I refer to the outrage he perpetrated upon Hayti, with its six
hundred thousand blacks engaged in the great experiment of
self-government. Here is a most instructive “antecedent,” revealing
beyond question his true nature, and the whole is attested by
documentary evidence. Conceiving the idea of annexing Dominica, which
is the Spanish part of the island, and shrinking at nothing, he began
by seizing the war powers of the Government, in flagrant violation
of the Constitution, and then, at great expenditure of money, sent
several armed ships of the Navy, including monitors, to maintain the
usurper Baez in power, that through him he might obtain the coveted
prize. Not content with this audacious dictatorship, he proceeded to
strike at the independence of the Black Republic by open menace of
war, and all without the sanction of Congress, to which is committed
the power to make war. Sailing into the harbor of Port-au-Prince with
our most powerful monitor, the Dictator, (properly named for this
service,) also the frigate Severn as consort, and other monitors in
their train, the Admiral, acting under instructions from Washington,
proceeded to the Executive Mansion accompanied by officers of his
squadron, and then, pointing to the great war-ships in sight from
the windows, dealt his unjust menace, threatening to sink or capture
Haytian ships. The President was black, not white. The Admiral would
have done no such thing to any white ruler, nor would our country
have tolerated such menace from any Government in the world. Here was
indignity not only to the Black Republic with its population of six
hundred thousand, but to the African race everywhere, and especially
in our own country. Nor did it end here. For months the Navy of the
United States was kept hovering on the coast, holding that insulted
people in constant dread and anxiety, while President Grant was to
them like a hawk sailing in the air, ready to swoop upon his prey.