereto. Although this correspondence (which is the only correspondence on the subject) did not reach the Secretary of State until after the resolution was introduced into the Senate, it is supposed to be the correspondence called for by the resolution.

VII. "Instructions to the commander of our naval squadron in the waters of the island since the commencement of the late negotiations, with the reports, and correspondence of such commander." No such instructions are to be found in the archives of this Department.

VIII. "Any information tending to show what European power, if any, proposes to acquire jurisdiction of any part of the island; and if so, of what part." Information of this character is usually in a form that cannot be properly made the subject of a public official communication. The Secretary of State respectfully refers to the papers herewith transmitted

with Mr. Hogan's report; to the late attempted occupation by Spain; to the correspondence of Mr. Elliot and other consular officers of the United States, hereinbefore quoted; to the above-recited letter from the honorable chairman of the Senate Committee on Foreign Relations; to the history of the relations of the leading monarchial powers of Europe to this continent; and to repeated statements of such purposes and designs in the public press, to show that such an acquisition of jurisdiction was formerly contemplated, has been actually attempted during the period covered by the negotiations above narrated, and is supposed to have been within the contemplation of some European power within a quite recent period.

IX. "Any information with regard to the position of President Bacz, under whom the treaty of annexation was negotiated, and the extent to which he has been maintained in power by the presence of United States vessels of war." On the former point the Secretary of State has the honor to state that all the correspondence in the archives of the Department tends to show that, should President Baez fail in the effort to annex the republic to the United States, the popular disappointment may find vent in another revolution. On the latter point he refers to the correspondence of Mr. Raymond H. Perry, transmitted herewith, which tends to show that the people of the city of San Domingo were dissatisfied with the administration of General Baez, because more energy was not shown in taking the vote on the question of annexation; and that the presence of a United States man-of-war in the port was supposed to have a peaceful influence.

X. "Any information with regard to the sentiments of the people in Dominica, and the reported pendency there of civil war." The Secretary of State has the honor to state that, except as hereinbefore set forth, he has no such information.

XI. "Any information with regard to any claim of jurisdiction by the republic of Hayti over the territory of Dominica." The Secretary of State respectfully refers to the treaty of boundary of 1777, and to the correspondence between the minister of Hayti and this Department for the reply to this inquiry.

Respectfully submitted.

HAMILTON FISH.

List of inclosures.

I. [Translation.] Treaty relative to the boundaries of the island of San Domingo, concluded between France and Spain the 3d of June, 1777, and ratified by the King the 4th of July, 1777.

II. Map of the island of Santo Domingo, compiled from the large official map published in 1858, by order of the President of the Dominican Republic, under the supervision of M. Mendes, an officer in the French corps of engineers, and Knight of the Imperial order of the Legion of Honor.

III. [Translation.] Royal ordinance of April 17, 1825, granting to the inhabitants of the French portion of Santo Domingo full and entire independence of their government, on the conditions expressed in the said ordinance.

IV. Message from the President, transmitting to the House of Repre sentatives (January 9, 1871) the reports of John Hogan, United States Commissioner, upon the resources and condition of the Dominican Re

public, made to the Department of State during the administration of President Polk.

V. Message from the President, in answer to a resolution of the House, transmitting a report of Captain George B. McClellan upon the Dominican Republic in the year 1854.

VI. [Translation.] Extracts from the political constitution of the Dominican Republic of 1854.

VII. Letter of the Secretary of State to the chairman of Senate Com mittee on Foreign Relations, communicating copies of the instructions under which the convention and treaty between the United States and San Domingo were negotiated, together with the accompaniments therein referred to.

VIII. Treaty for the annexation of the Dominican Republic, signed on the 29th of November, 1869.

IX. A convention between the United States and the Dominican Re- . public for a lease to the former of the bay and peninsula of Samana, signed on the 29th of November, 1869.

X. Dispatches from Raymond H. Perry, late commercial agent of the United States at St. Domingo.

1. Mr. Perry to Mr. Fish, No. 5, January 8, 1870.

2. Same to same, No. 6, January 20, 1870.

3. Same to same, telegram, February 20, 1870.

4. Same to same, No. 9, February 20, 1870.

5. Same to same, No. 12, March 12, 1870.

XI. Haytian correspondence.

1. Dispatch from Mr. E. D. Bassett to the Department of State, No. 40, with its inclosures.

2. Mr. Stephen Preston to Mr. Fish, December 12, 1870.

3. Mr. Fish to Mr. Preston, December 12, 1870.

XII. Sundry statistical tables prepared to accompany the report of the Secretary of State to the President.

1. Population and trade of the West Indies.

2. National debt of Hayti.

3. Slave products introduced into the United States for the year endding June 30, 1870.

4. Relative importance of the West Indies in the commerce of the United States for the year ending June 30, 1870.

5. Commerce of the United States with all countries for the year ending June 30, 1870.

I. [Translation.] Treaty, relative to the boundaries of the island of San Domingo, concluded between France and Spain the 3d of June, 1777, and ratified by the King the 4th of July, 1777.

[Taken from Marten's "Recueil de Traités." Göttingen, 1817. Vol. 2, p. 519.] The sovereigns of Spain and France, being ever attentive in procuring all possible advantages for their respective subjects, and these two monarchs being convinced of the great importance of establishing between the vassals of the two Crowns the same intimate union which reigns so happily between their majesties, wish to agree, by a common understanding, in accordance with the case and circumstances, in removing the difficulties and obstacles which be in opposition to so salutary an end. The frequent discussions which, for several years past, have taken place at San Domingo, between the Spanish and French inhabitants of

that island, as much for an extension of land as for certain other particular privileges, in spite of the different conventions made provisionally between the commanders of the respective possessions of the two nations, have called upon the two sovereigns to take this important object under consideration, and to send, in consequence, orders and instructions to their governors in the said island, enjoining them to occupy themselves with the greatest care and the most sincere desire for success in estab lishing the best harmony possible between the respective colonists, in examining the principal tracts of land themselves, and to have very exact maps made, and to conclude with an arrangement of boundaries in terms so clear and positive as to put an end forever to all disputes, and which shall insure the closest union between the said inhabitants. In execution of the orders of the two monarchs, all necessary explorations were made with the greatest speed; and at last Don Josepha Solano, cammander and captain-general of the Spanish portion, and Mr. de Vallière, commander and governor of the French portion of the island. signed a provisional convention on the 25th of August, 1773; but the two courts, judging that this convention did not entirely fulfill their mutual desires, and that, as it was a question of banishing forever every motive or pretext of discord, it was necessary to make certain points still more clear, and therefore they sent new orders relative to this object.

The two governors, seriously animated by the same desire, concluded and signed a new convention, or description of boundaries, on the 29th of February of last year, 1776, and they named commissioners and engineers to make a topographical plan of the entire extent of frontier, from one extremity to the other, from north to south; and to erect the necessary landmarks, or pillars, from place to place. This commission was completely executed, as it appears by the instrument signed by the commissioners on the 28th of August following.

The two sovereigns having caused the most exact account of all these preliminaries to be rendered them, and desiring to put the seal of their royal approbation to a definite arrangement which should forever establish a union between their respective subjects, have determined that a treaty relative to the boundaries of the Spanish and French possessions in the island of San Domingo shall be drawn up in Europe, taking for a basis the convention of August 25, 1773. The arrangement concluded the 29th of February, 1776, and, above all, the instrument signed by the respective commissioners on August 28 of the same year, 1776.

For this purpose his Excellency Don Joseph Monnino, Compte de Florida Blanca, Chevalier of the Order of Charles III, counsellor of state, and first secretary of state, and of the department of foreign affairs, appointed and authorized by his Catholic Majesty, and his Excellency le Marquis d'Ossun, grandee of Spain of the first class, marshal of the camps and armies of his most Christian Majesty, chevalier of his orders, and his ambassador extraordinary and plenipotentiary at this court, named and authorized by his most Christian Majesty, after hav ing conferred together, and mutually exchanged their full powers, have agreed to the following articles:

ARTICLE I.

That the boundaries between the two nations shall remain perpetually and invariably fixed at the mouth of the river Daxabon, or of the Massaire on the north side of the said isle, and at the mouth of the river Pedernales, or of the Anses à Pitre on the south, in the terms which are specified in the article immediately following, observing here

L

simply that if in the future any doubt should arise upon the identity of the rivers de Pedernales and Anses à Pitre, it is now decided that the river vulgarly called de Pedernales by the Spaniards is the one which the plenipotentiaries wished to designate as serving as the boundary.

ARTICLE II.

With the understanding that the last operation which Don Joaching Garcia and the Vicompte de Choiseul, in the quality of commissioners, have performed jointly with the respective engineers and the native inhabitants of the country, has been executed in the greatest detail, with cognizance of the arrangement concluded by the Spanish and French commanders on the 29th of February, 1776, and having examined the different tracts of land, they have decided to clear up all doubts or ambiguities which might arise from the literal expression of the said arrangement, taking also into consideration the circumstance that the boundaries have been established by mutual consent, and that other more correct plans have been made, in which the said boundaries are marked one by one. Upon these principles the undersigned plenipotentiaries stipulate that the said instrument made and signed by the said commissioners on the 28th of August, 1776, and in which all the points, rivers, valleys, and mountains by which the line of demarkation passes are clearly and distinctly designated, shall be inserted in the present article, of which it shall form a part, as follows: Description of the boundaries of the island of San Domingo, concluded at Attalaya on the 29th of February, 1776, by definitive treaty sub sperati, concluded between their excellencies Messrs. Don Joseph Lolano, chevalier of the order of St. James, brigadier in the royal army of his Catholic Majesty, governor and captain general of the Spanish portion, president of the royal audience, inspector of troops and militia, superintendent of the Crusade, deputy judge of the revenue of the post, and plenipotentiary of his Catholic Majesty, and Victor Thérèse Charpentier, marquis d'Ennery, count of the holy empire, marshal of the camps and armies of his most Christian Majesty, grand cross of the royal and military order of St. Louis, inspector general of infantry, director of the fortifications, artillery, troops, and militia of the French colonies, governor general of the French Windward Islands of America, and plenipotentiary of his most Christian Majesty, who, having signed the original treaty in the order of seniority, have given up their instructions in consequence to the undersigned, Don Joachim Garcia, lieutenant colonel of the army of his Catholic Majesty, commander of the infantry and militia in the Spanish colonies, and Hyacinthe Louis Vicompte de Choiseul, brigadier of the armies of his most Christian Majesty, appointed commissioner for the purpose of executing the articles of the treaty which determines invariably the boundaries of the respective possessions of the two Crowns, to construct pyramids, to place landmarks wherever they shall be necessary, in order to put an end henceforward to all discussions which will affect the harmony between the two nations, and to draw up, with the assistance of a sufficient number of engineers, a topographical map, to which the undersigned refer for further elucidation, observing that it was not possible to have it signed by the Chief Engineer Sieur de Boisforêt, as is stated in the treaty, he being employed by superior order in other functions of his profession. In execution of the said treaty the line of demarkation of the boundaries commences on the north side of this island, at the mouth of the river Daxabon or Massaire, and terminates on the south at the mouth