HISTORICAL SKETCH.--AMERICAN INFLUENCE.--1904 TO DATE (1918)
Financial difficulties.--Fiscal convention with the United
States.--Caceres' administration.-Provisional presidents.--Civil
disturbances.--Jimenez' second administration.--American intervention.
The enormous foreign and internal debt left by the Heureaux
administration had been constantly increased by ruinous loans to which
the succeeding governments were obliged to resort during the years of
civil warfare, until the country was in a condition of hopeless
bankruptcy. In the beginning of 1904 every item of the debt had been
in default for months.
Under pressure from foreign governments, the principal debt items due
foreign citizens had been recognized in international protocols and
the income from each of the more important custom-houses was
specifically pledged for their payment, but in no case was payment
made. One of these protocols, signed with the American chargé
d'affaires, liquidated the government's accounts with the San Domingo
Improvement Company, which had been turned out from the administration
of custom-houses by President Jimenez, and provided for a board of
arbitration to settle the manner of payment. The arbitrators
determined the instalments payable and specified the custom-house of
Puerto Plata and certain others as security, which were to be turned
over to an American agent in case of failure to pay. No payment being
made, the American agent demanded compliance with the arbitral award
and on October 20, 1904, was placed in possession of the custom-house
at Puerto Plata.
The other foreign creditors, principally French, Belgian, and Italian,
naturally began to clamor for the payment of their credits and for the
delivery of the custom-houses pledged to them. To have done so would
have meant absolute ruin, as the government would have been entirely
deprived of means of subsistence. In face of the imminent likelihood
of foreign intervention the Dominican government applied to the United
States for assistance, and in February, 1905, the protocol of an
agreement between the Dominican Republic and the United States was
approved, providing for the collection of Dominican customs revenues
under the direction of the United States, and the segregation of a
specified portion toward the ultimate payment of the debt. The treaty
was submitted to the United States Senate, but that body adjourned in
March, 1905, without final action. The creditors again became
importunate and an interim modus vivendi was therefore arranged, under
which the Dominican customs were to be collected by a receiver
designated by the President of the United States, and the proportion
mentioned in the pending treaty was reserved as a creditors' fund. The
temporary arrangement went into effect on April 1, 1905, and the
effect was immediately apparent. Confidence was restored, the customs
receipts rose to higher figures than ever before, and the prospects of
peace became brighter as revolutionists could no longer count on
captured customhouses to replenish their exchequer.
The position of President Morales was a difficult one. He was an
ex-Jimenista at the head of an Horacista government, and there was no
sympathy between him and his council. The Horacistas distrusted him
and forced him to dismiss his friends from the cabinet and to make
distasteful appointments. Seeing that he was being reduced to a
figurehead, Morales secretly tried to form a party for himself or make
arrangements with the Jimenistas who for months had been conspiring
and threatening to rise. The friction became more severe until
Morales, fearing that both his office and his life were in danger, on
the day before Christmas, 1905, fled from the capital, while the
Jimenistas rose in Monte Cristi and marched down to attack Santiago
and Puerto Plata.
It was the anomalous spectacle of a president leading an insurrection
against his own government. Fortune was against the insurgents from
the beginning. Morales, while trying to scale a rocky wall near the
Jaina River, in the neighborhood of the capital, fell and sprained his
leg, so that he was unable to proceed further but was obliged to
remain in hiding in the woods, suffering much pain. In the Cibao,
important dispatches of the revolutionists were captured by the
government forces, which were thus enabled to make surprise attacks.
The insurgents attacked Puerto Plata under their best general,
Demetrio Rodriguez, an intelligent mulatto, and would probably have
taken the town, had not Rodriguez received a bullet in the temple,
whereupon his men became panic-stricken and dispersed. Morales saw
that all was lost and returned to the capital, where he went to the
American legation for protection. On the following morning, January
12, 1906, with his foot bandaged and tears rolling down his cheeks, he
wrote out his resignation. He was immediately conveyed to Porto Rico
on an American cruiser. The triumph of the government was complete,
its troops overran Monte Cristi, and an Horacista was made governor of
the district. Morales fixed his residence in the island of St. Thomas
and later in France. He continually conspired for a return to the
presidency, and was once tried for filibustering in Porto Rico, but
acquitted. A friendly administration made him Dominican minister in
Paris, where he died in 1914.
Upon the resignation of Morales the vice-president, General Ramon
Caceres, assumed the presidency. Caceres was born in Moca on December
15, 1867, and was a prominent cacao-planter. It was he who killed
Heureaux in 1899, after which he entered public life, being governor
of Santiago and delegate of the government in the Cibao during the
administrations of Jimenez and Vasquez, an exile in Cuba during the
administration of Woss y Gil, and vice-president and governmental
delegate during the administration of Morales. He had the appearance
of an honest country squire, large of body and great of heart.
During the years 1906 and 1907 special attention was given to the
settlement of the debts of the republic. A new bond issue of
$20,000,000 was made for the purpose of converting the old debts, and
an arrangement was effected with the principal creditors, by which the
amounts due were reduced by about one-half. Instead of the still
pending convention of February, 1905, with the United States, a new
fiscal treaty was agreed upon, and approved by the United States
Senate and the Dominican Congress, taking effect on August 1, 1907. In
similarity with the provisions of the modus vivendi, the customs
income of the Republic is collected by a General Receiver of Dominican
Customs, appointed by the President of the United States, and a
portion of the income is set aside by him for the service of the loan.
For years the various governments had been planning to revise the
constitution of 1896, Vasquez even calling a constitutional
convention; but the political kaleidoscope turned before such
intentions could be realized. Conditions becoming sufficiently stable,
a new constitution was promulgated on September 9, 1907. It was found
unsatisfactory and a constitutional convention met in Santiago and on
February 22, 1908, promulgated the present constitution, by which the
presidential term was lengthened to six years and the office of
vice-president abolished. An election was held and General Ramon
Caceres was chosen president, entering upon his new term on July
1, 1908.
As a result of the Dominican-American fiscal arrangement the old debt
was practically all canceled, burdensome concessions were redeemed,
and a large portion of the surplus from the new bond issue was set
aside for public works, of which several were undertaken. A few
uprisings by dissatisfied chiefs remained local and unsuccessful. A
border clash with Haiti, which in January, 1911, caused the dispatch
of troops to the frontier, was settled by diplomacy. The hope of
continued peaceful conditions gave a new impulse to agriculture,
industry and commerce, and the exports and imports increased year
by year.
At a time when the future seemed brightest, the Republic was suddenly
startled by the news of the assassination of President Caceres on
Sunday afternoon, November 19, 1911. The president, with a single
companion, was returning from a drive along the new road to San
Geronimo. At Guibia, a suburb of the capital, a number of conspirators
rushed for the carriage, seized the reins of the horse and began to
shoot. The president's companion fled, but Caceres, a fearless man and
an excellent shot, returned the fire. Almost simultaneously a bullet
shattered his right wrist. The coachman lashed the horse in an
attempt to escape, but the horse reared and threw the carriage against
a hedge. The coachman then dragged Caceres from the carriage and
assisted him to the stable of a house on the roadside, adjoining the
American legation, but the conspirators meantime continued to fire
furiously and several shots struck the president. Seeing their object
accomplished, the assassins withdrew, and the president, mortally
wounded, was carried to the American legation, where he expired a few
minutes later.
The conspirators were a handful of malcontents led by General Luis
Tejera, a young man of prominent family, at one time governor of the
capital under Caceres, but lately estranged. Caceres had known of
Tejera's seditious sentiments but refused to take them seriously.
Immediately after the shooting, the conspirators hastened away in a
waiting automobile, carrying with them their leader Tejera, who had
been wounded in the leg during the affray. At the Jaina ferry the
automobile was accidentally precipitated into the river, and the
wounded man was fished out half drowned. The other conspirators left
him in a hut by the road and escaped. Tejera was found by the
pursuers, taken to the fort in Santo Domingo City, and summarily
executed.
The commandant of arms of the capital, General Alfredo M. Victoria,
who controlled the military forces, permitted his own ambitions to
influence him more than the welfare of his country. Being only
twenty-six years old, he was not of the constitutional age to be
president, but listening to the counsel of scheming politicians, he
dominated the situation by force of arms and brought about the
selection of his uncle, Eladio Victoria, as provisional president. The
latter was a senator from Santiago province, and had at one time been
a member of Caceres' cabinet, but he was not regarded as of
presidential calibre and his selection provoked general surprise and
indignation. General Victoria's army was a potent argument; it
withered the ambition of other aspirants to the presidency, and
Senator Victoria was elected provisional president and entered upon
office December 6, 1911. In the following February the usual form of
public election was gone through and on February 27, 1912, he took the
oath of office as constitutional president. His nephew occupied
important cabinet positions under the new administration.
The general opposition to President Victoria and to the method of
electing him found expression in revolutionary uprisings throughout
the country, especially in the Cibao and Azua. Ex-President Vasquez,
ex-President Morales and several Jimenista generals took the field
independently. Morales was captured, but the others continued the
fight. Beginning early in December, 1911, the war dragged on for
months, both sides sustaining heavy losses and extensive sections of
the country being devastated.
It became apparent that there was a deadlock, the government being
powerless to subdue the revolutionists, while the revolutionists were
unable to carry on an active campaign against the government. The
American government eventually extended its good offices with a view
to the reestablishment of peace and order. A special commission
appointed by the President of the United States and consisting of an
official of the War Department and another of the State Department
arrived in Santo Domingo in October, 1912, and initiated a series of
conferences with government and revolutionary leaders. An agreement
was concluded and in accordance therewith the Dominican Congress
assembled on November 26, 1912, accepted the resignation of President
Victoria, and elected the archbishop of Santo Domingo, Monsignor
Adolfo A. Nouel, as provisional president for a period of two years.
He was inducted into office on December 1, 1912.
Archbishop Nouel, a man of great learning, beloved and respected
throughout the country, entered upon his duties with the announced
purpose of giving an impartial administration and governing with both
parties. The difficulties of the plan were soon impressed upon him,
particularly as he relied entirely upon moral suasion to carry his
policies into effect. Pressure was applied for favors which he could
not grant, his appointments were bitterly criticised as savoring of
nepotism or as unduly favoring one side or the other, and some of the
fiercer military chiefs assumed a menacing attitude. Sick and
disgusted, Monsignor Nouel resigned the presidential office on March
31, 1913, and embarked for Europe.
The Dominican Congress immediately considered the choice of a
temporary successor and after many ballots elected a compromise
candidate, General José Bordas Valdez, an Horacista senator from Monte
Cristi, as provisional president for a period of one year. He assumed
office April 14, 1913. His designation did not please the Jimenistas,
and the Horacistas also became hostile when it appeared that President
Bordas contemplated forming a party of his own. His opponents promptly
rose in the Cibao and took possession of the ports of Puerto Plata,
Sanchez and Samana, which were thereupon blockaded by the government
forces. In the latter part of September, 1913, the revolutionists laid
down their arms on the promise of the American minister that free
elections for presidential electors and members of a constitutional
convention would be guaranteed. A municipal election was in fact
held, but President Bordas, alleging that conditions were too
unsettled for a general presidential election, held on as president de
facto beyond the term for which he had been provisionally elected. On
the day his term ended, April 13, 1914, another revolution broke out
and rapidly spread to all parts of the Republic. Puerto Plata was
occupied by the insurgents and blockaded for several months by
government vessels, the blockade being accompanied by a siege of the
city under the direction of the president himself. On the other hand,
the insurgents laid siege to the capital. The government contracted
heavy debts to carry on the war and the commerce of the country
suffered greatly.
Again the American government lent its good offices for the
restoration of order. In August, 1914, a commission of three delegates
of the United States arrived in Santo Domingo to present a plan for
the resignation of Bordas, the selection of a provisional president by
the chiefs of the several political parties, a revision of the
election law, and the holding of general elections. The plan was
agreed to, President Bordas resigned, and Dr. Ramon Baez, a son of
former President Buenaventura Baez, was elected by the Dominican
Congress as provisional president on August 27, 1914.
Popular elections were held in October, at which there were four
candidates: ex-President Juan Isidro Jimenez, ex-President Horacio
Vasquez, ex-Minister of Finance Federico Velazquez, and a fourth of
little consequence. The Jimenez and Velazquez forces effected a
combination, as a result of which Juan Isidro Jimenez was elected
president a second time, and took the oath of office on December
5, 1914.
For a moment it seemed as though the country was at last entering upon
an era of peace and prosperity. The government made efforts to solve
the financial problems left by the recent civil wars and to resume
public improvements. Investments of foreign capital increased, and
agriculture and commerce expanded.
The elements of disorganization were present, however, in as strong a
degree as ever. Corruption was general in the administration of the
public funds, but attempts at reform had no result further than to
stimulate violent opposition. The old leaven of sedition was at work,
and disgruntled military chiefs found a willing leader in the minister
of war, General Desiderio Arias, a chronic revolutionist from Monte
Cristi, who had for years used the popularity of Jimenez as a cloak
for his own aspirations. The president, aged and infirm, was unable to
meet the situation with energy, and disinclined to adopt
severe measures.
In the early part of 1916 Arias had his friends in Congress vote to
impeach President Jimenez for alleged frauds. The matter was still
under discussion, and the president was ill at his country place on
the San Cristobal road, near Santo Domingo City, when in April, 1916,
General Arias suddenly seized the military control of the capital and
issued a proclamation by which he practically deposed Jimenez and
assumed the executive power himself.
Another civil war was imminent when deliverance came in an unexpected
manner. For many years past in previous disturbances, one or both of
the warring factions had looked to the United States government for
help in restoring order, and diplomatic assistance had time after time
put an end to strife. The endless succession of revolts had at length
exhausted the patience of the American government. In the face of
another general war with its attendant destruction of life and
property, harm to American and other foreign interests, and danger of
international complications (a British and a French man-of-war were
already solicitously hovering off the capital), the American
government took decisive action. With the consent of President
Jimenez, it landed marines at old San Geronimo castle, on the Guibia
road, near Santo Domingo City.
Though Jimenez approved of this action and recognized that his country
could not emerge from the slough of revolution without American
assistance, he was depressed at the condition of affairs, and in view
of his physical feebleness felt himself unequal to the task of guiding
the country through impending difficulties. He therefore on May 6,
1916, resigned the presidency of the Republic, and subsequently
returned to Porto Rico to live. The council of ministers temporarily
assumed the administration.
Arias, dismayed at the action of the United States, made protest, but
the American government refused to admit the legality or sincerity of
his conduct. Its troops advanced on Santo Domingo City and
Rear-Admiral Caperton, the American commander, gave Arias twenty-four
hours to evacuate. He promptly obeyed, and on May 15 the Americans
occupied the city.
American troops continued to be landed, at Puerto Plata on June 5; at
Monte Cristi on June 19; and at other seaports as necessity demanded,
until a total of about 1800 marines had been disembarked. They
proceeded into the interior, taking over the preservation of public
order and disarming the inhabitants. They advanced on foot, in
improvised motor trucks, and as real "horse marines," in accordance
with a plan to secure thorough pacification by having them appear in
all parts of the country. The American marines met with no serious
opposition except in the Cibao, in the section between Monte Cristi,
Puerto Plata and Santiago, where the following of Arias was strongest.
To clear this section two columns were launched from the seacoast with
Santiago as the objective, the first of 800 men from Monte Cristi, the
second of about 200 men from Puerto Plata, the entire force being
under command of Brigadier-General Joseph H. Pendleton. The
expeditionary force from Monte Cristi, under Colonel Dunlop, advanced
along the highway, which was little more than a muddy trail through a
jungle of cactus and thorny brush, and several Americans were shot
from ambush. Repeatedly small detachments of rebels made a stand upon
some favorable piece of ground, until routed by the marines. The
decisive encounter took place on July 1, 1916, at Guayacanes, near
Esperanza, where a force of 400 marines after a stubborn fight carried
a strongly entrenched position defended by about 300 rebels. The
American losses were 1 enlisted man killed and 1 officer and 7
enlisted men wounded; the rebels are estimated to have lost several
score between killed and wounded, their leader, Maximito Cabral, being
killed fighting in the trenches after all his men were dead or
driven off.
The second column, from Puerto Plata, under Major Bearss, opened up
the railroad, encountering its principal resistance at the tunnel
south of Altamira. The two columns joined forces at Navarrete and then
occupied Santiago. All the insurgents eventually dispersed or
surrendered, and Arias himself submitted to the American military
control, which became absolute throughout the country. The total
American losses in occupying the country were 3 officers killed and 3
wounded and 4 enlisted men killed and 12 wounded; the losses of the
insurgents are estimated at between 100 and 300 killed and wounded.
The Dominican Congress proceeded on July 25, 1916, to elect a
temporary president, and chose Dr. Francisco Henriquez Carvajal, a
distinguished physician and highly cultured man. It was understood
that he was to hold for six months and was not to seek reelection at
the general election to be held within that time. The United States
government, however, was loath to extend recognition unless assured
that Santo Domingo would enter upon a path of order and progress. The
fiscal treaty of 1907 had not secured the peace expected of it; the
prohibition against the contracting of further indebtedness had been
frequently violated; disorder and corruption had continued; and the
American government deemed its task uncompleted if it should surrender
the country to the same chaotic conditions. It accordingly required,
as a condition of recognizing Henriquez, that a new treaty between the
two countries be adopted, similar to the recently approved treaty
between the United States and Haiti, where a series of revolutions
culminating in a massacre of prisoners had the year before obliged the
American government to intervene. The principal features of this
treaty were the collection of customs under American auspices, the
appointment of an American financial adviser, and the establishment of
a constabulary force officered by Americans.
Henriquez, jealous of his country's sovereignty and fearful that the
proposed arrangement would make the Dominican government a puppet
controlled by all-powerful and not sufficiently responsible American
officials, refused to accede to the American demands. The American
authorities thereupon declined to pay over any of the Republic's
revenues to a government which they did not recognize. Inasmuch as
they not only collected the customs and port dues, but had assumed
control of the other revenues as well, the Henriquez government was
left penniless. Nevertheless, the American demands continued to be
rejected. As a result, no salaries were paid in any part of the
Republic; the officials who continued in their duties did so with the
hope of being compensated at some future date; some services, such as
the mail service, were discontinued almost entirely; and the whole
machinery of the government was paralyzed.
This tension and anomalous condition lasted for several months. As the
term for which Henriquez had been elected drew to a close, it became
evident that he had no idea of retiring from the presidency, but, on
the contrary, intended to hold general elections, in which he expected
to be the successful candidate. The deadlock thus threatened to
continue indefinitely, and the American government thereupon
determined to cut the Gordian knot.
On November 29, 1916, Captain (later Rear-Admiral) H. S. Knapp, of the
United States navy, commander of the American cruiser force in
Dominican waters, and of the forces of occupation of the Dominican
Republic, issued a proclamation, declaring the Dominican Republic
under the military administration of the United States. The
proclamation recited that the Dominican Republic had failed to live up
to the terms of the treaty of 1907; that the American government had
patiently endeavored to aid the Dominican government, but that the
latter was not inclined or able to adopt the measures suggested,
wherefore the American government believed the time at hand to take
steps to assure the execution of said Convention and to maintain
domestic tranquillity in the Republic. He therefore declared that the
Dominican Republic was placed in a state of military occupation by the
forces under his command; that the object of the occupation was not to
destroy Dominican sovereignty, but to restore order; that Dominican
laws were to continue in effect so far as they did not conflict with
the objects of the occupation or the decrees of the military
government; that the Dominican courts were to continue in their
functions, except that offenses against the military government were
to be judged by military courts; and that all the revenues of the
Dominican government were to be paid over to the military government,
which would administer the same. He called on all inhabitants to
cooperate with the forces of the United States.
The military government so established took full possession of the
country. The chiefs of the executive departments not having appeared
in their offices, their posts were declared vacant and filled with
officers of the American navy. In the country at large, there was
little open opposition, and such as appeared was suppressed without
difficulty. The inhabitants quickly reconciled themselves to the
situation, realizing that it was to the best interests of their
country. Dr. Henriquez, the ex-president, left for Cuba in the early
part of December.
The military government thereupon proceeded to organize the finances,
to pay arrears of salaries, to subdue several bandits who refused
allegiance, and to confiscate all arms. Absolute order and security,
greater than have prevailed in Santo Domingo since colonial days, were
soon established. The military government then devoted itself to the
construction of public works, especially roads, the organization of a
police force, and in general to the improvement of the country.
After the Washington government determined to participate in the
European war, the American military governor on April 12, 1917,
connected Santo Domingo with the war by canceling the exequaturs of
the German consular representatives in the Dominican Republic; there
was no formal rupture, as no diplomatic representative of either
country was at the time residing in the other. German residents were
subjected to surveillance by the American authorities.
The Dominican Republic is still (January, 1918) being administered by
American naval officers and the work of reorganization continues.
Eventually--in all likelihood after the European war--the government
is to be turned back to the Dominican people, and it is probable that
such devolution will be under conditions that will assure a stable
government, peace and progress.