Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1899-07-08
Haiti is q Veritable Paradise for Lazy
Men,
BUT SHE'S bad A BLOODY HISTORY
And Never Has the Government
Been Any Too Stable.
RULERS AFTER REVENUE
Written for The Evening Star.

Written for The Evening Star.
1t may be accepted as a good omen. in
deed, when a country like Haiti so far over
comes its native prejudice as to come here
to raise money. At least, that is the osten-
ssble reason; and the real motive is of no
importance so long as the Haitians have
unlimited resources at their command. On
the face of It, and judging Haiti by former
performances, it would seem like taking a
great risk to loan money on whatever she
might offer collateral. The island is not
large, it Is inhabited chiefly by ignorant
blacks and the Haitian conscience is nota-
bly, elastic; that is what nine out OF ten
might say-and the majority may be right.
In the light of history however 1t will be
seen that Haiti has paid her obligations
when she had TO. and when threatened with
the strong arm in case she did not come to
time. 1t was in 1924, in Boyer's time, that
Haiti, in order to obtain from France a
recognition of her independence and status
as republic, agreed to pay q large in
demnity to those former possessors of the
Islands she had exiled and the heirs of
those maSSacred in the DAYS of DeSSalineS
The amount was to be 10000 600 francs
to be paid in five annual installments. and
6o,ooo.ooo were actually paid within FIVE
years After that, owing to the repugnance
of the mountaineerS, and the national dis
inclination to pay a debt of any sort the
payments were discontinued, revived in a
sporadic manner at intervals but long
since the Haitian Loan became a matter
OF ridlcule in France. The Haitians may OF
may not be accused of bad faith in this
transaction, according to the view taken of
1t. On the one hand, France claimed the
island as hers, and, having failed to retake
lt, after the transportation of Toussaint
FOuverture, she tried to reimburse herself
for portion of the vast expenditure of
| men and money.
A Long Reign.
After Dessalines and Christophe had aped
royalty a few years. and the island had
come under Potion, the capital of the mu-
| latto moiety of the republic was virtually
| at Port au Prince for several years, where
| it actually is at the present time. General
! Boyer, whose father was mulatto tailor
and his mother Congo negress. succeeded
Petion as dictator, and under him the two
halves of Haiti Were united into one gov
eminent His was the longest reign the
distracted country had experienced, lasting
twenty-three years, or from 1920 to lS33
when he was deposed. During his rule,
| long-continued, though weak and aimless
| the Santo DOMINICAN part of the island vol
| unfairly came into the union, and remained
there until its revolt, in 1874 since which
| time the two republics have had sepa-
rate governments.
| After Boyer came the deluge of aspirants
| to the throne or presidential chair-call it
| what you will-which has been the curse of
| Haiti to the present time. The blacks were
| royalists by profession, even during the
time of the directory and the revolution in
| France, that the buffoonery of DesSa-
| lines and Christophe, when they proclaimed
| themselves respectively emperor and
| king, was quite acceptable to the MAORI
| ty of their subjects At heart the HaitianS
| are royalists today; that is, they prefer the
pomp and cereTnonials of courts to the plain
| simplicity of a republic. They like show
| and glitter, frills and furbelows. gold lace
4 and er1auletS c
| feathers; and it was sad day for the
masses when the grand marshal, grand al
| moner. master of ceremonials. Knights of
| Saint Henry, princes of the blood, dukes,
| counts, barons, chavaliers. etc, were abol-
| ished. But for their inclination to reduce
| everybody and everything to the dead level
of barbarism, they would take to re-es-
| tablishment of royalty as easily a duck
| to water.
| MarmaIades and Lemonades.
This was proved fifty years ago when
| Soulouque, an illiterate and superstitious
| black, declared himself emperor" under
| the title of "Faustin t. and revived the old
| mobility of the Marmalades and Lemon
| AIDES. But after the novelty had passed
| the black baby cried for a new toy, and as
their emperor and his court had become the
| laughing stock of the civilized world
| even obtuse and impervous Haiti was
| forced to repudiate him. A revolt was sue
| cessfully conducted by one Geffrard, who
| MOI Hidly years dIleT IOllONeQ SOulOuuuR to
| Jamaica, an exile, both having It was re-
| ported, plundered the government of mil
| lions. Geffrard was a mulatto but his sue
ceSsor, SalnaVe was a black soldier, who,
| elected" president in 1867, was driven from
| power and shot in his own doorway by or
| ders OF his successful rival, Saget.
And so they went. blacks and mulattoes
| alternating. few of Hafti's presidents
| ever completing their terms of Office. Ia
| maica became the Mecca for ex-presidents
| OF Haiti, and there are several there now,
| who only saved their black skins by sud-
denly crossing the channel and putting
| themselves under the protecting folds of
| the British flag. The last was Legitime.
| who was overturned and driven out by Hyp-
1 polite, but few years ago. Hyppolite him
| self, after assuming all the state without the
| name of royalty and masSacring hundreds
or his subjects, died a peaceful death 1t
| was not known, at least, that he was muir
dered, though his death occurred under
very suspicious circumstances while he was
| on little journey in the country.
Hyppolfte the Tyrant
| The writer had the honor of meeting this
| burly black when at the height of his pow
| er and but two weeks before he put to
| death more than 200 of his opponents 1t
was thought then that the occasion justified
the means employed, for it was either Hyp-
polite or his enemies, and the former chose
to make corpses of his foes. Frederick
| Douglass was minister at Port au Prince
at the time of the writer's visit and his
| secretary was former minister. Mr. Bas-
| sett, who at the time of Saget's deposit
| ton, when men were massacred by scores,
| sheltered more than 800 people and saved
| them from being shot, an act of humanity
| for which he was never reimbursed. Like
| the present president of Haiti, Hyppolite,
| the tyrant, was big, blue-black of hue and
| an old soldier.
| President Sam has not yet shown the san
| culinary disposition for which his pred
ecessor was distinguished, though of bel
| licose nature; but then he was put up as
/ a compromise candidate and may be said
| to represent more fully the ideals of the
| negroes than Hyppolite-
The Claims of France.
| AS history informs us, the claims OF
| France to sovereignty over Haiti, after
| Leclerc and his soldiers had been exter-
| minated and Bonaparte found himself in
volved in another European war, were
sternly resisted. Even when she sent out
| commissioners. during the reign of Louis
| XVIII the invincible patriots could not be
| coerced or foresworn, though the govern
| ment expressed itselfsas willing to fix the
basis of a pecuniary indemnity for the