Minister Dawson to the Secretary of State.

No. 261.]

Sir: I have the honor to inclose you a memorandum on the Dominican-Haitian boundary question.

The material for this memorandum I have obtained from numerous sources during the last year and a half—principally conversations with the former and present Dominican ministers of foreign affairs and the Haitian minister plenipotentiary here accredited.

There seems to be no disposition on the part of either Government to press the matter at the present moment, but you will observe that the question is in such a condition that it might, without warning, assume an acute phase.

I have, etc.,

T. C. Dawson.

memorandum on the boundary question between haiti and santo domingo.

[Extracts.]

About the middle of the eighteenth century the French settlements on the island of Santo Domingo occupied nearly one-third its area. They covered a [Page 601] strip 20 to 30 miles wide extending all around the western coast from the river Massacre on the north to the Pedernales on the south, and also the two great peninsulas which stretch out toward Cuba and Jamaica, the one ending at Mole St. Nicolas and the other at Cape Tiburon. Most of this territory was highly cultivated and thickly inhabited, the population being about 100 to the square mile. The number of whites and mulattoes was small in comparison with that of the negro slaves who formed the mass of the population, and but few negroes were free. French, or a patois derived from it, was the universal language.

The Spanish settlements were thinly scattered over the rest of the island, there being not more than 5 persons per square mile. This scanty population was largely concentrated near the interior town of Santiago and on that coast plain near Santo Domingo City. However, small villages existed at several points close to the French frontier, and there was a thriving port at Monte Christi, just east of the Massacre. The free population outnumbered the slave; many negroes had been freed, and white blood predominated, although much mixed with the black. Spanish was the language universally used.

Prior to 1777 the boundary was undetermined. The French authorities had repeatedly advanced claims to the territory east as far as the rivers Guayabin and Neyba, but had never succeeded in getting permanent possession of any part of this additional tract. Its few inhabitants were Spanish.

By a treaty signed at Aranjuez in 1777 the boundary between the respective possessions of the two nations was fixed substantially at the edge of the French settlements, and the line exactly surveyed and marked by joint commissioners.

In 1791 a sanguinary race war broke out in the French part, the whites fighting as royalists to maintain the régime of special privileges, and the mulattoes striving for the rights granted them by the laws of the French convention. Both sides armed the negro slaves, and soon many of the latter were operating on their own account. Spain and England being then at war with France, British troops attacked the French coast towns, while Spanish forces advanced over the land frontier. Many of the independent negro bands had fled into the sparsely settled regions on the Spanish side of the line, and some of these cooperated with the Spaniards and Englishmen, making their headquarters often in Spanish territory, especially in the districts of San Rafael and San Miguel, towns lying within the apex of the great northwest angle made by the boundary.

In 1794 Toussaint L’Ouverture and most of the other powerful negro chiefs abandoned the Spanish side and the former accepted a commission as brigadier-general in the French army. The feeble Spanish authorities in Santo Domingo were unable to maintain even a respectable defense against their former allies, now combined with the regular French officials and forces, and the negro bands made incursions far within the 1777 boundary, advancing as far as the Guayabin-Neyba line across the island. The whole frontier was laid waste and the Spanish inhabitants of San Rafael, San Miguel, Hincha, Banica, and Las Caobas abandoned their homes and fled for their lives, leaving nearly the whole of the upper Artibonite Valley a desert.

In 1795, by the treaty of Bale, Spain formally ceded to France her part of the island. Toussaint and the negroes had become virtual masters of the interior of the original French part, although nominally acting under French commissions. But for five years Toussaint was so occupied expelling the British from the French coast towns and reducing rival negro chiefs to obedience to himself, that he left the Spanish authorities in undisturbed possession of the inhabited portion of the eastern end, nor did he take any steps to establish regular government or settlement in the deserted Spanish frontier. In 1798 the English troops withdrew, and in 1799 and 1800 Toussaint put down the last independent negro chiefs, reducing the whole of the French end to a comparatively tranquil state. In the latter part of 1800 he marched at the head of a large army to Santo Domingo City, which surrendered without resistance in January, 1801, leaving him supreme in all the Spanish as well as the French part of the island as French general in chief.

One year later Napoleon sent a strong expedition to reestablish a regular French government on the island. It landed at Samana Bay in the extreme east, whence detachments quickly took possession of all the principal towns of the Spanish part. In the French end Toussaint at first resisted, but he soon submitted, professing himself satisfied with the terms offered by Napoleon’s generals. Troubles, however, quickly broke out again. Toussaint was thrown [Page 602] into prison and carried to France. The negroes resumed their war of extermination against the whites. Yellow fever decimated the French troops crowded into the Haitian coast towns, and by the end of 1803 those who survived in the French end were compelled to withdraw. The only French troops left behind were the small, isolated detachments garrisoning the far distant towns of the Spanish end whose inhabitants had peacefully accepted and willingly continued under the rule of the French officers, which they vastly preferred to that of the dreaded Haitian negroes.

January 1, 1804, the negro commonwealth of Haiti issued a formal declaration of independence, asserting in its constitution that its territory included the whole island. In 1805 two considerable Haitian armies invaded the present Republic of Santo Domingo, encountering no resistance until they reached the capital. The French general, Ferrand, had concentrated his few troops in that city; the place was reasonably well fortified; the surrounding Spanish-speaking population was secretly hostile to the Haitians; Dessalines found difficulty in provisioning his besieging army; and the opportune arrival off the port of a French fleet forced his withdrawal. Once in retreat he did not stop until he had passed the old boundary between French and Spanish territory, and he left no Haitian officials behind him except, perhaps, in San Rafael and San Miguel.

Shortly after his return to Haiti proper Dessalines was killed in a mutiny, and in the civil wars which followed his dominions were broken up into two and later into three independent portions. About 1808 we encounter the earliest definite proof of regular and permanent Haitian occupation of San Miguel and San Rafael. At that date these towns already formed integral parts of Christophe’s “Empire.” Between them and the nearest Spanish settlements for more than 40 miles stretched the region which had been depopulated in 1794.

The isolated French general’s rule over the Spanish-speaking part continued until 1809, when it was ended by a revolt of the Creoles. The Spaniards at home were then fighting against the usurpation of Joseph Bonaparte, and the Seville Junta promptly accepted the offer of the Dominicans to return to their old allegiance. In 1814 Spain’s possession was legalized by one of the clauses of the treaty of Paris which receded the territory ceded in 1795.

In 1820 President Boyer succeeded in uniting the French-speaking part of the island, and began to plan the incorporation of the Spanish-speaking part. The civil war that broke out in Spain that year deprived the authorities in Santo Domingo of any hope of receiving aid from home, and Bolivar’s recent successes in Colombia and Venezuela had weakened Spanish prestige throughout the Caribbean region. Feeble in numbers and resources, the Dominican Creoles did not hope to be able to achieve or maintain their independence, and with Spanish power in America tottering to its fall only two courses laid open to them. One party favored incorporation with the Colombian Confederation, and another annexation to Haiti. The former temporarily prevailed at Santo Domingo City, but with the arrival of President Boyer and a Haitian army in the beginning of 1822 the whole eastern portion of the island peacefully became an integral part of the Haitian Republic.

In 1825 the French Government conceded full and complete independence to the inhabitants of the French part of the island, and in 1830 the Spanish Government made a formal demand upon that of Haiti for a delivery of the former Spanish part. It was refused, and Spain took no steps to enforce it.

The whole island being now under one government, no obstacle was placed in the way of free intermigration. The Spanish Creoles—and more especially those of them who lived near the old frontier—were engaged in cattle herding rather than agriculture; they were few in numbers, and not crowded for room. Few or none of them migrated into Haiti proper. On the other hand, being agricultural in their habits and inhabiting a densely populated territory, the French-speaking negroes were more inclined to emigration and permanent settlement in new regions. Advancing southeast from San Rafael and San Miguel, their villages had become scattered over the fertile valley of the upper Artibonite as far east as a line drawn from Banica to the Massacre before the end of the period of union. The chief town of this district is Hincha.

A similar movement east from Mirebalais made the town of Las Caobas and the banks of the lower Artibonite French speaking as far as Los Puertos. But neither on the northern frontier, where the strong Spanish settlement of Dajabon on the Massacre dammed the stream of immigration, nor in the narrow and arid defiles between the lakes and mountains east of Port au Prince, nor on the [Page 603] rarely visited southern coast beyond the Pedernales, did the Haitians cross the old frontier and make settlements. A few Haitian officials established themselves in some of the large towns, and scattering individuals came in here and there, but no traces of their presence remain except a few family names and an occasional person who still remembers something of the Haitian patois. As a matter of fact, throughout the twenty-two years during which the whole island was under a single government, Haitians and Dominicans showed no disposition to coalesce socially or industrially. Intermarriages, unknown now, were rare then, and administrative contact seems not to have diminished the mutual repugnance of the two people—a repugnance which is nearly as strong among Dominican negroes as among Dominican whites.

During the year 1843 revolts against Boyer broke out in Haiti proper, and the movement spread to the Spanish-speaking part. Boyer’s governor at Santo Donmingo City was overthrown by a mixed Junta of anti-Boyer Haitians and ambitious Dominicans. But Herard, who had been proclaimed dictator at Port an Prince, justly suspected some of these Dominican leaders of plotting independence and others of desiring a Spanish protectorate. His sudden visit to Santo Domingo delayed the execution of the Dominican plans, but shortly after his return to Port au Prince, where revolutionary disorders continued, independence was declared (February 27, 1844) and the Haitian authorities expelled from all the territory within the 1777 line except San Rafael, San Miguel, Hincha, and Las Caobas. The declaration of independence and the new Republic’s first constitution claimed as the limits of its territory the line which in 1793 divided the Spanish from the French possessions. All Haitians were expelled and their property confiscated.

There are four principal routes from Haiti into Santo Domingo:

(1)
That of Dajabon near the northern coast. This leads from Cape Haitien through Dajabon up the Yaqiu Valley to Santiago.
(2)
That of Banica. This leads southeast from San Rafael and San Miguel down the Guayamuco—a principal affluent of the Artibonite—through Hincha to Banica. Thence it continues into Dominican territory, joining the Comendador road at Las Matas.
(3)
That of Comendador. This leads up the main stream of the Artibonite from Mirebalais to Las Caobas; skirts the mountains on the south of that valley; crosses the spur of Los Puertos, and runs through Rancho Mateo, Veladero, and Cachiman to Comendador. Thence it continues through Spanish-speaking territory to Las Matas, crosses the watershed between the Artibonite and Neyba river systems to San Juan, and thence runs south to Azua and along the southern coast to Santo Domingo City.
(4)
The Tierra Nueva route follows the northern edge of the chain of brackish lakes that extends east from the neighborhood of Port au Prince to near the mouth of the Neyba. Crossing the line of 1777 where the latter traverses the Laguna del Fondo, it passes through Tierra Nueva, La Caleta, and Postrer Rio to the large Dominican town of Neyba, whence one branch leads to Azua and another to Barahona.

For military purposes the second of these routes may be left out of consideration because the distance by it to the Spanish settlements is so great from the Haitian centers of population and bases of supplies.

Notwithstanding that their country continued in an unsettled state, in 1844 the Haytians invaded the revolted provinces by all three routes. By way of Dajabon they advanced as far as Santiago, where they met with a decisive defeat and retreated immediately to their home territory. On both the Comendador and Tierra Nueva routes the Dominicans were at first compelled to retire beyond Azua, but the Haitian forces meeting formidable resistance near that town and being hampered by the civil war at home, soon abandoned all these temporary conquests in Spanish-speaking territory. In 1845 the war was renewed on the central route, and though Dominican detachments at first entered Las Caobas and Hincha, the arrival of Haitian reenforcements soon compelled them to retreat. When, however, the pursuing Haytians invaded Spanish-speaking territory they were in turn unsuccessful, and active operations ceased wtih Santo Domingo still in possession of Comendador, and Banica and Haiti of Las Caobas and Hincha. The intervening desolated and uninhabited strip was in the effective possession of neither.

Skirmishes, ambushings, and raids continued, but there was no further serious fighting until 1849, when the Emperor Soulouque, having overpowered his rivals, began a series of determined efforts to reconquer the Spanish part of the island. [Page 604] His main army advanced by the central route through Las Matas, San Juan, and Azua, but was defeated between the latter place and Santo Domingo City. Thereupon the Haytians precipitately retired through Las Matas to Las Caobas, leaving the frontier wasted, the towns burned, and most of the cattle gone. They also retreated through Neyba on the Tierra Nueva route to the 1777 line.

In 1850 the British, French, and American agents at Port au Prince offered their mediation with a view of procuring a recognition by Haiti of Dominican independence, or at least a truce. But it was not until Soulouque had made another unsuccessful invasion the following year—this time only along the southern route—that he consented to a truce of a year. In 1855 Spain formally recognized the independence of the Dominican Republic “with all the territories that actually constitute it,” renouncing in its favor all rights to the territory “formerly known as the Spanish part of the island of Hispanola.”

In the latter part of the same year, taking advantage of internal quarrels in Santo Domingo, and France and England’s absorption in the Crimean war, the Emperor Soulouque renewed his effort to incorporate the lost provinces. But his invasions were more promptly repelled than those of former years had been. Although at the outset his troops drove the Dominicans out of Neyba, on the southern route, and back to San Juan, on the central route, they never got beyond the latter place, and, after a defeat, retired to their own territory. The war ended with an equally unsuccessful invasion along the Dajabon route.

Shortly thereafter Soulouque fell from power and these campaigns of 1855 and 1856 were the last ones undertaken by Haiti against the Dominican Republic. The twelve years of fighting had changed little, or not at all, the de facto boundaries as they had existed immediately after the declaration of independence in 1844. In the north the Massacre River furnished a well-defined line, with Spanish-speaking people on one side and French-speaking on the other. From its headwaters south to Banica the country was so sparsely inhabited that the exact limits of occupation were uncertain. Banica was Dominican and Fort Biassou, on the other bank of the Artibonite, was Haitian. Thence southwest across the southern half of the Artibonite Valley and the mountains there were uncertainty. Comendador was the last village occupied by Dominicans on the only east and west road traversing the region, but several miles intervened between this place and Los Puertos, where the most easterly Haitian settlement was encountered. South of the mountains, on the Tierra Nueva road, the Haitians had no posts east of the 1777 line, and the same was true on the southern coast, which, however, was very sparsely inhabited from the Pedernales east to Petit Trou.

Although hostilities ceased in 1856, never again to be resumed, no treaty of peace or recognition of Dominican independence was concluded for several years. In 1861, impelled thereto by financial difficulties, factional quarrels, and the menace of Haitian invasion, the Dominican Government applied to Spain for incorporation. In the plebiscite held to ratify the treaty of annexation the towns of Dajabon and some villages near the frontier do not appear to have taken part. Some Haitian writers contend that this shows that these places were then under Haitian jurisdiction—a statement contradicted by their Dominican opponents. In 1862, Santo Domingo being then an integral part of the Spanish dominions, the Spanish Government formally notified that of Haiti to evacuate all territory east of the 1777 line, but the request was not complied with. On the contrary those Dominicans who refused to accept Spanish annexation received open aid from the Haitian Government and people. Insurrectionist bands were organized and fitted out on Haitian soil, and one of these—that of August 16, 1863—stirred up a revolt which, after two years of war, compelled the Spaniards to withdraw. Among other services rendered the revolting Dominicans by the Haitians was the occupation of certain points in Spanish-speaking territory. On one occasion at least Dajabon was in Haitian possession, and the same was true of other frontier posts of less importance. It appears that they were all voluntarily evacuated after the departure of the Spaniards.

Dominican independence, so far as Spain and all the rest of the world except Haiti was concerned, was completely reestablished in 1865, and the relations of the then Government of Haiti with the new Dominican Government began on a very friendly footing. The more enlightened among Haitian statesmen thought it wiser to recognize Dominican independence than to maintain a hostile attitude, which might at any moment force Santo Domingo to throw herself again into the arms of a foreign power, thus giving the negro republic a [Page 605] preponderantly strong instead of a weak neighbor. Accordingly, in 1867, the executives of the two countries signed a treaty of peace and friendship. One of its clauses stipulated that a subsequent treaty should fix the permanent boundary and that meantime each country should remain within its then possessions. This fixing of a permanent boundary by treaty seemed inconsistent with the constitutions of both countries, seeing that that of Santo Domingo specified the line of 1777 as the limits of the republic, and Haiti’s provided that that country included the whole island. The treaty was, however, promptly ratified by the Dominican Congress, but before similar action could be taken by the Haitian Congress there occurred a change in Haiti’s policy. She now determined to hold the question open with the idea of seizing a favorable opportunity to renew the attempt to reincorporate Santo Domingo. She refused to ratify; the hope of a definite peace vanished for the moment; and as an act of retaliation the Dominican constitution was amended so as to remove any doubt that might previously have existed as to the impossibility of fixing the boundary by treaty alone. The adoption of this amendment was in effect an ultimatum notifying Haiti that the Baes Government, then in power at Santo Domingo, proposed to insist upon the 1777 line.

Meanwhile civil war again broke out in Santo Domingo. The revolutionary party, known as the “Blues,” were assured of Haitian aid and cooperation, while President Baez committed himself to the policy of annexation to the United States. The expeditions of the “Blues” were organized and equipped on Haitian soil, and their operations conducted in the Dominican provinces adjoining the frontier. At the request of “Blue” leaders, Haitian troops occupied various places along the line, especially those situated on the Comendador road between the latter place and Los Puertos.

Civil war continued with few intermissions from 1868 to 1874. The definite failure of the annexation treaty in the American Senate weakened Baez, and although he had been able at all times to repulse the attacks from the Haitian frontier, an uprising of the populous northern provinces late in 1873 quickly compelled him to give way to Gonzalez.

But the new Dominican Government was greatly hampered by factional quarrels and want of money. Hardly had it been established according to constitutional forms than Gonzalez abolished the existing constitution at the petition of his own partisans, assuming to act as representatives of the nation. He was invested with dictatorial powers under the title of Supreme Chief. The relations of the Haitian Government with Gonzalez were extremely cordial. It was willing to recognize Dominican independence and advance money to Gonzalez, and the latter stood ready to make a satisfactory boundary treaty and to leave Haiti in at least temporary possession of the district recently occupied, as well as of the regions settled by Haitians before 1844. In order to remove the legal obstacle presented by the claim to the whole island embodied in the Haitian constitution, that instrument was amended so as to provide that Haiti’s limits should be the line of her actual possessions. The similar difficulty offered by the former Dominican constitution did not seem likely to be serious, since it had been abolished, and it was certain that the new constitution about to be framed by a convention summoned by Gonzalez would adopt a boundary clause consistent with a settlement with Haiti.

Accordingly plenipotentiaries were sent to Port au Prince and an elaborate treaty of peace, friendship, and commerce signed November 9, 1874. Three of its articles affect the subject of this memorandum:

Article 12 obligates the Haitian Government to advance to that of Santo Domingo $150,000 annually for the term of eight years. Nominally this was to reimburse the latter for the greater advantage Haiti was expected to derive from the mutual free trade provided for in another article, but the real purpose was to make up to Santo Domingo the $150,000 annually coming to her for the lease of Samana to an American company. This contract had been made by the Baez government and Gonzalez was under pledge to annul it.

Article 3 obligates both nations never to cede any part of their respective territories nor to solicit or consent to foreign domination or protectorate.

Article 4 reads as follows:

“The high contracting parties formally agree to establish, in the manner most in conformity with equity and the reciprocal interests of the two peoples, the frontier lines which separate their present possessions.

“This necessity will be the subject of a special treaty, and commissioners will be named as soon as possible for this purpose.”

[Page 606]

Simultaneouly with the signature of the treaty Supreme Chief Gonzalez summoned a constitutional convention and to this body it was submitted for ratification. When it came up for consideration a few members objected to the fourth article, on the ground that it might be construed as definitely settling the boundary at the uti possidetis of 1874. Thereupon a resolution was adopted stating that in voting to ratify the treaty the convention did not intend to establish a definite and permanent boundary or to commit the country on the boundary question. No amendment was incorporated in the treaty, nor any explanatory protocol signed. The convention voted unanimously for ratification and inserted a clause in the new constitution explicitly stating that the boundary with Haiti should be determined by a future special treaty with that country.

The Haitian Congress ratified without comment or amendment. Two years later there was, however, another revolution in Haiti, followed by a complete change of policy. The new Government declared all the acts of the outgoing administration, including the Dominican treaty, null and repealed, and refused the demand of the Dominican Government for payment of the subvention stipulated in article 12. Thereupon the boundary clause in the Dominican constitution was promptly changed back to what it had been before the Gonzalez régime.

Diplomatic relations were not resumed until after the pacification of Santo Domingo by General Heureaux in 1880. Then a preliminary convention looking toward a revision and modification of the 1874 treaty was signed. While neither Government was willing to formally denounce the 1874 treaty, the only legal basis upon which the relations of the two countries rested, it had become evident that serious theoretical and practical difficulties existed as to many of its provisions, and especially that the interpretations of the boundary clause differed so widely that it could not peacefully be carried into execution. Haiti contended that it established the uti possidetis of 1874 as the definite boundary, and that the special treaty referred to would be only for the purpose of arranging the mechanical details of the demarcation of a line already indicated. Dominican public opinion insisted that the 1874 boundary clause did not touch the ultimate claim of either country to the disputed territory; that it was intended only to provide a provisional boundary on the basis of the status quo, and that the special treaty would determine the definite boundary. Most Dominicans further believed that if the Haitian interpretation were the true one the clause was unconstitutional and its acceptance by the Gonzalez Government ultra vires. Many Dominicans also insisted that the expression “actual possessions” did not refer to the uti possidetis of 1874, but to that of 1856, the date on which hostilities ceased, and that an evacuation of territory usurped between the ending of the war and the signing of the treaty of peace was a condition precedent to putting it into effect. Others contended that a payment by Haiti of the subvention provided for by article 12 was also a condition precedent.

On the other hand the Haitians insisted that this subvention provision should not be carried out, at least until statistics had demonstrated that Haiti had, in fact, derived greater benefit than Santo Domingo from the free-trade arrangement. No statistics had been kept and the relative advantage of the two countries was as yet undeterminable.

The net result of all these divergencies was that the preliminary convention of 1880 was never ratified or put into execution.

In 1883, Heureaux being then president and firmly intrenched as the dominant leader in Dominican politics, plenipotentiaries met at Port au Prince to discuss the revision of the treaty and the framing of a new one as to the establishment of a permanent boundary. Their efforts, however, were fruitless. Four years later Heureaux felt so assured of his power at home and of the strength of his Government relative to that of Haiti—the latter being hampered by internal troubles—that he vigorously renewed negotiations with a view of securing a practical settlement. In 1887 he sent a confidential agent to Port au Prince who offered to concede the disputed territory west of the uti possidetis of 1856 in considertion of a cash indemnity. The Haitian Government was willing to accept the principle of cash compensation but insisted that the boundary be so drawn as not to include territory occupied by Haitians, and altogether did not meet Heureaux’s advances in the same direct and businesslike fashion in which he made them. He thereupon disavowed the proposition of his confidential agent, reiterated the Dominican claim of right to the whole territory east of the 1777 line, and proposed arbitration. The Government of [Page 607] President Salamon answered evasively, the Dominican agent was withdrawn, and shortly afterwards civil war broke out in Haiti.

During this war certain Dominicans who were acting with the Legitime faction obtained possession of the Haitian frontier posts of Cacmillian and Biassou—the first being immediately west of Comendador and the latter of Banica. When hostilities ceased with the victory of Hippolyte over Legitime they were in the hands of the Dominican Government. Hippolyte promptly demanded their evacuation and Heureaux was forced to consent in order to avoid a war, protesting, however, that this act must not be considered as prejudicing Santo Domingo’s right to insist on the uti possidetis of 1856 as the provisional boundary under the treaty of 1874, nor its ultimate rights to all the territory east of the 1777 line.

In 1890 Heureaux and Hippolyte signed a memorandum by which they agreed to begin negotiations looking toward a definite settlement of the boundary controversy. But this fresh attempt came to nothing as had the previous ones. Indeed, the Haitian Government almost immediately ordered full duties to be collected on goods imported from Santo Domingo—a direct violation of article 13 of the treaty of 1874.

Not until 1894 were negotiations renewed. Haiti initiated them by a request that commissioners be appointed to carry out the boundary provision of the 1874 treaty. As a matter of fact President Heureaux had assured the Haitian Government that if it would pay him a satisfactory money indemnity he would consent that it retain permanently most of its conquests. Officially, however, the Dominican Government replied that it would join in the naming of such commissioners if Haiti would agree to advance to accept the uti possidetis of 1856 instead of that of 1874 as a provisional boundary, and to consent that the 1874 treaty be revised so as to clearly provide for an equitable permanent boundary. But the latter would imply a renunciation of the Haitian contention that that treaty had already established the basis according to which the permanent boundary should be drawn. The Haitian Government shrank from explicitly yielding this vital point, while President Heureaux realized that Dominican public opinion might become dangerously excited by the announcement that he was contemplating abandoning for a mere money consideration a national claim sustained through so many years.

Finally an apparent agreement was reached—Haiti consenting that the true interpretation of article 4 be submitted to the arbitration of the Holy See, and Heureaux abandoning the contention for the uti possidetis of 1856. The Dominican President privately assured the Haitian Government that in case the arbitral decision should be in favor of the Dominican interpretation, he would accept a money indemnity for the territory occupied by Haiti up to 1874, but in order to conciliate the public opinion which insisted that a concession of territory in any form would be ultra vires and unconstitutional, reserved the privilege of submitting the making of the proposed treaty of arbitration to a popular vote.

Accordingly on May 16, 1895, he convoked a plebiscite to determine the following questions:

  • “1. Whether the uti possidetis contended for by the Government of Haiti ought to be accepted, or whether the opposing interpretations of article 4 advanced by the two Governments should be submitted to arbitration?
  • “2. Whether in case arbitration should be accepted the Dominican Government might confide the function of arbiter to His Holiness?
  • “3. Whether in case the decision were favorable to the Dominican Government the latter should be authorized to fix territorial compensations, or another line (than that of 1777) to serve as a permanent boundary?
  • “4. Whether in case of an adverse decision the Dominican Government might accept it in all its parts?”

In the plebiscite all four questions were affirmatively voted, but the congressional resolution based upon this vote and authorizing the executive to proceed was drawn in the following limited form:

“The executive is authorized to submit to the arbitration of the Pope the Dominico-Haitian dispute occasioned by the different interpretations given to article 4 of the treaty of 1874. The executive, in accordance with the opinion expressed by the people (in the plebiscite), will make all provisions relating to the arbitration, informing Congress opportunely of the result.”

Thereupon—July 3, 1895—a treaty was signed which provided that the interpretation of said article 4 should be submitted to the arbitration of the Holy [Page 608] See. If the decision was favorable to the Haitian contention Santo Domingo was to agree to the marking of a permanent frontier following the line of the posts actually occupied by Haiti in 1874. If favorable to the Dominican contention, Santo Domingo was to agree that Haiti retain possession of the territory west of the same line upon receiving just pecuniary or territorial compensation.

Both countries sent their plenipotentiaries to Rome, who submitted their respective evidence and argument to Cardinal Rampolla, papal secretary of state. The latter, however, refused to advise the Holy Father to act as arbiter under the treaty as drawn, at the same time stating that he would accept if the whole boundary case should be submitted in a form permitting his decision to be a final determination of the whole question at issue. As a matter of fact, the Dominican plenipotentiaries did not want an arbitral decision merely on the meaning of article 4, knowing that grave difficulties would subsequently arise in regard to the amount of pecuniary compensation and the demarcation of the uti possidetis of 1874. They earnestly desired an opportunity to maintain their country’s right to the ancient boundary of 1777 on the broadest historical and legal basis. So Cardinal Rampolla’s determination to refuse to act under the treaty of July 3, 1895, was eminently satisfactory to them.

In 1898 a treaty was signed and ratified by which the countries agreed to submit the boundary question to the Holy See without restrictions.

After this treaty had been signed neither Government showed any disposition to proceed with the arbitration. Commissioners were named to demark the line of the uti possidetis of 1874, but hardly had begun their labors when they disagreed and returned to their respective capitals. In 1899 President Heureaux and the Haitian Government signed another secret agreement during a visit the former made to Mole St. Nicolas. This agreement is said to have been more favorable to Santo Domingo than the secret treaty of 1898, but information as to its exact terms is not obtainable. It does not appear to have been ratified or even to have been drawn in the form of a formal treaty.

That same year President Heureaux was assassinated, and the succeeding administration showed no disposition to continue his Haitian policy. Accordingly Haiti took steps to push the arbitration and sent plenipotentiaries to Rome. But the Dominican Government failed to take similar action; Haiti did not insist; and no advance has since been made toward a solution of the controversy. Public opinion in Santo Domingo is overwhelmingly opposed to yielding to the Haitian demand for the line of 1874, and insistent that equitable territorial as well as pecuniary compensation be given in a final settlement; the short-lived governments which have succeeded one another since Heureaux’s death have never been strong enough, even if they were so disposed, to hope to force a settlement through Congress or a plebiscite, as he did. On the other hand, Haiti is not anxious for a definite settlement unless it can be obtained on the basis of the 1874 line and no further pecuniary compensation. She is already in possession of the disputed territory, and believes she has everything to lose and nothing to gain by any arbitral decision.

When the present Horacista government came into power late in 1903 its members, being notoriously opposed to an acceptance of the Haitian interpretation of the treaties of 1874 and 1898, sent ex-President Gonzalez as minister to Port au Prince in the belief that he, being the author of the treaty of 1874, would be regarded with particular favor by the Haitian Government and be able to prevent the question from reaching an acute phase. In July, 1905, the Haitian minister at Santo Domingo indicated his Government’s willingness to resume immediately the demarcation of the 1874 line. The Dominican answer was evasive, asking for time to study the matter, and in subsequent correspondence reserving the privilege of discussing the constitutional status and international validity of the treaties. But both sides carefully avoided pushing this correspondence to an ultimatum, and it was soon dropped.

The real peril of the situation lies in the ever-present possibility that Haitian authorities or individuals on the frontier will take action which would be construed by the Dominican public as an aggression or invasion. Not only did Haitian officials take and keep possession of the region between Comendador and Los Puertos in the years previous to 1874, but they also then or subsequently occupied several villages north of Banica, others southwest of Comendador, and still others south of Lake Enriquille. Besides these official acts of occupations large numbers of individual Haitians, who for the most part were fleeing from the arbitrary rule of the local military chiefs of their home villages, [Page 609] have crossed over into uninhabited Dominican territory. For example, the populous village of Restauracion is inhabited entirely by French-speaking negroes immigrated from Haiti, although they have obeyed a Dominican official since Heureaux’s time.

Several times in the last twenty years the report of real or supposed aggressions or invasions into Dominican territory has brought the countries to the verge of war. Such a report always arouses Dominicans of all classes, and bands of volunteers offer themselves to the Government, and sometimes even march for the frontier without that formality. Once during President Jimenez’s administration the news that Haitians had occupied an insignificant and uninhabited place east of the Massacre occasioned the instantaneous mobilization of two or three thousand men, and without the prompt intervention of the present Haitian minister to Santo Domingo and of Vice-President Vasquez grave results would have followed.