The Republican journal. [volume] (Belfast, Me.) 1829-current, 1902-09-04

had 6l2,000 Inhabitants, including the
iaborerS who cultivated about eight
hundred sugar plantations, three thous-
and coffee estates, three thousand indi-
go plantations, and seven hundred and
nifty cotton plantations. But the fiery
temper of the French made them bad
slave owners: and in 1871, when Cape
Haltlen was at the height of its pros
perlty and the chief port in the West
Indies. nearly half a million slaves on
the interior plantations, whose masters
mostly resided in the city, rose in a
body before any one was aware of their
intention and put every estate to the
torch. Cane fields burned like finder,
while sugar mills and StorehouseS of
rum lit up the heavens with vast CON
Hagratlon. All the pent-up hatred of
years on the part of the slaves for their
cruel masters burst forth like a resist
less flood. and they rushed upon the de-
fenseless planters and their families
butchering them by hundreds, tortur-
ing them with fiendish glee, tearing
them limb from limo and throwing their
dlsmembered bodies into the flames.
Meanwhile, in the Santo Domingo
portion Of the island, horrible atrocities
were being committed in the war of
races. which ended III the mulattoes be
ing left in possession. For two years
bloody skirmlsheS were kept up in Haiti
between the whites of the towns and
the blacks who had taken possession of
the plantatlOnS-a reign of terror, in
which all the horrors of the French reyo-
luton, then raging across the Atlantic.
were transferred to this little island
Finally, when slavery was abolished by
France i'll all her colonies. the negroes
of Haiti, who then comprised more than
three fourths of the population We're
declared free citizens. They celebrated
their emancipation by fresh massacres
OF men, women and children; more
burnings and deeds of darkness, whose
full horrors cannot be told. Napoleon
sent an army to Suhdue them, and then
the black fiends, having no knowledge
of civilized warfare. took to their heels
and hid in the impossible jungles and
Businesses of the mountains. Finding
nobody to fight. and firing at last of in
activity and the arrogance of the free
muIattoeS, the commander of the fleet
sent his marines into Cape Haitien. The
fight WAS then between whites and mu-
lattoes: and being about equally divld-
ed as to numbers the governor in des-
the jails and called III the blacks from
the surrounding country to his aSsiS-
lance, promising them pardon for their
past nIisdteGs. But in making the
dangerous experiment he got good
deal more than he bargained for. The
savage hordes poured into the city like
river of fire, killing, manning and
burning to their hearts contents caring
little whom they attacked SO long as
they were French Hundreds of the
citizens were drowned ia their efforts
to escape to vessels IN the -harbor. and
hundreds more persisted at the hands
OF the blacks. Flames were applied to
storehouses filed with oil and pitch,
and soon the city looked like huge
volcano with mighty volume OF fire
and smoke above it. Realizing lis mis-
take when too late to rectify 1t, the
Goyonor sailed from. Cape FIaitien to
Norfolk, Va, with the remnant Of white
citizens, most of whom settled perma-
ntntly in the nited States In the
doomed island, peetllence followed close
upon this disaster. France could not
afford to keep on sending thousands of
soldiers to die like sheep in these fever
haunted ports, while the unconquered
blacks remained safely hidden in the
mountains and finally gave up all at
tempt to control the is and. Then Spain
tried her hand at it: then England. with
equally poor success. The world is
IttIIliIttl w III UIlt lltut IlISlOI VI
the island. In the year 1904 upwards
OF :, 800 white people We're murdered in
Cape Haitien between the last of April
and the middle of May. All these vast
estates were left to the mercy of the
ignorant blacks. Negro generals took
possession of the finest of them, work
ing them by the labor of their soldiers,
and the rabble Squatted on the rests.
Toussaint IOuverture, the first black
ruler, was man of surprising capacity,
considering that he was tifty-two years
a plantation slave before the French
government made him general-in chief
Of the island, Oh account of his intiu-
ence with the people. General Dessa-
lines was also a plantation slave, and
the celebrated Christopher was a waiter
in cafe; but both died kings, though
neither could read or write when called
to reign. | think it was about the wear
1871 when DesSalines was declared king
of Haiti, and his first act was to order
the burning of Cape Haitien and the
massacre of all the French residents
remaining on the island. He was as
sassinated probably by one of his jeal-