Pittsburg dispatch. [volume] (Pittsburg [Pa.]) 1880-1923, 1890-07-27
SPECIAL rELEsRAx TO THE DIspArcH.,

there.
ESPECIAL TELEGRAM TO THE DIsPArcHJ
WASHINGTON, July 26.-'fSix days BY
water and as many hours by land" said
Hon. Frederick Douglass, United States
Minister TO Hayti, to a DISPATCH reporter
this evening. brought me from Port An
Prince to Washington, and my watch, set
by the vertical sun of that tropical land, is
but few minutes out of the way here. so
nearly north has been my line of travel"
81 secured 60-days leave from the State
Department." said the Haytian Minister, ip
explanation of his return to Washington.
ST may still look strong, but time is telling
on me, and the ten months in Hayti has
made nv step less firm. 1 enjoyed another
birthday while away, being now past 73,
and when see again the beauties Of Wash
ington and taste the joys of my own home, I
wonder why, in my closing years, / should
be robbed OF all these blessings.
GREAT POSSIBILITIES.
"But Port-au Prince is a beautiful city,
too, and / can hardly imagine the possibili-
ties of that land under the hands of thrifty
Americans The climate is tropical and ali
tropical fruits abound in profusion almost
without the effort OF man. These conditions
invite to leisure, even to Incidence, and
possibly our own people could not long
resist such seductive charms. I may al
most say the people find their wants sup
piled en every bush, and merely pick what
they need for living. The chief product
is coffee, and the Government expense of
S5,000 900 annually is more than supplied
by an export duty on this luxury. Mahog-
any and Iogwood are also extensively ex-
ported, and a country cannot be deemed a
lazy one that carries on so great COM
nAerce in proportion to population"
"What Of the statements that Hsyt
thought the United States should have sent
a white man to represent us there?"
''Such statements were published in the
press of the United States, but were without
the slightest foundation. The population
of that country is composed of
black and eolored people, who are
proud to see one of their number
honered with any public trust My stay
there has been extremely pleasant, SO far as
my relation with that Government is con-
cerned. 1t would be more pleasant for me
there if 1 were familiar with French, which
is the official language OF the country"
"What is the condition of the present
Government and the probable future Of the
country, Mr.. Douglass?"
LOVE OF CHANGE.
When Legitime was driven cut of the
country by the revolution year ago, and
Hippolite, the opposing military leader, was
chosen President in constitutional way,
and has since preserved peace and main
tained strong hold on the people giving
evidence of the permanence of his Gov
ernment. He is an amiable man, but by
A. q h. F,,&r,
of the country l will say in a word that,
taking everything into consideration, 1
have come to the Hibernian conclusion that
Hayti's future is before her. There is in
Havti love of change and a vacillatlon of
policy that seems hard to remove. but it
is a great deal for a people to
rise as they have done from the
most abjeet slavery by a revolution that
was condemned as cruel and brutal by all
Christian countries, and the Haytians held
in adherence for their achievement OF lib
erty. Though the slave holding nations, in
eluding our own America, refused for
many years to recognize the new Govern
ment, it was maintained BY the selfemanei-
pated slaves of tame and tropical climate,
and that fact alone is some assurance for
their future. One President was continued
in power for 25 years, and several have held
the chair for eight years.
A CONSTITUTION LIKE OURS.
They have a constitution in many ways
similar to our own, 4 House and Senate,
and judiciary. The people are generally
mixed with French when not pure blacks,
and have many French characteristics of
thought and action. They have progressed
as rapidly as any people of similar
antecedents would have done, and I
have great hopes for their future.
l visited the country 20 years ago, and on
nv return there ten months ago 1 saw q
marked improvement. The schools are
better and more generally attended, and the
people are better and more modestly
clothed. True one may still see nude chill
iren. on the streets, but this is the exception
and by no means the rule. 1 have seen
hundreds of neatly-attired and well-behaved
children on their way to and from school.
The schools are mostly taught by Catholic
priests, the Catholic religion being recog-
nized by the State.
Hayti, however, enjoys freedom of wor-
ship, and in Port-au-Prinee there are sew
eral Episcopal and Methodist churches
The climate, as have said, INVITES to ease.
1t is said that if you want tea to show its
strength you must put it in hot water, and
so mankind Shows its mettle most when
placed under the lash and sting of necessity.
A HEALTHY COUNTRY.
ST met many Europeans there who had
been in the country from 10 to 80 years and
assured me they had enjoyed as good health
here as in any part of Europe or the
United States. Port-au-Prince, situated as
it is on the head of a magnificent bay, little
Inferior to the bay of Naples, is beautiful
,ity, but being welled in on two sides with
lofty mountain which shut out northern
winds, it is exceptionally hot under the
5eftical sun of this season. Europeans
.annot. until aeelimated, safely expose
themselves to the direct rays of the sun, and
is for myself, had to keep in the shade to
leep on my tops at all. Native black men
ire often found who speak huently several
languages, and they are engaged in every
,ranch of trade"
"Did reporters bore you there?"
''Hayti has no daily newspapers, and
hereiofe 1 escaped one afflietion," he re-
marked good-natHredly, "but they have
weekly papers that are successfully con-
lucted by eolored men,"
Mr.. Douglass will spend his leave quietly
It his home here and return to his post when
he autumn comes again.