free.  There would be no export duties on her shipments nor import duties on those coming here.  There would be no import duties upon the supplies, machinery, etc., going from the States.  The effect that would have been produced upon Cuban commerce, with these advantages to a rival, is observable at a glance.  The Cuban question would have been settled long ago in favor of “free Cuba.”  Hundreds of American vessels would now be advantageously used in transporting the valuable woods and other products of the soil of the island to a market and in carrying supplies and emigrants to it.  The island is but sparsely settled, while it has an area sufficient for the profitable employment of several millions of people.  The soil would have soon fallen into the hands of United States capitalists.  The products are so valuable in commerce that emigration there would have been encouraged; the emancipated race of the South would have found there a congenial home, where their civil rights would not be disputed and where their labor would be so much sought after that the poorest among them could have found the means to go.  Thus in cases of great oppression and cruelty, such as has been practiced upon them in many places within the last eleven years, whole communities would have sought refuge in Santo Domingo.  I do not suppose the whole race would have gone, nor is it desirable that they should go.  Their labor is desirable—­indispensable almost—­where they now are.  But the possession of this territory would have left the negro “master of the situation,” by enabling him to demand his rights at home on pain of finding them elsewhere.

I do not present these views now as a recommendation for a renewal of the subject of annexation, but I do refer to it to vindicate my previous action in regard to it.

With the present term of Congress my official life terminates.  It is not probable that public affairs will ever again receive attention from me further than as a citizen of the Republic, always taking a deep interest in the honor, integrity, and prosperity of the whole land.

U. S. GRANT