Pittsburg dispatch. [volume] (Pittsburg [Pa.]) 1880-1923, 1889-10-27
ESPECIAL rzLEeHAx 10 rHz DrsPArcn.

ESPECIAL rELEeRIx TO THE DrsPkrcz.
NEW YORK, October 26.-A letter 70
ceived to-day from Port-au-Prince, dated
October IL, says: Froude and Sir Spencer
st. John have done much to prepare the
foreigner who must land at Port-au- Prince
for strange sights and smells and still
stranger personal discomforts. Let no man
land at Port-au-Prince without reading
Froude and Sir Spencer st. John. The
landing at that custom house dock, and the
first impression of the lower town as one il
shaken through it in a carriage drawn BY .
most wretched little horse. the driver having
no regard for the crowds of people on foot, /,
nude children scampering from before your
wheels like ants. lounging women disdain-
ing to quicken the scuffiing clapper-cIap Of
their slippers at your coachman's warning
cry, are really less depressing if you have
read the two authorities" on Hayfi than II
you have not. You miss 80 much that you
had fully fortified yourself TO meet that, bad
as things are, you expected to see them
worse.
FULL OF soLDIERs.
And then, Port-au-Prince was not full Of
soldiers when those two gentlemen de-
scribed il; it was not staggering under, the
effects produced by such events as have been Z
crowded into its history since the reYoIntion
of 1883-the pushing to the front Of Lsri-
time; the revolt against him; the banisl,ment
of Saiomon; the uprising under Thels-
macque; the bitterness between the factions =
of Thelemacque and Legitime; the taking Of
Thelemaeque; the uprising OF the North
under Hippolyte; the massscres on both.
sides; the outrage and plunderi the siege Of
Port-au-Prince and the victory, not for-ss
getting the terrible fire Of year ago, the
ruins OF which are everywhere to be seen.
Port-au-Prince is q city in ruins. Squalid
cabins are built among ruins and Of the
ruins. Its population of some 40s0O0 have
been impoverished by insurreetions and fhaK
instability of Governments whose officials
have invariably r
FEAsTED AT THE PUBLIC CRIB.
There are no great industries for the steady
employment Of its poor. Fifteen thousand
soldiers are in the town. These soldiers
live in the streets, without tents Their
shelter is such buildings as can be procured
Their hammocks are swinging in the gal
leries Of humble homes. They cook their
food by the little fires they make in, the mar
row streets, which are without sidewalks
The stream of running water on the side
of each street-running when not impeded
with rubbish-eomes down from the noun
tains Those streams are the sewers of Port
au-Prince. When the tropical rains occur
which is often in the rainy season, the city
has blessed cleansing.
Taking all things into consideration since
that drive from the dock through squalor.
degradation, ruins and soldiers, Por<su-
Prince is doing about as well as could be ex-
pected. Unless Hippolyfe is grisvous dis
appointment as no one whose opinion Is Of
value believes he will be. the city
WILL SOON BE IMPROVED. - :
There is a force of men already At work &
cleaning some Of the most filthy districfs-
In the last issue Of L'Eclair (Tzs Lfqht-
ning) we read that the tramwsy, whose
ruined track we see on the Champs de Mars
is so be put in running order speedily. and
that the streets are to be thoroughly cleaned.
But these Haytians smile signifcantlT at
our confidence in these reports. ~
At the dinner last evening given By Dr..
Thompson and Mrs. Thompson to the Hon.
Frederick Douglass and party, there was an
exchange Of sentiments, making many Of rs
regret the lack of q stenographer. sIn re-
sponse to the sincere and most appreciafive
tribute paid him by his host, Frederick
Douglass expressed his personal sentiments
concerning the future Of Hayf and the race
controlling its destinies with an eloquencs
recalling his speeches in the old anti
foreign invader had never succeeded in
getting foothold on the Island since the
negro had become its master. Hayti, with
all her troubles, had held her own Ths
problem Of
THE FUTURE OF THE NEGRO
would be answered in her future. The
race throughout the world was linked with
her success or failure in selfgovernment
Whatever is for the prosperity and endur-
ing good Of Hayti is for the prosperity and
good of the United States, " said
he, Whatever is tor the good Of the United
States Is for the good Of Hsyti, and for the
good of Hsyti the black race should be a.
one the world round"
Driving up from the dock the day Of his
arrival, Minister Douglass was naturally
greatly depressed at the condition Of the
city and the degradation Of the people
thronging the streets "Well," he said,
finally, they are free. If they were slaves,
and in this condition, how helpless their sls-
vation might be-"