Evening star., 1898-09-10

pay EtT something over Sb,''N'NN'p- 1ANANA
has suspicion that we not down there
merely for our health. and like the preach
er at the negro camp meeting, seems in
clined TO aIude rather sneeringly to the
white man which am in our midst The
Danish group lies but fifty or sixty miles
60 the eastward of our prospective posses
sion of Porto Rico. Haiti occupies the
western third of the large island inme-
diateIy to our west, named by the first
Spanfards HispanioIa, and generally known
as Santo Domingo.
Time was and not far distant, when we
turned covetous eyes 10 these two islands,
feeling our need of a port in one or the
other for a coaling and naval station; but
with the acquisition of Porto Rico that
need has been more than met. and we no
longer desire either the territory or the
lives OF the unsophisticated West Indians.
But you can't make the Haitians believe
that. They have so long suspected US OF
sinister designs upon their possessions that
the complaint is now decidedly chronic.
Situated they now are, right between
our new acquisitions. Porto Rico and Cuba,
and with Jamaica to the east of them
knocking for admission at our doors. the
Haitfans feel-well. they don't know just
how they feel. but they are sure they
ought to have grievance
The Trouble With Haiti.
To know what is the matter with"
Haiti We must turn back a century or so
and look into her history. The island was
discovered by Columbus on the 9Th of De-
cember. 1892. The Haitian portion is about
300 miles in length, from 90 to $50 miles
deep, with high mountains. beautiful har-
bors and fertile valleys with a tropical
vegetation that clothes Its hills and dales
in yerdure all the year a climate that, II
not quite perfection on the coast, is nearly
so In the interior. and a people who. to
put II mildly, have not lived up to their
opportunities. After Spain had wrung from
the innocent aborigines all the gold they
had and all they could dig out of the mines
and river sands, she turned her attention
10 the American main. and the western
part OF Haiti was nearly deserted. Early
in the seventeenth century the famed
buccaneers, who had their headquarters on
the adjacent Island of TOrtuga. We're at
trdcted by the fertile and beauteous val
leys of the larger islands. which were alive
with roaming herds of cattle wild hogs
and horses, and so they abandoned for the
most part their preCaTiOus occupation or
cutting Spanish throats at sea and took
possession Of Spanish lands
In the reign of Louis XIV they were
taken under the protection of France and
soon there was a growing commerce be-
tween the colony and the mother coun-
Try This rich colony was at the height
OF its prosperity in the period between
Iito-S9- Marshes were drained forests
cleared roads opened along the coast and
INTO the mountains, handsome villas built
IN the hills and on the headlands of the
shores, even hospitals aqIIediIcts foun-
tains. churches constructed. with every
evidence OF a refined civilization. But alas
II was surface civilization. The nuner-
Gus slaves were in the main kindly treated
Yet TIER masters had over them absolute
power OF Nfe and death. though Louis NV
had promulgated a code noir'' for m.
humane regulation Of their treatment
status of French CoIonists.
When the French revolution broke out
Haiti had population of about half a mill
lion. Of which only 10000 We're white and
S"."1 colored, the rest blacks After the
outbreak. eighteen deputies were sent to
the national convention at Paris. but only
SIX were admitted. for there was a preiu-
dice against the white colonists as 6esDots
which was encourage by les arnis dcs
nciFs The declaration of the revolution
ists that all men were free and equal
alarmed the white planters of Haiti and ser
the colony ir n ferment. A young mulatto
named Oge. who had known Robespierre
and Lafayette in Paris. excited an insurrec-
ton OF the blacks, was taken prisoner and
broken on the wheel When Robespierre
heard Of il he exclaimed: Perish the col
ohles, rather than depart. in the case of
cur colored brethren, from these universal
principles OF Thirty and equality, which ii
IS our glory to have laid down. Then the
national assembly declared that the free
cOIored peoEie-whO had hitherto been de-
oarred-should participate in the colonial
government, at the reception Of which dec
laration the whites foreswore their egi-
ance to France and trampled on the trI-
color I'm an ecstacy of rage.
IhSn occurred the lOng-dreaded rising of
the blacks, first on a plantation near Cape
Haitian. who came pouring down from the
mountains to the coast. committing hor-
TlblC atrocities the way. One body of
insurgents bore the body of a white infant
aloft on pike, as its standard More than
100 whites were massacred. LOO families
reduced TO beggary and thousand sugar
and coffee estates destroyed. All the white
country population IN fact was extermi-
mated. the elite OF the island; but In the
cities. after the first shock. they rallied
and, with the assistance of the colored peo-
PIE, repulsed the mountaineers. When
later on. the colored people felt they had
been betrayed, they allied themselves with
the blacks, and a war OF determination be-
gan.which ended only after all the white In
habitants had either emigrated or been
massacred. The country districts were en-
drely given over to the blacks, and never
since have they been regained They are
tooay the abode of semi-savage blacks as
ignorant and paganish as their African an
cestors- It was at this time that Jamaica
ana Cuba benefited BY the immigration Of