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Baez fled from the country and answered with a fiery counter-appeal, justifying himself and accusing Santana of despotism, whereupon the breach between the two strong men was complete. Santana also quarrelled with Congress and banished or shot his principal adversaries. In 1854 a constitutional convention assembled to draft a constitution more to Santana's taste than the existing one.
Santana was careful to win over the local military chiefs to his ideas. His opponents vainly combatted the proposition from Curacao and from Haiti, which was now a republic again.
On Wednesday, 3rd of August, there was some slight cannonading, with but slender results; and on Thursday, the 4th, both fleets were off Dunnose, on the Isle of Wight. The great hulk Santana and a galleon of Portugal having been somewhat damaged the previous day, were lagging behind the rest of the Armada, and were vigorously attacked by the Triumph, and a few other vessels.
On the same day and during the week following, the Spanish flag was raised with similar ceremonies in most of the other towns. A few days later Spanish troops were disembarked at different points. Santana was appointed governor and captain-general of the colony, with the rank of lieutenant-general in the Spanish army.
During the incumbency of strong leaders, such as Santana, Baez and Heureaux, the Congress was little more than the tool of the executive, but when the personality of the president was not so overwhelming or when many of the deputies were followers of a rival chieftain, as in the administrations of Jimenez and Morales, an independent and sometimes a nagging spirit has been manifested.
Baez then had Santana arrested and exiled, feeling uncomfortable while his former chief remained in the country. But he was not destined to have peace. An ill-considered issue of more paper money, when the rate of exchange with gold was already fifty to one, created indignation in the tobacco region of the Cibao and on July 7, 1857, Santiago declared itself in revolution.
Chinmoy, whose path was paved with "peace, light, and bliss," had several hundred followers worldwide, including rock musicians John "Mahavishnu" McLaughlin and Carlos "Devadip" Santana. Fascinated by Eastern philosophy and meditation techniques popularized in the late '60s, Fred returned to the east coast where he studied the art of quieting the mind with Chinmoy.
The fifteen days' siege by the negro emperor Dessalines in 1805 caused serious damage; in the siege of eight months in 1808 by Juan Sanchez Ramirez it was almost entirely ruined; in the fifteen days' siege of 1849 by Santana it was burned; in the nine months' siege of 1857 by Santana it was again partially destroyed and since that time in every siege it has sustained damage.
Soulouque, who had attained the presidency of the black republic, made a sudden incursion and marched victoriously as far as Azua. The Dominican government observed a vacillating policy which provoked general distrust and protests from the friends of Santana, whose partisans in the Congress called on him to take command of the army.
Thus the unhappy series of revolutions which have done such harm to the Dominican Republic was inaugurated within five months after the declaration of independence. Santana organized a new central council of government and sent emissaries to the Cibao, or northern part of the republic, where he won over the army and the principal leaders.
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