The Anaconda standard. [volume] (Anaconda, Mont.) 1889-1970, 1898-08-07

The island of Hayti, or san Domlhso'
as IL is sometimes called, its past and
its future, have become. OF a SUDDEN
not only interesting but important In
view of the attitude the United states
IL certain to take in all that concerns
the West Indies. The acquisition OF
Cuba means that eventually and at no
very distant day perhaps, the United
states will dominate If she does not
absolutely control Cuba's sister Islands
of the West Indies.
Therefore, the past of Hayu as IL
may hint of its future is OF general IN
terest and Importance.
II was this mountainous Island tnat
Columbu called H~ispaniola, and the
French re-christened the Queen OF the
Antilles.
In order to understand the progress
siye changes which have taken place
in the condition of Hayti and its evolu-
ton into its present republican FORM Oh
government, one must begin at the very
beginning.
The island is believed TO have con-
tanned. at the time of its discovery by
the Spaniards, above one million Hhap-
ftants of the Carrib tribe of Indians.
But incredible as 1t may appear, In
consequence of this wholesale butchery
DN the ODdIldIuS dhu Nht
cry they were compelled to undergo IN
the mines, the natives were reduced 10
about l6. 900 thousand in the brief space
of 16 years.
The race of native Indians was soon
entirely destroyed. Their place was at
first supplied by Indians forcibly car
ried off from the Bahama STANDS, ana
bv adyenturers from Spain and other
European countries, and in the follow
ing century by the importation OF vast
umbers of negroes from AFRICA. Inc
Standards retained possession OF the
whole island till 1865, when the French
obtained a footing on its west coasts
and laid the foundations or a colony
that afterward became so hourishing'
In 1881 Spain coded to France hall
of the island, and in 1916 the posses
sions of France were still further IN
creased.
From 1776 to 1889 the colony had at
tanned the acme of its prosperity ana
it's produce and were then
equal or superior to that OF all the oth-
err West India islands.
Unhappily, this prosperity was as
brief as it was signal, and the RUIN
that soon overwhelmed the colony was
complete.
In 1889 the population OF the colony
was 665, 900. 1t exported that year o.
o0O. 600 pounds of coffee and l65, OOO, 900
pounds of sugar.
Many French families of note had
emigrated to the island and settled on
Il as planters. Slaves were imported
at the rate of 10000 a year; in 1883
the black population was between five
and six hundred thousand. The whites
numbered only 10000. But beside the
whites and the negroes there was a
third class arising from the intermiX-
ture of the white and negro races. There
were various classes of these mulattoes;
in all they numbered about 10000.
The mulattoes were nominally free.
but they occupied a very degraded So
cial position. They were regarded as
public property and were obliged to
serve in the c~olonial militia without
pay. They could hold no public trust,
nor fill any of the liberal professions.
They were not allowed to sit at table
with a white man, or bear the same
name or be buried in the same spot.
Such was the state of society in the
colony of San Domingo in 1879 and 80,
when France was shaken by the revo-
luton and the fall Of Louis XVI.
st. Domingo was not long in respond
ing 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 certain. The
mulattoes believed the French to be
their friends; they became turbulen;
and rose in arms; the uprising was,
however, sooA put down. The negro
population of the island remained
quiet, the contagion of the revolution
had not reached them yet.
When the national assembly learned
of the alarm the new constitution had
excited in the colonies they adopted
measures to allay the storm. They re-
voked all legislation relative to slave
holding in the colonies and left San
Domingo virtually free to make its
own laws in the matter. This gave
great offense to a society in France
known as the Amis des Noirs, which
was devoted to the interests of the
blacks.
James Oge, a young mulatto who had
been sent to Paris to be educated, be-
came possessed of the idea hat 1t was