"
In the early days of the Republic different policies were occasionally
seriously considered. It was then held by some that independence
should be preserved at any cost while others contended that in view of
the constant, civil wars the country should seek peace and progress
under the protection of some foreign power. Although the
annexationists were at first called conservatives and their opponents
liberals, these divergent views were not the exclusive property of any
designated group of men, but the annexation idea was generally
espoused by the party that happened to be in power, which thus hoped
both to save the country and perpetuate its own rule, while
independence was invariably supported by the opposition, which
bristled with patriotic indignation and the fear that it might be
permanently excluded from the banquet-table. Thus Santana obtained a
return to Spanish rule in 1861 and Cabral a few years later agitated
the question of American annexation and their action was denounced by
Baez; yet shortly after Baez almost succeeded in securing annexation
to the United States and was stigmatized as a traitor by Cabral.
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