DEPARTMENT OF STATE, The Secretary of State, to whom was referred the resolution of the House of Representatives of the 5th instant, requesting the President, "if not incompatible with the public service, to furnish, for the information of the House, the reports of John Hogan, United States commissioner, upon the resources and condition of the Dominican Republic, made to the State Department in the administration of President Polk; also the report of Captain George B. McClellan upon the same subject, made during the administration of President Pierce," has the honor to submit a copy of the report of John Hogan, requested by the resolution, and to state that no report of Captain George B. McClellan is now or, so far as the records show, ever has been on file in this Department. Respectfully submitted. The PRESIDENT. HAMILTON FISH. List of papers. No. 1. The President of the Dominican Republic to the President of the United States, December 5, 1844. No. 2. Dr. Caminero to Mr. Calhoun, January 8, 1845. No. 3. Mr. Calhoun to Mr. Hogan, February 22, 1845; with inclosures. No. 4. Mr. Hogan to Mr. Buchanan, October 4, 1845. Inclosures to the report. No. 5. Mr. Hogan to Mr. Burbank, June 10, 1845. No. 6. Mr. Burbank to Mr. Hogan, June 24, 1845. Memorandum; replies made to Mr. Burbank. No. 7. Mr. Harrison to Mr. Hogan, June 26, 1845. No. 10. Mr. Bobadilla to Mr. Hogan, June 19, 1845. No. 11. Mr. Hogan to Rev. Mr. Stevenson and others, June 13, 1845. No. 12. Members and congregation Episcopal church to Mr. Hogan, June 18, 1845. No. 13. Mr. Hogan to the Rev. Th. De Portes; no date. No. 14. Mr. Portes to Mr. Hogan, June 15, 1845. No. 1. OUR COUNTRY-DOMINICAN REPUBLIC. Pedro Santana, President of the republic, to his Excellency the President of the United States of America: MOST EXCELLENT SIR: The people of the ancient Spanish portion of San Domingo, weighed down by the outrages and vexations which they have for twenty-two years suffered from the domination of the Haytians through one of those fatalities to which nations are subject, entered into a revolution on the 27th of February of this year, to vindicate their imprescriptible rights, and to provide for their own welfare and future felicity, and Providence being propitious to their desires, has favored them. They have succeeded in the most satisfactory manner in accomplishing their separation, erecting themselves into a free, sovereign, and independent state, under the basis of liberal government, capable of attracting the esteem and consideration of cultivated and philanthropic nations. Our envoy near your government, Doctor José M. Caminero, who is invested with full powers, will have the honor to present to your excellency our fundamental law, and to assure the government over which your excellency presides so worthily, of the sentiments which animate the republic to the maintenance of peace, union, and harmony with all nations, and of its especial fellow-feeling with the United States, whose inhabitants, in their relations with this republic, will always find a kind reception, and security and protection. We doubt not that the Government of the United States will be disposed to extend to this new political society all the attention which is to be expected between individuals who conduct and keep in view the great interests of their nation, and the welfare of the human race. I avail myself of this occasion to offer to your Excellency the assurances of high consideration with which I have the honor to be your most humble servant, SANTO DOMINGO, December 5, 1844. SANTANA. [Translation.] PEDRO SANTANA, President of the Republic : By these presents we authorize and give full powers to Don J. M. Caminero, an inhabitant of this city, and former member of the constituent congress, to treat as a public envoy near the Government of the United States, with his Excellency the President of that republic, with the Congress and ministers, or sub-delegates, to whom he will make known the disposition on the part of the Dominican Republic to establish, strengthen, and conclude relations of friendship, alliance, and commerce in good faith and understanding with all great nations, and principally with the United States, the founders of the liberty of America, who have traced out to the people of Columbus noble examples of patriotism, and has called them to occupy a rank among civilized nations. The said Dr. Caminero may therefore make and give, in presence of the said authorities, and other proper persons, all the measures necessary for proposing treaties, agreeably to his instructions, adjusting and concluding them, reserving our approval and the sanction of the congress, according to our fundamental compact. For al which we invest him with the requisite faculties, without, however, preventing himn. in case it be proper, from acting for want of especial powers, clauses, or requisites not here expressed; for with regard to the principal matter and its accessories and dependencies, we give him the present, without limitation, with the intention that whatever he may do for the common good and the interest of the nation, and which may tend to strengthen the bonds of union, friendship, harmony, and commerce between the two nations, shall be firm and valid, save only as respects the necessity for our ratification and the sanction of the national congress. Given, sealed, and countersigned by our undersigned secretary of state for foreign relations, in the capital city of St. Domingo, on the 5th of December, 1844, the first year of our country. SIR: I had the honor to receive your note of the 21st instant, whereby, among other things, you inform me of the appointment made by the President of Mr. John Hogan, of New York, as commissioner, to proceed to the city of St. Domingo, with the object of investigating and obtaining information on the points on which the Government desires to be informed, in order to guide it in its decision with regard to the recognition of the independence of the Dominican Republic; and allow me to avail myself of this opportunity to recommend to you for the interest of the said republic that so soon as Mr. Hogan shall have made his report, the Government will deign to give its decision and to make it known to me as you state in your said note; because the least delay may occasion the greatest injury, ou account of the arrest of the progress of international and domestic affairs, supposing them to remain in statu quo until that time. Permit me likewise to recommend to you, sir, to submit to the consideration of the Government, that if the Dominican Republic has directed itself in preference to the United States, it is because it desires to contribute to draw more closely the bonds and interests of all America, and because it knows that in every point of America the influence and control of European nations should be kept off. This great and important question cannot have escaped your perspicacity; and it appears, moreover, that the confederacy of the United States of America, as the oldest nation and the most powerful, from the force of its institutions, from its extensive means and resources, and even from the order of nature, appears to be called to be the support and safeguard of the West Indies. Being persuaded that the commissioner, Mr. Hogan, will find the accounts of the Dominican Republic given by me to this Government exact, it is to be hoped that its independence will be promptly recognized; the more as its firm establishment must redound to the benefit of the greater security of the islands and possessions in its vicinity where slavery exists, as it has freed itself from the Haytian negroes, and has thus diminished the force of the bad example offered by those negroes, and restrained them from usurping the territory of others. I have the honor to be, sir, your obedient servant, The Hon. J. C. CALHOUN, Secretary, &c. DR. J. M. CAMINERO. No. 2. Doctor Caminero, political agent of St. Domingo, to Mr. Calhoun. [Translation.] WASHINGTON, January 8, 1845. In order to comply with the wishes of the Government of the United States for information on various points connected with the actual condition and organization of the new Dominican Republic, as expressed in the first interview on the 6th instant, I have the honor to subinit the following to your consideration: The former Spanish portion of the island of St. Domingo remained under the dominion of Spain until the beginning of 1822, when from one of those fatalities to which nations are subject, in consequence of factions formed in times of political changes, and from having natural enemies as their neighbors, the country was united de facto to the republic of Hayti, which then occupied the western part of the island formerly belonging to France, and this union, together with the abolition of slavery at the same time, occasioned a general unsettlement of habits, as well as of the principles of social life, to which the Spanish inhabit ants had been originally subjected. After enduring for twenty years the heavy yoke of Haytian despotism, the white Dominicans, in order to put an end to their sufferings by another act of a contrary nature, availed themselves of the opportunity offered by the revolution which led to the fall of Boyer, and on the night of the 27th of February, 1844, they raised the cry of independence, to which all classes responded, and, taking possession of the capital of St. Domingo and of other fortified points in its vicinity, they succeeded on the following day, the 28th, in effecting the surrender or capitulation of the general commanding the district and the Haytian forces, who a few days afterward embarked for Port au Prince. The new Dominican flag was then raised, and a provisional government was formed in the capital under the name of Central Junta of government, composed of eleven individuals from the various districts, whose authority was voluntarily recognized by the other cities and places, all rising, animated by the same enthusiasm and patriotism, and taking up arms to defend the just and noble cause of their beloved country. The Dominican territory was then invaded through its eastern and northern frontiers by two Haytian armies of more than ten thousand men; that of the west, commanded by President Riviere Herard, arrived at Azua, where was posted the advance guard of the Dominicans under General Pedro Santana, consisting of about three thousand men, with three cannon. The fire was opened and the battle began on the 19th of March, when the Spanish Dominicans gained the victory, preserving possession of the place and repelling their enemy, with the loss of only two killed and three wounded, while more than a thousand Haytians remained dead on the field. After this complete victory the Dominicans withdrew their headquarters to the river Ocoa and the valley of Bani, where their cavalry and lancers could operate, and in this way they restrained the march of the aggressors, who could not advance beyond Azua; and having then attempted to open a way through the passes of the Maniel, they were in every encounter driven back with loss. The other Haytian army in the north, commanded by General Pierrot, appeared, on the 30th of March, near the city of Santiago de los Caballeros, where the Haytians were also repulsed, with loss as great as at Azua, while only one was wounded on our side; these great advantages being due to the fire of our artillery and to the zeal of our volunteers, protected by Divine Providence. This army abandoned the field of battle on the following day, and during its retreat was incessantly harassed and pursued, experiencing in this way additional losses. The army at Azua having failed in all its attempts to penetrate through the mountain_passes, and suffering constant losses, likewise retreated to Port au Prince, committing before its departure the infamous and inhuman act of burning the houses at Azua. Since that time no further aggressions have been committed. The territory being thus freed by the evacuation and retreat of the Haytian troops, whose usurpation and invasion were repelled by force of arms, the liberty and independence of the Dominican Republic were considered asestablished de facto; and the central junta of government engaged in calling on the people to elect deputies and to form a constituent congress, which should ordain and establish the fundamental law of the land; and accordingly, on the 6th of November last, this fundamental law was decreed, of which I had the honor to present you a copy, and by which you will see consecrated those social principles which secure liberty, property, equality, and the admission of foreigners to civil and political rights, under certain rules, rendered necessary by our situation at present in order to preserve union and internal tran quillity. On the formation of the social compact, in the same month of Novem ber, Señor Don Pedro Santana was appointed and installed as president of the republic, with four secretaries of state, namely: Don Thomas Bobadilla, secretary of foreign relations and justice; Don Manuel Cabral Bernal, of the interior and police; Don Ricardo Miura, of finance and commerce; and General Don Manuel Gimenes, of war and marine. The people were invited to hold elections of members of the conserva |