The Salt Lake herald. [volume] (Salt Lake City [Utah]) 1870-1909, 1898-09-19


natives to the land which Columbus
discovered and called Hispaniola, a
mountainous island, which the French
rechristened the Queen of the Antilles
says Paul Kester in Philadelphia Press
The island is believed to have con-
tanned at the time of it's discovery by
the Spaniards above 100000 inhabi-
tants of the Carib tribe of Indians.
But, incredible as it may appear, in
consequence of the wholesale butch
cry by the Spaniards, and the severe
drudgery they were compelled to I'M
dergo into the mines, the natives were
reduced to about $4,000 in the brief
space of 16 years.
From 1776 to 1889 the colony had at
| tanned the acme OF its prosperity, and
its produce and commerce were then
equal or superior to that of all the
other West Indian islands.
In 1889 the population of the colony
was 665, 000 1t exported that year S.
100000 pounds of coffee and 5000, 900
| pounds of sugar.
| Many French families of note had
emigrated to the island and settled on
| it as planters. Slaves were imported
at the rate of 10000 a year In 1889
the black population was between $780,
900 and 500, 900. The whites numbered
only 10000. But, besides the whites and
the negroes there was a third class,
arising from the intermixture of the
white and negro races. There were
various classes of these mulattoes; in
all they numbered about 10000.
AWAKENED BY THE REVOLUTION
Such was the state of society in the
colony of San Domingo in 1889 and
1880, when France was shaken by the
revolution, and the fall of Louis XVI.
San Domingo was not long in re-
spending to the agitation that broke
out in Paris.
When the celebrated declaration of
rights, asserting all men to be free
and equal reached the island the
whites looked upon their ruin as GER
tain. The mulattoes believed the
French to be their friends; they be-
came turbulent and rose in arms; the
uprising was, however, soon put down.
The negro population of the island re-
manned quiet; the contagion of the
revolution had not reached them yet.
James Oge, a young mulatto who had
been sent to Paris to be educated, be
came possessed of the idea that it was
his destiny to return to Hayti and be-
come the deliverer of his people, Ac-
cordingiy he set sail, landing in Hayti
in October, 1890 He at once announced
himself as the redresser of all wrongs.
A force of 200 mulattoes Joined Oge.
At the head of these he committed
some outrages, until he was defeated
by the French and forced to seek safe
ty in the Spanish part of the island.
The governor general demanded Oge
from the SpaniardS, and in March, 1871,
the enthusiastic boy was broken alive
upon the wheel. Fifteen executions
followed this futile uprising. The ex-
ecution of Oge forever separated the
whites and mulattoes. His death be-
came the inspiration of his race. Be
fore his death Oge had informed the
French Of an intended uprising among
the blacks, but nofattention was paid
to this warning, and the French colo
nists were absolutely unprepared when
the appalling news spread through the
island that ''the blacks had risen"
REBELLION'S RAPID PROGRESS.
The slaves. of the plantation Tur-
pin, headed by an English ne
gro, set out at 10 o'clock at
night; they were soon Joined
by the slaves of the adjacent planta-
tons They burned every house which
they approached, and murdered every
white person, irrespective of age or
sex, who fell into their hands. Every
atrocity attended this massacre. BY
tire plain of Cape Francois. The ranks
OF the rebels were increased at every
step.
Their principal leader was a man
named Jean Francois. Jeannot was an
other chief, who arose at this time. He
was an atrociOus monster, and his bar
barities revOlted even his followers. He
was put to death by them.
The mulattoes also rose against the
h fn 81,
reigned. Port-au-Prince was burned.
The whites were collected in the forts
and cities, where they babe defiance to
the insurgents.
TOUSSAINT L'OUVERTURE.
At this desperate moment when
blacks, mulattoes, French and Eng
fish We're all struggling for the posses
sion of the island, there arose a mas
ter spirit from the ranks of the slaves.
This man was Toussaint POuverture
He was born in 174S, his father and
mother having been slaves before him.
His father was the second son of
petty African king, and was sold into !
slavery as the result of a. native war
on the coast of Dahomey. He was As
when the first instruction of the
blacks took place in 1871. He did not
join this insurrection. He protected his
master and his masters interests faith
fully, sending him money after he had
fled to the United States. Once, how
ever, these ties were broken, Toussaint
joined the blacks and soon became the |
leader of the revolution. For awhile |
he served under the governor of the |
Spanish colony at the end of the is
land. Later he took the oath of fidel- |
ity to the French republic, and was
made brigadier general. 1t was main I
ly through his genius that the English |
were finally driven from the island. In |
reward he was appointed lieutenant |
governor of the island Shortly after |
the French general, Laveaux. being re-
called to France, Toussaint was ere
ated his successor as commander-in- !
chief of the French forces in st. Do
mingo.
PROSPEROUS FOR A TIME.
The condition of the colony improved /
the blacks obeyed a leader of |
their own race, and submitted to disci-
pine. Under Toussaint the colony knew
a brief season of prosperity. By one
pretext or another Touissaint sent the
French commissioners back to Paris
and virtually ruled the island himself
He promulgated a constitution, and
was leading the island rapidly toward
peace and prosperity when Napoleon
decided upon his ruin.
To this end Napoleon sent an army of
5000 men to Hayti under the command
IF General Leclerc, the husband of
Pauline Bonaparte. who accompanied
him. At the approach of the French
leet Toussaint summoned his old gen
erals, Christophe and Dessalines, Lap
ume and Maurepas, and retired to the
with his army. Toussaint
ind Christophe were declared outlaws.
4 number of fierce battles were fought.