EXECUTIVE MANSION, _Washington, December 9, 1884_.
_To the Senate of the United States:_
I transmit herewith, for the consideration of the Senate with a view
to obtaining its advice thereon and consent thereto, a convention for
commercial reciprocity between the United States and the Dominican
Republic, which was signed in this capital on the 4th instant.
This convention aims to carry out the principles which, as explained in
my last annual message to the Congress, should, it is conceived, control
all commercial arrangements entered into with our neighbors of the
American system with whom trade must be conducted by sea. Santo Domingo
is the first of the independent Republics of the Western Hemisphere
with which an engagement of this character has been concluded, and the
precedent now set will command your fullest attention as affecting like
future negotiations.