Alma record. (Alma, Mich.) 1878-1928, 1885-07-17
THE BLACK REPUBLIC.
A Failure OF Democracy I'm Hayti--Charucter-
istics Of the People-A Slckening History.


Is as n republic. and how long in tn,
scale of civilization. Sir Spenser ha
lived for more than thirty-iive year
amongst various colorcd races; 70
twelve years he was in familiar inter
course with Haytians of all ranks
He thinks Santo Domingo one of tn,
hnest islands in the world, in regars
to geographical position. SOIL climate
scenery, and health, and yet it ha
been so ruined by misgovernment tina
of all countries it is the one to be mos
avoided. The political history of tn,
island has. from its beginning. been /;
sickening record of murder, robbery
revolution, plots. and every form Of
seliishness; but there have been few
intervals of comparative peace, during
which the island has had some pros
perity. Under French rule, during
the greater part of the eighteenth
century, Hayti became one of the
richest colonies of its size in the world,
made so by the large importation OF
negroes from Africa, and by very
harsh system of slavery. 1t is to this
slavery and slave trade that Hayti
now owes its depressed, barbarous and
disgraceful position. In its history
before independence there is one in
teresting and noble episode, the life OF
| Toussaint L'Ouverture, the only real
hero and patriot to be found in the
dismal records of Haytian wars, and
he fell victim TO the despotism of
Napoleon. In 1904 Hayti declared
itself independent, and chose Gen.
Dessalines governor general for life.
His first act was massacre of nearly
all the French in the island. Soon
after, following the example of Ma
poleon, he declared himself emperor.
thus causing an insurrection, in which
| he was shot; and from that time to
this instructions, new constitutions,
and the murder of presidents and min
listers have followed each other in
rapid succession. At present Gen.
Solomon is at the head of the govern
ment; he was elected in October, 1879,
for seven years, and it seems probable
that he will complete his term of office
"a rare occurrence in Hayti. His adj
ministration has been marked by ille-
gal military executions, murder and
pillage
The population of Hayti is not ac-
curately known, but must be more
than 100000. Nine-tcnths of the
population are black and one tenth
colored, and me colored is more and
more approaching the black type.
The mulattoes are superior to the
blacks in intelligence, and have great
er capacity for government, but even
they have had no marked success. Both
racess desire political power for the
sake of the spoils, and the general
motto is that ''to take government
money is not theft" Between blacks
and mulattoes there is bitter hostility;
and mulattoes hate the whites also.
The characteristics of the different
races in Hayti appear in the popular
fables. One of these relates that God
once asked a white man, mulatto
and a negro what each most desired
The first asked for knowledge of the
arts and sciences, the second for fine
horses and beautiful women. the third
for bit Of gold lace. Again, it is
said that IL arrested, white man de-
mands paper and ink, in order to
draw up protest, the mulatto looks
about for means of escape, while the
negro lies down, sleeps twenty-four
hours, wakes, grumbles, turns over
and goes to sleep again. This per-
petual quarrel between the black and
the mulatto is as bitter now as il has
ever been, and is the principal cause
of the barbarlsm of Hayti. The blacks
still retain the religion and many of
the customs of their African ances-
tors. Voudoo worship and cannibal-
ism is common among them. This is
the worship of the non-venomous SER
pent, and is accompanied by dancing,
drinking, horrible crimes, and the
most extravagant and disgusting de-
bauchery. carried on under the di-
rection of Voudoo priests, both male
and female. No words can describe
the loathsome scenes. One sect of the
Voudoos condemn human sacrlices
but the accepted Voudoo religion in
cludes not only the killing. cooking,
and eating of children at religious gath
erings, but the use of human beings as
food-caDibalism for pleasure as well
as for worship. The Voudoos are
so numerous that their practices are
seldom interfered with by the govern
ment. They are ignored in order to
avoid political trouble. The Voudoo
priests have also wonderful knowl-
edge of vegetable poisons, with their
antidotes, and this gives them i'm
mense power. The snake-worship
and debauchery of the Haytian
blacks seem even worse than that of
the Moqui Indians, which resembles il
In many respects. Among the strang-
est things in modern history are Lieut.
Burke's recently-pu blished account of
the serpent worship of the Moquis and
this chapter on Voudoo worship and
cannibalism. Sir Spenser st. John
gives the proofs of these horrible
things. They are of great import
ance, but are sickening in their vile
details. He says. at the close of this
account, that il must be remembered
that the republic of Hayti is not a saw
age region in Central Africa. but an
island in the midst of civilized COM
munities that it has government
modelled on that of France, all the pare
phernalia of courts of justice and POI
lice, free press, and Catholic
church, yet no power with the cXcep-
ton of President Geilrard during one
YEAR, has yet dared to grapple with
this widespread barbarism. The
Voudoos have added To their disgust
ing worship a sort of film or veil of
Catholicism. They seek the blessing
of Catholic priests, and in the places
where the huge sacred snakes are kept
they hang pictures of the Virgin Mary
and of Jesus.
Sir Spenser st. John gives full i'm
formation in regard to the present