The electoral college having been convened, Santiago Espaillat was chosen president, but refused to accept, realizing that Santana would expect to manage him as a puppet. Colonel Buenaventura Baez was then chosen and on December 24,1849, entered upon his first term as president of the Dominican Republic.

Baez, who was to play a leading part in the history of his country during the next thirty years, was the antithesis of Santana in manners and education. Born in Azua in 1812, the oldest of a family of seven children, his father had sent him to Europe to study and he returned one of the most polished and best educated Dominicans of his day. Under Haitian rule he was a member of the Haitian congress and of one of the Haitian constitutional assemblies. Almost white himself, he here distinguished himself by his boldness in opposing measures restricting the rights of whites in Haiti. After the declaration of independence of Santo Domingo he was a member of the first constitutional assembly and speaker of the first congress, being elected from the province of Azua, where his influence was similar to that enjoyed by Santana in Seibo. Until he became president he was a close friend of Santana.

Baez determined to take the offensive against Haiti, and a small naval campaign was undertaken in which Dominican government schooners captured Anse-a-Pitre and one or two other villages on the southern coast of Haiti, which were sacked and burned by the Dominicans. At the same time Baez requested the mediation of the United States, France and England to put an end to the struggle between Haiti and the Dominican Republic. Soulouque, who had meanwhile proclaimed himself Emperor of Haiti, offered to agree to peace and recognize Baez, but on condition that the Haitian flag be raised in Santo Domingo and the sovereignty of Haiti be admitted. His conditions were naturally rejected by the Dominicans, and the mediating powers informed the negro emperor that if he persisted in his plans of invading Santo Domingo they would be obliged to impose a suspension of hostilities for ten years. Nevertheless his forces continued to mass on the frontiers and small bodies actually entered Dominican territory, but were driven back. Upon the protests of the three powers Soulouque explained the incursions as having been due to disobedience to orders, and under pressure agreed to a truce for one year, during which negotiations were to continue for a definite treaty of peace or an armistice of ten years. In December, 1852, the minister of foreign affairs of France notified Haiti that the maritime nations of Europe were disposed to maintain the independence of Santo Domingo.

A period of peace now began which afforded a breathing-spell to the country. Upon the expiration of Baez' four year term, Santana was again elected president and entered upon the office on February 15, 1853. It was one of the occasions, only too rare in Dominican history, on which a president served out his term and personally delivered up the office to his successor.

The domineering spirit of Santana gave rise to serious dissensions. He quarrelled with the clergy, which had been taking an active part in politics since the declaration of independence, forced the archbishop, under penalty of expulsion, to take the oath of allegiance to the constitution, and banished several priests. One of the reasons for his stand was perhaps the circumstance that Baez had sought to attract the church. For several years Santana had become jealous of the extension of Baez' influence and wrathful at the independent spirit displayed by his former protege. It soon became apparent that the retirement of Baez was equivalent to a fall from power. In July, 1853, Santana issued a proclamation in which he accused Baez of treason and of playing into the hands of the Haitians, and ordered his banishment. Baez fled from the country and answered with a fiery counter-appeal, justifying himself and accusing Santana of despotism, whereupon the breach between the two strong men was complete. Santana also quarrelled with Congress and banished or shot his principal adversaries. In 1854 a constitutional convention assembled to draft a constitution more to Santana's taste than the existing one. The presidential term was extended to six years and the office of vice-president was introduced, General Manuel de Regla Mota being elected to this office when General Felipe Alfau declined it. This constitution did not last six months, for before the end of the year Santana had it further restricted.

Under fear of foreign complications Haiti had remained quiet for several years, but in 1855, when England and France were engaged in the Crimean war, the emperor Soulouque made a last determined effort to subjugate Santo Domingo. One army advanced by way of the south, another through the central valley; both captured the border towns and drove the Dominican outposts before them; and both were defeated on the same day, December 22, 1855, the southern army at Cambronal, near Neiba, by a Dominican force under General Sosa, and the other on the savanna of Santome, by a force under General Jose Maria Cabral. Not to be deterred, Soulouque rallied his men within Haitian territory, shot a few of his generals, and, believing all the Dominican forces collected in the south, marched north to invade the Cibao. Here he was met by another band of Dominicans at Sabana Larga and again defeated, retreating precipitately to his dominions. It was the last Haitian invasion, but Haiti did not formally recognize the independence of the Dominican Republic until 1874.

The harsh measures of Santana had provoked general dissatisfaction and the friends of Baez seized the opportunity to conspire in his favor. Santana realized that the days of his government were numbered, and resigned the presidency as he had done in 1849, retiring to his farm near Seibo. Manuel de Regla Mota, the vice-president, thereupon on March 26, 1856, became president. Baez soon after arrived in the country and was elected vice-president; thereupon Regla Mota resigned as president and Baez thus slid into the presidency in a perfectly legal manner.

The second administration of Baez opened with a revolution against him in the Neiba district, which was promptly put down. Baez then had Santana arrested and exiled, feeling uncomfortable while his former chief remained in the country. But he was not destined to have peace. An ill-considered issue of more paper money, when the rate of exchange with gold was already fifty to one, created indignation in the tobacco region of the Cibao and on July 7, 1857, Santiago declared itself in revolution. The movement rapidly spread, a provisional government was set up in the Cibao, the forces of Baez were repulsed, and soon the president held only Santo Domingo City and Samana. The revolutionists called a constitutional convention which met at Moca and in February, 1858, promulgated another constitution, designating Santiago as the capital. An election was held in the midst of the war and General Jose Desiderio Valverde was declared elected president. For months there were thus two governments in the country. The revolutionists began the siege of Santo Domingo City towards the end of July, 1857, and later Santana arrived and took charge of military operations. There were frequent artillery duels, the fourteenth anniversary of Dominican independence, February 27, 1858, being celebrated by a cannonade along the Ozama River lasting all day. Fortunately the most distinctive feature of the combats was the noise, but the Baez family suffered, two of the president's brothers being killed in the war. Baez held out for eleven months, but after the fall of Samana and when Santo Domingo was reduced to starvation he at length yielded to the entreaties of the foreign consuls and capitulated on June 12, 1858. As soon as he had embarked for Curacao, General Santana marched into the city with the victorious army.

It was not compatible with Santana's character to be subordinate to anyone else, and by the end of July he had with the government at Santiago and set up a government of his own "in order that the lovers of liberty be not disquieted, in order that peace prevail, and in order that the nation be saved," as he said in his proclamation. The Santiago government attempted to resist but was overcome and its members banished. Santana declared the constitution of December, 1854, in force again and called an election at which he was, of course, chosen president, taking the oath of office on January 31, 1859. He thereupon crushed a revolution in Azua, executing the leaders. As the large amount of paper in circulation caused difficulties, he coolly repudiated the greater part, upon which a number of European countries temporarily broke off diplomatic relations because of the injury done their citizens and forced him to retire the paper by issuing in lieu thereof certificates acceptable for customs dues. This trouble removed, he devoted himself to securing the annexation of Santo Domingo to Spain.

From the earliest days of the Dominican Republic the most prominent men had believed that the happiness of the country depended upon securing the protection of a strong power, capable of preserving order, and the years of warfare confirmed them in their opinion. The hope of remaining in power was also an incentive to the party which happened to be in control. Spain and France were preferred, for reasons of identity or similarity of language, customs and religion. Many also favored the United States, but while the republican form of government and the probability of commercial advantages were attractions, the existence of slavery and of prejudice against the colored race inspired misgivings. As early as 1843, even before the declaration of independence, an attempt was made to secure a French protectorate, and during the first war with Haiti, Santana continued the negotiations. In 1846 an attempt was made to obtain a Spanish protectorate. In 1849 President Baez in his message to Congress referred to the advisability of "hastening a solution of the matter by obtaining the intervention and protection of a strong nation which would offer the most advantageous terms, for on this depends public prosperity."

On October 18, 1849, the Dominican minister of foreign affairs in a note to the French consul, stated that "the present situation of the country and the barbarous wars with the Haitians, obliged him to beg, in the name of his government, that the government of France give a definite solution to the important matter of the protectorate; and if the decision of France should unfortunately be in the negative, that it at least be not deferred too long to prevent him from addressing himself to the special representative of the United States, who had just arrived." The United States was mentioned as a bogey, for when France declined, the Dominican government stated that it could not consider the negative as final and appealed to the French sentiments of humanity. In 1854 another strong attempt was made to secure a Spanish protectorate. Neither France nor Spain was anxious to annex a hornet's nest, and Spain was fearful that any uprising against her authority would find an echo in Cuba and Porto Rico. In 1855 negotiations were opened with General William L. Cazneau, special agent of President Pierce, for the lease of the Samana peninsula to the United States, and in the following year Captain (later Major-General) George B. McClellan, of the United States Army, made an examination of Samana Bay. Nothing came of this matter owing to opposition by foreign powers and the fall of the Santana government. Most annexation negotiations were secret, as the opponents of the party that happened to be in power never failed to stigmatize them as treasonable.

The fear of American influence was one of the reasons given by the Haitian emperor Soulouque for his invasion of 1855, and for an invitation issued by him in 1858 to the Dominican people, calling upon them to return to the Haitian flag. It had its influence on the Spanish government also, which began to look more kindly upon annexation propositions and agreed to furnish arms, ammunition and military instructors to Santo Domingo. In 1860 Santana addressed himself directly to the Queen of Spain, and proposed a closer union. Bases for annexation were drawn up, founded "on the free and spontaneous wish of the Dominican people." Santana was careful to win over the local military chiefs to his ideas. His opponents vainly combatted the proposition from Curacao and from Haiti, which was now a republic again.

On March 18, 1861, the people of the capital assembled on the main plaza pursuant to a call issued on the day before, General Santana and the members of his government appeared on the gallery of the palace of justice, a document was read to the public proclaiming the reincorporation of the country as a part of the Spanish dominions, and thereupon the red and gold flag of Spain was raised on the fort and on the gate "Puerta del Conde" and saluted with 101 guns. On the same day and during the week following, the Spanish flag was raised with similar ceremonies in most of the other towns. A few days later Spanish troops were disembarked at different points. Santana was appointed governor and captain-general of the colony, with the rank of lieutenant-general in the Spanish army.

The Dominican conspirators in Haiti, comprising General Sanchez and others who had distinguished themselves in securing independence for their country, crossed the boundary and endeavored to stir up an insurrection, but with such misfortune that they were surrounded and the majority captured. Santana ordered the prisoners shot and twenty were executed on July 4, 1861, notwithstanding the protests of General Pelaez, the Spanish officer second in command. The act provoked bitterness against Spain and made the men so killed martyrs in the eyes of their countrymen. It also marked the beginning of strained relations between Santana and Pelaez, made worse by Santana's arrogance. The friction resulted in Santana's resignation on January 7, 1862. He evidently hoped the queen would ask him to reconsider and give him carte blanche in Dominican affairs, but the resignation was accepted, though sweetened by the grant to him of the title of Marques de las Carreras and a life pension of $12,000 per annum. His successors in the governorship were high officers of the Spanish army.

Discontent was not slow in spreading among the people. Injudicious measures enacted by the Spanish authorities, the importation of hordes of foreign officials, the overbearing manners of several local Spanish commanders, increases in the budget, intolerance on the part of the Spanish priests, and the natural unrest of the Dominicans, all combined to give rise to small revolts which were put down, until, on August 16, 1863, a farmer named Cabrera with a small band of followers, at Capotillo, near Guayubin in the Cibao, began an insurrection which quickly became general and is known in Dominican history as the War of the Restoration. The Spanish forces of the Cibao valley were obliged to concentrate in Fort San Luis, at Santiago de los Caballeros, where they were besieged by the insurgents. The Dominicans also captured Puerto Plata, but the city was retaken by Spanish troops from Cuba. Reinforcements were sent to the besieged garrison of Santiago, and in the fight which the Dominicans made to prevent the joining of the Spanish forces, the city of Santiago was set on fire and reduced to ashes. The Spaniards determined to evacuate the place, and marched down to the coast, being constantly harassed by Dominican guerillas, so that they lost over a thousand men before reaching Puerto Plata. The Dominicans established a provisional government with its capital at Santiago and the country continued to be devastated with fire and sword.

General Santana was given command of a Spanish force to put down the insurrection in the east, but insisting on carrying out his own plan of campaign, he disobeyed orders and so rudely answered the governor-general's remonstrances that he was summarily removed from his position. In high dudgeon he retired to the capital, and it is stated that the governor intended to ship him off to Cuba; but on June 14, 1864, he suddenly died, after an illness of only a few hours.

If the Spaniards had displayed energy in opposing the revolutionists they would probably have carried off the victory, but the whole number of their troops on the island available for military service at any one time rarely reached eight thousand men. A campaign in the Monte Cristi district which might have ended the war was rendered sterile by the lack of troops. Finally the Spaniards, unable to garrison the towns they won, were reduced to the possession of Santo Domingo City and a few other places near the seacoast, all practically in a state of siege. Meanwhile the military operations were costing the home government large sums of money, and it became evident that, owing to the failure to strike at the right time, the subjugation of the country would entail enormous expenditures. Political conditions in Spain were not favorable to such a war of conquest, and the Spanish government determined to withdraw from Santo Domingo, alleging that Spain had taken possession only because she believed the Dominicans were anxious for annexation but that she did not wish to remain against their will. Possible complications with the United States, just emerging from the Civil War, were probably also taken into account. On May 1, 1865, the Queen of Spain sanctioned a law of the Spanish Cortes providing for the relinquishment of the colony. The Spanish forces were brought together at Santo Domingo City, and on July 11, 1865, after the guns in the forts had been spiked and the military stores on hand had been destroyed, the troops and the authorities embarked in a fleet assembled for that purpose and the Spanish flag was lowered, for the last time, in Santo Domingo.



CHAPTER V

HISTORICAL SKETCH.—SECOND REPUBLIC.—REVOLUTIONS AND DICTATORSHIPS.—1863 TO 1904.

Restoration of the republic.—Military presidents.—Cabral's administration.—Baez' fourth administration.—Annexation negotiations with the United States.—Civil wars.—Heureaux's rule.—Administrations of Jimenez, Vasquez and Woss y Gil.—Election of Morales.

From the very beginning of the War of the Restoration and for several years afterwards, the principal Dominican military chiefs were engaged in a disgraceful squabble for leadership. As soon as the Spanish forces retired from Santiago the revolutionists, on September 14, 1863, proclaimed the restoration of the republic and set up a provisional government under the presidency of General Jose Antonio Salcedo. The other generals accused Salcedo of lack of energy in pushing the war and on October 10, 1864, deposed him and made General Gaspar Polanco president in his stead. Poor Salcedo tried to resist, but was captured, hurried by a friend from one camp to another to keep him from being shot, and at last foully murdered. Polanco did not enjoy his triumph long. A reaction set in, a revolution was initiated against him, his troops deserted, he was captured and imprisoned, and on January 24, 1865, a superior council of government was formed by the insurgents, presided over by General Benigno Filomeno de Rojas. The council called a constitutional convention which proclaimed the constitution of Moca of 1858 and in March, 1865, elected General Pedro Antonio Pimentel president. It was he who entered Santo Domingo City after the evacuation by the Spaniards.

Hardly had the evacuation taken place when Generals Cabral and Manzueta raised an insurrection which overthrew Pimentel's government while he was absent on the Haitian border, and General Jose Maria Cabral, an educated mulatto, was proclaimed Protector of the Republic. Cabral had formerly been one of the most enthusiastic followers of Baez but it soon became evident that he was working for himself. He convoked a constitutional assembly which was convening when General Pedro Guillermo rose in the east and proclaimed General Buenaventura Baez president. The movement was successful and the Congress, completely convinced by the sight of a sword unsheathed in its presence by one of the victorious generals, elected Baez to the presidency.

Since his overthrow in 1858 Baez had been in exile, but he had accepted Spanish sovereignty and the rank of fieldmarshal in the Spanish army. On the outbreak of the War of the Restoration, he sent Cabral to join the Dominican forces as his representative. He was now living in Curacao and a commission journeyed there to invite him back to Santo Domingo, a council inaugurated on October 25, 1865, meanwhile taking charge. A new constitution was drafted and promulgated on November 14, 1865, and on the same day Baez entered upon his office. Neither he nor the constitution lasted long. The constitution being too liberal, he had it abrogated on April 19, 1866, and Santana's constitution of December 16, 1854, was adopted in its stead. This action was the excuse for an insurrection which broke out in Santiago on May 1, 1866, under the leadership of Pimentel in combination with Cabral, and quickly assumed such alarming proportions that Baez found it prudent to resign before the end of the month and retire to Curacao.

As usual a constitutional assembly was called, and a new constitution was promulgated on September 26, 1866. An election was held and Cabral chosen president by a practically unanimous vote. Nevertheless his government had scarcely a day's peace from insurrections. It found time, however, to resume amicable relations with Spain, to make a commercial treaty with the United States and to found a professional institute. Other relations with the United States were also planned; for as Spain and France were eliminated from the annexation idea and the United States had abolished slavery, this country was looked upon with greater favor. The cost of the government's military activities was such that a strong attempt was made to lease Samana Bay to the United States for two million dollars; but as complete control was not offered the plan fell through. Later a special commissioner was sent to Washington to negotiate for the absolute lease of the Samana peninsula and Samana Bay, which negotiations were the prelude to the later annexation negotiations, but they were interrupted by a revolution in favor of Baez which broke out in Monte Cristi on October 7, 1867. and deposed Cabral on January 31, 1868. A council of generals administered affairs until Baez took charge for the fourth time, on May 4, 1868.

In accordance with established usage, the existing constitution was abrogated and Baez' pet constitution, that of December, 1854, placed in force, but with amendments. Baez then began to rule with a firm hand, and though occasionally bothered by small uprisings on the Haitian border, promoted by Cabral, Luperon and other unruly spirits, managed to sustain himself in power for almost his full term of six years. He was able to realize what had been the golden dream of administrations since the birth of the Republic, the contracting of a foreign loan. Hartmont & Co., a firm of London bankers, agreed to issue bonds of the Republic to the amount of L757,700, though at a ruinous rate, and actually paid over L38,095. The dream turned to a nightmare, for when the government annulled the contract on the ground of failure to comply with conditions, the bankers continued to issue bonds and kept the proceeds themselves; and the bonds thus fraudulently issued constituted the nucleus of the enormous debt which later led to American intervention.

Though Baez had, for political reasons, protested against Cabral's negotiations with the United States, he was too sagacious a statesman to fail to recognize the value of American protection. It was now Cabral's turn to indulge in tirades full of patriotic indignation, for Baez actively pursued negotiations for the annexation of the country to the United States. On November 29, 1869, two treaties were signed in Santo Domingo City by representatives of the American and Dominican governments: by one the Samana peninsula and Samana Bay were leased to the United States for fifty years at an annual rental of $150,000, and by the other the Dominican Republic was annexed to the United States. Baez submitted the annexation treaty to a plebiscite in his country in February, 1870, and an overwhelming vote was cast in favor thereof. While the adversaries of the treaty did not dare to oppose it actively within the country, it is probable that the vote represented the true sentiment of the Dominican people, for aside from the evident economic advantages of annexation, the influence of Baez was such that the people were ready to follow blindly whatever he advised. Both treaties lapsed, but the annexation treaty was renewed and President Grant in his messages to Congress strongly urged its passage. Powerful opposition developed in the United States Senate, led by Senator Sumner, and the treaty failed of ratification. By a resolution of Congress, approved January 12, 1871, the President of the United States was authorized to send a commission of inquiry to Santo Domingo. President Grant appointed three eminent men, Benjamin F. Wade, Andrew D. White and Samuel G. Howe, who were assisted by Frederick Douglas, Major-General Franz Sigel and a number of scientists. The commission proceeded to Santo Domingo, travelled across the country in several directions and made an extensive report, which is still an important source of information as to the characteristics of the island. The commission's report was transmitted to Congress, and President Grant made another earnest plea for the annexation of Santo Domingo. Congress took no further action, however, and the United States thus deliberately rejected an opportunity to obtain control of a most important strategical position and to secure peace and prosperity to the Dominican people.

It is interesting to speculate on what the future of Santo Domingo would have been if annexation had been realized. The power of the United States would have maintained peace; salutary laws would have educated the people in self-government; liberal tariff concessions would have stimulated agriculture and industry; the influx of a good stock of immigrants would have developed and settled the interior; honest administration would have provided roads and schools, and soon the country would have attained a high degree of development and prosperity. The failure of the United States to extend a helping hand condemned Santo Domingo to long years of anarchy and dictatorships.

When it became apparent that nothing would come of the annexation plans, the Baez administration, on December 28, 1872, rented the Samana peninsula to an American corporation, the "Samana Bay Company," for ninety-nine years, at an annual rental of $150,000. The company, which intended to found a large city on Samana Bay, actually paid the sum of $147,229.91, the greater part in gold and the remainder in arms and ammunition. This payment, with that received on account of the Hartmont bonds, and with the higher customs receipts due to quiet conditions, afforded relief to the treasury; while peace brought the country a prosperity further increased by the immigration of numerous Cubans driven from their homes by the ten years' war that had begun in 1869.

President Baez did not lose hope in the ultimate realization of annexation, and it was also his intention to have himself reelected for another term of six years. These circumstances were used against him by his ambitious enemies, and on November 25, 1873, a revolution broke out in Puerto Plata which spread so rapidly that Baez was obliged to capitulate on December 31 of the same year. A new generation, grown up since the independence of the country and which had come to look upon civil disorder as a normal condition, now came into power, and the question of foreign annexation ceased to be an issue.

A period of constant revolutionary ferment and frequent changes of the constitution followed, with a wearisome succession of military presidents. General Ignacio Maria Gonzalez became provisional president in 1874, took advantage of the non-payment of an annuity by the Samana Bay Company to rescind the contract with the company, called a national assembly, which formulated the constitution of March 24, 1874, and had himself elected president, entering upon office on April 6 of that year. As the constitution did not suit him, he called a new national convention and had another constitution promulgated on March 9, 1875. This was too much even for Santo Domingo, and his enemies formed a powerful league in Santiago with a view to having him impeached, but the Congress rejected the charges. Another civil war was imminent when Gonzalez resigned on February 23, 1876.

The council of ministers took charge of the government and held an election at which Ulises F. Espaillat was designated president. He entered upon office on April 29, 1876, and as he was an excellent man would have given a good account of himself under different conditions; but General Gonzalez started a revolution on the Haitian frontier, and on October 5, 1876, Espaillat was ousted. A superior council of government was formed, which appointed General Gonzalez president in the beginning of November, 1876. Gonzalez had been in power for just one month when he was overthrown, in December, 1876, by a revolution that originated in the Cibao, and General Buenaventura Baez became president for the fifth time. The Republic thus had four presidents in 1876: Gonzalez twice, Espaillat and Baez. Baez called a constitutional convention and the constitution of May 14, 1877, was promulgated. Under the influence of the younger element he was less autocratic than in his previous administrations, but perhaps for that very reason his whole term was one prolonged struggle with insurrections, until he was obliged to surrender on February 24, 1878. He retired to Porto Rico and died near Mayaguez in 1884. Two governments were now established, General Ignacio Maria Gonzalez being proclaimed president in the Cibao, and General Cesareo Guillermo in Santo Domingo. An agreement was reached by them on April 13, 1878, and Guillermo became provisional president of the entire country. The constitution of 1877 was reproclaimed with amendments, an election was held and General Gonzalez was declared constitutional president, entering upon office on July 6, 1878. Guillermo immediately started a revolution with General Ulises Heureaux and compelled Gonzalez to abdicate on September 2, 1878. It was the end of Gonzalez' meteoric presidential flights, but after a period of retirement he ventured into public life again, and for many years was Dominican minister to Haiti.

Jacinto de Castro, the president of the supreme court, acted as president until September 29,1878, when he was succeeded by the council of ministers of which Guillermo was chief. The constitution of 1878 was promulgated, with amendments, on February 11, 1879, and on February 28, Guillermo, after going through the form of an election, became constitutional president. He did not last long. On October 6, 1879, a revolution broke out at Puerto Plata and a provisional government was formed under the presidency of General Gregorio Luperon, an intelligent negro, who had been imprisoned for larceny under Spanish rule, but had redeemed himself by signal services in the War of the Restoration. Guillermo resisted two months, but was compelled to surrender on December 6, 1879.

Luperon did not depart from the usual custom, but called a constitutional assembly which, in 1880, adopted with amendments the constitution of 1879, and fixed the presidential term at two years. Luperon then held an election and gave the presidency, for the two years beginning September 1, 1880, to one of his supporters, Father Fernando de Merino, an eloquent priest who had taken an active part in politics since his youth, and who later became archbishop of Santo Domingo. The reverend gentleman suppressed all revolutionary uprisings with uncompromising severity and did not hesitate to execute the conspirators that fell into his hands.

During Merino's administration General Ulises Heureaux served as minister of the interior and began to wield the power which he was to retain for twenty years. Heureaux was born in Puerto Plata about 1846. Both of his parents were negroes, his father being a Haitian who followed the sea and afterwards became a merchant, and his mother a St. Thomas woman. He received a mercantile education and took part as a subordinate in the War of the Restoration against the Spaniards. On the withdrawal of the Spaniards, in 1865, he became a bandit on the Haitian border and practised horse stealing on a large scale. Later he obtained a position in the Puerto Plata custom-house and took a more and more prominent part in the civil disturbances of his country, until he became well known as a politician and a revolutionist. He distinguished himself by his bravery and was many times wounded. Throughout these civil wars he remained a sturdy follower of General Luperon, the successor of Santana as leader of the "Blue" party and an implacable opponent of General Buenaventura Baez, the chief of the "Reds" and of General Ignacio Maria Gonzalez, the leader of the "Greens." When General Luperon overthrew President Cesareo Guillermo, in 1879, Heureaux was closely associated with the revolutionary movement.

Heureaux was able to strengthen himself to such an extent that when, in 1882, Luperon determined to become president himself he found that his former follower had outgrown him in power. The result was that Heureaux became president and served from September 1, 1882, to September 1, 1884. When his term expired a bitter struggle ensued with Luperon, who still retained considerable influence. Luperon's candidate was Segundo Imbert, while Heureaux supported General Francisco Gregorio Billini, who was ultimately victorious. Luperon went into exile, but later became reconciled with Heureaux and returned to die in Santo Domingo.

Billini entered upon the presidency on September 1, 1884, but became restive under the demands of Heureaux and his friends and resigned on May 15, 1885. The vice-president, Alejandro Woss y Gil, succeeded to the chief office. His term was to have expired in September of the following year, but a formidable insurrection broke out in July, 1886, under General Casimiro N. de Moya, with the object of preventing Heureaux from carrying out his design of succeeding Gil. After six months of fighting, during which the number of fatalities was happily remarkably small, Heureaux was victorious, and having had himself re-elected, resumed the presidency on January 6, 1887, until which time Woss y Gil remained in office.

The biennial elections were a source of annoyance even to one who was sure of victory, and Heureaux therefore called a constitutional convention which amended the constitution then in force and lengthened the presidential term to four years, beginning in 1889. As General Cesareo Guillermo, Heureaux's former companion in arms and later opponent, was understood to be nursing aspirations for the presidency, Heureaux sought to apprehend him. Guillermo fled, but finding himself pressed, committed suicide. No further obstacle opposed Heureaux's election, and he was again inaugurated on February 27, 1889.

In the meantime negotiations had been undertaken for the contracting of new foreign loans, and one was floated in 1888 and another in 1892. The government's fiscal agent who secured these loans in Europe was General Eugenio Generoso Marchena, a man of much influence. In 1892 General Marchena announced himself as a candidate for the presidency. Heureaux won without difficulty, but still uneasy, he arrested Marchena in Santo Domingo, imprisoned him for a year and sent him to Azua to be shot.

During Heureaux's new term, beginning in 1893, the country by improvident bond issues and debt contraction, made rapid strides in the direction of bankruptcy. In 1893, the San Domingo Improvement Company, an American corporation, under contract with the government took charge of the customs collections for the purpose of providing for the services of the loans. The illegal imprisonment of several Frenchmen gave rise to friction with the French government and in 1894 a French fleet appeared before Santo Domingo City, but the matter was adjusted by the payment of an indemnity. As the 1889 constitution forbade a president from holding office for more than two terms in succession, Heureaux, wishing to continue in the presidency, obviated the difficulty by the simple expedient of promulgating a new constitution in 1896, in which the limitation was removed. He was declared unanimously elected in 1896 and began his final term on February 27, 1897.

The long period of comparative peace enjoyed by the country under the rule of President Ulises Heureaux, or "Lilis," as the dictator was popularly known, brought seeming progress and prosperity, though at a heavy price. Many of his opponents Heureaux was able to buy, and in this way he retained the loyalty of hundreds of little military chiefs scattered through the country. Those whom he could not buy he persecuted, imprisoned, exiled, or executed. While possessing pleasant and affable manners, he was unrelenting in his persecution of conspirators and many stories are told of his harshness in this respect. It is related that when he was minister of the interior under Merino he discovered that his brother-in-law was implicated in a plot; he therefore invited him to dinner and after they had dined, asked how his guest had enjoyed the meal. "Very well," was the answer. "I am glad of that," said Heureaux, "for I am about to have you shot. Take a cigar," he added pleasantly, "it will be your last." And it was, for the execution followed at once. On another occasion, so the story goes, after he had become president, a prominent general was his guest and after dinner they took a stroll. Coming to a place in the suburbs where workmen were digging a peculiar trench, the general inquired, "What are they digging here?" "They are digging your grave," answered Heureaux, and before the general could recover from his consternation a squad of soldiers appeared. He was shot and buried then and there. The governor of Macoris and the minister of war were both powerful men whose influence was feared by Heureaux. He therefore cunningly wrought up the latter against the former to such an extent that one fine morning the minister suddenly appeared in Macoris and had the governor summarily shot. An outcry was made by the governor's friends, and Heureaux, affecting indignation at the act, had the minister of war executed. Many of his prisoners mysteriously disappeared, and popular rumor points out one of the lower platforms of the fort "La Fuerza," where an aguacate tree formerly grew, as the place where prisoners were shot at night, their bodies being thrown to the sharks at the base of the cliff. Some of the dictator's suspects were assassinated in the public streets. Even exiles were not secure from his wrath and in one instance a Dominican writer named Eugenio Deschamps, who had been publishing articles against him in Porto Rico, was seriously wounded in the streets of Ponce by an assassin's bullet.

Ability and unscrupulousness, courage and cruelty, resolution and cunning were mingled in the character of Heureaux. Over the country he exercised the powers of an absolute monarch. He was the fountain head of all government and the real chief of every department. The accounts of the government and his private accounts were treated by him as one and the same thing. His ambition to remain in power necessitated the expenditure of large sums which he obtained through improvident foreign loans and usurious contracts with local merchants. Those whom he favored grew rich; his enemies he ruined. In other ways also his morals swerved from the straight and narrow path, and an isolated town gloried in the distinction of being the only place in the Republic where the president did not have a mistress. He himself stated that he had no concern as to what history would say of him, since he would not be there to read it.

During the latter part of Heureaux's administration the leaders of the opposition were recognized as Juan Isidro Jimenez and Horacio Vasquez, Vasquez was the chief of a large landholding family of the Cibao. Jimenez had been a prominent merchant, at one time carrying on mercantile houses in Monte Cristi, New York, Paris and Hamburg; his family had formerly been prominent in Dominican affairs, his father having been president of the Republic in 1848 and his grandfather one of the leading spirits of the revolution by which the Haitian yoke was thrown off. Jimenez was born in Santo Domingo City in 1846 and as a boy went to Haiti with his father, growing up in Port-au-Prince. As a youth he removed to Monte Cristi, where he established himself in business and took part in the War of the Restoration against the Spaniards. Having with Heureaux, he resided for a number of years in Cape Haitien, Haiti, and from there directed conspiracies against the dictator.

In May, 1898, Jimenez made a bold attempt to overthrow the Heureaux government. He fitted out a small steamer, the "Fanita," in the United States and left ostensibly to aid the Cuban insurgents; and as the United States was then at war with Spain the expedition was not opposed by the American government. A landing was made at Monte Cristi with only twenty-five men, a general uprising being expected as soon as his arrival became known. Jimenez' followers took the town, but the governor of the district was able to escape to the country and returned with a large force, driving Jimenez back to his vessel with a loss of one-half of his companions. The "Fanita" had touched in the Bahamas on the way down and on returning to Inagua Island, Jimenez was arrested by the British authorities as a filibuster. Heureaux sent a man-of-war to Nassau and did all he could to have the case pressed. Jimenez was tried twice; at the first trial the jury did not agree, and the second time he was acquitted.

Though popular hatred against Heureaux was strong on account of his tyrannical conduct and his attempts to compel the circulation of a large issue of inconvertible bank notes with which he flooded the country, the fear in which he was held prevented any general uprising. There were many, however, among them Horacio Vasquez, who never ceased conspiring against the dictator. When it became known that Heureaux was resolved to bring about Vasquez' death, Ramon Caceres, a cousin of Vasquez, and other members of the Vasquez clan, were drawn into the conspiracies. The father of Caceres, once vice-president under Baez, had been killed, it is said, by order of Heureaux. In July, 1899, when Heureaux prepared for a trip through the Cibao, he was informed of a plot to kill him on the way. When he arrived in Moca he thought that no danger awaited him there, as he expected that if any attack were to be made on him it would be at some solitary portion of the road and not in a town in broad daylight. When about to leave Moca on July 26, 1899, he ordered the governor of the province to arrest Caceres and his companions. Caceres was informed of the order by the secretary of the governor, who was his friend, and knowing that the arrest would probably be followed by an execution, with several companions he repaired to a store where Heureaux was talking with the proprietor, the provincial treasurer. As soon as Heureaux appeared in the doorway Caceres began to shoot, and the other conspirators continued firing, although the first shot had been fatal. Heureaux before falling drew his revolver and returned the fire, but the darkness of death clouded his vision and the shots went wild, one of them, however, killing a beggar to whom he had a few moments before given alms. Caceres and his companions fled to the mountains, and the body of Heureaux was taken to Santiago, where it was afterwards interred in the cathedral. Juan Wenceslao Figuereo, vice-president of the Republic, an aged negro, succeeded to the presidency.

The death of Heureaux precipitated a revolution headed by General Horacio Vasquez. President Figuereo made no resistance, but at the end of August resigned, together with his cabinet, first designating a committee of citizens to administer affairs until the arrival of Vasquez, who entered the capital on September 5, 1899, and became the head of the provisional government. Jimenez in the meantime hastened to the country and was everywhere received with rejoicing. The two leaders arranged that Jimenez should become president and Vasquez vice-president, and an election was held on October 20, by which this result was attained, the inauguration taking place November 20, 1899. Ramon Caceres, the slayer of Heureaux, was made governor of Santiago and delegate of the government in the Cibao.

The Jimenez administration was the reaction of that of Heureaux. It deserved, more than any the Republic had had up to that time, the name of civil and constitutional government. The executive was not absolute, as in the time of Heureaux, nor were there sanguinary executions. Almost too little restraint was exercised, and the press, so long muzzled, began to convert its liberty into license. Jimenez, too, was so good-hearted that at times he yielded to importunities which had better been resisted. The financial problems left by the Heureaux administration caused considerable trouble and though the waste of the public revenues was curtailed, large sums were still absorbed in the payment of revolutionary claims and of pensions for local military chiefs.

Jealousies soon ripened between Jimenez and Vasquez, who was known to long for the presidency and had only temporarily laid aside his aspirations on account of the overwhelming popularity of Jimenez. Each of the chiefs collected a group of friends about him and in this way originated the still existing political parties, Jimenistas and Horacistas, the respective followers of Jimenez and Horacio Vasquez. Several minor uprisings occurred but were suppressed by the government. In the beginning of 1902 the Dominican Congress, which was composed largely of Vasquez' friends, considered the advisability of impeaching President Jimenez on account of the financial transactions of the administration, and a vote of censure was finally passed. Jimenez believed Vasquez at the bottom of the agitation and endeavored to have the municipalities protest against the action of Congress. Rumors became current that Jimenez intended to imprison his vice-president and thus insure his own reelection. Vasquez, urged on by his friends, therefore started a revolution in the Cibao, and after a fight in San Carlos and a four days' siege of the capital entered Santo Domingo City on May 2, 1902, and became president of a provisional government. Jimenez sought refuge in the French consulate and embarked for Porto Rico a few days later.

General Horacio Vasquez was born in Moca and was a ranchman, merchant and planter. He possessed military capacity and took a minor part in several revolutions. At first a friend of Heureaux, he afterwards became one of his bitterest enemies, and for a number of years lived as an exile in Cuba and Porto Rico, returning to Moca shortly before the death of Heureaux to remain in retirement on his plantation. The Vasquez administration had as much difficulty with financial matters as that of his predecessor, but the president had little opportunity to show what he could do. Local outbreaks began in Monte Cristi and became general in October, 1902. Disturbances continued until March 24, 1903, when, during the absence of President Vasquez in the Cibao, the political prisoners in the fort of Santo Domingo City, through connivance with the general in charge, broke out, took the fort, liberated the convicts, threw the city into a panic with a continued fusillade, and proclaimed a revolution. They were for the most part Jimenistas and "Lilicistas," or members of the old Heureaux party, and their candidate for the presidency would probably have been Jimenez; but in Jimenez' absence the presidency was offered to Figuereo and others, who declined, and was finally accepted by Alejandro Woss y Gil, who had only the week before been liberated from the same political prison.

General Vasquez returned with an army, arriving before Santo Domingo City at the end of March. The ensuing siege was one long battle, during which a portion of the suburban town of San Carlos was destroyed by fire. On April 18, 1903, Generals Alvarez and Cordero, the best generals of the besiegers, made a violent attack on the city and effected an entrance, but fighting continued in the streets and these leaders and most of the storming party were killed. Vasquez thereupon fled to Santiago, resigned his post, and left the country for Cuba. On the triumph of his party a year later, he returned to Santo Domingo and retired to his plantation in Moca.

Woss y Gil, who thus became president of the provisional government, called a session of Congress and by appointments favorable to his interests so intrenched himself that his continuance as president became assured. Jimenez, who arrived shortly after, advanced the claim that he was still president de jure, since the constitutional term of four years for which he had been elected had not expired, and he denominated the Vasquez government a temporary and illegal usurpation of power. In his efforts to regain office he sent his friend Eugenio Deschamps to treat with Gil, but Deschamps, seeing Gil obdurate, made an agreement by which Woss y Gil was to become president and Deschamps vice-president, Jimenez was obliged to yield to the inevitable and returned to Porto Rico in the hope of eventually succeeding Woss y Gil. An election was held in which Woss y Gil and Deschamps were the only candidates and on June 20, 1903, they were inaugurated.

In General Alejandro Woss y Gil the Republic had a very talented man as president. Born in Seibo, he had entered politics in his youth, and became a friend and follower of Heureaux. At times he was governor of a province, later for a long period Dominican consul at New York, and from 1885 to 1887 president of the Republic. He had received a good education and traveled extensively, spoke several modern languages, had some knowledge of the classic languages, and was a poet, musician and writer.

Unfortunately the talents of Woss y Gil did not extend to the securing of an honest and efficient administration. The ministers appointed by him were exceedingly injudicious selections, and a carnival of fraud and dishonesty was soon in progress. Discontent grew general, and by the end of October, 1903, General Carlos F. Morales, governor of Puerto Plata, raised the standard of revolt and his troops marched on the capital. The revolution was supported by both parties, the Jimenistas and Horacistas, and was known as the "war of the union." Morales, the leader of the insurrection, had been a follower of Jimenez and favored the aspirations of the latter to the extent even of sending requests to Jimenez to come to Santo Domingo at once. The siege of Santo Domingo City lasted for about three weeks. On November 24, 1903, Woss y Gil, finding himself vanquished, permitted Morales' troops to enter the city and sought refuge in the British consulate. Three days later a German man-of-war carried him to Porto Rico, and he later continued to Cuba, where he long resided in the city of Santiago.

For a short time a tripartite revolution was in progress, the supporters of Woss y Gil, Horacio Vasquez and Jimenez fighting in different parts of the country. Morales, on entering Santo Domingo, became president of the provisional government. The new governors of the Cibao were Jimenistas, but most of the appointments Morales made in the south were Horacistas, and it began to be suspected among the Jimenez followers that he had designs on the presidency. When Jimenez arrived in Santiago he realized that his ambitions were again endangered and he and his friends grew restless. On December 6, 1903, Jimenez fled from Santiago to Monte Cristi, claiming that Morales had sent a troop of fifty men to assassinate him.

A counter revolution followed at once and swiftly attained large proportions. It became the most serious unsuccessful revolution the Republic had seen. At one time the whole country was in the hands of Jimenez except Santo Domingo City and the small port of Sosua, near Puerto Plata. The government forces were able to retake Puerto Plata, but the siege of the capital continued uninterruptedly from December to February. Attacks and sallies were frequent, every house along the walls and in the suburbs soon showed bullet marks and the town of San Carlos was again partially destroyed by fire. Finally Morales defeated the besiegers, and in March, Macoris was taken by the government forces and the backbone of the revolution was broken. The insurrection had spent itself on account of lack of supplies and efficient leaders. Jimenez, financially ruined by his attempts to reestablish himself in power, again withdrew to Porto Rico. The government forces were unable to retake the Monte Cristi district, but an agreement was reached by which the Jimenista authorities remained in full control and the district became practically independent.

An election was held, as a result of which Carlos F. Morales became president and Ramon Caceres vice-president, and they were inaugurated on June 19, 1904. The new president, Morales, was an unusually clever man, although his conduct sometimes betrayed that he came from a family in which there had been mental derangement. He was born in Puerto Plata, studied for the priesthood, took orders, and held the office of parish priest in various places in the Cibao. After the death of a brother who participated in Jimenez' ill-fated "Fanita" expedition and was killed in the attack on Monte Cristi, Morales took an interest in public affairs and during the administration of Jimenez became a member of Congress. At this time he laid aside his religious habit, married, and devoted himself exclusively to politics. During the Vasquez administration he was an exile in Cuba, but on the ascendancy of Woss y Gil he was made governor of Puerto Plata, and in this capacity initiated the revolt against the Gil government.



CHAPTER VI

HISTORICAL SKETCH.—AMERICAN INFLUENCE.—1904 TO DATE (1918)

Financial difficulties.—Fiscal convention with the United States.—Caceres' administration.-Provisional presidents.—Civil disturbances.—Jimenez' second administration.—American intervention.

The enormous foreign and internal debt left by the Heureaux administration had been constantly increased by ruinous loans to which the succeeding governments were obliged to resort during the years of civil warfare, until the country was in a condition of hopeless bankruptcy. In the beginning of 1904 every item of the debt had been in default for months.

Under pressure from foreign governments, the principal debt items due foreign citizens had been recognized in international protocols and the income from each of the more important custom-houses was specifically pledged for their payment, but in no case was payment made. One of these protocols, signed with the American charge d'affaires, liquidated the government's accounts with the San Domingo Improvement Company, which had been turned out from the administration of custom-houses by President Jimenez, and provided for a board of arbitration to settle the manner of payment. The arbitrators determined the instalments payable and specified the custom-house of Puerto Plata and certain others as security, which were to be turned over to an American agent in case of failure to pay. No payment being made, the American agent demanded compliance with the arbitral award and on October 20, 1904, was placed in possession of the custom-house at Puerto Plata.

The other foreign creditors, principally French, Belgian, and Italian, naturally began to clamor for the payment of their credits and for the delivery of the custom-houses pledged to them. To have done so would have meant absolute ruin, as the government would have been entirely deprived of means of subsistence. In face of the imminent likelihood of foreign intervention the Dominican government applied to the United States for assistance, and in February, 1905, the protocol of an agreement between the Dominican Republic and the United States was approved, providing for the collection of Dominican customs revenues under the direction of the United States, and the segregation of a specified portion toward the ultimate payment of the debt. The treaty was submitted to the United States Senate, but that body adjourned in March, 1905, without final action. The creditors again became importunate and an interim modus vivendi was therefore arranged, under which the Dominican customs were to be collected by a receiver designated by the President of the United States, and the proportion mentioned in the pending treaty was reserved as a creditors' fund. The temporary arrangement went into effect on April 1, 1905, and the effect was immediately apparent. Confidence was restored, the customs receipts rose to higher figures than ever before, and the prospects of peace became brighter as revolutionists could no longer count on captured customhouses to replenish their exchequer.

The position of President Morales was a difficult one. He was an ex-Jimenista at the head of an Horacista government, and there was no sympathy between him and his council. The Horacistas distrusted him and forced him to dismiss his friends from the cabinet and to make distasteful appointments. Seeing that he was being reduced to a figurehead, Morales secretly tried to form a party for himself or make arrangements with the Jimenistas who for months had been conspiring and threatening to rise. The friction became more severe until Morales, fearing that both his office and his life were in danger, on the day before Christmas, 1905, fled from the capital, while the Jimenistas rose in Monte Cristi and marched down to attack Santiago and Puerto Plata.

It was the anomalous spectacle of a president leading an insurrection against his own government. Fortune was against the insurgents from the beginning. Morales, while trying to scale a rocky wall near the Jaina River, in the neighborhood of the capital, fell and sprained his leg, so that he was unable to proceed further but was obliged to remain in hiding in the woods, suffering much pain. In the Cibao, important dispatches of the revolutionists were captured by the government forces, which were thus enabled to make surprise attacks. The insurgents attacked Puerto Plata under their best general, Demetrio Rodriguez, an intelligent mulatto, and would probably have taken the town, had not Rodriguez received a bullet in the temple, whereupon his men became panic-stricken and dispersed. Morales saw that all was lost and returned to the capital, where he went to the American legation for protection. On the following morning, January 12, 1906, with his foot bandaged and tears rolling down his cheeks, he wrote out his resignation. He was immediately conveyed to Porto Rico on an American cruiser. The triumph of the government was complete, its troops overran Monte Cristi, and an Horacista was made governor of the district. Morales fixed his residence in the island of St. Thomas and later in France. He continually conspired for a return to the presidency, and was once tried for filibustering in Porto Rico, but acquitted. A friendly administration made him Dominican minister in Paris, where he died in 1914.

Upon the resignation of Morales the vice-president, General Ramon Caceres, assumed the presidency. Caceres was born in Moca on December 15, 1867, and was a prominent cacao-planter. It was he who killed Heureaux in 1899, after which he entered public life, being governor of Santiago and delegate of the government in the Cibao during the administrations of Jimenez and Vasquez, an exile in Cuba during the administration of Woss y Gil, and vice-president and governmental delegate during the administration of Morales. He had the appearance of an honest country squire, large of body and great of heart.

During the years 1906 and 1907 special attention was given to the settlement of the debts of the republic. A new bond issue of $20,000,000 was made for the purpose of converting the old debts, and an arrangement was effected with the principal creditors, by which the amounts due were reduced by about one-half. Instead of the still pending convention of February, 1905, with the United States, a new fiscal treaty was agreed upon, and approved by the United States Senate and the Dominican Congress, taking effect on August 1, 1907. In similarity with the provisions of the modus vivendi, the customs income of the Republic is collected by a General Receiver of Dominican Customs, appointed by the President of the United States, and a portion of the income is set aside by him for the service of the loan.

For years the various governments had been planning to revise the constitution of 1896, Vasquez even calling a constitutional convention; but the political kaleidoscope turned before such intentions could be realized. Conditions becoming sufficiently stable, a new constitution was promulgated on September 9, 1907. It was found unsatisfactory and a constitutional convention met in Santiago and on February 22, 1908, promulgated the present constitution, by which the presidential term was lengthened to six years and the office of vice-president abolished. An election was held and General Ramon Caceres was chosen president, entering upon his new term on July 1, 1908.

As a result of the Dominican-American fiscal arrangement the old debt was practically all canceled, burdensome concessions were redeemed, and a large portion of the surplus from the new bond issue was set aside for public works, of which several were undertaken. A few uprisings by dissatisfied chiefs remained local and unsuccessful. A border clash with Haiti, which in January, 1911, caused the dispatch of troops to the frontier, was settled by diplomacy. The hope of continued peaceful conditions gave a new impulse to agriculture, industry and commerce, and the exports and imports increased year by year.

At a time when the future seemed brightest, the Republic was suddenly startled by the news of the assassination of President Caceres on Sunday afternoon, November 19, 1911. The president, with a single companion, was returning from a drive along the new road to San Geronimo. At Guibia, a suburb of the capital, a number of conspirators rushed for the carriage, seized the reins of the horse and began to shoot. The president's companion fled, but Caceres, a fearless man and an excellent shot, returned the fire. Almost simultaneously a bullet shattered his right wrist. The coachman lashed the horse in an attempt to escape, but the horse reared and threw the carriage against a hedge. The coachman then dragged Caceres from the carriage and assisted him to the stable of a house on the roadside, adjoining the American legation, but the conspirators meantime continued to fire furiously and several shots struck the president. Seeing their object accomplished, the assassins withdrew, and the president, mortally wounded, was carried to the American legation, where he expired a few minutes later.

The conspirators were a handful of malcontents led by General Luis Tejera, a young man of prominent family, at one time governor of the capital under Caceres, but lately estranged. Caceres had known of Tejera's seditious sentiments but refused to take them seriously. Immediately after the shooting, the conspirators hastened away in a waiting automobile, carrying with them their leader Tejera, who had been wounded in the leg during the affray. At the Jaina ferry the automobile was accidentally precipitated into the river, and the wounded man was fished out half drowned. The other conspirators left him in a hut by the road and escaped. Tejera was found by the pursuers, taken to the fort in Santo Domingo City, and summarily executed.

The commandant of arms of the capital, General Alfredo M. Victoria, who controlled the military forces, permitted his own ambitions to influence him more than the welfare of his country. Being only twenty-six years old, he was not of the constitutional age to be president, but listening to the counsel of scheming politicians, he dominated the situation by force of arms and brought about the selection of his uncle, Eladio Victoria, as provisional president. The latter was a senator from Santiago province, and had at one time been a member of Caceres' cabinet, but he was not regarded as of presidential calibre and his selection provoked general surprise and indignation. General Victoria's army was a potent argument; it withered the ambition of other aspirants to the presidency, and Senator Victoria was elected provisional president and entered upon office December 6, 1911. In the following February the usual form of public election was gone through and on February 27, 1912, he took the oath of office as constitutional president. His nephew occupied important cabinet positions under the new administration.

The general opposition to President Victoria and to the method of electing him found expression in revolutionary uprisings throughout the country, especially in the Cibao and Azua. Ex-President Vasquez, ex-President Morales and several Jimenista generals took the field independently. Morales was captured, but the others continued the fight. Beginning early in December, 1911, the war dragged on for months, both sides sustaining heavy losses and extensive sections of the country being devastated.

It became apparent that there was a deadlock, the government being powerless to subdue the revolutionists, while the revolutionists were unable to carry on an active campaign against the government. The American government eventually extended its good offices with a view to the reestablishment of peace and order. A special commission appointed by the President of the United States and consisting of an official of the War Department and another of the State Department arrived in Santo Domingo in October, 1912, and initiated a series of conferences with government and revolutionary leaders. An agreement was concluded and in accordance therewith the Dominican Congress assembled on November 26, 1912, accepted the resignation of President Victoria, and elected the archbishop of Santo Domingo, Monsignor Adolfo A. Nouel, as provisional president for a period of two years. He was inducted into office on December 1, 1912.

Archbishop Nouel, a man of great learning, beloved and respected throughout the country, entered upon his duties with the announced purpose of giving an impartial administration and governing with both parties. The difficulties of the plan were soon impressed upon him, particularly as he relied entirely upon moral suasion to carry his policies into effect. Pressure was applied for favors which he could not grant, his appointments were bitterly criticised as savoring of nepotism or as unduly favoring one side or the other, and some of the fiercer military chiefs assumed a menacing attitude. Sick and disgusted, Monsignor Nouel resigned the presidential office on March 31, 1913, and embarked for Europe.

The Dominican Congress immediately considered the choice of a temporary successor and after many ballots elected a compromise candidate, General Jose Bordas Valdez, an Horacista senator from Monte Cristi, as provisional president for a period of one year. He assumed office April 14, 1913. His designation did not please the Jimenistas, and the Horacistas also became hostile when it appeared that President Bordas contemplated forming a party of his own. His opponents promptly rose in the Cibao and took possession of the ports of Puerto Plata, Sanchez and Samana, which were thereupon blockaded by the government forces. In the latter part of September, 1913, the revolutionists laid down their arms on the promise of the American minister that free elections for presidential electors and members of a constitutional convention would be guaranteed. A municipal election was in fact held, but President Bordas, alleging that conditions were too unsettled for a general presidential election, held on as president de facto beyond the term for which he had been provisionally elected. On the day his term ended, April 13, 1914, another revolution broke out and rapidly spread to all parts of the Republic. Puerto Plata was occupied by the insurgents and blockaded for several months by government vessels, the blockade being accompanied by a siege of the city under the direction of the president himself. On the other hand, the insurgents laid siege to the capital. The government contracted heavy debts to carry on the war and the commerce of the country suffered greatly.

Again the American government lent its good offices for the restoration of order. In August, 1914, a commission of three delegates of the United States arrived in Santo Domingo to present a plan for the resignation of Bordas, the selection of a provisional president by the chiefs of the several political parties, a revision of the election law, and the holding of general elections. The plan was agreed to, President Bordas resigned, and Dr. Ramon Baez, a son of former President Buenaventura Baez, was elected by the Dominican Congress as provisional president on August 27, 1914.

Popular elections were held in October, at which there were four candidates: ex-President Juan Isidro Jimenez, ex-President Horacio Vasquez, ex-Minister of Finance Federico Velazquez, and a fourth of little consequence. The Jimenez and Velazquez forces effected a combination, as a result of which Juan Isidro Jimenez was elected president a second time, and took the oath of office on December 5, 1914.

For a moment it seemed as though the country was at last entering upon an era of peace and prosperity. The government made efforts to solve the financial problems left by the recent civil wars and to resume public improvements. Investments of foreign capital increased, and agriculture and commerce expanded.

The elements of disorganization were present, however, in as strong a degree as ever. Corruption was general in the administration of the public funds, but attempts at reform had no result further than to stimulate violent opposition. The old leaven of sedition was at work, and disgruntled military chiefs found a willing leader in the minister of war, General Desiderio Arias, a chronic revolutionist from Monte Cristi, who had for years used the popularity of Jimenez as a cloak for his own aspirations. The president, aged and infirm, was unable to meet the situation with energy, and disinclined to adopt severe measures.

In the early part of 1916 Arias had his friends in Congress vote to impeach President Jimenez for alleged frauds. The matter was still under discussion, and the president was ill at his country place on the San Cristobal road, near Santo Domingo City, when in April, 1916, General Arias suddenly seized the military control of the capital and issued a proclamation by which he practically deposed Jimenez and assumed the executive power himself.

Another civil war was imminent when deliverance came in an unexpected manner. For many years past in previous disturbances, one or both of the warring factions had looked to the United States government for help in restoring order, and diplomatic assistance had time after time put an end to strife. The endless succession of revolts had at length exhausted the patience of the American government. In the face of another general war with its attendant destruction of life and property, harm to American and other foreign interests, and danger of international complications (a British and a French man-of-war were already solicitously hovering off the capital), the American government took decisive action. With the consent of President Jimenez, it landed marines at old San Geronimo castle, on the Guibia road, near Santo Domingo City.

Though Jimenez approved of this action and recognized that his country could not emerge from the slough of revolution without American assistance, he was depressed at the condition of affairs, and in view of his physical feebleness felt himself unequal to the task of guiding the country through impending difficulties. He therefore on May 6, 1916, resigned the presidency of the Republic, and subsequently returned to Porto Rico to live. The council of ministers temporarily assumed the administration.

Arias, dismayed at the action of the United States, made protest, but the American government refused to admit the legality or sincerity of his conduct. Its troops advanced on Santo Domingo City and Rear-Admiral Caperton, the American commander, gave Arias twenty-four hours to evacuate. He promptly obeyed, and on May 15 the Americans occupied the city.

American troops continued to be landed, at Puerto Plata on June 5; at Monte Cristi on June 19; and at other seaports as necessity demanded, until a total of about 1800 marines had been disembarked. They proceeded into the interior, taking over the preservation of public order and disarming the inhabitants. They advanced on foot, in improvised motor trucks, and as real "horse marines," in accordance with a plan to secure thorough pacification by having them appear in all parts of the country. The American marines met with no serious opposition except in the Cibao, in the section between Monte Cristi, Puerto Plata and Santiago, where the following of Arias was strongest. To clear this section two columns were launched from the seacoast with Santiago as the objective, the first of 800 men from Monte Cristi, the second of about 200 men from Puerto Plata, the entire force being under command of Brigadier-General Joseph H. Pendleton. The expeditionary force from Monte Cristi, under Colonel Dunlop, advanced along the highway, which was little more than a muddy trail through a jungle of cactus and thorny brush, and several Americans were shot from ambush. Repeatedly small detachments of rebels made a stand upon some favorable piece of ground, until routed by the marines. The decisive encounter took place on July 1, 1916, at Guayacanes, near Esperanza, where a force of 400 marines after a stubborn fight carried a strongly entrenched position defended by about 300 rebels. The American losses were 1 enlisted man killed and 1 officer and 7 enlisted men wounded; the rebels are estimated to have lost several score between killed and wounded, their leader, Maximito Cabral, being killed fighting in the trenches after all his men were dead or driven off.

The second column, from Puerto Plata, under Major Bearss, opened up the railroad, encountering its principal resistance at the tunnel south of Altamira. The two columns joined forces at Navarrete and then occupied Santiago. All the insurgents eventually dispersed or surrendered, and Arias himself submitted to the American military control, which became absolute throughout the country. The total American losses in occupying the country were 3 officers killed and 3 wounded and 4 enlisted men killed and 12 wounded; the losses of the insurgents are estimated at between 100 and 300 killed and wounded.

The Dominican Congress proceeded on July 25, 1916, to elect a temporary president, and chose Dr. Francisco Henriquez Carvajal, a distinguished physician and highly cultured man. It was understood that he was to hold for six months and was not to seek reelection at the general election to be held within that time. The United States government, however, was loath to extend recognition unless assured that Santo Domingo would enter upon a path of order and progress. The fiscal treaty of 1907 had not secured the peace expected of it; the prohibition against the contracting of further indebtedness had been frequently violated; disorder and corruption had continued; and the American government deemed its task uncompleted if it should surrender the country to the same chaotic conditions. It accordingly required, as a condition of recognizing Henriquez, that a new treaty between the two countries be adopted, similar to the recently approved treaty between the United States and Haiti, where a series of revolutions culminating in a massacre of prisoners had the year before obliged the American government to intervene. The principal features of this treaty were the collection of customs under American auspices, the appointment of an American financial adviser, and the establishment of a constabulary force officered by Americans.

Henriquez, jealous of his country's sovereignty and fearful that the proposed arrangement would make the Dominican government a puppet controlled by all-powerful and not sufficiently responsible American officials, refused to accede to the American demands. The American authorities thereupon declined to pay over any of the Republic's revenues to a government which they did not recognize. Inasmuch as they not only collected the customs and port dues, but had assumed control of the other revenues as well, the Henriquez government was left penniless. Nevertheless, the American demands continued to be rejected. As a result, no salaries were paid in any part of the Republic; the officials who continued in their duties did so with the hope of being compensated at some future date; some services, such as the mail service, were discontinued almost entirely; and the whole machinery of the government was paralyzed.

This tension and anomalous condition lasted for several months. As the term for which Henriquez had been elected drew to a close, it became evident that he had no idea of retiring from the presidency, but, on the contrary, intended to hold general elections, in which he expected to be the successful candidate. The deadlock thus threatened to continue indefinitely, and the American government thereupon determined to cut the Gordian knot.

On November 29, 1916, Captain (later Rear-Admiral) H. S. Knapp, of the United States navy, commander of the American cruiser force in Dominican waters, and of the forces of occupation of the Dominican Republic, issued a proclamation, declaring the Dominican Republic under the military administration of the United States. The proclamation recited that the Dominican Republic had failed to live up to the terms of the treaty of 1907; that the American government had patiently endeavored to aid the Dominican government, but that the latter was not inclined or able to adopt the measures suggested, wherefore the American government believed the time at hand to take steps to assure the execution of said Convention and to maintain domestic tranquillity in the Republic. He therefore declared that the Dominican Republic was placed in a state of military occupation by the forces under his command; that the object of the occupation was not to destroy Dominican sovereignty, but to restore order; that Dominican laws were to continue in effect so far as they did not conflict with the objects of the occupation or the decrees of the military government; that the Dominican courts were to continue in their functions, except that offenses against the military government were to be judged by military courts; and that all the revenues of the Dominican government were to be paid over to the military government, which would administer the same. He called on all inhabitants to cooperate with the forces of the United States.

The military government so established took full possession of the country. The chiefs of the executive departments not having appeared in their offices, their posts were declared vacant and filled with officers of the American navy. In the country at large, there was little open opposition, and such as appeared was suppressed without difficulty. The inhabitants quickly reconciled themselves to the situation, realizing that it was to the best interests of their country. Dr. Henriquez, the ex-president, left for Cuba in the early part of December.

The military government thereupon proceeded to organize the finances, to pay arrears of salaries, to subdue several bandits who refused allegiance, and to confiscate all arms. Absolute order and security, greater than have prevailed in Santo Domingo since colonial days, were soon established. The military government then devoted itself to the construction of public works, especially roads, the organization of a police force, and in general to the improvement of the country.

After the Washington government determined to participate in the European war, the American military governor on April 12, 1917, connected Santo Domingo with the war by canceling the exequaturs of the German consular representatives in the Dominican Republic; there was no formal rupture, as no diplomatic representative of either country was at the time residing in the other. German residents were subjected to surveillance by the American authorities.

The Dominican Republic is still (January, 1918) being administered by American naval officers and the work of reorganization continues. Eventually—in all likelihood after the European war—the government is to be turned back to the Dominican people, and it is probable that such devolution will be under conditions that will assure a stable government, peace and progress.



CHAPTER VII

AREA AND BOUNDARIES

Area of Republics of Haiti and Santo Domingo.—Boundary disputes.—Harbors on north coast.—Character of shore.—Samana Bay.—Character of east and south coast.—Harbors of Macoris and Santo Domingo.—Ocoa Bay.—Islands.—Haitian frontier.

Of the great chain of islands which extends in a vast semi-circle from the southern coast of Florida to the northeastern coast of Venezuela, the second largest is the Island of Haiti or Santo Domingo, situated midway between Cuba and Porto Rico, and lying between latitude 17 deg.36'40" and 19 deg.58'20" north and longitude 68 deg.18' and 74 deg.51' west of Greenwich. The island is bounded by the Atlantic Ocean on the north, the Mona Channel on the east, the Caribbean Sea on the south, and the Windward Passage on the west. The nearest point of Porto Rico is 54 miles distant, of Cuba 50 miles, of Jamaica 90 miles and of Venezuela, the nearest country on the South American continent, 480 miles. The distance from Puerto Plata, on the north coast of the island, to New York is 1255 miles, to Havana 710 miles, and to Southampton 3925 miles. The distance from Santo Domingo City to San Juan, Porto Rico, is 230 miles, to La Guayra 500 miles, and to Colon 810 miles.

The island is divided between two political entities, the western one, comprising one-third of its surface, being the Republic of Haiti, while the eastern one is popularly known as Santo Domingo or San Domingo, though it is officially termed the Dominican Republic. These two republics present at once interesting resemblances and contrasts. They are separated by no natural bounds; their soil, resources, and political conditions are similar; but while in Haiti the language and historical associations are French and the numerically predominant race stock is black, in Santo Domingo, on the other hand, the language and historical associations are Spanish, and the mulatto rather than the black is most in evidence.

The area of the island is generally stated at 28,249 square miles, of which Haiti is credited with 10,204 square miles and the Dominican Republic with 18,045 square miles. Since no part of the island has ever been carefully surveyed, such figures can be regarded as only approximately correct. The Dominican Republic is therefore about as large as the States of New Hampshire and Vermont together, less than half as large as Cuba and more than five times the size of Porto Rico.

In the above estimate of the area of the two Republics no account is taken of their reciprocal claims to further lands. Each claims about 1500 square miles occupied by the other. The Dominicans affirm they have a right to the plain of Hinche and St. Raphael, comprising some of the finest agricultural lands on the island. They contend that Haiti is entitled only to the territory embraced in the confines of the old French colony of Saint-Domingue. Under the treaty of Aranjuez, of June 3, 1777, the boundaries of the French and Spanish colonies on the Island of Santo Domingo were carefully defined and marked by monuments. In 1795 the Spanish colony was ceded to France; but when in 1804 the Haitians declared the independence of the island, they were able to control little more than the old French portion, most of the old Spanish portion remaining in the possession of France. The boundary line remained unchanged when the old Spanish portion again came under the rule of Spain in 1809. In 1822 Haitian rule was extended over the entire island, but in 1844, when the inhabitants of the eastern portion proclaimed their independence their declaration comprised the whole of the old Spanish part of the island. The Haitian government made strenuous efforts to reconquer the revolting provinces, with the final result that it was able to retain and still retains 1500 square miles more than belonged to the former French colony. This is the portion still claimed by Santo Domingo.

On the other hand, the Haitians, based on alleged boundary conditions and tentative arrangements in 1856 and 1874, claim a strip of land now occupied by Santo Domingo lying along the border and also aggregating about 1500 square miles. Maps published in Haiti always show the boundary line from five to forty miles further east than it is in reality.

Arbitration has repeatedly been suggested to determine the boundary, and efforts were made in 1895 to submit the question to the Pope and in 1911 to resort to The Hague, but without success.

The Haitians have not only peopled and carefully guarded the territory controlled by them, but have attempted to push the frontier further east toward the line they claim. In 1911 and a year later, alleged encroachments by Haiti almost led to war between the two countries. The United States interposed its good offices and in 1912 suggested as provisional boundary, until otherwise determined by mutual agreement between the two countries, the line which was observed as boundary in 1905 when the American receiver general of customs took charge of the frontier custom-houses. Both countries agreeing, the line as suggested has since been regarded as the boundary and bids fair to become, with perhaps a few unimportant modifications, the permanent boundary between Haiti and Santo Domingo. The outlook for arbitration seems to be no better now than heretofore, nor is it probable that any court of arbitration would divest either Haiti or Santo Domingo of any considerable portion of the lands they have so long possessed.

The boundary disputes have not tended to improve the relations between the two countries, which formerly regarded each other with a hatred that has only in the past fifty years softened down to mutual distrust and dislike. It has frequently happened that the authorities of one country abetted insurrections in the other; and it was common practice for insurgents in either country to retreat across the border to recuperate in the other. In the Dominican revolutions of 1912 to 1914 several bands of revolutionists had permanent headquarters on the Haitian side.

The greatest breadth of the Dominican Republic, from the Morro of Monte Cristi to Cape Beata, is about 170 miles, the greatest length, from Cape Engano to the Haitian frontier, about 260 miles. The Republic has a coast line of about 940 miles, on which there are several good ports and large bays.

One of these is Manzanillo Bay, which lies at the extreme northwestern point of the Republic. Large and well protected, affording excellent anchorage for any class of vessels, it is one of the best harbors and perhaps the most important point strategically, on the north coast of the island. It receives the waters of the Dajabon or Massacre River, which constitutes part of the boundary between Haiti and the Dominican Republic, and of the turbulent Yaque del Norte, which here forms a delta of considerable extent. Owing to the proximity of Monte Cristi the various projects for the establishment of a port and custom-house at this point have hitherto failed of realization.

Fifteen miles to the northeast of Manzanillo Bay is the ancient port of Monte Cristi, discovered by Columbus, in his vessel the Nina, on his first voyage. The great explorer landed here to examine the plain near the shore, and departed at dawn on January 6, 1493. The port of Monte Cristi is a large open bay with a fine roadstead, but the shallow water near the shore obliges vessels to anchor over a mile from land. On the eastern side the harbor is sheltered by a high promontory now known as El Morro, to which Columbus gave the name of Monte Cristi, after a remarkable profile, recalling the pictures of Christ, which is visible in the outlines of the mount to vessels entering the harbor. The isolated, treeless mountain under the usually cloudless sky of beautiful blue strongly recalls the buttes of our Western plains.

The range of mountains known as the Monte Cristi Range, forms a background for the entire northern coast of the Republic. From Monte Cristi for fifty miles east, to the bay of Isabela, the shore is bleak and barren, formed of rocks and cliffs with short intervals of sandy beach. Isabela Bay is where the first Spanish settlement in America was laid out by Columbus in 1493. Little remains to mark the site, but the white palm-fringed strand gleams in the sunlight and is caressed by the blue waters just as in Columbus' day. The harbor at the mouth of a stream flowing down from the mountains is small and shallow, but it is occasionally visited by coastwise vessels in search of cargoes of mahogany and other woods from the nearby hills.

Thirty miles east of Isabela lies Puerto Plata. The intervening coast possesses a few small ports of little importance, but sometimes visited by coasting schooners. The most important one is Blanco, which during the War of the Restoration with the Spaniards was the insurgents' port of entry and the base of considerable illicit trade with Turks Island. The harbor of Puerto Plata, the most important city on the north coast, is formed by a small bay, enclosed on the sea side by a reef of coral rock. There is plenty of depth within, but little room, and only three or four large steamers can with safety anchor here at the same time. The harbor is well protected except on the north. During gales from that direction it becomes exceedingly uncomfortable, and the narrow entrance channel quite dangerous. Portions of wrecks rising above the foaming water of the reef—the broken bow of one vessel and ship's engine of another—bear witness to the perils lurking there at such times. Near the shore the harbor is shallow, and though there is little tide, the water recedes some distance. To avoid the difficulty there is a long pier for the use of small boats and it is no longer necessary, as of yore, for passengers to be carried ashore from boats in the arms of the boatmen. A fine public dock for large vessels is also nearing completion.