We stopped at St. Thomas, that haven of thieves, blacklegs, and revolutionists, and there I met General Baez, brother of Buenaventura Baez, President of Santo Domingo, and his Minister of War. Buenaventura Baez was one of the most interesting characters the romantic West Indies have produced. He was the son of a rich mulatto and was born early in the last century. He coöperated with General Santana in establishing the independence of Santo Domingo and was President from 1849 to 1853, when he was supplanted by Santana, who expelled him from the island. Santana was deposed three years later and Baez, who had spent the interval in New York, resumed the presidency. Two years later he was once more ousted by Santana and forced to live abroad until 1865, when he again assumed the presidency. In 1866 General Pimental headed a successful revolt in favor of General Cabral, and Baez was banished a third time, going to St. Thomas. His star was in eclipse only a short while, however, for the following year he again fought his way to the presidential chair. In the latter part of 1869 he signed two treaties with President Grant, one for the cession of Samana Bay, which probably is the most beautiful harbor in the West Indies and was wanted by our Navy Department for years before these treaties were signed and for many years afterward, and the other for the annexation of the whole island of Santo Domingo to the United States. The people of Santo Domingo approved both of these conventions at an election decreed by Baez in February, 1870, and held under the guns of an American warship, but the United States Senate refused to ratify either treaty. President Grant believed strongly in this annexation, wherein he showed his farsightedness, and a commission which he sent to the island reported, in the Spring of 1871, in favor of the treaty; but sentiment in the Senate was decidedly against it and the measure was not pressed.