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 José 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 José 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 Curaçao 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 Curaçao.
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 £757,700, though at a
ruinous rate, and actually paid over £38,095. 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 Meriño, 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 Meriño'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
Meriño 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.