The Indianapolis journal. [volume] (Indianapolis [Ind.]) 1867-1904, 1897-12-13
Hoods Pills Hoods Sarsapariila. CSC.
In THE BLACK REPUBLIC
INHABITANTS OF HAITI AND THEIR
CHARACTERISTICS.
AristOcrat or Peasant, the Haitian Is,
in a Certain Sense, Either Master or
SIave-DOubtfuI Future.
New York Tribune.

If Frederick Douglass ever had bitter
| disappointment in his life it was the day he
landed from the old Kearsarge in the har
Dor of Port-au-Prince as the newly appoint
| ed United States minister to the republic
of HAITI then just recovering from a revo-
| luton. That was in October, 1889. Thou
| sands of Hippolytes soldiers were encamped
| in the streets nor did they cheer the newly
| appointed minister, the famous man of their
| race, when his carriage drove by their gut
| ter camps, interrupting for moment the
| roasting of bananas or a game of cards.
| The absence of enthusiasm at the arrival
| of Frederick Douglass in the black repub-
| tic was better understood by him when he
! knew the Haitians better, when he had
| learned that the French or Latinized negro
| Of the West Indies had little in common
| with the negro of our Southern States or
| his descendants
The Haitian is either an aristocrat or
| peasant-master or slave in a certain sense
| the ignorance, degradation and poverty of
| the peasantry making them helpless tools
| in the hands of the aristocrats, under whose
| despotism the dominant industry of the re-
| public is carried Cn-that of revolutions
rhe Haitian of means and influence is, in a
| way Partisan. He frequently visits
| Paris, his family resides there a good deal
| and his children educated there. He
| mates New York, through which he makes
a speedy transit, and where he bears with
| no exceeding grace the affronts, which, as
negro, he must receive if he venture to
ask admission to tirst-clasS hotels, the op-
era, etc. Frederick Douglass counted upon
a welcome from his race. 1t was a phase
| of race development that he encountered in
| he black republic with which he was not
familiar. but to which he discreetly adjust
| d himself in time. He must have SEEM
What some would-be elevators of his race
nave not yet discovered, that something
more tnan culture, education and material
| prosperity is demanded for the higher civ
-Izatlon OF the negro, for holding in check
nose raclal tendencies which make Port
tu-Prlnce sink of moral pollution. For
years Douglass had been saying in reply
20 the charge that the negro could never
| thrive apart from the white man: Look
at Haiti. There he is the ruler of his own
| republic, and has been for one hundred
years. Having looked at Haiti for him
| self at last, having seen the filth of its
| streets, the corruption of it's officials both
| national and municipal. haying met GOODNESS
| ana treacnery where he looked for brotherly
| greeting, the heroic resolution of Frederick
| douglass not TO lose faith in his race in
| pite of it all reveals the bitrerest struggle
| If his life. Perhaps he never knew his race
until he had been United States minister to
| Haiti.
INFLUENCE OF THE ROMAN CHURCH.
| There is not more dominant influence in
L
| Catholic Church, as exercised through the
/ French priesthood-through the religious
| orders of both men and women, whose
| schools and charities, admirably conduct
| cd, are centers of benefcent influence So
| trying is the climate and so exhausting is
| he labor of the French missionaries (for
| he spiritual care of Hatians is no trivial
| TASK, nor the education of Haitian boys and
| Sirls-eVen those of the better class that
hxy h.
| mother church calling home the mission
aries after some three years service and
| giving them successors, trained by them
| 12lVeS, for the work. The community
| houses of these religious orders their
| walled-in gardens under the great palm
| trees; the methodical, scholarly, peaceful
| life of the brothers and the sisters in the
| midst of squalor and degradation. make
| bright spots in a somber picture. And
| therein lies the secret of the prosperity OF
| the Catholic missions. When the Protes-
tant missions have learned to gather their
| cOWorkerS as families into community
| houses, making these head centers for char
| liable and education influences and keeping
| the control of the mission in the hands of
| the white race, then the Protestant mis-
sions may bear comparison with those of
the Roman Catholic Church, but hardly be-
| fore.
The Haitian speaks a musical creole-a
| patols, but sweet as a singing brook to the
| ear. He reads French books when he reads
| at all; French newspapers, those of Paris
and effects to have little interest in any
| thing in 1.-The States" A prison in a more
| u
| Prince seven years ago would be hard to
| find, or a more wretchedly conducted gov
| eminent hospital and reform school for
| boys. What might have been seen seven
| years ago in that reform school would hard
| ly be believed if described The aims
| house was another Illustration of what was
| not done with a large appropriation of the
| government funds. So in fact. every
department Of the republic and the city
| Look at Haiti'
| Nowhere on the face of the earth is there
Z, more beautiful island. The scenery on
| the heights overlooking Port-au-Prince is
| magnificent, the climate superb and trop-
| cal fruits abundant There are occasional
| traces of the old French ownership a
glimpse of the ruins of plantation villas.
| when the lash of the master made the is
| land produce immense crops of coffee and
| sugar.
THE LAZY, HAPPY NEGRO.
| There is no one to make the negro work
| now the peasant spreads his mat under
the banana tree. gathers handfuls of wild
| coffee berries when he feels like it, trudges
miles on foot to market with them and
few yams and other things, and lives the
life he likes best. an is happy as the day,
unless the outs re solve upon ousting the
ms, and then the poor peasant is bound
| and dragged to taxi place in the army
of the side that first gets hold of him.
The beautiful Pauline Bonaparte, as the
| bride of General Re Clerc commander of
| the French forces sent out TO subdue the
revolution in the island that followed speed
| lily in the wake of the Terror, made her
| wedding journey to Port-au-Prince. and
| lived for weary months on the mountain
| side which shuts in the harbor on the south.
! A villa was built for her in a charming
| ravine. There may still be seen the ruins of
| her bathhouse and the steep, winding path
up and down which she was carried in her
palanquin. Poor Paulinel What wonder
| that she was homesick, with the French
| soldiers dying by hundreds daily of yellow
| fever. Some twenty thousand were buried
out there in the harbor-expiaining some
say, why il is swarming with sharks.
he ynf.a - -
! equaled. Unfaling springs of the purest
| water are conducted In pipes from the
| heights overlooking the city and then left
| to flow In strong tide through the bitches
| at the sides of the street. Unfortunately
of oft