The Republican. [volume] (Oakland, Md.) 1877-current, 1902-09-25
THE ARMY OF HAYTI.
II Is Poorly Equipped and Organized
and Has More Generals
Than Necessary.

According to recent dispatches
Hayti is at war-apparently with itself
and the Haytian arnJ is on the ram
page, says late ISSUE of the London
Express.
Hayti is chiefly remarkable by rea-
son of its being a military republic,
with an army of 1000 generals and
1000 privates-a general to each
Tommy. The generals are eXtraor-
binary men in more than one sense
of the word. There is one who COM
mands a large province in the repub-
lie, who is of the lowest of the people,
who can neither read nor write, and
who is nevertheless great revolu-
tionary power. This man-Gen. Jo-
hannis Merisier-is obliged to ask one
man to read to him what another 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 Hayti
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 C LAO annsally for a gen
eral of division and G105 for brig
adler. A captain is passing rich on
G12 a year; private thinks himself
fortunate if he receives G 2 10 S. during
the same period.
Blanc" once said a private, in the
hearing of well-known English jour
nalist, Blanc, l am soldier; give me
ten centimes."
You have your pay"
MY general has taken my pay. |
am poor man and a soldier. Give me
ten centimes."
How long have you been soldier?"
Three years"
when did you have your pay last ?'
Very long ago, and L am hungry.
Give me ten centimes. Merci"
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
shoulders is an oldfashioned fint-lock
gun. The officer who commands the
regiment is brandishing rusty sword.
A general has but little sense of
justice. An unfortunate Swiss went
out shooting once in Hayti without a
passport. who are you?" said the
general, when the poor man was
brought before him.
Il am foreigner"
what nationality"
"Swiss."
The general turned to his secretary.
Have the Swiss navy?"
mo, my general
Then put the brute in prison"
The army, it goes without saying,
is miserably housed. In Port au
Prince, the capital of Hayti, you will
find a post Of soldiers every SO or 100
yards. They live in wretched guard
rooms, which are merely long novels,
with piazzas raised two feet above the
street Below flows an open drain.
The men themselves drink, smoke and
gamble all the weary day.
But they have good idea of them
selves. Two Haytian generals discuss
ing review in which they had just
taken part thus expressed themselves:
But the review to-day; what great
spectacle"
without question, the most mag
nifcent spectacle one could have seen"
"Yes, indeed, our army is composed
of brave men. The troops are the fin
est in the world. Do you not think
SOP" turning to a travelling English
man.
He automatically choosing his
words)-"I have seen none like it. The
army of Hayti is one that depends
upon its officers; an army without
officers, what is it?"
1.-THE army of Hayti has never been
conquered. The French were here;
we drove them out. The English fought
with us; where are they? But we
we've are here always; we have
never been conquered"
You must never allow a smile to
cross your facr--however tempted you
may be to laugh-if you meet Hay
tian soldier. a European diplomatist
landed once at Port au Prince, and on