Santo Domingo's Struggle for Independence from Haiti
In 1844 the people of the former Spanish colony of Santo Domingo rose in rebellion against the Haitians who had occupied their island since 1822. But instead of trying to establish genuine independence for their Dominican Republic, its political leaders did their best to trade it off to France and then to Spain which briefly re-annexed it in 1861.
On July 15th, 1843, Thomas N. Ussher, British Consul at Port-au-Prince, reported to the Foreign Office that 'the Spanish or eastern part of Hayti appears to be in an unsettled state... The inhabitants of that part of the Republic have always been in a disaffected state, and nothing but their positive weakness has prevented them from overt acts of hostility. They would willingly return to the domination of their former masters, or that, I believe, of any European power'.
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