The Montgomery advertiser., 1908-02-11
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The so-calied Republic of Hayti TUT nishes an example of what may be expected of government of and by negroes We do not take into account the numberless kingdoms in Africa. for there nothing like orderly or rep resentative government is to be looked for or expected. The people are stili savages and the one who for the time being occupies the position of chief of tribe is supreme in all things and his subjects rarely dare to oppose his control.
 But Hayti claims to be Republic. with a President and some form of government. yet it Is little better than a travesty. While 1t is true that a number of the alleged South Ameri- can Republics are misnomers, and are usually in state of rebellion or revo- lution. we must remember that in most. if not all of them. the. population Is such a mixture of native and foreign races that 1t is difficuit to tell what race predominates. Orderly govern ment under such conditions is hardly to be expected.
 Hayti. however. is negro republic. When Toussiant rOverture. more than century ago-and he was an un- mixed negro--Ied the people of his race. who were all slaves. in a revolt againrt the French. the Spanish. the English and all other whites who were then dominating and controlling the blacks. he was able to so solidify and control them that the revolution was successful. Since that time Hayti has been for the most part black republic. and probably there is no where on earth a more corrupt. turbulent nation than 1t is. Loverture was onesof the exceptions that sometimes come to the front. and when he had freed his peo- pie and established government of his own making great things were predicted. Contemporary writers euio. gized him in the highest terms. and hardly anything was too good to pre- dict for him.
 what he might have accomplished if he had remained in power is not possible to say. for he was not suf- fered 70 continue his work. Under some pretext he was lured to France and there died in prison. His success sor made himself emperor and since then there has been little but confu- sion. disorder. misgovernment and cor ruption. On the death of the self made emperor q republic. socalled. was formed. but the republic has been It, tie better than the empire was.
 The present President is a very old man. and already to use the words of a contsmorary there are at least eight aspirants to the presidency. some of whom have been awaiting in Jamaica and other West Indian islands the sig nal to begin . struggle against Alexis. The latter, in spite of ill-health, is wag- ing vigorous war against the revo- Iutionists who recently lost a town near Port au Prince, which had been taken by them. Should Alexis be over thrown. it is probable that the most de- structive internal warfare Hayti has ever known will follow. Americans and Europeans who have commercial interests there view the outlook with alarm. for in the event the present government makes way for new. the latest dictator very likely would re- pudiate all the acts of his predecessor and chaos would follow"
 And this may be taken as a fair ex- ample of what may be expected of a negro republic. It has existed through sufrerance, for if it had not been for the United States and the Monroe Doe urine, it is probably safe to say that this miserable travesty on republican government would long since have been taken possession of by some for eign power. Perhaps it would have been better for it. but however that may be, Hayti shows what negroes can do in the way of governing themselves. It is not an example of which the race can be proud. but 1t Is an example of what may be expected of them when not controlled by a higher intellI- gence.