All must feel the importance of this statement, which, I have to say, is not without official authority. I now hold in my hand the Spanish documents relating to the reannexion of Dominica, as published by the Cortes, and with your permission I will open these authentic pages. And here allow me to say that I speak only according to the documents. That Spain made the boast attests the principle.
Omitting particularities and coming at once to the precise point, I read from a circular by the Spanish Minister of Foreign Affairs, addressed to diplomatic agents abroad, under date of Aranjuez, April 25, 1861, which declares the proper forbearance and caution of Spain, and establishes a precedent from which there can be no appeal:--
“The first condition, necessary and indispensable, which the Government of her Majesty requires in accepting the consequences of these events, is that the act of reïncorporation of San Domingo with the Spanish Monarchy shall be the unanimous, spontaneous, and explicit expression of the will of the Dominicans.”
The dispatch then proceeds to describe the attitude of the Spanish Government. And here it says of the events in Dominica:--
“Nor have they been the work of Spanish emigrants who have penetrated the territory of San Domingo; nor has the superior authority of Havana, nor the forces of sea and land at its disposition, contributed to them. The Captain-General of Cuba has not separated himself, nor could he depart for a moment, from the principles of the Government, and from the policy which it has followed with regard to them. _Not a Spanish bottom or soldier was on the coast or in the territory of the Republic_ when the latter by a unanimous movement proclaimed its reunion to Spain.”[12]
It will be observed with what energy of phrase the Spanish Minister excludes all suspicion of force on the part of Spain. Not only was there no Spanish ship on the coast, but not a single Spanish bottom. And then it is alleged that “the first condition” of reannexion must be “the unanimous, spontaneous, and explicit expression of the will of the Dominicans.” No foreign influence, no Spanish influence, was to interfere with the popular will. But this is nothing more than justice. Anything else is wrong.