The watchman and southron. [volume] (Sumter, S.C.) 1881-1930, 1908-12-23

When man has reached the alleged
ase OF ninety-seven years. and is then
Of suascient political Importance to
have an insurrection raised against
hfn. he must be. In some respects. q
remarkable figure. Gen. Nord Alexis,
until last wednesday President Of the
Republic Of Hayti. was. In thS respect
% age. at least. the foremost ruler of
ths Black Republic. Presidents Of
Hayu seldom are long-iived.
Nord Alexis never erred on the side
of gsntleness. He came to the presi-
dsncy In 1904. fully aware of the peo-
pie with whom he was to deal. and he
had some grewsome object lessons of
R<hs uneasiness that accompanies wear
1ng . crown In his country. OF the
preslder.s who had preceded him. Des-
nlinss and Salnavs were shot; Petion
and Richie we're poisoned; christophe
committed suicide after committing
atrocities of the widest kind: Boyer.
Soulouque. oeffrad. Dominique. Canal.
ealomon. and Legitime went away post
hIlsts; Pierrot (well named) and MIS-
stse-Saget abdicated; and II was the
b,ast OF the heirs of Hippolyte that he
died peacefully In ONCE. But, mas
much ~ he was conducting an army
against rebels at the time. even his
dsmise u open to suspicion.
The old man who assumed this seem
~. hopeless task had been preceded In
once by q villainous person. Tiresias
Simon Sam. who added light-fingered
Qualities to the rest Of his defects. Sam
hnd left she treasury In bad condition:
the army was rebeliious. as usual.
when no money was forthcoming: the
FrminIst exiles were clamoring from
Jsmacia: the republic was in chaos.
Nord Alexis had ideas Of his own.
He was astute. even commensurate
\ with his years. and he had no woman
iah aversion TO the shedding Of blood
when he thought II necessary. There
Il no reason to believe that he has done
anything In six years OF rule with an
idss les commendable than the i'm
provsment Of his country, and its
standing with the rest Of the world. He
was Arm In the persuasion that the
proximity Of white people was. on the
whole. dangerous TO the Independence
OF the country; and though he did
nothing on the offensive, he was ever
careful OF granting trade concessions.
Here IL an instance OF q craftiness
combined with real feeling toward
proGresa A mining expert IN Phila-
dslphis. who had assaysd Q lot OF cop
psr-bsaring rock said to have come
from Hayti, went down there to look
over the ground. He found q fne ore
mountain. but Il was far In the interior
and quite inaccessible for business pur-
poses unless q railroad could be built.
The Germans had . railroad from
Port au Prince to the salt Lakes, and
naturally wanted no competition. and
German steamship line saw possible
rival steamships connecting with the
rail end. They began to work on the
president.
Alexis took his particular view of
the case. IL don'' mind giving you a
concession" he said. 'but I don't want
to run the chance Of giving you the
whole island" He had evidently
heard something OF concessions.
The, Germans spent a good deal Of
money In Hayti over this matter, 1t Is
reported. but finally Nord Alexis. af-
ter an interview I'm which he showed
keen business sense. though asking
nothing for himself. granted the con-
cession. He signed the papers and
sent them to Congress. The gentle
men at the Legislature. however, had
been "seen." and though they did not
care to involve themselves with the
president. they delayed and delayed
until they found a way out. Enough
OF them to break the quorum left the
capital and went down the coast.
Nord Alexis merely sent his gunboats
after them. with n courteous request
TO come back They came back. They
knew Nord Alexis.
Amnesty His Undoing.
Another instance OF the tactfulness
OF the old man was given soon after
he came into office. There were 100
OF more rebels exiled In Jamaica. They
had been followers of Gen. Firmin.
In 1903 Alexis granted them amnesty
and they returned He had a double
motive m this: first that they were
possibly To be won over to his side.
ilnd also that he wanted no insurrec-