The Savannah morning news., 1902-08-02
THE HAITIAN ARMY.
ridiculous In Peace and UncOnauer-
able in War, Says an EnGlishman.

ridiculous In Peace and UncOnauer-
able in War, Says an Englishman.
From the London Express.
According to a telegram Haiti is at
war-apparently with itself--and the
Haitian army is on the rampage.
Haiti is chiefly remarkable by reason
of its being a military republic, with
an army of 1900 Generals and 1000 pri-
vates-a General to each Tommy. The
Generals are extraordinary men In
more than one sense of the word. There
is one who commands a large province
in the republic, who is of the lowest
of the people, who can neither read
nor write, and who is nevertheless a
great revolutionary power. This man
Gen. Johannis Merisier-is obliged to
ask one man to read to him what an
other man has written for him, and
yet in his hands are the lives and
deaths of the people over whom he
rules.
Every third man you meet in Haiti
Is a general, but it is only every tenth
general who gets paid; it has to be
conceded that each general does his
best to pay himself. The authorized
rate of pay Is G140 annually for gen.
eral of division and C 106 for hriga-
der. A captain is passing rich on G12
year; a private thinks himself for
tunate If he receives G2 los during
the same period.
Blanc" once said a private, in the
hearing of a well-known English JOUR-
nalist, Blanc, l am a soldier; give Inc
10 centimes."
You have your pay"
my general has taken my pay. /
am a poor man and a soldier Give
me ten confines"
How long have you been a soldier?'
Three years"
when did you have your pay last?"
Very long ago, and 1 am hungry.
Give me ten centimes. Merci."
Shrsds and Patches.
The Haytian soldiers uniform is a
fearful and wonderful thing. Let us
review a regiment on parade. Some OF
them are shod In dried grass slippers.
They wear a little blue cap with a red
band. One man, perhaps, is wearing a
shabby pair of old tweed trousers, and
slung by hemp rope over his Shout
ders is an old fashioned fiintlock gun.
The officer who commands the regi-
InenL IL DIdDulSnlHB Il rusty SWOIu.
A general has but little sense of JUS
tice. An unfortunate Swiss went out
shooting once in Hayti without a pass
port. who are your" said the general
when the poor man was brought before
him
Il am a foreigner.
What nationality"
Swiss"
The general turned to his secretary.
Have the Swiss a navy?"
mo. my general"
"Then put the brute in prison."
The army, it goes without saying. is
Iniserably housed. In Port-auPrince,
the capital of Hayti, you will find a
post of soldiers every fifty or hun
dred yards. They live in wretched
guard rooms which are merely long
novels, with piazzas raised two feet
a bove the street. Below flows an open
drain. The men themselves drink.
smoke, and gamble all the weary day.
But they have a good idea of them
selves. Two Haytian generals discuss
ing a review in which they had just
taken part. thus expressed themselves
But the review to-day; what great
spectaclei"
without question the most magnih-
cent spectacle that one could have
SEEN"
Eyes, indeed. our army is composed
of brave men. The troops are the fin
est IN the world. Do you not think
sou turning to travelling English
man.
He (diplomaticalIy choosing his
words): II have seen none like 1t. The
army of Hayti is one that depends
upon its officers; an army without Off
GERS. what is it?"
1.-The army of Hayti has never been
The French were here; we
drove them out. The English fought
with us: where are they? But we
Ell been conquered"
You must never allow a smile to
cross your face-however tempted you
may be to laugh--if you meet a Hay
tan soldier. A European diplomatist
landed once at Port-au-Prince and on
his way from the ship he fell in with
what he imagined to be a tattered
carrying a rifle. He
smiled. Cor the black mans pompous
solemnity was immensely funny. At
once the negros face changed.
you laugh at me? You laugh at
rne?" he cried furiously.
He was a soldier of the republic; his
fingers flew to his cartridges, and the
visitor waited for no more, but ned
up the street.
The Haytian soldier needs but The
license of a political strife to lash him
INTO frenzy. No wonder that the Amer
lean consul general at Port-au- Prince
to his government to send
a rnan-of war without delay. Given
political troubles and a modicum of
shooting in the streets, and man such
as we have just described, with in
tense Feasibility of temper and thou
sands of companions like himself. he
would become a very perilous and ter
rible element IN the general anarchy.
The Haytian army in peace time may
be like that upon comic opera stage,
but given a war, it would become a
hotbed of tragedy.