In case of foreign war it will give us command of all the islands
referred to, and thus prevent an enemy from ever again possessing
himself of rendezvous upon our very coast.

At present our coast trade between the States bordering on the Atlantic
and those bordering on the Gulf of Mexico is cut into by the Bahamas and
the Antilles. Twice we must, as it were, pass through foreign countries
to get by sea from Georgia to the west coast of Florida.

San Domingo, with a stable government, under which her immense resources
can be developed, will give remunerative wages to tens of thousands of
laborers not now on the island.

This labor will take advantage of every available means of
transportation to abandon the adjacent islands and seek the blessings of
freedom and its sequence--each inhabitant receiving the reward of his
own labor. Porto Rico and Cuba will have to abolish slavery, as a
measure of self-preservation to retain their laborers.

San Domingo will become a large consumer of the products of Northern
farms and manufactories. The cheap rate at which her citizens can be
furnished with food, tools, and machinery will make it necessary that
the contiguous islands should have the same advantages in order to
compete in the production of sugar, coffee, tobacco, tropical fruits,
etc. This will open to us a still wider market for our products.

The production of our own supply of these articles will cut off more
than one hundred millions of our annual imports, besides largely
increasing our exports. With such a picture it is easy to see how our